Nuclear decommissioning
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The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is sometimes referred to as nuclear decommissioning, to mark the difference between 'conventional' decommissioning and dismantling projects. In fact, the main difference to the dismantling of a 'conventional' facility is the possible presence of radioactive or fissile material in a nuclear facility, that requires special precautions.
Decommissioning involves many administrative and technical actions, whose purpose, after a facility has been taken out of service, is to allow its release from regulatory control and relieve the licensee of his responsibility for its nuclear safety.
[edit] Experience
A wide range of nuclear facilities has been decommissioned so far. This includes nuclear power plants (NPPs), research reactors, isotope production plants, particle accelerators, uranium mines etc. There are companies specialized in nuclear decommissioning; the practice of decommissioning has turned into a profitable business. Decommissionning is very expensive; the current estimate by the United Kingdom's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is that it will cost at least £70 billion to decommission the existing United Kingdom nuclear sites; this takes no account of what will happen in the future. Also, due to the latent radioactivity in the reactor core, the decommissioning of a reactor is a slow process which has to take place in stages; the plans of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority for decommissioning reactors have an average 50 year time frame.
