Provisional World Parliament
27th through 31st December 2010, Rabindranath Tagore Auditorium, Bangla Academy, and Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, Calcutta, West Bengal, India

Nuclear Power Plant Decommission Fund

Whereas, the useful life of a nuclear power plant is generally estimated at 30 to 50 years;

Whereas the cost of regular decommission of a nuclear power plant has been estimated to average about 6.5 million Earth Hours per plant (325 million US dollars per plant), but whereas emergency decommissions, clean-ups and recovery might be estimated to cost from 1 to 10 billion Earth Hours per plant (50 to several hundred billion US dollars per plant);

Whereas national legislation in some countries hosting nuclear power plants have established programs to publicly pay for the costs of decommissioning only in cases of major accidents or acts of terrorism, which money would be paid to the utilities and associated contractors in the business of nuclear power plants;

And whereas the difference in value to the utilities and associated contractors between paying for the cost if there is no accident or terrorism, and being paid for the cost if there is an accident or terrorism might be on the order of 2 to 4 billion Earth Hours per plant (100 to 200 billion US dollars per plant);

Whereas this value to the utilities and associated contractors is seen as an unacceptable motivation for accidental antecedents, negligent security and terrorist intrigues;

And whereas this value would not measure the cost to human society near the plant and around the Earth, where released radiation would spread, nor the cost to the clean-up workers in cases of uncontrolled decommissions;

This 12th session of World Parliament hereby adopts this legislative act for a World Nuclear Power Plant Decommission Fund.

• Definition: Inadvertent decommission means a decommissioning of a nuclear power plant due to necessity caused by accident, faulty design, faulty construction, or an act of terrorism. The Enforcement System of the Earth Federation and the Agency for Technological and Environmental Assessment shall work together to determine whether a case is accident, act of terrorism, faulty design or faulty construction, and whether there is consequential necessity for decommission ahead of the affected reactors’ prior schedule.

• The World Nuclear Plant Decommission Fund is authorized to pay all costs, after prepayments & escrow, for regular decommissions of nuclear plants around the world. With currently about 436 nuclear power plants with electric distribution around the world, the World Parliament creates an initial fund of 872 million Earth Hours.

• In the case of nuclear plants inside of Earth Federation Member States, the Remedies and Corrections Department of the Enforcement System will provide security for nuclear power plant decommissions, together with other departments of the Enforcement System as necessary.

• In the case of nuclear plants outside the Earth Federation, the Presidium shall endeavour to negotiate security terms for the decommissioning. The World Parliament will deliberate negotiated terms as submitted by the Presidium, and respond before the end of the following quarter of yearly session.

• The Agency for Research and Planning (ARP) and the Agency for Technological and Environmental Assessment (ATEA) shall submit project budgets for nuclear plants around the world. The ATEA shall submit Environmental Impact Studies regarding decommissions. The ATEA and the ARP shall submit reports to the Presidium and to the World Parliament on a quarterly basis.6. In the case of nuclear power plants undergoing inadvertent decommissions, the respective national public insurance program shall pay for the decommissioning. However, for inadvertent decommissions within the Earth Federation, Earth Federation agencies shall contract the clean-up and decommission, rather than the utility, the national government or national public insurance program, which shall pay the insurance benefit into the World Nuclear Plant Decommission Fund, earmarked for the respective plant. If a country’s public insurance program is not able to pay, the country may negotiate case terms for payment with the Presidium, subject to approval of the World Parliament.

Adopted as amended, 12.58 p.m., 28 December 2010, by the 12th Session of the Provisional World Parliament.

Attested,

Eugenia Almand, JD, Parliament Secretary