Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday August 24 2016, @10:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the radioactive-topics dept.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the southwestern U.S. state of New Mexico stores transuranic wastes. In February 2014, a 55-gallon (208 L) barrel there leaked, probably because cat litter made from wheat reacted chemically with nitrate salts. The facility is closed, pending clean-up.

The Los Angeles Times revisited the situation and its possible financial costs:

The direct cost of the cleanup is now $640 million, based on a contract modification made last month with Nuclear Waste Partnership that increased the cost from $1.3 billion to nearly $2 billion. The cost-plus contract leaves open the possibility of even higher costs as repairs continue. And it does not include the complete replacement of the contaminated ventilation system or any future costs of operating the mine longer than originally planned.

[...] It costs about $200 million a year to operate the dump, so keeping it open an additional seven years could cost $1.4 billion.

Previously:
Only U.S. Underground Nuclear Waste Dump-Site Needs More Down Time
Kitty Litter to Blame for Nuclear Waste Leak


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by hoeferbe on Wednesday August 24 2016, @06:26PM

    by hoeferbe (4715) on Wednesday August 24 2016, @06:26PM (#392710)

    Wikipedia link suggests that this site may become repository for commercial nuclear power waste, in addition to bomb making waste that it was originally designed for (as replacement for Yucca Mtn).

    If so, will the utilities be required to contribute to the cost?

    The utilities have been, up until 2013, paying into a fund [wikipedia.org] for waste disposal.  They only stopped after a Federal court agreed that the Federal government reneged on their responsibilities under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1987.

    "The Government Accountability Office stated that the closure was for political, not technical or safety reasons."  (Quoted from Wikipedia's "Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository" article [wikipedia.org], which references this article [nytimes.com].)

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2