In a report published on Tuesday 20 September, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) notes, with regard to its previous examination from 2011, worrying delays in projects to decommission first-generation nuclear reactors of Soviet design in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia, the continued financing deficits in these projects and a lack of progress towards the permanent disposal of highly radioactive waste, warning that the final bill could be as high as €11.4 billion.
According to the external auditor of the EU, the estimated cost of the decommissioning of eight reactors on the sites at Kozloduy (Bulgaria), Ignalina (Lithuania) and Bohunice (Slovakia) will be at least €5.7 billion, or twice that amount including the cost for the permanent storage of the highly radioactive waste.
The audit reveals that the co-financing of the EU programmes by the member states remains very limited, stressing an estimated gap between the decommissioning costs and the financing earmarked of €1.56 billion in Lithuania, €28 million in Bulgaria and €92 million and Slovakia.
The EU financing programmes for the decommissioning of nuclear plants have not generated proper measures to encourage timely decommissioning with the proper cost-effectiveness ratio, ECA stresses, highlighting delays in practically all key infrastructure projects.
Although the authorities of the three countries have given assurances that the sites will be closed down irreversibly, the anticipated results have not all been fully achieved, ECA adds.
The dismantling of essential elements in lower-radiation zones, such as turbine halls, has made good progress on the three sites in question, but the crucial challenges posed by the work in areas of higher radiation, such as reactor buildings, have still to be met, it adds.
Temporary waste management infrastructure has been set in place in all three countries, but the projects have fallen behind schedule, most of all in Lithuania, where the final deadline has been put back by nine years since 2011, in other words has been postponed until 2038.
Finally, the auditor notes that the future costs for the decommissioning of the nuclear plants and permanent storage of spent fuel have still not been accounted for as provisions and/or included in the notes accompanying the accounts, which limits transparency and will make it harder for the authorities correctly to plan how to pay for these costs in the future.
ECA's observations come with a number of recommendations for the Commission and the member states.
In particular, the Commission is advised to: take steps to increase the national share of the co-financing during the financing period 2014-2020; put an end to financing programmes specifically targeting the decommissioning of nuclear plants in these three countries after 2020, possibly by expanding access to the Structural and Investment Funds to allow the costs of the decommissioning activities to be covered, in full respect of the conditions of financing limited in time and on the basis of an appropriate co-funding level from the member states; and work with all member states of the EU to examine options for the permanent storage of spent fuel and highly active waste, including any regional solution or those defined in the framework of the EU, on the basis of the plans for the world's first-ever deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel in Olkiluoto, Finland.
The three countries in question are particularly recommended to: improve their project management to ensure that they have the necessary management infrastructure for waste and spent fuel when they are needed; reinforce their technical expertise and improve exchanges of best practice and technical knowledge among themselves and with the community active in the field of decommissioning, inside and outside the EU; draw up estimated costs and fuller financing plans for the storage of the spent fuel and radioactive waste; recognise their own role in ensuring that the polluter pays principle is respected and be prepared to use national funds to cover decommissioning and the cost of final disposal, both in the current financing period and thereafter. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)