ABSTRACT
Undoubtedly, the pace of decommissioning in the US and abroad has increased significantly since the mid-1980s. Current events have served to further accelerate the pace of decommissioning-post-Cold War downsizing at the Department of Defense (DoD) and DOE facilities, deregulation of electricity markets will continue to hasten the shutdown of nuclear reactors that are economically unviable and, perhaps most volatile, political motives have resulted in the shutdown of nuclear power programs in some countries. So, while the number of decommissioning projects has been rising lately, it is important to remember that decommissioning has been around since the inception of nuclear programs for military, power and research applications.
