[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 93 (Friday, May 13, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29923-29924]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-11075]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 63-001-HLW; NRC-2015-0051]
Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and
High-Level Radioactive Waste; Department of Energy; Yucca Mountain, Nye
County, Nevada
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Supplement to environmental impact statement; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued the
final ``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 at Yucca Mountain 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.
DATES: May 13, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0051 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using 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.
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, the ADAMS accession numbers are provided
in a table in the ``Availability of Documents'' section of this
document.
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.
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.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. 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 its
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 provided 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.
The scope of this supplement is limited to those areas identified
for supplementation 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 radiological and nonradiological contaminants that may enter the
groundwater over time and
[[Page 29924]]
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 postclosure regulatory compliance location
through the alluvial aquifer in Fortymile Wash and the Amargosa Desert,
and to the Furnace Creek and Middle Basin areas 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 if there is no or reduced pumping.
Therefore, this supplement provides a description of the flow path from
the postclosure 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 to groundwater and at surface discharge locations over a 1-
million-year period following repository closure. The analysis
considers the potential impacts on the aquifer environment, soils,
ecology, public health, and the potential for disproportionate impacts
on minority and 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.
The draft supplement notice of availability and public meetings was
published in the Federal Register on August 21, 2015 (80 FR 50875). A
notice of extension to the public comment period was published on
September 18, 2015 (80 FR 56501).
II. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through ADAMS.
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Document ADAMS Accession No.
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NRC Staff's ``Supplement to the U.S. ML16125A032
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.
NRC Staff's Adoption Determination Report.... ML082420342
NRC Federal Register notice of intent to ML15058A595
prepare a supplement to a final supplemental
environmental impact statement.
NRC Federal Register notice of availability ML15223B192
of the draft supplement for public comment.
NRC Federal Register notice of extension of ML15254A399
the public comment period for the draft
supplement.
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''.
DOE ``Final Environmental Impact Statement ML032690321
for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal
of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level
Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye
County, Nevada''.
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Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of May 2016.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James Rubenstone,
Acting Director, Yucca Mountain Directorate, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2016-11075 Filed 5-12-16; 8:45 am]
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