If the site is approved, then NRC, upon accepting a license application from DOE, has 3 to 4 years to review the application and decide whether to issue a license to construct, and then to operate, a repository at the site. DOE Will Not Be Ready to Submit a License Application within the Statutory Time Frame

DOE is not prepared to submit an acceptable license application to NRC within the statutory limits that would take effect if the site is approved. DOE does not expect the results of the additional work to change its current performance assessment of a repository at Yucca Mountain. In implementing the act, DOE’s guidelines provide that the site will be suitable as a waste repository if the site is likely to meet the radiation protection standards that NRC would use to reach a licensing decision on the proposed repository. DOE Is Unlikely to Open a Repository in 2010 As Planned

DOE states that it may be able to open a repository at Yucca Mountain in 2010. Bechtel anticipates a 5-year period of construction between the receipt of a construction authorization from NRC and the opening of the repository. The 2003 date was not formally approved by DOE’s senior managers or incorporated into the program’s cost and schedule baseline, as required by the management procedures that were in effect for the program. The baseline describes the program’s mission—in this case, the safe disposal of highly radioactive waste in a geologic repository—and the expected technical requirements, schedule, and cost to complete the program.
What GAO Found

As required by law, the Department of Energy (DOE) has been investigating a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to determine its suitability for disposing of highly radioactive wastes in a mined geologic repository. If the site is approved, DOE must apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for authorization to construct a repository. If the site is not approved for a license application, or if NRC denies a license to construct a repository, the administration and Congress will have to consider other options for the long-term management of existing and future nuclear wastes. DOE is not prepared to submit an acceptable license application to the NRC within the statutory limits that would take effect if the site is approved. DOE is unlikely to achieve its goal of opening a repository at Yucca Mountain by 2010. Sufficient time would not be available for DOE to obtain a license from NRC and construct enough of the repository to open it in 2010. Another key factor is whether DOE will be able to obtain the increases in annual funding that would be required to open the repository by 2010. DOE currently does not have a reliable estimate of when, and at what cost, a license application can be submitted or a repository can be opened because DOE stopped using its cost and schedule baselines to manage the site investigation in 1997.