This report provides information on the inventory of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in the United States located at Nuclear Power Reactor and Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation sites, as well as SNF and reprocessing waste located at U.S. Department of Energy sites and other research and development centers as of the end of calendar year 2021.
Yucca Mountain Project Map, YMP–03–024.2, “Proposed Land Withdrawal” and dated July 21, 2005. This map is referenced in House of Representatives Bill H.R.3053 — 115th Congress (2017-2018) dated June 26,2017
This Project Decision Schedule (PDS) is a legislative mandate of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA).
This three-volume report serves several purposes. The first volume provides an introduction to the engineered materials effort for the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project. It defines terms and outlines the history of selection and
characterization of these materials. A summary of the recent engineered barrier system materials characterization workshop is presented, and the current candidate materials are listed. The second volume tabulates design data for engineered
The Yucca Mountain repository is designed to provide a permanent solution for managing nuclear waste, minimize the uncertainty of future waste safety, and enable DOE to begin fulfilling its legal obligation under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to take custody of commercial waste, which began in 1998. However, project delays have led to utility lawsuits that DOE estimates are costing taxpayers about $12.3 billion in damages through 2020 and could cost $500 million per year after 2020, though the outcome of pending litigation may affect the government’s total liability.
Pete Lyons, Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy DOE, responds to the letter by Governor Bryant of Mississippi by noting that a consent-based approach to siting will require achieving acceptance at multiple levels of government: local, state and tribal. Consultation and cooperation will be required to successfully site a disposal system. DOE will be mindful of Governor Bryant's opposition to siting a disposal system in Mississippi.
Governor Bryant sent a letter to Pete Lyons, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy regarding the state hosting a geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel as an alternative to the Yucca Mountain repository . Although some communities may have expressed interest to DOE, Governor Bryant is opposed to hosting a repository and asks DOE to consider any state other than Mississippi.
There has been a resurgence of interest in the possibility of processing the US spent nuclear fuel, instead of burying it in a geologic repository. Accordingly, key topical findings from three relevant EPRI evaluations made in the 1990-1995 timeframe are recapped and updated to accommodate a few developments over the subsequent ten years. Views recently expressed by other US entities are discussed.
In June 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the construction of a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The license application was accepted for formal NRC review in September 2008. Throughout the more than 20-year history of the Yucca Mountain project, EPRI has performed independent assessments of key technical and scientific issues to facilitate an understanding of overall repository performance.
