ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises changes in legislation, regulation and administration to promote the building of advanced nuclear power plant (NPP) in the United States (US). The last NPP to be ordered in the US, and not cancelled later, was the Palo Verde nuclear generating station in Arizona, ordered in October 1973 and, at 4,200 megawatts, the largest NPP in the US. In many US states, a utilities commission oversees the tariffs charged and prudent capacity expansions of electric utilities. The primary public policy rationale for policies is to subsidise ‘first-of-a-kind’ costs to encourage investors at the margin to order new NPPs, so that more learning will lower costs, for example in establishing a supply chain, in such a way that NPPs are competitive. In addition to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulation of the nuclear power industry, states also regulate nuclear power. Most south-eastern and western states of the US are rate-of-return regulated.
