Decommissioning insight in NPP design: A case study of Indonesia

Abstract

A study on decommissioning insight in Indonesian legislation and regulations (L&R) regarding the design of NPP has been conducted. In general, decommissioning is merely associated with ageing facilities. However, based on extensive world experiences in decommissioning, especially in the last two decades, international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and NEA (Nuclear Energy Agency) have published many standards and technical documents regarding the importance of decommissioning considerations in facility design. Based on these international standards, Indonesia has established several decommissioning regulations that provide licensing requirements. The rules state that the design shall facilitate future decommissioning, and this need implementing guidance. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to assess the comprehensiveness of the L&R on decommissioning considerations in Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) design and to identify appropriate contents of the proposed relevant guidelines. This study is also significant to ensure the application of the intergenerational equity principle that the current use of nuclear energy shall not create excessive burdens for future generations. This study uses a descriptive, analytic, and qualitative methodology. Utilized secondary data, this study was complemented by comparative analyses between various international standards. This study concluded that the National L&R has facilitated decommissioning insight into NPP design, comparable to L&R in various NPP operating countries, both applying prescriptive and performance-based regulatory approaches, and met all relevant requirements standards issued by the IAEA. Furthermore, there were some rooms for improvement still, among others, by issuing regulations regarding the establishment of NPP Safety Analysis Report, developing technical guidelines for the consideration of decommissioning in the facility design phase, and guidelines for the management of design records or configuration management.