Decommissioning is the final stage in the lifecycle of any nuclear and radiological facility. Sustainability and circular economy principles demand that it be implemented safely, in a cost effective and environmentally sensitive manner and taking into account the future uses of the site.
There are valuable lessons to be learned from completed and ongoing decommissioning projects, covering a wide variety of facilities (educational and research facilities, fuel cycle facilities, research reactors and nuclear power plants), including decommissioning of facilities which experienced nuclear or radiological incidents and accidents.
The growing decommissioning demand worldwide will benefit from already completed and ongoing projects, but the increasing number of facilities to be decommissioned concurrently in the coming decades raises new challenges in terms of the infrastructure, resources and expertise needed to support their decommissioning.
The purpose of the event is to discuss achievements, challenges and lessons learned in the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, highlighting current priority needs and sharing information on strategies and approaches that enhance safe, secure and cost-effective implementation of programmes. The event will aim to raise awareness of the importance of addressing decommissioning as part of a sustainable future, supporting optimal use of the resources needed for implementation, enabling further development of sites, and providing relevant knowledge and inputs for new facilities under design or construction.
31 October2022
20 December 2022
31 January 2023
15 March 2023
14 Avril 2023
Track 1- Infrastructure and frameworks for effective and efficient decommissioning
This track will consider national policies and strategies, legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks (including decision making processes), financing mechanisms, integrated waste management and transportation systems and specific education and training infrastructure that need to be in place to enable and support the implementation of decommissioning programmes. Decommissioning is currently being implemented in many countries, and therefore wide experience already exists concerning the necessary infrastructure and frameworks to support these programmes.
Keynote topics may include:
Track 2 - Planning and preparing for decommissioning
This track will consider the planning and preparatory activities to be undertaken prior to commencement of decommissioning. Issues to be addressed will include: organizational approaches to conducting decommissioning as well as emerging contracting models such as licence transfer to specialist decommissioning organizations, cost estimation, human resource planning, procurement processes, assessment of facility conditions (including initial characterization surveys) and assessment of safety of proposed decommissioning actions, radioactive waste and materials management needs, available technologies for decommissioning implementation and associated research and development needs, licensing procedures and communication plans. The session will also cover forward planning by regulatory bodies in preparation for oversight of decommissioning implementation, including by evaluating staffing needs including the required competences, and procedures for oversight of implementation.
Keynote topics may include:
Track 3 - Implementing decommissioning projects
This track will consider current good practice in the implementation of decommissioning projects, providing opportunities for sharing experiences in discussing technical, regulatory or other challenges, including those gained from dealing with unexpected situations during decommissioning. Good practices in project management will be discussed, including relationships with the supply chain and management of project uncertainties and risks. Technology-specific decommissioning challenges (e.g., for sodium-cooled fast reactors and for graphite-moderated reactors) will be considered. Experiences from decommissioning projects being implemented in the aftermath of incidents or accidents will also be addressed, including consideration of relevant lessons learned and innovations developed to deal with such situations and that may be beneficial to other decommissioning projects.
Keynote topics may include:
Track 4 - Completing decommissioning projects
The track will consider the process of defining the decommissioning end state and the subsequent demonstration of its achievement, including determination of the physical, radiological, and other relevant conditions of the site and remaining structures at the end of decommissioning. The methods and approaches required to demonstrate compliance with relevant end state objectives and criteria will be discussed, including those to reach the agreed end state, radiological surveys and reporting of the final radiological condition and associated regulatory activities. For the case of site release with restrictions on future uses, the institutional measures and controls to be implemented after completion of decommissioning will be considered. The decision-making process related to end state determination, including involvement of stakeholders and considerations of the intended reuse (e.g. general, industrial, nuclear) will be discussed.
Keynote topics may include:
Track 5 – Perspectives on enhancing decommissioning effectiveness and efficiency
This track will consider innovations, including ongoing and planned research and development programmes and application of good practices and technologies from other industries, which would enable future and ongoing decommissioning projects to be implemented in a more sustainable manner. Lessons learned from ongoing projects suggest opportunities for a more effective and efficient decommissioning in the future, including decommissioning by design approach. Innovations, both technical and organizational, could contribute to achieving this objective. The management of assets, decommissioning of materials and waste in the context of circular economy principles, will also be discussed, including application of the waste hierarchy. Measures that may promote greater resilience in the supply chain and improved dialogue with stakeholders will be considered.
Keynote topics may include:
All persons wishing to participate in the event must be designated by an IAEA Member State or should be member of an organization that has been invited to attend. The list of invited organizations is available here.
Registration through the InTouch+ platform:
Access the InTouch+ platform (https://intouchplus.iaea.org):
Once signed in, prospective participants can use the InTouch+ platform to:
Once submitted through the InTouch+ platform, the application will be transmitted automatically to the required authority (e.g. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Permanent Mission to the IAEA or National Atomic Energy Authority). If approved, the application will automatically be sent to the IAEA.
NOTE: Should prospective participants wish to submit a paper or request financial support, the application needs to be submitted by the specified deadlines.
For additional information on how to apply for an event, please refer to the InTouch+ Help page. Any other issues or queries related to InTouch+ can be sent to InTouchPlus.Contact-Point@iaea.org.
If it is not possible to submit the application through the InTouch+ platform, prospective participants are requested to contact the IAEA’s Conference Services Section via email: Conference.Contact-Point@iaea.org.
Please visit the IAEA conference web page regularly for new information regarding this conference.