Enclosure 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monthly Status Report 

Activities Related to the Yucca Mountain Licensing Action 

Report for March 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. The Commission provided further direction in a January 24, 

2014, SRM. 

Accomplishments and Ongoing Work 

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 

completion of the four volumes of the safety evaluation report (SER). Attached is the task 

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

has been updated to include work completed through March 31, 2014. 

On February 28, 2014, the DOE provided a letter deferring the environmental impact statement 

(EIS) supplement preparation to the NRC. In the letter DOE committed to provide an update to 

the report submitted to the NRC on July 30, 2009, entitled, Analysis of Postclosure Groundwater 

Impacts for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level 

Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada. DOE states it will “provide the 

NRC with substantially all of the technical information necessary to inform a draft EIS.” On 

March 19, 2014, the NRC staff transmitted a letter to DOE requesting a meeting on April 7, 

2014, to discuss the plan, content, and schedule for this report update. DOE confirmed its 

participation in this public meeting at NRC headquarters. In addition, the NRC staff is compiling 

information to present to the Commission for further direction on developing an EIS supplement 

in light of the DOE decision. 

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 March, the agency completed the loading and indexing of Licensing Support Network (LSN) 

documents into a nonpublic library of NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management 

System (ADAMS). The LSN documents were previously provided, per agency direction, by the 

parties to the now-suspended adjudicatory hearing on the DOE high-level waste repository 

application. The agency also completed the search templates, making the LSN documents 

accessible and searchable internally by ADAMS users within the NRC. The remaining related 
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task is to complete the processing of the LSN documents into the agency’s records 

management system. This processing does not impact any agency ADAMS user’s ability to 

search and access the LSN documents. 

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. Work is continuing on schedule with the exception of two chapters. Issues arose from the 

need for internal alignment on staff positions for the two earliest chapters reviewed in volumes 2 

and 4. These chapters are being reviewed and progressing toward completion. The issues are 

being resolved and will inform the completion of the other chapters. The overall schedule is not 

affected. 

The schedule and budget for development and completion of an EIS supplement are being reevaluated in light of the February 28, 2014, Department of Energy (DOE) independent decision 

not to prepare the supplement. Neither the Commission nor any individual Commissioner was 

consulted prior to, or expressed agreement with, DOE’s decision. Staff is gathering similar 

information for determining how to proceed regarding the EIS supplement. 

Efforts to make the LSN document collection available in a nonpublic ADAMS library are 

expected to be fully completed under budget and ahead of schedule by the end of April 2014. 

In accordance with the January 2014 SRM, staff is in the process of gathering information on 

the cost, schedule, and availability of funding for making publicly available the documents now 

loaded in the ADAMS internal LSN library. The NRC staff anticipates informing the Commission 

on the results of this and its EIS supplement analysis in April 2014. The staff will ensure that all 

documents referenced in the SER and EIS supplement are available to the public by the time 

these documents are issued.1

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. To date these figures remain on target. The 

staff’s estimate had also included $625,000 for reviewing and reaching an adoption 

determination regarding an EIS supplement issued by the DOE. However, this cost is being 

reevaluated in light of the DOE decision that it will no longer complete the EIS supplement. 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, monthly 

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

project.2

 Therefore, the projected cumulative expenditures are approximately $10.4 million. 

The staff will update this estimate after a Commission decision regarding the production of the 

EIS supplement.

 

1

 Documents will be publicly available following usual NRC practices for copyrighted materials such as 

books or journal articles, proprietary information, or other controlled information. 

2

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

During the month of March, the NRC expended $1,037,292 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 $2,228,312. The August 13, 2013, balance of $13,549,315 of 

unexpended NWF funding, less the $2,228,312, results in a remaining unexpended balance of 

$11,321,003. Total unobligated NWF funds remaining as of March 31, 2014, are $9,477,208. 

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 

March 

Expenditures 

Cumulative 

Expenditures

Completion of the safety evaluation report $8,310,000 $861,323 $1,544,151

Loading of Licensing Support Network 

documents into nonpublic ADAMS $700,000 $53,327 173,206

Adoption of the environmental impact statement 

supplement1

 $625,000 $20,144 $20,330

 Program planning and support 

$750,000

$68,765 $196,740 

 Response to the August 30, 2013, 

 Commission Order $ 0 $137,518 

 Federal court litigation $29,199 $ 81,890 

 Support/Advice in NRC proceedings $ 1,143 $ 35,535 

Subtotal, other support costs chargeable to 

NWF funds $99,107 $451,683

Adjustments to contracts funded by previous 

NWF appropriations $3,391 $38,942

Total $10,385,000 $1,037,292 $2,228,312

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

The unexpended NWF fund balance of $11,321,003 includes $254,348 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 March 31, 2014, as given in Table 1.
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Figure 1 Nuclear Waste Fund Tracking 

Stakeholder Communications and Interactions 

NRC staff presented a status update on the NRC’s Yucca Mountain licensing review activities to 

more than 80 attendees at the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Forum in Austin, Texas, on 

March 18, 2014. 

NRC staff held a public meeting on April 7, 2014, with DOE representatives to discuss DOE’s 

plans and schedule for completion of an update to a 2009 technical report on groundwater 

impacts. Copies of the staff’s letter to DOE on March 19, 2014, confirming the meeting were 

sent to parties involved in previous Yucca Mountain adjudication. The meeting notice is 

available on the NRC Public Meeting Schedule website. Details from this meeting will be 

included in the April monthly status report. 
 Attachment 
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