As AECL’s nuclear program is the second oldest in the world and the facilities in CRL were created during the second world war, AECL was one of the first countries to address the issue of decommissioning. In the 1970s AECL was active in evaluating and presenting papers on the subject. In the 1980s AECL was both active with the IAEA in developing policies and recommendations as well as decommissioning its redundant prototype and demonstration facilities around Canada. AECL has been in the decommissioning business for decades. We have decommissioned research reactors, prototype generating reactors, isotope production facilities and a numerous variety of nuclear laboratories/facilities.

The scope of our product offering encompasses the total decommissioning function from decommissioning planning (analysis, cost estimating, conceptual planning, surveys, site characterization, waste inventory assessment, asset recovery, waste stream planning, liaison with regulators and the public, environmental protection) through project management and execution of the decommissioning activity (removal of systems and components, dismantling, site remediation and restoration, waste volume characterization and volume reduction) through to free release verification of assets, waste materials, facilities and sites.

Some of the specific services/products AECL can offer in this area include:

• Decommissioning Planning
• Project Management in Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation
• Decommissioning Evaluations
• Waste Management
• Storage with Surveillance
• Decontamination and Demolition
• Site Remediation

Service Capability

• Facility and Site Characterization
• Site Operations and Safe Shutdown
• Storage with Surveillance
• Decommissioning Technologies
• Waste Management
• Design
• Equipment – remote and specialist
• Costing
• Post Facility clean-out
• Decommissioning preparation
• Plant Dismantling
• Waste conditioning
• Site remediation
• Disposal

Specialized In-house Support Capability

• Chemical, civil, mechanical, electrical, C&I (control & instrumentation), nuclear, and radiological engineering
• Health Physicists
• Industrial Hygienists
• Radiological Protection
• Analytical Chemistry
• Regulatory Specialists
• Waste Management Specialists
• Project Managers
• Environmental
• Regulator interface (Single Point of Contact)
• Operations
• Trades and Labour support
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Bioassay Lab