Authorities in central and eastern European countries, including Romania, are still reluctant when it comes to providing all the information on the real costs of nuclear energy, said the “Nuclear Energy Costs” study, conducted between 2013-2014 by a consortium of NGOs from 6 countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Romania.
According to a release of the Terra Millennium III Foundation, a partner in the making of this study, the study started from the point that nuclear energy still enjoys the presumption of cheap, clean and safe energy, although the price of energy from a nuclear power plant operation only a part of the costs are included, according to Bursa newspaper.
“Expenditures for obtaining nuclear energy must be sought throughout the entire process, from uranium mines, passing through the fuel processing to the daily operation of the plants and until their decommissioning,” according to the quoted source, who mentioned that one of the major expenses of the operators of nuclear power plants is management of used nuclear fuel.
This problem has not yet found a solution, according to the NGOs that say if the nuclear industry would be forced to pay alone for the decommissioning costs, for the waste management or for the risk insurance, then nuclear energy would be very expensive.
Although Joint Project partner NGOs have attempted to obtain information about all expenses that generate the real cost of nuclear energy, a number of data could not be clarified, such as the calculation of mandatory annual payments, including the rate of interest and the estimated cost of deep geological repository for the final disposal of the high risk wastes, says the quoted source.
Moreover, the non-governmental organizations say they have uncovered some shortcomings such as the inflation rate is not taken into account when calculating the annual mandatory payments and the amount of the contributions to the nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste funds management (of 2 euro / MWh) should be revised after a maximum period of five years, but the deadline has not been met.
The project researchers also state that authorities give little information in the coming answers to requests for the clarification regarding aspects of nuclear energy costs, or avoid entirely the answer, mentions the quoted source.
