Nuclear Decommissioning and Nuclear Waste Management

The permanent shutdown of a nuclear facility requires a range of decommissioning activities across the extent of the nuclear site and facility itself. This involves a series of administrative and technical actions related to the safe dismantling and decontamination of the plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency defines three options for decommissioning a nuclear installation:

Immediate Dismantling – also known as Early Site Release/Decontamination (‘Decon’) in the United States
Safe Enclosure (postponing the final decommissioning)
Entombment/Entomb (any remaining radioactive material remains on-site indefinitely)

Depending upon which of these options is used, decommissioning projects will have to deal with differing amounts of radioactive and non-radioactive material. As is the case with spent fuel and radioactive waste, which remains radioactive for thousands of years, any radioactive materials from a decommissioned nuclear power plant also requires careful management to protect people and the environment.

As a result, decontamination is a key step in decommissioning nuclear sites, often involving mechanical and chemical cleaning to remove radioactive substances from surfaces and systems as part of a wider waste management strategy.

Due to the complexities involved in the process, the total cost of decommissioning nuclear reactors can be high, which has led to international collaboration between bodies across member states, such as the United States Department of Energy, the Nuclear Energy Agency and the European Atomic Energy Community to share knowledge, reduce costs and improve safety within the bounds of regulatory control.

Press Releases

Find out more about nuclear decommissioning at TWI:

TWI Technology Used to Decommission Winfrith Reactor Core

A cutting-edge robotic laser designed at TWI has been used to decommission a nuclear reactor core at Winfrith.

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Nuclear Decommissioning at Sellafield using LaserSnake

TWI successfully completed the reduction of an active dissolver cell at Sellafield using a new development which could transform the dismantling of redundant nuclear equipment, leading to significant cost and time savings.

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TWI Lands NDA Innovation Award for Nuclear Decommissioning

TWI experts were received an award from the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority for the introduction of a new technology to decommission radioactive metal storage containers.

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Core Research Programme (CRP) and Joint Industry Projects (JIP)

Core Research

Each year the TWI Core Research Programme (CRP) addresses challenges on behalf of our Industrial Members as well as developing specific technologies and processes. Each of the projects under the CRP is focussed on engineering, materials or manufacturing technologies, including diffusion bonding.

Joint Industry Projects

TWI also conducts Joint Industry Projects (JIPs) that bring together groups of Industrial Members to share the cost of research activities in areas of mutual industrial interest, gaining exclusive access to the outcomes. These projects cover a broad range of topics, including diffusion bonding.

Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management at TWI

TWI has years of expertise in nuclear decommissioning, including having created innovative and award-winning solutions that have been adopted across the industry.

Our experience includes the decommissioning of both radioactive and non-radioactive materials. This includes laser cutting - including remote cutting - and laser scabbling solutions for decommissioning.

This includes earlier project work completed on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to demonstrate the capabilities of lasers for surface removal of contaminated concrete structures and size reduction of vessels and pipe work.

These activities helped reduce the overall cost of decommissioning by safely removing the radioactive materials on the surface of a structural part so that they can be carefully disposed of, allowing the remaining majority of the structure to be disposed of normally.

As a consequence of the interest generated by the successful completion of this work within the nuclear industry, particularly with respect to the cutting results, TWI demonstrated additional capabilities to cut thick section materials and to cut underwater.

Our expertise and innovation in nuclear decommissioning has seen us work with some of the biggest names in the industry, while our associated expertise and work to research reactor materials, construction and life extension gives us a unique insight into the decommissioning process at the end of life.

Nuclear Waste Disposal

Disposal of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste, particularly if it is high level, requires remote handling and long-term exclusion from the biosphere by encapsulation and shielding.

The latter is often achieved by sealing the waste material in metallic (often stainless steel) canisters specially chosen to survive very long-term storage (up to 100,000 years) in a deep geological repository.

As an extension of our expertise in nuclear decommissioning, TWI has unique global experience of the materials, design and fabrication aspects of nuclear waste containers used for the purpose of long term storage of radioactive waste and spent fuel.

As an independent organisation, TWI can assist our Industrial Members with key aspects of nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management.

For more information, please email contactus@twi.co.uk.

For more information please email:

contactus@twi.co.uk