NRC Officially Extends Yucca Draft Supplemental EIS Comment Period

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially extended the public comment period for the draft supplemental environmental impact statement on groundwater effects from the Yucca Mountain project, according to a notice in the Federal Register late last week. Stakeholders will have until Nov. 20 to submit comments on the report, and the NRC has scheduled an additional teleconference on Nov. 12 to take comments. Nevada and other stakeholders had requested an additional 60 days to submit its comments, so as to allow “that its experts will have an adequate time for review,” according to Martin Malsch, an attorney representing the state. The NRC, however, determined that to adhere to its timeline of issuing a final supplemental EIS in the front half of 2016, it could only grant a one-month extension. The NRC staff found that the proposed repository would have a minimal radiological impact on groundwater surrounding the site. The staff’s draft analysis bolsters the safety case for the shuttered project, which the NRC found to meet most regulatory standards for public health and safety earlier this year in its safety evaluation report.