[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 141 (Wednesday, July 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44330-44332]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15809]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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; extension of comment 
period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On May 8, 2020, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
    issued for public comment a draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS)

[[Page 44331]]

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 public comment period was 
originally scheduled to close on September 4, 2020. Given recent events 
associated with the COVID-19 public health emergency, the NRC has 
decided to extend the public comment period to allow more time for 
members of the public to develop and submit their comments.

DATES: The due date of comments requested in the document published on 
May 8, 2020 (85 FR 27447) is extended. Comments should be filed no 
later than November 3, 2020. Comments received after this date will be 
considered, if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to 
ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 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 has been 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 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 web page: 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 Web link to the electronic copy of the 
draft EIS has been made available at the following public library 
websites:
     Eunice Public Library: https://www.cityofeunice.org/134/Library-Services, under ``U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
Information.''
     Hobbs Public Library: http://www.hobbspubliclibrary.org/, 
under ``News & Updates.''
     Andrews County Library: https://www.andrews.lib.tx.us/news-events, under ``News & Events.''

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

    On May 8, 2020, the NRC issued for public comment a draft EIS for 
ISP's license application to construct and operate a CISF for SNF and 
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 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 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.
    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 the 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, and local agencies and input from other 
stakeholders; (iii) the NRC staff's independent review; and (iv) the 
NRC staff's assessments provided in the EIS.
    The public comment period was originally scheduled to close on 
September 4, 2020. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment 
until November 3, 2020, to allow more time for members of the public to 
submit their comments. Comments of Federal, State, and local agencies, 
Indian Tribes or other interested

[[Page 44332]]

persons will be made available for public inspection when received.

    Dated: July 16, 2020.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jessie M. Quintero,
Acting Chief, Environmental Review Materials Branch, Division of 
Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2020-15809 Filed 7-21-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P