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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) manages high-level waste (HLW) at sites across the DOE complex. This HLW is the highly radioactive waste material produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors: * Much of this HLW is spent (depleted) nuclear fuel, which has been accepted for disposal. * Some HLW consists of other highly radioactive materials that are determined (consistent with existing law) to require permanent isolation. * The remaining HLW comprises the liquid and solid waste byproducts (containing significant concentrations of fission products) that remain after spent fuel is reprocessed to extract isotopes that can be used again as reactor fuel. Although commercial reprocessing is currently not practiced in the United States, the defense reprocessing programs at certain facilities managed by DOE do produce significant quantities of HLW. From time to time, however, in accordance with DOE Order 435.1 exit icon, DOE has determined that certain waste resulting from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is actually waste incidental to reprocessing (WIR), rather than HLW. For an understanding of the role that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plays in the waste determination and disposal processes, see the following pages, as well as the related information provided below:

State of Nevada; Denial of Petition for Rulemaking AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Petition for Rulemaking: Denial. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is denying a petition for rulemaking submitted by the State of Nevada (Nevada or petitioner). The petition requests that NRC modify its regulation regarding issues specified for review in a notice of hearing for the Department of Energy (DOE) application for a high-level waste (HLW) repository construction authorization at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The petitioner asserts that the proposed regulation would ``fill a gap'' in the NRC's current regulations. Further, petitioner asserts that the proposed regulation fulfills the Commission's intent when it first required a hearing for any docketed applications for construction of a HLW repository. NRC is denying the petition because it is inconsistent with current NRC rules and inconsistent with the Commission's intent when it originally established regulations requiring an opportunity for a hearing for all docketed HLW repository construction applications.

"High-Level Radioactive Waste Shipped from the UK The first shipment of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from the UK arrived in Rokkasho Mutsu-Ogawara Port, Aomori Prefecture on March 9. For the sake of a failed nuclear fuel cycle policy, the world has been forced to endure, and will continue to suffer for at least the next ten years, all the risks associated with transporting the HLW back and forth between Japan and Europe. Prospects for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Units 1 and 5 33% of the 8,212MW seven-unit KK Nuclear Power Station's total capacity has been brought back on line since the July 2007 Chuetsu-oki Earthquake. For the time being deliberations concerning Unit 1 are being prioritized. Unit 5 will not resume operations until deliberations concerning unit 1 are completed. At this stage the prospects for both units are still very unclear. Ryusuke Umeda Lodges Historic Workers' Compensation Claim Thirty years ago Ryusuke Umeda was exposed to radiation while working at the Shimane and Tsuruga nuclear power plants. In September 2008 he applied for workers' compensation for myocardial infarction and in February this year he caught an all night bus to Tokyo from Fukuoka City on the island of Kyushu to present his case directly to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). Public Involvement in Japan's Nuclear Power Licensing System Japan has formal procedures for public involvement and information disclosure in relation to the approval of nuclear power plants. However, public hearings and public comment processes tend to be proforma in nature. If residents have not blocked the project before these procedures begin, the process develops a momentum of its own which is hard to reverse."

Rodney C. Ewing1 and Frank N. von Hippel2 The recent action to shelve Yucca Mountain as the potential geologic repository for U.S. "spent" (i.e., no longer usable) nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW) (1) brings to a close a 30-year effort to develop and implement a policy for nuclear wastes in the United States. Selection by Congress in 1987 of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the only site to be investigated condemned the United States to pursue a policy that had no backup if Yucca Mountain failed politically or technically. 1 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1005, USA. 2 Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08542-4601, USA. E-mail: rodewing@umich.edu E-mail: fvhippel@princeton.edu

Rodney C. Ewing1 and Frank N. von Hippel2 The recent action to shelve Yucca Mountain as the potential geologic repository for U.S. "spent" (i.e., no longer usable) nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW) (1) brings to a close a 30-year effort to develop and implement a policy for nuclear wastes in the United States. Selection by Congress in 1987 of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the only site to be investigated condemned the United States to pursue a policy that had no backup if Yucca Mountain failed politically or technically. 1 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1005, USA. 2 Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08542-4601, USA. E-mail: rodewing@umich.edu E-mail: fvhippel@princeton.edu

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman today transmitted The Report to the President and the Congress by the Secretary of Energy on the Need for a Second Repository to the President and the Congress. The report was submitted in accordance with section 161 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA). Section 161 requires the Secretary to report to the President and to Congress on or after January 1, 2007, but not later than January 1, 2010, on the need for a second repository for the Nation's spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW).

