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. .AAfftteerr 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.
Both the guidelines and the environmental assessments were finalized
reflecting comments received on their respective drafts, including those of
the States, Indian tribes, other Federal agencies, and the public.
Subsequent to the nominations, as a third step, the Secretary is to
recommend three of the nominated sites to the President for approval for
characterization. This report provides that recommendation decision.
The recommendation decision is supported by extensive data, analyses,
evaluations, and documentation. The guidelines establish the basic process
and criteria under which the sites are evaluated. The environmental
assessments provide analyses and evaluations of available data relevant to the
suitability of the nominated sites. A subsequent analysis entitled,
Multiattribute Utility Analysis of Sites Nominated for Characterization for
the First Radioactive Waste Repository--A Decision-Aiding Methodology
(DOE/RW-0074), was developed and finalized by the DOE to aid in determining
the preferred ranking of the five nominated sites. The suitability and
application of this methodology was reviewed and commented on by the National
Academy of Sciences. This decision-aiding methodology was a refinement of one
of several methods proposed in the draft environmental assessments in 1984.
It utilized the data and analyses in the environmental assessments in a
decision process that allowed disaggregation of a complex set of objectives
into component parts for evaluation and then reaggregation to determine both a
composite ranking of the nominated sites and additional significant
information relevant to determining an initial order of preference.
In addition, the DOE has considered the provisions in the siting
guidelines for diversity of geohydrologic settings and diversity of rock types
in arriving at a final order of preference. Based on these considerations,
the Secretary has determined that the set of three sites for recommendation as
candidate sites for characterization consists of sites at Yucca Mountain,
Nevada; Deaf Smith County, Texas; and Hanford,'Washington. In addition,
pursuant to the requirements of Section 114(f) of the Act, the Secretary has
made a preliminary determination that these three sites are suitable for
development as geologic repositories consistent with the siting guidelines.