DEVELOPMENT OF A RISK-INFORMED AND PERFORMANCE-BASED REVIEW PLAN FOR A POTENTIAL REPOSITORY AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is developing a risk-informed and performance-based review plan for licensing a potential geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste (HLW) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The Yucca Mountain Review Plan (YMRP) contains 3 major chapters for review of the Safety Analysis Report that would accompany a potential license application for the Yucca Mountain site from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): Preclosure Safety Evaluation; Postclosure Safety Evaluation; and Administrative and Programmatic Requirements Evaluation. For each review topic in these chapters, there are subsections that specify applicable regulatory requirements, areas of review, acceptance criteria, review methods, evaluation findings, and references. The risk-informed and performance-based approach taken in the YMRP encompasses a systematic evaluation of all related efforts, such as site characterization, experimental work, and design activities that DOE has conducted, documented, and used to support its safety case in a potential license application. Where appropriate, prescriptive criteria were eliminated, allowing DOE flexibility to utilize available resources in designing, constructing, operating, monitoring, and closing the potential repository safely. Revision 0 of the YMRP, containing the postclosure safety evaluation sections, is planned for completion by March 31, 2000. Revision 1 of the YMRP, containing all 3 major chapters, is planned for completion by September 30, 2000