The cost is estimated at 24 billion – E24

The state takes over the old nuclear facilities from the IFE, and must clean up 24 billion. – Now we will carry out the cleaning work in a good and safe way, says Minister Cecilie Merseth.

The Norwegian nuclear decommissioning state is now taking over responsibility for the nuclear power plants in Halden and Keller from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), the government said in message.

Four nuclear reactors have been operating at these facilities since their inception in the 1950s.

Business Minister Cecilie Merseth signed an agreement with Chairman Olav Fjell at the Energy Engineering Division on this transformation.

“It is a moment of history when we are now transferring the nuclear business back to the state,” Merseth says.

– While the institute was being established in the 1940s, the state has been directly involved in financing nuclear work ever since. Now we will do the clean-up work in a good and safe way, she adds.

The Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is a national body set up to handle the clean-up of 16.5 million tonnes of spent reactor fuel from the Halden and Keller research reactors.

It is estimated to cost 24 billion.

The last reactor was shut down in 2019. Planning also began for a comprehensive clean-up operation that is likely to cost NOK 24 billion and last for several decades.

In 2021, the government estimated the costs of processing and permanent storage of Norwegian nuclear waste at between NOK 20 and 21 billion.

“The estimates remain uncertain,” the Ministry of Commerce and Fisheries wrote in the report.

Parliament decided that the state would take full responsibility for the clean-up operation and cover all necessary costs.

Parts of the waste generated by the facilities must be treated before it can be stored. In addition, a storage facility, a kind of underground vault where the waste can be stored permanently, must be built. Previous reports have estimated the cost of this at around ten billion.

It can be renegotiated.

The facilities and IFE staff will be transferred to the country after the Norwegian Nuclear Disarmament Authority has obtained a licence to operate the facilities. This will be done on the recommendation of the Directorate of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety.

The state pays nothing to take over the facilities, but bears the responsibility and costs of dismantling them, and treating and storing the nuclear waste.

“The IFE must provide information on all known working conditions that may have an impact on the operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the handling of radioactive materials,” the government wrote.

The state and the IFE must review everything to be transferred jointly.

The government wrote that the agreement could be renegotiated in “exceptional circumstances”.

The Ministry of Energy has recently appointed a committee to prepare a public report on nuclear energy. It will be led by Cicero director Kristin Halvorsen, a former finance minister and SV leader.