Ed
Mueller
Director of the
Esmeralda County Repository Oversight Program
PO Box 490
274 E. Crook Avenue
Goldfield, NV 89103
775-485-3419 Office
775-485-3429 Fax
See US Government Accountability Reports (GAO) regarding Yucca Mountain.
Esmeralda County Repository Oversight Program On-Line
Esmeralda County Repository Oversight Program goals are to provide oversight of the proposed Yucca Mountain High Level Waste Repository 90 miles north of Las Vegas. This website contains information about the Yucca Mountain site, the studies conducted by the Department of Energy, and the current licensing process which started in 2008.
We've also included maps developed for ongoing studies conducted by the ROP offices to create a baseline of existing conditions of Esmeralda County to prepare for any future transportation of high-level waste through the county to the proposed Yucca Mountain site.
We have also included photographs, links to regulatory authorities, the State of Nevada's Yucca Mountain Oversight website, and affected local governments in Nevada and California.
We update our links often to information related to Yucca Mountain in an effort to have a site that provides a broad and informative location where the public can visit and find current information regarding the future of Yucca Mountain.
Yucca Mountain:
Year 2011
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 today submitted its draft report to the Secretary of Energy, as required by the Commission charter. The Commission will seek public comment on the draft through October 31, 2011, and will consider those comments in preparing its final report, which is due to the Secretary in January 2012. Comments may be submitted through the Commission web site at www.brc.gov; at one of several public meetings to be held during the comment period (dates and times to be announced soon); via email to brc@nuclear.energy.gov, or in writing to me at:
Mr. Timothy A. Frazier
Designated Federal Officer
Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20585
The draft report is available at http://brc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/brc_draft_report_29jul2011.pdf.
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.
June 2011
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board - Nuclear Waste Assessment System for Technical Evaluation (NUWASTE): Status and Initial Results
The report describes work being performed by the Board to evaluate the effects on the management of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste of various fuel-cycle options being considered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Of particular interest to the Board are the types and quantities of the radioactive waste streams that would be generated. The Board has developed a computer-based systems analysis tool (NUWASTE) to support its technical evaluation of DOE activities in this area. Included in the report are initial findings from NUWASTE analyses.
Available as:
NUWASTE Report; June 2011 (PDF format - 3.8MB)
May 2011
Safeguarding Nuclear Waste After Fukushima, Waste Storage Scrutinized in U.S.
May 12: GAO report - COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR WASTE-Effects of a Termination of the Yucca Mountain Repository Program and Lessons Learned. The US General Accounting Office.
What GAO Recommends
GAO suggests that Congress consider whether a more predictable funding mechanism would enhance future efforts and whether an independent organization would be more effective. GAO also recommends that DOE assess remaining risks of the shutdown; create a plan to resume licensing if necessary; and report on federal property and its disposition. NRC concurred with the facts in a draft of this report, but DOE strongly disagreed with the draft and the recommendations, questioning the veracity of GAO's information. GAO continues to believe its findings and recommendations are sound.
April 2011
DOE NUCLEAR WASTE
Better Information Needed on Waste Storage at DOE Sites as a Result of Yucca
Mountain Shutdown
Nevada State Legislature Committed on High Level Waste Video webcasts link
Supporting Esmeralda County, the public and County Commissioners on Yucca Mountain Project issues and activities. |
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Ed Mueller and Caroline Fitzpatrick are available at the ROP office to answer questions and provide information. The ROP office is also an official reading room and maintains a library of documents related to the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository, as well as brochures and videos for public information. |
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Caroline Fitzpatrick
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Ed Mueller
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| Goldfield Science Center The Science Center is located next to the Nuclear Oversight Programs Office at 274 E. Crook Avenue in Goldfield, Nevada. Visiting the center will give you the opportunity to see diagrams and interactive diorama's which detail the science at Yucca Mountain. There is also plenty of free brochures and information you can take home. |  |
history:
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), designated the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada as the only site to be considered for a geologic repository for disposal of spent fuel and high-level nuclear waste. The NWPA also provided for the Affected Units of Local Government (AULG) within the vicinity of Yucca Mountain to oversee and participate in the Yucca Mountain Project. By affording AULG participation rights, Congress sought to increase public confidence in the scientific integrity of the repository program, provide citizens the means to interact with the federal government, and demonstrate a commitment to external oversight.
Esmeralda County is one of ten counties designated as an affected unit
of local government (AULG).
Esmeralda County has been overseeing the site characterization of Yucca Mountain since 1988 even though we were not granted "affected" status by the U.S. Department of Energy until 1991 after successful joint petition with Inyo County, California, to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Esmeralda County's proximity to the proposed repository in neighboring Nye County and its location on a potential highway route that may be used for transportation of high-level radioactive waste and the proposed Caliente rail route for shipping the waste to Yucca Mountain make our county vitally interested in the environmental, health and safety impacts of the project and in the socioeconomic effects arising from siting, construction and operation of the proposed repository. More related information
