Decommissioning and Disposal

When a nuclear power station comes to the end of its useful life, decommissioning of the station commences. The aim of decommissioning is to eventually return the site to its pre-nuclear state, allowing alternative uses with no nuclear legacy remaining from its time as a nuclear power station site.

Dismantling of the station takes place in stages, taking full account of public safety in containing the radioactivity at all times.

The nuclear companies' "safestore" decommissioning strategy provides for reactor defuelling immediately after shutdown. This takes 2-3 years and removes 99.9% of the residual radioactivity.

Demolition of non-radioactive plant and buildings and dismantling of some radioactive plant is then undertaken. This is followed by the safe and secure maintenance of remaining structures for up to 135 years before final dismantling and site clearance.This ensures that radiation has fallen to a safe working level; it also reduces the amount of radioactive waste that has to be found a 'new home' as the waste is stored at the site.

In its Radioactive Waste Management Policy Review in 1995, the Government acknowledged the suitability of the safestore strategy. It required operators to submit their decommissioning proposals every five years for review by the Health and Safety Executive, in consultation with the Environment Agencies.

Whilst recognising that the nuclear companies were in the process of making full provision for decommissioning in their accounts, the Review nevertheless required the establishment ofsegregated decommissioning funds for the privatised parts of the industry.

Due to the vast expense of decommissioning the Government took over the cost for taxpayers to foot the bill. The 2019 Report indicates the latest state of waste disposal in the UK - much of which is still in the planing stage.

The first commercial UK reactor to be closed for decommissioning was the Magnox station at Berkeley. Decommissioning work started in 1989 and today in 2020 the first waste was removed from the site. Final disassembly is not timetabled until 2074 - long after I will be dead and buried!

The Magnox stations at Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia (The final clearance of the site is scheduled to begin in 2071. By 2083 the area is expected to have been restored to its pre-nuclear state; 124 years after construction started) and at Hunterston in Scotland (Demolition of reactor buildings and final site clearance is planned for 2072 to 2080) are also being decommissioned; both have been defuelled and work is continuing in line with the safestore strategy. Minimising any adverse impacts on the environment is a key objective throughout this work.

When reading about the decommissioning consider the time scale and cost - remember that taxpayers pay for decommissioning - therefore the 'cost' of nuclear energy is a lot higher than it appears - we are still paying for energy that was produced years ago.... nuclear power is not cheap if you include decommissioning cost.

Cost of decommissioning:

- Telegraph

- BBC - proposal to 'speed up' decommissioning - never happened!