Chapter Four
Working With External Parties
OCRWM Annual Report to Congress, FY 1996

Review, Regulation, and Oversight

OCRWM's success will depend, in large measure, on how well the public understands the nature and importance of our work, and on its confidence in the integrity of our work and the fairness of the process by which we carry it out.

Recognizing the controversial and unprecedented nature of our mission, Congress provided for extensive review, regulation, and oversight by external parties. The result is a program that is among the most closely scrutinized in the Federal arena.

The organizations that review, regulate, or oversee our activities include the following:

• Congress defines our statutory basis, appropriates funds, and monitors our progress. Over the past two sessions of Congress, the issues of high-level nuclear waste management received greater attention than at any time since the passage of the 1987 amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The primary focus of the debate was the initiative to site an interim storage facility and to begin the removal of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactor sites. Congress also reduced our funding and directed us to complete a viability assessment of the Yucca Mountain site in 1998.
• The General Accounting Office, which is an arm of Congress, audits our program every year. It also reviews and reports on program activities in response to specific congressional inquiries and requests.
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission exercises a statutory role under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act: it defines regulatory standards for the protection of the public and the environment from radioactive releases associated with storage and disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
• It is also responsible for certifying and licensing components of the waste management system, including the repository, facilities for storing spent fuel, and transportation casks. It mandates quality assurance and content requirements for license applications.
                 
• Our Fiscal Year 1996 meetings with the Commission focused on resolving key technical issues at the staff level. We also briefed the Commission on our progress in constructing the Exploratory Studies Facility, our plans for the site viability assessment, and our plans for updating the repository siting guidelines. Our interactions with the Commission are detailed in Appendix C.
                 
• The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board also exercises a statutory role defined by the Amendments Act. It must evaluate the technical and scientific validity of activities related to site characterization and to the packaging and transportation of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, and it must report its findings, conclusions, and recommendations to Congress and the Secretary at least twice a year.
• In Fiscal Year 1996, the Board issued two reports: Disposal and Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel--Finding the Right Balance (March 1996) and Findings and Recommendations (April 1996). In its March report, the Board addressed the issue of interim storage, and it cautioned that determining site suitability should remain OCRWM's primary objective. Finding no compelling technical or safety reason to move spent fuel to a centralized storage facility for the next few years, the Board recommended that an interim storage facility not be constructed until after a decision has been made about the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site and that OCRWM engage only in generic planning for interim storage and transportation. Overall, the Board stressed its concern that other program activities not compete with site characterization for scarce resources.
                 
• In its April report, the Board stated that OCRWM has made significant progress in characterizing the Yucca Mountain site, despite the budgetary, programmatic, and regulatory uncertainties facing the program, but it made numerous technical recommendations for strengthening the site characterization program.
                 
• The Environmental Protection Agency promulgates environmental radiation protection standards for the management and disposal of spent nuclear fuel. EPA's revision of the radiation protection standard that repository performance must meet is discussed in Chapter One.
• The Department of Transportation regulates the transportation of highly radioactive materials, including spent nuclear fuel. Its regulations govern handling of shipping containers, labeling of containers, and placarding of transport vehicles for identification purposes; driver training and certification; and highway routing.
• The State of Nevada and 10 affected units of local government have statutory roles in the program defined in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Historically, they have received funding to exercise those roles, but the funding we sought for them in our Fiscal Year 1997 budget was denied by Congress. Our interactions with them are discussed in Chapter One.
• The National Academy of Sciences Board on Radioactive Waste Management reviews our program on an as-requested basis, offering technical expert review and advice on program issues. The Board performed no reviews during Fiscal Year 1996.

Working with Stakeholders and Other Parties

The broad geographic, technical, and institutional reach of OCRWM's program is reflected in the range and diversity of its stakeholders. They include State, Tribal, and local governments; nuclear utility ratepayers, public utility commissions, and utility and industry groups; minority and low-income communities, which are often impacted by the siting of industrial or hazardous waste facilities; the scientific and technical communities and professional organizations within them; environmental and civic organizations; trade associations; unions; and business organizations and private vendors.

Reduced funding forced us to scale back our interactions with other parties in Fiscal Year 1996, but some interactions continued.

The annual Transportation Coordination Group meeting was not held in Fiscal Year 1996 because of budget cuts, but two Transportation External Coordination Working Group meetings were: one in San Antonio, Texas, in January 1996; one in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in July 1996. The Working Group includes representatives of the Department of Energy; State, Tribal, and local governments; and industry and professional organizations interested in radioactive waste transportation activities.

Almost 100 people attended each of these meetings and discussed programmatic and Department-wide issues, including the Department's strategy for acquiring certain waste acceptance, storage, and transportation services from the private sector. Other issues included implementation of Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, emergency management training and technical assistance, transportation operations forecasting and communications, and streamlining the Department's National Environmental Policy Act Transportation Analysis.

Soliciting public comment

One of the principal means that OCRWM relies on to share information about its plans and obtain input from a broad public is publication of Notices and proposed rulemakings in the Federal Register. The Commerce Business Daily also offers a means of sharing and soliciting information. Fiscal Year 1996 saw several important initiatives to solicit public comment. These initiatives, discussed in Chapters One and Two, are summarized here for ease of reference:

• Market-driven approach to obtaining services for waste acceptance, storage, and transportation. In May 1996, we issued a Request for Expression of Interest and Comments on the acquisition process. In June 1996, we issued the draft Statement of Work and a draft Concept of Operations, announcing their availability in the Commerce Business Daily and the Federal Register . We held a pre-solicitation conference in July; in December we issued a draft Request for Proposal.
• Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. In May 1996, we issued a Notice of Proposed Policy and Procedures to solicit comments on options for implementing Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act concerning technical assistance and funding for training public safety officials.
• Siting guidelines. Work in Fiscal Year 1996 included development of proposed revisions to the Department's repository siting guidelines. A proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on December 16, 1996.
• Environmental Impact Statement for Yucca Mountain. The scoping process for this effort began in Fiscal Year 1995; the public comment period closed on December 5, 1995. Funding cuts curtailed this effort during the rest of Fiscal Year 1996, but a comment summary document is now being prepared.

