ML18094A809

LTR-18-0105-1 - Oedo Ticket - Letter Sent by a Small Group of New Mexico Legislators Re Holtec Consolidated Interim Storage Facility Does Not Reflect the Views of the Citizens of Lea County (NMSS Response)

ML18094A809
Person / Time
Site:	HI-STORE
Issue date:	04/12/2018
From:	Mccree V NRC/EDO
To:	Black R Lea County, NM, Board of Commissioners
Cuadrado J
Shared Package
ML18074A196	List: ML18094A809
References
LTR-18-0105-1
Download: ML18094A809 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 April 12, 2018 Ron R. Black, Chair, District 3 Lea County Board of County Commissioners 100 North Main Avenue, Suite 4 Lovington, New Mexico 88260

SUBJECT:

HOLTEC INTERNATIONALS APPLICATION FOR CONSOLIDATED INTERIM SPENT FUEL STORAGE FACILITY LICENSE IN LEA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO, DOCKET NO. 72-1051

Dear Mr. Black:

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter, dated March 14, 2018, in which you stated that a letter recently sent by a group of legislators from the New Mexico Senate and House of Representatives does not accurately represent the views of the citizens of Lea County, New Mexico. In a letter, dated February 10, 2018, several legislators asked for an extension of the public comment scoping period for Holtec Internationals (Holtecs) proposed HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF).

You stated that as a resident of Lea County for 50 years and the current chairman of the Lea County Board of Commissioners, you feel that you better understand the feelings of the citizens of the county than the group of legislators who are from distant areas of the State.

Specifically, you expressed disagreement with the claim by the group of legislators that they had not been sufficiently informed about Holtecs proposed spent fuel storage plan. You stated that the CISF project had been the subject of numerous committee hearings in the State legislature, and that as a result, both the New Mexico State Senate and House of Representatives passed memorials supporting the proposed project. You also highlighted that the City Commissions for both Hobbs and Carlsbad, as well as the County Commissions of both Lea and Eddy Counties, passed resolutions in support of the CISF project. Finally, your letter expressed support for the NRC to proceed, on schedule, with its scoping process and environmental review.

The NRC staff responded to the group of New Mexico legislators in a letter dated March 23, 2018 (enclosed). As explained in that letter, we decided not to extend the scoping period until the end of the next full legislative session, which will begin in 2019, because the corresponding delay in our licensing review of more than one year would not be commensurate with a timely regulatory decision-making process.

As indicated in your letter, our licensing process offers multiple opportunities for public involvement. The public, including members of the New Mexico State legislature, will have the opportunity to participate in our environmental review process when we publish the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for public comment. We anticipate that the draft EIS will be available for public comment no sooner than the summer of 2019. We will also actively seek comments on the draft EIS by conducting public meetings in the local area of the proposed facility to solicit comments.

R. Black 2 Finally, let me inform you that the NRC staff has accepted Holtecs CISF application for docketing, and that on March 30, 2018, a notice was published in the Federal Register announcing the intent to prepare an EIS and to conduct a scoping process. Comments are requested within 60 days. Acceptance for docketing does not constitute approval of the license, but initiates the detailed safety, security, and environmental reviews. If you would like to discuss any of these matters, please contact John McKirgan, Chief of the Spent Fuel Licensing Branch, at 301-415-5722.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Victor M. McCree Executive Director for Operations Docket No. 72-1051

Enclosure:

As stated

HOLTEC INTERNATIONALS APPLICATION FOR CONSOLIDATED INTERIM SPENT FUEL STORAGE FACILITY LICENSE IN LEA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO, DOCKET NO. 72-1051 DOCUMENT DATE: April 12, 2018 DISTRIBUTION:

SFM Reading File RKellar, RIV JCaverly, NMSS CRoman, NMSS ADAMS PACKAGE NO. ML18074A196 LTR-18-0105-1 OFC: SFM SFM FCSE OGC DSFM NAME: JMcKirgan WWheatley CRoman LClark AHsia via email via email via email DATE: 3/27/18 3/23/18 3/26/18 4/3/18 4/6/18 OFC: DSFM NMSS NMSS OEDO NAME: AHsia for LMoorin MDapas VMcCree MLayton DATE: 4/6/18 4/6/18 4/10/18 4/12/18 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY