NRC Needs to Improve Its Cost Estimates by Incorporating More Best Practices.

The article reports that some best practice characteristics identified in the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide are incorporated in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) overall costing procedures. It is noted that as NRC staff's 2012 cost estimate for proposed filtered venting systems did not sufficiently follow best practices to fully or substantially meet any of the four characteristics of a reliable cost estimate, it is not reliable.