{ "id": "RL33461", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "RL", "number": "RL33461", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "retrieved": "2021-10-22T04:03:34.195876", "id": "RL33461_59_2021-09-17", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2021-09-17_RL33461_08e90dbf7e7556a34341b61d29f4ea9225f4ce39.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL33461/59", "sha1": "08e90dbf7e7556a34341b61d29f4ea9225f4ce39" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2021-09-17_RL33461_08e90dbf7e7556a34341b61d29f4ea9225f4ce39.html" } ], "date": "2021-09-17", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "RL", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=RL33461", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "retrieved": "2021-10-22T04:03:34.194070", "id": "RL33461_56_2020-09-14", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2020-09-14_RL33461_3869a7087d5d648502c15272d5abe81bdcea809e.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL33461/56", "sha1": "3869a7087d5d648502c15272d5abe81bdcea809e" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2020-09-14_RL33461_3869a7087d5d648502c15272d5abe81bdcea809e.html" } ], "date": "2020-09-14", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "RL", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=RL33461", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 605242, "date": "2019-09-16", "retrieved": "2019-09-19T22:21:22.470103", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "summary": "Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The United States currently has no permanent disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel or other highly radioactive waste.\nThe Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository. NWPA requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop such a repository, which would be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Amendments to NWPA in 1987 restricted DOE\u2019s repository site studies to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DOE submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository to NRC on June 3, 2008. The State of Nevada strongly opposes the Yucca Mountain project, citing excessive water infiltration, earthquakes, volcanoes, human intrusion, and other technical issues.\nLicensing and design work for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository was halted under the Obama Administration, which cited continued opposition from Nevada. To develop an alternative nuclear waste policy, the Obama Administration established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America\u2019s Nuclear Future, which in 2012 recommended a \u201cconsent based\u201d process for siting nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.\nThe Trump Administration included funds to restart Yucca Mountain licensing in its FY2018, FY2019, and FY2020 budget submissions to Congress. The FY2018 and FY2019 Yucca Mountain funding requests were not enacted. For FY2020, the House did not provide funding for Yucca Mountain in the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill (H.R. 2740), and the Senate Appropriations Committee also provided no funding in its version of the bill (S. 2470), approved September 12, 2019. \nSeveral nuclear waste bills have been introduced in the 116th Congress. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing June 27, 2019, on a bill to create a Nuclear Waste Administration to implement a consent-based siting process for nuclear waste facilities (S. 1234). Newly proposed waste sites would require consent by host states and affected local governments and Indian tribes. The bill would not affect the existing Yucca Mountain licensing process. \nA bill to provide the necessary land controls for the planned Yucca Mountain repository (H.R. 2699) was introduced May 14, 2019. The bill also would authorize DOE to store commercial waste from nuclear power plants at a nonfederal interim storage facility and ease the capacity limit on the Yucca Mountain repository from 70,000 to 110,000 metric tons, in comparison with the approximately 80,000 metric tons currently stored at U.S. nuclear plants. It is similar to a bill passed by the House in the 115th Congress (H.R. 3053, H.Rept. 115-355).\nOther nuclear waste bills in the 116th Congress would prohibit expenditures on the Yucca Mountain repository without state and local consent (H.R. 1544, S. 649), establish priorities for nuclear waste disposal (H.R. 2995), and authorize grants to communities to compensate for continued waste storage at closed reactors (S. 1985), among others. \nNonfederal interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel are being proposed in New Mexico and Texas. Interim storage proponents contend that DOE could fulfill its disposal obligations under NWPA by taking title to spent fuel at nuclear plant sites and storing it at private facilities until a permanent underground repository could be opened.\nNWPA required DOE to begin removing spent fuel from reactor sites by January 31, 1998. Because that deadline was missed, nuclear utilities have sued DOE to recover the additional storage costs they have incurred, with damage payment so far totaling $7.4 billion.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33461", "sha1": "9c53abb93c522f94939ff34d94bba8f2b8c190ef", "filename": "files/20190916_RL33461_9c53abb93c522f94939ff34d94bba8f2b8c190ef.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL33461_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190916_RL33461_images_d1b6353cce292dcaca97dd8ac707f8784e671910.