[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