Lesson 3: Reading Lesson

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act

In response to these studies, in 1982, the U.S. Congress established the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to permanently dispose of our nation’s nuclear waste in a deep underground repository. This policy is based on the principle that the generation benefiting from nuclear materials is responsible for safely disposing of the nuclear wastes it creates, rather than passing on a potentially dangerous environmental hazard to future generations.

Assigning Responsibility

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act established the legal requirements for selecting a repository site, developing a disposal system, and for assuring repository safety. It made the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for siting, designing, constructing, operating, and closing a repository. The department is also responsible for developing a transportation system for safely moving the waste from current storage locations to a repository.

In addition, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act makes commercial nuclear utilities and federal defense programs responsible for paying the costs of the waste disposal system.

The Act also makes the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission responsible for certifying transportation containers and for licensing the repository and regulating its operation.

Another law, called the Energy Policy Act of 1992, directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish health and safety standards for a Yucca Mountain repository.

Finding a Repository Site

During the early eighties, the Department of Energy looked at many potential sites for a repository. Considering a wide range of criteria, the sites selected for further study were narrowed down to nine, then from nine to five, from five to three, and eventually from three to one - Yucca Mountain.

In 1983, the Department of Energy selected nine locations in six states for a potential repository site. This was based on data collected for nearly 10 years. The department conducted preliminary scientific studies on the nine sites and reported the results of these studies in 1985.

Based on these reports, the search for a site narrowed. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan approved three sites for intensive scientific study (called site characterization). The three sites were Hanford, Washington; Deaf Smith County, Texas; and Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

1987 Amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act

In 1987, Congress became concerned with the delays and rising costs associated with studying three sites and amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The amendments directed the Department of Energy to focus only on Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and to end studies at the other two sites. Congress decided on Yucca Mountain, in part, because scientists consistently ranked it as the site that possessed the best technical and scientific characteristics to serve as a repository.

An engineer for the Yucca Mountain Project briefs members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. This Board is an independent federal agency chartered by Congress to evaluate the technical and scientific validity of Project studies and findings.

Also in the 1987 amendments, Congress established a new independent federal agency called the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. The purpose of this agency is to evaluate the Department of Energy’s technical and scientific studies and findings at Yucca Mountain. Twice a year, this board reports its conclusions and recommendations to Congress and to the secretary of energy, and points out its own concerns as well as concerns from outside parties.

The Steps to Safe Disposal

Yucca Mountain (red star) is located about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada in a dry desert environment along the western border of the Nevada Test Site (yellow) that is surrounded by the Nellis Air Force Range (blue).

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires a specific process to be followed in developing a waste disposal system. The steps in this process include

1. Scientific testing of the Yucca Mountain site (called site characterization)
   
   
2. Developing a repository design
   
   
3. Analyzing the current and future impacts of the waste management system on people and the environment
   
   
4. Deciding on whether the Yucca Mountain site is suitable for a repository and whether to recommend it to the president and Congress
   
   
5. Licensing a repository, if it is found suitable.

Site Characterization

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act required the Department of Energy to perform detailed site characterization studies at Yucca Mountain. The focus of these studies was to determine the capability of the underground site to keep nuclear waste isolated from people and the environment.

Yucca Mountain is one of the most thoroughly researched sites in the world. For more than 20 years, hundreds of experts in numerous scientific disciplines performed thousands of scientific studies there.

Site characterization formally ended at the time of the site recommendation and the subsequent site designation in 2002. Key scientific programs of study continue, however.

Specifically, these studies focused on features and processes that are important to long-term repository safety, which include

• The physical characteristics of the different rock layers (e.g., porosity, mineral content, fractures), from the surface of the mountain to below the water table
  
  
• The amount of water that enters the mountain, how it moves through the rock, and how much water could eventually enter into the tunnels where the waste would be emplaced
  
  
• The physical and chemical environment in the potential emplacement tunnels and how changes to this environment could affect the durability of the waste containers and other repository systems
  
  
• The physical properties of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, how their radioactivity would decay (lessen) over time, and how (and how fast) the materials could dissolve if water eventually reached them in a repository
  
  
• How radioactive particles could move through the repository to the rock underneath, down through the rock to the water table, and away from the repository with the groundwater
  
  
• How any escaping radioactive particles could affect people and the environment

Repository Design

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the Department of Energy to design an underground repository that keeps nuclear waste away from people and the environment.

The design for a repository at Yucca Mountain includes facilities on the surface for preparing the waste for underground disposal. A U-shaped tunnel called the Exploratory Studies Facility (yellow line) will provide access to the underground. The emplacement tunnels for storing the waste (colored cross-hatched lines) will be excavated in an area of rock about 300 meters below the surface of the mountain and about 300 meters above the water table.

Using their site characterization studies, experts have designed a repository system that would work specifically with Yucca Mountain’s natural environment. The design includes more than 80 kilometers of tunnels to be excavated in solid rock about 300 meters beneath the surface of the mountain and, on average, about 300 meters above the water table.

The design concept for the repository is to seal the waste in extremely durable metal containers called waste packages, then place the containers in the deep underground tunnels. Drip shields made of another corrosion-resistant metal will be placed over the waste packages.

