Decommissioning costs some international perspectives & initiatives Presentation for Panel discussion Simon Carroll, Swedish Radiation Safety Authority & Chair of OECD-NEA Decommissioning Cost Estimation Group WMS-2016, Phoenix, USA, 7 th March 2016 Session #024: Getting a Handle on Decommissioning Costs - a Global Perspective
Financing for decommissioning Are the cost estimates valid? Are the financing arrangements suitable? Are the fund management systems appropriate? Fund management Financing Cost estimates
Cost estimates Estimated, analysed & updated on a regular basis, but... Cost comparisons not straight-forward Incomplete understanding of variability between estimates Multiple internal & external factors impact estimates: Institutional, legal & policy, purpose Strategies & plans; overall context Facility characteristics & history Contingencies & risk Limited actual cost data The financing arrangements A range of systems in place Historical development Implementation of Funding Policy and Strategy Considerable variations in: Calculating funding requirements, contributions / provisions Allocating risks & requirements for securities Managing funds & accounting, adjusting the system Managing disbursements Reporting & supervision
All cost estimates for future decommissioning activities include considerable uncertainties. These uncertainties will gradually diminish with growing experience from current and planned projects. Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities: feasibility, needs & costs, OECD-NEA, 1986 Different costing methods have different data requirements their reliability depends on the extent to which various data are available and applicable to the specific case being considered. Independent of the assessment method, some uncertainty is inevitable in all estimates of future costs analysis of the costing method may be useful in order to locate the key uncertainties in each specific estimate. Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities: an analysis of the variability of decommissioning cost estimates, OECD-NEA, 1991.
The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and decommissioning Steering Committee for Nuclear Energy Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) Nuclear Development Committee (NDC) Working Party on Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD) DCEG Several other TGs Ongoing Co-operation Expert Group on Costs of Decommissioning (COSTSDEC) Structure, Adequacy and Financing of Funding Arrangements for Decommissioning 2013 2015, Completed New, to be launched in late 2016
NEA s Decommissioning Cost Estimation Group (DCEG) Launched in 2008 Chair: Simon CARROLL (SSM, Sweden), Vice-Chair: Sylvain DESECURES (EDF, France) Members: ~45 from 15 countries + EC, IAEA; Regulators, Implementers, Waste Management Organisations, etc. Number of reference publications Current focus: Uncertainties in decommissioning cost estimation Joint undertaking with IAEA Target publication date early 2017 Created to foster the exchange of information & experience Aims to enhance the credibility, reliability, and auditability of the cost estimation process Helps define international good practices in decommissioning cost estimation
Some progress made in cost estimation Improvements in: Comprehensiveness Quality Consistency Comparability Addressed in NEA reports: ISDC 2012 Practice of cost estimation Peer review Uncertainties & risks (ongoing)
but some major challenges remain! Weaknesses in: Understanding relations between estimates and actual costs Lack of relevant cost data; sharing data How might be addressed: Improved sharing of cost data Systematic analyses of estimates & actual costs Developing benchmarking approaches Increased awareness of the challenges. but little progress made!
NEA reports on decommissioning costing International Structure for Decommissioning Costing (ISDC) of Nuclear Installations (2012) Guidance on developing cost estimates & common platform for presenting them Facilitates comparisons between cost estimates Recommended by the NEA, the IAEA and the EC http://www.oecd-nea.org/rwm/reports/2012/isdc-nuclear-installations.pdf The Practice of Cost Estimation for Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities (2015) Guidance for preparing and presenting quality decommissioning cost and schedule estimates www.oecd-nea.org/rwm/pubs/2015/7237-practice-cost-estimation.pdf Guide for International Peer Review of Decommissioning Cost Studies for Nuclear Facilities (2014) Framework for decommissioning cost reviewers and reviewees to prepare for and conduct international peer reviews of decommissioning cost estimate Promotes transparency and accountability https://www.oecd-nea.org/rwm/pubs/2014/7190-guide-peer-reviews.pdf Costs of Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants (2016) Presents the results of an NEA review of the costs of decommissioning nuclear power plants and of overall funding practices http://www.oecd-nea.org/ndd/pubs/2016/7201-costs-decom-npp.pdf New! All NEA reports free at: http://www.oecd-nea.org/rwm/public-documents/
Thank you! Simon Carroll Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten Swedish Radiation Safety Authority E-post: simon.carroll@ssm.se