Report: Nuclear Cleanup Costs Rise

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Report: Nuclear Cleanup Costs Rise

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department says it now has a better idea 
how much it will cost to clean up the environmental damage from 
America's nuclear weapons program: Between $168 billion and $212 
billion through 2070. 

That's up to 44 percent more than the department estimated two years 
ago. Seventeen of the 113 sites nationwide will take as much as a 
decade longer to clean up, while the department hopes to finish work 
at five sites more quickly than earlier forecast, according to a new 
agency report. 

DOE officials say the changes in cost and time occurred because they 
now have a better handle on the scope of the contamination and what 
is required to clean up the sites. 

``The numbers this year were more accurate and realistic. That was 
the difference,'' department spokesman Tom Welch said Wednesday. 

The current and former nuclear weapons sites include some of the most 
highly radioactive areas in the country - Hanford in Washington 
state, Savannah River in South Carolina, Rocky Flats near Denver and 
the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. 

DOE is responsible for cleaning up 1.7 trillion gallons of 
contaminated groundwater, 100 million gallons of highly radioactive 
liquid, 2,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and 18 metric tons of 
weapons-grade plutonium at the sites. 

The increased cost estimates contained in the report, which was 
released Friday, are not surprising, said David Adelman, a lawyer for 
the Natural Resources Defense Council. 

``The DOE has had to admit some failures ... and be a little more 
realistic about the complexity of the problem,'' said Adelman, who 
monitors the nuclear cleanup for the environmental group. Those 
failures, he said, included attempts to use new cleanup technology at 
Hanford and Idaho that did not work. 

Adelman also noted the cleanup schedules do not include the long-term 
monitoring and security needed at the sites after the department's 
planned cleanups are finished. 

``The way we look at it, the dates for cleanup have been absurdly 
optimistic given the complexity of the issues and the magnitude of 
the problems,'' Adelman said. 

New estimates for some of the major sites include: 

$55.6 billion to clean up Hanford, up from a 1998 estimate of $54.8 
billion. The estimated end of the cleanup in 2046 was unchanged. 

$36.8 billion to clean up Savannah River, up from $29.7 billion in 
1998. The cleanup deadline of 2038 was unchanged. 

$21.4 billion to clean up the Idaho laboratory, up from $16.3 
billion. The deadline of 2050 was unchanged. 

$7.7 billion to clean up Rocky Flats, where the plutonium triggers 
for nuclear weapons were made until 1989. The latest estimate is up 
from $7.3 billion in 1998. The department hopes to finish the cleanup 
by 2006 instead of 2010. 

On the Net: 

Energy Department report: 
http://www.em.doe.gov/closure/fy2000/statusrpt.html 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
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