Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management annual report to Congress Page: 4 of 56
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Executive Summary
This sixth Annual Report to Congress by the Office of
Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) de-
scribes activities and expenditures of the Office during
fiscal year 1988. An epilogue chapter reports significant
events from the end of the fiscal year on September 30,
1988 through March 1989.
Throughout the year, OCRWM focused its efforts and re-
sources on implementing the policy direction and specific pro-
visions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended by
the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987 (Amend-
ments Act), which was enacted on December 22, 1987. The
Draft 1988 Mission Plan Amendment, issued in June 1988 for
public review and comment, presented the overall program
strategy for developing the authorized waste management
system, as well as OCRWM's technical and institutional
plans. Following the evaluation of comments received on the
draft Amendment, a revised document, entitled OCR WM
Mission Plan Amendment 11, was prepared and was under-
going Departmental review.
To facilitate implementation of an effective quality
assurance (QA) program, OCRWM established a separate
Office of Quality Assurance in April 1988. Three major
QA documents, the Quality Assurance Requirements, the
Quality Assurance Program Description and the Yucca
Mountain Project QA Plan documents were issued and
accepted by the NRC.
In response to a requirement of the Amendments Act,
program activities at the Deaf Smith, Texas, and Hanford,
Washington, candidate repository sites were phased out,
while site characterization proceeded at the Yucca Moun-
tain, Nevada, candidate site. In December 1988, the stat-
utory site characterization plan (SCP) for Yucca Mountain
was issued, incorporating comments received on the con-
sultation draft SCP released for public review in January
1988. In conjunction with issuance of the SCP, the Envi-
ronmental Regulatory Compliance Plan and the Environ-
mental Monitoring and Mitigation plan for site character-
ization were also published.
In compliance with a reporting requirement of the Amend-
ments Act, OCRWM developed and submitted to Congress
the Section 175 Report: Secretary of Energy's Report to the
Congress Pursuant to Section 175 of the Nuclear Waste
Policy Act, As Amended. The report addressed a range of
potential socioeconomic impacts of locating a repository at
the Yucca Mountain candidate site and presented recommen-dations for the mitigation of such impacts.
Work in the systems integration area progressed on the
development of OCRWM's Systems Engineering Manage-
ment Plan and on the Waste Management System Require-
ments and the Waste Management System Description
documents.
Five contracts for the design of "from-reactor" casks
(legal weight truck casks and rail/barge casks) were
awarded. The contractors will be required to obtain design
certification from NRC.
OCRWM began an analysis of the optimal functions and
benefits of a monitored retrievable storage facility fully
integrated into the authorized waste management system.
The results of this analysis will be provided to the MRS
Review Commission for use in developing its report to
Congress on the need for an MRS facility.
Development and demonstrations of technologies for
expanding at-reactor spent fuel storage technologies con-
tinued through cooperative efforts with utilities and ge-
neric research. Licensed demonstrations of metal storage
casks and horizontal concrete modules, as well as in-pool
consolidation, took place with OCRWM support.
As required by the Amendments Act, OCRWM con-
ducted an evaluation of the use of temporary dry cask
storage at nuclear reactor sites until a Federal facility is
ready to receive the spent fuel. The Final Version Dry Cask
Storage Study was submitted in March 1988 to Congress,
along with NRC's comments.
In addition to continuing its diverse public information
and outreach program, OCRWM provided general brief-
ings and specifically requested information to the MRS
Review Commission and worked with the Nuclear Waste
Technical Review Board, eight members of which were
appointed by the President in January 1989.
OCRWM also continued and expanded its interactions
with affected parties as provided by the Nuclear Waste
Policy Act, as amended, to meet their special information
needs and to permit their concerns to be aired and evalu-
ated. In April 1988, the Secretary of Energy sent to the
State of Nevada an invitation renewing earlier offers to
begin negotiations for a consultation and cooperation
agreement, as specified in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act,
and further offered to initiate the development of a bene-
fits agreement and to work with a designated onsite
representative in accordance with provisions of the Amend-
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Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management annual report to Congress, report, December 1, 1989; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc625366/m1/4/: accessed April 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.