Chapter 23 - The Expanding Decommissioning Focus: A Comparison of Coal and Nuclear Costs

Are nuclear power plants the only industrial facilities that deserve decommissioning attention? Absent the radiation hazards of nuclear facilities, does it matter if other types of industrial equipment are decommissioned? If they are decommissioned, is the cost and effort large enough to really worry about? Daniel Williams examines these and other questions; by comparing the costs of decommissioning at comparable coal and nuclear power plants. Williams argues that the nuclear industry is setting the standard among industries in planning and preparing for decommissioning, and that the nuclear experience provides information that can be applied to the decommissioning of all types of facilities.