Investigation into the risk perceptions of investors in the securities of nuclear-dependent electric utilities
Two weeks prior to the Three Mile Island accident, March 15, 1979, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered five operating nuclear plants shut down in order to reexamine safety standards in these plants. Reports in the popular and trade press during this time suggested that these events, particularly the accident at Three Mile Island, caused investors in the securities of electric utilities that had nuclear-generation facilities to revise their risk perceptions. This study was designed to examine the impact of both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission order and the accident at Three Mile Island on investor risk perceptions. Selected categories of electric utilities were chosen to examine any differential risk effects resulting from these events. An asset pricing model devoid of many of the restrictive assumptions of more familiar models was used to model investor behavior. The findings suggest that the events described did cause investors to revise upward their perceptions of systematic risk regarding different categories of electric utilities. More specifically, those electric utilities that were operating nuclear plants in 1979 experienced the largest and most sustained increase in systematic risk. However, electric utilities that in 1979 had no operating nuclear plants, but had planned and committed funds for nuclear plants in the future, also experienced increases in systematic risk.
- OSTI ID:
- 5121853
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
INVESTMENT
RISK ASSESSMENT
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
ECONOMIC IMPACT
THREE MILE ISLAND-2 REACTOR
US NRC
ACCIDENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
POWER PLANTS
POWER REACTORS
PUBLIC UTILITIES
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTORS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMAL REACTORS
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
210800* - Nuclear Power Plants- Economics
290600 - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy
290200 - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology