Founders and early scientists

Abstract

In the history of decommissioning, the histories of the individual scientific and industrial disciplines that compound decommissioning have played a significant role. The developments of these have shown that the responsible scientists and engineers could adapt and re-form their backgrounds when faced with the challenges of an integrated discipline. This chapter is a tribute to hundreds of scientists, contractors and operators who have embarked on nuclear decommissioning at a time it was a somehow empirical enterprise and have vigorously helped to push knowledge and experience forward and to establish a new, yet sound discipline. The chapter provides curricula of a few people the author came to know well personally, who were active for many years in nuclear decommissioning and left an historical mark including communities of practices and schools of thought. But apologies are due to their uncountable colleagues who are not mentioned here.