[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 27, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81936-81937]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-32996]


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NUCLEAR WASTE TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD


Board Meeting: January 30-31, 2001--Amargosa Valley, Nevada: 
Discussions of the Status of DOE Studies Related to a Potential Yucca 
Mountain, Nevada, Repository for Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level 
Radioactive Waste; Update on Scientific and Engineering Studies 
Undertaken at the Yucca Mountain site; and Update on the DOE's 
Development of a Safety Strategy for a Potential Yucca Mountain 
Repository

    Pursuant to its authority under section 5051 of Public Law 100-203, 
Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987, on Tuesday and Wednesday, 
January 30 and January 31, 2001, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review 
Board (Board) will be in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, to discuss U.S. 
Department of Energy (DOE) efforts to characterize a site at Yucca 
Mountain, Nevada, as the possible location of a permanent repository 
for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The Board will 
ask the DOE to address several questions about important technical and 
scientific issues related to evaluating the suitability of the 
potential repository site. The meeting is open to the public, and 
several opportunities for public comment will be provided. The Board is 
charged by Congress with reviewing the technical and scientific 
validity of DOE activities related to civilian radioactive waste 
management.
    The Board meeting will be held at the Longstreet Inn, HCR 70, Box 
559, Amargosa Valley, Nevada. The telephone number is (775) 372-1777; 
the fax number is (775) 372-1280. The meeting will start at 8:00 a.m. 
on both days and will be open to the public.
    Representatives of Nye County will lead off the meeting on Tuesday, 
January 30, with a greeting, which will be followed by the introduction 
of the Acting Director of the DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive 
Waste Management and the General Manager of the new contractor for the 
Yucca Mountain Project, Bechtel SAIC Company LLC. The Board also will 
hear from Dr. Jean-Claude Duplessy, a member of France's National 
Scientific Evaluation Committee (CNE), which oversees the scientific 
and technical activities of the French nuclear waste disposal program. 
During the rest of the morning session, the DOE will make presentations 
on the status of the Yucca Mountain Project. It will give a general 
overview of the program and discuss plans for issuing the site 
recommendation consideration report. The DOE then will address a 
specific question from the Board dealing

[[Page 81937]]

with the analysis of water flow in the unsaturated zone above the 
proposed repository. After lunch, the Board will ask the DOE to focus 
on four questions from the Board, dealing in turn with waste package 
corrosion, repository design, the flow of water in the saturated zone 
below the proposed repository, and the DOE's analysis of effects of 
early waste package failures.
    On Wednesday, January 31, the DOE will update the Board on ongoing 
scientific and engineering studies related to the Yucca Mountain site. 
The update will be followed by a briefing on DOE plans for developing a 
capability to monitor and confirm its projected behavior of the 
repository system. The DOE will explain how it intends to create a 
``learning organization.'' The DOE also will discuss the status of its 
efforts to quantify uncertainty in its performance assessments of the 
proposed Yucca Mountain repository. After lunch, the DOE will discuss 
the latest version of its repository safety strategy. Nye County will 
update results obtained from the its Early Warning Drilling Program. 
The Electric Power Research Institute will describe its latest 
performance assessment of a proposed Yucca Mountain repository.
    Opportunities for public comment will be provided before the lunch 
breaks and at the end of the sessions on both days. In addition, 
interested parties are invited to join Board members for coffee from 
7:15 a.m. to 7:55 a.m. on Wednesday, January 31, at the Longstreet Inn. 
Those wanting to speak during the public comment periods are encouraged 
to sign the ``Public Comment Register'' at the check-in table. A time 
limit may have to be set on individual remarks, but written comments of 
any length may be submitted for the record. Interested parties also 
will have the opportunity to submit questions in writing to the Board. 
As time permits, the questions will be answered during the meeting.
    A detailed agenda will be available approximately one week before 
the meeting. Copies of the agenda can be requested by telephone or 
obtained from the Board's Web site at http://www.nwtrb.gov. Transcripts 
of the meeting will be available on the Board's Web site, via e-mail, 
on computer disk, and on a library-loan basis in paper format from 
Davonya Barnes of the Board staff, beginning on March 2, 2001.
    A block of rooms have been reserved at the Longstreet Inn. When 
making a reservation, please state that you are attending the Nuclear 
Waste Technical Review Board meeting. For more information, contact the 
NWTRB, Karyn Severson, External Affairs; 2300 Clarendon Boulevard, 
Suite 1300; Arlington, VA 22201-3367; (tel) 703-235-4473; (fax) 703-
235-4495; (e-mail) [email protected].
    The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board was created by Congress in 
the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987. The Board's purpose is 
to evaluate the technical and scientific validity of activities 
undertaken by the Secretary of Energy related to managing the disposal 
of the nation's spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. In 
the same legislation, Congress directed the DOE to characterize a site 
at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to determine its suitability as the location 
of a potential repository for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear 
fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

    Dated: December 21, 2000.
Joyce M. Dory,
Acting Executive Director, Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board.
[FR Doc. 00-32996 Filed 12-26-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-AM-M