Nuclear Decommissioning is the complex and lengthy process of disposing of obsolete nuclear facilities. What happens when a nuclear power plant or other nuclear facilities shut down?
The International Atomic Energy Agency defines decommissioning as “the administrative and technical actions taken to remove all or some of the regulatory controls from an authorized facility so the facility and its site can be reused. Decommissioning includes activities such as planning, physical and radiological characterization, facility and site decontamination, dismantling, and materials management.”
This essential definition includes only a few technical aspects of decommissioning projects performed by expert operators and controlled by regulatory agencies, but other aspects influence how, when, and with what results decommissioning processes unfold.
For example, technical characteristics and operating history of the plant, environmental variables, financial arrangements, regulatory contexts, and local community involvement are some of the elements that shape ad hoc decommissioning strategies for each site.
NUCLEARDECOM 