Dismantling of Glove Boxes
The gloveboxes in the IPU Plutonium Plant are sealed containers that allow one to manipulate Plutonium for research purposes and produce mixed oxide nuclear fuel elements (MOX).
IPU's 56 obsolete gloveboxes featured four levels of complexity, based on size and content, and divided according to their design and dismantling procedures.
The operation started right after the intervention design stage and continued by purchasing the necessary equipment, such as cutting tools, glovebox handling instruments, and alpha containment boxes. These boxes are equipped with gloved tunnels that allowed Sogin's operators to dismantle the containment system safely.
The dismantling of each glovebox consisted of five primary operations: preliminary reclamation, set-up of the dismantling workstation, handling and introduction of the glovebox in the containment box, glovebox and containment box dismantling, and radioactive waste management.
The first glovebox was dismantled in 2010. From 2012 to 2014, after having obtained all required authorisations from the Supervisory Authority, the operators dismantled all first and second-level gloveboxes.
In 2016, they dismantled third-level gloveboxes and started preliminary operations to dismantle fourth-level gloveboxes, more complex in size and content.
The total dismantling of IPU's 56 gloveboxes, concluded in 2021, is one of the most significant decommissioning operations carried out in Casaccia.