Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 94d9f3d5-978d-4aea-9ba7-486ca7f8503a
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Standard Format and Content of Decommissioning Cost Estimates for Nuclear Power Reactors
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0131/ML013100099.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.202
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
. For example, use of the decommissioning trust fund for expenses related to storage of the spent fuel is prohibited unless the fund has been specifically structured into separate subaccounts to cover both NRC-required decommissioning costs and other costs. In such a case, the licensee should provide the NRC with a clear accounting of the allocation of funds between NRC- required and other decommissioning activities. C. REGULATORY POSITION The major types of cost estimates affecting the licensee are the preliminary cost estimate, the estimate of expected costs presented in the PSDAR, the site-specific decommissioning cost estimates, and the updated site-specific estimate of remaining decommissioning costs. The licensee is reminded that decommissioning is defined in 10 CFR 50.2 as the safe removal of a facility or site from service and the reduction of residual radioactivity to levels that permit release of the site and termination of the license. For example, removing uncontaminated material, such as soil or a wall, to gain access to contamination to be removed would be a legitimate decommissioning cost. However, the costs of 6 demolition of decontaminated structures, site restoration activities, or other activities not involved with removing the facility from service or reducing residual radioactivity are not considered decommissioning costs by the NRC. Rather, they are considered operating expenses not required by the NRC and are not included in the amount of money required by 10 CFR 50.75 to be placed in the plant’s decommissioning fund. The costs of constructing, loading, operating, maintaining, and decommissioning an on-site spent fuel storage facility or ISFSI are excluded from decommissioning costs in 10 CFR 50.75. A licensee is required by 10 CFR 50.54(bb) to separately notify the NRC of its program to manage and provide funding for the management of irradiated fuel. The NRC will perform a comparison of the estimated costs with the minimum decommissioning