DECOMMISSIONING IS INEVITABLE: PLANNING SOONER RATHER THANLATER CAN HAVE BIG PAYOFFS FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ANDUTILITIES

摘要

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 todecommissioning the plant after it shuts down. Utility owners tend to postponedecommissioning decisions until after a decision is made to terminate the reactor’s operatinglicense. This paper puts forth a concept to perform meaningful and significant decommissioningplanning while the reactor is still operating as a cost reduction and decommissioning scheduleimprovement initiative. Justification for early decommissioning planning as well as a scope ofwork for the planning effort is provided. Decommissioning costs are large and often exceed thereactor’s initial construction cost. The NRC initially licenses reactors to operate for 40 years andmany 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 operatinglicense extensions, deregulation and economic considerations could have more of an effect onlife expectancies of nuclear plants than aging.Decommissioning should be considered as an integral and important part of a nuclear plant’s lifecycle management. Planning for decommissioning should begin before a decision is made toshut down the reactor. Decommissioning planning, if initiated well before plant shutdown, willnot only reduce the life cycle costs of the facilities, but also improve the quality of the planningeffort and shorten the decommissioning schedule. Since decommissioning is a reality that facesevery commercial reactor, prudent management dictates that reactor owners makedecommissioning planning part of normal reactor operations and reduce the overall cost to theratepayers.