Cost of cleanup should a shipping accident occur
An accident involving just one cask of spent nuclear fuel, occurring in a rural area could result in cleanup costs in excess of $620 million and take 460 days (NWPO, 1997).
Similarly, an accident in an urban area could result in costs in excess of $2 billion (NWPO, 1997).
In 1992 dollars, a worst case scenario crash of a train carrying nuclear waste through an average city would involve cleanup costs as high as $9.5 billion (NWPO, 1997).