Nuclear regulation: an evaluative study. [Monograph]
This paper gives an overview of nuclear regulation, followed by an account of the legislative rationale and the economic rationale for safety regulation of nuclear technology. It goes on to review the structure and safety programs of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and to show how many of the NRC's problems are unlike those facing other regulatory agencies. In assessing the results of nuclear regulation, it examines whether regulation has produced an acceptable level of safety and the nature of the evidence on acceptability. It concludes that the existing level of safety achievement is not cost-effective, and identifies some sources of regulatory failure as a failure to make hard decisions on risk, diffuse responsibility for safety, and economic dissincentives to cost-effective safety. Recommendations for reforming NRC are to separate technical issues from social ones and to correct the incentives for safety. 153 references, 6 figures, 4 tables.
- OSTI ID:
- 5624268
- Resource Relation:
- Related Information: Working Paper No. 17
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
NUCLEAR POWER
REGULATIONS
REACTOR SAFETY
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
US NRC
EVALUATION
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
POWER
SAFETY
US ORGANIZATIONS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
290600 - Energy Planning & Policy- Nuclear Energy