7 - The Yucca Mountain license application

Abstract

In the United States, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act defined a process to develop a repository for commercial spent nuclear fuel and defense high-level radioactive waste. The United States Department of Energy was assigned responsibility for developing the repository in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency safety standards, and the repository was to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Amendment of the act in 1987 resulted in Yucca Mountain being the only site for which characterization was carried out. The license application for a construction authorization for Yucca Mountain was submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 3, 2008. It was given a preliminary review for quality and docketed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff on September 8, 2008. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission notified the Department of Energy that commission staff had completed their initial examination of the license application Safety Analysis Report and had determined that the application contained sufficient information to meet the requirements of the commission regulations, and that the application could be docketed. The license application comprised a General Information volume and a five-chapter Safety Analysis Report. The Safety Analysis Report addressed repository safety before and after permanent closure, research and development programs to resolve safety questions, the performance confirmation program, and management systems. Acceptance of the license application for review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff without requests for additional information sent a strong signal that the science underlying the application was sound. In January 2015, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff published the last volume of their review of the Safety Analysis Report.