; (B) vested the responsibility for siting, constructing, and operating a permanent geologic repository for the disposal of nuclear waste in the Secretary of Energy; and (C) required the Secretary to enter into binding contracts with the generators and owners of nuclear waste pursuant to which the Secretary is obligated to have begun disposing of the nuclear waste in a repository not later than January 31, 1998; (2) in 1987, Congress designated the Yucca Mountain site as the site for the repository and precluded consideration of other sites; (3) in 2002, the Secretary found the Yucca Mountain site to be suitable for the development of the repository, the President recommended the site to Congress, and Congress enacted a joint resolution approving the Yucca Mountain site for the repository; (4) in 2008, the Secretary applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to construct a repository at the Yucca Mountain site; (5) in 2009, the Secretary found the Yucca Mountain site to be unworkable and abandoned efforts to construct a repository; (6) in 2010, the Secretary, at the request of the President, established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to conduct a comprehensive review of the nuclear waste management policies of the United States and recommend a new strategy for managing the nuclear waste of the United States; and (7) the Blue Ribbon Commission has recommended that Congress establish a new nuclear waste management organization and adopt a new consensual approach to siting nuclear waste management facilities. 102. Purposes The purposes of this Act are— (1) to establish a new nuclear waste management organization; (2) to transfer to the new organization the functions of the Secretary relating to the siting, licensing, construction, and operation of nuclear waste management facilities; (3) to establish a new consensual process for the siting of nuclear waste management facilities; (4) to provide for centralized storage of nuclear waste pending completion of a repository