Category of Content
Siting Experience Documents Only
Publication Date
Subject Matter
Keywords
Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal
Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal
The Congressional Research Service prepared a report in August titled "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal." It contains a summary of the radioactive waste management program, and includes an update with recent developments on YM licensing, consent based siting, legislation, volunteer private storage sites, and current policy.
Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel: Congressional Action Needed to Break Impasse and Develop a Permanent Disposal Solution
Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel: Congressional Action Needed to Break Impasse and Develop a Permanent Disposal Solution
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), as amended, requires DOE to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and specifies that the only site that may be considered for the permanent disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel is a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. However, in 2010, DOE terminated its efforts to license a repository at Yucca Mountain, and Congress stopped funding activities related to the site. Since then, policymakers have been at an impasse on how to meet the federal disposal obligation, with significant financial consequences for taxpayers.
Status and Trends in Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management
Status and Trends in Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management
Status and Trends in Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management is a collaborative project between the IAEA, the European Commission and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, with the participation of nuclear industry organization the World Nuclear Association, that aims to consolidate and complement the information gathered from different initiatives around the world.
Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges
Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges
There has been, for decades, a worldwide consensus in the nuclear technical community for disposal through geological isolation of high-level waste (HLW), including spent nuclear fuel (SNF). However, none of the national programs established to implement geological disposal has yet succeeded in establishing a geological repository and emplacing HLW in it. The large and growing HLW inventory from civilian and military reactor use over nearly 60 years remains in surface facilities intended only for interim storage.
Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User's Guide
Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User's Guide
Effective risk communication is essential to the well-being of any organization and those people who depend on it. Ineffective communication can cost lives, money, and reputations. Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User's Guide provides the scientific foundations for effective communication.
NRC Online Resources - Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Webpage
NRC Online Resources - Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Webpage
NRC's "Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel" includes a short discussion of "What We Regulate"; "How We Regulate"; and links to related information.
Survey of National Programs for Managing High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: 2022 Update
Survey of National Programs for Managing High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: 2022 Update
In October 2009, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board or NWTRB) published Survey of National Programs for Managing High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel. For each of the 13 national programs studied, the report catalogued 15 institutional arrangements that had been set in place and 15 technical approaches that had been taken to design repository systems for the long-term management of high-activity radioactive waste.
Six Overarching Recommendations for How to Move the Nation’s Nuclear Waste Management Program Forward
Six Overarching Recommendations for How to Move the Nation’s Nuclear Waste Management Program Forward
The goal of this report is to communicate high-level recommendations to the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE), which if adopted, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board)
members believe will support the creation of a robust, safe, and effective nuclear waste
management capability for the nation, including laying the groundwork for a successful geologic
repository. The DOE nuclear waste management program encompasses the management and
disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW), in addition to the
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council: 20-Year Retrospective Report (1994-2014)
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council: 20-Year Retrospective Report (1994-2014)
This report documents the work of one of the most successful Federal advisory committees in the history of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) was established by EPA on September 30, 1993 to provide independent advice to the EPA Administrator on broad, cross-cutting issues related to environmental justice.
WHF and RF Thermal Evaluation
WHF and RF Thermal Evaluation
Interim Storage, Environmental Justice, and Generational Equity
Interim Storage, Environmental Justice, and Generational Equity
With the termination of the Yucca Mountain project, which was proposed to be our nation’s first repository for the disposal of military and civilian spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, the future of nuclear waste management and disposal in this country became increasingly uncertain. Interim storage has been advocated by many as a temporary solution while a permanent solution is studied for potentially several more decades to come.
Consent-Based Siting: What Have We Learned?
Consent-Based Siting: What Have We Learned?
The president realized that the nation lacked a clear policy for developing a deep-mined geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. New legislation would be required to chart a more promising path forward. The views of multiple parties had to be taken into account. He decided to create a high-level body to ventilate the issues involved and to make recommendations. He charged the group with holding public meetings and soliciting comments on draft documents to make the deliberations as transparent as possible.
Reset of America's Nuclear Waste Management Strategy and Policy
Reset of America's Nuclear Waste Management Strategy and Policy
The U.S. nuclear waste management program has labored for decades at a cost of billions of dollars each year, and yet there is still no active disposal program either for spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors or for the high-level radioactive legacy waste and spent nuclear fuel from defense programs.
Department of Energy General Guidance for Justice40 Implementation
Department of Energy General Guidance for Justice40 Implementation
On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, which established the historic Justice40 Initiative (the Justice40 Initiative, or Justice40). The Justice40 Initiative establishes a goal that 40% of the benefits of climate and clean energy investments flow to disadvantaged communities, which for too long, have faced disinvestment and underinvestment.
