Spotlight
Acceptance and Safety Review of the Yucca Mountain Geologic Repository
- Acceptance Review of DOE's Yucca Mountain Application
- Safety Review of DOE's Yucca Mountain Application
- NRC's Process for Deciding Whether To Authorize Construction of a Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada: Estimated Timeline and Deadlines for Participants
- Judging the Safety of a Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada
- Handout: “NRC’s Decision to Accept DOE’s Repository License Application for Review”
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will accomplish its mission of protecting public health and safety at Yucca Mountain by conducting a comprehensive review and evaluation of DOE’s license application. This process is called the safety review.
During this stage, the NRC staff and its contractors will conduct a detailed examination of the license application that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) submitted on June 3, 2008. This examination will include DOE’s scientific and engineering analyses, to determine if DOE’s proposed repository meets the NRC's regulations for Yucca Mountain, as set forth in Title 10, Part 63, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 63), "Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes in a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada."
Before beginning the safety review, however, the NRC must first determine whether DOE’s license application contains sufficient information. This initial assessment of the license application is called the acceptance review.