SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 24 2016, @11:11PM
If so, will the utilities be required to contribute to the cost?
Did the utilities contribute to the externality in the first place? These utilities didn't create the situation where used fuel rods have to be kept on at the generator site because there is no established place to store or recycle fuel rods.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @03:44AM
> Did the utilities contribute to the externality in the first place?
Come on, how twisted can your logic get? Of course they did, the utility companies chose to build nukes instead of coal plants or some other type. And by the time our current crop of nukes were built the long term storage/isolation requirements for spent fuel were well understood.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 25 2016, @12:50PM