In 1990, the Public Service Company of Colorado initiated steps to decommission the Fort St. Vrain high temperature gas cooled reactor and to convert the site to a peaking plant, fired by natural gas. PSCC hired MPR as part of an oversight committee to review the decommissioning work. Our work included the following specific tasks:

• Develop and review the defueling/decommissioning plans.

• Review plans for monitoring and disposal of low level waste.

• Develop fuel storage options and decommissioning approaches.

• Review plans to perform initial and final site characterizations (to document the initial and final radiological states of the site).

• Review the safety of all the work to be performed.

MPR's contributions resulted in the decision by the utility to disassemble the reactor internals under water using simple long handled tools to cut down personnel radiation exposure, rather than using remotely operated robotic equipment to disassemble the core in air.

Some of our D&D assignments have required extraordinary engineering effort as well as creative and unconventional approaches. The following pages provide insight to our experience in a few of the nuclear D&D projects:

• Three Mile Island Unit 2 Reactor
  
• Technical Assistance for PUREX
  
• Radioactive Waste Handling
  
• Spent Nuclear Fuel Handling Shipping and Storage
  
• Radiation Shielding Design
  
• Chernobyl
  
• Hanford Spent Nuclear Fuel Project
  

Contact

For further information on MPR's D&D services with the Department of Energy, or other engineering services, contact Bob Coward or Larry Cundy.

More MPR Nuclear Experience

• ALWR Development
• Configuration Management
• Design Bases Integration
• License Renewal Engr Svcs
• Main Coolant Pumps
• MPR BWR ECCS Suction Strainer Svcs
• MPR Qualifications Related to Restart & Startup Assessments for The Office of Nuclear Safety
• Soviet-Designed Nuclear Reactor Plants
• Valve Experience