Exploratory Studies Facility Main Drift
Summary
Budget Cuts Narrow Work Scope, But Progress Continues
OCRWM Annual Report to Congress, FY 1996
With a 40 percent decrease in funding from the Fiscal Year 1995 level, managing this reduction and narrowing and refocusing program activities became crucial. In determining how to achieve this within the parameters of congressional direction, we carefully weighed the long-term programmatic consequences of curtailing or terminating activities, the financial penalties of terminating contracts, and the various expectations and needs of the program's stakeholders. By May 1996, we had completed a revised draft Program Plan that reflected a strategy consistent with the realities of the budget, congressional guidance, and Administration policy for the program.
A reorganization that further streamlined management functions, coupled with greater management efficiencies, equipped our organization to do more with less--and we did. All major Fiscal Year 1996 milestones outlined in the revised Program Plan have been completed.
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Exploratory Studies Facility Main Drift |
Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project
In conformance with congressional direction and with the benefit of findings from our scientific investigations, characterization of the Yucca Mountain site has been focused to address key unresolved technical questions about the site's suitability. Benefiting from the convergence of more than a decade of scientific and engineering work at the Yucca Mountain site, we refined our approach to determining site suitability in order to structure a more transparent, multi-staged process for arriving at a suitability determination. This process calls for an assessment in 1998 of the viability of siting a repository at Yucca Mountain. It also requires updating the regulatory framework for siting a repository. Our approach accommodates recent budget reductions, requires only moderate increases in funding in future years, and will enable us to regain a target date of 2002 for a repository license application--for about $1 billion less than our December 1994 Program Plan required.
With the scientific, regulatory, and management framework that governs the program strengthened, we can reach these milestones--if adequate funding is available and the site proves suitable. The following Fiscal Year 1996 accomplishments are key steps toward those milestones.
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Exploratory Studies Facility progress |
The Exploratory Studies Facility: toward daylight
Although funding cuts slowed our progress somewhat during Fiscal Year 1996, the Tunnel Boring Machine continued to exceed the targets in its baseline schedule. In July, we met a major milestone ahead of schedule by completing the excavation of the main tunnel of the Exploratory Studies Facility at the repository level. We also completed the fourth test alcove, initiated work on the Thermal Test Facility, and began small-scale, shakedown heater testing. The large-scale heater test to follow will provide information essential to the determination of site suitability.
By the end of September, the Tunnel Boring Machine had excavated over 4 of the approximately 5 miles of the planned U-shaped tunnel loop. This progress resulted from favorable rock conditions, an efficient crew, and enhanced performance of the machine. We expected to "daylight" the machine early in 1997, with its exit from the mountain at the South Portal of the Exploratory Studies Facility.
Convergence: a site viability assessment in 1998
To date, the results of our scientific investigations reveal no reasons to disqualify the site, and they generally confirm our hypothesis that it will prove suitable for a repository. A principal objective of our revised site characterization strategy is to address major unresolved technical questions by 1998, so that an informed assessment can be made of the viability of siting a repository at Yucca Mountain. In the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1997, Congress directed us to provide that assessment to the President and to Congress by September 30, 1998.
Four main tasks will be required to complete the viability assessment: (1) more specific design work on the repository and waste package, and a more specific concept of repository operations; (2) a total system performance assessment describing the probable behavior of the repository; (3) a plan and cost estimate for the work remaining to complete a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and (4) a more precise estimate of the costs of constructing and operating the repository, based on the latest design and operational concept.
This information will serve policy makers, program planners, and scientists and engineers, by focusing the final years of site investigations and facility design on the important uncompleted work and unresolved issues, and providing all participants with a common frame of reference for evaluating the project.
In Fiscal Year 1996, we focused on design and scientific investigations associated with the first two tasks above, and we achieved several significant milestones. In March, we completed the Mined Geologic Disposal System Advanced Conceptual Design Report for the repository and waste package. Models for the 3-D geologic framework, site-scale saturated zone and unsaturated zone flow, and saturated zone and unsaturated zone radionuclide transport were fully developed. A study was completed that will provide a technical basis for a recommendation on whether an additional engineered barrier, such as backfill or other concepts serving similar functions, should be incorporated into the repository system design.
