Yucca dump licensing proceeding would cost nearly $2 billion, take up to five years

As reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal, in a presentation to Nevada state legislators, Robert Halstead, Director of the Agency for Nuclear Projects, estimated that a resumption of the long-stalled U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing proceeding would cost $1.66 billion in public funds, and take four to five years to complete.

The administration of Gov. Brian Sandoval (R-NV) stands prepared to fend off any attempt to revive the canceled Yucca dump. The State Agency for Nuclear Projects already has 218 legal and technical contentions admitted for full hearing on the merits before NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. Halstead predicts that the State will have 30 to 50 additional contentions, based on new information, should the licensing proceeding resume.

The most recent cost estimate by the U.S. Department of Energy, to construct and operate the Yucca dump for an initial limited time period, had a price tag approaching $100 billion (yes, with a B). But the irradiated nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste will remain hazardous for a million years, EPA has admitted (under hard won court order).