Decommissioning costs compared to new build

Nuclear’s cleanup cost threatens the expansion dream. Countries are racing

to build new reactors. But we’ve barely figured out how to clean up the old
ones — and the bill is potentially staggering. Inside special building
one of the former nuclear power plant, parts of the wall are uneven and
pockmarked — the result of workers hammering off layers of concrete,
hunting for radioactive contamination. It’s been one of the “most difficult
buildings to decontaminate and dismantle,” explains Kurt Radlof, who
handles communications for the plant. His parents worked at the Soviet-era
nuclear complex at Lubmin in former East Germany before it shuttered 35
years ago. Dismantling the facility was supposed to take about 20 years.
It’s still nowhere near finished and has become one of the world’s most
expensive civil decommissioning projects. Nuclear power has existed for
over 70 years. Still, out of more than 600 reactors ever built, only a
third have been closed and 20 fully decommissioned. The current life span
of a reactor is 30 to 40 years, and hundreds are heading into retirement.
Even though decommissioning is costly and complex, countries in Europe and
around the globe are looking to revive the flagging industry to achieve
energy independence, in the face of the latest energy crisis precipitated
by the war in the Persian Gulf. Decommissioning a single reactor can cost
up to $2 billion (€1.75 billion), according to the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA). While for some, this has been achieved within budget
and timeline, it’s far from a given. Globally, even without significant
cost overruns or taking new reactors into account, cleaning up shuttered
plants could become a trillion-dollar problem, burdening taxpayers and
future generations. Even after decommissioning, the waste still needs to
exit. High and intermediate-level nuclear waste must go to permanent
storage. But of the 31 countries currently producing nuclear power, only
two are building permanent underground storage facilities. Germany doesn’t
have one yet.

 Deutsche Welle 19th March 2026 

 https://www.dw.com/en/nuclears-cleanup-cost-threatens-the-expansion-dream/a-76431361