Nuclear dismantling: SMELD, a furnace to melt down steel from part of nuclear power plants

When it comes to dismantling nuclear power plants, metals fall into 3 main categories:

• A great deal of the metal in a power plant is free of any residual radioactivity. It will therefore go through a conventional recycling process.
• However, another portion is too contaminated to be processed or recycled. It will be categorised as nuclear waste and sent to ONDRAF/NIRAS, the national agency for radioactive waste and enriched fissile materials.
• The third and final part – which represents significant volumes – has a limited level of radioactivity, allowing it to be recycled within dedicated infrastructure, a new project to be called SMELD: State of the art Metal Melting Limiting waste during D&D.

The project has two components: first, fundamental research activities performed by SCK CEN in Mol, in collaboration with CRM in Liège and second: feasibility studies.

Using a laboratory fusion furnace, this will enable research into the movements of certain radioisotopes during the fusion process and will help determining parameters/methods for controlling the movements of these isotopes.

The project will also include feasibility studies, industrial research and fusion infrastructure, and even larger-scale research with one or more industrial partners, to be selected by SCK CEN.