"[92] In response, NRC issued the final volumes of the Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation Report (SER), this presented the NRC staff's statement that the site would meet all applicable standards. NRC Hits Pause on Search for Yucca Mountain Hearing Site in Nevada. Based on these reports, President Ronald Reagan approved three sites for intensive scientific study called site characterization. The DOE was to begin accepting spent fuel at the Yucca Mountain Repository by January 31, 1998, but did not do so because of a series of delays due to legal challenges, concerns over how to transport nuclear waste to the facility, and political pressure resulting in underfunding of the construction. The ten sites were studied and results of these preliminary studies were reported in 1985. In August 2004, the repository became an election issue when Senator John Kerry said he would abandon the plans if elected. Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) statement following the passage of the federal appropriations legislation that includes the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs funding bills, which provides no federal funding for Yucca Mountain. Thus, the design for a potential MGDS at Yucca Mountain, in the southern Nevada desert, calls for a location in the bedrock 200-400 m above the water table, in the unsaturated zone. [39] The Total System Life Cycle Cost presented to Congress on July 15, 2008 by Director Sproat was $90 billion. EPA's rule requires DOE to show that Yucca Mountain can safely contain wastes, considering the effects of earthquakes, volcanic activity, climate change, and container corrosion, over one million years. Letters to the editor of the Pahrump Valley Times. [113] In their opposition to the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear repository, Nevada representatives were supported by Dianne Feinstein of California and other politicians. Three sites … [65], Shortly after the EPA first established these standards in 2001, the nuclear industry, several environmental and public interest groups, and the State of Nevada challenged the standards in court. Analysis of the available data in 1996 indicates that, since 1976, there have been 621 seismic events of magnitude greater than 2.5 within a 50-mile (80 km) radius of Yucca Mountain. Response to the Nevada Independent article: Concerns about government bullying and safety were the top reasons for those opposing the House Yucca bill. In 2008, DOE finally submitted a Yucca Mountain license application to the NRC, which is still pending. [90][91], Starting in 2009, the Obama administration attempted to close the Yucca Mountain repository, despite current US law that designates Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository. [78] Earthquake databases (the Council of the National Seismic System Composite Catalogue and the Southern Great Basin Seismic Network) provide current and historical earthquake information. A look at the attempt to establish Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a site for a nuclear waste repository. [68] By limiting the compliance time to 10,000 years, EPA did not respect a statutory requirement that it develop standards consistent with NAS recommendations.[69]. From 10,000 to one million years, EPA established a dose limit of 100 millirem per year. Rodney C. Ewing and Frank N. von Hippel. Sandoval: gear up to fight Yucca Mountain in 2019. The main tunnel of the Exploratory Studies Facility is U-shaped, 5 mi (8.0 km) long and 25 ft (7.6 m) wide. The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel and highly radioactive waste products generated in the United States. [52][failed verification] On February 17, 2006, the DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) released a report confirming the technical soundness of infiltration modeling work performed by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employees. Located at the edge of the Nevada National Security Site (formerly the Nevada Test Site)—part of a nuclear testing ground established by U.S. President Harry Truman—Yucca Mountain is far from any … First, we believe it is important to present factual information on Yucca Mountain, as opponents have made every effort to disassemble and erase its outstanding research record from the pages of history since the Obama Administration terminated the project in 2011. Dr. Robert Halstead, who was a transportation adviser to the state of Nevada since 1988, stated regarding transportation of the high level waste, "They would heavily affect cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, in the Chicago metropolitan area, in Omaha." 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