As nuclear facilities around the world continue to age, many countries will be increasingly faced with the task of taking them out of service (decommissioning) 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. Appropriate provisions will have to be made in terms of policy, financing and 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 ones. This range of possible timescales entails specific issues for decision making, and also has a wider impact by way of such issues as the sustainability of nuclear power and preservation of the well-being of local communities.

The NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) has long recognised that D&D and waste management are intimately related and, since 1982, has been involved in various projects concerned with technical matters such as dismantling of plants and decontamination of materials. As these technologies have become mature, however, the broader aspects of managing D&D have come to the fore. These involve safety, societal and regulatory matters together with issues of costs and funding, all of which require informed dialogue between institutional and non-institutional parties. The RWMC has traditionally provided neutral ground for such wide debates, and has done so again in the field of D&D.

This report is intended to provide, in non-specialist terminology, a concise overview of the status of D&D of nuclear facilities and associated issues in NEA Member countries. The report draws upon a database of fact sheets produced to a standard format by individual Member countries that can be accessed online from the NEA website. In the context of this report, 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.