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Decommissioning
What is Deommissioning?
Decommissioning can be defined as the ceasation
of operations of a facility and the actions taken
following the permanent closure of the facility
to transform it to an out-of-service state.
Decommissioning of a nuclear facility encompasses
the safe management of nuclear materials held
in the facility, the management of radioactive
and other wastes,
decontamination, plant dismantling, demolition
and site remediation. (1)
Ideally, decommissioning ensures ongoing safety
of workers, public and the environment to the
point of leaving a clear site where the nucelar
facility had once stood.
Decommissioning of nuclear facilities is becoming
a major issue as hundreds of nuclear facilities
will end their operational lives in the next 50
years.(2)
Why Decommission?
The process of deriving energy from nuclear
reactions creates radiation. This radiation is
almost entirely absorbed by the reactor body,
which is constructed of materials such as concrete,
lead and iron. When radiation is absorbed by materials
it is possible to change the atoms which make
up that material into other atoms which have different
properties then the original atoms. The resultant
atoms may be unstable, self destructing after
some time and producing their own radiation. Thus
material exposed to high amounts of radiation
can become radioactive itself.
Levels of radioactivity found in the constituent
material of retired nuclear reactors can range
from slightly radioactive posing little health
treat to living beings to highly radioactive posing
a very real threat to anyone exposed to the radiation
emitted by these sources. Due to this danger careful
steps must be taken in relation to the deconstruction
of reactors and the effective containment of the
constituent material which has become radioactive.
The consequences of ignoring the need for an
appropriate decommissioning process can have grave
consequences for the inhabitants, the environment
and economy of the region in which the site is
located. Spanning further then that, the theft
of discarded radioactive material has far reaching
consequences as this type of material can be used
in the construction of a 'dirty bomb'.
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