The cumulative disbursements of nuclear expenses (based on gross values at year-end economic conditions) are distributed as follows:
| Provisions related to nuclear generation within the scope of the Law of 28 June 2006 | 31/12/2021 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Costs based on year-end economic conditions | |||
| (in millions of euros) | Disbursement expected within 10 years | Disbursement expected after 10 years* | Total |
| Spent fuel management | 7,846 | 8,275 | 16,121 |
| amount unrelated to the operating cycle | 540 | 2,742 | 3,282 |
| Long-term radioactive waste management | 5,116 | 31,663 | 36,779 |
| BACK-END NUCLEAR CYCLE EXPENSES | 12,962 | 39,938 | 52,900 |
| Decommissioning of nuclear plants in operation | 347 | 20,132 | 20,479 |
| Decommissioning of shut-down nuclear plants | 2,903 | 4,815 | 7,718 |
| Last cores | 262 | 4,087 | 4,349 |
| DECOMMISSIONING AND LAST CORE EXPENSES | 3,512 | 29,034 | 32,546 |
*Over a 20-year and 50-year horizon, 20% and 41% respectively of cumulative disbursements (at year-end economic conditions) will concern long-term radioactive waste management provisions, and 32% and 96% respectively will concern decommissioning provisions.
This approach can be complemented by estimating the impact of a change in the discount rate on the present value.
The following table reports these details for the main components of EDF’s provisions for the back-end of the nuclear cycle, decommissioning of nuclear plants and last cores:
| Amounts in provisions at present value | Sensitivity to discount rate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance sheet provisions | Pre-tax net income | ||||
| (in millions of euros) | + 0.10% | - 0.10% | + 0.10% | - 0.10% | |
| BACK-END NUCLEAR CYCLE EXPENSES | |||||
| Spent fuel management | 11,819 | (120) | 124 | 102 | (107) |
| Long-term radioactive waste management | 14,233 | (472) | 504 | 385 | (413) |
| DECOMMISSIONING AND LAST CORE EXPENSES | |||||
| Decommissioning of nuclear plants in operation | 12,680 | (291) | 299 | - | - |
| Decommissioning of shut-down nuclear plants | 5,050 | (88) | 91 | 88 | (91) |
| Last cores | 2,660 | (54) | 55 | - | - |
| TOTAL | 46,442 | (1,025) | 1,073 | 575 | (611) |
| Amount covered by dedicated assets | 34,276 | (917) | 963 | 515 | (548) |
Articles L. 594-1 and following of France’s Environment Code and their implementing regulations require assets (dedicated assets) to be set aside for secure financing of nuclear plant decommissioning expenses and long term storage expenses for radioactive waste. These regulations govern the way dedicated assets are built up, and the management and governance of the funds themselves. Dedicated assets are clearly identified and managed separately from the Company’s other financial assets and investments. They are also subject to specific monitoring and control by the Board of Directors and the administrative authorities.
The law requires the realisable value of dedicated assets to be higher than the value of the provisions corresponding to the present value of the long term nuclear expenses defined in France’s Environment Code.
The Decree of 1 July 2020 codified the regulatory obligations concerning dedicated assets in articles D. 594-1 and following of the Environment Code, complemented by the ministerial order of 21 March 2007 amended by the order of 1 July 2020. These documents define the list of eligible assets, which is largely based on France’s Insurance Code and mainly includes unlisted assets. In particular, they authorise allocation to dedicated assets of the shares of CTE, which has held 100% of the capital of RTE since 31 December 2017 (see note 15.1.2.2 below).
EDF received ministerial authorisation on 31 May 2018 to increase the portion of unlisted assets in its dedicated assets from 10% to 15% subject to conditions (this does not apply to the shares of CTE or real estate assets).
Since the decree of 1 July 2020, EDF is no longer obliged to add to dedicated assets when the coverage rate of obligations, determined by the ratio of the assets’ realisable value to the amount of the provisions concerned, is above 100%, and withdrawals from assets are not authorised unless that rate is above 120%. The decree also increased the maximum period for allocating funds to dedicated assets in the event of undercoverage, subject to authorisation by the administrative authority, to 5 years (instead of 3 years previously).
