[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 48 (Thursday, March 12, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13029-13030]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-05578]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. NRC-2015-0051]
Department of Energy; Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Intent to prepare a supplement to a final supplemental
environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is informing the
public of its intent to prepare a supplement to the U.S. Department of
Energy's (DOE's) ``Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic
Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level
Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada'' (February
2002), and its ``Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for
a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-
Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada'' (July
2008). The NRC staff determined in September 2008 that it is
practicable to adopt, with further supplementation, the DOE's
environmental impact statements (EISs). The NRC staff concluded that
the EISs did not address adequately all of the repository-related
impacts on groundwater or from surface discharges of groundwater.
DATES: March 12, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0051 when contacting the
NRC for further information about the supplement. You may obtain
publicly-available information using any of the following methods:
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this document
(if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time
that a document is referenced.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
[[Page 13030]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Pineda, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: 301-287-0758; Email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982, as amended, specifies
that in the United States, spent nuclear fuel and high-level
radioactive waste will be disposed of in a deep geologic repository.
Amendments to the NWPA in 1987 identified Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as
the single candidate site for characterization as a potential geologic
repository. As described in the NWPA, Section 114(f), the DOE prepared
a final EIS related to the construction, operation, and closure of a
potential geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste at Yucca
Mountain, Nevada in February 2002 pursuant to requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The EIS accompanied
the Secretary of Energy's site recommendation to the President on
February 14, 2002. In July 2002, Congress passed and the President
signed a joint resolution designating Yucca Mountain as the site for
development of a geologic repository. In October 2006, the DOE
announced its intent to prepare a supplemental EIS to update the 2002
EIS. The DOE published a final supplemental EIS on June 16, 2008. In
accordance with NWPA, Section 114(f)(5), the NRC is to adopt the DOE's
EIS to ``the extent practicable.'' The NRC staff reviewed the DOE's
EISs and found that it is practicable for the NRC to adopt them, with
further supplementation (see the NRC staff's Adoption Determination
Report, dated September 5, 2008, and available in ADAMS at Accession
No. ML082420342). The NRC staff concluded that the EISs did not
adequately address all of the repository-related impacts on
groundwater, or from surface discharges of groundwater. The NRC staff
therefore requested that the DOE prepare an EIS supplement. The DOE
initially stated that it would prepare a supplement, but later declined
to prepare the supplement. Instead, the DOE prepared a technical
analysis, ``Analysis of Postclosure Groundwater Impacts for a Geologic
Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level
Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada'' (ADAMS
Accession No. ML092150328). In 2014, the DOE updated this report (ADAMS
Accession No. ML14303A399). The NRC staff will consider these reports
in preparing the supplement.
The supplement will provide additional information about the
proposed repository's impacts on groundwater and from surface
discharges of groundwater. More specifically, the supplement will
describe the extent of the volcanic-alluvial aquifer, particularly
those parts that could become contaminated, and how water (and
potential contaminants) can leave the flow system. In addition, the
supplement will provide an analysis of the cumulative amount of
radiological and non-radiological contaminants that can be reasonably
expected to enter the aquifer from the repository, and the amount that
can be reasonably expected to remain over time. The supplement will
provide estimates of contamination in the groundwater, given potential
accumulation of radiological and non-radiological contaminants. The
supplement also will provide a discussion of the impacts on soils and
surface materials from the processes involved in surface discharges of
contaminated groundwater. A description of locations of potential
natural discharge of contaminated groundwater for present and expected
future wetter periods will be included, as will a description of the
physical processes at surface discharge locations that can affect
accumulation, concentration, and potential remobilization of
groundwater-borne contaminants. Finally, the supplement will provide
estimates of the amounts of contaminants that could be deposited at or
near the surface and describe their potential environmental impacts.
II. Schedule
The NRC staff intends to issue the draft supplement in the late
summer of 2015 and announce the availability of the supplement in the
Federal Register, via email distribution, in a press release, on the
NRC's Web site, and in media in Nevada. A public comment period will
start upon publication of the NRC's Notice of Availability in the
Federal Register. During the public comment period, the NRC plans to a
public meeting at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, two public
meetings in Nevada, and a public conference call.
All meetings will be transcribed. The meeting at NRC headquarters
will be webcast and accessible via a conference line. The NRC staff
plans to publish the final supplement 12 to 15 months after issuing
this notice.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of March 2015.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Josephine Piccone,
Director, Yucca Mountain Directorate, Office of Nuclear Material Safety
and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2015-05578 Filed 3-11-15; 8:45 am]
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