Yucca Mountain costs put at $26.9 billion

19 March 2007

[Associated Press, 17 March] Thelatest calculation puts the cost of constructing and operating theproposed Yucca Mountain waste repository in Nevada through to 2023 at$26.9 billion, the US Department of Energy (DoE) announced. That figureassumes the DoE meets it goal of opening the repository in March 2017.Edward Sproat, director of the DoE's Office of Civilian RadioactiveWaste Management (OCRWM), said, "It is our best estimate at this stageof the game as to what the total program's going to cost. We think it'san accurate projection." He added that the department would recalculatethe total life-cycle cost of the project in May. The DoE put thisfigure at some $58 billion in 2001.

Further information

Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
US Department of Energy

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