The rock above the repository will restrict the amount of water that could reach the tunnels. Any water that does eventually drip into the tunnels will meet the drip shields and corrosion-resistant waste packages that would still protect and contain the waste for tens of thousands of years.

Repository Safety Standards

In 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency set the health and safety standards for a Yucca Mountain Repository. These standards limit an individual’s annual radiation exposure to no greater than 15 millirem per year for 10,000 years. This limit is based on what the Environmental Protection Agency considers an acceptable risk to societyrepresenting roughly a 1 in a 100,000 year risk increase for a few hypothetical individuals at a very distant point in time. (In the United States, a person’s average background radiation dose is about 360 millirem per year.)

Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency set standards to protect the groundwater at and around Yucca Mountain. These standards set specific limits for the concentration of different types of radioactive particles in the groundwater.

The EPA standard for a repository was challenged in court and is being revised to meet the court’s directive to more directly address the safety of the repository beyond 10,000 years as previously recommended by the National Academy of Sciences. The revised standard is undergoing a public review and comment phase that is open to anyone, using the Internet, phone, fax or mail to send in comments and suggestions. This approach directly involves the public in setting acceptable risk levels for this activity. The approach is mandated by law and regulations.

Future Repository Safety

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act and other federal regulations require the Department of Energy to provide a reasonable expectation that the repository will meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s health and safety standards.

Scientists use computer models to analyze the different processes and features of the repository. This graphic illustrates the primary models for analyzing the repository’s safety over thousands of years.

To meet this expectation, the Department of Energy assesses future repository safety with a process called Total System Performance Assessment. This process involves using data from site characterization studies in computer models that simulate how all of the repository’s natural and man-made features will act together for tens of thousands of years. These models calculate the potential radiation dose to people that may be living in the area in the very far future.

In addition these models simulate how damaging events, such as earthquakes and volcanoes, could affect the entire repository system; the models calculate the consequences to people and the environment under such damaging circumstances.

To quantify repository safety, experts compare the results of the Total System Performance Assessment to the Environmental Protection Agency’s health and safety standards. These standards reflect a level of risk thought to be acceptable to society. This risk level is set through the process described above, involving public review and input.

Whether DOE meets the requirements is judged by another regulatory agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission demands much more than results of a calculation. The basis for every scientific and engineering fact and modeling assumption has to be made available in a transparent way so the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s experts can judge the merits of what underlies these calculations. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission makes a finding of whether or not there is a “reasonable expectation” that the required degree of safety will be met by the proposed repository. This finding will be made on behalf of the U.S. society only after careful review of the levels of risk presented by every aspect of the repository program from transportation through final sealing of the underground structures.

Rail cask for spent nuclear fuel. The large disks on the ends of the cask are called “impact limiters.” They are designed to absorb shock in the event of an accident.

Transportation

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the Department of Energy to transport nuclear waste from commercial utility sites and government installations to a repository in shipping containers certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These shipping containers are designed to maintain their integrity during normal transportation and also in accidents. They must always provide protection against radiological release to the environment.

The Act requires all shipments to a repository be made according to U.S. Department of Transportation regulations for shipping hazardous materials and according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations for handling and shipping radioactive materials. These regulations require the Department of Energy to take extraordinary precautions to ensure no member of the public is exposed to unacceptable levels of radiation during normal transportation activities or in the event of an accident.

In addition, the Act requires the Department of Energy to provide technical assistance and funds to states and Native American tribes for training safety officials on how to respond to a transportation accident involving radioactive waste.

How the Waste Disposal System Would Affect the Environment, Society, and Economy

The law requires the Department of Energy to issue a report called an environmental impact statement. The development of an environmental impact statement is a legal process based on the National Environmental Policy Act. According to this process, experts examined how the following activities would impact people, the environment, and the economy:

The environmental impact statement for a repository at Yucca Mountain includes the results of analyses on how the repository will affect people, the environment, and the economy.

• Constructing the repository
  
  
• Transporting waste to the repository
  
  
• Operating the repository, which includes receiving the waste, preparing it for disposal, and moving it underground
  
  
• Monitoring the repository’s safety
  
  
• Closing the repository, which includes sealing all openings to the underground and restoring the environment to its original condition

To develop the environmental impact statement, the Department of Energy used data from its site characterization studies and conducted special research. This research looked at questions such as are there any species of animals or plants that could be lost as a result of building and operating a repository at this site? Will jobs be created for people living in the area? Will a repository have any effect on tourism or economic development and growth within Nevada?

In August 1999, the department issued a draft of the environmental impact statement for public comment. The department held public hearings throughout the United States to provide citizens the opportunity to review and comment on the draft. The department considered these comments and issued its final environmental impact statement in 2002.

In addition to this environmental impact statement, the department is preparing another one that examines the impacts to people, the environment, and the economy if the department were to build a rail line in Nevada for shipping waste to a repository at Yucca Mountain.

Site Suitability Decisions

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act directs a specific decision and approval process for a repository site. It outlines the legal requirements for a site recommendation by the secretary of energy, for a decision by the president, and for approval by Congress.