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33461", "sha1": "b58c25fcf4f40e7eb5dfbe1befe2c65e4bf07863", "filename": "files/20190916_RL33461_b58c25fcf4f40e7eb5dfbe1befe2c65e4bf07863.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4840, "name": "Electricity" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4844, "name": "Waste Management & Cleanup" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4907, "name": "Energy Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 585224, "date": "2018-09-06", "retrieved": "2018-09-13T22:20:07.153427", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "summary": "Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The United States currently has no permanent disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel or other highly radioactive waste.\nThe Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository. NWPA established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management in the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop such a repository, which would be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Amendments to NWPA in 1987 restricted DOE\u2019s repository site studies to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DOE submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository to NRC on June 3, 2008. The State of Nevada strongly opposes the Yucca Mountain project, citing excessive water infiltration, earthquakes, volcanoes, human intrusion, and other technical issues.\nLicensing and design work for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository was halted under the Obama Administration, which cited continued opposition from Nevada. To develop an alternative nuclear waste policy, the Obama Administration established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America\u2019s Nuclear Future, which in 2012 recommended a \u201cconsent based\u201d process for siting nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.\nThe Trump Administration included funds to restart Yucca Mountain licensing in its FY2018 and FY2019 budget submissions to Congress. The FY2018 Yucca Mountain funding request was not enacted. For FY2019, the House voted to provide $100 million above the Administration\u2019s request for Yucca Mountain, while the Senate zeroed it out (H.R. 5895).\nAlthough no funding has been appropriated for Yucca Mountain activities since FY2010, a federal appeals court on August 13, 2013, ordered NRC to continue the licensing process with previously appropriated funds. The NRC staff completed its safety evaluation report on Yucca Mountain on January 29, 2015, concluding that the repository would meet NRC standards after specific additional actions were taken, such as acquisition of land and water rights.\nA bill to provide the necessary land controls for the planned Yucca Mountain repository (H.R. 3053, H.Rept. 115-355) passed the House on May 10, 2018. In addition, the House-passed bill would authorize DOE to store commercial waste from nuclear power plants at a nonfederal interim storage facility. It would also increase the capacity limit on the Yucca Mountain repository from 70,000 to 110,000 metric tons, in comparison with the approximately 80,000 metric tons currently stored at U.S. nuclear plants.\nNonfederal interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel are being proposed in New Mexico and Texas. An NRC license application for the New Mexico facility was filed March 30, 2017. Developers of the proposed Texas storage site filed a license application in 2016, subsequently withdrew it because of rising costs, and then submitted a renewed application with an additional partner on June 11, 2018. Interim storage proponents contend that DOE could fulfill its disposal obligations under NWPA by taking title to spent fuel at nuclear plant sites and storing it at private facilities until a permanent underground repository could be opened.\nNWPA required DOE to begin removing spent fuel from reactor sites by January 31, 1998. Because that deadline was missed, nuclear utilities have sued DOE to recover the additional storage costs they have incurred, with damage payment so far totaling $6.9 billion.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33461", "sha1": "e681dd813d0fd109741c8b014d5bf646fb8fa5f4", "filename": "files/20180906_RL33461_e681dd813d0fd109741c8b014d5bf646fb8fa5f4.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33461", "sha1": "6991e174fb20e5fd2e52e0729592539d1e28d600", "filename": "files/20180906_RL33461_6991e174fb20e5fd2e52e0729592539d1e28d600.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4840, "name": "Electricity" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4844, "name": "Waste Management & Cleanup" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4907, "name": "Energy Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 581000, "date": "2018-05-09", "retrieved": "2018-05-22T13:22:05.596099", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "summary": "Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The United States currently has no disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel.\nThe Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository. NWPA established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop such a repository, which would be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Amendments to NWPA in 1987 restricted DOE\u2019s repository site studies to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DOE submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository to NRC on June 3, 2008. The State of Nevada strongly opposes the Yucca Mountain project, citing excessive water infiltration, earthquakes, volcanoes, human intrusion, and other technical issues.