Plan 2008. Costs starting in 2010 for the radioactive residual products from nuclear power. Basis for fees and guarantees in 2010 and 2011

A company that has a licence to own a nuclear power plant is responsible for adopting whatever measures are needed for safe management and disposal of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste deriving from it and for decommissioning and dismantling of the reactor plants after they have been taken out of service. The most important measures are to plan, build and operate the facilities and systems that are needed for this, and to conduct related research and development. The financing of these measures is based on payment of fees to a fund by the licensees, primarily during the period the reactors are in operation, but also later if need be. The details of this financing are regulated in the so called Financing Act (2006:647) with associated Ordinance (2008:715)1. SKB has the task of calculating and compiling the future costs for the four licensees. The future costs are based on SKB's current planning regarding the design of the system and the timetable for its execution. The current design is called the reference design, while the planning around it is called the reference scenario. This report is based on the proposed plan of the activities that has been presented in SKB's RDandD Programme 2007 and the most recent activity plan. The quantity of spent nuclear fuel to be managed in this scenario is based on an operating time of 50 years for each of the Forsmark and Ringhals reactors and 60 years for the Oskarshamn reactors, rounded off to fuel equivalent to 6,000 copper canisters. Preparations are currently being made by SKB for selection of the site for the final repository for nuclear fuel. The goal is that one of the two sites where the site investigations (now almost completed) have been carried out will be chosen. The cost calculations are based on the assumption of Forsmark as the site in the reference scenario. This choice has been for optimal illumination of different cost aspects and must not be regarded as a commitment on the part of SKB. The reference calculation and the figures on which it is based are presented in the report as background information. The reference scenario includes the following facilities and systems in operation: - Transportation system for radioactive waste products. - Central interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, Clab. - Final repository for short-lived low- and intermediate-level operational waste, SFR. - Laboratories for development of encapsulation and final disposal technology. The reference scenario also includes the following additional facilities: - canister factory and encapsulation plant for spent nuclear fuel, - final repository for spent nuclear fuel, SFK, - interim storage facility for core components, BFA, - final repository for long-lived low- and intermediate-level waste, SFL, and - final repository for decommissioning waste (extension of SFR). The costs according to the reference scenario also include costs for research, development and demonstration (RDandD), as well as SKB's central functions. The latter include general functions such as corporate management, business support, EIA, overall safety matters, etc. Other costs include costs for decommissioning and dismantling of reactor plants as well as at-plant facilities for interim storage or final disposal of low- and intermediate-level waste. The Financing Act, along with the Ordinance, stipulates a number of conditions that have an effect on the scope of the reference scenario as well as on the calculation model used by SKB. Such conditions include the reactor operating time on which the estimate of the quantity of waste products is based, as well as the fact that uncertainties with regard to future developments in different areas have to be taken into account. In addition, the calculation should only include waste products, which, according to the Financing Act's definition of residual products, excludes the management of operational waste. Among other things, the existing facility at SFR is excluded from the calculations. The quantity of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste to be disposed of is l inked to the operating time of the reactors, and this fee-determining operating time is stipulated in the regulatory framework. The fee calculation is then based on the electricity production that is expected during the same time. The fee-determining operating time should be 40 years for the reactors that are currently in operation. A minimum limit is stipulated entailing that a remaining operating time of at least six years shall be applied unless there is reason to assume that operation may cease before then. Aside from the payment of fees, a reactor owner must pledge two kinds of guarantees. One guarantee must cover the fees that have not yet been paid and that relate to the remaining fee-determining operating time. This guarantee declines gradually as the reactor's operating time approaches 34 years but then levels out at a minimum time of six years as described above. The basis for this guarantee is called the financing amount. The calculation is done in principle as for the fee basis, but the costs are limited to management and disposal of the waste products that exist when the calculation starts (31 December 2009). The second guarantee pertains to the case where it can be assumed that the assets in the Nuclear Waste Fund will not suffice due to unplanned events, at the same time as the option of increasing the fee payments and adjusting the aforementioned guarantee is for some reason not available. The basis for this guarantee is called the supplementary amount.