NRC orders completion of Yucca Mountain safety evaluation report

[Rennhack]

http://www.wdef.com/news/national/story/NRC-will-resume-study-of-Nevada-nuclear-waste-dump/xV8SRVlfQkqZ0VEXPPoNZA.cspx

WASHINGTON (AP) — Responding to a court order, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has directed its staff to complete work on a key safety report related to a never-completed nuclear waste dump in Nevada.

The commission order, issued Monday, follows an August ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which said the nuclear agency violated federal law by abruptly abandoning review of the proposed storage site at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

The appeals court ordered the NRC to continue work on the proposed waste site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas until Congress directs otherwise or the agency runs out of money.

The NRC said it has $11 million budgeted for the Yucca review, far less than needed to complete the five-volume study. Only one volume has so far been completed.

http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2013/11/nuclear-news-nrc-orders-completion-of-yucca-mountian-safety-evaluation.html

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has directed the agency staff to complete work on the safety evaluation report on the Department of Energy's construction authorization application for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

The Commission has also requested DOE to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement] requested by the staff in order to complete its environmental review of the application.

In an Order issued today, the Commission did not direct the staff to reconstitute the Licensing Support Network that supported the adjudicatory hearing on the application, but did direct the staff to load documents in the LSN collection into the NRC's non-public ADAMS online database. The Order acknowledges that documents used as references in the safety evaluation report and supplemental environmental impact statement will be publicly released; however, public release of all LSN documents will depend on whether adequate funds are available to do so. The Commission also directed that the adjudication continue to be held in abeyance.

Today's action responds to an August decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordering the agency to continue its review of the Yucca Mountain application at least until existing funds appropriated for the review are expended. As of Sept. 30, the agency had approximately $11 million in funds that were appropriated for the review.