EDF / 2018 Reference document

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Balance sheet

28.3

DECOMMISSIONING PROVISIONS

feasibility of this storage centre and the search for additional waste management solutions. A general industrial plan for management of all long-lived low-level

FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS EDF bears full technical and financial responsibility for decommissioning of the nuclear plants it operates. The decommissioning process is governed by French Law of 13 June 2006, Decree 2007-1557 of 2 November 2007, and the French Environment Code (Articles L593-25 and following). It involves the following operations for each site: a shutdown declaration, to be made at least two years prior to the planned ■ shutdown date; since the Energy Transition Law of 17 August 2015, the final shutdown, ■ which takes place during the operating phase of the basic nuclear facility, is considered separately from dismantling, as a notable change of lesser importance (simply requiring a declaration by the operator to the Minister and the ASN); an application for decommissioning, which after examination by the authorities ■ and a public inquiry, leads to a single decree authorising the decommissioning; key progress reviews with the ASN, included in a formal safety procedure specific ■ to dismantling operations; an internal authorisation procedure for the operator, independent of operational ■ personnel and audited by the ASN, allowing some specific work to be started ahead of the authorised safety procedure; finally, once these operations are complete, declassification of the facility to ■ remove it from the legal regime governing basic nuclear facilities. The decommissioning scenario adopted by EDF complies with France’s environmental code, which requires as short a period as possible to elapse between final shutdown and dismantling in economically acceptable conditions and in compliance with the principles laid down in Article L.1333-1 of the public health code (radioprotection) and section II of Article L.110-1 of the environmental code (protection of the environment). The intended end-state is industrial use: the sites will be restored to their original condition and will be reusable for industrial facilities. The ongoing operations concern plants that were constructed and operated before the current nuclear fleet (“first-generation” plants), and the Superphenix plant and Irradiated Materials Workshop at Chinon. These operations cover four different technologies: a heavy water reactor (Brennilis), a sodium-cooled fast-neutron reactor (the Superphenix at Creys-Malville), natural uranium graphite gas-cooled (UNGG) reactors (at Chinon, Saint Laurent and Bugey) and a pressurised water reactor (PWR at Chooz). Each of them is a first for EDF, and apart from the PWR, they concern reactor technologies for which there is little or no international experience. They therefore require development of new methods and technologies that are riskier than technologies for which feedback already exists. Decommissioning of the Chooz PWR is benefiting from past experience (essentially in the US and limited), but the reactor has the specificity of being located in a cave, making this a unique operation, generating experience that is not immediately transposable and involves specific risks. The experience gained from dismantling the Chooz PWR will make the studies and estimates of future decommissioning of the nuclear fleet currently in operation (“second-generation” plants) as robust as possible. But so far, neither EDF nor any other operator has begun a decommissioning programme on a scale comparable to the current PWR fleet, and as a result the estimates include both opportunities and risks, especially the risks associated with the scale effect. The decommissioning provisions cover future decommissioning expenses as described above (excluding the cost of removing and storing waste, which is covered by the provisions for long-term waste management).

radioactive waste is also to be remitted by the end of 2019. Long-lived medium and high-level waste

Long-lived medium and high-level waste essentially comes from processing of spent fuel, and to a lesser extent waste resulting from nuclear plant decommissioning (metallic components that have been inside the reactor). The French Law of 28 June 2006 requires reversible storage in deep geological layers for this type of waste. The provision established for long-lived medium and high-level waste is the largest component of provisions for long-term radioactive waste management. Until June 2015 the gross value and disbursement schedules for forecast expenses were based on a scenario of industrial geological waste storage, following conclusions presented in the first half of 2005 by a working group formed under supervision of the State involving representatives of the administrations concerned, ANDRA and the producers of waste (EDF, Orano, CEA). EDF applied a reasonable approach to information supplied by this working group, leading to a benchmark cost, for storage of waste from all producers, of €14.1 billion under the economic conditions of 2003 (€20.8 billion under 2011 economic conditions). In 2012 ANDRA carried out preliminary conceptional studies for the Cigéo geological storage project, after discussing the technical optimisations proposed by the producers of waste. On this basis, ANDRA drew up figures which, in compliance with the Law of 28 June 2006, were subjected to a consultation process with waste producers started in late 2014 by the French Department for Energy and Climate (Direction générale de l’énergie et du climat or DGEC). In April 2015 EDF and the other producers sent the DGEC their comments on ANDRA’s report and a joint estimation of the target Cigéo storage cost due to divergent approaches. All this information was included, together with the ASN’s opinion, in a report submitted to the Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy. On 15 January 2016 the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy issued a Ministerial Order setting the target cost for the Cigéo storage project at €25 billion under 2011 economic conditions. The cost as defined constitutes an objective to be met by ANDRA, in compliance with safety standards set by the ASN, working in close liaison with the operators of nuclear installations. Publication of this Order entailed an €820 million adjustment to the provision shown in EDF’s financial statements at 31 December 2015. The cost of the Cigéo project defined in the Order has replaced the estimated benchmark cost of €20.8 billion previously used by EDF for its financial statements. In application of this Ministerial Order, the cost of the Cigéo project will be regularly updated, at least at each key milestone in the course of the project’s development (authorisation to create the facility, commissioning, end of the “pilot industrial phase”, safety reviews) in accordance with the opinion of the ASN. Design studies for future facilities are currently in process with ANDRA and stakeholders. They include technical and economic optimisation and the responses to the safety option report sent by ANDRA to the ASN in April 2016. The law of 11 July 2016 also clarified the concept of reversibility. In 2017 ANDRA opted for a new configuration to provide the basis for the preliminary project. Under the schedule prepared by ANDRA, the application to build Cigéo (classified as a basic nuclear facility) should be made during 2019 and permission is expected to be granted in 2022. After an industrial pilot phase starting in 2026, the first waste packages should be received in 2031. On 11 January 2018, the ASN issued its opinion on the Cigéo safety option file (DOS Cigéo). It considered that the project had reached satisfactory overall technological maturity at that stage and required examination of alternatives to the proposals for storage of bituminous waste at Cigéo. In September 2018, prior to filing an application for authorisation to create Cigéo in 2019, a group of experts was appointed by the DGEC to draw up a report on current bituminous waste management practices, focusing on three themes: knowledge of bituminous waste and its behaviour, neutralisation processes, and storage arrangements.

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EDF I Reference Document 2018