Summary: In response to a congressional request, GAO discussed the: (1) adequacy of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) cost estimates for decommissioning nuclear power plants and fuel-cycle facilities; and (2) methods that utilities and operators could use to ensure the availability of decommissioning funds.
GAO found that: (1) the NRC cost estimates were low because they did not consider the costs of shipping spent fuel and demolishing nonradioactive structures as decommissioning activities; (2) NRC regulations did not include requirements to clean up either on-site or off-site facilities in the event of an accident; (3) since the full extent of decommissioning costs was unknown, estimates from various sources ranged from $10 million to about $3 billion per nuclear power plant; (4) most experts believed that the NRC estimate of $750,000 to decommission fuel-cycle facilities was low; and (5) new NRC regulations requiring utilities and fuel-cycle operators to accumulate funds through prepayment, an external sinking fund, surety bonds, or insurance would provide reasonable assurance that funds will be available for decommissioning.
