Recommendation by the Secretary of Energy of Candidate Sites for Site Characterization for the First Radioactive Waste Repository

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (the Act), established a
step-by-step process for the siting of the nation's first repository for
high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. The Act gave the Department of
Energy (DOE) the primary responsibility for conducting this siting process.
The first step in the process laid out in the Act was the development by
the DOE, with the concurrence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), of
general guidelines to be used by the Secretary of the DOE (the Secretary) in
considering candidate sites for recommendation for the location of
repositories. These guidelines were issued by the DOE after public review and
comment on November 30, 1984.
The second step is the nomination by the Secretary of at least five sites
he determines suitable for site characterization for selection of the first
repository site. Each nomination is required to be accompanied by an
environmental assessment to include, among other things, evaluations of the
suitability of the nominated sites under the guidelines. Draft environmental
assessments informing the affected States and Indian tribes of the proposed
nominations were issued in December 1984. After consideration of the comments
received on the draft environmental assessments, the Secretary has nominated
the Richton Dome, Mississippi, the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the Deaf Smith
County, Texas, the Davis Canyon, Utah and the Hanford, Washington sites as
suitable for site characterization and has caused to be published final
environmental assessments for each nominated site.