Enclosure 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monthly Status Report 

Activities Related to the Yucca Mountain Licensing Action 

Report for October 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 October 31, 2016, the staff 

made progress resolving the issues with the remaining documents not yet publicly available, 

leaving only a few documents still to be entered into the system. 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 October 19, 2016, the staff sent options for spending the remaining funds to the Commission 

for its consideration. In early November, the Commission approved the staff’s recommendation 

to use a portion of the remaining Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) funds to update the collection of 

knowledge management reports to capture new insights since the previous reports were 

completed. 
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Nuclear Waste Fund Expenditures 

During the month of October 2016, the NRC expended $10,182 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 $12,102,027. The August 13, 2013, balance of $13,549,315 

of unexpended NWF funding, less the cumulative expenditures of $12,102,027, results in a 

remaining unexpended balance of $1,447,288. Total unobligated NWF funds remaining as of 

October 31, 2016, are $1,349,905. 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 

October 

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 $7,478 $1,051,490

Development of the EIS supplement $2,000,000 ($509) $1,540,973

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

 Program planning and support 

$825,000

$3,213 $470,866

 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 $3,213 $798,822

Adjustments to close out contracts funded by 

previous NWF appropriations $0 $14,868

Total $12,685,000 $10,182 $12,102,027

*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 $1,447,288 includes $97,383 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 October 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 October 2016.