The U.S. Department of Energy says it has revised upward its cost estimate of the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository from its 1983 start to closure in 2133. Officials said the new system life cycle cost estimate includes money needed to research, construct and operate Yucca Mountain for 150 years.
The new cost estimate of $79.3 billion, when updated to 2007 dollars totals $96.2 billion — a 38-percent increase from the last published estimate in 2001 of $57.5 billion.
– from treehugger
DOE has spent $13.5 billion since 1983, and figures to spend $54.8 billion on construction, operation and decommissioning of the repository; $19.5 billion for transporting the waste — including building the canisters for holding waste; and $8.4 billion for other program activities. The report notes that the expenses were based on a repository opening date of 2017 — a best possible opening date that Sproat has already said is no longer possible due to budget constraints, which have pushed it to 2020. The lifecycle estimate also does not include the at least $11 billion in liability expenses DOE expects for breaking its contract with utilities to begin taking away the spent nuclear fuel in 1998.
Another possible cost increase could come from the more than 30 planned new nuclear reactors, which were not included in the estimate. Sproat said trying to estimate costs for waste from the new reactors would be speculative and would no longer provide “an apples to apples” comparison with the 2001 report.
– from climateprogress
Still Indian govt is saying that nuclear technology is cheaper. Shame on you Manmohan Singh.