Decommissioning Costs in the U.S.

Abstract

The U.S. commercial power industry has been using a proven technique of determining decommissioning cost by using a unit cost factor and an area based method. As U.S. Decommissioning projects are completed, it is now possible to obtain limited benchmark data on how well cost estimates are in line with actual costs for a project. Challenges make it almost impossible to do a one to one comparison between plants due to the fact much of the data is proprietary and also there are differences in data collection, management approaches and accounting techniques. However, the actual decommissioning costs continue to be in line with current estimates. This presentation will provide an overview of how decommissioning cost studies are prepared along with examples of projects completed and factors affecting overall D&D costs. It will discuss some of the challenges and factors that affect overall decommissioning costs and also how they can impact overall cost and schedules. Case studies will be presented, identifying both similarities and differences in purpose and in scope. The paper will discuss the key planning tools, for example, facility characterization assessments for radiological, hazardous and toxic contaminates.