| Summary: | This report summarizes a two-year effort by the M.I.T. Light Water
Reactor Study Group to assess the institutional, regulatory, technical, and
economic factors influencing the development and deployment of LWR technology.
The nuclear industry is confronted by a mix of problems which, if not
addressed, may soon eliminate LWRs as a practical source of electric energy.
The Study Group found that technical developments could improve nuclear plant
capacity factors by 10 percent; furthermore, substantial economic benefits are
possible through better use of existing technology, further technological
improvements, and various financing schemes. However, the most pronounced
problems are institutional and social, not technical and economic. Regulatory
and institutional problems in licensing, constructing, and operating nuclear
plants have created such uncertainty in the electric utility sector that the
economic and environmental advantages of LWRs are seriously jeopardized.
Regulatory constraints, unpredictability of government policy, unnecessary
construction delays, and the resultant difficulty in obtaining the large-scale
financing needed for new plant construction all discourage the electric
utility sector from making long-term commitments to nuclear power. In the
absence of a concerted government attempt to resolve these and other problems,
public mistrust and legal intervention in the nuclear industry grow
increasingly serious. Thus, the technical and economic improvements that
could benefit the industry will be negated unless the government, the
industrial sector, the electric utilities, and the public address the
regulatory and institutional problems that are threatening to cripple the
industry.
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