Enclosure 

Monthly Status Report 

Activities Related to the Yucca Mountain Licensing Action 

Report for February 2014 

Background 

On August 13, 2013, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 

issued its decision in the case In re Aiken County directing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) to “promptly continue with the legally mandated licensing process” for the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) application to construct a geologic repository for highlevel waste at Yucca Mountain, NV. The NRC promptly began taking steps to comply with the 

court’s direction following the issuance of the decision. On November 18, 2013, the 

Commission approved a Memorandum and Order, which set a course of action for the Yucca 

Mountain licensing process that is consistent with the Appeals Court decision and with the 

resources available. The Commission also issued a related Staff Requirements Memorandum 

(SRM) on November 18, 2013. 

Accomplishments and Ongoing Work 

The NRC Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards established three branches focused 

on the development of the Safety Evaluation Report (SER). Staff were selected for their 

knowledge of Yucca Mountain and expertise in key technical and scientific disciplines, including 

geology, hydrology, volcanology, seismology, and reliability and risk analysis, as well as 

chemical, structural, thermal, nuclear, materials, and geotechnical engineering. As of the end of 

February, all but one of the 40 staff positions have been filled. In addition, the licensing review 

is supported by the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses. Almost all of the staff 

assigned have previous experience on the Yucca Mountain review, ranging from several years 

to multiple decades. Staff has also issued a guidance document for use in the current review 

activities. This document is publicly available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and 

Management System (ADAMS) at Accession No. ML14057A618. 

Staff has developed a tool to track progress toward completion of the SER. This tool, entitled 

the “Status of Safety Evaluation Report Chapters and Volume Tasks,” (attached) identifies 

target dates for milestones in the development and completion of individual chapters as well as 

for publication of each SER volume. As shown in the attachment, staff has resumed work on 

nearly 75% of the 43 chapters of the SER and has made significant progress on several 

chapters, including completion of two. 

Agency attorneys provided support to the staff and the Commission on program 

planning-related activities and participated in ongoing Federal court litigation related to Yucca 

Mountain. Agency attorneys advised staff on issues related to SER development and continued 

reviewing draft chapters of the SER. 

In its Memorandum and Order dated November 18, 2013, the Commission requested that the 

DOE complete the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) supplement. In a February 28, 2014, 

letter, the DOE informed the NRC that it will not complete the EIS supplement, but that it will 

provide an updated version of its previously issued technical report on the topics to be 

addressed in the supplement. The NRC is evaluating the impact of the DOE decision. 
2 

 

On February 21, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a 

decision granting the NRC’s motion to dismiss a petition for review that sought reversal of 

Chairman Macfarlane’s decision not to recuse herself from adjudicatory proceedings related to 

the Yucca Mountain licensing process. 

The agency effort to load the Licensing Support Network (LSN) documents into a nonpublic 

library in ADAMS is progressing efficiently and ahead of schedule. As of the end of February, 

the NRC has loaded approximately 3,660,000 LSN documents into ADAMS and has completed 

the indexing of the loaded document collection. Progress is also being made on related project 

tasks, including work on search templates, role and access rights, records declarations, and 

search and retrieval performance. 

Schedule and Cost for Remaining Activities 

Completion of the SER is scheduled to take approximately 12 months, ending in January 2015. 

To date, no unforeseen technical or process issues have arisen that would change the 

schedule. 

The effort to load the LSN document collection into a nonpublic ADAMS library, along with 

related project tasks, is now expected to be completed ahead of schedule in mid-April 2014, 

barring any unforeseen technical or process issues. Further, consistent with the 

January 24, 2014, Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) issued by the Commission, staff is 

collecting additional data on three months of actual expenditures on completing and issuing the 

SER and EIS. If actual costs are consistent with initial estimates, the January 24, 2014, SRM 

directs that an appropriate portion of the $2.2 million in recently deobligated Nuclear Waste 

Fund (NWF) funds should be allocated to activities necessary to make the LSN documents 

publicly available. Staff anticipates having sufficient data to inform the Commission in April 

2014. 

In September 2013, NRC staff estimated the cost of completing the remaining SER volumes to 

be approximately $8.3 million and estimated that $700,000 is needed to complete the loading of 

LSN documents into a nonpublic ADAMS library. These figures remain valid. The staff’s 

estimate had also included $625,000 for review and an adoption determination of an EIS 

supplement issued by the DOE; however, this cost will need to be reevaluated in light of the 

recent DOE decision that it will no longer complete the EIS. In addition, staff estimates that 

related activities such as the cost of work performed by NRC attorneys on Federal court 

litigation following the issuance of the mandamus order, stakeholder outreach, and other 

support efforts will require approximately $750,000 over the course of the project1

. Therefore, 

the projected cumulative expenditures are approximately $10.4 million.

 

1

This total does not include any potential agency liabilities from external litigation. 
3 

 

Nuclear Waste Fund Expenditures 

During the month of February, the NRC expended $638,702 of NWF funds on its actions in 

direct response to the Court’s decision. Cumulative expenditures since the August 13, 2013, 

U.S. Court of Appeals decision are $1,191,020. The August 13, 2013, balance of $13,549,315 

of unexpended NWF funding, less the $1,191,020, results in a remaining unexpended balance 

of $12,358,295. Total unobligated NWF funds remaining as of February 28, 2014, are 

$10,133,768. The following table provides further details regarding NRC’s expenditure of NWF 

funds since August 13, 2013. 

Table 1 

Status of NRC NWF Funds Since the August 13, 2013, Court Decision

Yucca Mountain Licensing Activities Cost 

Estimate 

February 

Expenditures 

Cumulative 

Expenditures

Completion of the Safety Evaluation Report $8,310,000 $461,213 $682,828

Loading of Licensing Support Network 

Documents into non-public ADAMS 

$700,000 $105,323 $119,879

Adoption of the Environmental Impact Statement 

Supplement1

$625,000 $0 $186

Program Planning and Support2

$750,000

$65,730 127,974

Response to the August 30, 2013, Commission 

Order2

$0 $137,518

Federal Court Litigation2 $187 $52,692

Support/Advice in NRC Proceedings2 $6,249 $34,392

Adjustments to contracts funded by previous 

NWF appropriations 

 $35,551

Total $10,385,000 $638,702 $1,191,020

1

Estimate will be reevaluated in light of the February 28, 2014, letter from DOE 

2

Additional support costs chargeable to NWF funds 

The unexpended NWF funds balance of $12,358,295 includes $257,739 of previously 

appropriated NWF funds that remain unexpended but obligated on contracts with the Center for 

Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses. 

Staff has estimated the expenses necessary to complete the SER and related activities directed 

by the Commission. Figure 1 on page 4 shows the cumulative projected and actual 

expenditures. Projected expenditures include cost estimates shown in Table 1. The actual 

cumulative expenditures reflect costs through February 28, 2014, as given in Table 1. 
4 

Figure 1 Nuclear Waste Fund Tracking 

Stakeholder Communications and Interactions 

On February 21, 2014, NRC staff held a briefing for staff from the House Energy and Commerce 

Committee. 

The NRC staff is also preparing presentations on its Yucca Mountain review activities for 

stakeholder groups at various conferences and meetings scheduled to take place in the next 

few months.
 Attachment Milestone Achieved 
2 

Milestone Achieved 
3 

 Milestone Achieved 
4 

 Milestone Achieved