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Inflation Hits Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump | NBC Chicago

Inflation Hits Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump
CHICAGO NEWS  Oct 22, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC, August 5, 2008 (ENS) – It will cost 38 percent more to build, operate and decommission the nation’s first nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada than the federal government estimated seven years ago, the U.S. Department of Energy said today in an updated life cycle cost estimate.

The highly radioactive waste is left over from nuclear power generation and national defense programs.

An increase in the amount of waste to be shipped and stored at the repository and more than $16 billion for inflation have added to the cost, says the DOE official in charge of Yucca Mountain………………………

The new cost estimate of $79.3 billion, when updated to 2007 dollars, comes to $96.2 billion, a 38 percent increase from the last published estimate in 2001 of $57.5 billion.

The total cost of building and operating the repository is divided between utility ratepayers and taxpayers, with ratepayers estimated to pay a little more than 80 percent, or $77.3 billion.

Inflation Hits Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump | NBC Chicago

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October 23, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs