The decommissioning of the nuclear research reactor and associated facilities at the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre

The decommissioning of a 300 kW Argonaut type universities research reactor and associated facilities has been completed at the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre. The strategy adopted for the demolition of the reactor and its ancillary plant and buildings is discussed. One of the principal areas of the work was the effort expended on the determination of the radioisotope abundance of the reactor structure and thereby its impact on the characterization of waste for disposal and the radiation dose budget for personnel. Extensive use was made of remotely operated vehicles to minimize this dose.