Key Issues
Safely Managing Used Nuclear Fuel
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Yucca Mountain Central to Managing Used Fuel
DOE is developing a permanent disposal facility for used nuclear fuel and radioactive defense waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev., about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Congress charged DOE with developing a geologic disposal facility in 1982 and set a 1998 deadline for its completion. That deadline is long past due.
Presidential and congressional approval of the Yucca Mountain site in 2002 was a significant step toward meeting this obligation. Before any fuel is deposited at the Yucca Mountain repository, DOE must obtain approval from the NRC to build and operate the specially designed repository.
DOE submitted a license application for repository construction to the NRC in June 2008. In September 2008, the NRC accepted the application and has begun a rigorous process where the application will be both questioned by the NRC’s technical staff and challenged by repository opponents. Depending on the outcome of this process, DOE estimates the repository is not likely to open before 2020.
To fund this federal program, the law established the Nuclear Waste Fund. Since 1983, consumers of electricity produced at nuclear power plants have paid into the fund a fee of one-tenth of a cent for every kilowatt-hour of electricity. Through January 2009, these customer commitments, including interest, totaled more than $30 billion.
The law also requires the federal government to pay its share of disposal costs for high-level radioactive waste from national defense programs and other material slated for the repository.
Yucca Mountain Central to Managing Used Fuel
DOE is developing a permanent disposal facility for used nuclear fuel and radioactive defense waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev., about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Congress charged DOE with developing a geologic disposal facility in 1982 and set a 1998 deadline for its completion. That deadline is long past due.
Presidential and congressional approval of the Yucca Mountain site in 2002 was a significant step toward meeting this obligation. Before any fuel is deposited at the Yucca Mountain repository, DOE must obtain approval from the NRC to build and operate the specially designed repository.
DOE submitted a license application for repository construction to the NRC in June 2008. In September 2008, the NRC accepted the application and has begun a rigorous process where the application will be both questioned by the NRC’s technical staff and challenged by repository opponents. Depending on the outcome of this process, DOE estimates the repository is not likely to open before 2020.
To fund this federal program, the law established the Nuclear Waste Fund. Since 1983, consumers of electricity produced at nuclear power plants have paid into the fund a fee of one-tenth of a cent for every kilowatt-hour of electricity. Through January 2009, these customer commitments, including interest, totaled more than $30 billion.
The law also requires the federal government to pay its share of disposal costs for high-level radioactive waste from national defense programs and other material slated for the repository.
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