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Working Party on the Management
of Materials from Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD)
The Decommissioning and Dismantling of Nuclear Facilities in NEA
Member Countries
A Compilation of National Fact Sheets
As nuclear facilities around the world continue to age,
many countries will be faced with the task of decommissioning them, i.e.
taking them out of service, and dismantling them. In particular, they
will also have to address the related issues of the release and/or reuse
of materials, buildings and sites, and of radioactive waste management.
Depending on the path chosen, decommissioning and dismantling (D&D)
of nuclear facilities may take a few years or several decades, especially
for the larger installations. This range of possible timescales entails
specific issues for decision making.
This compilation of national fact sheets is intended to serve as an
authoritative source of reference information on individual NEA member
countries. In this context, the term "nuclear facility" includes
all facilities associated with the production of nuclear power, from mining
of uranium, through fabrication of nuclear fuel, nuclear power plant operation,
fuel reprocessing and waste management, including related R&D facilities,
and research and demonstration reactors.
Additional information on regulatory frameworks and corresponding national fact sheets which also contain a lot of information on decommissioning, are available on the RWMC Regulators' Forum web page.
A companion booklet entitled The
Decommissioning and Dismantling of Nuclear Facilities: Status, Approaches,
Challenges provides, in non-specialist terminology, a concise
overview of the status of D&D of nuclear facilities and of the associated
issues in NEA member countries.
The fact sheets are structured according to a standard format as follows:
- Current status: Description of the
number and type of nuclear facilities in operation and those already at
some stage of decommissioning.
- Purpose/objectives of D&D: Explanation
of the nature of hazards associated with nuclear sites and what has to
be achieved to reduce or eliminate them. Explanation of the ultimate objective
and associated timescales.
- Social and environmental aspects: Brief
description of the social and environmental issues that are likely to
be of interest to communities in the locality of plant scheduled for,
or undergoing, D&D.
- Competent bodies and roles: Site operators/owners,
government departments responsible for relevant policy, regulatory bodies,
waste management bodies, D&D bodies.
- Funding arrangements: Who pays, how
and when? How much will D&D cost?
- Decommissioning techniques and inspection:
Brief description of techniques to be used and of the regulatory and inspection
regimes.
- Radioactive waste management: Types
of waste and proposed arrangements for treatment, packaging, storage,
and disposal.
- Public information: Progress statement
together with information about next steps or further developments in
policy. References to other sources of related information.
Each sheet has been approved by the authorities of the relevant member
country through their representative(s) in the WPDD.
National fact sheets
These reports have now been replaced by the RWM country profiles.
Reports are in pdf format.
Related links
Working Party on the Management of Materials
from Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD)
The International Co-operative Programme
on Decommissioning (CPD)
IAEA
programme on the safe decommissioning of installations with radioactive
substances (external link)
Decommissioning
web pages of European Commission DG-Energy and Transport (external
link)
E-mail contact: claudio.pescatore@oecd.org Reports Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Facilities 
It can and has been done
(Illustrated eight-page brochure)
Last updated: 25 June 2008 |
