Recommendation 10

There remain significant uncertainties which if managed poorly could increase decommissioning costs further. The estimated cost of defueling the seven stations, for example, ranges between £3.1 billion and £8 billion depending upon how quickly they can be defueled and how soon defueling starts once a station closes after stopping electricity generation. We asked the Department how certain it was about the expected costs and if either the worst case or best case scenarios were more likely than the other. The Department told us that its current estimate range for defueling was “deliberately built to be a balanced assessment” and that while costs could change over time, it was “not skewed towards either one at this moment”. The NDA explained that it and EDFE were “absolutely dedicated” to minimising costs. It explained that it was working with EDFE to defuel the stations safely and as quickly as possible.15 It recognised, however, that delays in the process would increase costs. For example, the estimated annual cost of an AGR station once it has been defueled is between £25 million and £35 million compared with £140 million if the station still has fuel in it. The NDA explained that the defueling process could also be impacted by the timing of station closures, as closures earlier than planned would increase pressure on the defueling programme.16