NRC SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON ASSUMPTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTALSTU

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NRC SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON ASSUMPTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTALSTUDY OF EXTENDED STORAGE OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUELThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeks public comment on a report updatingpreliminary assumptions for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) the agency will develop to analyze the effects of storing spent nuclear fuel from the nation’s commercial power reactorsfor as much as 200 years.The EIS will be part of the agency’s effort to update its Waste Confidence Decision and Rule, last updated in 2010. The report being made available for comment is an early effort to obtain public input about the general scope of the EIS before the NRC formally initiates the EIS“scoping” process. The EIS will include analyses of environmental impacts that are directlyrelated to the long-term handling, storage and transportation of commercial spent fuel and high-level waste.The report discusses several storage scenarios, including at nuclear power plants, regionalor centralized storage sites or a combination of storage and reprocessing of spent fuel. A keyassumption is that extended storage would be managed under a regulatory program similar tocurrent regulation of spent fuel. To analyze the impacts associated with the scenarios, the staffwill develop generic, composite sites for each scenario, and these sites will account for a range ofcharacteristics of actual reactor and storage sites.The report, entitled “Background and Preliminary Assumptions for an EnvironmentalImpact Statement – Long-Term Waste Confidence Update,” was posted Jan. 3 on the NRCwebsite. The report updates assumptions first laid out in SECY-11-0029, dated Feb. 28, 2011. As revised in 2010, the Waste Confidence Decision and Rule included the Commission’sconfidence that spent fuel can be safely managed until it undergoes final disposition. At the sametime, the Commission directed the staff to prepare a long-term update to the Waste Confidence Decision and Rule that would cover extended storage of spent fuel. This long-term update is tobe informed by the analysis and conclusions of the EIS anticipated in the current report. NRC NEWSU.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIONOffice of Public AffairsTelephone: 301/415-8200Washington, D.C. 20555-0001E-mail: opa.resource@nrc.gov Site: www.nrc.govBlog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.govNo. 12-001January 3, 2012
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Comments on the report may be filed by email to WCOutreach@nrc.gov or by U.S mail to Christine Pineda, Project Manager, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Mailstop EBB-2B2, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.###