Upton, Vitter: GAO report confirms NRC’s unreliable estimates

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Sen. David Vitter (R–La.) said on Monday that a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report confirmed that the Nuclear Regulatory Committee’s (NRC) cost estimating methods are unreliable.

The GAO report, which was requested after the cost-benefit analysis in a recent case were wrong, outlined the NRC’s failure to reliably estimate the actual cost of implementing a regulation.

“Nuclear power is critical to an all-of-the-above strategy needed to meet our energy and environmental goals,” Upton said. “To ensure this important clean energy source remains part of our energy mix, we need to be promoting balanced and effective policies that meaningfully enhance safety, and we cannot do that without accurate cost estimates.”

Vitter, leader of the Environment and Public Works Committee, expressed similar concerns.

“GAO’s report confirms my suspicion that NRC’s cost estimates are egregiously off target from the actual costs of implementing their regulations,” he said. “Nuclear safety is absolutely a priority, and at the same time, we must ensure that the consumers and businesses who bear the brunt of the regulatory burden are protected from unnecessary costs.”