Defence Sites: Experiences from France, the Russian Federation and the United States of America. Appendix VII

Defence based decommissioning problems relate largely to power plants in submarines and the decommissioning of fuel facilities. Since the practice of dumping nuclear reactors in the sea was internationally agreed to be environmentally unsound in 1993, the construction of well structured, effective mechanisms for disposing of military nuclear waste has been necessary. However, this has raised some additional hurdles besides the more common problems faced by civil waste management. Military programmes are impacted by a number of factors concerning interim storage facilities, submarine storage and over classification issues. These can cause sufficient problems to slow or halt a process aimed at minimizing the potential environmental hazards of radioactive wastes as well as the security threats which may also be involved if these facilities are not decommissioned properly. A resultant problem of military programmes is the secret nature of the reactors, owing to competition between different designs and the need to keep information concerning the performance of the vehicles highly confidential. This can create problems where off-the-shelf components are often over classified; that is, with information being classified as restricted or confidential even in the case of equipment whose role does not contribute to the critical abilities of the vessel, such as a backup diesel generator. This can cause problems with decommissioning as the regulatory framework will obstruct otherwise menial tasks, which could have been easily avoided if the correct classification levels had been applied at design. The US programme has been largely able to find disposal routes for its own defence nuclear waste. This waste is stored at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the reactor compartments are stored in Hanford. The main advantages over other States (e.g. the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom) are the finances allocated to the programme, as well as the vast land resources available for disposal (dry, remote places allow for easier and more effective security measures)