Nuclear decommissioning as “combination” of different industries with one and same objective

Abstract

Not unlike other disciplines and industries, nuclear decommissioning did not develop in isolation. Since the early years of the nuclear industry, maintenance, repair, retrofits and the management of unexpected waste streams at nuclear installations established the technical and scientific bases for what was to be called “nuclear decommissioning”. And this development started to happen long before decommissioning was recognized as a separate subject. Retrospectively, it is possible to see the signs of this development in early technical literature. The precursors of nuclear decommissioning were already at work in the 1950s, when the relatively primitive nuclear facilities of that time began to be built and operated—and were subject to malfunctions and repairs, until eventually they were so obsolete and aged that had to be taken out of service.