INTRODUCTION
who might be called upon to resume the work left unfinished when the Yucca Mountain project was cancelled. The document should also prove useful to anyone interested in understanding the transportation institutional issues that OCRWM and the states identified and attempted to resolve. In creating this archive of transportation issues, the research revealed a recurring theme: OCRWM’s transportation institutional program got off to an excellent start, but over time, the program’s performance declined significantly. The publication of the Transportation Institutional Plan in 1986 ushered in a period of nearly 10 years of intense activity. Starting in the mid-1990s, the level of activity began to drop until 1998, when the transportation program was abruptly terminated as a result of the redirection of the OCRWM program to place all emphasis on Yucca Mountain site characterization. In 2003, after five years of virtual inactivity, the institutional program struggled to restart, never quite managing to hit its stride. As a result, the program’s final years were marked by few real accomplishments. There are some obvious lessons learned emerging from this recurring theme. First, given the history of the transportation institutional program, it is clear that the federal program would benefit by returning to its roots. While much of the factual information in the Transportation Institutional Plan is out of date, the plan’s inclusive approach to stakeholder consultation and cooperation in developing the transportation system stands as a model that the states and other stakeholders would likely continue to support. A good first step in resuming the transportation program, therefore, would be to update the Transportation Institutional Plan while retaining its underlying philosophy. Second, the history of the transportation program demonstrates the negative impact of shutting down and attempting to restart
In 1989, The Council of State Governments’Midwestern Office (CSG Midwest) established the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Project. Supported by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), the agreement was intended to help CSG Midwest engage the Midwestern states in planning shipments of spent fuel and high-level waste to a proposed national repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Two decades later, in 2009, the Obama Administration announced its intention to cancel the Yucca Mountain program and, instead, convene the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to chart a new national course on long-term management of spent fuel and high-level waste. The cancellation of the Yucca Mountain program signaled the end of the cooperative work between CSG Midwest and OCRWM. Other DOE programs continue to support the Midwestern states’ engagement in planning other shipments, notably the transuranic waste shipments that travel by truck through the region to DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. With regard to the large-scale movement of commercial spent fuel, however, the Midwest’s work is, for now, on hold indefinitely. This document compiles information on the transportation-related issues that the Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Project has encountered in its 20 years of helping to develop the transportation system for the repository program. The purpose of the compilation is to create an accessible “snapshot” of where things stood at the end of June 2010: What issues had been worked? Which ones were resolved? What documents contain additional information? And what position, if any, did the Midwestern region take with regard to the issue? The document is targeted toward state and regional personnel in the Midwest
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