FROM THE DIRECTOR

Since enactment of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982, the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) has made significant progress. Almost $4 billion has been committed to the scientific and technical work for a potential geologic repository. After nearly 20 years of scientific investigation, the Department of Energy is very close to assembling the information necessary for a potential decision on whether to recommend Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to the President for further development as a repository.

In Fiscal Year 1999, we issued the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada. In early Fiscal Year 2000, we completed 21 public hearings across the Nation to receive the public's view on the document. The 199-day comment period closed on February 28, 2000.

During Fiscal Year 2000, we worked to complete the scientific and engineering activities that will be the basis for a Secretarial decision. We selected a reference repository design in Fiscal Year 1999 and refined it during Fiscal Year 2000. We are evaluating this design concept to take advantage of its inherent flexibility to operate over a range of temperatures. We are taking this action in response to concerns about uncertainties associated with higher operating temperatures and to strengthen the scientific basis for a decision. This allows us to examine how a cooler repository design might reduce the uncertainties associated with predicting long-term repository performance.

Also, in Fiscal Year 2000, we issued proposed Yucca Mountain site Suitability guidelines for public comment. In the Spring of 2000, we submitted the proposed guidelines to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for concurrence.

We sought resolutions regarding the delay in accepting spent nuclear fuel to avoid costly and protracted litigation while the Department sought a permanent solution to the management of radioactive waste. We reached an agreement with PECO Energy Company in July 2000 to settle potential litigation over spent nuclear fuel storage costs that PECO has incurred.

In May 2001, OCRWM released for documents: (1) the Yucca Mountain Science and Engineering Report, which summarizes our investigative science and engineering studies; (2) the Supplement to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the potential repository at Yucca Mountain; (3) Analysis of the Total System Life Cycle Cost of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program, which provides our fiscal year 2000 total system life cycle cost (TSLCC) estimates; and (4) the Nuclear Waste Fund Fee Adequacy: An Assessment, which supports the conclusion that the 1-mil/kWh fee continues to be sufficient to pay for the estimated costs presented in the TSLCC.

In June 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the final health and environmental protection standards for Yucca Mountain that are designed to protect the public and the environment from exposure to the radioactive materials that would be stored in a potential repository.

We continue to emphasize nuclear quality assurance activities to ensure that data and models utilized are qualified for licensing, assuming the site is suitable and the President and Congress approve the site recommendation.

All of these activities support our continuing efforts to develop the sound science necessary to make an informed decision on whether to proceed with our national policy to manage our Nation's nuclear waste in a geologic repository.