ML19241A647
| ML19241A647 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/16/1979 |
| From: | Dircks W NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19241A648 | List: |
| References | |
| RULE-PRM-20-7 SECY-78-613B, NUDOCS 7907090091 | |
| Download: ML19241A647 (4) | |
Text
'
umir srArts SECY-78-613B February 16, 1979 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMisslON CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM FOR:
The Comissioners THRU:
Lee V. Gossick Executive Director for Operation j
FRCM:
William J. Dircks, Director Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
SUBJECT:
SECY-78-613 AND 613A: RESPONSE TO NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL, INC.( NRDC) PETITION FOR RULEMAKING (PPfi-20-7)
Attached are the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards' (tNSS) responses to cocuents and questions by Ccmissioners Kennedy and Ahearne regarding SECY-78-613 and 613A.
Revisions prepared by INSS to SECY-78-613 and 613A are also included.
William J. Dircks, Director Office of Nuclear Ma' tal Safety and Safeguards Enclosures :
1.
tNSS Response to Cem. Kennedy's Coments 2.
NMSS Response to Com. Ahearne's Coments 3.
Revised Enci 3 to SECY-78-613 and 613A 4.
Revised Enci 4 to SECY-78-613 and 613A 5.
Revised Enci 5 to SECY-78-613 and 613A SECY NOTE:
This paper replaces SECY-78-613A in total and SECY-78-613, with the exception of a proposed public announcement on denial of the petition and Enclosures 1 and 2.
New response sheets have been supplied to the Comissioners.
They are titled SECY-78-613/6138 and should be used to present Ccmissioners position on 78-613 (proposed announcement) and 78-613B (proposed FRN, letter to petitioner and to Congress) io L 311 089 jc3
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C'I L 7907090 & y Q^
. Commissioners' ccmments or consent should be provided directly to the Office of the Secretary by c.o.b. Friday, March 2, 1979.
Commission Staff Office comments, if any, should be submitted to the Commissioners NLT February 26, 1979, with an information copy to the Office of the Secretary.
If the paper is of such a nature that it requires additional time for analytical review and ccmment, the Commissioners and the Secretariat should be apprised of when comments may be expected.
This paper is tentatively scheduled for affirmation at an Open Meeting during the Week of March 5,1979.
Please refer to the appropriate Weekly Commission Schedule, when published, for a specific date and time.
DISTRIBUTION:
Commissioners Commission Staff Offices Exec. Dir. for Opers.
Regional Offices ACRS Secretariat
NMSS RESPONSE TO CCMtENTS ITEMIZED IN "EMCRANDUM DATED JANUARY 23, 1979 FRCM CCM:11SSIONER KENNEDY TO SA"UEL J. CHILK 1.
Statements re;arding the staff's position on the need for immediate action have been revised and clarified in the Federal Register Notice (p. 1). A general statement has been included (p. 2) that the rationale for the staff's decisions for.immediate action is provided in the NRC reply to the five general actions requested by the petitioner.
The revised Fede,'al Register Notice also includes a statement (p.16) that although tne ten " allegations of fact" were not specifically addressed by NRC in the Federal Register Notice, the NRC staff comments on the ten a. legations are contained in material available in the Public Document Room.
The ten "allegatiens of fact" were considered by NRC staff during their review cf NRDC's recuest for immediate action, the staff's development of the low-level waste program, and staff's precaration of SECY-78-613.
Many of the issues raised by tne allegations are addressed in the Acril 2,1976 NRC response to the January 12, 1976 GA0 Repcrt (" Improvements Needed in the Land Disposal of Radioactive Wastes - A Problem of Centuries"), the NRC Task Force Report (NUREG-0217), and the NRC Low-Level Waste Management Program Plan (NUREG-0240). However, the staff considered that formal response in the Federal Recister Notice to each individual allegation was not required to acecuately respond to the petition. The staff is now preparing formal comments on each of the ten allegations and will place these commerts in the Ccmmission's Public Cocument Roca.
2.
NRC consideration of the issues raised in the petition and in the petitioner's GEIS outline has been acknowledged in the Federal Register Notice (pp. 2 and 30), in the proposed letter to the petitioner (Enclosure 4 to SECY-78-613), and in the proposed letters to Congressional Committees (Enclosure 5 to SECY-78-613).
NHSS mention of the Department of Energy's GEIS in the procosed Federal Recister Notice was intended for the reader's information only and has so been clarified in the revised Federal Register Notice (p. 9).
(For further information, refer to the staff's response to Commissioner Ahearne's comments.)
3.
The Federal Register Notice has been revised to clarify and update the res;cnse.
The revisions are included herein.
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tiMS$ STAFF RESFC!!SE TO CC: CELTS SY CCMMISSIO::ER AHEAR:!E 0:1 SECY-78-613 A'lD 612A NMSS did not intend that lRC response to the petition should be closely tied to the Department of Energy's (DCE) GEIS.
The DOE GEIS was mentioned in the Federal Recister Notice in order to clarify a ccmment made by a ccmmenter on the petition.
NMSS did not intend to directly link the NRC response to the ilRCC petition with the DOE GEIS.
From recent conversations with DOE, NMSS has determined that DOE plans to publish the document by late February or early March.
In the document's present fora, the GEIS evaluates the generic environmental impacts of ten alternative methods for permanent disposal of ccmnercial hicn-level waste and transuranic waste.
In the GEIS, shallow land burial of ccmercial TRU waste in concentrations greater than 10 nCi/gm is assumed to ce discan-tinued.
Also included in the GEIS is an analysis of the environmental impacts of retrievable storage of high-level and TRU wastes pending disposal.
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