The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has formally docketed the
Department of Energy’s license application for the proposed high-level
nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The agency staff has
also recommended that the Commission adopt, with further
supplementation, DOE’s Environmental Impact Statement for the repository
project.
The decision to docket the application follows the NRC staff’s
determination that the application, submitted June 3, is sufficiently
complete for the staff to begin its full technical review. Docketing the
application does not indicate whether the Commission will approve or
reject the construction authorization for the repository, nor does it
preclude the Commission or the agency staff from requesting additional
information from DOE during the course of its comprehensive technical
review.
Docketing the application triggers a three-year deadline, with a
possible one-year extension, set by Congress for the NRC to decide
whether to grant a construction authorization. NRC officials have stated
that meeting this deadline is contingent on the agency receiving
sufficient resources from Congress.
After reviewing DOE’s Environmental Impact Statement and its
supplements, the NRC staff determined that it would be practicable for
the agency to adopt the DOE report. However, the staff is requesting
that DOE supplement some aspects of its groundwater analyses. The
staff’s report on its adoption review will be available on the NRC’s
ADAMS online document system at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html using access
number ML08XXXXX.
The NRC notified DOE of its docketing decision and adoption
recommendation this morning. A notice of docketing will be published
soon in the Federal Register. A subsequent Federal Register notice will
provide an opportunity for interested parties to seek an adjudicatory
hearing before the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board regarding the
NRC’s adoption of the Environmental Impact Statement or the substance of
the license application.
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