\nLicensing and design work for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository was halted under the Obama Administration, which cited continued opposition from Nevada. The Trump Administration included funds to restart Yucca Mountain licensing in its FY2018 and FY2019 budget submissions to Congress. The FY2018 Yucca Mountain funding request was not enacted, and the FY2019 request is awaiting congressional action. \nAlthough no funding has been appropriated for Yucca Mountain activities since FY2010, a federal appeals court on August 13, 2013, ordered NRC to continue the licensing process with previously appropriated funds. The NRC staff completed its safety evaluation report on Yucca Mountain on January 29, 2015, concluding that the repository would meet NRC standards after specific additional actions were taken, such as acquisition of land and water rights. After halting the Yucca Mountain project, the Obama Administration established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America\u2019s Nuclear Future to develop an alternative nuclear waste policy. The commission issued its final report on January 26, 2012, recommending a \u201cconsent based\u201d process for siting nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.\nAfter OCRWM was dismantled, responsibility for implementing the Obama Administration\u2019s nuclear waste policy was given to DOE\u2019s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). In January 2013, NE issued a nuclear waste strategy based on the Blue Ribbon Commission recommendations. The strategy called for a pilot interim storage facility for spent fuel from closed nuclear reactors to open by 2021 and a larger storage facility to open by 2025. \nA bill to provide the necessary land controls for the planned Yucca Mountain repository (H.R. 3053, H.Rept. 115-355) was ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on June 28, 2017. As amended by the committee, the bill would authorize DOE to store commercial waste from nuclear power plants at a nonfederal interim storage facility. It would also increase the capacity limit on the Yucca Mountain repository from 70,000 to 110,000 metric tons, in comparison with the 78,800 metric tons currently stored at U.S. nuclear plants. A modified draft of the bill issued by the Rules Committee on May 3, 2018 (Rules Committee Print 115-69) dropped provisions to establish mandatory funding for specific stages of repository development and added budgetary provisions to treat nuclear waste fees from nuclear power plants as offsetting collections.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33461", "sha1": "23310260391ed61bdd07a2908df880afc0922b9b", "filename": "files/20180509_RL33461_23310260391ed61bdd07a2908df880afc0922b9b.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33461", "sha1": "33aa0338a7aefcc25ab07c0b9f205d028b458f35", "filename": "files/20180509_RL33461_33aa0338a7aefcc25ab07c0b9f205d028b458f35.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4840, "name": "Electricity" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4844, "name": "Waste Management & Cleanup" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4907, "name": "Energy Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 574759, "date": "2017-10-23", "retrieved": "2017-10-26T13:15:45.297561", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "summary": "Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The United States currently has no disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel.\nThe Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository. NWPA established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop such a repository, which would be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Amendments to NWPA in 1987 restricted DOE\u2019s repository site studies to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DOE submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository to NRC on June 3, 2008. The State of Nevada strongly opposes the Yucca Mountain project, citing excessive water infiltration, earthquakes, volcanoes, human intrusion, and other technical issues.\nLicensing and design work for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository was halted under the Obama Administration, which cited continued opposition from Nevada. However, the Trump Administration included funds to restart Yucca Mountain licensing in its FY2018 budget submission to Congress on March 16, 2017. The House-passed omnibus appropriations bill for FY2018 (H.R. 3354, H.Rept. 115-230) includes the Administration\u2019s proposed funding for Yucca Mountain. However, the FY2018 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee (S. 1609, S.Rept. 115-132) would provide no funding.\nAlthough no funding has been appropriated for Yucca Mountain activities since FY2010, a federal appeals court on August 13, 2013, ordered NRC to continue the licensing process with previously appropriated funds. The NRC staff completed its safety evaluation report on Yucca Mountain on January 29, 2015, concluding that the repository would meet NRC standards after specific additional actions were taken, such as acquisition of land and water rights. After halting the Yucca Mountain project, the Obama Administration established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America\u2019s Nuclear Future to develop an alternative nuclear waste policy. The commission issued its final report on January 26, 2012, recommending a \u201cconsent based\u201d process for siting nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.