Welcome to the Nye County Nuclear Waste Repository Project Office (NWRPO) website. The purpose of this site is to provide the public with information about Nye County's involvement with the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) and YMP issues in general.

For more than two decades, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has conducted an extensive scientific effort to determine whether Yucca Mountain, Nevada is a suitable site for a deep geologic (underground) repository to dispose of the nation's high-level radioactive waste (HLW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF).

Nye County, Nevada is the single local jurisdiction selected by the federal government to host the repository.  The Nye County Board of Commissioners established the NWRPO as Nye County's staff agency to ensure County policies and actions regarding nuclear waste activities are conducted to protect the health, welfare, and economic well-being of its residents and environment, and to plan for and mitigate possible impacts of the repository, if it is located in Nye County.  

The Nye County NWRPO facility is located in Pahrump, Nevada. 

What's New?
 

THE NYE COUNTY NWRPO FACILITY HAS MOVED!
Effective June 1, 2009 the Nye County NWRPO has moved its location. The new physical and mailing address is:   2101 E. Calvada Blvd. Suite 100 Pahrump, NV 89048   The main office phone number is still (775) 727-7727.
INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS PROGRAM
Zonal testing activities, including step-drawdown packer tests, are scheduled to begin May 11, 2009 at NC-EWDP-4PD. In conjunction with the packer tests, water samples will be collected at wells -4PD, -15P, -7S, and -2DB, and Last Chance.	Several agencies are expected to participate in the sampling opportunity, including the US Geological Survey and Desert Research Institute. Interested parties should contact the NWRPO for a schedule and more information.
NYE COUNTY CONTENTIONS ADMITTED BY THE NRC FOR THE YUCCA MOUNTAIN LICENSING PROCEEDINGS WITH NO APPEALS
May 11, 2009 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (ASLBs), designated as "construction authorization boards," heard oral arguments on admissibility of contentions in Las Vegas from March 31 - April 2 .  The boards issued a combined order on May 11, 2009.  6 of the 7 contentions submitted by Nye County were admitted by the NRC.  A summary of the 6 admitted contentions and a full text version of the NRC document  "NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards Memorandum and Order (Identifying Participants and Admitted Contentions" are available here.	May 21, 2009 In accordance with 10 C.F.R.   § 2.1015(b), any appeal to the Commission from the May 11, 2009 Memorandum and Order: must have been filed with the Commission no later than ten (10) days after service of the order. A supporting brief must have accompanied the notice of appeal. None of the 6 admitted Nye County contentions were appealed by the May 21, 2009 deadline.
YUCCA MOUNTAIN HIGH LEVEL WASTE REPOSITORY PROCEEDINGS WERE HELD ON MARCH 31 - APRIL 2, 2009
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) proceedings for "Oral Argument in the Matter of U.S. Department of Energy (High Level Waste Repository), Las Vegas, Nevada" were held on March 31 - April 2, 2009.  A transcript of these proceedings are available at: http://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp. Webcasts Webcasts of each of the three (3) proceedings are available for archive viewing for 90 days after the event date (through June 2009). The URL links to the webcasts that correspond to each of the three days are provided below: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 9:00 AM PST www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=57076 Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - 9:00 AM PST www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=57079 Thursday, April 2, 2009 - 9:00 AM PST www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=57081
NYE COUNTY SUBMITS CONTENTIONS TO THE NRC FOR THE YUCCA MOUNTAIN LICENSING PROCEEDINGS
December 19, 2008 The Nye County Nevada Nuclear Waste Repository Project Office (NWRPO) has submitted seven contentions to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the Yucca Mountain licensing proceedings. Two of these are joint contentions with Esmeralda, Mineral, Churchill, Lander and Inyo (CA) Counties. In June 2008, The Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application to the NRC to allow construction of the Yucca Mountain geologic repository in Nye County. In September, 2008 the NRC accepted DOE’s License Application for review.	.   The NRC’s regulations allow interested parties to participate in the Licensing Process and these potential parties must submit any contentions by December 22, 2008.. A press release and summary of the seven contentions and a full text version of the document  "Nye County, Nevada Petition to Intervene and Contentions" are available here.