[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 13 (Friday, January 18, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2702-2703]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-1351]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

[Docket No. 72-22]


Notice of Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Proposed Private Fuel Storage, L.L.C.; Independent Spent Fuel 
Storage Installation on the Reservation of the Skull Valley Band of 
Goshute Indians and the Related Transportation Facility in Tooele 
County, UT

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
Interior; Bureau of Land Management, Interior; Surface Transportation 
Board, Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Interior's 
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and 
the Surface Transportation Board (STB), has published a Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), ``Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Construction and Operation of an Independent Spent 
Fuel Storage Installation on the Reservation of the Skull Valley Band 
of Goshute Indians and the Related Transportation Facility in Tooele 
County, Utah'' NUREG-1714, January 2002, regarding the proposal of 
Private Fuel Storage, L.L.C. (PFS) to construct and operate an 
independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) on the Reservation 
of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians and construct and operate a 
new rail line and rail siding.
    The Reservation is located approximately 44 km (27 miles) west-
southwest of Tooele, Utah. PFS intends to transport spent nuclear fuel 
(SNF) by rail from commercial power reactor sites to an existing rail 
line north of Skull Valley. To transport the SNF from the existing rail 
line to the proposed facility, PFS proposes the construction and 
operation of a new rail siding and rail line on public land 
administered by BLM. This FEIS discusses the purpose and need for the 
PFS proposal and describes the proposed action and its reasonable 
alternatives, including the No-action Alternative. The FEIS also 
discusses the environment potentially affected by the proposal, 
presents and compares the potential environmental impacts resulting 
from the proposed action and its alternatives, and identifies 
mitigation measures that could eliminate or lessen the potential 
environmental impacts.
    The PFS proposal requires approval from four federal agencies: NRC, 
BIA, BLM, and STB. The environmental issues that each of these agencies 
must evaluate pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(NEPA) are interrelated. Therefore, the agencies have cooperated in the 
preparation of this FEIS, and this document serves to satisfy each 
agency's statutory responsibilities under NEPA.
    Based on the evaluation in this FEIS, the NRC, BIA, BLM, and STB 
environmental review staffs have concluded that (1) the measures 
required by Federal, State, and Tribal permitting authorities other 
than the Cooperating Agencies and (2) the mitigation measures that the 
Cooperating Agencies propose be required would reduce any short-or 
long-term adverse environmental impacts associated with the proposed 
action (i.e., construction and operation of the proposed ISFSI and rail 
line) to acceptable levels. This FEIS reflects the final analysis of 
the environmental impacts of the PFS proposal and its alternatives 
including the consideration of public comments received by the NRC. In 
addition, the FEIS provides summaries of the substantive public 
comments received within the time allotted for public comment on the 
draft EIS, and responses, as appropriate, to such comments.

ADDRESSES: The NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's 
public documents. The FEIS and its appendices may be accessed through 
the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. If you do not have access to ADAMS 
or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, 
contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-
397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by email to [email protected].The FEIS is also 
available for inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, U.S. 
NRC's Headquarters Building, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 
Rockville, Maryland. Upon written request and to the extent supplies 
are available, a single copy of the FEIS can be obtained for a fee by 
writing to the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Reproduction 
and Distribution Services Section, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; by E-mail ([email protected]); or by fax 
at (301) 415-2289.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chester Poslusny Jr., Sr. Project 
Manager, Licensing and Inspection Directorate, Spent Fuel Project 
Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, Telephone (301) 415-1341, 
or E-mail ([email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed action involves the 
construction and operation of a proposed SNF storage facility at a site 
(known as Site A) located on the Reservation, and transporting SNF from 
the existing railroad to the site by constructing a new rail siding and 
rail line to connect the proposed facility to the existing main line in 
Utah. This FEIS has been prepared in compliance with NEPA, NRC 
regulations for implementing NEPA (10 CFR Part 51), guidance provided 
by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations implementing 
the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), STB 
regulations for implementing NEPA (49 CFR Part 1105), and BLM and BIA 
policy, procedures, and guidance documents.
    Federal agencies' actions are considered in this FEIS. NRC's action 
is to grant or deny a 20-year license to PFS to receive, transfer, and 
possess SNF on the Reservation. BIA's action is to either approve or 
disapprove a 25-year lease between PFS and the Skull Valley Band for 
use of Reservation land to construct

