Enclosure 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monthly Status Report 

Activities Related to the Yucca Mountain Licensing Action 

Report for January 2015 

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, has completed the remaining volumes of the 

safety evaluation report (SER). The attached task tracking tool, “Status of Safety Evaluation 

Report (SER) Chapters and Volume Tasks,” documents work completed through January 

31, 2015.1

 On October 16, 2014, the NRC staff published SER Volume 3; on December 18, 

2014, the staff published Volume 4; and on January 29, 2015, the staff published Volumes 2 

and 5. All of the volumes are available on the NRC’s website, at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1949/. The NRC also distributed the documents to the 

participants in the adjudicatory proceeding and other interested stakeholders. 

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

advised the staff on issues related to SER development, and reviewed the remaining portions of 

the SER. 

Completion of the SER has taken approximately 12 months and is expected to cost an 

estimated $8.3 million. The staff will have a more accurate accounting of the SER completion 

cost after the remaining invoices related to the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses 

work are paid over the coming months. 

Schedule and Cost for Remaining Activities 

The schedule for completion of an environmental impact statement (EIS) supplement is being 

considered. On February 28, 2014, the DOE informed the NRC that it would not complete an 

 

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 Because the SER is complete, the staff will not be including the SER task tracking tool in future reports. 
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EIS supplement that the staff has determined is needed for the review of DOE’s application 

under the National Environmental Policy Act, but rather would provide an update to a 2009 

technical report that would inform an EIS supplement. On April 7, 2014, NRC staff met with 

DOE staff in a public meeting to discuss DOE’s revision of this report, titled, “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.” On October 

3, 2014, the DOE submitted its 2014 update of this report to NRC staff. The document is 

available through the NRC’s website, at

http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1430/ML14303A393.pdf. 

After DOE informed the NRC that it would not complete an EIS supplement, 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, subject to its decision on the 

staff’s December paper providing a reassessment of available funding. The previous cost 

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

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

The Licensing Support Network (LSN) document collection is fully available to internal users in a 

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

(ADAMS). This project was completed in April 2014. The Commission has also directed, 

subject to its decision on the staff’s December paper providing a reassessment of available 

funding, that the LSN document collection be loaded into a publicly accessible library in 

ADAMS. 

The staff previously estimated 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, would require approximately $750,000 over the course of 

the project. As reflected in Table 1, actual costs for these activities are approximately $754,000. 

The total cost estimate for the work described above as of January 31, 2015, is projected to be 

approximately $10 million. 
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Nuclear Waste Fund Expenditures 

During the month of January, the NRC expended $437,957 of Nuclear Waste Fund (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 $9,258,185. The August 13, 2013, 

balance of $13,549,315 of unexpended NWF funding, less the $9,258,185, results in a 

remaining unexpended balance of $4,291,130. Total unobligated NWF funds remaining as of 

January 31, 2015, are $3,394,643. 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 

January 

Expenditures 

Cumulative 

Expenditures

Completion of the safety evaluation report $8,310,000 $398,774 $8,139,729

Loading of Licensing Support Network 

documents into a nonpublic ADAMS library $350,000 $0 $277,670

Development of the EIS supplement* $625,000 $0 $47,427

 Program planning and support 

$750,000

$39,183 $426,869

 Response to the August 30, 2013, 

 Commission order $0 $137,518

 Federal court litigation** $0 $154,495

 Support and advice in NRC proceedings $0 $35,535

Subtotal, other support costs chargeable to 

NWF funds $39,183 $754,417

Adjustments to close out contracts funded by 

previous NWF appropriations $0 $38,942

Total $10,035,000 $437,957 $9,258,185

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

 revised to account for an NRC-developed EIS supplement as part of the December 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. On October 23, 2014, the Court of Appeals 

 for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the motion from other parties requesting reimbursement for 

 attorneys’ fees. 

The unexpended NWF fund balance of $4,291,130 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 
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expenditures. Projected expenditures include cost estimates shown in Table 1. The actual 

cumulative expenditures reflect costs through January 31, 2015, as given in Table 1. 

Figure 1. Nuclear Waste Fund Tracking 

Stakeholder Communications and Interactions 

On January 28, 2015, the NRC issued a media advisory concerning the publication of SER 

Volumes 2 and 5 and e-mailed this advisory to the participants in the adjudicatory proceeding 

and other interested stakeholders. On January 29, the NRC issued a press release about the 

publication of SER Volumes 2 and 5 and e-mailed the documents to the participants and other 

stakeholders. The NRC staff also created a blog post regarding SER issuance on January 29, 

2015.
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