Impact of proposed financial assurance requirements on nuclear materials licensees

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:6259334

Hendrickson, P L; Scott, M J; Mullen, M F; Nicholls, A K; Smith, S A

The NRC is considering a possible rulemaking that would require certain nuclear materials licensees to demonstrate financial ability to clean up accidental releases of radioactive materials. The rulemaking would potentially affect approximately 16,350 NRC and Agreement State licensees. This report was prepared for NRC by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory to provide background information and analysis for the potential rulemaking. Specific topics examined in the report include: (1) characteristics of potentially affected licensees, (2) the availability and cost of various financial assurance mechanisms, (3) the financial impacts for licensees (including licensees classified as small businesses) of providing $2M of assurance per licensee and a sliding amount of assurance tied to risk, (4) the cost of administering a financial assurance rule, and (5) overall benefits and costs. Tabular information on past material licensee accidents and cleanup efforts is also included. The financial occurrence mechanism that appears to be most suitable for providing the desired financial assurance is one or more newly formed captive insurance companies. Potential benefits of the rulemaking include reduced need for taxpayer-funded cleanup of accidental releases, reduces administrative time to secure such funds, and the possibility of more cleanup with correspondingly reduced occupational and public exposure to radioactive materials.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6259334
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-4958; PNL-6233; ON: DE87014897
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
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