Link to the study - European Parliament - Europa

Nuclear Decommissioning: Management of Costs and Risks
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Table 4: Extrapolation of the costs of dismantling the current fleet, 11 international
references, in billion EUR in 2010
COUNTRY AND
AMOUNT OF
ESTIMATING
METHODS
EDF SWEDEN BELGIUM JAPAN
USA
(3 METHODS)
UK
GERMANY
(4 METHODS)
Extrapolation for
58 reactors
18.1 20 24.4 38.9
27.3
33.4
34.2
46
25.8
34.6
44
62
Source: (CdC 2012)
As can be seen the estimated fleet decommissioning costs, as compared on a relatively shallow basis
and not considering a detailed analysis (facility-specific estimates, special effects, national framework
conditions, etc.), are in most cases in the order of EUR 20 billion, with a variation range of a factor of
two (several cases) to three (single case, maximum). The identified differences are relevant for the
case they were calculated for (how large shall set-aside funds for decommissioning be), but are too
shallow to yield a reliable comparison base for specific facilities in other countries, of a different size
and operating history, etc.
Conclusions
The cost estimates for the decommissioning of the existing reactors that are under shut down state at
EDF are made on a basis:
Of facility-specific decommissioning plans that reflect the recent planning progress status and
are detailed enough to yield reliable estimates for the purpose they are made for (evaluation of
the set-aside funds within EDF’s assets);
Of a continuous update, so that the estimates reflect the current execution state and the recent
knowledge/experience status of the projects;
That yields robust results, if these are based on the same price base (reference year).
The cost analysis estimates are state-of-the-art and can be used as best-practice reference: cost
analysis for decommissioning projects should not be performed with a smaller degree of detail or
with less reliable methods.
The analysis for the decommissioning of EDF’s complete reactor fleet under operation is less reliable
as it simply up-scales figures gained from one project (Chooz A) that is currently in an early state of
decommissioning to the complete reactor fleet to yield the necessary reserves of funds for this
purpose. The doubts that the 'Cour des Comptes' has raised (CdC 2012) concerning the reliability of
those long-term estimates are therefore understandable. Those estimates do not contribute to the
identification of best practices and are not used any further.
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