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

7.50
TABLE 7.6.6. Comparison of Levelized Waste-Management Unit Costs for the Program
Alternatives Using the Once-Through Cycle and a 7% Discount Rate,
mills/kWh
Proposed Program Alternative Program
Nuclear Power Growth (Geologic Disposal (Disposal Starting No-Action
Case Assumption Starting 1990 - 2010) 2010 - 2030) Alternative
1 Present Inventory Only 1.6 to 1.7 1.6 to 2.0 0.78
2 Present Capacity and
Normal Life 0.85 to 0.92 0.87 to 1.00 0.56
3 250 GWe system by
Year 2000 and Normal Life 0.61 to 0.69 0.65 to 0.68 0.49
4 250 GWe System by
Year 2000 and Steady
State 0.66 to 0.71 0.67 to 0.69 NA(a)
5 500 GWe System by
Year 2040 0.64 to 0.69 0.66 to 0.67 NA
(a) NA = not applicable.
TABLE 7.6.7. Comparison of Levelized Waste-Management Unit Costs for the Program
Alternatives Using the Reprocessing Cycle and a 7% Discount Rate,
mills/kWh
Proposed Program Alternative Program
Nuclear Power Growth (Geologic Disposal (Disposal Starting No-Action
Case Assumption Starting 1990 - 2010) 2010 - 2030) Alternative
1 Present Inventory Only NA(a) NA NA
2 Present Capacity and
Normal Life NA NA NA
3 250 Gwe System by
Year 2000 and Normal Life 0.68 to 0.91 0.68 to 0.72 NA
4 250 GWe system by
Year 2000 and Steady
State 0.73 to 0.79 0.73 to 0.74 NA
5 500 GWe System by
Year 2040 0.72 to 0.79 0.71 to 0.73 NA
(a) NA = not applicable.
portion of the total as the discount rate increases because they are incurred a number of
years after the power is generated and thus are discounted proportionately more. In the
reprocessing cycle, the research and development costs also, as in the once-throuh cycle,
increase in importance as the discount rate is increased. Waste treatment and storage
costs drop off significantly as the discount rate increases because these costs are de-
ferred relative to the time of power generation. In both cycles, although spent-fuel
storage and transport costs decline as the discount rate increases, they always remain a
substantial portion of the total cost because they are incurred relatively soon after dis-
charge and thus are not as heavily discounted as some of the other costs. For example, in
the reprocessing cycle, spent-fuel storage and transport costs account for 30 to 60% of the
total costs at a 10% discount rate compared to 20 to 50% at a 0% discount rate.
Although the total expenditure for waste management is quite large, it does not, except
for the present inventory case, add more than 2 to 10%, and most likely not more than 3%, to