\nAfter OCRWM was dismantled, responsibility for implementing the Obama Administration\u2019s nuclear waste policy was given to DOE\u2019s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). In January 2013, NE issued a nuclear waste strategy based on the Blue Ribbon Commission recommendations. The strategy called for a pilot interim storage facility for spent fuel from closed nuclear reactors to open by 2021 and a larger storage facility to open by 2025. A site for a permanent underground waste repository would be selected by 2026, and the repository would open by 2048. DOE issued a draft consent-based nuclear waste siting process on January 12, 2017.\nA bill to provide the necessary land controls for the planned Yucca Mountain repository (H.R. 3053) was ordered reported by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on June 28, 2017. As amended by the committee, the bill would authorize DOE to store commercial waste from nuclear power plants at a nonfederal interim storage facility. It would also increase the capacity limit on the Yucca Mountain repository from 70,000 to 110,000 metric tons, in comparison with the 76,500 metric tons currently stored at U.S. nuclear plants, and provide mandatory funding for specific stages of repository development.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33461", "sha1": "0c131e2db6aa44ca30f6a81cac33ad82a945ab30", "filename": "files/20171023_RL33461_0c131e2db6aa44ca30f6a81cac33ad82a945ab30.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33461", "sha1": "dd7a0341bc6893c072de5617eb3b8dadf125531c", "filename": "files/20171023_RL33461_dd7a0341bc6893c072de5617eb3b8dadf125531c.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4840, "name": "Electricity" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4844, "name": "Waste Management & Cleanup" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4907, "name": "Energy Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 459857, "date": "2017-03-10", "retrieved": "2017-03-22T18:29:40.745473", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "summary": "Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The United States currently has no disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel.\nThe Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository. NWPA established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop such a repository, which would be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Amendments to NWPA in 1987 restricted DOE\u2019s repository site studies to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DOE submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository to NRC on June 3, 2008. The state of Nevada strongly opposes the Yucca Mountain project, citing excessive water infiltration, earthquakes, volcanoes, human intrusion, and other technical issues.\nAll licensing and design work for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository was halted under the Obama Administration, which cited continued opposition from Nevada. However, the Trump Administration included funds to restart Yucca Mountain licensing in its initial FY2018 budget submission to Congress on March 16, 2017. \nUnder the Obama Administration, no funding for Yucca Mountain, OCRWM, or NRC licensing had been requested or provided since FY2010. NRC halted further consideration of the license application in 2011 because of \u201cbudgetary limitations,\u201d but a federal appeals court on August 13, 2013, ordered NRC to continue the licensing process with previously appropriated funds. The NRC staff completed its safety evaluation report on Yucca Mountain on January 29, 2015, concluding that the repository would meet NRC standards after specific additional actions were taken, such as acquisition of land and water rights.\nAfter halting the Yucca Mountain project, the Obama Administration established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America\u2019s Nuclear Future to develop an alternative nuclear waste policy. The commission issued its final report on January 26, 2012, recommending a \u201cconsent based\u201d process for siting nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.\nAfter OCRWM was dismantled, responsibility for implementing the Obama Administration\u2019s nuclear waste policy was given to DOE\u2019s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). In January 2013, NE issued a nuclear waste strategy based on the Blue Ribbon Commission recommendations. The strategy calls for a pilot interim storage facility for spent fuel from closed nuclear reactors to open by 2021 and a larger storage facility to open by 2025. A site for a permanent underground waste repository would be selected by 2026, and the repository would open by 2048. DOE issued a draft consent-based nuclear waste siting process on January 12, 2017.\nDOE requested $76.3 million for FY2017 to develop an integrated waste management system (IWMS) as outlined by the Obama Administration\u2019s waste strategy\u2014up from $22.5 million provided for FY2016. However, the 114th Congress did not complete action on FY2017 appropriations, so DOE waste management planning is currently funded under a continuing resolution (P.L. 114-254) at the FY2016 level.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33461", "sha1": "07eaffd7f219f3ad8a38f29fb7cf566d373a1f32", "filename": "files/20170310_RL33461_07eaffd7f219f3ad8a38f29fb7cf566d373a1f32.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33461", "sha1": "deae5a338842437e10a9cdf6cbe3059184ecca90", "filename": "files/20170310_RL33461_deae5a338842437e10a9cdf6cbe3059184ecca90.