Enclosure 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monthly Status Report 

Activities Related to the Yucca Mountain Licensing Action 

Report for August 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 (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 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). Still ongoing as of August 31, 

2016, however, is the process for addressing issues with 55 remaining documents of the 130 

determined to have anomalies, as described 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 August 2016, the NRC expended $28,018 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 $12,097,075. The August 13, 2013, 

balance of $13,549,315 of unexpended NWF funding, less the cumulative expenditures of 

$12,097,075, results in a remaining unexpended balance of $1,452,240. Total unobligated 

NWF funds remaining as of August 31, 2016, are $1,051,077. 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 

August 

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 $18,485 $1,028,382

Development of the EIS supplement $2,000,000 $0 $1,566,433

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

 Program planning and support 

$825,000

$9,533 $463,562

 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 $9,533 $791,518

Adjustments to close out contracts funded by 

previous NWF appropriations $0 $14,868

Total $12,685,000 $28,018 $12,097,075

*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 $1,452,240 includes $401,164 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 

August 31, 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 August 2016.