Second Edition, Teachers Guides
July, 1995
The resource curriculum, Science,
Society, and America's Nuclear Waste,
was published in 1992, with a partially
revised edition published in 1995.
Although the information presented
in Units 1, 2, and 3 remains accurate,
descriptions of the waste management
system found in Unit 4 do not reflect
that system as currently envisioned.
Since we are not revising the curriculum
at this time, a short summary of the
evolution of the Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management (OCRWM) Program is
provided below. The user is also referred
to the OCRWM
Program Plan, Rev. 2, issued
in August 1998. This document is available
on OCRWM's Home Page under "Program
Overview," as is OCRWM's most recent
Annual Report to Congress, which discusses
Program activities and accomplishments
in greater detail. Specific questions
may be submitted electronically or
by phone for response by the staff
of OCRWM's National Information Center
at 1-800-225-NWPA or 202-488-6720
in Washington D.C. We hope that you
will find the curriculum to be a useful
teaching tool and invite your comments.
In the years following passage
of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and
its amendments, the Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management Program ("the Program")
has faced changing legislative mandates,
regulatory modifications, fluctuating
funding levels, and the evolving and
often conflicting needs and expectations
of diverse interest groups. The real
complexity of the scientific and regulatory
challenge at the Yucca Mountain site
began to be realized, and projected
costs greatly exceeded initial expectations.
It became increasingly clear that
many of the expectations embodied
in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act could
not be met.
In 1993, the Program undertook a comprehensive
assessment of its activities and stakeholder
expectations for costs, schedules,
and accomplishments. A new approach
was developed to make measurable and
significant progress toward key objectives.
The new program approach refocused
the work of the Yucca Mountain Site
Characterization Project on (1) evaluating
by 1998 the technical suitability
of the Yucca Mountain site for development
as a geologic repository; (2) delivering
a site recommendation and environmental
impact statement to the President
by 2000, contingent on a positive
suitability evaluation; and (3) submitting
a license application to the Commission
by 2001. The main objectives of the
Waste Acceptance, Storage and Transportation
Project were to make a new generation
of spent nuclear fuel storage and
transportation technology multi-purpose
canisters, available by 1998, and
to support timely resolution of waste
acceptance and interim storage issues.
The Energy and Water Development Appropriations
Act of 1996 reduced program funding
by 40 percent from 1995 levels. The
Program reduced its rate of expenditure
to meet the funding restrictions.
The continuity of the core scientific
work at Yucca Mountain was preserved.
Elsewhere, activities were reduced
to carrying out programmatic responsibilities
for oversight of the Nuclear Waste
Fund and of the contractual arrangements
with nuclear utilities, limited coordination
with transportation-related organizations,
and only the necessary program-wide
planning, management, and administrative
functions. Canister development activities
were terminated.
In May 1996, the Program issued a
Draft
Revised Program Plan which
defined a new milestone and management
tool for the Program -- the Yucca
Mountain viability assessment. This
interim milestone was later enacted
into law by the 1997 Energy and Water
Development Appropriations Act, which
directed that, "no later than September
30, 1998, the Secretary shall provide
to the President and to the Congress
a viability assessment of the Yucca
Mountain site. The viability assessment
shall include: (1) the preliminary
design concept for the critical elements
for the repository and waste package;
(2) a total system performance assessment,
based upon the design concept and
the scientific data and analysis available
by September 30, 1998, describing
the probable behavior of a repository
in the Yucca Mountain geological setting
relative to the overall system performance
standards; (3) a plan and cost estimate
for the remaining work required to
complete a license application; and
(4) an estimate of the costs to construct
and operate the repository in accordance
with the design concept." Since the
1996 Congressional redirection, the
Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
Program has experienced relative stability.
In August 1998, OCRWM issued Revision
2 of its Program Plan. That revision
does not fundamentally alter our approach.
In the near-term, we will complete
the Yucca Mountain system viability
assessment, and we will work to make
this assessment widely understood.
The viability assessment will give
all parties clearer understanding
of the information gained from site
investigations and the remaining work
required to support national decisions
on geologic disposal at Yucca Mountain.
It will represent the culmination
of a significant effort by all Program
participants.
This revision of the Program Plan
also outlines our efforts to utilize
the resources of the private sector
to accept spent nuclear fuel at reactor
sites around the country and ship
it to a Federal facility. And it describes
our plans to accept defense high-level
radioactive waste and Naval reactor
spent nuclear fuel for permanent disposal.
Given the scope of these tasks, this
Plan will be updated in coming years
to reflect changing realities and
new approaches to them. But fundamentally,
the Plan is built for the long term;
it provides a solid foundation for
carrying out a mission that will endure
as long as society demands safe, permanent
disposal of this long-lived radioactive
waste.
- Nuclear
Waste - Unit 1
- Ionizing
Radiation - Unit 2
- Nuclear
Waste Policy Act - Unit 3
- The
Waste Management System - Unit 4
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