Proceedings of a symposium, Vienna, 6–10 November 1989. The purpose was to provide a forum for review of actual experience gained and lessons learned from recovery techniques and operations in response to serious accidents at nuclear facilities and accidents associated with radioactive materials, and also to consider the development of emergency planning and preparedness resources. A special feature of the symposium programme was a full session on an accident involving a chemical explosion in a high level waste tank at a plutonium extraction plant in the Southern Urals in the USSR in 1957. Contents: Recovery operations from accidents with radioactive materials; On-site recovery operations (nuclear facilities); Offsite recovery operations (nuclear facilities); The accident in the Southern Urals in 1957; Lessons learned from radiological accidents.