Abstract
A formula used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) lowballs how much money companies should set aside to close down their old nuclear power plants, warns a Government Accountability Office report. Therefore, it is possible that insufficient funds are being accumulated to cover the cost to eventually decommission and clean up the sites where 104 U.S. nuclear power plants are operating today. In a May 5 report, GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, looked at 12 reactors that were within a few years of reaching the end of their operating licenses. Because these reactors are near retirement, the reactors’ owners are required to make public their own estimates of decommissioning costs. The study found that for nine of the 12, the NRC method underestimates the funds that are necessary to set aside. For five plants, the formula would result in a fund that was only 50 to 76% of what ...
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