Best Practices for Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants: How to ensure efficient plant decommissioning under different regulatory schemes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian von Hirschhausen
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 423336886

Nuclear power is a major research field in engineering, but not in economic policy nor in industrial organization. The decommissioning process has been sparsely addressed so far, in part due to the few number of decommissioned reactors, but also because necessary regulations are still being established. When the first nuclear power plants (NPP) were built, focus was placed on operating rather than decommissioning, which led to poor outcomes for the few decommissioning cases already conducted. Given that worldwide hundreds of NPPs are going to be decommissioned in the coming decades and the estimated 1,000 billion USD value of the decommissioning market until 2050, there is an urgent need for a better understanding of decommissioning policy, regulations, and markets. This is the context for the project proposal at hand. We aim to identify the best practices to achieve a timely, safe, and cost-efficient decommissioning of NPPss globally. First, a timely decommissioning is crucial as the decommissioning process spans several decades and extensive delay would overburden future generations with financial, technical, and safety challenges. Second, a safe decommissioning process reduces safety risks to human health and the environment should nuclear material be released or an accident occur. Finally, a cost-efficient process will help reduce the high cost uncertainties, potential fund inadequacies, and avoid forcing taxpayers to assume the financial responsibility in case of bankruptcies. To achieve these research objectives, we propose a three-step research process: review, economic analysis, and synthesis of best practices. First, we research and analyze the status quo of nuclear decommissioning policy and practice in the U.S., France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the U.K., Lithuania, and Japan. Based on this deep understanding of the “situation on the ground” in each individual country, we identify general decommissioning regimes. Second, on each of the identified regimes we conduct analyses focused on four main themes: legal and regulatory; financial provisions; external conditions; and decommissioning production. These analyses use methods from institutional economics, neoclassical microeconomics, game theory, and finance. Third, and finally, we synthesize the findings from the country reviews and analyses to compare the various approaches and to compile a set of best practices for current and burgeoning nuclear power countries. Throughout the project, we place a large emphasis on consultation and dissemination with industry, government, and regulators from nuclear power countries. Furthermore, we have gathered an advisory board of experts to critique and guide our inquiry. We engage these stakeholders in workshops and bilateral meetings. The proposed project fills a significant gap in the scientific literature by providing the first comprehensive economic assessment of decommissioning policy. It is also of high social and economic

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Hannes Weigt