The commissioners of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered agency staff Monday to complete and publish a safety evaluation report on the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada, nuclear spent fuel and waste repository. “The Commission has also requested [Department of Energy] to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement requested by the staff in order to complete [NRC’s] environmental review of the application,” NRC said in a statement Monday. The multi-volume safety evaluation report, or SER, reflects NRC staff’s assessment of the repository proposed for the site roughly 95 miles (about 153 km) outside Las Vegas and is considered in NRC’s determination of whether the facility would meet regulatory requirements. Volume 3 on the post-closure safety of a repository at Yucca Mountain is central to making that determination. The Nuclear Energy Institute, which represents the US nuclear power industry, was among those who have recommended that […]