IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v137y2020ics0301421519307128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nuclear decommissioning after the German Nuclear Phase-Out an integrated view on new regulations and nuclear logistics

Author

Listed:
  • Scherwath, Tim
  • Wealer, Ben
  • Mendelevitch, Roman

Abstract

With Germany's nuclear phase-out, 23 reactors need to be dismantled in the near future. Initiated by the difficult financial situation of affected utilities in 2014, a major discourse on ensuring financial liability led to a redistribution of liabilities and finances, with the utilities remaining in charge of dismantling, while liability for interim and final storage now transferred to the public. This paper assesses whether the new regulation is ultimately likely to be to the benefit of the public. It introduces a two-stage stochastic optimization framework encompassing the different dismantling phases, resulting waste flows and storage levels of low- and intermediate-level waste (LLW and ILW) as well as the associated costs. Results show that storage risk – proclaimed as a major barrier to efficient decommissioning – is not a major driver for the optimal decommissioning schedule. However, a delay of ten years might increase interim storage costs now borne by the public by over 20%. Lacking experience and handling capacity of the industry could significantly shrink the buffer currently included in utility funds in order to deal with dismantling uncertainties. Our analysis reveals the storage gate as the new crucial interface between utilities and the public storage provider.

Suggested Citation

  • Scherwath, Tim & Wealer, Ben & Mendelevitch, Roman, 2020. "Nuclear decommissioning after the German Nuclear Phase-Out an integrated view on new regulations and nuclear logistics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:137:y:2020:i:c:s0301421519307128
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111125
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421519307128
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111125?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Williams, Daniel G., 2007. "U.S. nuclear plant decommissioning funding adequacy -- by individual funds, utilities, reactors, and industry-wide -- assessed by Monte Carlo and baseline trend methods: 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2004," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1050-1100, September.
    2. Samanlioglu, Funda, 2013. "A multi-objective mathematical model for the industrial hazardous waste location-routing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 226(2), pages 332-340.
    3. Lough, W. Timothy & White, K. Preston, 1990. "A critical review of nuclear power plant decommissioning planning studies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 471-479, June.
    4. Bradbury, D., 1992. "Decommissioning of civil nuclear facilities: a world review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 755-760, August.
    5. Ben Wealer & Clemens Gerbaulet & Jan Paul Seidel & Christian von Hirschhausen, 2015. "Stand und Perspektiven des Rückbaus von Kernkraftwerken in Deutschland ("Rückbau-Monitoring 2015")," Data Documentation 81, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Sheu, Jiuh-Biing, 2008. "Green supply chain management, reverse logistics and nuclear power generation," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 19-46, January.
    7. Christian von Hirschhausen & Clemens Gerbaulet & Claudia Kemfert & Felix Reitz & Dorothea Schäfer & Cornelia Ziehm, 2015. "Rückbau und Entsorgung in der deutschen Atomwirtschaft: öffentlich-rechtlicher Atomfonds erforderlich," DIW Wochenbericht, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 82(45), pages 1072-1082.
    8. Jan-Hendrik Bartels & Thorsten Gather & Jürgen Zimmermann, 2011. "Dismantling of nuclear power plants at optimal NPV," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 407-427, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ben Wealer & Christian von Hirschhausen, 2020. "Nuclear Power as a System Good: Organizational Models for Production along the Value-Added Chain," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1883, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hao Yu & Wei Deng Solvang, 2017. "A multi-objective location-allocation optimization for sustainable management of municipal solid waste," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 289-308, September.
    2. Williams, Daniel G., 2007. "Scenario simulations do not yield results stochastically consistent with alternative Monte Carlo results: U.S. nuclear plant decommissioning funding adequacy (2000)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1101-1130, September.
    3. Yan Sun & Maoxiang Lang & Danzhu Wang, 2016. "Bi-Objective Modelling for Hazardous Materials Road–Rail Multimodal Routing Problem with Railway Schedule-Based Space–Time Constraints," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-31, July.
    4. Court, Christa D. & Munday, Max & Roberts, Annette & Turner, Karen, 2015. "Can hazardous waste supply chain ‘hotspots’ be identified using an input–output framework?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(1), pages 177-187.
    5. Ghalehkhondabi, Iman & Maihami, Reza & Ahmadi, Ehsan, 2020. "Optimal pricing and environmental improvement for a hazardous waste disposal supply chain with emission penalties," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. V. Sathiya & M. Chinnadurai & S. Ramabalan & Andrea Appolloni, 2021. "Mobile robots and evolutionary optimization algorithms for green supply chain management in a used-car resale company," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 9110-9138, June.
    7. H. Asefi & S. Lim & M. Maghrebi & S. Shahparvari, 2019. "Mathematical modelling and heuristic approaches to the location-routing problem of a cost-effective integrated solid waste management," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 273(1), pages 75-110, February.
    8. Danışment Vural & Robert F. Dell & Erkan Kose, 2021. "Locating unmanned aircraft systems for multiple missions under different weather conditions," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 725-744, March.
    9. Hamed Farrokhi-Asl & Ahmad Makui & Armin Jabbarzadeh & Farnaz Barzinpour, 2020. "Solving a multi-objective sustainable waste collection problem considering a new collection network," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1977-2015, December.
    10. Hassini, Elkafi & Surti, Chirag & Searcy, Cory, 2012. "A literature review and a case study of sustainable supply chains with a focus on metrics," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 69-82.
    11. Jun Zhao & Lixiang Huang, 2019. "Multi-Period Network Design Problem in Regional Hazardous Waste Management Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-27, June.
    12. Md. Abdul Moktadir & Towfique Rahman & Syed Mithun Ali & Nazmun Nahar & Sanjoy Kumar Paul, 2020. "Examining barriers to reverse logistics practices in the leather footwear industry," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 293(2), pages 715-746, October.
    13. Govindan, Kannan & Kilic, Merve & Uyar, Ali & Karaman, Abdullah S., 2021. "Drivers and value-relevance of CSR performance in the logistics sector: A cross-country firm-level investigation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    14. Haoqing Wang & Wen Yi & Yannick Liu, 2022. "Optimal Route Design for Construction Waste Transportation Systems: Mathematical Models and Solution Algorithms," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(22), pages 1-13, November.
    15. Wu, Weitiao & Ma, Jian & Liu, Ronghui & Jin, Wenzhou, 2022. "Multi-class hazmat distribution network design with inventory and superimposed risks," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    16. Zajac, Sandra & Huber, Sandra, 2021. "Objectives and methods in multi-objective routing problems: a survey and classification scheme," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 290(1), pages 1-25.
    17. Shahrzad Faghih-Roohi & Yew-Soon Ong & Sobhan Asian & Allan N. Zhang, 2016. "Dynamic conditional value-at-risk model for routing and scheduling of hazardous material transportation networks," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 247(2), pages 715-734, December.
    18. Nikzamir, Mohammad & Baradaran, Vahid, 2020. "A healthcare logistic network considering stochastic emission of contamination: Bi-objective model and solution algorithm," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    19. Kwangheon Park & Seunghyun Son & Jinhyuk Oh & Sunkuk Kim, 2022. "Sustainable Decommissioning Strategies for Nuclear Power Plants: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, May.
    20. Van Engeland, Jens & Beliën, Jeroen & De Boeck, Liesje & De Jaeger, Simon, 2020. "Literature review: Strategic network optimization models in waste reverse supply chains," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nuclear decommissioning; Nuclear dismantling; Financial liability; Nuclear logistics; Stochastic modeling; Regulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • H44 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Goods: Mixed Markets
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:137:y:2020:i:c:s0301421519307128. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.