In 2001, the Department of Energy published a comprehensive report (called the Yucca Mountain Science and Engineering Report) that describes the scientific studies at Yucca Mountain and the department’s analyses of future repository safety. Also that year, the department held public meetings to obtain comments on the report. Additional meetings were held to accept public comment on the Site Recommendation in late 2001.

According to the provisions in the law, in 2002, the secretary of energy recommended Yucca Mountain to the president. Congress and the president subsequently approved the development of a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Licensing a Repository

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act makes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the licensing and enforcement agency that will make the final decision on whether the Department of Energy is allowed to construct and subsequently operate a repository at Yucca Mountain.

Approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission consists of three steps:

• A construction authorization
  
  
• A license to receive and possess waste and operate the repository
  
  
• A license amendment to allow closing of the repository

The Department of Energy will submit a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The application includes a letter describing its purpose, accompanied by the department’s Final Environmental Impact Statement and attachments that contain general information and a safety analysis report.

• The general information portion of the application provides an overview of the repository’s engineering design concept and describes the natural features of the site.
  
  
• The safety analysis report (the main technical document in the licensing process) demonstrates how the repository can be constructed, operated, and closed in a manner that protects public and worker health and safety and preserves the quality of the environment.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act allows the Nuclear Regulatory Commission up to three years to review the department’s application; a fourth year is available if the need for more time is reported to Congress.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct extensive technical reviews and legal hearings during which it will consider the scientific and design information on the repository. As required by law, the hearings will be open to the public.

A hearing panel appointed by the commission, referred to as the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, will conduct the licensing proceeding. Typically, such a board consists of three judges experienced in the field of nuclear licensing and safety issues. After completion of the proceeding, the board will forward its initial decision to the commission for review.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will grant a construction authorization only if it concludes from its investigations that the repository would provide reasonable expectation of protecting the safety and health of workers and the public.

If the Department of Energy receives the construction authorization, it would take approximately four years to build the necessary facilities for receiving initial shipments of waste at Yucca Mountain. When these facilities are near completion, the department will amend its application to the commission for a license to receive and possess spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission determines that the repository complies with applicable federal regulations, it will grant the license. The department cannot begin placing waste in a repository until after it receives this license from the commission. Current schedules anticipate this to occur after 2012.

State, County, and Tribal Involvement

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the federal agencies involved in the construction, operation, or regulation of any aspect of the repository to consult with the State of Nevada, affected counties, and affected Native American tribes. The Act also requires the federal agencies to provide the state, counties, and tribes timely information and to respond to any requests for information.

The Act also grants authority to the State of Nevada to disapprove the Department of Energy’s site recommendation. As provided by the law, the Nevada governor disapproved the site on April 8, 2002, but the U.S. Congress overrode Nevada’s disapproval on July 9, 2002.

In addition, the Act sets provisions for financial assistance to Nevada and affected counties and tribes for:

• Participating in repository related processes
  
  
• Mitigating impacts of the repository
  
  
• Overseeing repository-related activities

The law also provides for funding and technical assistance to states and tribes nationwide for training their emergency personnel on how to respond to transportation accidents involving nuclear waste. Typically, in the annual appropriation from Congress the amount of money to go to states, counties, or tribes is specified.

Public Involvement

At the top of Yucca Mountain, private citizens learn about the area’s geologic features.

In addition, the Act requires the Department of Energy to conduct public hearings and consider the public’s comments during the environmental impact statement and site recommendation phases of the repository decision process.

During the licensing phase, the Act also requires the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to open their licensing hearings to allow observation by the public.

Addressing the Public Perception of Risk

Although a law cannot change people’s minds about risk, it can set provisions that can help minimize people’s fears and mistrust. In the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Congress addressed this aspect of risk by requiring the agencies involved to

• Conduct thorough scientific analyses on the safety of the waste management system, including transport
  
  
• Submit their scientific work and results for independent review by oversight organizations
  
  
• Make all documents, reports, and scientific information available to the public
  
  
• Cooperate with state, tribal, and local authorities
  
  
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• Solicit and consider public comments

A biologist shows a desert tortoise (a species indigenous to the Mojave Desert) at an educational event sponsored by the Yucca Mountain Project

• Providing public tours of the Yucca Mountain site, during which people have an opportunity to talk with scientists and other Project experts
  
  
• Making Project experts available to speak at public events
  
  
• Operating public information centers in Las Vegas, Pahrump, and Beatty, Nevada
  
  
• Offering education programs for teachers and students, including publishing this curriculum

An Evolving Program

Unlike many subjects you study, the nuclear waste management program is evolving. Many questions remain. One of the strengths of our system of government is that it is structured so that Congress can respond to new or changed circumstances as they arise by amending laws. It is important, therefore, to realize that Congress can amend the laws described herein. For this reason, it is necessary not only to learn about the law that governs nuclear waste today, but also to be aware that the law can change. It will be important for you to keep up with current events so that, if and when the law changes, you will continue to be an informed citizen.

In the Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County Nevada, for example, a larger repository than allowed by the current law was evaluated in terms of environmental impacts including safety. This was deemed to be a “reasonably foreseeable event” even though it would require Congress to change current law.