U.S. government says operating nuclear depository will cost $26.9 billion through 2023

It will cost $26.9 billion (euro20.2 billion) to build and operate the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump through 2023, the Energy Department says.

The department's new cost calculation did not include a new figure for the total life-cycle cost of the project in the Nevada desert, estimated several years ago at $58 billion (now worth euro43.5 billion). The department plans to recalculate that figure in May, and it almost certainly will rise, said Edward F. Sproat, director of the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.

The $26.9 billion (euro20.2 billion) figure, about in line with recent estimates, assumes that the department will meet its goal of opening the repository in March 2017, Sproat told reporters on a conference call Friday.

"It is our best estimate at this stage of the game as to what the total program's going to cost. We think it's an accurate projection," he said.

That 2017 opening date is a best-case scenario, and Sproat cautioned it will slip if the department does not get the money it needs each year for the dump. In recent years the department's budget goals have not been met, partly because of opposition from Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, who now has even more power as Senate majority leader.

The nuclear waste dump planned for 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, is supposed to hold at least 77,000 tons of radioactive nuclear waste from civilian reactors and Defense Department activities. It has met with a number of problems since Congress approved it in 2002, from political opposition and lawsuits to a controversy over government scientists not complying with quality control requirements.