decommission
/diːkəˈmɪʃ(ə)n
/verb [with object]
1Withdraw (something, especially weapons or military equipment) from service: a decision to decommission the ice patrol ship HMS Endurance...
- If a deal is reached, the IRA is expected to make the first move with plans to decommission its weapons and stand down its military organisation.
- If the IRA decommissions its weapons, this stance is arguably no longer relevant.
- A problem is defining a role for the UVF now that the IRA has said that its armed campaign is at an end and has decommissioned its weapons.
1.1Make (a nuclear reactor) inoperative and dismantle it safely: we need to decommission old nuclear power stations (as noun decommissioning) decommissioning was a lengthy, expensive, and potentially hazardous enterprise...
- During the discussion in Brussels Kovachev stressed that all applicant countries, which should decommission nuclear reactors by set deadlines, also have a time frame for accession to the EU.
- British Energy, owner of most of Britain's reactors, had to have a £1 billion-plus bail-out from the government with at least £40 billion more needed to decommission old reactors.
- In a more realistic scenario, Bulgaria will decommission reactors 1 and 2 by end - 2002 as agreed upon with the EC and it will preserve reactors 3 and 4.