Study: Yucca will cost taxpayers

An independent study shows for the first time that the real cost of high-level nuclear-waste disposal could top $53.9 billion, and taxpayers would have to pay half the price tag.

The study, commissioned by the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, says the disposal bill has doubled.

The U.S. Department of Energy has been examining Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, since Congress in 1987 ordered the single site studied as a permanent national nuclear-waste repository.

Nuclear-industry spokesmen have assured the nation that the expenses for cleaning up more than 40 years' worth of radioactive waste at 110 commercial nuclear reactors would be paid by their customers. Nuclear-power ratepayers pay one-tenth of a penny per kilowatt hour to the cleanup fund.

The cost review says the fund is "woefully inadequate" to meet the needs of long-term nuclear-waste management, and the shortfall will increase over time.

The DOE's latest estimate says the fund will produce $28.1 billion, about half the amount necessary for the nuclear-waste project. That leaves taxpayers to pay the bill for the rest of the program through the year 2071. The cost estimates were made in 1996 dollars.

The cost of building the Yucca Mountain repository alone is estimated at $23 billion.

Burying the wastes inside the mountain will take another $6 billion, of which $3.9 billion is the direct cost of purchasing disposal containers at $350,000 each.

The study assumes that no earthquakes will occur at Yucca Mountain, no large underground water reserves will be discovered there, no health hazards will besiege underground workers and no electrical fires or rock falls will occur in the tunnels to add to expenses.

The report also says the cost of managing nuclear waste could spiral out of control if waste from irradiated fuel rods and defense facilities were spread at various temporary sites around the country and at Yucca Mountain.

The Clinton administration has been fighting attempts by Congress to temporarily store nuclear waste at the Nevada Test Site. President Clinton has promised to veto any bill providing for temporary nuclear-waste storage, although the Republican-controlled House and Senate are trying to craft such legislation this year. The administration argues that temporary storage would divert funds from Yucca Mountain studies.

The cost review does not include cleanup expenses after transportation accidents, community impacts from potential radiation releases or radiation exposure of the public or emergency crews during a nuclear-waste accident.

The assessment by KPMG Peat Marwick assumes all canisters and transportation casks are intact.

"Our assessment assumes no accidents in a cross-country shipment campaign involving 16,920 legal-weight truck shipments and 37.6 million cask shipment miles on often congested public highways, plus 4,500 dedicated train shipments over 9.1 million miles of heavily used rail corridors," the study says.

The DOE is trying to finish a viability assessment by the end of this year on the progress of its nuclear-waste management program. The independent cost study says that the DOE probably won't have an estimate of the total expenses for managing the waste in time for the viability assessment.

The original cost report was prepared by Planning Information Corp., Thompson Professional Group and Decision Research Institute in February, using DOE and NRC reports. KMPM Peat Marwick conducted an independent review of the earlier work.

The total cost estimate of $53.9 billion breaks down as follows:

* $6.1 billion already spent through 1996.

* $4.3 billion for temporary on-site storage until a repository opens in 2010.

* $6.0 billion for cross-country transportation.

* $3.2 billion for shipping waste across Nevada from a transfer station in Caliente.

* $9.2 billion for centralized interim storage.

* $23 billion for a permanent geological repository.

* $2.1 billion for fees paid to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for licensing the permanent repository and costs of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board for independent oversight and benefits to affected counties.

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