Coping with nuclear power risks: the electric utility incentives

The financial risks associated with nuclear power accidents are estimated by interpolating between frequency-vs.-severity data from routine outages and the frequency-vs.-severity estimates from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) Reactor Safety Study (WASH-1400). This analysis indicates that the expected costs of plant damage and lost power production are large compared to the public risks estimated in WASH-1400, using values from An Approach to Quantitative Safety Goals for Nuclear Power Plants (NUREG-0739), prepared by the NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. Analyses of the cost-effectiveness of accident-prevention investments that include only anticipated public safety benefits will underestimate the value of such investments if reductions in power plant damage risk are not included. The analysis also suggests that utility self-interest and the public interest in safety are generally coincident. It is argued that greater use could be made of this self-interest in regulation if the relationship between the NRC and the industry were more cooperative, less adversary in nature