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Environmental Impact Statement
DOE's Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic
Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level
Radioactive Waste
The U.S. Department of Energy's draft environmental impact
statement provides information on potential environmental impacts
that could result from the construction, operation and monitoring,
and eventual closure of a repository deep underground at Yucca
Mountain, in Nye County, Nevada. The repository would be used to
dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
The draft environmental impact statement also analyzes an
alternative to the proposed action: a no-action alternative. Under
the no-action alternative, the Department would not build a
repository at the Yucca Mountain site, and spent nuclear fuel and
high-level radioactive waste would remain at 72 commercial and five
Department sites across the United States.
Repository
The draft environmental impact statement analyzes the potential
impacts if the Department were to construct, operate and monitor,
and eventually close a geologic repository for the disposal of spent
nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. The
Department would build the repository inside Yucca Mountain, between
200 meters and 425 meters (660 and 1,400 feet) below the surface and
between 175 and 365 meters (570 and 1,200 feet) above the water
table. To ensure the long-term isolation of the materials, the
Department would use both the natural geologic features of the
mountain and man-made (or engineered) barriers.
Institutional controls
Also included in the analysis is the use of active institutional
controls (controlled access, inspection, maintenance, etc.) through
the end of the closure period, and the use of passive institutional
controls (markers, engineered barriers, etc.) after closure is
completed. The passive institutional controls would be designed to
prevent inadvertent intrusion.
Transportation
The draft environmental impact statement analyzes the potential
impacts of transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level
radioactive waste to the Yucca Mountain site from 77 sites across
the United States. This analysis includes information on such
matters as the comparative impacts of truck and rail transportation,
alternative intermodal (rail to truck) transfer station locations,
associated heavy-haul truck routes, and alternative rail transport
corridors in Nevada. For details about transportation, see the
transportation fact sheet in this series.
The no-action alternative
The draft environmental impact statement includes an analysis of
a no-action alternative. The analysis identifies the potential
impacts to people and the environment if the spent nuclear fuel and
high-level radioactive waste were to remain where it is currently
located. The purpose of the no-action alternative is to establish a
baseline against which to compare the environmental impacts of
developing a repository.
Impacts under various alternatives
In general, building, operating and monitoring, and closing a
repository at Yucca Mountain would cause short-term public health
impacts associated mostly with transporting the waste from the
existing commercial and Department sites to the repository. These
impacts would include some traffic fatalities and the potential for
low radiological doses to members of the public from the routine
transportation of the spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive
waste. The draft environmental impact statement also analyzes the
impacts of high consequence accidents that have a very low
probability of occurrence, long-term impacts from repository
disposal, and impacts from leaving the spent nuclear fuel and
high-level radioactive waste at existing locations.
Next step in the process
The next step in the process prescribed by the National
Environmental Policy Act is to hold public hearings, gather comments
from the public, and then consider the input and write a final
environmental impact statement. For details about the process,
please see the fact sheet titled "How to be involved".
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) fact sheets are
available
- or via the internet at:
http://www.ymp.gov
Terms used in this fact sheet
Spent nuclear fuel:
the radioactive by-product of electricity generated by nuclear
power reactors.
High-level radioactive waste:
material created when spent nuclear fuel is treated chemically
to separate uranium and plutonium.
Update August 1999 | 
