LESSONS LEARNED FROM YUCCA MOUNTAIN: HOW TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS IN THE UNITED STATES FOR DEVELOPING FACILITIES FOR GEOLOGIC DISPOSAL OF USED NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL AND HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE

This white paper offers some suggestions about how to improve the process in the United States for developing facilities for geologic disposal of used nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste. These suggestions look toward the future, and build on what I believe are the lessons that should be learned from the troubled Yucca Mountain repository project. I did not attempt to develop any particular "lessons learned" from the current controversy over whether the DOE is entitled to withdraw its Yucca Mountain license application, because this is a matter still before the NRC. Nor, for the same reason, did I attempt to draw any "lessons learned" from the conduct of the NRC Yucca Mountain adjudicatory hearing process, as that process has been conducted to date.