[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 162 (Friday, August 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50875-50877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20638]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 63-001-HLW; NRC-2015-0051]
Department of Energy; Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft supplement to environmental impact statements;
availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment the draft ``Supplement to the U.S. Department of
Energy's 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,'' NUREG-2184. This supplements the
U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) 2002 Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) and its 2008 Supplemental EIS for the proposed repository in
accordance with the findings and scope outlined in the NRC staff's 2008
Adoption Determination Report (ADR) for DOE's EISs. The scope of this
supplement is limited to the potential environmental impacts from the
proposed repository on groundwater and from surface discharges of
groundwater. The NRC staff plans to hold four public meetings during
the public comment period to present an overview of the supplement and
to accept public comments on the draft supplement.
DATES: Submit comments on the supplement by October 20, 2015. Comments
received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do
so, but the NRC is able to assure consideration only for comments
received on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0051. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration,
Mail Stop: OWFN-12-H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Pineda, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6789; email:
[email protected].
[[Page 50876]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0051 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0051.
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]. For
the convenience of the reader, instructions about obtaining materials
referenced in this document are provided in the ``Availability of
Documents'' section.
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.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2015-0051 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove
identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.
II. Discussion
This supplement evaluates the potential environmental impacts on
groundwater and impacts associated with the discharge of any
contaminated groundwater to the ground surface due to potential
releases from a geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-
level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada. This
supplements DOE's 2002 ``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'' and
2008 ``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,'' in
accordance with the findings and scope outlined in the NRC staff's 2008
``Adoption Determination Report for the U.S. Department of Energy's
Environmental Impact Statements for the Proposed Geologic Repository at
Yucca Mountain.'' The ADR provides the NRC staff's conclusion as to
whether it is practicable for the NRC to adopt DOE's EISs under the
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended. The NRC's decision on
adoption of the EISs will occur after completion of the adjudication
under part 2, subpart J of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR).
The scope of this supplement is limited to those areas defined in
the ADR, specifically, the potential environmental impacts from the
proposed repository on groundwater and from surface discharges of
groundwater. In the ADR, the NRC staff found that the analysis in DOE's
EISs does not provide adequate discussion of the cumulative amounts of
radiological and nonradiological contaminants that may enter the
groundwater over time and how these contaminants would behave in the
aquifer and surrounding environments. This supplement provides the
information the NRC staff identified in its ADR as necessary. The
supplement describes the affected environment with respect to the
groundwater flow path for potential contaminant releases from the
repository that could be transported beyond the regulatory compliance
location through the alluvial aquifer in Fortymile Wash and the
Amargosa Desert, and to the Furnace Creek/Middle Basin area of Death
Valley. The analysis in this supplement considers both radiological and
nonradiological contaminants. Using groundwater modeling, the NRC staff
finds that contaminants from the repository would be captured by
groundwater withdrawal along the flow path, such as the current pumping
in the Amargosa Farms area, or would continue to Death Valley in the
absence of such pumping. Therefore, this supplement provides a
description of the flow path from the regulatory compliance location to
Death Valley, the locations of current groundwater withdrawal, and
locations of potential natural discharge along the groundwater flow
path. The supplement evaluates the potential radiological and
nonradiological environmental impacts at these groundwater and surface
discharge locations over a one-million year period following repository
closure, including potential impacts on the aquifer environment, soils,
ecology, and public health, as well as the potential for
disproportionate impacts on minority or low-income populations. In
addition, this supplement assesses the potential for cumulative impacts
that may be associated with other past, present, or reasonably
foreseeable future actions. The NRC staff finds that all of the impacts
on the resources evaluated in this supplement would be SMALL.
III. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adams accession
Document No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NRC Staff's Draft ``Supplement to the U.S. Department ML15223B243
of Energy's 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,'' NUREG-2184....
NRC Staff's Adoption Determination Report............ ML082420342
NRC Federal Register notice of intent to prepare a ML15058A595
supplement to a final supplemental environmental
impact statement....................................
DOE ``Final Supplemental Environmental Impact ML081750191
Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal
of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive
Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada''.......
[[Page 50877]]
DOE ``Final Environmental Impact Statement for a ML032690321
Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent
Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at
Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada''................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. Public Meetings
The NRC staff will hold a public conference call on August 26,
2015, from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. During this call,
the NRC staff will provide information on how to submit comments on the
draft supplement and answer any questions related to the public comment
process. The staff will not be accepting comments on the draft
supplement during this call. The teleconference number and passcode for
this call will be made available on the NRC's public Web site, or you
may call 301-415-6789 or email [email protected].
In addition, the NRC staff plans to hold the following public
meetings during the public comment period to present an overview of the
supplement and to accept public comments on the document.
September 3, 2015: NRC Headquarters, One White Flint
North, First Floor Commission Hearing Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Maryland 20852. This meeting will start at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time and
continue until 5:00 p.m.
September 15, 2015: Embassy Suites Convention Center, 3600
Paradise Rd., Las Vegas, Nevada 89169. This meeting will start at 7:00
p.m. Pacific Time and continue until 9:00 p.m.
September 17, 2015: Amargosa Community Center, 821 E.
Amargosa Farm Road, Amargosa Valley, Nevada 89020. This meeting will
start at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time and continue until 9:00 p.m.
October 15, 2015: Public meeting via conference call, from
2:00 p.m. Eastern Time until 4:00 p.m.
Additionally, at each of the meeting locations in Nevada, the NRC
staff will host informal discussions during an open house for one hour
prior to the meeting start time. Open houses will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Pacific Time.
The public meetings will be transcribed and will include: (1) A
presentation of the contents of the draft supplement; and (2) the
opportunity for interested government agencies, organizations, and
individuals to provide comments on the draft supplement. No oral
comments will be accepted during the open house sessions prior to the
public meetings in Nevada. To be considered, oral comments must be
presented during the transcribed portion of the public meeting. Written
comments can be submitted to the NRC staff at any time during the
public meetings. Persons interested in attending or presenting oral
comments at any of the public meetings are encouraged to pre-register.
Persons may pre-register to attend or present oral comments by calling
301-415-6789 or by emailing [email protected] no later than 3
days prior to the meeting. To provide oral comments, members of the
public may also register in person at each meeting. Individual oral
comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number
of persons who register. If special equipment or accommodations are
needed to attend or present information at a public meeting, the need
should be brought to the NRC's attention no later than 10 days prior to
the meeting to provide the NRC staff adequate notice to determine
whether the request can be accommodated. To maximize public
participation, the NRC headquarters meeting on September 3, 2015, will
be Web-streamed via the NRC's public Web site. On the meeting date,
interested persons should go to the NRC's Live Meeting Webcast page to
participate: http://video.nrc.gov/. The NRC headquarters meeting will
also feature a moderated teleconference line so remote attendees will
have the opportunity to present oral comments. To receive the
teleconference number and passcode for the September 3 meeting or for
the October 6 conference call, call 301-415-6789 or email
[email protected]. Meeting agendas and participation details
will be available on the NRC's Public Meeting Schedule Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/publicinvolve/public-meetings/index.cfm no later
than 10 days prior to the meetings.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of August 2015.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James Rubenstone,
Acting Director, Yucca Mountain Directorate, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2015-20638 Filed 8-20-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P