The cost to decommission Soviet-designed, first-generation nuclear reactors in Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia could total up to 11.4 billion euros ($12.7 billion), according to a report issued Tuesday by the European Court of Auditors.
Additionally, financing is not keeping up with the rising costs. The gap between decommissioning costs and financing is now €1.56 billion ($1.7 billion) in in Lithuania, €92 million ($102.8 million) in Slovakia, and €28 million ($31 million) in Bulgaria, the report says.
The European Court of Auditors blamed this on the fact that European Union decommissioning funding programs haven’t produced the right incentives for “timely and cost-effective decommissioning, with nearly all the key infrastructure projects having experienced delays.”
“I am concerned that key decommissioning projects have suffered delays, that financing gaps remain, and that insufficient progress is being made towards final disposal of high-level nuclear waste,” Phil Wynn Owen, a member of the European Court of Auditors, said in Tuesday’s statement.
According to the auditing organization, dismantling of major components in lower radiation-level areas, such as turbine halls, has progressed at plants in Lithuania (Ignalina), Bulgaria (Kozloduy), and Slovakia (Bohunice), but there are significant challenges in higher-radiation-level areas, such as the reactor buildings.
The Ignalina decommissioning is estimated to cost more than 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion). There are about 22,000 fuel assemblies at the site, or 2,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. About 1,800 tons of that fuel is stored in the reactor and storage pools.
The Kozloduy decommissioning is estimated to cost in excess of 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), while the Bohunice decommissioning is tallied at about 838 million euros ($935 million).
“The three Member States have put in place some key, temporary waste-management infrastructure onsite, but nearly all the key infrastructure projects have experienced delays,” the press release states. “The longest were in Lithuania, where the decommissioning end-date has, since 2011, been postponed by a further nine years to 2038.”
The auditors recommended the European Commission and its member states seek increases in “national co-financing during the 2014-2020 financing period.” Decommissioning costs are shared by EU member states.
Other recommendations for the EU and its member states include: reconsideration of dedicated funding programs to create greater incentives to pursue decommissioning; rearranging EU nuclear decommissioning staffing assistance; and working with fellow member states so that all future decommissioning costs are accounted for.
Lithuania Issues License for Spent Fuel Storage Site at Ignalina
The Lithuanian State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) on Tuesday issued an operating license for a new interim spent fuel storage facility (ISFSF) at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP).
The operating license allows the plant to commission the facility and begin hot trial tests with 10 new design casks, which involves loading the casks with spent fuel and moving them to interim storage, VATESI said in a press release Wednesday. If the tests are successful, VATESI will then grant permission for commercial operation at the new storage facility. INPP plans to move all spent fuel to the ISFSF before the close of 2022.
Located in Visaginas, the storage facility will hold about 190 containers housing roughly 16,000 spent fuel rods for 50 years, according to the release.
