Illuminating the Decision Path: The Yucca Mountain Site Recommendation
Illuminating the Decision Path: The Yucca Mountain Site Recommendation
On February 14, 2002, U.S.
On February 14, 2002, U.S.
This report describes the actions taken in Argentina on the safety of spent fuel management
(SF) and on the safety of radioactive waste management, in order to provide evidence of the
fulfillment of its obligations under the Joint Convention. To facilitate the reading and a better
understanding of this report a summary of those parts of the 1st Report that were considered
necessary have been included.
The present National Report describes the actions taken in Argentina on the safety of spent fuel
(SF) management and on the safety of radioactive waste (RW) management, in order to provide
evidence of the fulfilment of the obligations derived from the Joint Convention. To facilitate the
reading and a better understanding, it has been decided to include a summary of those parts of
the two prior National Reports that are considered necessary in order to comply with this
objective.
The U.S. government’s quest to store high-level nuclear waste has
had many interesting twists and turns. One set of developments stands
out as unique — efforts to site a temporary Monitored Retrievable
Storage (MRS) facility on lands belonging to Native Americans. We
describe the history and logic of the government’s process which led to
the involvement of Native Americans and the reactions of some tribes
to the MRS option. We also provide cross-cultural perspectives on issues
Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Answers to Questions Posted by the Contracting Parties on the Argentina Second National Report
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) established a program to deal comprehensively with the waste byproducts of nuclear power generation, as well as defense-related radioactive wastes, if appropriate. Under this program, the federal Department of Energy (DOE) must locate and develop a site for disposal of high-level radioactive wastes in a geologic setting capable of isolating them from adverse public and environmental exposure for at least 10,000 and up to 100,000 years.
The structure of the Fourth National Report complies with the Guidelines Regarding the
Form and Structure of National Reports (INFCIRC/604/Rev.1).
Section A describes the scope of the nuclear activity developed in Argentina since 1950
as well as the legal and regulatory framework. It also makes reference to the Strategic
Plan for Radioactive Waste Management (Strategic Plan), which refers to the safety of
Spent Fuel Management and Radioactive Waste Management.
The effective termination of the Yucca Mountain program by the U.S. Administration in 2009 has further delayed the construction and operation of a permanent disposal facility for used fuel and high level radioactive waste (HLW) in the United States. In concert with this decision, the President directed the Energy Secretary to establish the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future to review and provide recommendations on options for managing used fuel and HLW.
The United States of America ratified the “Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management” (Joint Convention) on April 9, 2003. The Joint Convention establishes an international peer review process among Contracting Parties and provides incentives for nations to take appropriate steps to bring their nuclear activities into compliance with general safety standards and practices. This first Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties under the Joint Convention is scheduled to take place in November 2003 in Vienna, Austria.
Joint Resolution, Approving the site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the development of a repository<br/>for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, pursuant<br/>to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
Regardless of the outcome of the ongoing debate about the proposed Yucca Mountain geologic waste repository in Nevada, the storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF)—also referred to as “high-level nuclear waste”—will continue to be needed and the issue will continue to be debated. The need for SNF storage, even after the first repository is opened, will continue for a few reasons. <br/>• The Obama Administration terminated work on the only planned permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, which was intended to provide a destination for most of the stored SNF.
Presented at the INMM Spent Fuel Seminar
Joint Convention Questions Posted to Argentina in 2009
This is the fourth National Report by Australia.1 The 2008 National Report and Australia’s presentation to the Third Review Meeting in 2009 highlighted the following major issues:
• progress on national uniformity;
• progress with development of a national waste classification scheme;
• radioactive waste management policy – achievements, consultation, strategy;
• spent fuel management and management of reprocessing waste;
• decommissioning;
• uranium mining waste management; and
• recruitment and skills management.
This is the third National Report by Australia1. The 2005 National Report and Australia’s presentation to the Second Review Meeting in 2006 highlighted issues as to how each of the nine Australian jurisdictions within Australia’s federal system are complying with the Joint Convention. A challenge identified for Australia in the Rapporteur’s Report for Country Group 3 was “ensuring a coherent approach to regulations and waste management practice in view of the complex nature of national and regional legislation”.
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as signed by the President on January 7, 1983, authorized, among other<br/>things, a Federal Interim Storage (FIS) program for spent nuclear fuel from domestic civilian power reactors.
News item from NEI summarizing siting process for nuclear waste repositories in Sweden, Finland and France.
With the first 100 days of the Obama Administration behind us, the Institute for 21st Century Energy presents
this nuclear waste policy document that recounts the history of the country’s nuclear waste policy, discusses
the mechanics of the issue, and off ers specifi c recommendations to the Obama Administration and the
U.S. Congress.
Two weeks aft er the 2008 presidential election, the Institute released dozens of energy policy recommendations for
the incoming administration and 111th Congress. Ten recommendations focused on committing to and expanding
This blog from DOE Secretary Moniz was released after a meeting with NARUC on February 12, 2014. The focus was on the BRC and the Administration strategy, with an emphasis on the importance of pursuing consolidated interim storage in parallel with looking at alternative sites for geologic disposal. A first priority is consent-based siting of a pilot-scale storage facility to accommodate used fuel from shutdown reactors.
News article on the history, status, and future use of the WIPP facility in New Mexico as a disposal site for spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste.
Approximately 54,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel are stored at operating nuclear power
plants and several decommissioned power plants throughout the country. Spent fuel
storage at these sites was never intended to be permanent. The current Federal plan is to
place the fuel in a repository for permanent disposal in Nevada at Yucca Mountain.
Recently, appropriations committees in Congress suggested building one or more Federal
sites for consolidated interim storage of spent fuel. Several reasons were identified. The
This Implementation Plan provides the scope, schedule, and funding needed to develop and implement a method for early evaluation of site suitability. The following is the sequence of events which resulted in the preparation of this implementation plan:<br/>1. On December 24, 1990, John W. Bartlett, Director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), transmitted guidance to Carl P. Gertz, Associate Director of the Office of Geologic Disposal (OGD), to develop an OGD Plan for this effort. <br/>2.
Dedicated-site interim storage of high-level reprocessed nuclear waste and of spent fuel rods is proposed as a long-term integral part of the systems approach of the national nuclear waste isolation program. Separation of interim sites for retrievable storage from permanent-disposal repositories should enhance ensurance of the performance of the latter; maintenance of retrievability at separate sites also has many advantages in both safety and possible use of waste as resources.
Yucca Mountain—that barren rise in the desert ninety miles from Las Vegas—is the nation‘s only site identified for the potential location of the first ge ological repository for commercially-generated HLNW and SNF. Many assume
that Yucca Mountain has geologic and climatic qualities that make it uniquely
suitable to isolate the thousands of metric tons of the world‘s most lethal, long lived waste currently accumulating at 104 operating nuclear power plants across the United States.
Unfortunately, Yucca Mountain is an exceptionally bad site,