Is Entombment an Acceptable Option for Decommissioning? An International Perspective - 13488

Selection of a decommissioning strategy is one of the key steps in the preparation for decommissioning of nuclear facilities and other facilities using radioactive material. Approaches being implemented or considered by Member States include immediate dismantling, deferred dismantling and entombment. Other options or slight modifications of these strategies are also possible. Entombment has been identified in the current International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safety Standards as one of the three basic decommissioning strategies and has been defined as a decommissioning strategy by which radioactive contaminants are encased in a structurally long lived material until radioactivity decays to a level permitting the unrestricted release of the facility, or release with restrictions imposed by the regulatory body.