Power plant decommissioning debate goes nuclear

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 09/12/04

AS THE world hots up, so too does the debate surrounding the role that nuclear power should play in the world's future energy mix.

Those championing nuclear as a clean, reliable and sustainable energy source are pitched against those who argue nuclear is unsafe, that power plants are a prime target for terrorists and that renewables offer the cleanest and most reliable long-term solution.

But there is another factor coming into play in Europe in the form of controversial state aid programmes for decommissioning plants.

On 1 December, the European Commission launched its second state aid investigation into the UK's decision to transfer l60 billion in nuclear liabilities from nuclear energy firm British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to a new UK decommissioning agency.

This followed a decision in September by the then EU competition chief Mario Monti to approve the restructuring of British Energy, saying that government aid would be used exclusively for decommissioning - or closing down - nuclear power plants in the future.

NGOs attacked Monti's decision, claiming it would set a precedent allowing the nuclear industry to undercut on energy prices and then offload its decommissioning costs onto its government.

Mark Johnston of Friends of the Earth Europe argues that this is not just a UK issue, highlighting the privatization of six Slovak nuclear plants, the decommissioning of which will be paid for by the government, and a similar situation with France's planned privatization of the giant Eléctricité de France.

"Our concern is that this is a generic problem allowing nuclear operators to undercharge for their electricity and then fall back on state aid when plants have to be closed," Johnston said.

Friends of the Earth will submit a complaint regarding Slovakia's privatization plans to the EU's competition authorities now headed by Dutchwoman Neelie Kroes, by the end of the year.

"There is a fear, in the UK at least, that the anti-nuclear lobby will use this issue to argue that any new reactor will see the government ending up with huge liabilities," said Steve Kidd, head of strategy and research at the World Nuclear Association.

"But the BNFL issue concerns military plants that were then taken over by the company and so there is no clear line about who should pay to clean up their mess. No one wanting to build a plant now would be allowed to start unless there was funding in place for decommissioning."

Kidd said that the cost of decommissioning a new nuclear plant would be in the region of l140 million which, given that the life of a reactor is around 40 years, companies would easily be able to put aside.

The EU Green Party claims that 80 new reactors would have to be built over the next ten years to maintain the current number of 440 operating plants worldwide.

In 2015-25, 200 nuclear plants would be needed in order to maintain the current numbers.

Article reports on the debate whether state aid schemes should be allowed for the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.