What are some problems associated with decommissioning?

Answer 1

There are three options for decommissioning a nuclear power plant. One is to decommission immediately, another is to go into "safe store" for decommissioning later, and the third is entombment.

Entombment means putting the entire plant into concrete or some other material that will encapsulate it. Something like this was done at Chernobyl, because there really was no choice on the matter, but it is not possible to do this completely and permanently. There is always the worry that the entombment materials will break down, or that the plant will begin leaking into the ground water.

Decommissioning a nuclear power plant has to be done in a way that is safe for the workers, the people who live and work in the area, and the environment. The plant has to be taken apart without putting radioactive materials, or other potentially poisonous materials, into the air, onto the land, or into the ground water. The buildings have to be torn down, and the equipment broken down and carried off. Anything buried has to be dug up and removed. Any accident that takes place in these operations has the potential to be seriously polluting.

There are pros and cons for immediate decommissioning or safe store. The decommissioning operation is less risky after safe store because the most highly radioactive materials have been allowed to decay quite a lot, but the time it takes leaves people nervous about the continued viability of corporations and decommissioning funds, not to mention the presence of an aging and obsolete nuclear power plant which, they fear, might have some problem due to the passing of time.