Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Advanced Nuclear Energy Technologies Face Uncertainty about
NRC's Regulatory Process, Public Opposition, High Capital Costs,
and the Storage of Nuclear Waste
The nuclear energy industry, DOE, and NRC face important challenges in
reinvigorating the nuclear power industry include an untried regulatory process,
the public's concern about safe operations, investor concerns about high capital
costs, and uncertainty about the long-term storage of nuclear waste. During the
1960s and 1970s, several nuclear power plants experienced construction costs that
doubled and time frames that extended several years longer than anticipated—in
one case, a project took nearly 20 years to build and begin operations, according
to the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry association. Since 1974, power
companies have cancelled applications for 93 proposed reactors and have shut
down 22 of 126 operating reactors before their 40-year license expired. NRC
issued its last permit to construct a nuclear reactor in 1978, the year before the
Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident, which heightened public opposition to
nuclear power and tightened NRC's oversight of nuclear power plant operations.
More recently, however, NRC has approved a 20-year license extension for 44 of
the 103 operating nuclear reactors in the United States and is reviewing
applications to extend the licenses for 10 additional reactors.
Because NRC has not issued a construction permit in almost 30 years,
investors worry that the problems that contributed to the schedule delays, cost
overruns, and abandonment of many planned reactors may not be resolved.
Among the reasons for these problems were that electric power companies
custom-built many of the nuclear power plants, rather than using a standard
design, and sometimes began construction with preliminary design information,
only to resort to mid-construction retrofits as final design plans changed. In
addition, NRC's regulatory process at that time required the applicant to obtain a
construction permit first and apply for an operating license in the midst of
construction. Final approval of the operating license sometimes hinged on time-
consuming and costly retrofits, particularly if operational procedures conflicted
with design features.
To reduce these high costs and long time frames, NRC streamlined its
licensing process in 1989 by combining its construction and operating licenses
into a single license that requires applicants to submit final design information,
safety analyses, and environmental data in advance of or with the license
application. While industry representatives generally agree that the revised
licensing process reduces risk of costly retrofits, they are concerned that the new
process has not been tested and could still lead to extensive delays. For example,
