The
Yucca Mountain Project is currently
preparing a license application for
the nation's first-ever repository
for spent nuclear fuel and high-level
radioactive waste.
For
more than two decades, the Project
conducted an extensive scientific
effort to determine whether Yucca Mountain,
Nevada is a suitable site for a deep
underground facility called a repository. The
purpose of a repository is to safely
isolate highly radioactive nuclear
waste for at least 10,000 years.
On July 9, 2002, the U.S. Senate cast the final legislative vote approving the development of a repository at Yucca Mountain.
Current plans call for submitting an application to obtain a license from the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission no later than June 30, 2008.
Other key planning milestones are
below:
Yucca
Mountain Repository Schedule
July 19, 2006
|
| Design for License Application
Complete |
30 November 2007 |
| Licensing Support Network Certification |
21 December 2007 |
| Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) Issued |
30 May 2008 |
| Final License Application Verifications
Complete |
30 May 2008 |
| Final Rail Alignment EIS Issued |
30 June 2008 |
| License Application Submittal |
30 June 2008 |
| License Application Docketed
by NRC |
30 September 2008 |
Best-Achievable
Repository Construction Schedule
|
| Start Nevada Rail Construction |
5 October 2009 |
| Construction Authorization
from NRC |
30 September 2011 |
| "Receive and Possess" License
Application Submittal to NRC |
29 March 2013 |
| Rail Access In-Service |
30 June 2014 |
| Construction Complete for Initial
Operations |
30 March 2016 |
| Start up and Pre-Op Testing
Complete |
31 December 2016 |
| Begin Receipt |
31 March 2017 |
The schedule above is based on factors
within the control of DOE, appropriations
consistent with optimum Project execution,
issuance of an NRC Construction Authorization
consistent with the three year period
specified in the Nuclear Waste Policy
Act, and the timely issuance by the
NRC of a Receive and Possess license. This
schedule also is dependent on the
timely issuance of all necessary
other authorizations and permits,
the absence of litigation related
delays and the enactment of pending
legislation proposed by the Administration.
|
