From the very early stages of the nuclear waste management<br/>program, salt has been advocated as the most suitable geologic<br/>medium in which to store high-level radioactive wastes (HLW).<br/>The primary reason for this is based on the fact that, relative<br/>to other rock types, salt has a low yield strength with the<br/>result that, at the confining pressures that exist at depths<br/>of a few thousand feet, salt will deform plastically.

Native American Forum on Nuclear Issues

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated amendments to its public health and safety standards for radioactive material stored or disposed of in the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada (40 CFR Part 197). Section 801 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 [(EnPA, Public Law 102-486, 42 U.S.C. § 10141 n. (1994)] directed EPA to develop these standards.

The Central Savannah River Area Community Team (The CSRA Team) is pleased to submit this report in<br/>fulfillment of its requirements under DOE Financial Assistance Agreement DE-FG07-07ID14794.

Presented to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America&#39;s Nuclear Future Subcommittee on Disposal

Presented to Disposal Subcommittee of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America&#39;s Nuclear Future

Summary of comments for the Blue Ribbon Commission on America&#39;s Nuclear Future

OCRWM Bulletin (DOE/RW-0130) - DOE Sends Proposal to Congress for Monitored Retrievable Storage Facility in Tennessee

Press Release - Three potential candidate sites for a facility to handle, package and temporarily store spent nuclear fuel have been identified by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). If approved by Congress, the facility would receive spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants nationwide and package it for delivery to a permanent repository for final disposal.

Site suitability studies at LLL to date have considered repositories in bedded salt and shale.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman today announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking expressions of interest from the public and private sectors by March 31, 2006, to propose and evaluate sites suitable for demonstrating advanced recycling technologies under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP).

As nuclear power assumes an increasingly important role in meeting the nation&#39;s requirements for electrical energy, the quantity of radioactive wastes will also increase. The wastes of primary concern -<br/>designated &quot;high-level&quot; and &quot;alpha&quot; wastes - contain radioactive nuclides that decay so slowly as to require that they be isolated from the biosphere for thousands of years.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987 established the federal<br/>Office of the Nuclear Waste Negotiator for a 5-year period. The Nuclear<br/>Waste Negotiator, appointed by the President and confirmed by the<br/>Senate, was empowered to attempt to find a state or Indian tribe willing<br/>to host a repository or a monitored retrievable storage (MB) facility for the<br/>permanent or temporary storage of nuclear waste, respectively.

Consideration of the technical feasibility of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the site for a high-level nuclear<br/>waste repository has led to an intense debate regarding the economic, social, and political impacts of the<br/>repository.

Geologic repositories for radioactive waste are evolving<br/>from conceptualization to the development of specific<br/>designs. Estimates of long-term hazards must be based<br/>upon quantitative predictions of environmental releases<br/>over time periods of hundreds of thousands of years and<br/>longer.

Email from Steven Kraft to Alex Thrower

Map-U.S. Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations

A method is presented for determining the relative favorability<br/>of geologically complex areas for isolating high-level<br/>radioactive wastes. In applying the method to the northeastern region<br/>of the United States, seismieity and tectonic activity were the<br/>screening criteria used to divide the region into three areas of<br/>increasing seismotectonic risk. The following criteria, specified by<br/>the U.S.

This report describes the first phase in evaluating the<br/>geology and hydrology of the Basin and Range Province for<br/>potential suitability of geohydrologic environments for isolation<br/>of high-level radioactive waste.

Results of the evaluation of data from area studies in salt domes of the interior basins of the Gulf Coast region are presented, along with background information about salt domes, the site qualification process, and data collection and analysis methods;

Results of the evaluation of data from area studies in salt domes of the interior basins of the Gulf Coast region are presented, along with background information about salt domes, the site qualification process, and data collection and analysis methods; discussions of the geologic and environmental data obtained for the eight salt domes under investigation during area studies; and analysis of the data according to preestablished criteria.

After an exhaustive review process that encompassed EPAÕs proposed rule, as presented in the Federal Register Notice, as well as the reference materials cited in that Notice, Nevada concludes that EPAÕs proposed standard is inconsistent with the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences (as required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992) and the July 9, 2004 ruling of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory<br/>Commission (NRC) is proposing<br/>licensing criteria for disposal of spent<br/>nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive<br/>wastes in the proposed geologic<br/>repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.<br/>These criteria will address the<br/>performance of the repository system at<br/>Yucca Mountain, a system that must<br/>comprise both natural and engineered<br/>barriers.

Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds.

Programs to manage and ultimately dispose of high-level radioactive wastes are unique from scientific and technological as well as socio-political aspects. From a scientific and technological perspective, high-level radioactive wastes remain potentially hazardous for geological time periods—many millennia—and scientific and technological programs must be put in place that result in a system that provides high confidence that the wastes will be isolated from the accessible environment for these many thousands of years.