[en] Most of the technical literature on decommissioning addresses the regulatory, organizational, technical and other aspects for large facilities such as nuclear power plants, reprocessing plants and relatively large prototype, research and test reactors. There are, however, a much larger number of licensed users of radioactive material in the fields of medicine, research and industry. Most of these nuclear facilities are smaller in size and complexity and may present a lower radiological risk during their decommissioning. Such facilities are located at research establishments, biological and medical laboratories, universities, medical centres, and industrial and manufacturing premises. They are often operated by users who have not been trained or are unfamiliar with the decommissioning, waste management and associated safety aspects of these types of facility at the end of their operating lives. Also, for many small users of radioactive material such as radiation sources, nuclear applications are a small part of the overall business or process and, although the operating safety requirements may be adhered to, concern or responsibility may not go much beyond this. There is concern that even the minimum requirements of decommissioning may be disregarded, resulting in avoidable delays, risks and safety implications (e.g. a loss of radioactive material and a loss of all records). Incidents have occurred in which persons have been injured or put at risk. It is recognized that the strategies and specific requirements for small facilities may be much less onerous than for large ones such as nuclear power plants or fuel processing facilities, but many of the same principles apply. There has been considerable attention given to nuclear facilities and many IAEA publications are complementary to this report. This report, however, attempts to give specific guidance for small facilities. 'Small' in this report does not necessarily mean small in size but generally modest in terms of complexity, safety risk and radiological inventory. The key objective of this report is to provide information, experience and assistance on what is appropriate and sufficient for policy makers, regulators and operators of small facilities. It is intended to promote timely and cost effective decommissioning and waste management at the end of the life of a facility so as to render such a facility harmless. No statements in the report are intended to be prescriptive. There is significant documentation on the decommissioning of large nuclear facilities but the more modest requirements of small facilities have received little attention. If users of small facilities only have available to them published information for large, complex facilities, then there may be a tendency to overreact and engage in elaborate or unnecessary studies and activities. They also may shy away from important issues and do too little, either because they are not trained or advised properly or they do not have a decommissioning plan or adequate human and financial resources. They also are often unaware of the requirements, both legal and technical, of decommissioning and waste management. Some decades ago, when the first large power and demonstration reactors started to be shut down, there were many unknowns and uncertainties on how to proceed. There is now a significant experience database on common problems, which has been shared by the international nuclear power industry. This is not necessarily the case for small facilities, however, and this report is intended to encourage the interchange of information and experience. It is intended in this report to cover all aspects of decommissioning small facilities in which radioactive material and radiation sources are produced, received, used and/or stored. Power reactors, prototype and demonstration reactors, larger research reactors, fuel processing and reprocessing plants and their associated large nuclear chemical facilities, and all forms of waste disposal are outside the scope of this report and have been covered adequately elsewhere. While a clear cut definition of small facilities that distinguishes them from large facilities is not possible, this report provides information that warrants consideration for all nuclear facilities that do not fall into the specific categories given above. Facilities covered by this report include the large number of licensed or registered nuclear facilities in which nuclear science and technology is often used as an aid or tool (e.g. radioactive sources), particularly in industry, medicine, universities and research establishments. These types of facility are elaborated upon further in the next section. Three important aspects are dealt with in this report: strategy, planning and technical issues. Each of these aspects are elaborated upon in more detail in subject areas such as organization and responsibility, waste management, quality assurance and costs