Yucca Mountain, view looking north

Yucca Mountain Repository — Environmental Impact Statements

  On This Page



November 2007 — U. S. Department of Energy Issues National Environmental Policy Act Documents for Public Comment — US DOE

  • Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada (Draft Repository SEIS)


  • Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada – Nevada Rail Transportation Corridor (Draft Nevada Rail Corridor SEIS) and Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a Rail Alignment for the Construction and Operation of a Railroad in Nevada to a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada (Draft Rail Alignment EIS)

Related Information

May 2007 — Summary of Public Scoping Comments —Expanded Scope for the Rail Line EIS - The Mina Corridor (70 Pages 300KB)

September 2004 — Summary of Public Scoping Comments - Rail Line EIS (62 Pages 3.1MB PDF File)

October 2006 —DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE): Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, NV — Read Federal Register Notice: 5 Pages - Adobe PDF File-

To evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the "Current Repository Design and Operational Plans" DOE has decided to prepare the above referenced Supplement to the Yucca Mountain Final EIS. The federal register notice is actualy a Notice of Intent (NOI) prepred to invite comments on the scope of the Supplemental EIS; accordingly, DOE accepted public scoping period on the scope of the SEIS. The comment period ended on November 27, 2006. Below are the "scoping" comments submitted by Eureka County and the State of Nevada.

Regrading DOE's Current Repository Design and Operational Plans" for the porposed repository at Yucca Mountain, the referenced federal register notice discribes the new design and plans as follows:

    . . . the proposed surface and subsurface facilities [at Yucca Mountain] would allow DOE to operate the repository following a primarily canistered approach in which most commercial spent nuclear fuel would be packaged at the commercial sites in multipurpose transport, aging and disposal canisters (TADs), and all DOE materials would be packaged in disposable canisters at the DOE sites. Waste packages would be arrayed in the repository underground to achieve what is referred to as a higher-thermal operating mode, and most spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste would arrive at the repository by rail.

Comments:
December 12, 2006 — Eureka County Comments -- Amended Notice of Intent To Expand the Scope of the Environmental Impact Statement for the Alignment, Construction, and Operation of a Rail Line to a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, NV

December 12, 2006 — State of Nevada - State of Nevada Comments: — DOE's Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, NV (71FR198, October 13, 2006, 60490-60494) ( -106K)

DOE Update to Congress -- 2004 The DOE published a Record of Decision (ROD) in the Federal Register on April 8, 2004, announcing that it had decided to select, both nationally and in the state of Nevada, the mostly rail transportation mode for the shipment of 70,000 metric tons of SNF and HLW to the repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. DOE also decided in the same ROD to select the Caliente rail corridor in which to examine possible alignments for construction of a rail line that would connect the repository at Yucca Mountain to an existing main rail line in Nevada.

A Notice of Intent to develop a Rail Alignment EIS was published in the Federal Register on April 8, 2004. The Rail Alignment EIS will consider alternative alignments within the Caliente corridor for construction of a rail line, and this work in ongoing.

Yucca Mountain EIS Description

Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada Environmental Impact Statement

    Document Number: DOE/EIS-0250
    Program: Civilian Radioactive
    State: Nevada/National

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to assess the potential environmental impacts from construction, operation, and closure of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed geologic repository for disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. This environmental impact statement (EIS) was required to support DOE's site recommendation to the President, as appropriate, under Section 114 of the Act.

Section 114 of the Act describes the process for obtaining site approval and construction authorization. As part of this process, DOE has conducted hearings in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain and received public comments regarding a possible recommendation of the site. Following these hearings and completion of site characterization activities, the Secretary of Energy did recommend approval of the Yucca Mountain site to the President.

After the decision was made to recommend the Yucca Mountain site, the Secretary made available to the public, and submit to the President, a comprehensive statement of the basis for selecting Yucca Mountain as the site for the national repository. Pursuant to Section 114(a)(1)(D) of the Act, this comprehensive statement included the Final EIS prepared for the Yucca Mountain Site pursuant to Section 114(f) and the National Environmental Policy Act. The analysis of potential environmental impacts in this EIS supported DOE’s site recommendation to the President and the President’s ultimate decision recommending to Congress that the Yucca Mountain site be developed as a geologic repository.

Alternatives

In 1987, the Act was amended and directed DOE to evaluate only Yucca Mountain as a candidate disposal site. The Act also restricted the analysis of alternatives that the EIS must consider. To assist with meaningful comparison of potential impacts associated with the proposed action, the EIS l evaluated a No Action alternative and three thermal loading implementing alternatives: (1) high thermal load; (2) intermediate thermal load, and (3) low thermal load. The EIS included an evaluation of the environmental impacts of surface and subsurface construction, operation, and eventual closure activities, as well as national and regional transportation and various packaging options for shipping spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

Draft Environmental Impact Statement

A precurser to the Final EIS, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada was released for public comment on August 6, 1999. The purpose of the Draft EIS was to consider the possible environmental impacts that could result from the construction, operation and monitoring, and eventual closure of a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The Draft EIS also evaluated the possible impacts of transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain, as well as the possible impacts of not developing a geologic repository and continuing to store these materials at commercial and DOE sites.

The Final version of the EIS can be downloaded section by section via this link to DOE's Yucca Mountain Project website. The document is available to view in either PDF or HTML formats.

Supplement to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Supplement to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada. The supplement provided recent information on the repository design evolution and the potential environmental impacts associated with this updated design information. DOE opened a 45-day comment period on the supplement to the draft EIS. The original draft EIS was issued in August of 1999 followed by 21 public hearings and a 199-day comment period. DOE will held three public hearings on the supplement document in Nevada during the 45-day period.

The Department of Energy sought comments regarding the environmental impacts of the new information on repository design and operation presented in the Supplement to the DEIS. Comment responses and resolutions were included in the Final EIS.

Yucca Mountain EIS Comments

Eureka County EIS Newsletters

Newsletter Winter 2000

Summer/Fall 1999

NEPA Resource Information

Recent EIS Decisions Affecting the Nevada Test Site

Site-wide for the Nevada Test Site and Other Off-Site Test Locations within the State of Nevada Record of Decision (12/13/96) - For Defense Programs, activities at the Nevada Test Site will focus on experiments and operations to maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of the stockpile without underground nuclear testing and will maintain a level of readiness to resume testing, as directed by the President. DOE will maintain the current level of low-level and mixed low-level waste management activity pending decisions on low-level waste and mixed low-level waste based on the Waste Management PEIS. For the Environmental Restoration Program, characterization and selected remediation of contaminated areas of facilities will continue. Ongoing program operations and diversification of use for nondefense and private use of the Nevada Test Site will continue. Activities centered around treaty verification, nonproliferation, counter proliferation, demilitarization, and defense related research and development will continue to be an important aspect of Nevada Test Site related activities.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Disposal Phase SEIS-II Record of Decision (1/23/98) - WIPP will dispose of transuranic waste from the Nevada Test Site.

Waste Management Programmatic EIS Record of Decision for Transuranic Waste (1/23/98) - Transuranic waste at the Nevada Test Site will be packaged to meet WIPP waste acceptance criteria and stored on-site for eventual disposal at WIPP.

WASTE MANAGEMENT PEIS
The Nevada Test Site and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation were selected from six preferred alternative sites for regional disposal of low-level and mixed low-level wastes

Site Index
What's New |  Licensing Process |  Newsletter |  Transportation |  Litigation
Documents |  Regulation |  Photos |  Maps |  EIS Data |  Timeline
Calendar |  FAQ  |  Internet Links |  Archives |  Contact
Subject Index  |  Site Map
Home Page

— Search Our Site —