Two other key milestones that we met were completion of major performance assessments: the Total System Performance Assessment - 1995 and a flow calculation of Yucca Mountain groundwater travel time. Performance assessments, along with design and construction activities, provide the basis for determining the further work needed to support the site viability assessment, the subsequent site suitability determination, and the license application. Total system performance assessments will be used in the site viability assessment and suitability determination and, if the site proves suitable, they will be used to demonstrate its suitability in the licensing forum.
Updating the repository regulatory framework
Work on a proposed rule to update our repository siting guidelines (10 CFR Part 960) continued through the latter half of Fiscal Year 1996. We published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking soliciting public comments on the proposed amendments on December 16, 1996. These amendments would streamline the process for determining site suitability, and would focus the site suitability evaluation on safety and environmental performance. Under our proposal, the original generic requirements, based on comparisons among competing candidate sites, would no longer apply to Yucca Mountain. The determination of suitability would shift from an evaluation of individual features of the site to an integrated, total system performance assessment of how a repository designed specifically for the conditions at Yucca Mountain would perform against the applicable regulatory standards--most importantly, the new Yucca Mountain-specific radiation protection standard that the Environmental Protection Agency is developing.
Waste Acceptance, Storage, and Transportation Project
Our revised strategy for waste acceptance, storage, and transportation assumes that a decision on siting an interim storage facility will be informed by the results of the Yucca Mountain viability assessment. We are proceeding with those waste acceptance, storage, and transportation tasks that can be conducted prior to designation of a facility site.
Developing a market-driven strategy
The physical work of accepting, storing, and transporting waste will demand a new generation of casks and canisters capable of meeting stringent regulatory standards, serving all reactor sites, and handling a diverse array of spent nuclear fuel, and it will require a major transportation campaign entailing not only logistical but institutional complexities. Our revised Program Plan adopts a market-driven strategy for acquiring these capabilities; we will rely to the maximum extent practicable on private industry's capabilities, expertise, and experience. This strategy both reflects funding constraints and conforms with Administration and Departmental privatization initiatives.
In May 1996, we issued in the Federal Register a Request for Expressions of Interest and Comments regarding our approach. In July, we hosted a Pre-solicitation Conference for the Acquisition of Waste Acceptance and Transportation Services. We received and reviewed comments, and in December we issued a draft Request for Proposals. We plan to implement a competitive procurement process resulting in awards of fixed-price, multi-year, performance-based contracts.
Interim storage contingency: facility design and engineering safety analysis
We are developing a non-site-specific facility design and Topical Safety Analysis Report for submittal to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At the end of the fiscal year, design of the first phase of such a facility was approximately 50 percent complete. We planned to submit the Topical Safety Analysis Report for the initial phase of a non-site-specific facility in May 1997.
In a related activity, a Topical Safety Analysis Report for a dry spent-fuel transfer system was submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in September 1996. The concept for the facility was developed under a cooperative agreement with the Electric Power Research Institute. Final design was developed under contract with Transnuclear, Inc., and incorporated into the Topical Safety Analysis Report. The project involves development of a facility with transportable components for transferring spent fuel between storage and/or transportation casks in a dry environment. The facility would allow utilities with limited pool space or crane capacity to take advantage of the new generation of higher-capacity, more efficient storage and transport systems. It could facilitate decommissioning of shut down reactors and would be usable at multiple sites.
In a lawsuit brought by utilities and State regulatory agencies, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Federal Government is obligated to begin disposing of spent nuclear fuel from utilities by January 1998, in return for the utilities' obligation to pay fees, even though the Department has no permanent repository or interim storage facility constructed under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The court further stated, however, that it was premature to determine the appropriate remedy and remanded the matter to the Department for further proceedings consistent with the court's opinion.
In December 1996, the Department sent letters to the holders of the Standard Contract for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High-Level Radioactive Waste notifying them that the Department anticipates that it will be unable to begin accepting spent nuclear fuel for disposal by January 31, 1998, and inviting the views of all contract holders on how the delay can best be accommodated.
On January 31, 1997, a coalition of 46 State agencies and a coalition of 33 utilities filed a new lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asking the court to 1) permit them to put into escrow future fees they would otherwise pay into the Nuclear Waste Fund, unless and until the Department accepts their spent nuclear fuel, and 2) direct the Department to develop a program that will enable it to begin accepting spent nuclear fuel by January 31, 1998. The petition was pending as this report went to press.
