Decommissioning of nuclear electric's gas-cooled reactors

Nuclear Electric (NE) is the nuclear successor to the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) of the United Kingdom. The Reference Case Decommissioning Strategy inherited by NE from the CEGB shows that decommissioning was technically possible, safe and added little to the unit cost of nuclear generation. Nevertheless, the total discounted liability amounted to 3,500 million pounds at 1991 money values. A complete strategy re-evaluation is discussed, resulting in the selection of a proposed new strategy, Deferred Safestore, which can reduce this liability to 2,100 million pounds. Proposals for the adoption of this strategy have been made to the Government and the UK regulatory authorities. (author) 3 refs.; 9 figs.; 4 tabs