NRC Recalculates What It Costs to Bury Nuclear Waste
Published Date: 10/22/2026
Notice
Summary
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is updating how it calculates the costs for safely burying low-level nuclear waste when closing power plants. This affects nuclear power plant owners who must adjust their cleanup funds based on new labor, energy, and burial cost changes. Comments on this draft report are open until November 23, 2026, so stakeholders can weigh in before final decisions.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Minimum decommissioning funds drop on average
Based on the revised low-level waste (LLW) burial factors in Draft NUREG-1307, Revision 21, the minimum decommissioning fund amounts that nuclear power reactor licensees calculate will generally be lower, on average, compared to the amounts those licensees reported in 2025.
Updated escalation factors must be used
The draft report updates the NRC's acceptable formula by revising the labor, energy, and waste burial escalation factors and by including disposal costs for low activity waste; under 10 CFR 50.75 licensees must adjust annually their decommissioning cost estimates in current-year dollars using the NRC's factors.
Burial charge changes differ by facility
The report notes LLW burial charges are unchanged at two of the nation's four LLW disposal facilities (to which a majority of licensees are anticipated to dispose at least some LLW), while charges are slightly to moderately higher at the other two facilities (to which a small number of licensees are anticipated to dispose).
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