Italy’s state-owned nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management company Sogin has completed the demolition of the steam generator shields at the Latina nuclear power plant reactor building.
The shields were the six reinforced concrete structures that insulated the upper pipes, which connected the six boilers to the reactor building.
For their removal, Sogin used a controlled demolition technique. The shields were cut into sections at height and then moved to ground level using a specially installed tower crane.
The shields were the six reinforced concrete structures that insulated the upper pipes, which connected the six boilers to the reactor building.
For their removal, Sogin used a controlled demolition technique. The shields were cut into sections at height and then moved to ground level using a specially installed tower crane.
The job produced about 1,200 tonnes of material which will be removed from the site and sent for recovery.
The dismantling of the Latina plant will produce approximately 319,000 tonnes of materials. Most of this, about 297,000 tonnes or 93%, largely composed of metal and concrete, will be sent for recovery.
The Latina plant is a 153-MW Magnox graphite gas-cooled reactor. It was the first commercial nuclear plant to be built in Italy and began commercial operation in January 1964. It was permanently shut down in December 1987.
Italy was a pioneer of nuclear power and had four commercial nuclear plants. It shut down the last of them in 1990 following a referendum arranged inn the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
