Third report to the US Congress and the US Secretary of Energy

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (the Board) was established by Congress in a 1987 amendment to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. The Board was charged with evaluating the technical and scientific validity of activities undertaken by the Department of Energy (DOE) as it designs and develops a system for managing the nation's civilian spent fuel and defense high-level radioactive waste. Specifically, the Board was asked to evaluate DOE activities pertinent to characterizing a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for possible location of a mined geologic repository for permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The Board also was asked to evaluate activities relating to packaging and transport of high-level radioactive waste. Board activities began in March 1989 with the designation of panels to better address the diversity of technical and scientific topics under consideration by the Board. The Board has sought to remain apprised of public concerns about the disposal and transport of high-level radioactive waste. This third report summarizes activities undertaken by the Board from August 1, 1990, through January 31, 1991. Due to their timeliness, some activities, while listed here, were discussed in the Second Report. Although the Board traveled to Sweden and Germany in May/June 1990, its observations from that trip are discussed in Chapter 3 of this report. 21 refs