Past Public Meetings

On Thursday, May 29, 2008, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Las Vegas, Nevada, to discuss the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) total system performance assessment (TSPA) of the proposed repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

On Wednesday, January 16, 2008, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Las Vegas, Nevada, to review U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) activities related to the proposed repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday, September 19, 2007. The focus of the meeting, was repository surface-facility designs and operations; other technical issues also were discussed.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. The Board discussed several topics, including the use of depleted uranium oxide, a drilling program carried out by Inyo County in California, waste package designs, DOE’s saturated zone model, near-field chemistry, probabilistic volcanic hazards analysis, and Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board’s Panel on Postclosure Performance met in Berkeley, California, on Wednesday, March 14, 2007. The meeting topic focused on the U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) infiltration estimates for the proposed repository site for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, January 24, 2007. The meeting agenda included updates on the Department of Energy's (DOE) technical and scientific activities related to the proposed repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, on Wednesday, September 27, 2006, to review the Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to develop and articulate a safety case for a proposed geologic repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

On Monday and Tuesday, September 25-26, 2006, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board hosted a workshop on localized corrosion in Las Vegas, Nevada. The focus of the workshop was the potential for localized corrosion of Alloy-22 under aqueous conditions that might exist in a proposed Yucca Mountain repository.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday May 9, 2006. At the May meeting, the Board reviewed DOE efforts to develop and implement a "clean canister" or "TAD" approach to waste management.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, February 1, 2006. At the meeting, the Board reviewed DOE efforts to develop a fundamental understanding of phenomena that would affect radionuclide releases from a proposed repository for permanent disposal of the waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, November 8, and for a half-day on Wednesday, November 9, 2005. The Board discussed a range of technical and scientific issues pertinent to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) efforts to develop a repository for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, February 9, and in Caliente, Nevada, on Thursday, February 10, 2005. Technical and scientific issues pertinent to the Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to develop a repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada were discussed on Wednesday in Las Vegas. The meeting in Caliente on Thursday focused on transportation planning issues and the development of a rail spur from Caliente to the proposed repository site at Yucca Mountain.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board’s Panel on the Waste Management System met in Salt Lake City, Utah on Wednesday, October 13, and Thursday, October 14, 2004. The panel discussed issues related to planning for the potential transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board met in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday, September 20, 2004. The primary focus of the meeting was an overview of the purpose, scope, methodology, criteria, and modeling of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) of the Yucca Mountain site.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, May 18 and 19, 2004, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board) held its spring meeting in Washington, D.C. The Board invited the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and several other interested parties—including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the State of Nevada—to present their research and views on the potential for corrosion of waste packages during the “thermal pulse,” the period of approximately 1,000 years after closure when temperatures would be above boiling inside a repository for high-level radioactive waste planned for Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

Members of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board’s Panel on the Natural System met in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, March 9, and Wednesday, March 10, 2004. The panel discussed issues related to a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, particularly how components of the natural geologic system would work together to isolate radioactive waste.

Members of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's Panel on the Engineered Barrier System and Panel on the Waste Management System met in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, January 20, and Wednesday, January 21, 2004, respectively. The panels will discuss issues related to the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, including design of the engineered system and information needed as the Department of Energy (DOE) plans a system for transporting high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel to the proposed repository.

Members of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board’s Panel on the Engineered Barrier System and Panel on the Waste Management System met in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, January 20, and Wednesday, January 21, 2004, respectively. The panels discussed issues related to the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, including design of the engineered system and information needed as the Department of Energy (DOE) plans a system for transporting high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel to the proposed repository.

On Tuesday, September 16, and for a halfday on Wednesday, September 17, 2003, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board) met in Amargosa Valley, Nevada. Among other topics, the Board discussed U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) work related to the natural features of a possible repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

On Tuesday, May 13, and on Wednesday morning, May 14, 2003, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board) met in Washington, D.C., to discuss how heat from the radioactive decay of nuclear waste will affect the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) design of a repository for disposing of spent nuclear fuel and high- level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Other technical and scientific issues related to the potential performance of such a repository also were discussed.