Publications

Nuclear Systems Enhanced Performance (NSP) Program

Modeling of Electric Energy Policymaking

S.M. Oggianu and K.F. Hansen

MIT-NSP-TR-009

Abstract

The future of the electric industry in the United States is complicated by several factors including the possibility of economic deregulation; uncertainty about the environmental impacts of greenhouse gases; and uncertainty about the opening of The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage repository. The resolution of these issues will likely have a greater impact on future electric energy costs than the availability of fuels or improved generation technologies. The purpose of this report is to present a model of the energy policymaking process that permits the quantitative representation of the social/political system and how future policies might influence energy costs, and thereby the electric energy generation mix.