News release: “The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released a revised estimate of the total system life cycle cost for a repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The 2007 total system life cycle cost estimate includes the cost to research, construct and operate Yucca Mountain during a period of 150 years, from the beginning of the program in 1983 through closure and decommissioning in 2133. 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. This updated estimate takes into account a substantial increase in the amount of waste to be shipped and stored at the repository and more than $16 billion for inflation. The Department is not proposing a change in the fee paid by nuclear utilities for the disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel at
this time.”