Electricity Supply

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO studied the future of nuclear power, focusing on: (1) problems preventing new initiatives in commercial nuclear power; (2) actions which could revive nuclear power; and (3) the status of government and industry efforts to revitalize the use of nuclear power.

GAO found that: (1) public and utility concerns about the feasibility of using nuclear power have risen due to oil embargoes, recession, inflation, decreased electricity demand, industrial accidents, and poor utility management; (2) although public opinion largely supported nuclear power's critical role in the nation's energy future, worst-case industrial accidents and environmental, health, and safety problems strengthened public opposition to nuclear power; (3) utility representatives believed that power plants generally had strong safety records; (4) utility representatives believed that they faced increased financial risk in building new power plants due to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) two-step licensing process, states disallowing the recovery of construction costs, and the Department of Energy's (DOE) slow progress toward building a nuclear waste repository; (5) utilities' increasing reliance on such alternatives as imported electricity and oil- and gas-powered generators raised serious energy security concerns; (6) utility representatives believed that continued safe, efficient plant operations and a strong federal nuclear energy policy would increase public acceptance of nuclear power; and (7) NRC and DOE attempts to reform the licensing process, standardize plant designs, improve reactors and testing models, and select a repository site lacked the necessary support and funding.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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