[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 51 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13077-13078]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-6780]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 72-20]


Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the U.S. Department of Energy To Construct and Operate an 
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation To Store the Three Mile 
Island Unit 2 Spent Fuel at the Idaho National Engineering and 
Environmental Laboratory

    Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(the Commission) has published a Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(FEIS) (NUREG-1626) regarding the U.S. Department Of Energy's (DOE) 
proposed construction and operation of an independent spent fuel 
storage installation (ISFSI) to store the Three Mile Island Unit 2 
(TMI-2) spent fuel at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental 
Laboratory (INEEL).
    As part of its overall spent nuclear fuel (SNF) management program, 
the DOE has prepared a final programmatic environmental impact 
statement that provides an overview of the spent fuel management 
proposed for INEEL, including the construction and operation of the 
TMI-2 ISFSI (the DOE SNF EIS). In addition, the DOE--Idaho Operations 
Office (DOE-ID) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) to 
describe the environmental impacts associated with the stabilization of 
the Test Area North (TAN) storage pool and the construction/operation 
of the ISFSI at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP). As provided 
in NRC's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures outlined 
in 10 CFR Part 51, Appendix A to Subpart A, a FEIS of another Federal 
agency may be adopted in whole or in part in accordance with the 
procedures outlined in 40 CFR 1506.3 of the regulations of the Council 
on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Under 40 CFR 1506.3(b), if the actions 
covered by the original EIS and the proposed action are substantially 
the same, the agency adopting another agency's statement is not 
required to recirculate it except as a final statement.
    The NRC has determined that its proposed action of issuing a 
license authorizing the construction and operation of the TMI-2 ISFSI 
is substantially the same as actions considered in 2 DOE's 
environmental documents referenced above and, therefore, has elected to 
adopt the DOE documents as the NRC FEIS. The NRC staff has 
independently reviewed the DOE SNF EIS and the DOE-ID EA to determine 
that they are current and that NRC NEPA procedures have been satisfied. 
The format used has been to excerpt from the DOE NEPA documents a 
description of the proposed action, an evaluation of alternative 
actions, a description of the affected environment, and an evaluation 
of the impacts of both construction and operation of the ISFSI. The NRC 
staff concludes that the facility can be constructed and operated with 
small and acceptable effects on the public and the existing environment 
at the INEEL.
    The FEIS is available for public inspection and copying at the 
Commission's Public Document Room at the Gelman Building, 2120 L 
Street, NW, Washington, DC and at the Local Reading Room at the INEEL 
Technical Library, 1776 Science Center Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho.


[[Page 13078]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Dr. Edward Y. Shum, Spent Fuel 
Licensing Section, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555, telephone 301-415-8545.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of March 1998.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Charles J. Haughney,
Acting Director, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 98-6780 Filed 3-16-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P