(*) Key achievements in the table state which period they relate to. Some come from the implementation of the predecessor programmes under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework. This is expected and is due to the multiannual life cycle of EU programmes and the projects they finance, where results often follow only after completion of the programmes.
Budget for 2021-2027
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Rationale and design of the programme
The programme provides funding for the decommissioning of the Kozloduy and Bohunice nuclear facilities and the nuclear installations owned by the European Commission, as well as the management of radioactive waste. The programme also aims to take advantage of synergies and knowledge sharing, with a view to ensure dissemination of knowledge and return of experience in all relevant areas such as research and innovation, regulation and training, and to develop potential EU synergies.
The decommissioning allows removal of some or all regulatory controls from a nuclear facility, so for a nuclear power plant is the final step in its life cycle. The aim is to ensure long-term protection of the public and the environment. The decommissioning process involves among others the activities like shutdown of the nuclear power plant, the removal of spent fuel and nuclear material, the environmental restoration of the site. The decommissioning of nuclear power plants typically takes 20 to 30 years and implicates technical, technological, and financial challenges.
The corresponding phasing out of the necessary safety measures and associated costs is done in a series of steps, mainly because the removal of major batches of radioactive materials is carried out over several stages.
In accordance with their acts of accession to the EU, Bulgaria anticipated the shutdowns of units 1 to 4 in the Kozloduy nuclear power plant and Slovakia of units 1 and 2 in the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant, respectively. The decommissioning has resulted in a significant financial burden of direct and indirect cost for those Member States. The EU has committed to providing financial support for the decommissioning, in accordance with approved plans. The financial support provided under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework will bring both the Kozloduy and Bohunice programmes to completion.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) was established under the Euratom Treaty and site agreements were signed between 1960 and 1962 between the European Economic Community, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. In the cases of Italy and the Netherlands, the national nuclear installations were transferred to the Community. An infrastructure geared to nuclear research and comprising new installations was put in place at the four sites. Most of these installations are still in use today, while others have been shut down – in some instances more than 20 years ago – and have mostly become obsolete. The JRC, as the licence holder, must manage its historical nuclear liabilities, decommission its obsolete nuclear installations, and safely manage the resulting spent fuel and radioactive waste.
The programme also has specific added value because it facilitates the dissemination of critical knowledge and know-how on the decommissioning of nuclear facilities.
The general objective of the programme is to provide funding for the decommissioning of these nuclear facilities and the management of radioactive waste, in line with the needs identified in the respective decommissioning plans.
In addition to creating knowledge on the nuclear decommissioning process and the management of the resulting radioactive waste, the programme aims to:
- assist Bulgaria and Slovakia in implementing the Kozloduy programme and the Bohunice programme, respectively, including the management and storage of radioactive waste in line with the needs identified in the respective decommissioning plans, with a specific emphasis on managing the related safety challenges;
- support the JRC decommissioning and waste management programme.
The Kozloduy and the Bohunice programmes will fund activities within the scope of the respective decommissioning plans related to the delivery of the general and specific objectives and with the highest EU added value, namely the removal of radiological hazards.
During the 2021-2027 period, in Ispra the gradual shift from safe conservation and pre-decommissioning to relatively large decommissioning and waste management tasks will continue, enabled by the relevant authorisations and licences granted by the safety authority and by the start of the operation of new supporting facilities. The management of fresh and irradiated nuclear material is part of this effort. In Karlsruhe, the requalification and removal of legacy low-level waste and glove boxes and the optimisation of spent fuel inventories will continue. In Petten, a multi-year campaign to dispose of the nuclear material/waste batches owned by JRC will be launched. In Geel, an effort to reduce/optimise the inventories of nuclear materials owned by the JRC and to remove waste will be implemented, in agreement with the licensing authority.
The JRC will lead the efforts to develop ties and exchanges among EU stakeholders on nuclear decommissioning, in order to ensure the dissemination of knowledge and the sharing of experience in all relevant areas, such as research and innovation, regulation and training and developing potential EU synergies.
For Bulgaria and Slovakia.
The Commission implements the nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes through indirect management. When services from third-party providers are needed for preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities, they are subject to direct management.
Since 2001, implementation tasks have been entrusted to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which manages, for each decommissioning programme, a dedicated multi-donor fund: the International Decommissioning Support Funds. In addition, Slovakia established a second entrusted entity, the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency, in 2015.
