Alert

Due to a lapse in appropriations, the NRC has ceased normal operations. However, excepted and exempted activities necessary to maintain critical health and safety functions—as well as essential progress on designated critical activities, including those specified in Executive Order 14300—will continue, consistent with the OMB-Approved NRC Lapse Plan.

Viability assessment

A decisionmaking process used by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to assess the prospects for safe and secure permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste in an excavated, underground facility, known as a geologic repository. This decisionmaking process is based on (1) specific design work on the critical elements of the repository and waste package, (2) a total system performance assessment that will describe the probable behavior of the repository, (3) a plan and cost estimate for the work required to complete the license application, and (4) an estimate of the costs to construct and operate the repository.

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Tuesday, March 09, 2021