Canadian Decontainment Program

Abstract

The development of the CAN-DECON decontamination process and its application to full-system decontaminations of CANDU reactors are described. Two distinctive features of the CANDU system, the heavy water coolant and the large amount of carbon steel piping, dictated that a dilute, relatively non-corrosive decontamination process was required. As a result of a need to decontaminate the Douglas Point reactor in the mid-1970's, an intensive collaborative research program was carried out and the dilute, regenerable CAN-DECON process was developed and demonstrated. The mains steps in the application of the CAN-DECON process in a CANDU reactor are described. The process has several advantageous characteristics, including a relatively short application time and the production of only solid wastes. It has been successfully applied to several full-system decontaminations of the Douglas Point and Pickering reactors.