UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001

THE

INSPECTOR GENERAL

July 23, 2014

MEMORANDUM TO: Mark A. Satorius

Executive Director for Operations

FROM: Stephen D. Dingbaum /RA/

Assistant Inspector General for Audits

SUBJECT: AUDIT OF NRC’S METHOD FOR RETAINING AND 

DOCUMENTING INFORMATION SUPPORTING THE 

YUCCA MOUNTAIN LICENSING PROCESS (OIG-14-A-18)

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission’s (NRC) documentation of the Yucca Mountain licensing process and 

compliance with Federal requirements. In accordance with 44 United States Code 

(U.S.C.) § 3303, NRC complied with the National Archives and Records 

Administration’s (NARA) requirement to create a disposition schedule1 for the records 

connected with Yucca Mountain licensing process and retained the associated 

documents. Consequently, the records needed by NRC staff were available following a

November 2013 Commission Order requiring the completion of the Yucca Mountain

technical safety review. However, NRC was non-compliant with its records 

management and maintenance policy during the suspension period of the licensing 

process. NRC has recently become compliant with the agency’s records management 

policy through the process of loading the Yucca Mountain records into the agency’s 

official recordkeeping system, where it is accessible and available for review.

Although OIG makes no recommendations, OIG identified matters for consideration as 

the agency continues to comply with an August 2013 United States Court of Appeals for 

 1 A records disposition schedule details the retention timetable of different types of documents.
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the District of Columbia Circuit Writ of Mandamus2 for NRC to continue with the Yucca 

Mountain licensing process.

BACKGROUND

In 1983, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) assigned the Department of Energy 

(DOE) responsibility for constructing and operating a nuclear waste repository for highlevel radioactive waste (HLW) and NRC the task of licensing and regulating the HLW 

repository. In 2002, President George W. Bush signed the Yucca Mountain 

Development Act, selecting Yucca Mountain as the site for the HLW repository. In 

2008, DOE submitted to NRC a license application for construction authorization to

build a HLW repository at Yucca Mountain, but subsequently filed a motion to withdraw

its application for a construction authorization in March 2010. In October 2010, Gregory 

Jaczko, then NRC Chairman, directed NRC staff to prepare the orderly closeout of their 

technical safety review. Subsequently, in 2011, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

Panel suspended3 the adjudicatory hearing of the DOE’s license application for the 

construction authorization of a HLW repository at Yucca Mountain.

One of NRC’s key records management activities that occurred was to have the Yucca 

Mountain documents, previously available electronically via the Licensing Support 

Network (LSN), forwarded to NRC’s Office of the Secretary (SECY) to be collectively 

stored and managed by NRC. The LSN was a system that NRC managed, which made 

documentary material4 electronically available to stakeholders, potential stakeholders, 

and interested governmental participants to the Yucca Mountain licensing process.

Prior to the suspension, the LSN was a portal with “spidering”5 capabilities that allowed 

a search to be performed into stakeholder servers. Accordingly, NRC did not host the 

actual physical documents that were available through the LSN, but hosted the 

 2 Writ of Mandamus in this context constitutes a court order for a public agency or governmental body to 

perform an act required by law when it has neglected or refused to do so.

3 OIG uses the terms “suspend,” “suspended,” or “suspension” to identify that the Yucca Mountain 

licensing process was postponed without a timeline for continuation. 4 10 CFR § 2.1001 defines documentary material as “(1) Any information upon which a party, potential

party, or interested governmental participant intends to rely and/or to cite in support of its position in the 

proceeding for a construction authorization for a high-level radioactive waste repository at a geologic 

repository operations area...a license to receive and possess high-level radioactive waste at a geologic 

repository operations area...(2) Any information that is known to, and in the possession of, or developed 

by the party that is relevant to, but does not support, that information or that party's position, and (3) All 

reports and studies, prepared by or on behalf of the potential party, interested governmental participant, 

or party, including all related ‘circulated drafts,’ relevant to both the license application and the issues 

...regardless of whether they will be relied upon and/or cited by a party.” 5 To enable “spidering” and search capabilities, each stakeholder in the Yucca Mountain involved in the 

licensing process had to host a webserver. The term “spidering” refers to the ability to allow the LSN 

portal to retrieve the LSN-designated documents through each individual stakeholder’s server.
Audit of NRC’s Method for Retaining and Documenting Information Supporting the Yucca Mt. Licensing Process

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metadata6 files containing the path for each individual document housed on the 

separate stakeholder Web servers. However, approximately 1 month prior to the

suspension of the hearing for the license application for construction authorization at 

Yucca Mountain, NRC received the documents previously available via the LSN from

the involved parties (e.g., DOE and Nye County), which forwarded the documentary 

material in various electronic7 and hard copy formats to SECY.

