eBook: Radiation Safety During Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning

A decommissioning project is a process involving both the administrative and technical steps aimed to clean up a nuclear facility in a safe, secure, and environmentally friendly manner. Decommissioning can be a labor intensive and dirty job, as well as a dangerous one. Some sites have more than just radiation to worry about. At government sites, chemicals, munitions, and explosives may also be present.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has strict rules governing nuclear power plant decommissioning, involving cleanup of radioactively contaminated plant systems and structures, and removal of the radioactive fuel. These requirements protect workers and the public during the entire decommissioning process and the public after the license is terminated. The Backgrounder on Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants, offered by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) specifically states that “When a power company decides to close a nuclear power plant permanently, the facility must be decommissioned by safely removing it from service and reducing residual radioactivity to a level that permits release of the property and termination of the operating license.”

We’ve outlined in an easy-to-understand ebook some of the items you need to know when it comes to closure requirements, ways to decommission, radiation monitoring and measurement, protective equipment, radiation equipment and services used in the process of decommissioning, and the location of nuclear power plants in the U.S.