U.S. Department of Energy Seeks Public Comment on National Transportation Plan for the Proposed Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) is seeking public comment on a National Transportation Plan (Plan) that outlines DOE's current strategy and planning for developing and implementing a system to ship spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) safely and securely from where the material is generated or stored to the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced the opportunity to request a hearing on the Department of Energy's application seeking authorization to construct a proposed geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev. DOE submitted its application June 3. On Sept. 9, the NRC staff determined that the 8,600-page application contained sufficient technical information for the agency to docket it and initiate its comprehensive safety review. At the same time, the NRC staff adopted DOE's Environmental Impact Statements for the repository, requesting additional information on some groundwater analyses. The Yucca Mountain application, minus some classified portions, is available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/waste/hlw-disposal/yucca-lic-app.html.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-0 today to uphold the decisions of three Construction Authorization Boards (CABs) conducting a hearing on the Department of Energy's application to build and operate a high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Commission's decision includes several rulings, including a rejection of most of the NRC staff's appeal of several admitted contentions, or arguments, as well as the rejection of two Nevada contentions challenging DOE's managerial competence and institutional integrity. DOE submitted its application June 3, 2008; on Sept. 9, 2008, the NRC staff determined that the 8,600-page application contained sufficient technical information for the agency to docket it and initiate its comprehensive safety review. The NRC announced an opportunity to participate in a hearing in October 2008, and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel created three CABs to examine the 317 contentions filed by 12 petitioners, including the states of Nevada and California, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and other parties. The Yucca Mountain application, minus some classified portions, is available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/waste/hlw-disposal/yucca-lic-app.html.

Los Alamos National Laboratory has shipped the last of one group of high-activity radioactive waste drums to the federal government's waste dump near Carlsbad. They say it made good on a commitment to remove the material from lab property. The nuclear weapons lab shipped 282 high-activity drums to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after repackaging much of the material identified as high activity.

EnergySolutions will add to its growing collection of used steam generators from nuclear-power generators with eight more coming next year to the waste-disposal company's Clive facility in Tooele County. The next shipment of generators, considered low-level radioactive waste, will arrive by rail from a Duke Energy facility in North Carolina. EnergySolutions told its shareholders that the disposal contract is worth $23.8 million.

Government plans for a new generation of nuclear power plants face growing concerns the industry needs another waste repository involving a massive escalation in cost. Ministers insist they still expect only one high-level geological disposal facility (GDF) will be needed at a possible cost of £12bn but a discussion paper produced by the department of energy and climate change (DECC) indicates a second cannot be ruled out.

The Nuclear Energy Institute has located two communities interested in hosting commercial interim nuclear waste storage facilities, but it won't identify them. The towns of Haddam and Waterford, past and present homes to nuclear-power facilities here in Connecticut, are not among several towns that have approached NEI voluntarily, said Marshall Cohen, NEI's senior director for government affairs.

A leak has been ruled out as the cause for a drop in the level of highly radioactive waste in a tank at the Hanford nuclear reservation. Instead, Energy Department officials and contractors say, variations in the level of the liquid apparently are linked to the installation of a vertical pipe in Tank SX-104. The pipe was added in December to help measure waste levels in the huge tank.

The new price tag for building and operating Yucca Mountain is estimated to be $90 billion, the Energy Department said today, providing the first real snapshot of lifespan costs after Congress has repeatedly pleaded for an updated financial picture. The estimate is $19 billion higher than previous rough estimates provided last year for the nation's nuclear waste dump about a 1 1/2-hour drive outside of Las Vegas.

Who: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) What: DOE license application seeking authorization to construct a geologic repository When: June 3, 2008 (application submitted) Where: Yucca Mountain site in Nye County, Nevada (see map showing Location of Yucca Mountain)

EnergySolutions Inc. and two partners this week landed a $7.1 billion federal contract to maintain the infamous Hanford Site's 177 storage tanks that are filled with 53 million gallons of residual radioactive materials and chemicals, the company said Thursday.