Technical assistance and training for public safety officials
Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the Department to provide technical assistance and funds to States and Indian Tribes through whose jurisdictions the program will transport spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, so that they can train public safety officials. In May 1996, we met a key milestone by issuing a Notice of Proposed Policy and Procedures that solicits comments on the program's options for implementing this section. We are anticipating issuing a Notice of Revised Policy and Procedures in the summer of 1997, and the Final Policy and Procedures in Fiscal Year 1998.
Phase-out of cask and canister development
In response to reduced funding and congressional guidance, and in line with the new market-driven approach to waste acceptance, storage, and transportation services, we phased out or transferred various activities associated with canister and cask development.
The Phase I design stage of a multi-purpose canister contract with Westinghouse Electric Corporation was completed. We terminated the contract, and we are not proceeding with the Phase II certification effort. We transferred the work of preparing an environmental impact statement for the multi-purpose canister system to the Department of the Navy for its use in selecting a container for naval reactor spent nuclear fuel. We terminated development of the legal-weight truck cask, although half-scale model testing was continued into and then completed in Fiscal Year 1996. All design work done by the cask system contractor was made available to private industry.
We also concluded a Memorandum of Agreement with the Office of Environmental Management (EM) for administrative transfer from OCRWM to EM of the Nuclear Fuel Service Spent Fuel Shipping/Storage Cask Demonstration Project and the Long-Term Storage and Monitoring Program.
The work of adapting quickly to budget cuts dominated the beginning of the fiscal year, but while those cuts forced us to scale back or terminate a number of activities, progress continued on numerous management fronts.
Program planning and baseline management
With completion in May 1996 of the draft Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program Plan, Revision 1 (DOE/RW-0458, Revision 1), we met a major milestone. The revision establishes a new strategy consistent with budget realities, congressional guidance, and Administration policy. It also reprioritizes program management activities to support the work of completing the viability assessment of the Yucca Mountain candidate repository site in 1998 and developing and implementing a market-driven waste acceptance, storage, and transportation strategy.
We met another Fiscal Year 1996 milestone by modifying the cost, schedule, and technical baselines we use to measure participants' performance and to facilitate regular management assessments against milestones, schedules, and work defined during the planning process. The revisions conform those tools to the revised Program Plan. Building on the management improvements realized during Fiscal Year 1995, we continued to strengthen management tools for baselining and tracking accomplishments and costs.
Reprioritizing our work scope and strengthening program management
Budget cuts fell heavily on contractor personnel, as work scope was narrowed to accommodate reduced funding: approximately 900 jobs were eliminated. In September 1996, we awarded a contract consolidating technical and management support services. Within the Federal service, we achieved the Department's Strategic Alignment Initiative target employment levels for Fiscal Year 1996. Our headquarters reorganization, effective September 1996, more closely aligned our resources with the revised program strategy. We continued to implement business process improvements that reduce costs and enhance productivity. In this regard, we relied increasingly on the application of information technology to help us do our work faster and more efficiently.
Some of OCRWM's information technology applications have been adopted by other Departmental offices and other Federal agencies.
We completed the fee adequacy analysis mandated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and published the report, Nuclear Waste Fund Fee Adequacy: An Assessment (DOE/RW-0490), in October 1996. The study was based on the September 1995 "Analysis of the Total System Life Cycle Cost of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program." It found that the current fee of one mil per kilowatt-hour is adequate and should remain unchanged.
Preparing to accept DOE-owned waste
We continued to work with the Office of Environmental Management, the current custodian of DOE-owned spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste, to ensure that waste being considered for disposal in a repository will meet statutory and regulatory requirements. We revised the program baseline to incorporate disposal of DOE-owned spent fuel, and we developed preliminary waste acceptance specifications for it.
Fiscal Year 1996, we developed a revised program strategy that reflects Administration policy and responds to sharply reduced funding and congressional guidance while maintaining progress toward long-term objectives. The program is on track, working toward an early, comprehensive assessment of the viability of the Yucca Mountain site; more closely determining what will be required to incorporate defense waste into the waste management system; pursuing a market-driven strategy for waste acceptance, storage, and transportation; and preserving the core capability to respond to an interim storage contingency.
Overall, the elements of an integrated system for managing the Nation's spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste are emerging, more soundly conceived, and more modestly designed, as we work toward the physical reality of waste shipments to Federal facilities.
