Status and development of nuclear power plant decommissioning technologies

The dismantling of more than 20 nuclear power plants has now been finished or is continuing toward completion of decommissioning. This experience has matured many technologies and clarified technological issues that remained to be solved. The paper reviews the status of the major decommissioning technologies used for large light water reactors throughout the world and the main development efforts in Japan. These cover decontamination, dismantling and remote operation, radiological characterization, waste processing and recycling, and systems engineering. Certain important issues, however, still remain, and require co-operation from a broad spectrum of various specialized fields. Intensified international co-operation will, therefore, be necessary for the safe and rational implementation of nuclear facility decommissioning.