Cooperative Agreements

OCRWM uses cooperative agreements to facilitate the involvement of national, regional, and State organizations in its program. The agreements typically cover a 5-year period, with funding provided annually, subject to availability. In Fiscal Year 1996, we maintained such agreements with the following organizations: the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance; the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, Inc.; the Council of State Governments' Eastern Regional Conference and Midwestern Office; the League of Women Voters Education Fund; the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners; the National Conference of State Legislatures; the National Conference of American Indians; the Southern States Energy Board; and the Western Interstate Energy Board.

Due to reductions in our Fiscal Year 1996 budget, funding for each cooperative agreement was reduced to one-third of the Fiscal Year 1995 level. Accordingly, we scaled back our interactions with these organizations, but we did meet with each one to discuss such subjects as Yucca Mountain site characterization; the impact of budget cuts on the program; our market-driven strategy for acquiring waste acceptance, storage, and transportation services; and implementation of Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

Public Information and Outreach

The objective of our public information and outreach program is to provide the general public with ready access to current information on program activities. During Fiscal Year 1996, we carried out the following public information efforts.

OCRWM National Information Center

The Center serves as a clearinghouse for program-wide fact sheets, brochures, publications, educational materials, and videotapes. In Fiscal Year 1996, its services were scaled back substantially as a result of budget cuts, and we relied principally on OCRWM's Home Page as the most cost-effective means of keeping the public informed of program activities on a timely basis.

The OCRWM Home Page provides Internet capability on the World Wide Web, making available to the public a wide range of program information and services, including current program and budget plans, congressional testimony, Federal Register notices, speeches, fact sheets, photographs of the Yucca Mountain site, a calendar of scheduled events and meetings (including Yucca Mountain tours and lectures), information about opportunities for public participation, and a publications ordering system.

Our OCRWM Home Page has been rated by one of the leading search engines on the Internet in the top 5 percent of all sites on the World Wide Web for depth of content, presentation, and overall appeal. Because it is so heavily used and because of cut-backs in other public information activities, the Home Page has become the principal and most efficient means of delivering program information to the public at large. Users come from some 30 countries on 6 continents and span a variety of government, commercial, and private domains.

The Home Page grew in popularity during Fiscal Year 1996, logging as many as 20,000 file accesses per week. We added a Technical Publications Database to it that enables users to review abstracts of recent OCRWM technical and scientific reports that have been issued and submitted to the Department's Office of Scientific and Technical Information Energy Data Base.

Learn about the OCRWM program. Read testimony and  speeches delivered by program officials. What's going on right now at OCRWM? Reference publications, reports, educational materials and facts about the OCRWM program. Learn about activities related to the storage and transportation of commercial spent nuclear fuel. Visit OCRWM's Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office home page. Send us your questions and comments. Visit web sites of institutions related to civilian radioactive waste management Visit the Department of Energy's Home Page

The OCRWM Home Page can be accessed at "http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov"

 We responded to public correspondence and requests for information received through the Center's toll-free telephone number and through the Internet. The OCRWM Bulletin, which reports program progress and news, was distributed to approximately 20,000 recipients in Fiscal Year 1996.

Late in the year, the newsletter was redesigned to make it more useful and attractive, and it was renamed The OCRWM Enterprise, to reflect the difficult and complex nature of OCRWM's mission. The first edition of this semiannual newsletter was published in December 1996. The OCRWM Enterprise will be accessible electronically through the OCRWM Home Page and will also be mailed to program stakeholders and other interested parties.

The OCRWM Calendar provides notification of opportunities for public involvement and of program-wide meetings and Yucca Mountain tours that are open to the public. The Calendar also identifies meetings that are videoconfer-enced for stakeholders who cannot or do not want to travel to the meeting site. The Calendar is posted on the OCRWM Home Page and reproduced in The OCRWM Enterprise.

Local Yucca Mountain outreach

For information about our interactions with the State of Nevada, affected units of local government, and the general public in Nevada, please see Chapter One, "Stakeholder and Public Interactions."

Scholarship and Fellowship Programs

To help meet OCRWM's future staffing needs for highly skilled scientists and engineers and to increase the diversity of its labor pool, OCRWM supports several educational ventures. OCRWM's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Undergraduate Scholarship Program recruits juniors and seniors enrolled at HBCUs nationwide who want to pursue careers in fields related to high-level radioactive waste management. The scholars selected serve internships at the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office in Nevada, OCRWM headquarters in Washington, D.C., or with program participants.

In Fiscal Year 1995, ten highly motivated and academically outstanding undergraduate students were selected to participate in OCRWM's new HBCU Undergraduate Scholarship Program. In Fiscal Year 1996, five of them graduated with OCRWM's support; the other five continued in the program; five new scholars were selected to join the program.

We continued to support the OCRWM Radioactive Waste Management Graduate Fellowship Program. It attracts graduate students who are pursuing advanced degrees in disciplines directly related to high-level radioactive waste management at colleges and universities that have established specific programs in those disciplines. Participants complete practicum assignments at the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, or with major program participants. There were eight graduate students in the program during Fiscal Year 1996.