ML18290A457

LTR-18-0403-1DSFM: Letter to B. Hobbs Response to Letter Requesting Extension of Comment Period, Additional Scoping Meeting, and Briefing (Docket No. 72-1050)

ML18290A457
Person / Time
Site:	Consolidated Interim Storage Facility
Issue date:	10/17/2018
From:	Michael Layton Division of Spent Fuel Management
To:	Hobbs B City of Eunice, NM
Markley C
Shared Package
ML18285A171	List: ML18288A216 ML18290A457 ML18290A462
References
LTR-18-0403-1DSFM
Download: ML18290A457 (3)

Text

October 17, 2018 Billy Hobbs, Mayor City of Eunice P.O. Box 147 1106 Avenue J Eunice, New Mexico 88231

SUBJECT:

RESPONSE TO LETTER REQUESTING EXTENSION OF COMMENT PERIOD, ADDITIONAL SCOPING MEETING, AND BRIEFING (DOCKET NO. 72-1050)

Dear Mr. Hobbs:

I am writing in response to your letter, dated October 4, 2018, to Senator Thomas Udall of New Mexico, 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, and the scoping period for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be prepared by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff. You are requesting (1) an extension to the EIS scoping period; (2) a briefing from NRC and ISP on the CISF license application; and (3) a scoping meeting in the City of Eunice, New Mexico given its proximity to the proposed CISF site.

In response, I would like to begin by providing some background on the proposed project.

Waste Control Specialists LLC (WCS), in April 2016, submitted its license application for a CISF to be located on the WCS site in Andrews County, Texas. The NRC accepted the WCS application for detailed review on January 27, 2017. Prior to that acceptance, the NRC opened the public scoping comment period for its EIS on November 14, 2016 and subsequently extended the scoping period until April 27, 2017. During this period, the NRC staff hosted four meetings to allow members of the public to provide scoping comments, with the meetings 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 and teleconference) on February 23 and April 6, 2017. During the February 13, 2017, meeting, a former mayor of Eunice, Mr. Matt White, provided comments to the NRC staff. The NRC staffs meeting slides, handouts, and project fact sheets and 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 April 18, 2017, WCS requested a temporary suspension to NRCs review of its license application. Then, on June 8, 2018, ISP (a joint venture between WCS and Orano USA) requested a resumption of NRCs review and submitted a revised CISF license application.

Further revisions to the license application were submitted by ISP 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. On September 4, 2018, the NRC staff reopened the EIS scoping period for the ISP license application for an additional 45 calendar days. Comments (written and oral) received during this reopened scoping period will be considered by the NRC staff, along with all comments (written and oral) received during the previous period, in determining the scope of the EIS.

B. Hobbs With regard to your request for an extension to the EIS scoping period, the NRC staff will be extending the comment period an additional 30 days, to close on November 18, 2018. The NRC staff, however, will not be hosting additional scoping comment meetings, as it considers the four meetings held to date, along with the various other ways to provide comments (i.e., by regular mail, electronic mail, and online through www.regulations.gov), have provided sufficient opportunity for members of the public to submit their scoping comments.

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 staff currently expects to do in the fall of 2019. In addition to making the Draft EIS available for review and comment, the NRC staff will be hosting public comment meetings at that time to gather comments on the Draft EIS, as it did during the EIS scoping period. Former Eunice Mayor White did verbally offer facilities in Eunice to host a Draft EIS public comment meeting.

The NRC staff proposes to meet with you and the Eunice City Council by teleconference to discuss the ISP CISF license application and to answer any questions about the application and the NRCs review process. Mr. James Park, the NRCs EIS project manager, will be in contact with you to arrange the teleconference should you decide that you are interested in that offer.

Thank you for your interest in this important matter.

Sincerely,

/RA/

Michael C. Layton, Director Division of Spent Fuel Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Docket No. 72-1050

B. Hobbs

SUBJECT:

RESPONSE TO LETTER REQUESTING EXTENSION OF COMMENT PERIOD, ADDITIONAL SCOPING MEETING, AND BRIEFING (DOCKET NO. 72-1050),

DOCUMENT DATE: October 17, 2018 Docket No. 72-1050 DISTRIBUTION: LTR-18-0403-1DSFM DDiaz-Toro JCNguyen, DSFM ADAMS Accession Number: ML18290A457 OFC FCSE/ERB FCSE/ERB OGC FCSE/ERB NAME JPark AWalker-Smith SKirkwood CRomán DATE 10/15/18 10/16/18 10/16/18 10/16/18 OFC DSFM/SFLB DSFM NAME JMcKirgan MLayton DATE 10/16/18 10/17/18 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY