Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 8ebf2253-f3d2-4bcd-ac80-7cbf6ab8d420
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Assuring the Availability of Funds for Decommissioning Nuclear Reactors + HISTORY –HISTORY 02/2022 – DG-1348 Revision 1, Proposed Revision 3 06/2018 – DG-1348 , Proposed Revision 3 11/2016 – Periodic Review of Revision 2 – Reviewed with no issues identified 01/2011 – DG-1229 , Proposed Revision 2 05/2001 – DG-1106 , Proposed Revision 1 05/1989 – DG-1003 , Proposed Revision 0 (Rev. 1)
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2134/ML21347A081.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-05
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.159
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Content:
al responsibility, in that the bulk of the funds necessary for a safe decommissioning are being considered and planned for early in the life of the facility, thus providing adequate assurance that the facility will not become a risk to public health and safety when it is decommissioned. To estimate increases in the cost of decommissioning over the operating life of the facility, 10 CFR 50.75(c)(2) contains a formula to account for inflation that has occurred in the labor, energy, and waste burial components of decommissioning costs. As indicated in 10 CFR 50.75(d), each non-power production or utilization facility applicant and licensee is to submit a cost estimate for decommissioning its facility. This initial cost estimate is not an exact accounting of the actual cost of decommissioning but is intended to provide an approximation of what decommissioning the reactor will cost at the proposed time of decommissioning. This estimate may be based on information from the literature (e.g., generic studies, licensee models, experience). Pacific Northwest Laboratory has made a detailed cost estimate of the conceptual decommissioning for research and test reactors in NUREG/CR-1756 and Addendum 1, issued July 1983, that can be used as a basis, for regulatory purposes, for developing estimates of the costs of decommissioning. Use of the certification approach is the first step in providing reasonable assurance that funds will be available to decommission the facility. Another step is that, 5 years prior to the expected end of operations, licensees are required to submit (or for a non-power production or utilization facility, to update 2 years prior to the expected end of operations) a preliminary site-specific decommissioning cost estimate that includes an up-to-date assessment of the major factors that could affect the cost to decommission and the plans for adjusting levels of funds. For a prematurely shutdown reactor, this step may involve the licensee submittal of a