Turns out, it's going to cost taxpayers $32 billion more than first thought to open and operate the nation's first nuclear waste dump.
The Bush administration's latest calculation — made public Tuesday — is that the facility will cost over $90 billion. It's the first official estimate since 2001, when the figure was $58 billion.
Ward Sproat, the Energy Department official in charge of managing the controversial Yucca Mountain repository project in Nevada, disclosed the new number to reporters after a congressional hearing Tuesday.
The estimate includes $9 billion already spent and covers about 100 years of operation until the dump, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is sealed up forever.
Some of the increase is due to inflation, Sproat said. Also Energy Department officials now expect the dump will hold more radioactive waste than the 77,000 tons initially approved by Congress.
A report with precise cost breakdowns will be released to Congress in the next several weeks, Sproat said.
Already, some 64,000 tons of radioactive spent fuel rods are stored at commercial reactor sites in 33 states, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Most of it is stored in vault-like pools while some has been moved into dry-cask storage, where Nevada lawmakers, who oppose Yucca Mountain, would like it to stay.
Sproat opposes that plan as impractical. He also objected to other interim storage options raised Tuesday by frustrated lawmakers, w
RE:Total nuke dump cost to top $90 billion
by Gopal on Jul 17, 2008 12:37 AM Permalink
OH GOD Let our protagonists of the N-deal see this. The manipulation behind this deal is to stop our effort to develop Thorium technology. By going with n-deal all our financial resources will be drained. We will not be in a position to give serious thought on Thorium. Remember stock of Uranium in the world is depleting fast, reaching the end-point by 2070. It is not far. The present projected target is 40000MW in the next 20-30 years. It is an unrealistic projection, in my opinion. There may be some thought of PREFABRICATED PLANTS for the plants to speed-up the commissioning. A disastrous thinking for the nation. Think of the radiation hazards connected with it. By that time Uranium will reach near its end point. Then what is the need of the deal? The nuclear deal is for getting Uranium. Then question arises-what is it for? The aim of the western powers is to take away our (60% of world deposit) Thorium at their dictated price. Our leaders should be intelligent enough to read these facts. All investments made for building Uranium based plants will be wasted. Should we waste such a huge astronomically large investments?
