The U.S. Government is seeking a site for a monitored retrievable storage facility (MRS). Employing proven technologies used in this country and abroad, the MRS will be an integral part of the Federal system for safe and permanent disposal of the nation's high-level radioactive wastes. The MRS will accept shipments of spent fuel from commerical nuclear power plants, temporarily store the spent fuel above ground, and stage shipments of it to a geologic repository for permanent disposal.

On January 13, 1993, Governor of the State of Utah, Mike Leavitt officially announced that he was opposing a MRS Facility in the State of Utah and informed San Juan County of his decision which will preclude the County from applying for a Phase IIa feasibility grant. A copy of the policy statement made by Governor Leavitt is attached for your information.

The Clinch River MRS Task Force was appointed in July 1985 by the Roane County Executive and the Oak Ridge City Council to evaluate the Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility proposed by the Department of Energy to be constructed in the Roane County portion of Oak Ridge. After several months of study, numerous public meetings, site visits to relevant facilities, and careful evaluation of the integrated MRS concept, it is the considered opinion of the Task Force that the facility could be safely build and operated in Roane County/Oak Ridge.

In accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 72, Private Fuel Storage L.L.C. hereby applies for a specific license to receive, transfer and possess power reactor spent fuel and other radioactive material associated with spent fuel storage in an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) to be constructed and operated on the Skull Valley Indian Reservation in Tooele County, Utah. The license is requested for the storage of spent fuel discharged from licensed U.S. nuclear power reactors in dry storage systems designed by Holtec, International and Sierra Nuclear Corporation.

This report is concerned with how America's public sector is handling the challenge of implementing a technical, environmental policy, that of managing the nation's high-level nuclear waste, as reflected in the attempt of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to site a Monitored Retrievable Storage Facility (MRS) for high-level radioactive waste in Tennessee.

The U.S. Congress authorized the development of a monitored retrievable storage facility (MRS) as part of the high-level radioactive waste management system. The MRS will be used to receive, store, and stage shipments of intact spent fuel to the permanent repository. Early development of the MRS is crucial to honoring the long-standing Federal commitment to timely and adequate waste acceptance. The Department of Energy's (DO E) objective is initial waste acceptance at the MRS beginning in 1998.

Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has completed a performance evaluation of the proposed monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility. This study was undertaken as part of the Department of Energy MRS Program at PNL.

DOE requested $100 million over the next 3 years to develop an MRS facility by 1998. DOE can begin accepting delivery of utilities’ waste by 1998 only by having an MRS facility then. To accomplish this, however, the Nuclear Waste Negotiator must complete a siting agreement and obtain congressional approval of the agreement, including the removal of statutory links to repository development, by the end of 1992. The negotiator does not believe this is possible.<br/><br/>Whether DOE is legally obligated to store or dispose of waste in 1998 is unclear.

Reaching negotiated agreement with a state or Indian tribe and preparing of 1he environmental assessment (EA) required by Section 404 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, as amended (NWPAA), are the first steps in a process intended to result in the acceptance of radioactive waste at a monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facility starting in 1998. This paper examines requirements for the EA, the first environmental document to be prepared for siting an MRS facility, and discusses the process used to develop that document.