Summary and Conclusions

Abstract

Economic deregulation of the U.S. electricity industry is causing major restructuring of the nuclear power sector of the industry. In fact, evidence of competitive pressures and significant management changes has been observed in the U.S. The objective of this study was to identify those consequences of U.S. electricity deregulation with the potential to affect the risk of nuclear power plants. In particular, we addressed not only the effects of deregulation on safety-related equipment failures and human errors, but also the effects on other variables that could affect safety, such as financial pressures and corporate culture. This summary briefly recapitulates our most important findings and conclusions, based on our case studies of the U.S. aviation and rail industries and the United Kingdom (U.K.) electricity supply industry, and offers some recommendations for both the U.S. nuclear power industry and its safety regulators.