Environmental assessment of repository sites considerations and methodology

Public Law 97-425, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, ''the Act,'' established a process by which sites for repositories will be identified and selected. The process involves nominating sites for further study, studying those sites, then recommending one as the location for the nation's first repository for disposal of high-level nuclear waste. An Environmental Assessment (EA) is required by the Act to provide the basis upon which the Secretary of the Department of Energy will nominate and recommend sites for the several years of further studies which must precede the decision of which site is to be the location of the first repository. The DOE is preparing EAs for each of seven salt sites in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Utah, and for tuff and basalt sites in Washington and Nevada. These EAs will evaluate sites against DOE guidelines, also developed under authority of the Act. This paper describes the evaluations the EA must contain to be responsive to the Act and the DOE guidelines