Dismantling expertise for a safe future

Decommissioning and dismantling industrial facilities that have been contaminated with radioisotopes are crucial to ensure a safe future for coming generations and the environment.

This was the backdrop for decommissioning the former Best Medical Belgium facilities at Fleurus. Highly contaminated areas in four different buildings will be cleaned up, two cyclotrons used for production of radioisotopes will be dismantled as well as hot cells and glove boxes. Building 14 will be dismantled to greenfield stage.

The official go-ahead was given on October 11th by the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (AFCN/FANC) which delivered the decommissioning license for Building 14 of the ONDRAF/NIRAS facilities in Fleurus (ONSF), based on the Decommissioning Safety Assessment Report (DSAR) and the Final Decommissioning Plan (FDP). Our multi-disciplinary experts worked closely with the ONSF team to draft both documents. The clean-up activities and the preparation of the decommissioning already started in 2015.

“This dismantling authorization is an important milestone in the Decommissioning & Dismantling project in Fleurus.  The document represents 4 years of work for both Tractebel and ONDRAF teams.  It opens the way for the dismantling of Building 14” said Kim Honorez, Project Manager at Tractebel.

Our experts provided several services including: studies and analyses required to obtain decommissioning authorisation, permits and approvals; risk analysis; support for public procurement procedures; and sampling and analyses for the radiological characterisation programme.

Next milestones on the project include completing the clean-up of Building 14, then commencing decommissioning activities on it; continuing the clean-up of Buildings 6 and 7 which is ongoing; and construction of an extension to Building 14, necessary to avoid any loss of confinement during the cutting of the activated concrete structure.