Enclosure 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monthly Status Report 

Activities Related to the Yucca Mountain Licensing Action 

Report for September 2016 

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 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 that 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 on November 18, 2013, 

which, among other things, directed the NRC staff to complete and issue the Safety Evaluation 

Report (SER) associated with the construction authorization application. 

On February 3, 2015, the Commission directed the staff to develop an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) supplement and undertake certain SER “wrap-up” activities, including records 

retention and the development of a lessons-learned report. The Commission also approved a 

path forward for making Licensing Support Network (LSN) documents publicly available in the 

Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). The Commission will 

provide further direction as needed. 

Table 1 provides a breakdown of estimates and expenditures for all of the Commission-directed 

activities. 

Accomplishments and Ongoing Work 

All of the activities directed by the Commission thus far are complete, with the exception of a 

task to place the LSN documents into a publicly accessible library in ADAMS. In mid-August 

2016 the LSN Library, which includes 3.692 million items, was made publicly available via the 

NRC website (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/lsn/index.html). As of September 30, 2016, 

progress had been made in addressing issues with many of the 55 remaining documents of the 

130 determined to have anomalies, as discussed in SECY-16-0091, “Making Licensing Support 

Network Documents Publicly Available,” dated July 29, 2016 (available at 

http://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1621/ML16210A436.pdf). The total estimated cost for loading the 

LSN documents into a publicly accessible ADAMS library with enhanced search capability is 

approximately $1.1 million. This task, including all document reconciliation activities, is 

anticipated to be completed by the end of calendar year 2016. 

By the end of this year, the staff intends to send options for spending any remaining funds to the 

Commission for its consideration. 
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Nuclear Waste Fund Expenditures 

During the month of September 2016, the NRC expended $20,872 of Nuclear Waste Fund 

(NWF) funds on its actions in direct response to the court’s decision and adjusted September 

2015 salary and benefit costs from estimated to actual costs, resulting in a $5,230 net reduction 

in expenditures. Cumulative expenditures since the August 13, 2013, U.S. Court of Appeals 

decision are $12,091,845. The August 13, 2013, balance of $13,549,315 of unexpended NWF 

funding, less the cumulative expenditures of $12,091,845, results in a remaining unexpended 

balance of $1,457,470. Total unobligated NWF funds remaining as of September 30, 2016, are 

$1,352,834. Table 1 provides further details on 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 

September 

Expenditures 

Cumulative 

Expenditures

Completion of the SER $8,310,000 $0 $8,364,877

Loading of Licensing Support Network 

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

Loading of Licensing Support Network 

documents into a public ADAMS library $1,100,000 $15,630 $1,044,012

Development of the EIS supplement $2,000,000 ($24,951) $1,541,482

SER wrap-up activities $100,000 $0 $53,327

 Program planning and support 

$825,000

$4,091 $467,653

 Response to the August 30, 2013, 

 Commission order $0 $137,518

 Federal court litigation* $0 $154,903

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

Subtotal, other support costs chargeable to 

NWF funds $4,091 $795,609

Adjustments to close out contracts funded by 

previous NWF appropriations $0 $14,868

Total $12,685,000 ($5,230) $12,091,845

*Includes a $59,000 expenditure in May 2014 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 balance of $1,457,470 includes $104,637 of unexpended obligations, 

including on contracts with the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses and related to 

loading the LSN documents into public ADAMS. 

Figure 1 shows the cumulative projected and actual expenditures. Projected expenditures 

include cost estimates shown in Table 1. The actual cumulative expenditures reflect costs 

through September 30, 2016, as given in Table 1. 
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Figure 1. Nuclear Waste Fund Tracking 

Stakeholder Communications and Interactions 

No stakeholder communications or interactions occurred in September 2016.