With the establishment of the “Arbeitskreis Auswahlverfahren Endlagerstandorte” (AkEnd) – the Committee on a Site Selection Procedure for Repository Sites, in the following referred as to as the “committee” - the Federal Minister for the Environment set up a discussion forum on radioactive waste disposal, which has been called for by the public for quite some time.

Joint Resolution, Approving the site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the development of a repository<br/>for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, pursuant<br/>to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has amended the policies under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 for evaluating the suitability of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a site for development of a nuclear waste repository. The final rule at Title 10, Part 963 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 963) focuses on the criteria and methodology to be used for evaluating relevant geological and other related aspects of the Yucca Mountain site.

Enclosed is the State of Nevada s report on impacts of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository program. This report is being provided pursuant to Section 114(a)(1)(H) and Section 116 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended.

In the year 2000, the geological disposal program for high-level radioactive waste in Japan moved from the phase of generic research and development (R&D) into the phase of implementation. Following legislation entitled the “Specified Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Act”, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) was established as the implementing organization.

After more than 20 years of carefully planned and reviewed scientific field work by the<br/>U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Geological Survey, and numerous other<br/>organizations, Secretary of Energy Abraham concluded in January that the Yucca<br/>Mountain site is suitable, within the meaning of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, for<br/>development as a permanent nuclear waste and spent fuel repository.

For more than half a century, since nuclear science helped us win World War II and ring in the Atomic Age, scientists have known that the Nation would need a secure, permanent facility in which to dispose of radioactive wastes. Twenty years ago, when Congress adopted the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA or &quot;the Act&quot;), it recognized the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community that the best option for such a facility would be a deep underground repository.