Link to the study - European Parliament - Europa

Policy Department D: Budgetary Affairs
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3. IDENTIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF BEST PRACTICES IN
DECOMMISSIONING
This chapter describes project practices and experiences made in decommissioning in several
western European countries. The aim is to identify current best practices in such projects. The
identified best practices shall, in later chapters, be used to compare the projects in Bulgaria, Lithuania
and Slovakia with these, to identify differences that can or have caused delays and cost-overruns and
to identify factors that have the potential to cause disadvantageous developments in respect to costs
and risks. They shall also be used to draw recommendations for improving those projects and to
avoid those drawbacks in the future.
Chapter 3.1:
Discusses criteria for identifying best practices in Europe and also names exclusion criteria;
Selects the depth and extent to which the selected examples have to be described and
evaluated, and lists aspects to be looked at in detail.
The examples from France are described and evaluated in chapter 3.2.
Selected aspects from a large decommissioning project in the UK are further described and evaluated
in chapter 3.3.
Chapter 3.4 describes and evaluates the case of Energiewerke Nord (EWN) in Germany in detail.
The overall results of the best practice examples are summarized in chapter 3.5.
3.1. SELECTION CRITERIA FOR COMPARISON
The following criteria for the selection of examples are seen as relevant to ensure an as-close-aspossible
comparability with the projects in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia:
1. Reactor size and type
The size of reactor(s) to be decommissioned shall be in the range above 100 MWel in order that
the complete project framework is comparable to the three countries in terms of its complexity,
its management and coordination requirements, its regulatory requirements, etc.. Reactors
smaller than 100 MWel - such as the pilot plant Versuchsatomkraftwerk Kahl (VAK)/Germany,
even though one of the few projects that has been completely decommissioned - are
substantially different in this regard and need not to be taken into account.
2. Operational phase duration
Contamination levels, technological complexity, regulatory requirements and waste
management issues are only comparable with nuclear power plants operated over periods of at
least several years. Shorter term operated plants, such as Niederaichbach/Germany or
Heißdampfreaktor Großwelsheim/Germany, even though decommissioning to the 'Green Field'
status has been totally completed, do not yield a comparable scale due to significantly lower
levels of contamination.
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