Decommissioning, nuclear safety and decommissioning

1.18 billion (0.55 for decommissioning and 0.63 for safety and decommissioning)

Specific fund for securing nuclear facilities at risk

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DG / Responsible Agencies:ENER | EBRD | JRC

Potential beneficiaries

Public authorities in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia; nuclear research sites of the Joint Research Center (JRC).

Description and objectives

This funding line aims to ensure the safe shutdown of eight Soviet-designed nuclear reactors in Lithuania (Ignalina NPP), Bulgaria (Kozloduy NPP), and Slovakia (Bohunice NPP); and to enable the safe decommissioning and management of radioactive waste from obsolete nuclear research facilities at the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC).

The process of decommissioning a nuclear facility (power plant or research reactor) includes closure activities, removal of nuclear material, and environmental restoration of the site. It is a long and complex process full of technical, technological and financial challenges, taking 20 to 30 years. This is a necessary process in light of the EU legal framework, which sets high safety standards for all activities related to nuclear facilities. On this basis:

• Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have brought forward the closure of their at-risk nuclear reactors, benefiting from EU support for related operations;

• the nuclear research facilities of the Joint Research Center (JRC) in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, which have become mostly obsolete, require the implementation of appropriate decommissioning plans.

Types of actions and projects

The actions under this funding line are very specific and have a special emphasis:

• On the management of immediate and future radiological safety challenges;

• On the creation of knowledge and know-how about the nuclear decommissioning process and radioactive waste management.

Management of the programs is entrusted to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Lithuanian and Slovak National Agencies, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC).

Because these are complex and long-term activities, the implementation of facility decommissioning, radioactive waste management and environmental upgrading operations follow specific plans structured based on the characteristics of each site.

The JRC will lead efforts to develop linkages and exchanges among Union stakeholders on nuclear decommissioning to ensure the dissemination of knowledge and sharing of experience in all relevant areas, such as research and innovation, regulation and training, and the development of potential Union synergies.

Highlights

Decommissioning of nuclear facilities, waste management, nuclear risk management, and environmental redevelopment of sites are long-term activities that require strong continuity with what has been accomplished in previous years. The European Commission and JRC report periodically on progress and the situation at the affected sites.