Funding The Austrian Board for Radioactive Waste Management is funded through the collection of a future provisions fee from waste producers and budget resources of the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology.
Funding for the treatment and final disposal of the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste produced in Austria primarily follows the “polluter pays principle”. This means that the producers of radioactive waste bear the costs of its treatment as well as a fraction of the estimated costs of the final repository. For this purpose Nuclear Engineering Seibersdorf Ltd. (NES) collects both a treatment and a future provisions fee when accepting radioactive waste from producers. This is in accordance with § 143 (4) of the Austrian Radiation Protection Law 2020 (StrSchG 2020). The amount of the fee depends on the different waste categories and can be found on the NES website.
The treatment fee covers the costs of the processing, conditioning and temporary storage of radioactive waste. The future provisions fee is, however, earmarked for any preparatory work that needs to be undertaken for the final disposal of radioactive waste based on the National Program for Radioactive Waste Management as well as the planning, construction and commissioning of the final repository (§ 143 (6) StrSchG 2020).
The Austrian Board for Radioactive Waste Management is primarily financed through budget resources of the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology. In its role as a coordinator, the ministry bears the costs for the chairmanship and the Secretariat. These costs include for example:
- expenses for the technical support of the website informing the public,
- organising and holding meetings,
- reimbursing travel costs and other expenses,
- small-scale research and studies,
- scientific and legal advice for the Austrian Board for Radioactive Waste Management etc.
More extensive studies, public relations (informing and including the public), etc. are financed through the collection of the future provisions fee.