The Siting Record

An Account of the Programs of Federal Agencies and Events That Have Led to the Selection of a Potential Site for a Geologic Repository for High-Level Radioactive Waste

This record of siting a geologic repository for high level radioactive waste and spent fuel describes the many investigations that culminated on December 22, 1987 in the designation of Yucca Mountain as the site to undergo detailed geologic characterization. It recounts the important issues and events that have been instrumental in shaping the course of siting over the last three and one half decades. In this long task, which was initiated in 1954, more than 60 regions, areas, or sites involving nine different rock types have been investigated. This effort became sharply focused in 1983 with the identification of nine potentially suitable sites for the first repository. From these nine sites, five were subsequently nominated by the US DOE as suitable for characterization and then, in 1986m as required by the NWPA of 1982, three of these five sites were recommended to the President as candidates for site characterization.