Dismantling sequences, radiological surveys, waste characterisation and site release records
Commissioning software for nuclear decommissioning where every dismantled system, radiological survey and waste package has to be traceable through to final site release.
Decommissioning reverses the commissioning logic: instead of proving a system is ready to operate, the programme has to prove a system, structure or site area is safe to release, characterising every waste stream and surveying every area before it leaves regulatory control. Deskely holds the dismantling sequence, the radiological survey record and the waste package chain of custody in one register, so site release is supported by a traceable dataset rather than a closeout report written from memory.
- Assets
- Systems, structures, waste packages, survey areas
- Test
- Radiological survey, waste characterisation, final status survey
- Basis
- Decommissioning plan and ALARA optimisation
- Gate
- Site or area release
Choose your project type
The problem
Every dismantled component has a radiological history, and a lost survey record can stall an entire building's release for months.
A decommissioning programme dismantles systems in a defined sequence, generates waste streams that each require characterisation and consignment, and progressively surveys structures and land areas before they can be released from the site's radiological control programme.
When radiological survey results, waste characterisation records and dismantling logs are tracked in separate spreadsheets by different contractors, the site cannot always answer the regulator's basic question: what is the complete radiological history of this specific waste package or this specific room.
Deskely tags every system, structure, survey area and waste package individually, so the chain of custody from dismantling through characterisation to disposal or release is a continuous record rather than a set of documents assembled after the fact.
Setting up the register
Systems, survey areas and waste packages are tagged assets matched to the decommissioning plan and the site release strategy.
The decommissioning plan's dismantling sequence and the facility's radiological zone maps are parsed into a reviewed register, so every system, room and outdoor area carries its planned dismantling order and its survey requirement from day one.
Waste characterisation templates — activity analysis, waste classification, packaging requirements — are defined once per waste stream type and instantiated across every package generated, so a drum of contaminated concrete and a decommissioned pump carry consistent, comparable records.
ALARA planning documentation and dose tracking for the workforce executing dismantling are held alongside the physical work records, so the radiological protection basis for a work package is visible next to the work itself, not in a separate health physics system.
Execution
Dismantling, characterisation and survey are proven area by area, package by package, before anything leaves site.
Dismantling work is executed and recorded against the sequence in the decommissioning plan, with radiological surveys captured before, during and after work in a given area to establish the contamination profile as it changes through the programme.
Waste packages are characterised at the point of generation, with activity measurements, classification and packaging records tied to the specific package, so a waste consignment leaving site carries a complete, auditable history rather than a summary manifest.
Final status surveys are conducted room by room and area by area as dismantling completes, with survey grid results, instrument calibration and surveyor qualification captured against the specific area, ready to support that area's individual release decision.
Site release and closeout
Site release decisions are made from surveyed evidence, area by area, not from an assumption that the whole site is now clean.
The site release submission draws on the final status survey results, waste consignment records and dismantling completion evidence for every area, giving the regulator a structured dataset rather than a narrative closeout report.
Waste consignment records maintain full chain of custody from generation through transport to disposal, satisfying the transport and disposal site's own acceptance criteria as well as the generating site's regulatory obligations.
Every survey and characterisation record carries a name, role, instrument calibration reference and timestamp, which is the traceability a regulator's independent verification of site release is specifically designed to test.
FME control and ALARP inside a dismantling programme
Dismantling work still runs inside foreign material exclusion boundaries and ALARP dose planning, even though the systems being cut apart will never operate again.
Cutting into a system that is being permanently removed still requires FME control where the work opens a boundary that connects to plant still in service or to an area yet to be surveyed, because foreign material or contamination spread from a dismantling cut can compromise a system elsewhere on-site or invalidate a survey result in an adjacent room.
ALARP applies as directly to a decommissioning workforce as it does to an operating plant's maintenance crew: cutting sequence, shielding and remote-handling tool choice are all planned against a dose estimate for the specific task, and a change in cutting method partway through a job has to be re-assessed against that estimate rather than approved on the basis that 'it's just demolition now'.
Deskely tracks FME boundaries and ALARP job dose estimates against the specific dismantling work package, alongside the waste characterisation and survey records the same work generates, so a work package's radiological protection basis, its FME status and its resulting waste stream are one continuous record rather than three separate logs reconciled only at project closeout.
The site release evidence set
Six record types build the case for site release, one dismantling step and one waste consignment at a time.
Decommissioning replaces a construction sequence with a dismantling sequence, and the evidence that matters shifts from proving a system works to proving radiological conditions and waste routing were correctly characterised and recorded. These records are what a site release submission is assembled from.
Dismantling sequence completion record
That a structure or system was removed in the order and manner set out in the approved decommissioning plan, with radiological survey checks at each stage.
Signed off as each dismantling step in the sequence completes.
Pre-dismantling radiological survey record
That contamination and dose rate levels in an area were characterised before dismantling work began there, setting the baseline for worker protection planning.
Completed before dismantling work starts in a given area.
Waste characterisation record
That a waste stream's radiological, physical and chemical properties have been assessed and assigned to the correct waste category for onward routing.
Produced as waste arises during dismantling, before consignment.
Waste consignment note
That a specific waste consignment was transferred to an authorised disposal or storage route with the correct characterisation and quantity declared.
Issued at the point waste leaves site or transfers to storage.
Post-dismantling clearance survey record
That an area or item, once dismantling and any decontamination is complete, meets the clearance levels required before free release or reuse.
Completed after dismantling and decontamination, before clearance.
Site release survey and certificate
That the site or a defined portion of it meets the residual radioactivity criteria required for release from regulatory control.
Issued at final site or area closeout.
How it runs
From decommissioning plan to site release.
Decommissioning programmes reward tracking radiological history at the level of the individual area and package, because a site release decision is only as strong as the weakest surveyed room.
- 01
Model the dismantling sequence
Systems, structures and survey areas modelled against the decommissioning plan's planned order and release strategy.
- 02
Template waste characterisation
Activity analysis and classification templates defined once per waste stream, instantiated across every package generated.
- 03
Track surveys against areas
Radiological surveys captured before, during and after dismantling, tied to the specific area and instrument used.
- 04
Gate release on surveyed evidence
Area and site release decisions reported from final status survey results and complete waste chain-of-custody records.
FAQ
Questions about Decommissioning and waste scopes.
Keep reading
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The full sector view: safety classification, ITP hold points, QA records and the terminology behind them.
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FME control walkdowns, cleanliness inspections and pre-turnover verification runs that raise findings on the spot.
Read moreMaster data
Component and system registers aligned to the plant's configuration baseline instead of scattered vendor binders.
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