Economic consequences of premature decommissioning of a nuclear power plant

Abstract

Models of the fuel and energy system and the unified electric power system are used to predict the economic consequences of the premature decommissioning of nuclear power plants in Russia. The components of the expenditures considered were capital investments for converting heat and power plants, additional capital investments for development of a fuel base and transportation of fuel and electricity, expenditures for improving the safety of nuclear power plants, and additional expenditures on fossil fuel. After model calculations were completed, results were compared for accelerated decommissioning and base variants and the difference of the indicators and additional expenditures were found. Conclusions drawn from the modeling results were: (1) premature decommissioning of BBER-440 and RBMK-1000 reactors will require capital investments and fuel expenditures which exceed estimates made by the European and World Banks; and (2) program implementation may be economically unfeasible; it may be more realistic to decommission separate nuclear power plants with the least reliable reactors and upgrade safety of the remaining plants. 9 refs., 5 tabs.