Even though the final beneficiary of each programme is the Member State itself (Bulgaria and Slovakia), in each Member State the licence holder of the facilities under decommissioning and the facilities for radioactive waste management are running the decommissioning activities (State Enterprise Radioactive Waste in Bulgaria and JAVYS in Slovakia).
Each decommissioning programme has its own monitoring committee (fully operational as of 2015), which is responsible for overseeing the coordinated implementation of activities and the funding of the decommissioning programme, irrespective of the funding source.
For JRC
Following the signature of the Euratom Treaty (1957), the European Union (then Community) started conducting common research programmes in the nuclear field at national research sites that were established and transferred to the European Atomic Energy Community. Today the JRC continues to conduct nuclear research at their sites of Geel (Belgium), Karlsruhe (Germany), Ispra (Italy) and Petten (Netherlands).
Willing to take responsibility for the management of the radioactive waste produced during the JRC’s nuclear research activities, in 1999 the Commission established the JRC nuclear decommissioning and waste management programme, aiming at progressively dismantling all Euratom nuclear installations at the JRC sites, including those currently in use when they will reach the end of their operational life. Decommissioning includes management of ‘historical’ waste and waste arising from the dismantling operations, with the final objective being to dispose of it at Member States’ disposal facilities and release the sites from regulatory control. Until 2021, the programme was financed through a dedicated budget line. The funds were earmarked in the multiannual financial framework of the European Commission and made available annually. Three communications (COM (2004) 621, COM(2008) 903 and COM(2013) 734 (2-40)) updated the Parliament and the Council on the programme’s progress, status and financial perspectives. Progress was also reported annually through the JRC management plan and the JRC activity report.
In 2021, the Council adopted Regulation (Euratom) 2021/100, establishing a dedicated financial programme common to the JRC nuclear decommissioning and waste management programme and the decommissioning programmes of nuclear power plants in Bulgaria and Slovakia, which allows more flexibility and efficiency in the management of the programme.
The JRC’s nuclear decommissioning and waste management programme is implemented in direct management by the Commission (JRC).
Under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, the Kozloduy and Bohunice programmes continue the efforts of their 2014‑2020 framework predecessors. The activities funded in the 2021-2027 period are subject to a maximum EU co-financing rate of 50%. This rate was not included previously.
The JRC part of the programme was previously performed under direct management under a different financial instrument, but is now part of Council Regulation (Euratom) 2021/100. Since the beginning of the programme, the Commission has regularly reported to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on its progress and status.
The regulation introduced a mandate to explore and, if appropriate, develop options for the transfer of liabilities to the host Member State through a voluntary bilateral agreement with the Commission. It also mandates the JRC to facilitate the dissemination of explicit knowledge and the sharing of experience in all relevant areas of decommissioning, such as research and innovation, regulation and training, and developing potential EU synergies.
Programme website:
- Decommissioning of nuclear facilities;
- JRC (decommissioning and waste management programme and decommissioning Knowledge dissemination).
Impact assessment:
- The impact assessment of the nuclear decommissioning assistance programme was carried out in 2018.
Relevant regulation:
Evaluations:
- Mid-term evaluation on nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes to Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia (COM(2018) 468).
Other:
- Commission report on the implementation of the work under the nuclear decommissioning assistance programme to Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania and JRC programme in 2021 and previous years (COM(2022) 663).
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
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Financial programming:
- EUR 0.7 million (- 0%)
compared to the legal basis*
* Top-ups pursuant to Article 5 of the multiannual financial framework regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison.
*The programme had an initial legal basis for all years of the MFF with EUR 466 Mio., the current financial programming 2021-2027 shows EUR 465.3 Mio. This lines out that the programme is keeping its legal basis without relevant changes in financial programming, e.g. as it would be if transfers from other programmes would be integrated as amendments of the budget, of financial programming.
Budget performance – implementation
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2023 (million EUR):
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Voted budget implementation (million EUR)(*):
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- A new financial framework partnership agreement was signed by the Commission (DG International Partnerships was the lead directorate-general for the project) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in September 2022. Based on this, a new delegation agreement for the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund amounting to EUR 8.87 million was subsequently signed. There was no new delegation agreement for the Bohunice International Decommissioning Support Fund.
- The decommissioning projects are, in many cases, highly complex from the point of view of procurement and implementation, and extend over a long period of time. This explains the long interval between the commitments and the payments of the programme.
