Evaluation of Uncertainties Related to the Near Field Model of Geological Repository for Spent Nuclear Fuel

In Slovakia, a direct disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geological repository within the country after a certain period of interim storage is a preferred option. This paper briefly describes near field model of radionuclide migration developed in GoldSim simulation code environment and analyses the calculated results on time-dependent release rates of safety relevant radionuclides. Given the fact that GoldSimalso enables to perform probabilistic simulations using the Monte Carlo method, a probabilistic approach was chosen to assess the influence of selected near field parameter uncertainties related to radionuclide migration on the radionuclide release rates from the bentonite buffer to the surrounding host rock. Based on the results, release rates of nuclides which exceed their solubility limits are effectively lowered and many of nuclides are significantly sorbed on the buffer material. It can be seen that the variance of the total release rate in the case of solubility uncertainty is almost two orders of magnitude within a long period of time.

Prediction of External Exposure during Dismantling of Steam Generator

The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is in the Slovak Republic an actual issue. In 2015 started the second decommissioning stage of nuclear power plant V1 in Jaslovské Bohunice. This stage involves the dismantling and segmentation of activated (reactor pressure vessel, reactor internals) and contaminated parts (steam generators, pressurizer). From this reason it is necessary to investigate the radiation situation in the vicinity of the component to be cut. The presented results show that during remote dismantling the exposure is small (compared with the fragmentation tasks). Moreover, when the pre-dismantling decontamination with decontamination factor of 100 is applied, the total collective effective dose is below the yearly limit of 20 mSv for workers.