Press Releases and Announcements

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board panels are changing. The original seven panels that the Board used to focus on specific parts of the Department of Energy (DOE) program have been restructured into five panels that more accurately reflect the current direction and content of the DOE’s efforts to deal with the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel and certain defense high-level nuclear waste.

Repository system performance and uncertainties about the engineered and natural barriers at Yucca Mountain headline the Board’s summer meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 25-26, 1997.

In its 1996 year-end report, released today, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (the Board) concludes that additional studies beyond those planned for the viability assessment (VA) will be needed to evaluate the suitability of Yucca Mountain as a potential site for a permanent repository.

President Bill Clinton has appointed two new members to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (the Board), completing the eleven-member Board that evaluates the scientific and technical validity of the nation’s commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste disposal program.

President Bill Clinton announced January 17 his intention to appoint six new members to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. At the same time, the President announced his intention to appoint Jared L. Cohon, a current member of the Board, as the new chair.

Two issues of local importance – transportation and total system performance assessment (TSPA) – highlight the first day’s agenda for the NWTRB’s winter meeting in Pahrump, Nevada, January 28-29, 1997.

Dr. Daniel Dreyfus, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), will provide the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board’s (the Board) with an overview of OCRWM’s fiscal year 1997 activities, and how those activities will drive a decision in 1998 on whether or not the DOE views Yucca Mountain as a viable site for a repository.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (the Board) will hold its summer meeting July 9-10, 1996, in Denver, Colorado.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board) has set its spring meeting for April 30 and May 1, 1996, in Austin, Texas. The meeting will concentrate on the planning and integration of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management's (OCRWM) program to manage the nation's commercial spent nuclear fuel and defense high-level waste.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board has scheduled its winter meeting for January 10-11, 1996, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The meeting will concentrate on updates from the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) and on issues related to site suitability.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board has scheduled its fall meeting for October 17-18, 1995, in Arlington, Virginia.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board has scheduled its summer meeting for Tuesday and Wednesday, July 11-12, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Discussion will focus on the progress being made excavating the exploratory studies facility (ESF) at Yucca Mountain, the status of issues related to repository design and operation, and the repository licensing process.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's (the Board) Panel on Hydrogeology & Geochemistry will meet June 26 and 27, 1995, near San Francisco to examine ground-water flow and potential radionuclide transport in arid regions, including the Negev Desert in Israel.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board) will sponsor a meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 23 and 24, 1995, to discuss how peoples' beliefs about the risks associated with a potential high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain might affect the social and economic conditions of the area.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's Panel on the Engineered Barrier System will hold a meeting on Tuesday, June 6, 1995, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Discussion at the meeting will focus on Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) management and research activities that could potentially affect plans to design and construct a permanent repository for civilian spent fuel and high-level defense waste.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's upcoming spring meeting will be held Wednesday and Thursday, April 19-20, 1995, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Presentations at the meeting will focus on the Department of Energy's (DOE) emerging waste isolation strategy, the thermal management strategy being pursued under the DOE's new program approach, and engineered barrier system design and research.

The Beatty Community Center, in Beatty, Nevada, will be the location of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's upcoming winter meeting. The meeting will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, January 10-11, 1995, and is open to the public; sessions will begin at 8:30 A.M. on both days. Presentations at the meeting will focus on environmental issues and the potential socioeconomic effects related to the Yucca Mountain project; the DOE's waste isolation strategy and program priorities; and the linkage between the waste isolation strategy and DOE plans for underground testing in the exploratory studies facility at Yucca Mountain.

On November 17-18, 1994, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's Panels on Structural Geology & Geoengineering and Hydrogeology & Geochemistry hosted a meeting on thermal management strategies for a potential repository at the Yucca Mountain site.

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board has planned an in-depth look at site suitability and related issues for its October 12, 1994, meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ground-water travel time and its role in the long-term performance of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain will be the focus of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board's Panel on Hydrogeology & Geochemistry when it meets on Monday, September 12, and Tuesday, September 13, 1994, in Las Vegas, Nevada.