DECOMMISSIONING IS INEVITABLE: PLANNING SOONER RATHER THAN LATER CAN HAVE BIG PAYOFFS FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AND UTILITIES

It is inevitable that every nuclear facility must one day be retired and safely decommissioned. One of the conditions imposed by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) when it issues a commercial nuclear plant-operating license is that the licensee commit to decommissioning the plant after it shuts down. Utility owners tend to postpone decommissioning decisions until after a decision is made to terminate the reactor’s operating license. This paper puts forth a concept to perform meaningful and significant decommissioning planning while the reactor is still operating as a cost reduction and decommissioning schedule improvement initiative. Justification for early decommissioning planning as well as a scope of work for the planning effort is provided. Decommissioning costs are large and often exceed the reactor’s initial construction cost. The NRC initially licenses reactors to operate for 40 years and many of these plants are nearing the end of their licensed period. For many of these plants, decommissioning is looming on the horizon. Altho ugh some utilities are applying for operating license extensions, deregulation and economic considerations could have more of an effect on life expectancies of nuclear plants than aging. Decommissioning should be considered as an integral and important part of a nuclear plant’s life cycle management. Planning for decommissioning should begin before a decision is made to shut down the reactor. Decommissioning planning, if initiated well before plant shutdown, will not only reduce the life cycle costs of the facilities, but also improve the quality of the planning effort and shorten the decommissioning schedule. Since decommissioning is a reality that faces every commercial reactor, prudent management dictates that reactor owners make decommissioning planning part of normal reactor operations and reduce the overall cost to the ratepayers.