In 1974, after four years of searching for a temporary high-level waste (HLW) repository location, the United States government began a search for possible permanent repository sites. The search, at this time, consisted of a survey of underground rock formations in thirty-six states.
Prior to 1982, there was no major U.S. Legislation addressing the search for a temporary or permanent high-level waste repository location. By late 1982, a national dialogue had begun that would provide a legal framework for making decisions about the United States’ high-level waste management program.
As a result of this dialogue, the Nuclear waste Policy Act was signed into law by President Reagan in January 1983. The NWPA directed the DOE to develop a permanent geologic repository to dispose of the nation’s spent fuel rods from nuclear power plant reactors. The Act also provided guidelines for disposition of high-level waste.
Although amended in 1987, the 1983 NWPA established specific policies concerning:
- Geologic Repository Development - gave priority to permanent disposal in geologic repositories. Scheduled the siting of two high-level waste repositories and operating one;
- Storage - authorized provisions for a limited amount of emergency interim storage and for developing a proposal to site and construct a monitored retrievable storage facility;
- Intergovernmental Relations - set requirements for interactions between the federal government and Indian tribes, states, and local governments;
- Other Federal responsibilities - assigned the responsibility for nuclear waste management to specific Federal agencies; and
- Waste Fund - required the establishment of a fund to cover the costs of nuclear waste disposal to be paid by fees levied on nuclear power-generated electricity.
In February of 1983, the DOE recommended nine locations in Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Washington as potential permanent repository sites. A December 1984 Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIS) listed DOE’s recommendations as Yucca Mountain (Nevada), Deaf Smith County (Texas), and Hanford (Washington). All three sites are located in arid or semiarid regions. (Part of the reason deserts are often selected for waste disposal is because the probability for subsurface movement of water and soluble compounds is low, making compliance with groundwater contamination regulations more manageable.) President Reagan approved further study and characterization of all three sites. Site characterization activities began in 1986.
Less than one year later, in 1987, Congress adopted several amendments to the NWPA. The most significant amendment designated Yucca Mountain as the sole candidate site for a repository, and ended work on the sites in Texas and Washington. Congress also prohibited any further efforts by the DOE to find a site for a potential second repository. In addition to naming Yucca Mountain as the only site to be studied, the amendments provided for potential financial benefits to the host state, Nevada.
Nevada protested the decision outlined in the 1987 NWPA amendments by refusing to issue site characterization permits to the DOE. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled the state could not officially disapprove of Yucca Mountain until completion of site characterization. As a result of this ruling, the President officially recommended to Congress that characterization activities begin. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling. At this point, Nevada processed the necessary permits. In 1987, the DOE submitted a site characterization plan to Nevada and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
In early 1988, President Reagan signed the Yucca Mountain legislation into law. The fact the legislation focused on only one site, resulted in an estimated government cost savings of four billion dollars. The Yucca Mountain alternative also looked attractive to Congress due to the then-apparent stability of the geologic formations and the mountain's isolation from any usable aquifers. The nearness of the Yucca Mountain site to the Nevada Test Site, coupled with Nye County's low population density, were thought to indicate fewer political obstacles than other sites that had been considered.
Despite changes to the NWPA reflected in the 1987 amendments, the waste management program continued to be plagued by delays and rising costs. The projected date for a permanent repository slipped from 1998 to 2003, to 2010. Characterization of Yucca Mountain site hydrology continued to be one of the most expensive and time consuming tasks associated with development of the repository.
Faced with growing pressures to improve performance and establish realistic schedules. the DOE developed a new "Program Approach" in 1994. The idea was to bring program activities more in line with available budgets. Under the revised Program Approach, the DOE overhauled program management and streamlined site characterization procedures. The objectives of this "streamlining" were to make a formal determination of site suitability in 1998, submit an application for construction authorization to the NRC in 2001, and begin emplacing waste in 2010. Congress endorsed the Program Approach by increasing the DOE's Fiscal Year 1995 waste management program budget by approximately 40 percent. By September 1995, the DOE had tunneled almost one mile into Yucca Mountain, ahead of schedule and under budget.
Largely in response to pressure from the utilities and public utility commission, several bills came before Congress during FY 1995 that would further overhaul the waste management program. In early 1996, the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate agreed to reduce program funding by more than 25 percent, from $525 million in FY1995, to $400 million for FY 1996. The appropriations bill directed the DOE to establish an interim storage facility, but did not name a site, pending passage of a bill to overhaul the NWPA. Finally, the Appropriations Committee "fenced off" $85 million for interim storage and transportation activities until a new authorization bill could be passed.
During 1996 and 1997, the Nation's utilities became increasingly critical of the DOE, despite progress in developing the exploratory studies facility. Utilities were particularly concerned that DOE would not begin accepting spent fuel in 1998, as promised, and that DOE had no plans to develop an interim storage facility.
In June 1998, the Senate Appropriations Committee reduced the President's 1999 budget request for further development at Yucca Mountain by $5 million. The proposed Interim Storage Bill, which would designate the Nevada Test Site as temporary storage for spent nuclear fuel pending construction of a permanent repository site, did not come up for vote during the 105th Congress.
