Planning Decommissioning at the Early Stages of the Lifecycle of Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract

Amid growing global energy demand and recent crises leading to energy shortfalls, nuclear energy has regained political and economic momentum as a reliable, low-emission energy source. The global revival of nuclear projects brings challenges extending beyond the construction and operation of facilities, particularly the issue of their future decommissioning. Decommissioning is a process of administrative and technical actions leading to the removal of the facility from regulatory control. These actions include, inter alia, facility and site decontamination, dismantling and materials management. Taking into account the complexity of the decommissioning process, international organisations such as the IAEA or the OECD NEA advocate for the introduction of regulations requiring decommissioning planning at the early stages of nuclear projects. It should be emphasised, however, that international legislative efforts remain confined to the development of soft law instruments, with no corresponding establishment of legally binding regulations. Therefore, the ultimate responsibility for establishing sufficient regulation lies with the national legislation. The goal of this research study is to analyse existing international standards that have the potential to serve as a foundation for the development of binding legal provisions concerning early decommissioning planning. The analysis demonstrates that, while the international hard law instruments do not impose specific obligations for early decommissioning planning of nuclear power plants, the IAEA Safety Standards provide comprehensive non-binding guidance that can effectively fill this gap. The study concludes that transforming selected elements of these standards into binding international obligations would significantly strengthen nuclear safety and regulatory consistency across jurisdictions.