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EMD-82-16 1 (1981-11-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabcrl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: • 2- UN17D STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE / WASHINGTON, D.C. 20546 RESTRICTED- 2i .( enr Accounting-, office ' ' - eproa Gl Y ANM MINIAL - ov 043ROY by the Office of - November 18, 1981 B-202377 The Honorable Richard L. Ottinger Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power Committee on Energy and Commerce House of Representatives Dear Mr. Chairman: Subject: The Costs and Benefits of Alternative Funding Levels for the Department of Energy's Light Water Reactor Improvement Program (EMD-82-16) Your September 30, 1981, letter requested our comments on information provided to you by the Department of Energy on the benefits and costs of continuing funding for its Light Water Reactor Improvement Program. Subsequently, your office directed that we also comment on the testimony of Government and nuclear industry representatives at a hearing conducted jointly on October 6, 1981, by your Subcommittee and the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Overall, we found the Department's approach to projecting future program costs and benefits to be reasonable. In our opinion, projected future costs and benefits are presented fairly. Our review of the Department's analysis showed that the potential economic benefits to utility rate payers are substantially greater than the cost of continuing the program. Despite these benefits, however, the progtam may not be funded after fiscal year 1982 because of the current administration's policy to fund only high-risk, long-term research programs. The potentially large benefits raise a question about whether the program should be discontinued simply because it does not fall among the high-risk, long-term research programs being given priority. Any decision to phase out or continue the program--and if so, at what level of funding--should carefully consider (1) the potential budgetary costs, (2) the potential benefits and beneficiaries, and (3) the probability that util- ities or the nuclear industry will not be able to continue the program at a pace consistent with the Department's schedule. (302553)

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