Nuclear power production and nuclear fuel cycle activities

The various stages of the nuclear fuel cycle and the operation and decom­missioning of nuclear reactors all have the potential to create contaminated sites. The contamination may include spillage of ore end-product at the mine and in transport; waste from enrichment and fuel fabrication opera­tions; fission product and actinide waste streams from reprocessing of fuel elements; radioactive effluents from normal operations of nuclear power plants; wastes produced during decommissioning of reactors; and major releases under accident conditions.