○ International Norms
- The international multi-party IAEA conventions South Korea has signed in connection with nuclear energy include the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency. Among them, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management is most directly related to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants and treatment of radioactive wastes.
- IAEA has published various different safety standards and guidelines since 1974 and requested the member states to accommodate them aggressively. The IAEA safety standards are provided for the member states to develop, adopt or apply safety standards to minimize risk to the protection of health, life, and property.
- In addition to the safety standard on the exposure to radioactive materials (No.
GSR Part 3), the IAEA Safety Standards provides general standards concerning the government, law and regulation system (GSR Part 1), and advance management of radioactive wastes (GSR Part 5), and the safety standards required for the entire processes of decommissioning or dissection (GSR Part 6).
- Among them, the safety standards concerning decommissioning of facilities provide specific provisions on the protection of man and the environment, the responsibilities of the government, regulatory agency, and those who obtain a license for decommissioning, integrated systems for management of decommissioning, selection of decommissioning strategies, raising and application of funds for decommissioning, plans for decommissioning throughout the life of facilities, final plan before performing decommissioning, guidelines for decommissioning actions, response to emergency during decommissioning, management of radioactivity during decommissioning, completion of decommissioning actions, and expiry of permits for decommissioning actions.
- IAEA published “Model Regulations on Decommissioning of Facilities” reflecting the contents of existing regulations and recommended the member states to legislate regulations satisfying the Model Regulations, which include standards for assessment and judgment of compliance with the regulations along with contents related to the stages of decommissioning, i.e. decommissioning management, strategies, funds raising, plans, actions, completion of decommissioning actions, expiry of decommissioning permit, and management of by-products and wastes.
○ UK
- UK plans to decommission the half of its 15 nuclear reactors by 2025 though they produce 21% of the electric power produced locally. It is estimated that 117 billion British pounds will be required for 120 years to purify the existing nuclear facilities. As the facility operators are now responsible for the expenses for waste treatment and decommissioning based on the privatization, the cost of constructing new power plants has soared.
- The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy is in charge of energy in general. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) under the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for nuclear safety, private nuclear security, transportation, health and safety, and Environment Agency (EA) is responsible for the treatment and disposal of wastes. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is responsible for the services related to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.
- The Energy Act of 2008 defines ‘ecommissioning’ means restoration of the relevant region to an end state. It also provides cooperation between ONR and HSE and requires the facility operators to submit a Decommissioning Financial Guarantee Program to secure independent financing. It also allows reflection of risk premiums and commodity price inflation on the cost estimation. It also clarified the responsible parties by transferring the ownership of the wastes to the government.
- Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning) Regulations 1999 provides the EIADR (environmental impact assessment for decommissioning nuclear reactors) system. Items to fill in include compliance with the standards related to atmosphere, climate, ecology, soil, water, and opinion collection procedures. The facility operators are required to present measures to reduce the impact on the environment. The plan submitted by the operator to HSE, which jointly examines the plan together with other related government departments, regulation agencies (Environment Agency, Department of Land (Land Registry etc.) and the general public and related organizations.
○ USA
- USA produces 30% of the entire nuclear energy generated worldwide and supplies 20% or more of its total power generation by nuclear power plants. Yet, it has built no new nuclear reactors in the past 30 years. It has successfully decommissioned 11 commercial nuclear reactors. 20 others are currently under decommissioning (as of 2017). Seven completely decommissioned power plants are being used or planned to be used for storage of spent nuclear fuel.
- The nuclear safety-related agencies in USA include: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent agency whose members are appointed by the President that is responsible for nuclear reactors, fuel cycle facilities, transportation, retirement and storage of spent nuclear fuel etc. Depending on the specialized domains, Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for development of environmental standards and supervision of decommissioning; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for ensuring the safety of workers after decommissioning; Department of Transportation (DOT) is responsible for transportation of radioactive waste are decommissioning byproducts;
and the state and municipal governments jointly perform the services related to the protection of workers, public health and safety.
