EU nuclear unit decommission funds shortfall by 33%

According to report released by the European Court of Auditors, the estimated cost of decommissioning Soviet-designed, first generation nuclear reactors in Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia will be at least €5.7bn, and could be double that if the cost of final disposal of high-level waste is included. However, the Auditors found that the EU funding programmes set up to assist with meeting this requirement should have reached €3.8bn in 2020, which would cover only two third of the costs.



The auditors examined the progress made in the EU’s nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes since 2011. The three Member States have put in place some key, temporary waste-management infrastructure onsite, but nearly all the key infrastructure projects have experienced delays. Lithuania has even postponed the decommissioning end-date by a further nine years to 2038.



The decommissioning of eight Soviet-designed nuclear reactors at three nuclear power plant sites at Ignalina (Lithuania, 2,600 MW, closed in 2004-2009), Kozloduy (Bulgaria, 1,760 MW, 2002-2006) and Bohunice (Slovakia, 880 MW, 2006-2008) was a condition for the countries’ EU accession. The shutdown and subsequent decommissioning of these nuclear reactors before the end of their design lifetimes represented a significant financial and economic burden. The EU therefore agreed to provide financial support, starting in 1999. By 2020, EU support will have totalled €2.955bn for nuclear decommissioning, with Lithuania receiving the biggest share (€1.553bn), followed by Bulgaria (€731m), and then Slovakia (€671m). In addition, in the period up to 2013, €890m was made available for projects designed to help mitigate some of the effects of lost national energy production capacity due to early closure.