Support to the ex post evaluation of the nuclear decommissioning assistance programme : energy window 2007-2013

In the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a prerequisite for the accession of Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia to the European Union was a commitment to prematurely close and subsequently dismantle their early Soviet-designed reactors. Three nuclear power plants with a total of eight reactors were concerned: Kozloduy Units 1-4 in Bulgaria, Ignalina in Lithuania, and Bohunice V1 in Slovakia. From the early 1990s, the EU began to provide financial and technical assistance to partner countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia via the TACIS and PHARE programmes. In 1999, the EU launched three Nuclear Decommissioning Assistance Programmes (NDAP) to help Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Slovakia with the closure and dismantling of the eight nuclear reactors, and the significant social, financial and economic burden this caused. Without covering the full cost of decommissioning nor the compensation of all economic consequences, the Nuclear Decommissioning Assistance Programme aimed to provide financial assistance to several types of projects, for a total EU NDAP support, estimated at €3.8bn for the three countries between 1999 and 2020 (European Parliament, 2017). The NDAP covered two elements: a 'decommissioning window' and an 'energy window'. This report is the final report produced under the framework of the ex-post evaluation of the nuclear decommissioning assistance programme - Energy Window 2007-2013.