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 offers specific recommendations to the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress.
This study evaluated the technical suitability of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a potential site for a mined geologic repository for the permanent disposal of radioactive waste. The evaluation was conducted primarily to determine early in the site characterization program if there are any features or conditions at the site that indicate it is unsuitable for repository development. A secondary purpose was to determine the status of<br/>knowledge in the major technical areas that affect the suitability of the site.
Presented to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future Subcommittee on Disposal
In response to your request, and as a follow-up to the ACNW Working Group meeting with you and your staff on June 17, 1992, we offer the following comments on the Early Site Suitability Evaluation (ESSE) for the proposed Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository site. Our comments relate both to the ESSE, as prepared by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and to the draft review prepared by your staff.
Current U.S. nuclear waste law and policy is bankrupt. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) set a 1998 deadline for opening a deep geologic repository to receive spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW) from reprocessing. In 1987, Congress amended the Act to designate Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the only potential site, and severely restricted the development of any federal facility for consolidated storage of nuclear waste. Nevada’s unrelenting opposition to the Yucca repository eventually succeeded with the election of Barack Obama as President.
For more than half a century, since nuclear science helped us win World War II and ring in the Atomic Age, scientists have known that the Nation would need a secure, permanent facility in which to dispose of radioactive wastes. Twenty years ago, when Congress adopted the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA or "the Act"), it recognized the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community that the best option for such a facility would be a deep underground repository.
By the end of this century, the United States plans to begin operating the first geologic repository for the permanent disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive Waste. Public Law 97-425, the Nuclear waste Policy Act of 1982 (the Act), specifies the process for selecting a repository site, and constructing, operating, closing, and decommissioning the repository.
In 2001, as directed by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued public health and environmental radiation protection standards for the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Several parties sued the Agency on a myriad of aspects of the rule. The Court ruled in EPA’s favor in all aspects of the case but one, and returned the standards to the Agency in 2004. In 2005, EPA proposed amendments to the standards. Following public hearings and a public review period, the final amendments were issued in September 2008.
The subject of this letter is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's acceptance review of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Topical Report, Evaluation of the Potentially Adverse Condition of Extreme Erosion. During the Quaternary Period' at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, dated March 1993. This review was conducted in accordance with the guidelines established in the NRC Division of High-Level Waste Management Topical Report Review Position Paper (TRPP), provided to DOE on April 7, 1993.
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.
The principal factors that affected the scope of scientific investigations at Yucca Mountain over the last 20 years included both regulatory and technical aspects. Examples of regulatory factors include the regulations themselves as well as the associated quality assurance requirements. Examples of technical factors include the repository and waste package designs, new information that affected the post-closure safety basis, and technical reviews from peers, stakeholders and the regulators.
The information presented in this EIA has demonstrated that the design of a repository for disposal of radioactive wastes at Yucca Mountain has evolved without having been affected by the EPA standards. The standards have been demonstrated to have no impact on repository program costs, and nominal performance for the current repository design would result in no radiation doses for more than 10,000 years. Additionally, the difference between a 25 mrem/yr dose standard and a 15 mrem/yr standard is insignificant to program costs and performance evaluations.
Governor Bryant sent a letter to Pete Lyons, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy regarding the state hosting a geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel as an alternative to the Yucca Mountain repository . Although some communities may have expressed interest to DOE, Governor Bryant is opposed to hosting a repository and asks DOE to consider any state other than Mississippi.
Texas Governor Rick Perry wrote a letter to the Texas Congressional delegation regarding new solutions to the long term handling of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
The Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, today proposes to amend its General Guidelines for the Recommendation of Sites for Nuclear Waste Repositories. The DOE is proposing these amendments to clarify and focus the Guidelines to be used in evaluating the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada for development as a repository.
The U.S. Department of Energy is responding to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff's comments on the topical report, "Evaluation of the Potentially Adverse Condition 'Evidence of Extreme Erosion During the Quaternary Period' at Yucca Mountain, Nevada" and providing additional information supporting the conclusions reached in the report.
In this paper, the major elements of the site selection and characterization processes used in the U.S. high level waste program are discussed. While much of the evolution of the site selection and characterization processes have been driven by the unique nature of the U.S. program, these processes, which are well-defined and documented, could be used as an initial basis for developing site screening, selection, and characterization programs in other countries. Thus, this paper focuses more on the process elements than the specific details of the U.S. program.
