Workgroup for Economic and Infrastructure Policy (WIP)

Best Practices for Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants: How to ensure efficient plant decommissioning under different regulatory schemes

When nuclear power plants were built, the focus was on construction, licensing and operation, not decommissioning. Rather, decommissioning was viewed as a distant problem that was discounted away. This failure to plan properly has led to poor outcomes in the few decommissioning cases that have already been implemented (McIntyre 2012). Yet hundreds of plants worldwide will need to be decommissioned in the coming decades, many without adequate planning, experience, capacity, or funding.

In the SNSF-funded project "Best Practices for Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants: How to ensure efficient plant decommissioning under different regulatory schemes", we aim to investigate and identify best practices for timely, safe and cost-effective decommissioning of nuclear power plants around the world. We rely on a three-step research process: review, economic analysis, and synthesis of best practices.

In the first stage of the project, we review and analyze the status quo of nuclear decommissioning policies and practices in the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, and Japan. Based on this deep understanding of the "situation on the ground" in each country, we identify general decommissioning regulations. In a second step of the project, we perform analyses on each of the identified schemes focusing on four main topics: legal and regulatory aspects, financial provisions, external conditions, and decommissioning production. Third and finally, we summarize the results of the country reviews and analyses to compare the different approaches and compile a set of best practices for current and emerging nuclear power countries. Throughout the project, we emphasize consultation and dissemination of information from industry, government, and nuclear power country regulators.

 

Relevant content

Interim project results were presented at an IAEE Webinar on 30 May 2023: https://www.iaee.org/en/webinars/webinar_cvh.aspx

Corresponding summarizing publication: Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants: Regulation, Financing, and Production, DIW Data Documentation 104: https://www.diw.de/de/diw_01.c.864236.de/publikationen/data_documentation/2023_0104/decommissioning_of_nuclear_power_plants__regulation__financing__and_production.html

More information is available here: https://fonew.unibas.ch/de/projects/ongoing-projects/snf-nuclear-decommissioning/

IAEE Webinar on Nuclear Decommissioning

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