Current events regarding Yucca Mountain:

2012

Final BRC report - BRC Report to the Secretary of Energy - January 2012

Time line of Events regarding Yucca Mountain

The following are highlights for Year 2011

September 30, 2011

Suspension of Hearings – On Friday, September 30, 2011 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission filed an order suspending the licensing hearings – "Although we have been informed that the agency has current appropriated Fiscal Year 2011 Nuclear Waste Funds (NWFs) that could be carried over into the next fiscal year, there are no Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions (i.e., federal employee positions) requested in the President's Fiscal Year 2012 Budget for Yucca Mountain High-Level Waste activities. Therefore, because both future appropriated NWF dollars and FTEs for this proceeding are uncertain, and consistent with the Commission's Memorandum and Order of September 9, 2011, this proceeding is suspended. It is so ORDERED. Construction Authorization Board ."

Sept 19:

Court urged to intervene in Yucca Mountain dispute -

Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have renewed their request for federal judges to order the agency to complete its license review of the Yucca Mountain Project.

The petition was filed Friday Sept. 16th, a week after NRC commissioners directed the agency's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to continue winding down its work on the proposed Nevada nuclear waste site with the goal to wrap up entirely by Sept. 30.

August 2011

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has published three NUREG technical evaluation reports (TERs) detailing the agency staff's review of the Department of Energy's license application for a high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

Publication of the TER provides the staff's technical review of the postclosure information in the Yucca Mountain application. The TER's do not include findings as to whether NRC's regulatory requirements have been satisfied.

"Technical Evaluation Report on the Content of the U.S. Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Repository License Application; Postclosure Volume: Repository Safety After Permanent Closure," is part of the agency's orderly closeout of the Yucca Mountain license review process and is intended as a public record of the staff's scientific and technical work in preparing for and reviewing the application. It was developed using the draft Volume 3 of the staff's Safety Evaluation Report on the application.

The TER's were prepared as part of the agency's knowledge management activities during the closeout of the Yucca Mountain licensing review.

NRC Issues First Volume of Staff's Safety Evaluation Report (August 23, 2010)

• News Release - PDF
• NUREG-1949, Volume 1, "Safety Evaluation Report Related to Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes in a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada; Volume 1: General Information"

NRC Makes Public Staff’s Postclosure Technical Evaluation Report (July 21, 2011)

• News Release - PDF
• NUREG-2107, “Technical Evaluation Report on the Content of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain Repository License Application; Postclosure Volume: Repository Safety After Permanent Closure.” (ML11223A273)

NRC Makes Public Staff’s Preclosure Technical Evaluation Report (September 1, 2011)

• News Release - PDF
• NUREG-2108, “Technical Evaluation Report on the Content of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain Repository License Application; Preclosure Volume: Repository Safety Before Permanent Closure” (ML11250A093)

NRC Makes Public Staff’s Administrative and Programmatic Technical Evaluation Report (September 12, 2011)

• News Release - PDF
• NUREG-2109, “Technical Evaluation Report on the Content of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain Repository License Application; Administrative and Programmatic Volume” (ML11255A002)

July 2011

Blue Ribbon Commission's draft report:

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future submitted its draft report to the Secretary of Energy, as required by the Commission charter. The Commission received public comments on the draft through October 31, 2011. The final report is due in early 2012.

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Argued March 22, 2011 Decided July 1, 2011: No. 10-1050 IN RE: AIKEN COUNTY, PETITIONER On Petitions for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, Petitions for Extraordinary Relief, and Petitions for Review: Summary - A three-judge panel said in a unanimous decision the lawsuit by the states of Washington and South Carolina and others challenging the shutdown of the Yucca project was premature until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission takes final actions.