Some considerations relating to post-shutdown duties under the Atomic Energy Act

The paper discusses questions of law arising in connection with section 7, sub-sec. 3 of the Atomic Energy Act. In the terminology of nuclear engineers, the term 'decommissioning' is a broader term comprising all activities and tasks to be done after final shutdown of an installation, i.e. all activities for mothballing and partly or completely dismantling the plant. The wording of section 7, sub-sec. 3 of the Atomic Energy Act, however, can be understood to define 'decommissioning' in the proper sense only as the ultimate shutdown of an installation, so that section 7, sub-sec. 3, first sentence of the Atomic Energy Act can be interpreted to establish three different facts requiring licensing, namely: - Decommissioning (ultimate shutdown); - isolation from the biosphere (mothballing); dismantling (complete plant or parts thereof). Considering the legal nature of licensing as a preventive prohibition subject to the granting of a licence, doubts can be raised as to the appropriateness of the existing legal provisions. (orig./HSCH)