Dedicated financial programme for decommissioning of nuclear facilities and management of radioactive waste 2021–2027

The Council decided to consult the European Parliament again on the draft Council Regulation establishing a dedicated financial programme for decommissioning of nuclear facilities and management of radioactive waste, and repealing Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1368/2013.

Objectives

The proposed regulation aims to establish the specific financing programme for the decommissioning of nuclear installations and radioactive waste management for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2027, focusing on the identified needs based on the current period.

It would support:

- the safely decommissioning of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant units 1 to 4 in Bulgaria (Kozloduy programme) and the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant units 1 and 2 in Slovakia (Bohunice Programme), including the management of radioactive waste, in line with the identified needs of the respective decommissioning plan, and;

- the implementation of the decommissioning process and management of radioactive waste of the Commission's own nuclear installations at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) sites, respectively JRC-Geel in Belgium, JRC-Karlsruhe in Germany, JRC-Ispra in Italy and JRCPetten in the Netherlands (JRC decommissioning and waste management programme).

Budget

The financial framework for the implementation of the programme for the period 2021-2027 would be set at EUR 466 million, expressed in current prices, with the following indicative breakdown:

- EUR 63 million for actions under the Kozloduy programme;

- EUR 55 million for actions under the Bohunice programme;

- EUR 348 million for actions under the JRC decommissioning and waste management programme.

The Council draft provides for the possibility to obtain budgetary flexibility by redistributing funds between the actions of the programme, giving priority to activities contributing to addressing safety challenges in decommissioning and radioactive waste management.

The amount of the envelope could be used to cover expenses related to the activities included in the respective decommissioning plans for the implementation of the programme, such as preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities including corporate information technology systems.

Co-financing rates

The maximum EU co-financing rate should not exceed 50% for the Kozloduy and Bohunice programmes. The remaining co-financing would be provided by Bulgaria and Slovakia respectively. Activities necessary for the dissemination of the knowledge acquired in the process of implementation of the programme would be funded at 100% by the EU.