Enclosure 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monthly Status Report 

Activities Related to the Yucca Mountain Licensing Action 

Report for November 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 and the new tasks 

described below. 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 November 30, 2016, work had been completed on gathering the remaining documents and 

other information necessary to address the anomalies identified 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), leaving only the task of incorporating the 

documents and any required header corrections into the LSN Library. 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. 

On November 8, 2016, the Commission directed the staff to update the collection of knowledge 

management reports on its Yucca Mountain review activities to capture new insights since the 

previous knowledge management reports were completed in 2011. The new reports will cover 

technical topics in preclosure and postclosure safety assessments, and climate and hydrology, 

as discussed in SECY-16-0122, “Status of Yucca Mountain Program Activities,” dated 

October 19, 2016 (available at http://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML16201A110). 

 
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Nuclear Waste Fund Expenditures

During the month of November 2016, the NRC expended $22,080 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 $12,124,107. The 

August 13, 2013, balance of $13,549,315 of unexpended NWF funding, less the cumulative 

expenditures of $12,124,107, results in a remaining unexpended balance of $1,425,208. Total 

unobligated NWF funds remaining as of November 30, 2016, are $1,342,874. 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 

November 

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 $10,162 $1,061,652

Development of the EIS supplement $2,000,000 $9,454 $1,550,427

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

Knowledge management reports $700,000 $1,466 $1,466

 Program planning and support 

$825,000

$998 $471,864

 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 $998 $799,820

Adjustments to close out contracts funded by 

previous NWF appropriations $0 $14,868

Total $13,385,000 $22,080 $12,124,107

*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 $1,425,208 includes $82,334 of unexpended obligations. 

These unexpended obligations are primarily on contracts with the Center for Nuclear Waste 

Regulatory Analyses and on contracts related to the loading of 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 November 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 November 2016.