The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday requested public input on the scope of its assessment of the potential environmental impacts of Waste Control Specialists’ proposed consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in West Texas.
The review is one of two the NRC would conduct before deciding whether to sign off on the planned 40,000-metric-ton-capacity facility in Andrews County. The other is a safety evaluation to find whether Waste Control Specialists’ license application, filed last April, meets NRC regulatory mandates, according to an agency press release. “The environmental review will fulfill the National Environmental Policy Act’s requirement to do an analysis of environmental impacts for major federal actions,” the release says.
The NRC is still considering whether to accept the WCS application for safety review, after in June requesting supplemental information to the initial submission. If the process moves forward, the NRC will post a Federal Register notice that a public hearing on the environmental review can be requested, along with the deadline for comments.
Waste Control Specialists requested an expedited start to the environmental assessment, the NRC release says. “The NRC has agreed because doing so will allow the agency to engage interested members of the public early in the process. It will also provide additional time to consult with federal, tribal, state and local government agencies, facilitating compliance with the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act,” the agency said.
Waste Control Specialists will ultimately pay for the staff time needed for the environmental evaluation, even if the NRC does not accept the current license application, Mark Lombard, director of the NRC Spent Fuel Management Division, said in the release.
Comments on the scope of the environmental review can be submitted to the federal rulemaking website, www.regulations.gov, under Docket ID NRC-2011-0148; transmitted by email to [email protected]; or sent by mail to Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: OWFN- 12 H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The agency’s Federal Register notice has more detail.
