The U.S. Department of Energy began studying Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in 1978 to determine whether it would be suitable for the nation's first long-term geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Currently stored at 121 sites around the nation, these materials are a result of nuclear power generation and national defense programs.
The Department of Energy has submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to build the repository.
Yucca Mountain is located in a remote desert on federally protected land within the secure boundaries of the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada. It is approximately 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.
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- Yucca Mountain is in a remote, desert area on federal land.
Read More: Why Yucca Mountain? [pdf]
- Most scientists around the world agree that the best place to put this radioactive material is in a facility deep underground.
Read More: Why Do Scientists Think a Repository Will Work?
- After over 20 years of research and billions of dollars of carefully planned and reviewed scientific field work, the Department of Energy has found that a repository at Yucca Mountain brings together the location, natural barriers, and design elements most likely to protect the health and safety of the public, including those Americans living in the immediate vicinity, now and long into the future.
Read More: Site Recommendation
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- The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 requires utilities which generate electricity using nuclear power to pay a fee of one tenth of one cent ($0.001) per kilowatt-hour into the Nuclear Waste Fund.
Read More: Budget and Funding
- The cost for the expected life cycle of the Program (150 years, between 1983 and 2133) is projected to be $96 billion in 2007 dollars.
Read More: Total System Life Cycle Cost Report
- Approximately $9.5 billion has been spent so far.
Read More: OCRWM Budgets and Financial Information
- Which states have paid most?
Read More: Purchaser Fee Payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund
- "For each year beyond 2017 that the repository’s opening is delayed, the Department estimates that U.S. taxpayers’ potential liability to contract holders who have paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund will increase by approximately $500 million. This will be in addition to the estimated current potential liability of approximately $7.0 billion due to the Department’s not beginning removal of spent nuclear fuel in 1998 as required by contract." -- OCRWM Director Ward Sproat, testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives.
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