[DennisP]

I don't know how other countries work but that actually is a legal requirement in the US. The NRC requires reactor operators to set aside funds for decommissioning[1], and the government charges a fee to nuclear plants to cover long-term waste storage[2]. Or at least, they did, until 2014. The waste fund has accumulated to $43 billion (as of 2018), but the government hasn't managed to actually store any waste; since the utilities were also incurring the cost to store the waste themselves, they successfully sued and got the fee lifted, until such time as the government starts taking the waste off their hands.

If only fossil plants were required to pay for burying their waste deep underground. Then we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.

[1] https://www.nrc.gov/waste/decommissioning/finan-assur.html

[2] https://www.ocregister.com/2019/02/01/billions-pile-up-in-nu...