National Used
Nuclear Fuel Management Program
Federal
legislation mandates a centralized geologic
repository. The Nuclear Waste Policy
Act of 1982 and its 1987 amendments require or authorize the
U.S. Department of Energy to
- locate, build
and operate a deep, mined geologic repository for high-level
waste;
- locate, build
and operate a "monitored retrievable storage" facility;
- develop a
transportation system that safely links U.S. nuclear power
plants, the interim storage facility, and the permanent
repository.
To accomplish
this, the Act established the Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management within DOE, headed by a presidential
appointee.
Centralized
repository project oversight. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act
provided for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve all
DOE activities under the act, and license all facilities and
transportation containers. The Act also provided for the
Environmental Protection Agency to set radiation standards for
the repository. In addition, the Act created the Nuclear Waste
Technical Review Board, comprising 10 members appointed by the
president from nominations made by the National Academy of
Sciences, to serve as an independent source of expert advice
on the technical and scientific aspects of DOEÕs waste
disposal program.
Centralized
repository funded by electricity consumers. To pay for a
permanent repository, an interim storage facility, and the
transportation of used fuel, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act
established the Nuclear Waste Fund. Since 1982, electricity
consumers have paid into the fund a fee of one-tenth of a cent
for every nuclear-generated kilowatt-hour of electricity
consumed. By the end of the twentieth century, customer
commitments plus interest totaled more than $16
billion.
Centralized
repository site selection. Originally, DOE selected nine
locations in six states that met its criteria for
consideration as potential repository sites. Following
preliminary technical studies and environmental assessments of
five sites, DOE chose three sites in 1986 for intensive
scientific study: Yucca Mountain, Nev.; Deaf Smith County,
Texas; and Hanford, Wash. After extensive environmental
assessments of all three sites, Congress, in its 1987
amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, eliminated two of
the three sites from further consideration and designated
Yucca Mountain as the site to be studied.
DOE’s delay
in implementing the national used fuel management program.
In 1987, DOE announced a five-year delay in the opening date
for a centralized repository, from 1998 to 2003. Two years
later, DOE announced a further delay, until 2010. At present,
the repository is at lease 12 years behind schedule, no site
has been selected for an interim storage facility and the
federal government has defaulted on a long-standing obligation
to begin moving used fuel for the nation’s nuclear plants by
January 1998.
Prospects for a break in the impasse, a repository
decision anticipated in 2001. In December 1998, in
conjunction with the release of the Viability Assessment for
Yucca Mountain, DOE announced a detailed schedule intended to
result in the opening of a repository in 2010, should the
Yucca Mountain site be selected. This schedule called for a
site selection decision in 2001. So far DOE has stayed on
track to meet this decision-making milestone. In May 2001, DOE
opened the public comment period that will provide input to
the agency's decision by providing four key documents for
public review: a Science and Engineering Report, a
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, and two financial
reports addressing projected repository costs and funding
adequacy. DOE is expected to provide additional scientific
documents and hold public hearings on the pending site
recommendation throughout the year and the promised site
selection decision is anticipated at the end of the year.
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