In fact, the multinational intends to keep whatever profits it makes through cutting corners on site cleanup and reward its shareholders even though ratepayers money contributed significantly to the fund. Utilities believe that as decommissioning experience accrues costs will drop as utilities and contractors become more efficient at cleaning up sites. There is no guarantee of this. Current owners of Decommissioning reactors are attempting to limit cleanup, fire skilled workers, and leave the sites as dirty as they can get away with. All to make money.
Decommissioning funds grow slowly, and depend on compounding to amass necessary funds for clean up.
Nuclear decommissioning accounts are short of their goal. This decommissioning liability is a significant portion of nuclear utilities' stranded debt. If a utility can't sell its unit and it closes prematurely, as many in New England have, it must negotiate with state regulators to assure adequate decommissioning funds. State regulators have allowed reactors to continue to collect funds from ratepayers until the original license expires. The only way that the buying of deteriorating nukes can be profitable for both buyers and sellers is if neither pays any tax on decommissioning funds-the fund that AmerGen intends to make a profit on.