UK Committee Says Cleanup Costs Could Rise 'Significantly'
Written by NucNet
Thursday, 10 July 2008
NucNet News No. 55
10 Jul (NucNet): The cost of decommissioning nuclear power sites in the
UK could rise "significantly" above the 73 billion pounds (GBP) (144
billion US dollars, 91 billion euro) already estimated, a cross-party
committee of MPs (members of parliament) has said.
In a report published today the Public Accounts Committee (CPA) said the cost for work over the next five years had already risen "steeply".
It added that the latest cost estimates - prepared in 2007 - indicate that it will cost GBP 73 billion to run those nuclear sites still operating and decommission the NDA's sites over the next 100 years. "This is an increase of 30 percent since 2003, and there is a risk that costs may rise further," the CPA said.
"We cannot be confident... that even this figure will not be significantly upped when the estimates are next revised," said Edward Leigh, chairman of the CPA. "Estimating costs far into the future is of course a precarious business; but elements of cost that might be expected to be more predictable - such as the work expected to be undertaken over three next five years - have risen steeply."
The CPS said the NDA is dealing with "a legacy of deferred decision-making" going back over 50 years of the UK's nuclear power programme.
The committee also pointed out that the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR), which oversees the NDA, is unable to provide complete assurance that the cost of decommissioning new nuclear power plants will not fall on future taxpayers.
It called on the government to make sure operators meet future decommissioning costs even before permitting new nuclear power plants to be built.
In January 2008, the government announced it would allow energy companies the option of investing in new nuclear power plants. The government said at the time that operators will be expected to meet the full cost of decommissioning new facilities and their full share of waste management costs.
The NDA was established in April 2005 to oversee the decommissioning of the UK's civil public sector nuclear sites. It is sponsored by the DBERR, which approves its strategy and plans. Scottish Ministers approve its strategy and plans for Scottish sites. By December 2007, 14 of the NDA's 19 sites had already shut down and were being decommissioned, and parts of Sellafield, the UK's largest site, were being cleaned-up.
The CPA report, 'Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - Taking Forward Decommissioning, is on the committee's website (www.parliament.uk).
Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
UK Clean-Up Costs Increase To GBP 64 Billion (World Nuclear Review No. 43 27 October 2006)
