Title: Decommissioning among the challenges of a new build nuclear project

Biography:

Katia Emilova Slavcheva has her expertise in the nuclear industry since 2003. She worked for the Nuclear Power Plan Kozloduy in Bulgaria. She also contributed to projects providing support to the Nuclear Regulatory Authorities by international teams in Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Mexico, Philippines and Jordan. Currently she joint the ambitious new build project in UAE. Her fields of expertise are Decommissioning, RWM, Radioactive Sources, Public Acceptance, Training and Capacity Building in the Nuclear

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: The successful introduction of nuclear power and its safe, secure, peaceful and sustainable application is an issue of central concern, especially for countries that are implementing their first new build nuclear project. In preparing the necessary nuclear infrastructure, the pertinent activities can be split into three progressive phases of development and corresponding milestones. Decommissioning is an integral part of a nuclear power plant life cycle. In the best scenario, it comes after running the plant for 60 years.

The purpose of this study is to explain why it is important to:

• Establish a sound regulatory requirements concerning decommissioning since “ready to commission and operate” phase.
• Prepare an Initial Decommissioning Plan
• Establish a Decommissioning Trust Fund
• Perform an Site Specific Decommissioning Cost Estimate
• Inform all stakeholders
• Identify the Waste Management Organization 

Findings: Nuclear industry started after the WWII. In the dawn of the nuclear the main goal was the electricity generation. Attention came on the decommissioning issue only when bigger part of the nuclear power plants all over the world started to be close to their operational lifetime end. That’s how decommissioning came into the focus of the nuclear industry. Conclusion & Significance: Adequate regulatory basis, operator’s responsibility to prepare and update every 3 years an Initial Decommissioning Plan, estimate the future decommissioning costs and start to allocate resources from the electricity price since day one of the production will help us to keep the promise not to burden the future generations.