ABSTRACT
Decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear facilities have received considerable attention, especially with regard to the technical, financial, and environmental issues. While decontamination is always required for decommissioning, the reverse is not true, as decon is not always followed by decommissioning of the facility. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Surplus Facilities Management Program has the objectives of surveillance and maintenance of surplus contaminated facilities awaiting decommissioning as well as implementation of a structured decommissioning program. Different amounts of wastes are generated from decommissioning of commercial fuel cycles, that is, facilities for uranium conversion, uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication, and reactors and reprocessing plants. Decommissioning of commercial nuclear power plants is governed by Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations 10CFR2, 10CFR50, and 10CFR51, the last two of which were first issued in 1988. After a 1999 reorganization in DOE, these functions were assigned to the Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization Program under DOE's Office of Environmental Management.
