Abstract
The Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office collection (1958-2001) was assembled through a joint effort between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the James R. Dickinson Library, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to provide public access to documentation and correspondence about the proposed high-level radioactive waste geologic repository site near Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Materials include technical reports, contractor reports, public hearing transcripts, safety evaluation reports, environmental impact statements, emergency plans, inspection reports, licensee event reports, and general communications. The collection includes documents from several other government entities such as the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI), United States Geological Survey (USGS), Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
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Scope and Contents Note
The Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office collection (1958-2001) was assembled through a joint effort between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the James R. Dickinson Library, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to provide public access to documentation and correspondence about the proposed high-level radioactive waste geologic repository site near Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Materials include technical reports, contractor reports, public hearing transcripts, safety evaluation reports, environmental impact statements, emergency plans, inspection reports, licensee event reports, and general communications.
UNLV's original agreement for the Local Public Document Room (LPDR) was with the NRC, but the collection includes documents from several other government entities such as the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI), and United States Geological Survey (USGS). Also included are a large number of documents contributed by national scientific research laboratories contracted to produce technical reports, studies and other research documents. These publications were created by Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and other similar research facilities. It also includes publications issued by the International Stripa Project.
This collection has had various commonly used titles since its inception. Beginning in June 1988, distribution lists from DOE’s Nevada Operations Office referred to the collection as the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) Collection. From 1991 to early 1995 it was called the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project (YMP) Collection, and in March 1995 it became the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (YMSCO) Collection. The collection moved to UNLV's Lied Library in 2001.
Access Note
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
These records are organized into five series:
Series I. Local Public Document Room for the potential High-Level Waste Geologic Repository Site, Yucca Mountain, Nevada, 1986-2001;
Series II. WM-11 Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations State of Nevada, 1977-1986;
Series III. Contract documents, 1982-1989;
Series IV. Technical reports and other Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office documents, 1958-2001;
Series V. Regulations, 1988-1998.
Biographical / Historical Note
The Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (YMSCO) was established as part of the Department of Energy (DOE) to oversee studies of Yucca Mountain, located roughly one hundred miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The studies were conducted after the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 established a need to find a suitable storage site for nuclear waste with Yucca Mountain as one of nine proposed locations. The 1987 amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act officially established Yucca Mountain as the only geologic repository to be considered, making it the primary site of studies conducted within the United States. Local and national politics have caused shifts in the funding of the site and granting of licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which regulates nuclear technology in order to protect the safety and health of the United States public.
In August 1987, a notice was published in the Federal Register from the NRC pertaining to their intent to establish a Local Public Document Room (LPDR) at the James R. Dickinson Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). In 1988, Cooperative Agreement No. NRC-39-89-173 was executed between the NRC and the James R. Dickinson Library to create the LPDR for housing documents and correspondence about the proposed high-level radioactive waste geologic repository site near Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (YMSCO) collection was established to provide scientific and technical information relating to the potential high-level radioactive waste geologic repository and to provide relevant information for evaluating the site’s suitability as a permanent geologic site. If the site were found suitable, it would provide the Department of Energy (DOE) with adequate data to prepare and support a license application seeking NRC authorization to construct the repository.
Source:
"History of Yucca Mountain, 1982-2018."
Preferred Citation
Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office Collection, 1958-2001. MS-00091. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were collected by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the James R. Dickinson Library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Materials were transferred to University Libraries Special Collections and Archives in 2001; accession number 2014-005.
Processing Note
In 2018, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Billy Marino wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.
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Storage Location
Materials are stored in the Lied Automated Storage and Retrieval Unit (LASR). Advanced
notice may be required to access these materials.