Big holes in the ground cost big bucks.

• Position: Graph Exercise

The big news in nuclear power is garbage--or nuclear waste, to be more precise. In the 45 years since the first commercial nuclear power plant opened, deadly waste has been piling up at sites in 39 states. Earlier this year, after decades of exploration and scientific study, Congress approved Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, as a permanent waste storage facility. But digging a hole in the ground is not as simple, or as cheap, as it may sound. Some $4 billion has been spent studying the Yucca Mountain site. The data in this graph show what the federal government spent on Yucca Mountain studies in selected years. Use the data to answer the questions at the bottom of this page.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy

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1. About how much more did the federal government spend on Yucca Mountain in 1985 than it did in 19837 (a) $5 million (c) $7 million (b) $2 million (d) $13 million. 2. Between which two years did expenditures on Yucca Mountain increase by almost $80 million? 3. The graph does not show the amount spent in 2000, but that expenditure was almost exactly $8 million less than the expenditure in 2001. About how much did the government spend on Yucca Mountain in 2000? (a) $250 million (c) $330 million (b) $320 million (d) $199 million. 4. In 1992, the...