National Funding

Radioactive Waste Management - Appendix 4

Payments are made into an internal fund managed by the utility.
Provisions are discounted, currently at a rate of 8.6%.
There are proposals under discussion for the transfer of these funds to an external fund held by the spent fuel management company Synatom.

Payments are made into internal funds managed by the utility. These funds are available for investment within the utilities business.
Provisions are discounted at a rate of 5.5%.
Decommissioning and waste management funds are currently tax free.
Provisions are built up over an assumed 25-year lifetime for the power stations.

The nuclear utilities make payments into an external National Nuclear Waste Management Fund, managed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Provisions are not discounted.
Contributions to the fund are made over the first 25 years of plant operation.
The nuclear utilities are entitled to borrow up to 75% of the fund with the Government able to borrow the remainder.

EDF makes provision in its accounts for decommissioning funding, based on a percentage of each kWh sold.
Provisions are not discounted.
Provisioning is based on an average decommissioning cost fixed by the Ministry of Industry and updated each year using the retail price index.
A separate internal fund has been established to finance the storing and processing of radioactive waste.
COGEMA makes provisions for decommissionning based on cost estimates this decommissioning fund is identified and is managed under COGEMA's responsibility.

The nuclear utilities make payments annually into an external fund for the disposal of HLW.
The fund is administered and managed by the Radioactive Waste Management Funding and Research Center (RWMC).
Payments are made by each utility and are adjusted on a yearly basis, the amount being based on the previous year's production of high-level waste.
Provisions are generated by a 200 yen/MWh levy on electricity sales.

Responsibility for decommissioning and waste management rests with the state-owned company Enresa.
Enresa manages a fund which is provisioned by a 3 Euro/MWh levy on electricity sales.
Provisions are discounted at a rate of 2.5%.

The nuclear utilities make payments into the Swedish Nuclear Waste Fund (Kärnavfallsfonden). A separate fund exists for each utility.
Provisions are calculated on the basis of a 4% discount rate until 2020 and 2.5% thereafter.
Contributions to the funds are made during the first 25 years of operation and are based on a levy on nuclear electricity production.

The nuclear utilities make payments into two funds (decommissioning and waste management respectively), which are independent legal entities administrated by a management commission appointed by the Federal government.
The cost estimates and annual contributions are periodically updated for both funds.
The costs are allocated on the basis of the reactor power and are made at the end of each year of the planned 40-year lifetime of each reactor.
Provisions are discounted.

A mix of arrangements exist in the UK.
The private sector nuclear company, part of EDF Energy (formerly British Energy), contributes to a separate fund (the Nuclear Liabilities Fund) to cover its long-term decommissioning liabilities for the AGR power stations and the Sizewell B PWR. Short-term liabilities, and used fuel related issues are covered by provisions within the accounts.
The government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is responsible for the long-term management of the country's historic and committed nuclear liabilities. Its operations are funded by the government, but a proportion of funding is offset by revenue from the NDA's commercial acitivities.

Utilities pay a 0.1 cent/kWh into the Nuclear Waste Fund.
By the end of 2008 the Nuclear Waste Fund had accumulated over $31 billion, including interest.
The fund is growing by about $750 million per year from utility inputs and $900 million from interest.