Commission Approves Publication of Proposed Waste Confidence Rule and Draft Generic EIS

Greetings —

Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved—subject to certain changes that the NRC staff must make—publication of the proposed Waste Confidence Rule and Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement.  The Commission’s instructions to staff, in the form of a Staff Requirements Memorandum, are available at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/srm/2013/2013-0061srm.pdf (ADAMS No. ML13217A358).

The NRC staff will now make the changes directed by the Commission and will publish the proposed Waste Confidence Rule and Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement in September for public comment.  The NRC staff will notify members of this e-mail list when publication occurs.

The Commission-review versions of the proposed Waste Confidence Rule and Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement are available at http://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/wcd.html.  When the staff publishes the proposed rule and draft generic EIS—with changes as directed by the Commission—the staff will post both documents to the Waste Confidence webpage.  The staff will also post versions of the documents that identify the changes the NRC staff made in response to the Commission’s Staff Requirements Memorandum.

Public Outreach Update

On Tuesday, July 23, 2013, the Waste Confidence Directorate held an “NRC Chat.”  Please visit http://chat.nrc-gateway.gov/2013/07/15/waste-confidence/ to view the discussion.

On Wednesday, August 14, 2013, from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. EDT, the Waste Confidence Directorate will hold a status teleconference.  To participate, please dial 1-800-857-2553, and provide the operator with passcode 3682386.  Please dial in 5 minutes before the start time so that all participants can be connected before the teleconference begins.  The meeting notice is available at http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1320/ML13205A393.pdf (ADAMS No. ML13205A393) for more information. 

Thank you for your interest in the Waste Confidence environmental review and rulemaking, and we look forward to your participation in the status teleconference on August 14th.

Sincerely,

Staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Waste Confidence Directorate