- Expenditure in the programme for Bohunice and Kozloduy is in line with the financial programming.
- Expenditure in the JRC programme is in line with the financial programming, except that expenses in the commissioning of auxiliary facilities at the JRC Ispra site have been significantly lower than expected, due to the delay of the grouting station, and expenses in radiation protection have been significantly higher than planned, as the relaxation of COVID-19 constraints allowed more fieldwork. The rest of the activities in waste and nuclear material management, decommissioning, safe conservation and utility services, general support and horizontal activities and others have progressed as planned.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
Green budgeting
Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):
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This programme provides no specific contribution to the green budgeting priorities.
Gender
Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):
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| Gender disaggregated information: |
|---|
| N/A |
The gender equality perspective was considered in developing Council Regulation (EU) 2021/100. Nonetheless, nuclear decommissioning is the primary and sole objective of the programme, which, as such, has no significant impact on gender equality.
Digital
Contribution to the digital transition (million EUR):
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This programme provides no specific contribution to the digital transition.
Budget performance – outcomes
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Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
Kozloduy programme
- Despite some delays at the start of its implementation, the Kozloduy programme is making good progress with dismantling and radioactive waste management. Improvements in sorting and processing materials allowed the planned fraction of free-released materials to be exceeded. This partly explains the significant lower amount of radioactive waste stored or disposed of.
- Dismantling activities inside the reactor building Units 1-2 have started and are progressing according to the detailed decommissioning plan. The activity had started at a slower pace than planned in the 2014-2020 period but is now recovering steadily. It remains too slow, however, and the timely achievement of the objectives for 2021-2027 are still at risk.
- The programme has also made progress in dismantling the auxiliary buildings. The plasma melting facility is now in industrial operation and the construction works for the national disposal facility are in their final phase, on schedule to receive large quantities of radioactive waste from 2024.
- The similar designs of the Kozloduy and Bohunice reactors provide an opportunity to share experiences, methods and tools, thus reducing risks and costs. In practice, it allowed for the decontamination of the primary circuits of Kozloduy nuclear power plant Units 1-4 to be completed below budget and faster than planned, following on from experience at the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant, by reusing the decontamination equipment transported from the Bohunice site.
- In accordance with the updated performance baseline, the completion date for the Kozloduy programme remains 2030. However, the risk of postponement of the end date of the overall programme remains high. This was conformed during 2023 by the results from the stress test of the overall programme schedule. The most important risks are identified (delays, lack of specific knowledge, financing, etc.), and mitigation measures (among others, the mitigation measures include usage of outsourcing services, joint procurements and doing several activities in parallel) have been described and implemented as much as possible.
Bohunice programme
- The dismantling of the large components in the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant reactor building has been completed.
- It was planned that activated concrete from the shafts of the two reactors would be removed by the end of 2022. However, sampling performed during demolition works revealed an unexpectedly thick layer of radioactive contamination in the concrete. This situation required further analysis and delayed the removal of the activated concrete and its disposal as very-low-level radioactive waste in Mochovce.
- Concerning the other indicators for Bohunice, namely the low-level radioactive waste disposed of and the metal dismantled from the reactor building, the results were on track in relation to the planned values for 2023.
- In 2022, the programme stakeholders revised the schedule and postponed the end date by 2 years, until the end of 2027, because of past delays for which applied mitigating measures were less effective than envisaged. Some procedural delays have compounded these issues, and there is a high risk that the end date will need to be postponed again. While all stakeholders are collaborating to devise and implement measures to reduce this risk, credible alternatives are limited. As of now, there are no indications from the stakeholders of an increase of the budgetary envelope currently allocated.
JRC
- The JRC nuclear decommissioning and waste management programme entails a complex set of specific activities and projects. Various levels of advancement/implementation characterise the situation at the four JRC nuclear sites.
- During the 2021-2027 period, Ispra will be the main site for JRC decommissioning and waste management activities. The objectives include safe conservation, pre-decommissioning, decommissioning and waste management targets, covering a variety of obsolete large installations and waste batches.
- In 2023, progress in Ispra on the three main work streams (nuclear material and waste management, and decommissioning) included important activities in procuring off-site radioactive waste treatment services, such as the signature of a contract for thermal treatment of incinerable waste or the supercompaction of a first batch of radioactive drums, the upgrade of the waste characterisation facility, progress on the treatment of nuclear material, decommissioning activities in the Essor complex and the submission of the license application for the decommissioning of the Essor reactor, along with the approval for decommissioning of an hot cell facility.
