US South Carolina cost of nuclear waste fuel plant increases by $30 Billion

US South Carolina cost of nuclear waste fuel plant increases by $30 Billion

Centre for public integrity reported that The study, conducted for Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, also found that finishing and then operating the factory to help get rid of Cold War-era plutonium as part of a nonproliferation arrangement with Russia would likely cost a total of $25 billion to $30 billion on top of the $4 billion spent on its construction so far

a total of up to $34 billion — is that the Energy Department would have to pay the operators a fee to use the MOX fuel,

Just over $4 billion has already been spent on the facility

That amount is so high, the officials said, that the Obama administration is leaning towards embracing what one described as “some other option” for dealing with the 34 tons of weapons plutonium that the so-called Mixed Oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel plant at Savannah River was supposed to help eliminate.

a government official and an industry official said the new report suggests, construction costs alone could reach $10 billion, or nearly ten times the initial estimate and more than $2 billion higher than the department’s most recent public tally.

The MOX plant was designed to crush the plutonium cores or “pits” of those warheads, bake the powder, and oxidize it — but then do even more: It was to mix it with oxidized uranium to make a so-called “mixed oxide” fuel that would be burned in commercial reactors.

MOX Services, the French- and Dutch-owned consortium responsible for building and running the plant, to revise the contract in a way that would limit the company’s profits and boost its responsibility for cost overruns.

“Areva should know that if it makes mistakes, it should suffer the consequences,” one government critic of the program said, noting past construction problems that have boosted the project’s costs.

From above what we need to understand is that , it’s nuclear waste is a very big problem and country needs to spend billions of dollars on managing nuclear waste also

One of the reason to oppose nuclear plants and nuclear fuel

Suggested Reading –

The MOX plant may cost another $30 billion to complete and operate, and federal officials are newly wary


Reality views by sm –

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Tags – Nuclear Waste