Management Of Long Term Radiological Liabilities: Stewardship Challenges (technical Reports Series (international Atomic Energy Agency))

Radioactively contaminated sites often cannot be remediated to residual levels of contamination that are not of concern and released for unrestricted use. Residual contamination, buried wastes and other hazards may remain after cleanup is complete, for several reasons: technical limitations, economic feasibility, worker health and safety issues, or prevention of collateral environmental impacts. An optimization between social and economic cost and level of protection has to be found. Hence, maintenance of institutional control is likely to be required for very long periods of time. The present publication discusses the relevant issues and approaches to tackle the conceptual, managerial and technical problems of maintaining institutional control over possibly hundreds or even thousands of years. These provisions and processes for maintaining institutional control over prolonged periods of time and for managing the radiological liabilities are often referred to as 'stewardship'.--Publisher's description