OVERVIEW OF LOW LEVEL WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY COSTS

When Congress enacted the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act in 1980, and its Amendments in 1985, it did not envision the protracted pace of siting a low-level waste disposal facility. New York, Connecticut, and Vermont were the first states unable to establish a site. Then came California which has encountered roadblocks in acquiring the necessary land, Illinois with its first site vetoed, Texas where Congress has delayed ratification. North Carolina which has encountered difficulties in satisfying the licensing authorities, and Nebraska where legal challenges by the Governor have greatly curtailed the license application review.The shifting political climate, the protraction of the schedule associated with changes in project activities and procedures by the State oversight agencies, the numerous reviews of a license application, and the efforts of various opposition groups (from state legislatures, local governments to citizen's groups) in blocking any new disposal facility being built, have resulted in the simple fact that so far site development costs amount to over $410-million with no disposal facility yet established in any of the compacts or affiliated states. (See Table 1)State and Compact regions have gone far beyond projections and estimates. New York has spent $50-million since 1986 to have its siting efforts suspended; North Carolina has raised preconstruction cost estimates from $16-million to $46-million, to $80-million; in Pennsylvania, the projected completion date has changed eight times within the last 7 years (from a site operation by the last quarter of 1996 to a site operation date by the year 2000), and although it was one of the few siting states to have a well defined set of siting criteria, disqualifications and public participation programs within a codified LLW program, the anticipated project costs have jumped from $55-million to $87- million.