NARUC: Keystone Nuclear Report Offers Strong Guidance for State Regulators

June 28, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

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A report on nuclear power from a stakeholder group will provide critical guidance for state public service commissions, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) said.

The Nuclear Power Joint Fact-Finding report, released by The Keystone Center and available on their web site, makes several conclusions on a number of different issues facing the nuclear power industry, including:

• The role nuclear power could play in mitigating global climate change.
• The economics and regulatory setting for construction and operation of new nuclear plants.
• Nuclear plant safety and security.
• Nuclear waste.
• Reprocessing.
• Proliferation.
• The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.

The report marks the end of a nearly one-year review of various aspects of the U.S. nuclear power industry by a group of 27 individual participants representing a spectrum of organizations and affiliations - many of whom have differing views on these matters, said NARUC.

"The report notes that even maintaining the same capacity of the existing nuclear fleet - which provides about 20% of today's electricity - will require substantial investment in reactor replacements, to say nothing about expansion to meet future electricity demands from a broad portfolio of fuel sources," said Nuclear Issues Subcommittee Chairman and Kansas Corp. Commission Chairman Brian Moline.

"State regulatory commissioners and their staffs will benefit from this report as they consider their resource plans," said NARUC President Jim Kerr. "Some states have legislation on the books that prohibits new nuclear expansion or places conditions on nuclear growth, while some are re-evaluating those restrictions as they weigh the possible environmental benefits, economics and reliability of different generation fuel sources."

Source: National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).