Text

Responds to to Schwartz.Requested Info Re Waste Disposal Issues Encl.Nrc Hopes to Avoid Schedule Conflict During Regional Meetings W/States,On Low Level Waste Site Licensing in Spring.W/O Encls
	ML19322E721
Person / Time
Issue date:	03/19/1980
From:	Young F; NRC OFFICE OF STATE PROGRAMS (OSP)
To:	Easter J; MARYLAND, STATE OF
Shared Package
ML19322E722	List: ML19322E721; ML19322E726;
References
	NUDOCS 8004020170
	Download: ML19322E721 (2)
	v • d • e

. m.

00"%t 4

y e

o UNITE D '.TATES

!\\

'k NUCLEAR REGULAIORY COMMISSION 33 E

W ASH ING T ON, D, C. 20555 r

\\...../

MAR 191980 Mr. James Hugh Easter Legislative Analyst Maryland Commission on Intergovernmental Cooperation 90 State Circle Legislative Services Building Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Dear Mr. Easter:

Your letter to Sheldon Schwartz has been referred to me for reply. At present Mr. Schwartz is on temporary detail to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist States in the development of radiological emergency response plans.

Please keep this office informed as your Commission develops an agenda for its public hearing on nuclear waste disposal.

We will be happy to try to provide either a speaker or prepared testimony for the record on areas within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) purview.

I have enclosed, at your request, several papers on waste disposal issues.

You are probably aware that Maryland is an Agreement State.

Section 274 (enclosed) of the Atomic Energy Act was enacted in 1959 to recognize the States' interest in nuclear activities, to clarify the respective responsi-bilities of the States and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) under the Act, and to provide a statutory means by which the AEC could relinquish to the States part of its regulatory authority, i.e., authority with respect to source material, byproduct material, and special nuclear material in quanti-ties not sufficient to form a critical mass.

You may tish to contact Mr. Robert E. Corcoran, Chief, Division of Radiation Control, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (301-383-2744), for information on the Maryland Agreement program and low level waste disposal. NRC, under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, will license all high level waste reposi-tories; and under the Atomic Energy Act, as amended, will license low level waste disposal facilities in Non-Agreement States. Maryland, as an Agreement State, would license a low level waste site, consistent with NRC regulations.

The NRC has provided for State participation in the licensing of both high and low level waste disposal sites.

I've enclosed the proposed Part 60 (of Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations) on high level waste repository licensing, and a preliminary draft of Part 61 on low lavel waste site licensing. NRC plans to Vld regional meetings with States this Spring on Part 61. We hope to avoid a schedule conflict with your hearings, so please let us know when you have selected a date.

l 8004020170

y

... A Mr. James Hugh Easter,

Because State-by-State siting of disposal facilities may be uneconomical or geologically unsuitable, NRC staff believes that the regional concept of siting low level waste disposal facilities is preferable.

Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress to facilitate this.

Furthermore, NRC is prepared to provide technical assistance to any interested Agreement State in its review of a possible site.

NRC staff believes in the spirit J

of cooperative federalism such that the States and the Federal Government would join in solving the radioactive waste management problem.

Towards that i

end, President Carter has recently formed a State Planning Council, of which Governor Hughes is a member, to work with the Department of Energy on site selection and construction review of high level waste repositories and selection of low level waste sites.

If you have further questions please call Elizabeth McCarthy on my staff at (301)492-7794 and/or Rob MacDougall of the Waste Management staff at (301) 427-4423. Both can provide information on NRC's was+a management programs.

Si

rely, xy-a Frank W. Youn Acting Assistah Director for Program Development Office of State Programs