The biggest decommissioning and waste management opportunities in Europe over the next 10 years will be in the United Kingdom and Germany, according to Nuclear Energy Insider’s 2016 European Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management Market Survey.
The survey featured responses from more than 200 international industry experts. The U.K. recorded 52.1 percent support as the top market, while Germany recorded 42.5 percent. Next in line was France, garnering 20.5 percent of the voting.
According to the survey, an estimated €80.4 billion will be spent internationally on nuclear decommissioning over the next 25 years as nearly 200 reactors are expected for shut down by 2040.
In the U.K., respondents said the greatest decommissioning opportunities over the next five to 10 years are at Sellafield, one of Europe’s largest nuclear sites, which accounts for 60 percent of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s budget. About 45 percent of respondents picked Sellafield, while EDF Energy’s nuclear power plants followed with 25.2 percent of the vote. Magnox tallied 14.8 percent, the Low Level Waste Repository took 8.1 percent, and Dounreay 5.9 percent.
The survey was developed in collaboration with the Nuclear Decommissioning Conference Europe, scheduled for May 31-June 1 in Manchester.
