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Home > Radioactive Waste > High-Level Waste Disposal > NRC's Yucca Mountain Licensing Activities
NRC's Yucca Mountain Licensing Activities
As Congress outlined in the Nuclear
Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), as amended, the role
of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is to serve as the independent regulator for the design,
construction, operation, and eventual decommissioning of a geologic repository for permanent disposal of
high-level waste (HLW) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Toward
that end, the NRC has issued a variety of environmental and radiation
safety regulations pertaining to the proposed geologic repository.
Specifically, these regulations establish the requirements
that the NRC staff will use to evaluate the proposed design
of the repository, determine whether to adopt the final
environmental impact statement (FEIS) developed by the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE), and render decisions to deny or grant the
necessary construction authorization and/or license
to receive and possess waste at Yucca Mountain. If DOE is granted the construction authorization and/or
receipt license, the NRC will also oversee and inspect any
construction, waste emplacement, and/or repository closure
activities. In addition, the NRC is responsible for licensing the design,
construction, use, and maintenance of any shipping casks
that may be used to move commercial HLW by truck or rail to
Yucca Mountain. For additional information, see the following related
pages:
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