The financial health of U.S. nuclear plants can be affected by factors such as the market they operate in, electricity prices and the availability of tax credits, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported this week.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) oversees the safety and commercial use of nuclear energy, but is not overly involved with plants’ financial situation, GAO said. The U.S. nuclear industry has recently faced financial issues that have stalled new reactor construction and caused some to shut down, GAO said in its Tuesday report.
There are three types of markets a nuclear power plant can operate in: a rate-regulated market, competitive market and hybrid market.
A rate-regulated market is where companies sell electricity at a rate approved by a state public service or utility commission. Competitive markets are where the price of electricity is determined by supply and demand, while hybrid markets are a mixture of both markets.
As of August, of the 94 operating reactors in the United States, 55 of them are in a rate-regulated market, 30 are in a competitive market and nine are in a hybrid market, GAO found.
The GAO said nuclear plants that are in a competitive market are at more financial risk in comparison to those in a rate-regulated one. According to the report, of the 13 U.S. nuclear reactors that have shut down since 2013, eight of them were in a competitive market and one was in a hybrid market.
“In recent years, the U.S. nuclear power industry has faced economic and financial challenges, particularly for reactors located in competitive power markets where natural gas and renewable power generators influence wholesale electricity prices,” GAO said in its Tuesday report.
For tax credits, the financial tool can help alleviate costs for a nuclear plant. The GAO referred to a Congressional Research Service report that found that from 2016 to 2021, “state intervention, including tax credits and subsidies, helped avert shutdown at 20 nuclear reactors that had previously announced closures or were likely to close.”
Through its conversations with NRC staff, GAO found the agency uses financial information when a plant goes through initial licensing. But does not regularly use financial data during the ongoing oversight of a plant’s safety.
NRC relies on information collected as part of its reactor oversight process, which the process “focuses on monitoring and inspections of plant activities that have the greatest effect on safety and overall risk,” according to the report.
“[P]lant performance and inspection findings are more indicative of potential safety issues than financial information and would lead to corrective actions under the reactor oversight process,” GAO said based upon its interviews with NRC staff.
While the NRC does not review financial information on a regular basis, the agency does have the ability to review that information if deemed necessary.
NRC has reviewed its financial qualifications several times since 2019. It has maintained the virtually the same approach with a few changes to come from the assessments.
The GAO conducted its performance audit from October 2024 to September 2025. NRC received a draft of the audit.
“The NRC appreciates the opportunity to review the draft report,” the agency said in the report. “We also appreciate the GAO staff’s professionalism and many constructive interactions during this GAO engagement.”
The GAO audit was called for through a House report that supplemented a fiscal 2024 appropriations bill.
Within the House report, the members specifically raised questions on how about “the potential effects of financial pressures on the safety of U.S. nuclear power plants”, according to the report.