[[Page 2703]]

and operate the proposed facility. If granted, both the NRC license and 
the BIA lease could be renewed. BLM's action is to either grant one or 
deny both requests for rights-of-way through public land administered 
by the BLM for transporting SNF from the existing rail line to the 
proposed facility site. Approval of the proposed action would require 
amending the Pony Express Resource Management Plan. STB's action is to 
grant or deny PFS's application for a license to construct and operate 
a new rail line to the proposed facility site.
    This FEIS sets forth not only the Cooperating Agencies' evaluation 
of the proposed action (Alternative 1) described above, but also their 
evaluation of the environmental impacts of the alternative actions. 
Alternatives involving the Skull Valley site include an alternative 
site location on the Reservation (known as Site B), and an alternative 
transportation method (i.e., heavy-haul vehicles). Consideration of an 
alternative site location on the Reservation and an alternative 
transportation method resulted in evaluating the following 
alternatives:
    Alternative 2--the construction and operation of the proposed 
facility at Site B on the Reservation with a rail siding and a rail 
line similar to that described above.
    Alternative 3--construction and operation of the proposed facility 
at Site A, construction and operation of a new Intermodal Transfer 
Facility (ITF) near Timpie, Utah, and use of heavy-haul vehicles to 
transport SNF to the Reservation.
    Alternative 4--the construction and operation of the proposed 
facility at Site B with the same ITF and SNF transport described in 
Alternative 3 above.
    Additionally, the FEIS compares the construction and operation of 
an SNF storage facility in Wyoming in lieu of the Skull Valley site. 
This comparison was made to determine if an identified alternative site 
is obviously superior to the proposed site. Lastly, the FEIS sets forth 
the Cooperating Agencies' evaluation of the No-Action Alternative, i.e, 
not to construct and operate the proposed facility in Skull Valley. 
Under the No-Action Alternative, the potential impacts of constructing 
and operating the proposed facility and associated SNF transportation 
facilities in Skull Valley would not occur.
    As set forth in the FEIS, the Cooperating Agencies assessed the 
impacts of the proposed action and its alternatives on minerals, soils, 
water resources, air quality, ecological resources, socioeconomics and 
community resources, cultural resources, human health impact, noise, 
scenic qualities, recreation, and environmental justice. Additionally, 
the NRC staff performed an analysis and comparison of the costs and 
benefits of the proposed action.
    Based on the evaluation in the FEIS, the NRC staff's preferred 
alternative is the proposed action, with implementation of the 
mitigation measures that the Cooperating Agencies propose be required. 
The BIA lease will not be approved or disapproved unless the NRC issues 
a license to PFS, and commitments to the mitigation measures are made 
by PFS. BIA did not indicate a preferred alternative in the DEIS, 
however in the FEIS, BIA has chosen the proposed action, based on 
consideration of environmental impacts and mitigation measures 
identified in the FEIS. A BLM decision to grant a right-of-way to PFS 
would be dependent upon the decisions made by the NRC and BIA. If the 
NRC issues a license to PFS for the proposed facility and BIA approves 
the lease, then BLM's preferred alternative would be to amend the Pony 
Express Resource Management Plan and issue a right-of-way for the new 
rail siding and rail line. Absent such findings by the NRC and BIA, BLM 
would not grant either of PFS' rights-of-way requests. BLM would 
require resolution of a planning restriction imposed by Section 2815 of 
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, and 
completion of the plan amendment process in accordance with 43 CFR part 
1600, prior to issuance of the right-of-way grant. Based on the 
information and analysis to date, the STB environmental review staff 
has concluded that the proposed project, with the implementation of the 
mitigation measures that the Cooperating Agencies propose be required, 
would not result in significant adverse impacts to the environment and 
that construction and operation of the proposed rail line is the 
environmentally preferred alternative.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of January 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
E. William Brach,
Director, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety 
and Safeguards.

    Dated at Washington, D.C., this 8th day of January 2002.

    For the Surface Transportation Board.
Victoria J. Rutson,
Chief, Section of Environmental Analysis.

    Dated at Salt Lake City, Utah, this 9th day of January 2002.

    For the Bureau of Land Management.
Glenn A. Carpenter,
Field Office Manager, Salt Lake Field Office.

    Dated at Phoenix, Arizona, this 9th day of January 2002.
    For the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Barry W. Welch,
Acting Director, Western Regional Office.
[FR Doc. 02-1351 Filed 1-17-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P