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The Nuclear Waste Policy Act: 1984 Implementation Status, Progress, and Problems

RCED-85-100 Published: Sep 30, 1985. Publicly Released: Sep 30, 1985.
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Highlights

Pursuant to the requirements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) progress in implementing the act, focusing on: (1) the DOE approach to selecting a waste disposal site; (2) DOE negotiations with states and Indian tribes for consultation and cooperation agreements; and (3) DOE planning for monitored retrievable spent fuel storage (MRS).

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter Status Comments
If Congress decides greater conservatism in siting the first repository is needed to provide backup sites, several available options include: (1) confirming the need for alternative sites, but approving DOE testing plans; (2) requiring additional testing prior to the DOE recommendation of three sites for characterization; (3) directing DOE to characterize more than three sites; or (4) directing DOE to modify its site characterization approach by first testing and then characterizing more than three sites.
Closed – Implemented
The President signed into law amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The amendments dramatically changed the program and infused greater conservatism in the DOE siting approach. DOE was directed to characterize the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, site for development of the first respository. DOE was authorized to site and construct a repository only at the Nevada site.
If the Price-Anderson Act is extended, Congress should increase the act's limits on liability and indemnification for nuclear incidents involving high-level radioactive waste activities.
Closed – Implemented
In August 1988, Congress passed legislation extending the Price-Anderson Act and increasing the act's limits on liability and indemnification for nuclear waste incidents.

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy To keep Congress currently and fully informed of DOE progress in implementing the nuclear waste management program, the Secretary of Energy should: (1) submit to Congress written reports, similar to those required of other federal agencies under section 114(e)(2) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, giving a separate and full accounting of the reasons for and implications of each actual and expected delay in meeting program deadlines; and (2) address any changes to the program's overall policies or strategies, which may deviate from the mission plan, in each annual report of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM).
Closed – Implemented
In the third annual report on the Nuclear Waste Office, DOE began providing information on changes in the waste program's overall policies and procedures, as GAO recommended.
Department of Energy To reduce the risks to the waste management program of delays if a selected site cannot be successfully characterized, the Secretary of Energy should prepare contingency plans identifying which site or sites would be considered as backup sites to the three recommended for testing and how, and under what circumstances, that site or sites would be tested.
Closed – Not Implemented
DOE stated that it believes the specific plans GAO recommended are unnecessary and could be counterproductive.
Department of Energy To assist Congress in its deliberations on whether to authorize construction of MRS facilities, the Secretary of Energy should explain to Congress, in the January 1986 MRS proposal, how DOE will ensure that an MRS project would operate within OCRWM so as not to impede progress of the repository program.
Closed – Implemented
The DOE MRS proposal links operation of an MRS to receipt of a construction authorization for the repository. This would ensure that MRS could not operate until a repository is almost a certainty. However, it does not ensure that resources and efforts expended in constructing an MRS will not delay repository construction and operation.

Full Report

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Topics

Energy lawEnvironment evaluationEnvironmental impact statementsEnvironmental lawstate relationsNuclear waste disposalRadioactive wastesReporting requirementsSite selectionTesting