March 13, 2008
JCCIAC Meeting About DOE License Application

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

Candace Trummell of Robison-Seidler, and Dr. Mike Baughman, of Intertech Services, both spoke before the members of the Joint City/County Impact Alleviation Committee in Caliente on February 26.

Each spoke about the role Lincoln County and the City of Caliente can still play in the license application of the Department of Energy to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), to construct a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain.

Ward Sproat of the DOE has said he hopes to be able to have the application ready to submit to the NRC by late this coming summer.

Ms. Trummell said the only the element the NRC will examine in the license application is the one to build the repository itself. “The NRC will not be considering anything associated with the Rail Corridor Environmental Impact Statement or the construction, or operation, of a transportation system (rail or highway),” she said.

In a prepared handout, Ms. Trummell noted that the license application will consist of general information and a Safety Analysis Report that will include a general description of the repository, proposed schedules for construction, receipt of waste, where the waste is to be placed, a description of the material control and accounting program, and a description of the site characterization work.

The DOE plans to submit an application that is 8300 pages long and includes 203 key reference documents, which in themselves are several thousand pages long, she said, “…and none of them have to do with the railroad or highway transportation because they are licensing to construct the site and that is what the NRC is going to consider.”

After the license application is submitted, requests to intervene by the City of Caliente and/or Lincoln County, in the licensing process must be submitted within 30 days of the notice of the hearing with a statement of contentions the petitioner wishes to raise. Ms. Trummell said this allows the petitioner, among other things, “to introduce evidence of contention, interrogate witnesses on cross examination, and advise the Commission without being required to take a position with respect to the issue.”

One area of contention Ms. Trummell mentioned the County should pose to the NRC is the possibility of volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain that could result in some impact to this area (Lincoln County).

She recommended to the JCCIAC that they should act quickly to determine what contentions, if any, Lincoln County and/or the City of Caliente wish to raise, keeping in mind that the NRC review does not extend to transportation impacts that might be created by the railroad line.

She added, “If contentions are to be raised, you must formulate the basis of those contentions using appropriate experts.” At present, Washington D.C. attorney Barry Newman is assisting Lincoln County on these matters.