Experience shows that dismantling of nuclear facilities can take a long time dependig on chosen decommissioning strategy, availability of waste management infrastructure or facilities radioactive inventory, for example. The selection of a decommissioning strategy may be influenced by several factors, and there are examples of where the initially selected strategy was subsequently changed.

Decay storage of large components with later segmentation may result in less amount of radioactive waste as well as less radiation dose for workers. The extent and spread of contamination can also influence the urgency of implementation of cleanup actions on the site and can influence the decommissioning timeline.

In cases of interdependencies between facilities located on sites having more than one facility, the decommissioning strategy for individual facilities can be coupled with an decommissioning strategy for the site as a whole.

The session „Decommissioning of nuclear facilities“ intends to provide examples for decommissioning projects and discusses the consequences of the factor time for safe and efficient decommissioning.

This session shall cover all aspects on storage, final storage, transport and conditioning with their interrelationships to improve storage and final storage.

Since its inception, nuclear technology has had a global impact, from the development of nuclear weapons and the production of electricity. The complex impact on communities, ongoing decommissioning of nuclear sites, and radioactive waste management has required in-depth research into issues of the past, the needs of the present, with reference to collective responsibility to future generations.
Research fields and disciplines, such as social and cultural anthropology, heritage studies, critical heritage studies, archaeology, science and technology studies, arts and many more have developed concepts, frames and terms to grasp the relations between pasts, presents and futures of nuclear cultures and memories.
Against this background we invite theoretical, empirical and artistic approaches on the following open-ended list of topics:
- nuclear waste and its storage
- nuclear political identities and cultures on national, regional and local level
- decision making processes about nuclear memory
- nuclear energy landscapes- ongoing and decommissioned
- heritagisation of nuclear infrastructure
- nuclear cultural heritage and heritage futures
- ….