Until 2022 the „big four“ – RWE, EnBW, E.ON and Vattenfall – shall deposit roughly 23.34 billion Euro into a state-run fund. The costs for temporary storage and transport of nuclear waste should be financed by this fund.
The governmental commission tasked with the review of financing the nuclear phase-out did thus propose a burden sharing between the energy companies and the German state. In addition to the companies’ provisions for demolishing the nuclear power plants in the amount of 17.2 billion Euro, they also have to deposit a risk premium of 6.14 billion Euro into the fund. This amount serves the safeguard against potential extra costs. In that way the corporations would be able to redeem themselves from any liability and potential extra costs, while the state would secure roughly half of the companies’ entire provisions into the fund.
Furthermore the commission recommended that the nuclear power operators are to bear all the costs that arise from dismantling and decommissioning of the nuclear facilities themselves. The costs of these measures are estimated to accrue to 19 billion Euro.
If the amount deposited into the fund will be enough to cover all the costs for storage and transport of the nuclear waste, is disputed among market observers. The costs for those measures might accumulate to 120 billion euro by the end of the century.