Enclosure 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monthly Status Report 

Activities Related to the Yucca Mountain Licensing Action 

Report for May 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 

high-level 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. The Commission provides further direction to the staff as 

needed. 

Accomplishments and Ongoing Work 

The NRC staff in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, with the support of the 

Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, continues to make significant progress toward 

completing the four remaining volumes of the safety evaluation report (SER). Attached is the 

task tracking tool, “Status of Safety Evaluation Report (SER) Chapters and Volume Tasks,” 

which documents work completed through May 31, 2014. The majority of chapter milestones 

have been completed on time or ahead of due dates; any chapter that does not meet the 

projected schedule receives further management attention. Completion of the SER remains the 

staff’s highest priority for this project and on track for completion by January 2015. 

Agency attorneys provided support to the staff and the Commission on project activities and 

participated in ongoing Federal court litigation related to Yucca Mountain. Agency attorneys 

also advised the staff on issues related to SER development and continued reviewing draft 

chapters of the SER. 

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 affect the completion 

date. SER activities are proceeding within the September 2013 budget estimate of $8.3 million. 

After DOE informed the NRC that it would not complete an environmental impact statement 

(EIS) supplement that the staff has determined is needed for the review of DOE’s application 

under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Commission necessarily revised its earlier 

direction to adopt DOE’s supplement. The Commission has directed the staff to plan to develop 

and issue an EIS supplement. The work on the EIS supplement will not begin until at least the 

fall of 2014 when work on the SER is substantively complete and appropriate personnel are 

available to support the EIS supplement effort. At that time, staff will submit to the Commission 

its assessment of remaining Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) funds and its proposed plan to 

complete the EIS supplement. The Commission will then provide direction on the allocation of 

funding to this task based on the staff’s updated assessment. The previous cost estimate of 

$625,000 for an adoption determination of a DOE-developed EIS supplement would be revised 

to account for an NRC-developed EIS supplement as part of the fall 2014 reassessment. 
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The Licensing Support Network (LSN) document collection is fully available to internal users in a 

nonpublic portion of the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 

(ADAMS). This project was completed in April 2014 at an estimated cost of $350,000. 

Furthermore, the Commission has directed that, pending available funding, the LSN document 

collection should be loaded into a publicly accessible library in ADAMS when work on the SER 

is substantively complete and available funding from the NWF can be reassessed. This activity 

would not begin until at least the fall of 2014. 

The staff’s February 2014 estimate that related activities, such as the work performed by NRC 

attorneys on Federal court litigation following the issuance of the mandamus order, monthly 

reporting, and other support efforts, will require approximately $750,000 over the course of the 

project has not changed.1

The total cost estimate projected as of May 31, 2014, is approximately $10 million. 

 

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 This total does not include any potential agency liabilities from external litigation. 
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Nuclear Waste Fund Expenditures 

During the month of May, the NRC expended $1,030,625 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 $4,199,897. The August 13, 2013, balance of $13,549,315 

of unexpended NWF funding, less the $4,199,897, results in a remaining unexpended balance 

of $9,349,418. Total unobligated NWF funds remaining as of May 31, 2014, are $7,370,314. 

The following table provides further details regarding the 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 

May 

Expenditures 

Cumulative 

Expenditures

Completion of the safety evaluation report $8,310,000 $870,541 $3,264,134

Loading of Licensing Support Network 

documents into a nonpublic ADAMS library $350,000 $81,824 $272,240

Development of the environmental impact 

statement supplement* $625,000 $169 $47,427

 Program planning and support 

$750,000

$18,244 $257,967 

 Response to the August 30, 2013, 

 Commission Order $0 $137,518 

 Federal court litigation** $59,847 $146,134 

 Support/Advice in NRC proceedings $0 $35,535 

Subtotal, other support costs chargeable to 

NWF funds $78,091 $577,154

Adjustments to close out contracts funded by 

previous NWF appropriations $0 $38,942

Total $10,035,000 $1,030,625 $4,199,897

* The estimate of $625,000 for an adoption determination of a DOE-developed EIS supplement would be 

revised to account for an NRC-developed EIS supplement as part of the fall 2014 reassessment of 

remaining NWF funds consistent with Commission direction.

** Includes a $59,000 expenditure in May for the agency’s agreement to settle the Equal Access to 

Justice Act claim of one of the Aiken County petitioners. The agency has sought the views of the 

Comptroller General as to whether this payment is properly paid with NWF funds. 

The unexpended NWF fund balance of $9,349,418 includes $254,348 of previously 

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

Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses. 

The 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 May 31, 2014, as given in Table 1. 
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Figure 1. Nuclear Waste Fund Tracking 

Stakeholder Communications and Interactions 

On May 6, the staff led a session at the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Used Fuel Management 

Conference in St. Petersburg, FL, to present the status of the NRC’s review of DOE’s 

application for a high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain. 

On May 14, the staff presented the same status update to attendees of the Nuclear Materials 

Management and Safeguards System Users Annual Training meeting in Denver, CO. 

Also on May 14, the staff provided a brief overview of Yucca Mountain licensing action activities 

as part of a presentation on the interface between storage and transportation at the annual 

meeting of the National Transportation Stakeholders Forum in Bloomington, MN. 
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