Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2019-0534-0038
Agency: epa
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Completeness of the Department of Energy's Compliance Recertification Application for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Posted Date: 2021-11-26T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 225 (Friday, November 26, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 67424-67426]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-25590]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 194

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2019-5304; FRL-9213-01-OAR]

Notification of Completeness of the Department of Energy's 
Compliance Recertification Application for the Waste Isolation Pilot 
Plant

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Plant 2019 Compliance Recertification Application is complete; 
end of comment period concerning the 2019 Compliance Recertification 
Application.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) has 
determined that the Department of Energy (DOE) 2019 Compliance 
Recertification Application (CRA) for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant 
(WIPP) is complete. The EPA provided written notice of the completeness 
decision to the Department of Energy on November 17, 2021.The Agency 
has determined that the CRA is complete, in accordance with the, 
``Criteria for the Certification and Recertification of the WIPP's 
Compliance with the Disposal Regulations'' (Compliance Certification 
Criteria). The EPA also gives notice of the end of the comment period 
relating to the CRA.

DATES: The EPA opened the public comment period after receipt of some 
documentation of continued compliance and before the completeness 
determination concerning the CRA and gave notice that the comment 
period would remain open until after the completeness determination to 
a date which would be specified later (84 FR 50367, September 25, 
2019). Comments must be received on or before December 27, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2019-5304, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn. The 
EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not 
submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential 
Business Information (CBI), or other information of which disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must 
be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered 
the official comment and should include discussion of all points

[[Page 67425]]

you wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or 
comment contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on 
the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional 
submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information 
about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making 
effective comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. The EPA is temporarily suspending its Docket 
Center and Reading Room for public visitors, with limited exceptions, 
to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19. Our Docket Center staff 
will continue to provide remote customer service via email, phone, and 
webform. We encourage the public to submit comments via https://www.regulations.gov or email, as there may be a delay in processing 
mail and faxes. Hand deliveries and couriers may be received by 
scheduled appointment only. For further information on EPA Docket 
Center services and the current status, please visit us online at 
https://www.epa.gov/dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ray Lee, Radiation Protection 
Division, Center for Radiation Information and Outreach, Mail Code 
6608T, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-343-9463; fax number: 202-
343-2305; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to the EPA 
through www.regulations.gov or email. Clearly mark the part or all of 
the information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk 
or CD ROM that you mail to the EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD 
ROM as CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM 
the specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one 
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as 
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information 
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket. 
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with 
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
    2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
     Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other 
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and 
page number).
     Follow directions--The Agency may ask you to respond to 
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
     Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives 
and substitute language for your requested changes.
     Describe any assumptions and provide any technical 
information and/or data that you used.
     If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how 
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
     Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns and 
suggest alternatives.
     Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the 
use of profanity or personal threats.
     Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.

