Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Yucca Mountain Safe to Store Radioactive Waste

http://bit.ly/1zfNXza The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has released the final two volumes of a five-volume safety report that concludes that Nevada’s Yucca Mountain meets all of its technical and safety requirements for the disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste. “With reasonable assurance, subject to proposed conditions, DOE’s [Department of Energy] application meets the NRC’s regulatory requirements” for the disposal of “high-level nuclear waste,” the regulatory agency announced Thursday. However, “completion of the safety evaluation report does not represent an agency decision on whether to authorize construction,” the NRC noted, adding that DOE “has not met certain land and water rights requirements” and that other environmental and regulatory hurdles remain. Republicans in Congress expressed hope that progress can now continue on the creation of a permanent repository at the site for over 70,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste now in temporary storage. http://bit.ly/1ysnkoQ