[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 179 (Monday, September 15, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53284-53285]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-21431]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 63-001]


Department of Energy; Notice of Acceptance for Docketing of a 
License Application for Authority To Construct a Geologic Repository at 
a Geologic Repository Operations Area at Yucca Mountain, NV

    By letter dated June 3, 2008, the Department of Energy (DOE, or the 
Applicant) submitted a license application (Application) seeking 
authorization to construct a geologic repository at a geologic 
repository operations area at Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nevada. The 
Application was submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 
pursuant to Section 114 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, as amended 
(NWPA), Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 63, 
and 10 CFR 2.101. NRC published a notice of receipt and availability of 
this application in the Federal Register (73 FR 34348, corrected in 73 
FR 40883) on June 17, 2008.
    The NRC staff has determined that DOE has submitted information in 
accord with 10 CFR Part 2, ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing 
Proceedings and Issuance of Orders,'' and 10 CFR Part 63, ``Disposal of 
High-Level Radioactive Wastes in a Geologic Repository at Yucca 
Mountain, Nevada,'' that can be accepted for docketing and review. The 
docket number established for this license application is 63-001.
    The NRC staff will perform a detailed technical review of the 
license application to determine whether to authorize construction of a 
geologic repository. Docketing of the license application does not 
preclude the NRC from requesting additional information from the 
applicant as the review proceeds, nor does it predict whether the 
Commission will grant or deny a construction authorization. The 
Commission will conduct a hearing in accord with 10 CFR Part 2, Subpart 
C, ``Rules of General Applicability: Hearing Requests, Petitions to 
Intervene, Availability of Documents, Selection of Specific Hearing 
Procedures, Presiding Officer Powers, and General Hearing Management 
for NRC Adjudicatory Hearings,'' Subpart J, ``Procedures Applicable to 
Proceedings for the Issuance of Licenses for the Receipt of High-Level 
Radioactive Waste at a Geologic Repository,'' and Subpart G, ``Rules 
for Formal Adjudications.'' If the Commission finds that the license 
application meets the applicable standards of the Atomic Energy Act of

[[Page 53285]]

1954, as amended, the NWPA, and the Commission's regulations, then the 
Commission will issue a construction authorization, in the form and 
containing such conditions and limitations, if any, as the Commission 
finds appropriate and necessary.
    The Commission finds that a hearing is required in the public 
interest, prior to issuance of a construction authorization. A notice 
of hearing announcing the opportunity to petition for leave to 
intervene in the hearing will be published in the Federal Register at a 
later date. The notice of hearing will state, pursuant to 10 CFR 
2.104(b): (1) The nature of the hearing; (2) the authority under which 
the hearing is to be held; (3) the matters of fact and law to be 
considered; (4) the date by which requests for hearing or petitions to 
intervene must be filed; and (5) the presiding officer designated for 
the hearing or the procedure that the Commission will use to designate 
a presiding officer for the hearing.
    Pursuant to its obligations under Sec.  114(f)(4) of the NWPA, and 
10 CFR 51.26(c), it is the intention of the Commission to adopt the 
environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared by the Secretary of 
Energy to the extent practicable.
    In accord with 10 CFR 51.109(a), the NRC staff's position is that 
it is practicable to adopt, with further supplementation, the EIS and 
supplements prepared by DOE. The staff concludes that neither the 2002 
Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) nor the 2008 Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Repository Supplemental 
EIS) adequately address all of the impacts on groundwater, or from 
surface discharges of groundwater, from the proposed action. The staff 
concludes that additional supplementation is needed to ensure the 2002 
FEIS and 2008 Repository Supplemental EIS are adequate. The basis for 
the staff's position is presented in the ``U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission Staff's Adoption Determination Report for the U.S. 
Department of Energy's Environmental Impact Statements for the Proposed 
Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain,'' which is available in the 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), accession 
number ML082420342. [The ADAMS accession number for the ADAMS package 
containing DOE's Final Environmental Impact Statement is ML032690321, 
and the accession number for the ADAMS package containing DOE's Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement is ML081750191. The ADAMS 
accession number for the ADAMS package containing DOE's Final Rail 
Corridor Supplemental EIS and Rail Alignment EIS is ML082460227.]
    Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's 
Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public 
File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, and will be accessible electronically through the ADAMS 
Public Electronic Reading Room link at the NRC Web site http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The application is also available at 
http://www.nrc.gov/waste/hlw-disposal/yucca-lic-app.html. Persons who 
do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing 
documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff 
by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b5c5d1c7f5dbc7d69bd2dac3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="49392d3b09273b2a672e263f">[email protected]</span></a>.

    Dated at Rockville, MD, this 8th day of September 2008.

    For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michael F. Weber,
Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E8-21431 Filed 9-12-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P


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