Improved cost-benefit techniques in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Abstract

The major objective of this report is to help the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission {NRC) in its regulatory mission, particularly with respect to improving the use of cost-benefit analysis and the economic evaluation of resources within the NRC. The objectives of this effort are: (1) to identify current and future NRC requirements (e.g., licensing) for valuing nonmarket goods; (2) to identify, highlight, and present the relevant efforts of selected federal agencies, some with over two decades of experience in valuing nonmarket goods, in this area; and (3) to review methods for valuing nonmarket impacts and to provide estimates of their magnitudes. Recently proposed legislation may result in a requirement for not only more sophisticated valuation analyses, but more extensive applications of these techniques to issues of concern to the NRC. This paper is intended to provide the NRC with information to more efficiently meet such requirements.