Yucca Mountain Chronology

A brief chronology on the federal government's plans, and Nevada's fight against, the development of a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

1982 - Congress orders development of a permanent national disposal site for waste from commercial nuclear power reactors.

1986 - Government pledges to take responsibility for commercial high-level nuclear wastes from commercial power plants by 1998 and narrows potential sites to Nevada, Texas and Washington state.

1987 - Congress designates Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the only site to be considered for permanent waste disposal.

1989 - Completion of a site is delayed until 2010, missing the 1998 deadline.

1994 - Utilities sue the Energy Department for violating its contractual obligation to accept waste by 1998.

1995 - Federal court rules in favor of utilities and says government is liable for damages for not meeting deadline. Decision on extent of liability still is pending.

2001 - Interim Energy Department report finds no ``showstoppers'' in scientific review of Yucca Mountain site. Estimated cost for construction, operation and monitoring over 100 years is put at $58 billion.

2002 (January) - Energy Department concludes Yucca Mountain ``scientifically sound ... technically suitable'' for waste storage and approval to be recommended to the president.

2002 (April) - Governor Kenny Guinn of Nevada issues Notice of Disapproval of the designation of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the site for the nation’s high- level nuclear waste repository. The notice says in part: "The Department of Energy has
so compromised this project through years of mismanagement that Congress should have
no confidence in any representation made by DOE about either its purpose or its safety."

2002 (July) - US House of Representatives and Senate votes for and President Bush signs into law a bill overriding Nevada's veto of nuclear waste shipments. Nevada leaders vow unity and continued fight.

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