A new Dept. of Energy estimate says that the price tag for the proposed
underground nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain has climbed
to $96.2 billion, a 67% jump from the last estimate, issued in 2001. The
updated estimate, released Aug. 5, covers the project's 150-year, life-cycle
costs, including design, construction, operation and waste transportation.

Ward Sproat, director of the office of civilian radioactive waste
management, told reporters that key reasons for the rise in cost include an
estimated $16 billion for inflation between 2001 and 2007. In non-inflated
constant 2001 dollars, DOE says the new estimate is $79.3 billion, up 38%
from the 2001 figure.

Related Link: Yucca Mtn. Cost Analysis

Sproat also cited a 26% increase in the amount of spent nuclear fuel now
expected to be handled by the repository. He said the higher spent-fuel
number stems from license extensions for more than 40 U.S. nuclear plants,
which allow them to operate for 20 more years.

Another cost factor, he said, was that as DOE refined the design for the
repository's buildings and systems, it calculated that it will cost about
10% more to dispose of each unit of spent fuel, compared with its 2001
estimate.

Sproat had said in mid-July that the new cost estimate would exceed $90
billion, according to published reports. The new report provides a more
specific figure and a breakdown of the cost of the project's elements.

For example, the updated DOE report pegs the project's engineering,
procurement and construction costs, excluding expenses related to licensing,
at $15.8 billion over the 2003-2053 period. Of that, $900 million was spent
between 2003 and 2006.

DOE submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 3,
requesting approval to build the repository for spent fuel and high-level
radioactive waste at the Yucca Mountain site, which is about 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.

But the plan has its critics. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a
long-time opponent of the DOE plan, has said that the project will not be
built.