Link to the study - European Parliament - Europa

Policy Department D: Budgetary Affairs
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The largest type variation is found in Germany (six different types), followed by France (four types)
and the UK (3 types).
Duration of shutdown states
Another interesting point is the period over which the reactors in shutdown state have remained in
that state. Without going into detail into the reasons for each individual reactor, this shows on a more
general scale how 'fast' or 'slow' decommissioning projects currently are. Put simply: the longer the
shutdown period lasts the less priority is attributed to the decommissioning projects.
Figure 6: Times over which the current reactors in shutdown state have remained in that state
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Shut down times
31
25
# of reactors
20
15
10
14
16
12
11
5
4
0
30
Time elapsed since shut down started (Years)
Source: Authors, data derived from the IAEA-PRIS database (PRIS 2013)
The times displayed have to be compared with the estimate that the complete decommissioning of a
standard 400 MWel pressurized water reactor can be performed in less than 15 years (expert guess,
no real reference).
As can be seen more than half of the reactors that are in shutdown state have been so for periods
exceeding that. The majority are between 20 and 30 years in that stage, and one eighth of the
projects are in that state for even longer periods. Of the 46 reactors in shutdown mode for over 15
years only 8 have currently reached their final decommissioning stage. It can be concluded that in
general 'fast' decommissioning is currently not given top priority in the EU member states. Although
it is known that prolonged decommissioning causes additional costs and can give rise to serious
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