II. Background

    The WIPP is a disposal system for transuranic (TRU) radioactive 
waste. The WIPP Land Withdrawal Act, Public Law 102-579 (Oct. 30, 1972) 
\1\ (LWA) imposed various conditions or restrictions on the WIPP, 
including limiting radioactive waste disposal in the WIPP to TRU 
radioactive wastes generated by defense-related activities. The waste 
proposed for disposal at the WIPP derives from federal facilities 
across the United States, including locations in California, Colorado, 
Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and 
Washington. The LWA also provides that the DOE will submit information 
to the EPA to determine whether the WIPP complies with the Agency's 
final disposal regulations, 40 CFR part 191, subparts B and C (Disposal 
Regulations). This includes an initial determination or certification 
of compliance, and then subsequent, periodic recertifications of 
continued compliance. LWA Sec.  8. Under the LWA, the periodic 
recertifications occur on a five-year cycle, beginning five years after 
the initial receipt of transuranic waste for disposal at the WIPP. LWA 
Sec.  8(f)(1). The EPA promulgated the Compliance Certification 
Criteria to set out criteria for the certification and recertification 
of the WIPP's compliance with the Disposal Regulations. Among the 
criteria is the requirement that information submitted by the DOE shall 
be complete and accurate and a preliminary step for the EPA to 
determine and notify DOE, in writing, that a complete recertification 
application has been received. 40 CFR 194.11. The completeness 
determination is an administrative step; it does not imply in any way 
that the CRA demonstrates compliance with the Compliance Certification 
Criteria or the disposal regulations. The EPA is now engaged in the 
final technical review that will determine if the WIPP remains in 
compliance with the disposal regulations.
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    \1\ The 1992 WIPP Land Withdrawal Act was amended by the ``Waste 
Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act Amendments,'' a part of 
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997. Public 
Law 104-201, Title 31, Subtitle F (Sept. 23, 1996).
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    The DOE submitted its first documentation of continued compliance 
and request for recertification of the WIPP, typically referred to as a 
compliance recertification application, in March 2004. The DOE 
submitted the second compliance recertification application in March 
2009 and the third in March 2014. In March 2019, the DOE submitted the 
CRA, its fourth, and currently pending compliance recertification 
application. In September 2019, after receipt of the CRA, the EPA gave 
notice of receipt of the CRA and requested comment on all aspects of 
the application. 84 FR 50367 (Sept. 25, 2019). The Agency indicated 
that the comment period would remain open until a date after the EPA's 
completeness determination in accordance with Sec.  194.11, a date that 
EPA would specify in a subsequent notice.\2\
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    \2\ For additional background information concerning the WIPP, 
the LWA, and periodic compliance recertification, see the September 
25, 2019 notice of receipt and availability of the CRA and opening 
of the comment period. 84 FR 50367.
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    After receiving the CRA, the EPA engaged in a preliminary review of 
the information submitted for completeness. The Agency's review 
identified multiple topics for which additional information was 
necessary to perform a technical evaluation. The EPA sent a series of 
letters to the DOE requesting additional information, and the 
Department provided documents and analyses in response to these 
requests. This completeness-related correspondence--along with other 
supporting documentation--is available in the Agency's public dockets 
(https://www.regulations.gov; Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2019-5304). Links 
to the electronic docket and additional information are also available 
at the EPA's WIPP website (https://www.epa.gov/radiation/certification-and-recertification-wipp).

[[Page 67426]]

    In addition, since the opening of the public comment period on the 
2019 CRA, the Agency has received 12 sets of public comments regarding 
the application and the recertification process in general. In addition 
to soliciting written public comments, the EPA held a virtual, informal 
public meeting in August 2021 to discuss stakeholders' concerns and 
issues related to recertification. All submitted public comments can 
also be referenced via https://www.regulations.gov; Docket ID: EPA-HQ-
OAR-2019-5304.
    In a letter dated November 17, 2021, from the EPA's Director of the 
Office of Radiation and Indoor Air to the Assistant Secretary of the 
Office of Environmental Management, Department of Energy, the Agency 
notified the DOE that the CRA for the WIPP is complete. This letter can 
be referenced via https://www.regulations.gov; Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-
2019-5304. This determination is solely an administrative measure and 
does not reflect any conclusion regarding the WIPP's continued 
compliance with the disposal regulations.
    The EPA will now undertake a full technical evaluation of the 
complete 2019 CRA to determine whether the WIPP continues to comply 
with the Disposal Regulations. The Agency will consider relevant public 
comments and other information relevant to the WIPP's compliance. The 
Agency is most interested in whether new or changed information has 
been appropriately incorporated into the performance assessment 
calculations for the WIPP and whether the potential long-term effects 
of changes are properly characterized.
    If the Agency approves the CRA, it will then serve as the baseline 
for the next recertification. As required by the WIPP LWA, the EPA will 
make a final recertification decision within six months of issuing the 
completeness determination letter to the Secretary of Energy. In 
accordance with the Compliance Certification Criteria, the Agency will 
seek to publish notice of EPA's recertification decision. 40 CFR 
194.64.

Jonathan D. Edwards,
Director, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air.
[FR Doc. 2021-25590 Filed 11-24-21; 8:45 am]
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