These Big Builds Cost Billions And Are Now Abandoned

In 1987 the powers that be chose Yucca Mountain in the state of Nevada to be the United States’ main nuclear waste repository. In 2002 Congress officially approved the project and work started on the complex shortly thereafter. This megaproject still met with opposition and a few issues arose.  

There were unanticipated issues over waste transportation and unsuitable geology. American politicians started second-guessing the entire project when experts confirmed that a nuclear power station can actually safely store waste on-site over decades. In 2011 President Barack Obama cut the funding and the project was essentially canned. At that point, US taxpayers had already sunk almost $15 billion into the station. At press time, there were no specific plans to revive the project so the unfinished Yucca Mountain repository remains uncompleted. 

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