In 1982, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. This bill made the U.S. government responsible for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel being generated by commercial nuclear power reactors operating in the U.S. The federal government was supposed to create a permanent geological repository for the spent nuclear fuel by 1998. In 1987, the Act was amended to mandate the creation of a repository in an abandoned salt mine under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The repository was designed to take as much as seventy thousand tons of spent nuclear fuel. The Federal government began collecting a fee from all the nuclear power plants in the country to help pay for the construction and operation of the repository.
The U.S. Department of Energy carried out studies and preliminary work on the creation of the Yucca mountain repository and, in 2008, applied for a license to begin construction. After the Presidential election, national and local political rejection led to the cancellation of the Yucca Mountain repository project in 2009 and the Presidential appointment of a panel to explore alternatives. It was estimated by the panel that the earliest a new repository could be sited and built would be 2050. Some of the nuclear plant operators successfully sued to get money back that they had paid into the fund that had swollen to thirty five billion dollars by the time the project was cancelled.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) stopped work on the Yucca Mountain construction license in 2011. The U.S. Court of Appeals ordered the NRC to resume work on the license in 2013. The NRC complied and, in 2015, they published the final volumes of the reports required for the license. The NRC published an Environmental Impact Statement for the Yucca Mountain repository in 2016. The final adjudication hearing for a decision on the license was suspended when the project was cancelled in 2009 and it remains suspended.
The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) was recently asked by the Committee On Energy And Commerce to review the steps that would be necessary to restart the Yucca Mountain repository licensing process. After reviewing documents and interviewing stakeholders, the GAO published a report titled Commercial nuclear waste: Resuming licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository would require rebuilding capacity at DOE and NRC, among other key steps. The GAO report concluded that there were four key steps that needed to be taken in order to restart and finish the licensing process.
First, the NRC must be directed to resume the licensing process. The timeline for the completion of the licensing process must be decided as well as whether any relevant regulations need to be changed. Following decisions on these issues and others, the NRC, DoE and other stakeholders will be able to specify the costs involved in finishing the process and obtain the necessary funding.
Second, the NRC, DoE and other stakeholders will have to rebuild their capabilities to carry out the needed tasks because they lost some of the necessary capabilities following the cancellation of the project. They will need to hire legal, scientific and other experts. The NRC and DoE will need to update their documentation for the licensing process. This will include filling out a new license application and developing a new Environmental Impact Statement.
Third, the NRC and its Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards will have to issue orders for the resumption of the adjudication process for the license application. This will require that public hearings on safety and other issues concerning the repository.
Fourth, when the adjudication has been completed, the NRC will have to review all of the information relevant to the construction of the repository and make a final decision about whether or not to issue a construction license.
The GAO report also identified some legal issues that could affect the restart and finish of the licensing process. The report stated that "At present, there are at least two unresolved legal issues that would need to be addressed and that could affect the timeline for completing the licensing process." The DoE may have to obtain land and water rights prior to construction of the repository. There is also a legal challenge with respect to NRC changes to safety regulations that could extend the timeline.
The GAO provided a draft of its report to both the NRC and the DoE for their comments. The NRC generally agreed with the conclusions of the report. The DoE has not yet replied whether or not it agrees with the GAO report.
North Entrance of Yucca Mountain salt mine:
