How much will it cost?

The Yucca Mountain repository will cost an estimated $43.6 billion before it is completed in 2116.

At various times during the past decade and most recently in 2001, Congress considered but rejected ideas to move the fund "off-budget," an accounting device that would enable the Energy Department to claim additional billions over the years to keep the $58 billion Yucca program on track.

How much of the taxpayers dollars will fund this project?

The state Legislature had allocated $7 million in taxpayer money this year to fight Yucca Mountain. Guinn's call for donations raised $1.9 million more.

How much would this affect Bush's budget plan?

Last month, Congress set 2003 nuclear waste disposal spending at $460 million, about 22% of the $593 million the Bush administration wanted. The program also operated at a reduced level of spending for five months before Congress passed it's 2003-budget bill.

Angelina Howard, executive vice president of the pro-repository Nuclear Energy Institute, said Yucca budget cuts leave the Energy Department vulnerable to lawsuits and damages "in excess of $50 billion" from utilities seeking to turn nuclear waste over to the federal government for disposal.

How much money has been spent so far?

The suitability of the Yucca Mountain site is based on a vast body of scientific evidence developed over the past 24 years at a cost of over $4 billion

(www.ocrwm.doe.gov/pm/budget/budget.shtml)

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