The costs of decommissioning and disposing of radioactive waste must be borne by the owners of the nuclear facilities in accordance with the polluter pays principle. They bear the financial responsibility and make ongoing contributions to the decommissioning and waste disposal funds. However, the obligation to bear the costs and the cost risk are not transferred to the funds, but remain with the owners of the nuclear facilities.
If the contributions made by an owner to the funds are not sufficient, he must cover the shortfall from his own resources. If the latter are insufficient, the funds will initially cover the remaining costs from their own resources. The owner must repay the amount owed, including interest, to the funds within a period set by the Federal Council.
If an owner of a nuclear installation is insolvent and is therefore unable to make a payment or reimbursement to the funds within the deadline set by the Federal Council, the other owners are liable in proportion to their share of the contributions. They must make such additional contributions from their own funds. If the other owners are unable to make up the shortfall, the Federal Assembly shall decide whether and to what extent the Confederation shall contribute to the costs.
As a result, there is no automatic burden on the public sector. The federal government only comes last in the five-stage cost-bearing cascade. Further safeguarding mechanisms ensure that the owners of the nuclear facilities finance decommissioning and disposal reliably and comprehensively.
If the return is not achieved during a five-year investment period, the owners of the core investments must pay higher contributions into the funds. If the accumulated capital is below a range specified by the Commission for two consecutive balance sheet dates, the Commission of the funds will initiate corrective measures. The Commission has set a deviation from the target value of the funds of -10% as the lower bandwidth.
This mechanism means that the accumulation of funds is not overly dependent on the performance of the capital market. The owners of the nuclear facilities must pay their entire contributions into the funds at an early stage. In addition, since the 2016 cost study, a comprehensive cost block for risks and opportunities has been added to the decommissioning and disposal costs (base costs), which are calculated with a very high degree of reliability, and a cost block for forecasting inaccuracies. The total costs calculated on the basis of this new cost structure are robust and resilient. This ensures that the necessary funds for decommissioning and disposal will be available until the end of the contribution obligation, i.e. when the decommissioning of the respective nuclear facility is completed and thus around 15-20 years after final decommissioning.
