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

1. locate, build and operate a deep, mined geologic repository for high-level waste;

2. locate, build and operate a "monitored retrievable storage" facility;

3. 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 early 2002
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. Between May and December, 2001, DOE completed the public reveiw and comment period of the decision process, holding numerous hearings and 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.

Secretary of Energy decides to move forward with the Yucca Mountain site

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