1. Following the trend of encouraging settlement of disputes outside of agencies and the courts, Order 888 also requires that all transmission disputes between public utilities be subject to informal negotiation and voluntary arbitration.
2. Promoting Wholesale Competition Through Open Access Non-Discriminatory Transmission Services by Public Utilities, Docket No. RM95-8-000, IV FERC Stats. & Regs. par. 33 085, 1995.
3. However, many companies that both provide transmission services and generate power may voluntarily choose corporate unbundling in the new regulatory regime.
4. As with Order 888, Order 889's requirements can be waived by FERC in extenuating circumstances.
5. See, Federal Regulatory Commission, Fact Sheet: Highlights of the Open Access Proposal, 29 March 1995.
6. Gasparino C. & Zuckerman G., "Changing world of utilities will give bonds a new spin", Wall Street Journal, 16 June 1997. See also, "In regulatory landscape, electricity derivatives may have bigger future", Daily Report for Executives, 11 June 1997.
7. For example, after a 1994 surprise state utility commissioner's proposal in California, three large utilities in the state lost over US$5 billion in market value. See, "Federal action on utility restructuring should avoid harming stock, bond holders", Daily Report for Executives, 23 May 1997.
8. See, "Markey to unveil retail choice measure; Bumpers fears Senate will pass PUHCA bill", Daily Report for Executives, 5 June 1997.
9. Although HR655 requires retail competition in all states by 2001, Representative Schaefer has indicated his willingness to consider a later date to allow states time to implement competitive plans.
10. "Would deregulated power be reliable?", Congressional Green Sheets Weekly Bulletin, June 1997.
11. National Regulatory Research Institute, Electric Industry Restructuring Box Score, 30 April 1997.
12. California ranked seventh out of the fifty states in 1993 in cost per kilowatt hour for the industrial sector. See, Annual Electric Utility Report, USDOE Energy Information Administration, January 1995.
13. "Fearing write-downs of $800 million, PSNH says stranded cost policy will sink New Hampshire giant", Electric Power Alert, 19 January 1997.
14. Oregon, after very similar efforts, also failed to pass restructuring legislation in 1997.
15. Jackson S.A., "A physicist's path: from multiperipheral models and superlattices to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission". Address to the National Conference of Black Physics Students at MIT, 28 February 1997, in NRC Office of Public Affairs, no. S-97-05, 28 February 1997 (hereinafter 'Chairman's MIT Speech'). See also, Jackson S.A., "Nuclear energy and economic competition: the NRC perspective". Keynote address to Nuclear Energy Institute Fuel Cycle '97, Atlanta, 7 April 1997 (hereinafter 'Chairman's Atlanta Speech') (stating, 'it is important that the NRC not be influenced in making safety regulatory decisions by the need to lower the cost of operating a nuclear plant. [L]et me reiterate that the NRC will continue to take seriously its responsibility as a safety regulator').
16. See also, Jackson S.A., "Economic deregulation of the electric utility industry: ensuring nuclear safety in an era of changing operational and financial perspectives". Keynote address to Annual Meeting of Nuclear Electric Insurance, 17 June 1997, in NRC Office of Public Affairs, no. S-97-16, 26 June 1997 (hereinafter 'Chairman's NEI Speech').
17. See for example, Chairman's NEI Speech (stating, 'I firmly believe that ensuring safety is in no way inconsistent with economic deregulation and competition'); Chairman's Atlanta Speech (stating, 'my own view is that adequate protection of public health and safety is entirely compatible with a deregulated environment, provided economic restructuring of the electrical power industry addresses what is necessary for that protection').
18. The Western Systems Coordinating Council, reviewing the incidents, listed several possible factors: high northwest transmission loads; equipment out of service; inadequate maintenance of right-of-way; operation in a condition in which a single failure would overload parallel lines, triggering cascading outages; communication failures to neighbouring utilities, prior to the disturbances; and the lack of response to earlier events. See Chairman's NEI Speech.
19. 10 CFR para 50.2.
20. "An NRC review of future PECO-Maine Yankee sale could plow new ground", Inside NRC, 7 July 1997.
21. 10 CFR para 50.33(f).
22. 10 CFR para 50.33(f)(2).
23. 10 CFR para 50.33(f)(3)(i-iii).
24. See, 10 CFR para 50.33(f)(2).
25. Louisiana Energy Services Claiborne Enrichment Center, 44 NRC 331, 1996. Although the ASLB's decision dealt with licensing of enrichment facilities under 10 CFR Part 70, the ASLB applied and interpreted the rules governing reactor licensing under 10 CFR Part 50.
26. In, "re Louisiana Energy Services", LP 45 NRC 49, 1997 (granting review).
27. See for example, Chairman's Atlanta Speech (stating, '[r]egulatory changes might include eliminating any ambiguities in the NRC definition of 'electricity utility', and taking account of alternative methods of providing assurance of decommissioning funding — for example, pooled insurance, if available, or accelerated funding of decommissioning'). See also, Jackson S.A., "Nuclear power in a competitive era". Address to National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, Conference on Nuclear Energy in Competitive Electricity Markets, Fort Myers, Florida, 23 January 1997, in NRC Office of Public Affairs, no. S-97-01, 23 January 1997 (hereinafter 'Chairman's Fort Myers Speech').
28. Chairman's MIT Speech. See also, Jackson S.A., "Striving for equality in a culturally diverse society". Address to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, 24 March 1997, in NRC Office of Public Affairs, no. S-97-06, 24 March 1997.
29. See, Chairman's NEI Speech (stating, 'the NRC is developing objective, meaningful, 'leading' performance indicators of nuclear plant performance, as well as an enhanced approach for monitoring and assessing licensee corrective actions'); Chairman's Atlanta Speech (using essentially the same language to describe the NRC staff's activities).
30. 10 CFR para 50.75(e)(1)(i-iii).
31. 10 CFR para 50.75(b) and (c).
32. 10 CFR para 50.75(e)(3).
33. 10 CFR para 50.75(e)(2).
34. See, Chairman's Fort Myers Speech (stating, 'Without being specific about how nuclear 'stranded' assets should be addressed by state public utility commissions or state legislatures, I will just say — it is important that our power reactor licensees continue to have sufficient resources to operate and decommission their plants safely'). See also, Chairman's Atlanta Speech (using essentially identical language); Chairman's NEI Speech (same).
35. Proposed Rule on Financial Assurance Requirements for Decommissioning Nuclear Power Reactors, SECY-97-102, 16 May 1997 (approved by the NRC for publication on 30 June 1997).
36. 10 CFR para 50.80(b), 50.33a, 50.22, 2.101(e) and 2.102(d); 42 USC para 2135(c)(2), 1996 (stating, antitrust review by the Attorney General 'shall not apply to an application for a license to operate a utilization or production facility for which a construction permit was issued under section 2133 of this title unless the Commission determines such review is advisable on the ground that significant changes in the licensee's activities or proposed activities have occurred subsequent to the previous review by the Attorney General and the Commission under this subsection in connection with the construction permit for the facility').
37. 42 USC para 2135(c)(8), 1996.
38. See for example, Safety Evaluation by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Related to the Indirect Transfers of Control of License Nos. DPR-66 and NPF-73 for Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2. Docket nos. 50-334 and 50-412, 19 June 1997.
39. See, 42 USC para 2133(d); 10 CFR para 50.80(b) and 50.33(a)-(d).
40. See, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staff and Industry Briefing to the Commission, 24 April 1997.

Electricity Restructuring in the USA and its Effects on the Nuclear Industry

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