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Management of Commercially Generated Radioactive Waste - U.S. ...

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Issue<br />

22<br />

ATTRIBUTION OF COSTS/RISKS<br />

Several commenters pointed out that the Statement should discuss the idea that the<br />

total impact <strong>of</strong> nuclear power (cost, risk) should be attributed to the project (benefi-<br />

ciaries) that created them and that the entity generating waste should be responsible for<br />

its disposal. (2, 3, 8, 9, 36, 55, 74, 77, 112, 116, 151, 155, 163, 193, 199, 205) Other<br />

comments suggested nuclear waste disposal should not be financed by the Federal government<br />

since this acts as a subsidy <strong>of</strong> nuclear power. (42, 68, 163, 193)<br />

Response<br />

The Statement develops the waste management costs (1978 dollars) for the entire ref-<br />

erence nuclear power generating system. Costs associated with treatment, interim storage,<br />

transportation, decommissioning, and disposal in geologic repositories are presented (see<br />

Sections 4.9, 5.6, and 7.6). The Statement identifies the dollar value a consumer <strong>of</strong> nuc-<br />

lear power could be charged for the waste management aspect <strong>of</strong> nuclear energy production.<br />

An assumption made when developing cost estimates was that all waste management costs,<br />

whether the services are provided by private industry or by the government, will be borne by<br />

the consumers <strong>of</strong> the electric energy generated by the nuclear power facility and thus are<br />

reflected as an increase in cost <strong>of</strong> power. The Department <strong>of</strong> Energy has, in addition, pub-<br />

lished estimates <strong>of</strong> proposed charges for spent fuel storage and disposal services in<br />

DOE/EIS-0015 (DOE 1980b). The stated basis for these estimates is full recovery <strong>of</strong> all<br />

waste management costs including research and development expenditures.

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