The cost of a proposed underground storage facility to safely house the UK鈥檚 nuclear waste for millennia has risen to as much as 拢53 billion in the past four years, more than double the previous estimate, according to a new government report.
The UK currently stores its , and the quantity is projected to swell to more than 4 million cubic metres in future. In 2018, the for a community in England willing to host an underground store, known as a geological disposal facility, after a previous effort was rejected by local authorities in 2013.
Four years ago, the project was to cost between 拢12 billion and 拢20 billion to build and operate for 150 years. However, , UK government agency Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) revised the figure up to between 拢20 billion and 拢53 billion.
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at NWS says the huge increase is due to a broader scope of costs and being more realistic. The wide range of the estimate is due to the potentially large differences in where the facility could be situated, including factors such as transport, flooding and geology.
But the biggest increase comes from expecting more waste, including legacy radioactive material from a fleet of new nuclear plants, as well as uranium and plutonium that were considered an asset in the past, but are now be considered waste. 鈥淲e鈥檙e counting more things,鈥� says Corderoy.
Roy Payne at GDFWatch, a UK non-profit, says: 鈥淭he initially eye-popping increase in the upper projected costs can probably be explained by the change of management and culture at NWS that takes a more informed and realistic view of the project, the external market and geopolitical factors.鈥�
Building the facility will involve drilling hundreds of metres underground to store the waste in metal containers behind buffers of concrete and rock, and is expected to take decades. The cost will be shouldered by taxpayers and nuclear power operators, with each paying roughly half.
However, that ratio rests on the assumption that 16 gigawatts of new nuclear power will be built. Only 3.2 GW of new capacity is currently confirmed, at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Another 3.2 GW could be added at Sizewell C in Suffolk if the UK government can settle on a new funding mechanism later this year, and more could come from 鈥渕ini鈥� nuclear plants proposed by Rolls-Royce. If less than 16 GW is built, more of the potential 拢53 billion bill will be paid with public money.
Despite the big price tag, Corderoy says the project remains good value. 鈥淭he one thing on our side is, when you think of the cost of surface storage, it goes on forever.鈥�
To date, four communities remain in the race to host the facility. Three in Cumbria 鈥� Mid Copeland, South Copeland and Allerdale 鈥� are the most advanced in discussing the idea, followed by Theddlethorpe in Lincolnshire.