- The overall policy directions largely depend on the market rather than the government policies. However, the federal government affects the specific aspects of energy production and transmission as its policies and regulations including those concerning atmosphere and water quality, interstate commerce, soil-related safety, lease of federal land, support to research and development activities, investment incentives, income tax, tax incentive, nuclear energy-related license or permit, and supervision of safety of nuclear energy facilities.
- The procedures for the regulation of nuclear reactor decommissioning, documents to be submitted, and guidelines for permit expiry are provided by Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) whereas the guidelines for document examination and environmental survey are provided NUREG, 1997. The decommissioning plan that is required to be prepared under the regulations should include the estimation of decommissioning expenses. Public hearings should be held for the residents after the decommissioning activities report is submitted after a permanent decommissioning and before the approval of the plan for terminating the license. The attendance of observers is guaranteed whenever decommissioning related meetings are held between NRC and the facility operator. The NRC ensures a routine participation and assessment by the community residents through its website.
- The decommissioning plan should include Environmental Assessments (EAs) prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) when “a serious impact is likely to be made on the quality of the human environment” based on the EA contents. The EPA reviews them and presents comments.
○ Germany
- One quarter of the electric power was supplied by 17 nuclear reactors by 2011.
Eight nuclear reactors were discontinued and closed immediately pursuant to an amendment to the Nuclear Energy Act following the Fukushima incident. (Total 19 reactors have been permanently decommissioned and six out of them were fully disassembled.) At present, seven nuclear reactors supply 12% of the total power while coal-burning power plants supply 42%.
- Bundesministerium fur Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit (BMU) (English translation: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building, and Nuclear Safety) is a German federal ministry that is responsible for the safety policies of nuclear energy and radioactivity. The federal ministry has das Bundesamt für kerntechnische Entsorgungssicherheit (BfE) and Das Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (BfS) as departments responsible for the related services. The Länder Committee for Nuclear Energy (Länderausschuss für Atomkernenergie - LAA) performs licensing or permit procedures for operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the continuous regulation and supervision of the facilities.
It recently founded a fund for treatment of nuclear wastes, an independent corporation for administering the funds for processing nuclear wastes.
- In 2017, many relevant statutes were enacted and amended in Germany based on Gesetz zur Neuordnung der Verantwortung in der kerntechnischen Entsorgung (the Act on the Reorganization of Responsibility in Nuclear Waste Management): The Act for Founding of Funds for Financing Disposal of Nuclear Waste (The Disposal Fund Act); the Act on Regulation of Funds Raising and Performance Duties for Treatment of Radioactive Wastes by Nuclear Power Plant Operators; the Act on Discontinuance and Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants, and Transparency of Expenses for Packing of Radioactive Wastes; the Act on Retroactive Responsibility for Expenses of Decommissioning and Treatment in Nuclear Energy Fields focusing on a realistic secure financing reflecting risks and transparency of management.
○ Japan
- Before the Fukushima incident, approximately 30% of power was generated by nuclear power plants and it was expected it would exceed 40% in 2017. Many of the nuclear power plants stopped operations after the incident. It was decided to decommission a total 23 reactors by 2018, including six reactors at No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Only nine reactors are under operation or under an operable condition.
- The structure of the nuclear energy-related government agencies in Japan was significantly changed due to the incident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The nuclear energy-related government agencies include the Ministry of Environment, Nuclear Energy Regulation Committee under the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the Ministry of Resources and Energy, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation (NDF) was recently founded as an independent corporation exclusively responsible for services related to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.
- Japan has undergone significant changes in its legal system after the incident at Fukushima nuclear power plant.
- The Act on Organization of Nuclear Energy Regulation Commission was enacted to organize the Nuclear Energy Regulation Commission, the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation (NDF) was organized under the Act on Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation, and the Act on Final Disposition of Specific Radioactive Wastes regulating funds contributed for treatment of spent nuclear fuel. It recently clarified the concept of ‘decommissioning’
applied under the Ministry Ordinance on Funds Appropriated for Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants. The Rules for Electric Utility Service was amended to allow attribution of expenses incurred at the time of decommissioning to the power price.