Report: "US Nuclear Power Still Not Viable without Subsidies"

(, 24 Feb 2011) A new report entitled "Nuclear Power: Still Not Viable Without Subsidies", prepared on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists, provides a detailed review and quantification of subsidies to nuclear power in the United States. The report concludes that subsidies to the nuclear fuel cycle have often exceeded the value of the power produced. Subsidies to new reactors are on a similar path.

The analysis claims to catalog in one place and for the first time the full range of subsidies that benefit the nuclear power sector. Since its inception more than 50 years ago, the nuclear power industry has benefited-and continues to benefit-from a vast array of preferential government subsidies. Indeed, as the report shows, subsidies to the nuclear fuel cycle have often exceeded the value of the power produced. Subsidies to new reactors are on a similar path.

The most important subsidies to the industry do not involve cash payments, the report concludes. Rather, they shift construction-cost and operating risks from investors to taxpayers and ratepayers, removing from investors an array of risks ranging from cost overruns and defaults to accidents and nuclear waste management. This approach has remained consistent throughout the industry's history, according to the report, which claims that market choices that would otherwise favor less risky investments are distorted as a consequence. Although it may not involve direct cash payments, such favored treatment is nevertheless a subsidy, with a profound effect on the bottom line for the industry and taxpayers alike.

Link to full report

Executive summary