Members of the public have a bit more time to weigh in on how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is handling issues of environmental justice, the agency said this week.
September 22 is the new deadline for public comment on NRC’s current environmental justice posture, which it will use as part of a “systematic” review of agency programs, policies and activities, according to a Federal Register Notice published Tuesday. The comment period was initially slated to close August 23.
The commission is seeking “input on how the agency is addressing environmental justice, considering the agency’s mission and statutory authority,” the notice said.
Community engagement is just part of NRC’s environmental justice assessment, which it announced July 8. A review team of agency staff is already “reviewing recent Executive Orders and assessing practices of other federal, state and tribal governments,” according to a July 8 press release.
The team will also look at NRC’s 2004 policy statement that set up an environmental justice framework for commission regulatory activities, and determine whether that guidance needs to be expanded.
The review team is led by Gregory Suber, the deputy director of NRC’s operating reactor licensing division within the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR).
A spokesperson for NRC told RadWaste Monitor via email Friday that the review should be complete in February of next year.
