  We examine uncertainties in the analysis of the reactor neutrino anomaly,
wherein it is suggested that only about 94% of the emitted antineutrino flux
was detected in short baseline experiments. We find that the form of the
corrections that lead to the anomaly are very uncertain for the 30% of the flux
that arises from forbidden decays. This uncertainty was estimated in four ways,
is as large as the size of the anomaly, and is unlikely to be reduced without
accurate direct measurements of the antineutrino flux. Given the present lack
of detailed knowledge of the structure of the forbidden transitions, it is not
possible to convert the measured aggregate fission beta spectra to antineutrino
spectra to the accuracy needed to infer an anomaly. Neutrino physics
conclusions based on the original anomaly need to be revisited, as do
oscillation analyses that assumed that the antineutrino flux is known to better
than approximately 4%.
