The past twelve months at Yucca Mountain

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is evaluating Yucca Mountain in Nevada to determine whether the site would be a safe location for a high-level radioactive waste repository. As mandated by Congress, the DOE must study the geology, hydrology, environment, and other factors to predict whether a geologic repository {approximately} 305 m (1,000 ft) below Yucca Mountains' surface could isolate high-level waste for 10,000 years. Yucca Mountain lies on the western edge of the Nevada Test Site, 177 km (110 miles) northwest of Las Vegas. The Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project (YMP) has embarked on a broad-based testing program designed to examine all factors that could affect the performance of a repository. During the past year, the YMP satisfied several prerequisites that needed to be resolved prior to starting investigations that are necessary to determine whether Yucca Mountain would be a suitable repository site. The most significant accomplishment of 1990 was the establishment of a fully qualified US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-accepted QA program for the entire project. Plans, procedures, personnel, and equipment are ready to go to work collecting new data, but are still restricted from doing the job that Congress has mandated. The obstacle to performing new sitemore » characterization studies is DOE's inability to obtain environmental permits that are necessary for surface-disturbing activities.« less