ML18289A662

Response Letter to Ms. Karen Hadden; Re., Request for Extension of Comment Period, Additional Scoping Meetings, and Translation of License Application, Public Notices, and Materials Into Spanish

ML18289A662
Person / Time
Site:	Consolidated Interim Storage Facility
Issue date:	10/24/2018
From:	Roman C Environmental Review Branch
To:	Hadden K Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Coalition
Park J
Shared Package
ML18289A653	List: ML18289A662
References
Download: ML18289A662 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 October 24, 2018 Ms. Karen Hadden Sustainable Energy &

Economic Development (SEED) Coalition 605 Carismatic Lane Austin, Texas 78748

SUBJECT:

REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF COMMENT PERIOD, ADDITIONAL SCOPING MEETINGS, AND TRANSLATION OF LICENSE APPLICATION, PUBLIC NOTICES, AND MATERIALS INTO SPANISH (DOCKET NO. 72-1050)

Dear Ms. Hadden:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is in receipt of a letter dated October 2, 2018, that was signed by representatives of 37 organizations and 4 individuals regarding the license application from Interim Storage Partners, LLC (ISP) to construct and operate a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for spent nuclear fuel in Andrews County, Texas.

The letter identifies you as the point of contact. By this letter, these representatives and individuals requested (1) a 180-day extension to the scoping period for the NRC staffs Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that is being prepared in response to ISPs license application for the CISF in Andrews County, Texas; (2) a 180-day extension to the Opportunity for Hearing and Leave to Petition to Intervene on the ISP CISF license application; and (3) the translation into Spanish of the ISP CISF license application and related documents, public notices, and fact sheets. By this letter, the NRC staff is responding to items (1) and (3); the response to item (2) will be provided in separate correspondence.

To begin, Waste Control Specialists LLC (WCS), in April 2016, submitted its CISF license application for the same location in Andrews County, Texas, as is proposed by ISP in its CISF license application. Additionally, the sites characteristics and the activities proposed by WCS in its application are substantially the same as those described in ISPs application. Specifically, the proposed CISF site would be located on WCSs property in Andrews County, and as with the WCS application, ISP is proposing to store an initial 5,000 metric tons uranium (MTU) of spent nuclear fuel at the site, with plans to store up to 40,000 MTU there, for a license period of 40 years. WCS requested a temporary suspension to NRCs review of its license application in April 2017; ISP (a joint venture between WCS and Orano USA) requested a resumption of NRCs review on June 8, 2018, and submitted revisions to the license application on July 19, 2018. On August 21, 2018, the NRC staff concluded that ISPs revised license application provided information sufficient for the staff to resume its detailed review.

With respect to the EIS process, on November 14, 2016, the NRC staff opened the scoping period on the WCS application and subsequently extended the scoping period until April 27, 2017, for a total of 163 calendar days. During this period, the NRC staff hosted four meetings to allow members of the public to provide oral scoping comments. These meetings were held in Hobbs, New Mexico on February 13, 2017; in Andrews, Texas on February 15, 2017; and at the NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland (also via webinar) on February 23 and April 6, 2017.

The NRC staffs meeting slides, handouts, and project fact sheets were available in both English

K. Hadden 2 and Spanish at the scoping meetings, and these slides, handouts, and fact sheets, as well as the transcripts for each meeting, are available at NRCs public web page at https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/cis/wcs/public-meetings.html. On September 4, 2018, the NRC staff reopened the scoping period for the ISP license application for an additional 45 calendar days, with the scoping period scheduled to close on October 19, 2018.

Comments (written and oral) received during this scoping period will be considered by the NRC, along with all comments received during the previous period, in determining the scope of the EIS.

Although more than 200 calendar days have already been allotted for scoping, the NRC staff has decided to further extend the scoping period to November 19, 2018. In light of the four scoping meetings the NRC staff has held to date, along with the approximately eight month period for public comment by various other means (i.e., by regular mail, electronic mail, and online through www.regulations.gov), the NRC staff does not plan to host additional scoping comment meetings. The NRC staff further notes that members of the public will have another opportunity to provide comments (written and oral) when the NRC issues its Draft EIS for public comment, which the NRC staff currently expects to do in the Fall of 2019. In addition to making the Draft EIS available for review and comment, the NRC will be hosting public meetings at that time to gather oral comments on the Draft EIS, as it did during the scoping period.

With respect to Spanish translations, the NRC staff follows its Limited English Proficiency Plan; this plan can be found on NRCs public website at https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/civil-rights/lep-plan-8-17-11.pdf. It is not NRC practice to translate applicant documents; however, as noted above, the NRC staff has translated into Spanish various materials that were made available at the scoping comment meetings and that are available on its public project web page. The NRC staff intends to continue, as needed, this process of translating certain of its EIS-related documents into Spanish so as to make this information more available to interested members of the public.

The October 2, 2018, letter from the organizational representatives and individuals, which included other comments, will be considered by the NRC staff as scoping comments on its EIS.

Sincerely, R/A Cinthya I. Román, Chief Environmental Review Branch Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Docket No. 72-1050

K. Hadden 3

SUBJECT:

REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF COMMENT PERIOD, ADDITIONAL SCOPING MEETINGS, AND TRANSLATION OF LICENSE APPLICATION, PUBLIC NOTICES, AND MATERIALS INTO SPANISH (DOCKET NUMBER: 72-1050)

DATED: October 24, 2018 DISTRIBUTION:

FCSE r/f D. Diaz-Toro, NMSS/FCSE J. CNguyen, NMSS/DSFM J. McKirgan, NMSS/DSFM P. Baker, SBCR ADAMS Package Accession Number: ML18289A653 *via email OFC FCSE/ERB FCSE/ERB OGC FCSE/ERB NAME JPark AWalker-Smith *SKirkwood CRomán DATE 10/16/18 10/16/18 10/23/18 10/24/18 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY