Project Decision Schedule

This Project Decision Schedule (PDS) is a legislative mandate of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA). Section 114(e)(1) of the NWPA requires the Secretary of Energy to “prepare and update, as appropriate, in cooperation with all affected Federal agencies, a project decision schedule that portrays the optimum way to attain the operation of the repository.” The NWPA further provides that this “schedule shall include a description of objectives and a sequence of deadlines for all Federal agencies required to take action, including an identification of activities in which a delay in the start, or completion, of such activities will cause a delay in beginning repository operation.”

This PDS identifies the specific actions that affected Federal agencies must take in order to achieve the schedule presented in this PDS. The schedules are grouped by project in Section 2 and by Federal agency in Section 3. The Federal agency activities and schedules in the PDS are based on the Yucca Mountain Project schedule approved by the Director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in June 2008. The June 2008 schedule and the underlying cash flow projections reflect the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) expectation of flat funding until the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issues a decision on construction authorization for the repository. The schedule may be further updated and is subject to change as appropriate.