N. Decommissioning of nuclear power facilities

There are three broad alternatives in decommissioning a reactor. They all assume that fuel materials and readily portable hazardous objects and waste has been removed, so the principal sources of radioactivity are induced radioactivity of structural components and stray comtamination. The first alternative is simply to lock up the reactor and guard it to prevent unauthorised access. This is essentially a short-term solution. The second alternative is to decontaminate the reactor and then seal it in a more or less permanent way, perhaps mounding it over with earth or concrete. The third alternative is complete removal of all hazardous materials from the site. This report briefly discusses these alternatives and comments that if the need for eventual decommisioning were kept in mind right from the initial design stages, there could be considerable savings in manpower, materials and money