NRC staff also received documents from the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory 

Analyses (CNWRA) as a result of the closure of the technical safety review. CNWRA is 

operated by the Southwest Research Institute, which NRC has contracted for more than

20 years to help with the Yucca Mountain pre-licensing and licensing reviews. 

Meanwhile, interested stakeholders pursued legal action to direct NRC to complete its 

technical safety review of the Yucca Mountain HLW repository construction 

authorization license application. This effort culminated in an August 2013 United 

States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Writ of Mandamus for NRC 

to continue with the Yucca Mountain licensing process using the $11.1 million in 

appropriated funds for Yucca Mountain. In complying with the Writ of Mandamus, NRC 

issued a Commission Order in November 2013 to finish the remaining volumes of the 

Safety Evaluation Report (SER).

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OBJECTIVE

The audit objective was to determine if agency policy and procedures on document 

management are compliant with Federal requirements and provide reasonable 

assurance that documentation related to the review of the Yucca Mountain facility has 

been appropriately managed and retained.

RESULTS

The records needed by NRC staff were available following the November 2013 

Commission Order requiring the completion of the Yucca Mountain technical safety 

review. However, the Commission was out of compliance with the agency records

management policy during the period of time that the licensing process was suspended.

NRC did create a disposition schedule for the records in their possession in 2008, thus 

 6 The term “metadata” is used to describe the .xml files that contained the profile information associated 

with each document. 7 Electronic formats included external hard drives, compact discs, and digital versatile discs. 8 The review and evaluation of a license application is documented in an SER. For the Yucca Mountain 

licensing application, a total of five SER volumes were planned for issuance, one of which was completed 

and issued publicly prior to the suspension of the license application review.
Audit of NRC’s Method for Retaining and Documenting Information Supporting the Yucca Mt. Licensing Process

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fulfilling the NARA Federal requirement of establishing a retention schedule. Following

the Writ of Mandamus issued in August 2013, and the resulting Commission Order,

NRC has taken steps to come into compliance with the agency’s records management

policy. 

NRC Was Out of Compliance With Records Management Requirements During 

the Suspension Period

Agency guidance requires certain records management and maintenance practices for 

records received from other entities. However, NRC was out of compliance with this 

policy during the period that the licensing process was suspended because NRC 

officials were unclear about how to fund the records management expenses associated 

with the Yucca Mountain records in their possession. Without certainty in regard to the 

funding of the records management of the LSN documents received by the NRC, 

information was at risk for loss during the suspension period.

Records Management Requirements 

NRC’s main records management policy and guidance documents include Management 

Directive 3.53 (MD 3.53), “NRC Records and Document Management Program,” and 

NUREG-0910, “NRC Comprehensive Records Disposition Schedule.” MD 3.53 is the 

agency policy that addresses the NARA and General Services Administration records

management requirements for Federal agencies, while NUREG-0910 details the 

disposition schedules for various types of records. MD 3.53 and its associated 

handbook describe agency policy regarding records management and maintenance, 

including the responsibilities over documents in NRC’s custody, contractor documents, 

and overall maintenance and upkeep of records in NRC’s possession. In accordance 

with the Federal Records Act, MD 3.53 defines Federal records as “All books, papers, 

maps, photographs, machine readable materials, or other documentary materials, 

regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the 

United States Government under Federal law.” MD 3.53 explains that items received by 

Federal agencies encompass those that are accepted or collected in their normal 

course of duties, regardless of the origin or transmission of the materials. MD 3.53 

states that Federal records as defined by the Federal Records Act are considered 

agency records. Furthermore, agency records are those that document the activities of 

the agency, which would include licensing activities.

Finally, MD 3.53 describes the maintenance and security of agency records by 

indicating that records must be protected from potential damage, deterioration, and loss 

from using obsolete technology. The management directive states that “electronic 
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records must be backed up regularly to safeguard against the loss of information as a 

result of equipment malfunctions or human error.”

Records Management and Maintenance Weaknesses During the License 

Suspension Period 

The agency was out of compliance with applicable records management guidance and 

practices from potentially as early as April 11, 2011,

9 through November 18, 2013.10 As 

described earlier, NRC received documents from various sources, such as DOE and 

CNWRA. Upon receipt of these documents, NRC was considered the “owner” of these 

documents per MD 3.53 and was required to safeguard and manage these records 

accordingly.

However, NRC did not appropriately manage the documents that came into its 

possession. These documents were never backed up appropriately onto another media 

source during the entire period that the licensing process was suspended. Finally, other 

than the initial readability tests, the records largely remained untouched, leaving the 

condition of the records unknown during the entire suspension period. 

