Decommissioning support

The issue of nuclear safety received particular attention in the context of EU enlargement, when candidate countries agreed to the early closure of their first generation reactors in preparation for EU accession. The respective governments declared their intention to close the soviet-designed first-generation units as follows:

• Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (Bulgaria): units 1 and 2 to be shut down by year end 2002 and units 3 and 4 in 2006
• Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (Lithuania): unit 1 to be closed before 2005 and unit 2 by 2009
• Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant (Slovak Republic): unit 1 to be closed by 2006 and unit 2 in 2008
  

International support

The European Community undertook to support these countries in the effort to decommission the reactors according to the agreed timetable. As a result, the EBRD have set up three separate International Decommissioning Support Funds:

• Kozloduy IDSF
• Ignalina IDSF
• Bohunice IDSF

Since their establishment in 2001, the IDSFs have been supported by the European Community and the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Pledges to the three funds exceed EUR 630 million and a further increase is currently being considered by donors, particularly the EU.

The objective of each IDSF is to facilitate the decommissioning works at designated reactors in the respective country, prioritising two areas of assistance:

• In the decommissioning process - construction of special installations, such as facilities for storing spent nuclear fuel, for treatment and storage of radioactive waste and, in certain cases, replacement steam-and-heat sources and other decommissionning related projects;
• In conjunction with the closure of nuclear power plants - energy sector transformation via projects designed to demonstrate the potential of energy efficiency measures and other necessary interventions in the energy sector.

Related projects

In addition to the IDSFs, the EBRD manages two other multilateral funds which also provide decommissioning assistance to Ukraine and Russia in the areas of:

• Decommissioning of closed units at Chernobyl, Ukraine: In support of the decommissioning of units 1, 2 and 3 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Nuclear Safety Account (NSA) finances the construction of an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and a facility to treat liquid radioactive waste.
• Decommissioning of nuclear naval vessels in northwest Russia: One of the key objectives of the recently-launched “nuclear window” of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) is to assist the Russian government with the decommissioning of Soviet-built nuclear-powered ships and submarines as well as with the rehabiltation of their supporting infrastructure