Full-system Chemical Decontamination

Background

Reactor full-loop chemical decontamination system

Reactor full-loop chemical decontamination system

Westinghouse has designed, fabricated and installed a full-system decontamination modular system at an operating nuclear power plant and performed a 105,000-gallon, in-situ chemical decontamination of the pressurized water reactor, steam generators and plant cooling systems. The ion exchange process system was designed to remove 10,000 curies of radioactive contaminants from the plant systems in a six-day decontamination solvent application.

Description

The system’s operating weight is 280 tons with a minimum floor space requirement of 840 ft2 (28 ft X 30 ft). The 1,500-gpm-rated modular system comprises:

  • Nine 160 ft3 ion-exchange vessels
  • Four 320 ft³ spent-resin storage tanks
  • Full-flow back-washable filters
  • Remote resin fill and transfer system
  • Fully computerized/programmable logic control system