Decommissioning fund evaluation considering a multiple reactor site

Abstract

In the next future, several nuclear power plants would reach the end of operational life. Most of them are being evaluated for long-term operation, while the remaining should be permanently shut down. For these ones, it should exist a decommissioning fund large enough to cost the project. Since some plants delay to start to collect provisions for the decommissioning fund, there is an elevated risk of lack of funds. The present work aims to evaluate the evolution of the decommissioning fund and when, or if, the lack of funds occurs considering a hypothetical multiple reactor site. The Brazilian site was taken as benchmark for this hypothetical site. Scenarios addressing normal operation, long-term operation and premature shutdown were evaluated. The decommissioning costs were estimated according to the multiple reactor approach. The novelty of the present work relies on the evaluation of the adequacy of decommissioning fund against the cost estimation performed. It was found that the lack of funds occurs in some scenarios evaluated for the oldest plant and when it could not operate in the long term, as well as, for the newest plant, if required to shut it down prematurely after a very brief operating time.