Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 2654196f-c25a-40d1-8edc-e828353b6377
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Standard Format and Content of Environmental Reports for Near-Surface Disposal of Radioactive Waste + HISTORY - HISTORY 04/1982 – Draft WM 013-4
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 4
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1218/ML12187A698.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-4.18
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CFR Title: 

Content:
INTRODUCTION 1. National Environmental Goals Prior to the issuance of a license authorizing disposal of low-level radio- active waste, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is required to assess the potential environmental effects of the proposed activities to ensure that issuance of the license will be consistent with the national environmental goals. In order to obtain information essential for this assessment, the NRC requires that each applicant for a license for land disposal of radioactive wastes submit a report on the potential environmental impact of the proposed project in accor- dance with § 61.10 of 10 CFR Part 61. The national environmental goals are expressed by the National Environ- mental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (Public Law 91-190, 83 Stat. 852), as follows: "...it is the continuing responsibility of the Federal Government to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of national policy, to improve and coordinate Federal plans, functions, programs, and resources to the end that the Nation may-- "(1) fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations; "(2) assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, and estheti- cally and culturally pleasing surroundings; "(3) attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment with- out degradation, risk to health or safety, or other undesirable and unintended consequences; "(4) preserve important historic, cultural, and natural aspects of our national heritage, and maintain, wherever possible, an environment which supports diversity and variety of individual choice; vii "(5) achieve a balance between population and resource use which will permit high standards of living and a wide sharing of life's amenities; and "(6) enhance the quality of renewable resources and approach the maximum attainable recycling of depletable resources." In addition to NEPA, the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, and the Energy Reorgani-