NRC Officials Uncertain of Funding for Records Management 

NRC did not appropriately manage the LSN documents that came into its possession 

because agency staff were unsure about the source of funding that could be used to 

manage the records. According to NRC managers, agency staff were uncertain about 

how to fund the expenses associated with managing records received by various 

sources as a result of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel’s April 2011 order. 

The managers stated that they had always understood that they could use Nuclear 

Waste Funds11 only for purposes of managing LSN records, and that they would be in 

violation of appropriations law if they used NRC’s general funds. Thus, as part of its 

June 2011 request to Congress to use money from the Nuclear Waste Fund to support 

Yucca Mountain closure activities, the agency specifically mentioned a plan to load the 

LSN documents into the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 

 9 April 11, 2011, is the date that the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel issued an Order directing 

all parties in the Yucca Mountain licensing process to preserve all LSN documents submitted to the LSN 

and submit those documents as well as the bibliographic information to SECY. 

10 November 18, 2013, is the issuance date of the Commission Order detailing the steps to continue the 

license application review of the Yucca Mountain HLW repository. 11 The Nuclear Waste Fund was established by the NWPA to be used for “...the identification, 

development, licensing, construction, operation, decommissioning, and post-decommissioning 

maintenance and monitoring of any repository, monitored, retrievable storage facility or test and 

evaluation facility constructed under [the NWPA]...”
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(ADAMS)

12 using the Nuclear Waste Fund. On August 2, 2011, Congress denied NRC 

the use of the Nuclear Waste Fund for all activities associated with the closure of the 

agency's Yucca Mountain review of the license application for construction 

authorization. Shortly after receiving the congressional response, the agency received 

LSN documents from DOE, which were then stored by SECY. According to both NRC 

guidance and records management regulations, by virtue of it physically being received 

by and housed at NRC, these documents then became subject to standard 

recordkeeping and maintenance requirements.

Agency officials stated during the exit conference meeting for this audit that they had no 

choice but to be out of compliance with recordkeeping and maintenance requirements 

until the source of the funding was adequately determined. What agency officials failed 

to realize, however, was that the LSN records became agency records at the moment 

they were received, based on NRC’s own policy. Ultimately, this was confirmed in an 

Office of Information Services document dated April 5, 2013. The Office of the General 

Counsel further clarified the matter in May 2013. Yet, despite this question having been 

seemingly cleared up by the Office of the General Counsel, it was not until the 

November 2013 Commission Order was issued, ultimately specifying that the Nuclear 

Waste Fund be used for the records management of documents in NRC’s possession, 

that the agency took measures to back up the documents held by SECY. This was

approximately 27 months after receipt of the documents, and represents the period of 

time that the agency’s confusion resulted in these agency records being out of

compliance with recordkeeping and maintenance requirements. 

Information Is At Risk for Loss During the Period of a License Suspension 

Without records management and maintenance requirements to guide staff on how to 

safely keep and manage records during a license suspension, significant agency 

records could be vulnerable and at risk during that period of time. Agency records may 

include those that support a record of decisionmaking and institutional knowledge at the 

Commission, and they would be at risk of loss through failure, destruction, corruption, or 

obsolescence of records retention technology during a suspension in the licensing

process. As a result, such a failure could affect support for and the transparency of 

particular management decisionmaking by the Commission.

 12 ADAMS is NRC’s official record-keeping system.
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NRC Is Taking Steps To Appropriately Manage Records

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, through the

issuance of a Writ of Mandamus, instructed NRC to promptly continue with the legally 

mandated Yucca Mountain licensing process. In accordance with the Writ of 

Mandamus, NRC issued a Commission Order providing steps to continue the technical 

safety review of the license application for a construction authorization of a HLW 

repository at Yucca Mountain. This resolved many of the agency’s records 

management issues related to how the Yucca Mountain license application documents 

were previously managed and maintained.

Court Order Directs NRC To Continue Yucca Mountain Licensing Review

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit determined that 

NRC violated the NWPA by not issuing a final decision to either approve or disapprove 

the license application for the construction authorization within a 3-year time period from 

when the application was submitted in 2008. The Court stated, “The Commission is 

under a legal obligation to continue the licensing process....”

On August 13, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia 

Circuit issued a Writ of Mandamus to NRC, which specifies the Commission must—

among other things—fulfill legal and statutory obligations to complete the review of the 

Yucca Mountain license application for construction authorization. The Writ concluded,

“...unless and until Congress authoritatively says otherwise or there are no appropriated 

funds remaining, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must promptly continue with the 

legally mandated licensing process.” 

NRC Is Taking Steps To Appropriately Manage Records

As a result of the Writ of Mandamus, NRC has been moving towards compliance with

NRC’s records management policy, starting with a Commission Order that specified 

various steps to be performed to continue the licensing process for the construction 

authorization application of a HLW repository at Yucca Mountain.

