UTILITIES' EXPERIENCE RELATING TO THE FINANCING OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the experience of utilities in financing nuclear plants and analyzes the major causes of delays and increases in cost. The principal difficulties identified are nuclear regulatory changes, overlapping and duplicative State, Federal and regional jurisdictions, lack of standardization in nuclear power plants, and inflation with the resulting increases in the cost of moneys. Solutions discussed include standardization of nuclear power plants, restrictions on backfitting of regulatory changes, and alternate forms of utility plant financing.