So recent saves will load once, but after that, loading any save or returning to the main menu causes a crash? (during the 'cleaning up session' procedure)

Unfortunately, this (and the fact that older saves and a new game are ok) likely means there is something corrupt in the save itself.
How far back is your last save that you can reload twice? If you don't want to reload and redo the section of the game since this started, you should hopefully be able to avoid the problem by quitting the game and restarting each time you want to reload a save.