Due to its high capital intensity and long-term nature, reactor decommissioning and especially radioactive waste management are intimately related to financial issues. Approaches to provide the financing of waste management differ extensively across countries employing nuclear power for electricity generation, as is the scope of and the ways how financial resources are accumulated, secured, and managed.
Nonetheless, every country faces similar challenges, like the risk of insufficient or not available financial resources, the possible bankruptcy of the operator or the risk that the future costs are underestimated with all these risks infringing the polluter-pays-principle.
