Decommissioning of nuclear installations in Russia and the other countries of the CIS Original Research Article

This study sums up the results of decommissioning of nuclear power plants (NPPs) and other nuclear installations in the period 1989–1994. Particular emphasis is put on the pre-decommissioning stage, the stage of final shutdown NPP units and facilities in the CIS. Special attention is given to the feasibility of VVER units, the recycling of metals from nuclear islands and the working up of specifications for residual activity concentration content in its materials, approaches to the design of bioshielding for the next generation NPPs and choice of their structural materials. Fundamental and applied research in the CIS over recent years is reviewed. It is stressed that fundamental investigations can change the approach to the solution of the problem for different nuclear installations decommissioning. Decommissioning of transportable nuclear facilities and integrated plants is also briefly outlined.