The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should address water supply and quality and a number of other issues in its environmental impact statement (EIS) for a planned spent nuclear reactor fuel storage site in New Mexico, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The environmental evaluation is a key part of a broader NRC technical review of Holtec International’s license application to temporarily store 8,680 metric tons of radioactive waste – and eventually more than 100,000 metric tons — in the southeast corner of the state.
Interested parties have until July 30 to submit input on the scope of the regulator’s EIS. Most comments filed to date have generally argued for or against the project, but the EPA dug into the details in a June 11 letter posted Tuesday on the NRC website.
Among the recommendations:
- The environmental impact statement should offer details of groundwater conditions in the area around the facility site and potential impacts to groundwater quality and quantity from “reasonably foreseeable activities.”
- There should be a comprehensive accounting of all candidate and listed threatened and endangered species in the project zone. Potential impact of building, installing, and maintaining the facility on the local habitat should also be discussed in the EIS.
- The NRC should discuss and forecast air emissions that could be produced by the project, along with possible means for reducing emissions.
- The document should discuss direct, indirect, and total affects of solid and hazardous wastes from building, maintaining, and operating the facility.
Separately, the Sierra Club and more than 30 other environmental and antinuclear groups on July 19 urged the NRC to extend the scoping comment period to Oct. 30 and to suspend the recently announced 60-day window to request an adjudicatory hearing on the license application.
The agency previously lengthened the comment period by 60 days, but has otherwise rejected requests for more time.
A letter to the commission says “Many of these organizations are planning to intervene” in the license proceeding.