In response to a Commission Order in November 2013, the agency made an effort to 

comply with its own records management policy (MD 3.53) by requiring the loading of

the LSN documents into NRC’s non-public13 version of ADAMS to facilitate completion 

 13 The Nov. 18, 2013, Commission Order requires NRC to load the DOE-supplied documents into nonpublic ADAMS, to give NRC employees ready access to the documents in order to complete the SER. 
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of the technical safety review. To help complete the technical safety review, the NRC

technical staff need access to the LSN collection, including those documents submitted 

by the DOE14 to support its license application for construction authorization. Through 

the process of giving the staff access to the documents, some of the record 

management weaknesses that the OIG observed during the initial fieldwork phases of 

the audit were eliminated, including:

• Lack of backup for records received from other entities. At the time the

license review was suspended, NRC received documents from multiple sources. 

NRC did not have a backup for the documents. 

• Improper storage of documents. The external hard drives containing 

documents from various sources have a limited lifespan and are prone to 

damage or destruction.

• Difficulty in retrieving documents. The categorization and inconsistent 

organization of the documents on the hard drives were created by the external 

entities, which made it difficult to locate documents. 

• Lack of detailed inventory of records received from external parties. Once 

NRC received records from various sources, NRC did not create a detailed

inventory of each of the records that was received.

• Absence of periodic testing of data integrity. When NRC initially received the 

data from various sources, a sample of records in the external hard drives was 

initially checked for data integrity. However, periodic testing of data integrity and 

feasibility was not performed throughout the life of the storage period of the 

documents prior to the November 2013 Order. 

Matters for Consideration

NRC should consider the following matters as it continues to comply with the Writ of 

Mandamus through the November 2013 Commission Order:

1. Establish and maintain a unique record series. NRC should ensure the 

consistent application of the implementation of a unique record series for the 

 

Once the SER is finalized, only the documents that are used in the SER will be publicly accessible 

through the public version of ADAMS.

14 The DOE-supplied records to the NRC include approximately 8 terabytes of data, equating to 40 million 

pages, and cover about 7 million documents, encompassing 98.8 percent of the total LSN collection. 
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LSN collection documents and metadata files that were loaded into ADAMS to 

prevent records from being lost and to group all of the related documents 

together. A unique records series is important to facilitate NRC’s commitment to 

transparency in its regulatory actions.

2. Provide targeted training on the new ADAMS LSN collection library. NRC 

should train staff to use the new ADAMS library containing the LSN collection

and general records management requirements, as well as updating all directly 

involved employees on the developments of the Yucca Mountain licensing 

review. Agency officials were already working towards this goal prior to the audit 

exit conference meeting. For example, the Office of Information Services 

scheduled a meeting on April 7, 2014, with select NRC staff members to 

demonstrate how to search the LSN collection in ADAMS. 

Additionally, publicly available training will be beneficial in the future for external 

stakeholders who may lack experience in using ADAMS. 

3. Provide NARA with an updated records disposition schedule. The 2008 

NRC disposition schedule for the documents related to the Yucca Mountain 

construction authorization license application was submitted prior to suspension 

of the licensing process and, therefore, does not include the records received 

from DOE. The agency has not yet submitted a revised records schedule to 

reflect the upload of LSN documents to ADAMS.

AGENCY COMMENTS

An exit conference was held with the agency on June 2, 2014. Prior to the exit 

conference, OIG provided agency staff a copy of the discussion draft report. Through 

the agency response to the discussion draft and discussions at the exit conference 

meeting, agency management provided supplemental information that has been 

incorporated into this report as appropriate. The agency opted not to provide formal 

comments to this final report.

SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY

To understand NRC’s compliance with Federal requirements and documentation for the 

Yucca Mountain proceedings, auditors interviewed staff from the Office of Information 

Services, SECY, the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, the Office of the 

General Counsel, and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel. Auditors reviewed 

pertinent laws and regulations including NARA regulations, OMB issuances, and the 

Code of Federal Regulations for specific instruction regarding the guidance on the 
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Yucca Mountain licensing process. Additionally, auditors reviewed guidance and policy, 

including Commission Orders, NUREGs, and management directives. The audit staff 

maintained awareness of the developing news of the Yucca Mountain proceedings and 

its impacts to the audit in-process. 

Internal controls related to the audit objective were reviewed and analyzed. Throughout 

the audit, auditors were aware of the possibility or existence of fraud, waste, or abuse in 

the program. 

We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted 

government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the 

audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence 

obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our 

audit objectives. 

The work was conducted by RK Wild, Team Leader; Jaclyn Storch, Audit Manager; 

Tincy Thomas, Senior Auditor; Tariq Noaman, Analyst; and Jenny Cheung, Auditor. We 

performed the audit work at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, from July 2013 

to March 2014.