[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 90 (Friday, May 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27447-27448]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09795]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 72-1050; NRC-2016-0231]


Interim Storage Partners Consolidated Interim Storage Facility 
Project

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft environmental impact statement; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Interim 
Storage Partners' (ISP's) license application to construct and operate 
a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for spent nuclear fuel 
(SNF) and Greater-Than Class C (GTCC) waste, along with a small 
quantity of mixed oxide fuel. The proposed CISF would be located on an 
approximately 130-hectare (320-acre) site, within the approximately 
5,666-hectare (14,000-acre) Waste Control Specialists (WCS) site in 
Andrews County, Texas. The proposed action is the issuance of an NRC 
license authorizing a CISF to store up to 5,000 metric tons of uranium 
(MTUs) [5,500 short tons] of SNF for a license period of 40 years. ISP 
plans to subsequently request amendments to the license to store an 
additional 5,000 MTU for each of seven expansion phases of the

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proposed CISF (a total of eight phases), to be completed over the 
course of 20 years. The proposed facility could eventually store up to 
40,000 MTUs [44,000 short tons] of SNF.

DATES: The NRC staff will hold public meetings on the draft EIS. The 
public meeting details will be announced in the near future. The staff 
will present the preliminary findings and receive public comments 
during these transcribed public meetings.
    In reaction to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the NRC staff 
is providing an extended period of time for members of the public to 
submit comments on the draft EIS. Members of the public are invited to 
submit comments by September 4, 2020. Comments received after this date 
will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to 
ensure consideration only for comments received by this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov/ and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0231. Address 
questions about NRC Docket IDs to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 
TWFN-7-A60M, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
     Email comments to: [email protected].
    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: James Park, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6954; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0231 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain publicly-available information related to this action by the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0231. An 
electronic copy of the draft EIS will be posted under Docket ID NRC-
2016-0231 as supporting material.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, 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 draft EIS is available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML20122A220.
     Project Webpage: Information related to the ISP CISF 
project can be accessed on the NRC's ISP CISF web page at https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/cis/waste-control-specialist.html.
 Public Libraries: A copy of the draft EIS will be made 
accessible at the following public libraries:

 Eunice Public Library, 1003 Ave. N, Eunice, NM 88231
 Hobbs Public Library, 509 N Shipp St., Hobbs, NM 88240
 Andrews County Library, 109 NW 1st Street, Andrews, TX 79714

A weblink to the electronic copy of the draft EIS will be placed on the 
Hobbs Public Library website, http://www.hobbspubliclibrary.org/, under 
``News & Updates'' on that site.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2016-0231 in your comment submission. 
Written comments may be submitted during the draft EIS comment period 
as described in the ADDRESSES section of the document.
    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 
https://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

    The NRC is issuing for public comment the draft EIS for an 
application from ISP requesting a license that would authorize ISP to 
construct and operate a CISF for SNF and GTCC waste, along with a small 
quantity of mixed-oxide fuel, which are collectively referred to in the 
EIS as SNF, and composed primarily of spent uranium-based fuel.
    The draft EIS for ISP's license application includes the NRC 
staff's preliminary analysis that evaluates the environmental impacts 
of the proposed action and the No-Action alternative to the proposed 
action. After comparing the impacts of the proposed action to those of 
the No-Action alternative, the NRC staff, in accordance with the 
requirements in part 51 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, 
recommends the proposed action, which is the issuance of an NRC license 
to ISP to construct and operate a CISF at the proposed location to 
temporarily store up to 5,000 MTUs [5,500 short tons] of SNF for a 
licensing period of 40 years. This recommendation is based on (i) the 
ISP license application, which includes an environmental report and 
supplemental documents, and ISP's responses to the NRC staff's requests 
for additional information; (ii) the NRC staff's consultation with 
Federal, State, Tribal, local agencies, and input from other 
stakeholders; (iii) the NRC staff's independent staff review; and (iv) 
the NRC staff's assessments provided in the EIS.

    Dated: May 4, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cinthya I. Roman-Cuevas,
Chief, Environmental Review Materials Branch, Division of Rulemaking, 
Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2020-09795 Filed 5-7-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P