U.S. Nuclear Plant Shutdowns, State Interventions, and Policy Concerns
U.S. Nuclear Plant Shutdowns, State Interventions, and Policy Concerns
The United States has the largest nuclear power plant fleet in the world, with 93 reactors that can generate approximately 95,522 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Nuclear power has accounted for about 20% of annual U.S. electricity generation since the late 1980s; in 2020 it was 19.7%. However, the U.S. nuclear power industry in recent years has been facing economic and financial challenges, particularly plants located in competitive power markets where natural gas and renewable power generators influence wholesale electricity prices. Twelve U.S.
Addressing Environmental Justice Through NEPA
Addressing Environmental Justice Through NEPA
Some Members of Congress and the Biden Administration are exploring how to use the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to ensure that environmental laws and policies fairly treat and reflect input from all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income. This principle is commonly referred to as “environmental justice.” Congress enacted NEPA in 1969 to require federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of proposed federal actions prior to making decisions.
Promising Practices for EJ Methodologies in NEPA Reviews: Report of the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice & NEPA Committee
Promising Practices for EJ Methodologies in NEPA Reviews: Report of the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice & NEPA Committee
The Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG) established the NEPA Committee in 2012 pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898 (2011).
Response by the White House Council on Environmental Quality to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s Final Recommendations: Justice40, Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, and Executive Order 12898 Revisions...
Response by the White House Council on Environmental Quality to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s Final Recommendations: Justice40, Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, and Executive Order 12898 Revisions...
Introduction
A. The Biden-Harris Administration’s Commitment to Environmental Justice
Political power and renewable energy futures: A critical review
Political power and renewable energy futures: A critical review
Inspired by the energy democracy movement, this conceptual review critically explores relationships between concentrated or distributed renewable energy and political power. Advocates assert that because the renewable energy transition is fundamentally a political struggle, efforts to shift from fossil fuels and decarbonize societies will not prove effective without confronting and destabilizing dominant systems of energy power.
Embedding Environmental Justice into the Washington State Department of Ecology: Promising Practices for Advancing Equity and Environmental Justice
Embedding Environmental Justice into the Washington State Department of Ecology: Promising Practices for Advancing Equity and Environmental Justice
The purpose of this report is to equip the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) with evidence-based recommendations to further equity and environmental justice (EJ) efforts within their capacity as the state’s environmental regulatory agency, in service of advancing EJ for those who live, work, and play in Washington. This report is intended to share promising trends and tools, acknowledge common barriers and ideas for overcoming those barriers, elevate successes, and amplify equitable practices for defining, measuring, mobilizing, and sustaining meaningful EJ work.
Progress Report on Incorporating Environmental Justice into Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Work
Progress Report on Incorporating Environmental Justice into Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Work
In response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14008 and Administrator Regan’s directive to “strengthen enforcement of violations of cornerstone environmental statutes and civil rights laws in communities overburdened by pollution,” OECA issued four policies.1 These policies provide direction to the civil regulatory, compliance assurance, criminal, and cleanup enforcement programs to incorporate environmental justice (EJ) considerations throughout the enforcement process. The key elements of these strategies and preliminary successes are described below.
Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future Report to the Secretary of Energy
Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future Report to the Secretary of Energy
This report highlights the findings and conclusions of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) and presents recommendations for consideration by the Administration and Congress, as well as interested state, tribal and local governments, other stakeholders, and the public.
U.S. Department of Energy’s Equity Action Plan
U.S. Department of Energy’s Equity Action Plan
The Department of Energy (hereinafter DOE or the Department) is responsible for ensuring the Nation’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. DOE maintains the Nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, reduces the threat of nuclear proliferation, oversees the Nation’s energy supply, leads the Nation in areas of federally sponsored basic research critical to U.S.
Respecting free, prior and informed consent: Practical guidance for governments, companies, NGOs, indigenous peoples and local communities in relation to land acquisition
Respecting free, prior and informed consent: Practical guidance for governments, companies, NGOs, indigenous peoples and local communities in relation to land acquisition
Large-scale investments in land are spreading faster than ever before across the global south. Often these investments target lands governed by customary rights that are not adequately recognized and protected under national laws, or sites where governments lack the capacity to enforce the law. Land deals that change the use of land and natural resources have wide implications for indigenous peoples and local communities who depend primarily on these resources for their livelihoods, welfare and cultural identity.