Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: Russia Unveils Detailed Plans To Build 21 New Nuclear Power Units By 2030 [View all]intaglio
(8,170 posts)Calder Hall at Windscale/Seascale/Selafield has been in process of dismantling for years and it still has nor been completed.
Essentially the core of any reactor has such high levels of radioactivity that not even robots can operate with a life of more than a couple of hours. Recently they managed to get a remote operated camera inside the de-fueled reactor vessel at Calder Hall and this was bruited as a triumph. The company hired to do the dismantling has still nor developed tools that could operate in that environment.
What the publicity calls dismantling is the de-fueling of the reactor and the removal of the fuel elements from the site. Associated with this is the removal of intermediate level waste (machinery and structure). The actual primary cooling circuits and the reactor vessel remain intact and are at similar levels of toxicity as the fuel.