Financing nuclear power plant decommissioning

Much is at stake in developing a financial strategy for decommissioning nuclear power plants. Since decommissioning experience is limited to relatively small reactors, will the costs associated with larger reactors be significantly higher. Certainly the decommissioning issue intersects with other critical issues that will help to determine the future of commercial nuclear power in the US. The author examines briefly the basic concepts and terms related to decommissioning expenses, namely: (1) segregated fund; (2) non-segregated fund; (3) external method; and (4) internal method. He concludes that state regulatory commissions have turned increasingly to the external funding method because of increasing costs and related problems associated with nuclear power, changing conditions and uncertainties concerned with utility restructuring, and recent changes in federal tax laws related to decommissioning. Further, this trend is likely to continue if financial assurance remains a primary concern of regulators to protect this public interest