Press release from STUK stating that it needs six months longer than originally planned to review Posiva's license application for a construction permit for disposal of spent nuclear fuel.
Confidence in the long-term safety of deep geological disposal, and the ways in which this
confidence can be obtained and communicated, are topics of great importance to the radioactive waste
management community.1
The technical aspects of confidence have been the subject of considerable debate, especially
the concept of model validation. It has, for example, been pointed out that it is impossible to describe
fully the evolution of an open system, such as a repository and its environment, that cannot be
This “Technical Evaluation Report on the Content of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain License Application; Postclosure Volume: Repository Safety After Permanent Closure” (TER Postclosure Volume) presents information on the NRC staff’s review of DOE’s Safety Analysis Report (SAR), provided on June 3, 2008, as updated by DOE on February 19, 2009. The NRC staff also reviewed information DOE provided in response to NRC staff’s requests for additional information and other information that DOE provided related to the SAR.
In his January 12, 1993 letter to Senator Johnston, Secretary Watkins promised to develop a
conceptual revised program strategy for public review. The enclosed document represents the
final report of the Task Force on an Alternative Program Strategy that was established to fulfill
that commitment. The report incorporates refinements to the preliminary draft you received on
March 8, based on discussions with key people in the program.
In developing this alternative strategy, the Task Force has drawn on the extensive analyses of
