(a) The owner or operator must have a detailed written estimate, in current dollars, of the cost of disposing of any hazardous secondary material as listed or characteristic hazardous waste, and the potential cost of closing the facility as a treatment, storage, and disposal facility.

(1) The estimate must equal the cost of conducting the activities described in paragraph (a) of this section at the point when the extent and manner of the facility's operation would make these activities the most expensive; and

(2) The cost estimate must be based on the costs to the owner or operator of hiring a third party to conduct these activities. A third party is a party who is neither a parent nor a subsidiary of the owner or operator. (See definition of “parent corporation” in § 265.141(d) of this subchapter.) The owner or operator may use costs for on-site disposal in accordance with applicable requirements if he can demonstrate that on-site disposal capacity will exist at all times over the life of the facility.

(3) The cost estimate may not incorporate any salvage value that may be realized with the sale of hazardous secondary materials, or hazardous or non-hazardous wastes if applicable under § 265.113(d) of this subchapter, facility structures or equipment, land, or other assets associated with the facility.

(4) The owner or operator may not incorporate a zero cost for hazardous secondary materials, or hazardous or non-hazardous wastes if applicable under § 265.113(d) of this subchapter that might have economic value.

(b) During the active life of the facility, the owner or operator must adjust the cost estimate for inflation within 60 days prior to the anniversary date of the establishment of the financial instrument(s) used to comply with § 261.143. For owners and operators using the financial test or corporate guarantee, the cost estimate must be updated for inflation within 30 days after the close of the firm's fiscal year and before submission of updated information to the Regional Administrator as specified in § 261.143(e)(3). The adjustment may be made by recalculating the cost estimate in current dollars, or by using an inflation factor derived from the most recent Implicit Price Deflator for Gross National Product published by the U.S. Department of Commerce in its Survey of Current Business, as specified in paragraphs (b)(1) and (2) of this section. The inflation factor is the result of dividing the latest published annual Deflator by the Deflator for the previous year.

(1) The first adjustment is made by multiplying the cost estimate by the inflation factor. The result is the adjusted cost estimate.

(2) Subsequent adjustments are made by multiplying the latest adjusted cost estimate by the latest inflation factor.

(c) During the active life of the facility, the owner or operator must revise the cost estimate no later than 30 days after a change in a facility's operating plan or design that would increase the costs of conducting the activities described in paragraph (a) or no later than 60 days after an unexpected event which increases the cost of conducting the activities described in paragraph (a) of this section. The revised cost estimate must be adjusted for inflation as specified in paragraph (b) of this section.

(d) The owner or operator must keep the following at the facility during the operating life of the facility: The latest cost estimate prepared in accordance with paragraphs (a) and (c) and, when this estimate has been adjusted in accordance with paragraph (b), the latest adjusted cost estimate.