GAO faults nuke regulator’s cost-benefit analysis

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) procedures for regulatory cost-benefit analysis do not sufficiently follow the best practices for government agencies, a watchdog report found.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the NRC, which oversees the nation’s nuclear power sector, followed some practices recommended by the GAO, but not enough to make reliable cost analyses for its rules.

{mosads}The GAO said cost-analysis procedures must be comprehensive, well-documented, accurate and credible.

“While NRC’s overall procedures incorporate some best practices for each of the four characteristics, we found that NRC’s cost estimating procedures satisfied only one characteristic,” GAO said, adding that the procedures are well-documented.

The GAO’s report was spurred by congressional Republicans’ concerns that NRC’s proposed rule to require filtered venting systems to prevent nuclear meltdowns was not properly analyzed.

The watchdog agency concluded that the venting system rule’s cost prediction “is not reliable because it did not fully or substantially meet any of the four characteristics of a reliable cost estimate.”

The report was released Monday by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee. The lawmakers requested the report and released it themselves because GAO has not published it.

“GAO’s report confirms my suspicion that NRC’s cost estimates are egregiously off target from the actual costs of implementing their regulations,” Vitter said in a statement. “Nuclear safety is absolutely a priority, and at the same time, we must ensure that the consumers and businesses who bear the brunt of the regulatory burden are protected from unnecessary costs.”

In response to the report, the NRC admitted it could improve its cost estimating standards.

But it did not agree that the GAO’s recommendations are the best guidelines for writing and analyzing regulations.