Decommissioning

The decommissioning and dismantling of a nuclear power plant is a labour-intensive and time-consuming undertaking. However, there are already numerous international reference projects, so relevant practical experience is available for all the planned work. In this context, as during the actual operation of power plants, it is important for the work to be carried out diligently and in compliance with the radiation protection requirements.

A safe technical post operational phase must be established following the final cease of operation. This process requires compliance with the same safety measures which were already in place during operation.

The plant is then definitively shut down when all fuel elements have been transferred to the spent fuel pool and the technical and organisational measures required for establishing the technical post operational phase have been implemented.

The establishment of the technical post operational phase must be followed by further cooling of the fuel elements in the spent fuel pool. The technical post operational phase ends at the point when all fuel elements have been removed from the nuclear power plant.

The following decommissioning projects are currently underway:

The following nuclear facilities have already been decommissioned:

  • Lucens
  • Research reactor at the University of Basel

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