Passed in 1982, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) was intended to establish an explicit statutory basis for the Department of Energy (DOE) to dispose of the nation's most highly radioactive nuclear waste. The NWPA requires DOE to take title to commercial nuclear power plants' SNF and, in exchange for a fee, remove and transport it to a permanent geologic repository or an interim storage facility before permanent disposal. Defense-related HLW was to go into the same repository, unless the President determined separate storage was required. In an effort to mitigate the political difficulties of imposing a federal nuclear waste facility on a single community, Congress attempted to establish an objective, scientifically based, multi-stage statutory process for selecting the eventual site of the nation's new permanent geologic repository. The Secretary's recommendations were met with significant opposition from the affected states; however, and as a result, Congress amended the NWPA's site selection process in 1987 and designated Yucca Mountain as the sole candidate site for the repository by terminating "all site specific activities (other than reclamation activities) at all candidate sites, other than the Yucca Mountain site." The Nevada State Engineer denied DOE's applications for permanent water rights in 2000, finding that granting the water rights would not be in the public interest. Second, the President and former Secretary Chu established a commission to consider alternative solutions to the nation's nuclear waste challenge. Third, and perhaps most controversial, DOE attempted to terminate the NRC's Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding by seeking withdrawal of its application for a construction authorization (license application) for the Yucca Mountain facility. While acknowledging that "the future of the Yucca Mountain project remains uncertain," the commission did make specific findings that may have significant influence over the future of nuclear waste disposal. At the time of DOE's decision to withdraw its license application, NRC's review of the application was proceeding on two tracks: technical review by NRC staff, to be documented in a safety evaluation report, and preliminary phases of adjudication before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board), to resolve challenges by a number of parties to technical and legal aspects of the DOE application. Washington, South Carolina, and Aiken County, along with a group of private plaintiffs from Washington State, also filed statutory claims in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit challenging NRC's authority to terminate its review of DOE's license application. Circuit issued a writ of mandamus ordering the NRC to resume processing DOE's license application. However, the NRC's publication of the SER, described above, may have resolved some questions relating to "whether the proposed repository is, in fact, licensable" by determining that the application met regulatory requirements except for those relating to land ownership and water rights. In June 2008, DOE issued a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Yucca Mountain repository, as well as Environmental Impact Statements for the related Nevada Rail Corridor and Rail Alignment. Circuit upheld the NRC's Continued Storage rule. To the extent that the petitioners disagree with the NRC's current policy for the continued storage of spent nuclear fuel, their concerns should be directed to Congress. Challenge to Nuclear Waste Fund Fee

A series of decisions in the D.C. Congressional Action on Yucca Mountain Facility and Nuclear Waste Storage and Disposal

		Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations

The Obama Administration's FY2017 budget request included an increase in funding for disposal of SNF, including funding to expand DOE's efforts to develop a "consent-based" nuclear waste disposal system in lieu of a repository at Yucca Mountain.
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) was an effort to establish an explicit statutory basis for the Department of Energy (DOE) to dispose of the nation's most highly radioactive nuclear waste. The NWPA requires DOE to remove spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants, in exchange for a fee, and transport it to a permanent geologic repository or an interim storage facility before permanent disposal. Defense-related high-level waste is to go into the same repository. In an effort to mitigate the political difficulties of imposing a federal nuclear waste facility on a single community, Congress attempted to establish a scientifically based, multi-stage statutory process for selecting the eventual site of the nation's new permanent geologic repository. Congress amended the NWPA's site selection process in 1987, however, and designated Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as the sole candidate site for the repository by terminating site-specific activities at all other sites.
Since 2009, the Obama Administration and DOE have taken a number of steps directed toward terminating the Yucca Mountain project. First, the Administration's budget proposals have eliminated all funding for the project. Second, the President established a Blue Ribbon Commission to consider alternative solutions to the nation's nuclear waste challenges; in response to its recommendations, DOE is designing a consent-based siting process. Third, DOE attempted to terminate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding by seeking to withdraw its 2008 license application. Although DOE's motion to withdraw the application was denied by the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, the NRC suspended the Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding in 2011, claiming budgetary limitations. In 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) directed the NRC to resume its review of DOE's license application using what remained of previously appropriated funds, although it acknowledged that such funds were insufficient for the NRC to complete the review.
Following the D.C. Circuit's decision, NRC staff completed work on a Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation Report (SER) in 2015. The SER concluded that DOE's license application met regulatory requirements, except for requirements related to ownership of land and certain water rights. Litigation challenging the Nevada State Engineer's denials of DOE's applications for permanent water rights has been stayed for more than a decade pending resolution of other issues relating to the future of Yucca Mountain. In May 2016, NRC staff also completed work on a supplement to DOE's environmental impact statement to address groundwater impacts.
Various other related nuclear waste issues also have been litigated, including safety standards for disposal, Nuclear Waste Fund fees (no longer being collected), and the federal government's contract liability for failure to take title to and dispose of nuclear waste. In June 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a challenge to the NRC's rule and environmental impact statement supporting the continued, and possibly indefinite, storage of nuclear waste, saying "[t]o the extent that the petitioners disagree with the NRC's current policy for the continued storage of spent nuclear fuel, their concerns should be directed to Congress." Meanwhile, in the absence of a permanent repository, private companies have sought to establish consolidated interim storage facilities, which would require legislative authorization as well as agency approvals.
While the result of the ongoing disputes over the Yucca Mountain program remains uncertain, congressional action could have a significant impact on nuclear waste storage and disposal. Bills have been introduced that would promote either the Yucca Mountain repository or alternatives, and would modify management and storage of nuclear waste in the meantime.