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4840, "name": "Electricity" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4844, "name": "Waste Management & Cleanup" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4907, "name": "Energy Policy" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 448793, "date": "2016-01-11", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T17:32:42.353077", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "summary": "Management of civilian radioactive waste has posed difficult issues for Congress since the beginning of the nuclear power industry in the 1950s. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. Although civilian radioactive waste encompasses a wide range of materials, most of the current debate focuses on highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The United States currently has no disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel.\nThe Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) calls for disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geologic repository. NWPA established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop such a repository, which would be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Amendments to NWPA in 1987 restricted DOE\u2019s repository site studies to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. DOE submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository to NRC on June 3, 2008. The state of Nevada strongly opposes the Yucca Mountain project, citing excessive water infiltration, earthquakes, volcanoes, human intrusion, and other technical issues.\nThe Obama Administration \u201chas determined that developing the Yucca Mountain repository is not a workable option and the Nation needs a different solution for nuclear waste disposal,\u201d according to the DOE FY2011 budget justification. As a result, no funding for Yucca Mountain, OCRWM, or NRC licensing was requested or provided for FY2011 or subsequent years. NRC halted further consideration of the license application in 2011 because of \u201cbudgetary limitations,\u201d but a federal appeals court on August 13, 2013, ordered NRC to continue the licensing process with previously appropriated funds. NRC completed its safety evaluation report on Yucca Mountain on January 29, 2015.\nAfter halting the Yucca Mountain project, the Administration established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America\u2019s Nuclear Future to develop an alternative nuclear waste policy. The commission issued its final report on January 26, 2012, recommending that a new, \u201csingle-purpose organization\u201d be given the authority and resources to promptly begin developing one or more nuclear waste repositories and consolidated storage facilities. The commission recommended a \u201cconsent based\u201d process for siting nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.\nAfter OCRWM was dismantled, responsibility for implementing the Administration\u2019s nuclear waste policy was given to DOE\u2019s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). In January 2013, NE issued a nuclear waste strategy based on the Blue Ribbon Commission recommendations. The strategy calls for a pilot interim storage facility for spent fuel from closed nuclear reactors to open by 2021 and a larger storage facility to open by 2025. A site for a permanent underground waste repository would be selected by 2026, and the repository would open by 2048. DOE invited public comment on a consent-based nuclear waste siting process on December 23, 2015.\nDOE requested $30 million for FY2016 to develop an integrated waste management system as outlined by the new waste strategy\u2014up from $22.5 million provided for FY2015. The House on May 1, 2015, approved $175 million for DOE and NRC to continue the Yucca Mountain licensing process and provided no funding for DOE\u2019s integrated waste strategy (H.R. 2028, H.Rept. 114-91). The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the funding bill on May 21, 2015 (S.Rept. 114-54) with no funds for Yucca Mountain but authorization for an interim spent fuel storage facility. Congress approved an omnibus funding measure for FY2016 that dropped the House provisions on Yucca Mountain and the Senate interim storage pilot facility, instead providing the Administration\u2019s funding request (P.L. 114-113).", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL33461", "sha1": "089511384c8c57a2c5119c3f66f07dc7da9347a3", "filename": "files/20160111_RL33461_089511384c8c57a2c5119c3f66f07dc7da9347a3.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33461", "sha1": "34c47c89ad4bcc0faa3c4039be546f241147182e", "filename": "files/20160111_RL33461_34c47c89ad4bcc0faa3c4039be546f241147182e.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 2599, "name": "Nuclear Energy" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 2646, "name": "Environmental Cleanup and Waste Management" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4402, "name": "Energy Law and Policy" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc770596/", "id": "RL33461_2015Aug05", "date": "2015-08-05", "retrieved": "2015-11-04T09:58:14", "title": "Civilian Nuclear Waste Disposal", "summary": "This report looks at the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), Yucca Mountain, and the Obama Administration's de-funding of Yucca Mountain. Federal policy is based on the premise that nuclear waste can be disposed of safely, but proposed storage and disposal facilities have frequently been challenged on safety, health, and environmental grounds. 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