Commissioning of Posiva’s controlled area getting closer every day
Minttu Hietamäki was engaged in the summer of 2023 to work under Posiva’s Production Unit in a consulting capacity for the commissioning of the controlled areas of the encapsulation plant and the final disposal facilities. Since then, she has together with TVO’s Radiation Protection Unit gone through every single room in what will be the controlled area. How is each room accessible to work in? How to minimise the radiation exposure of the employees and prevent the spread of any contamination? How must each room be designated with signs and locked? The different areas of the final disposal facility will undergo an inspection during the spring 2024.
Minttu Hietamäki, who lives in Eurajoki with her husband and two-year old son, represents Excore Oy, a business that she has set up and owns.
- One thing that indicates how close the start of production is, are the room signs which we are designing for the different rooms as part of preparations for the commissioning of the controlled area. The door signs indicate the room code and name as well as, for example, radiation information and any warnings for the specific room, Hietamäki says.
According to her, it will probably be possible to start the installation of the door signs before the summer. At that point, however, the signs will still be without radiation information. But then, there is no radiation yet.
No going back after TRFD
It has already been decided at Posiva that once the access routes and the basic PPE are introduced for the controlled area during the Trial Run of Final Disposal (TRFD) in August, there will be no going back. Not, despite there being no radioactive spent fuel in Posiva’s facilities yet.
- Practice makes perfect and practicing and getting used to the procedures will take time. Starting with the TRFD, the locker rooms in the controlled area will be taken into use. Access to the encapsulation plant will only be through the locker rooms where everyone must put on a white coverall, white safety shoes, a helmet, and safety goggles. The personal protective equipment to be used in the underground controlled areas will be somewhat different, Hietamäki says.
During the TRFD, the functioning of the dosimeters (radiation dose detectors) and the personnel monitors will also be tested and exercises carried out for entering temporary controlled areas and wearing extra PPE.
Text: Pasi Tuohimaa