HLW Committee’s Strategic Plan.   The Committee reviewed the major elements of a strategic plan it developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s and found that the plan continues to be germane and a useful tool to guide the Committee’s work and recommendations to OCRWM.  The Committee also agreed to recommend OCRWM use the strategic plan to guide its activities.  The Committee’s discussion concluded that:

1. Selection of modes and routes remains the first action needed on the critical path to developing a transportation system;
2. The identification of routes needs to begin at the national level, with state adjustments later;
3. DOE is behind schedule in developing a methodology and selecting modes and routes to accommodate shipments to Yucca Mountain beginning in 2010;
4. After mode and route selection, full scale cask testing is the next critical step;
5. Time will be needed to make reactors ready to ship by rail and the first shipments to the repository may be by truck; and
6. Uncertainties in how the queuing process will affect shipping schedules introduces major complexities into developing a transportation program.