- Pre-decommissioning activities continue to progress as planned, and decommissioning licence applications for some of the facilities have been submitted at Ispra.
- For the other sites (Karlsruhe, Petten and Geel), the objectives are largely focused on legacy waste management, the dismantling of obsolete equipment and relatively small facilities, and the definition of plans and teams to implement future decommissioning and waste management activities.
- In Karlsruhe, Petten and Geel, most nuclear facilities are in operation, performing nuclear research and training activities within the framework of the Euratom research and training programme. Because of this, the decommissioning of large installations is not yet being implemented. No disused equipment or legacy radioactive waste has been removed, stored or disposed of at these sites, with the exception of Karlsruhe, where a moderate amount of legacy waste could be removed, in some cases requiring repackaging to meet acceptance criteria rather than adding further delay.
- The planned decommissioning of glove boxes in Karlsruhe has been delayed due to the unavailability of one of the auxiliary systems.
- The Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group, which is the operator of the high flux reactor in Petten, is responsible for handling and managing the radioactive waste produced in the reactor, including JRC-owned waste. The removal of the legacy waste at Petten has been delayed, awaiting the implementation of the radioactive waste removal programme of the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group. The programme was restarted in 2023 and preparatory work started on the conditioning of four historical waste batches.
MFF 2014-2020 – Nuclear Decommissioning Assistance Programmes in Bulgaria and Slovakia
The programme provides funding for the decommissioning of the nuclear facilities of Kozloduy and Bohunice and the management of radioactive waste.
Budget implementation
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2023 (million EUR):
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- The figures relate only to the past implementation of the Kozloduy and Bohunice programmes. The JRC decommissioning programme was performed under a different financial instrument until 2021 and is not reported here.
- Decommissioning projects are, in many cases, highly complex from the procurement and implementation point of view and extend over a long period of time. This explains the interval between the commitments and the payments of the programme.
- Nevertheless, the total payments made for the Kozloduy and Bohunice programmes during the 2014-2020 period (including also those related to 2007-2013 commitments) amount to EUR 859 million, which represents 166% of the amounts committed for the 2014-2020 period.
- The cost of the work carried out since 2014 is within budget.
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Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- During the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework, the Kozloduy and Bohunice programmes progressed steadily towards the decommissioning end state, in accordance with their respective decommissioning plans, while maintaining the highest level of safety. The process will continue under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework.
- The decommissioning of the Kozloduy power plant in Bulgaria has made significant progress, including the following.
- the dismantling of units 1–4 progressed at a good pace and wet solid waste treatment facility tests were completed in summer 2023;
- the plasma melting facility, a first-of-its-kind facility for the high-performance volume reduction of radioactive waste, is now in industrial operation.
- phase 1 of the construction of the Near Surface Disposal facility is expected to be finished in 2024;
- on the other hand, the accumulated delay in dismantling of large components in the reactor building and the management of the decommissioning waste continues.
- The Bohunice programme in Slovakia is the most advanced of the three decommissioning programmes supported by the EU. It will be the first completed decommissioning programme for its type of reactor. The dismantling, fragmentation and material management of the reactor structures was completed in 2022.
- The dismantling of the systems in controlled areas, along with decontamination and demolition of buildings is ongoing, but there are still deviations between planned and actual progress.
Sustainable development goals
Contribution to the sustainable development goals
| SDG | Example |
|---|---|
| SDG12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns | The programmes aim at optimising waste management, following a waste hierarchy approach whereby disposal is the last resort, after having maximised opportunities for re-use and mostly recycling. This involves increasing the circularity of materials in the economy, thereby reducing both the need for resource extraction and the amount of waste ending up in landfills. Such an approach would not only reduce environmental pressures, but also provide major economic and social benefits. In particular, the efforts to remove any residual radioactive contamination from dismantled and removed materials (mostly concrete, steel and other alloys), along with the thorough verification of compliance with clearance levels in line with Euratom basic safety standards, lead to optimal levels of recycling, as shown in the concrete examples of achievements, e.g. 98% of metals from the dismantled Bohunice primary circuit reactor components were decontaminated, verified and recycled as non-radioactive material from 2019 to 2023. |