The absolute values of decommissioning costs are not available for any of the SMRs addressed in this report. However, the designers of SMRs often mention that decommissioning costs are expected to be relatively low, with respect to large-size reactors.

Generally speaking decommissioning appears technically easier for full factory-assembled reactors, as they could be transported back to the factory in an assembled form, in the same way as they were brought to the site for operation [6.2]. The dismantling and recycling of the components of a decommissioned NPP at a centralised factory is expected to be cheaper compared to the on-site operations, in particular, due to the economy of scale associated with the centralised factory [6.2]. The decommissioning of barge-mounted reactors seems particularly simplified since they could be towed back to the factory leaving no traces of plant operation on the site.

Even if the absolute value of the decommissioning cost is important, the impact of the decommissioning cost on the LUEC is small (less than a percent, see Table 6.1) since it is discounted over a long period of time (40-60 years) corresponding to the operation of the plant.