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United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 99-45 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 4, 1999

NRC TO HOLD TWO PUBLIC MEETINGS IN NEVADA

ON PROPOSED REGULATIONS FOR YUCCA MOUNTAIN

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public meetings this month in Nevada

to discuss the agencys proposed new regulations for the licensing of a possible future high-

level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

The first meeting will be Tuesday, March 23 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Richard

Tam Alumni Center, University of Nevada Las Vegas. The second will be Thursday, March 25

from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Beatty Community Center in Beatty.

The meetings will open with an NRC presentation on the proposed rule, which would

establish criteria and standards against which NRC would evaluate a possible future DOE

license application for a repository at Yucca Mountain.

The NRCs presentation will be followed by an opportunity for comments from the

The public discussion will begin with a panel of representatives of the major interests

affected by the proposed regulations, including local and county governments, the State of

Nevada, Native American organizations, the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force and the

Nuclear Waste Study Committee. The floor will then be open for questions or comments from

the general public.

Francis X. Cameron, NRC Counsel for Public Liaison, will facilitate the meetings.

The NRC will consider comments received at the meeting in developing the final version

of the proposed rule. Written comments are also invited and should be submitted, by May 10 ,

to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001,

Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. In addition, comments may be submitted

electronically via the NRCs interactive rulemaking web site at

The proposed regulations were published in the Federal Register on February 22.

Copies will also be available at the public meetings, via the same NRC Internet web site, or

from Judy Goodwin, Division of Waste Management, Mail Stop T-7F3, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission, Washington, D.C. 20005, telephone: 301/415-5870.

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