NRC WASTE COMMENT MEETINGS: ISP/WCS CISF, TX

NRC has announced call-in verbal public comment meetings on its Interim Storage Partners Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for highly radioactive wastes is in Andrews County, west Texas, just 40 miles across the NM/TX border from Holtec's CISF. The call-in/webinar meetings are scheduled soon -- all times Eastern: Thursday, October 1, 6-9pm; Tuesday, October 6, 2-5pm; Thursday, October 8, 6-9pm; Thursday, October 15, 11am-2pm. See Beyond Nuclear's sample comments, which you can use to help prepare your own. The SEED Coalition of Austin, TX has a webform you can use to submit written comments to NRC. Written comments are due November 3 (Election Day). Please take action to help block this dump!

Beyond Nuclear's comments re: NRC's Holtec CISF DEIS, as submitted

1st set, submitted June 25th, re: 40 year timeframe is an inappropriately, arbitrarily, and capriciously short scope.

2nd set, submitted June 27th, re: large impacts/risks of high-level radioactive waste transportation, lack of shipment route maps.

3rd set, submitted June 27th, re: complexity and risk of multiple required cask-to-cask canister transfers.

4th set, submitted June 27th, re: NRC Staff's internal contradictions.

5th set, submitted June 27th, re: simply assuming Yucca Mountain, Nevada on Western Shoshone land, is false, indefensible, and a violation of treaty obligations (that is, illegal).

6th set, submitted June 27th, re: Shirani and Landsman whistle-blowing about Holtec's quality assurance (QA) violations; Holtec engagement in bribery, lying about it, and resultant criminal investigation.

7th set, submitted June 27th, re: Environmental Justice (EJ), Environmental Injustice, Environmental Racism, Radioactive Racism.

8th set, submitted June 27th, re: the license for Private Fuel Storage, LLC, CISF -- targeted at Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation in Utah -- is not terminated, contradicting NRC Staff assertions to the contrary.

9th set, submitted June 27th, re: Cerro Grande Fire exacerbates the environmental injustice of the Holtec CISF scheme.

10th set, submitted June 27th, re: NRC collusion with Holtec on CISF rubber-stamp is illegal, dangerous.

11th set, submitted verbally on June 23rd, viewable on pages 93 to 98 of NRC's official transcription (pages 94 to 99 of 205 on the PDF Counter).

12th set, submitted verbally on July 9th, viewable on pages 113 to 119 of NRC's official transcript (pages 114 to 120 of 177 on the PDF Counter), re: July 16ths that will live in nuclear infamy, in New Mexico (1945, the Trinity atomic "test" blast in the Tularosa Basin; 1979, the Church Rock uranium tailings pond dam breach that catastrophically contaminated the Rio Puerco River, the sole source readily available, used by Navajo/Diné shepherds for drinking water for their families, as well as water for their livestock; 2018, NRC's ghoulishly tone deaf official announcement launching the Holtec CISF licensing proceeding.)

13th set, submitted verbally on Aug. 20th, viewable on pages 38 to 43 (that's pages 39 to 44 of 58 on the PDF Counter) of NRC's official transcript.

14th set, submitted verbally on Aug. 25, viewable on pages 66 to 72, and page 115 to 120 (that's pages 68 to 74, and 113 to 118, of 129 on the PDF Counter).

15th and 16th sets, submitted verbally on Aug. 26, viewable on pages 29 to 33 (that's pages 31 to 35 of 69 on the PDF Counter), and on page 59 to 60 (which is pages 60 to 62 of 69 on the PDF Counter).

17th set; submitted Sept. 2nd (link to transcript of verbal version), re: Holtec's habitual bribery, its lying about it, and NRC's silent, passive complicity.

18th set; submitted Sept. 2nd (written version, with links to citations included), re: Holtec's habitual bribery, its lying about it, and NRC's silent, passive complicity.

19th set; submitted Sept. 3rd, re: Risks of  “Routine” or “Incident-Free” Shipments Nonetheless Being Like “Mobile X-ray Machines That Can’t Be Turned Off,” and Risks of Externally Contaminated Shipments.

20th set; submitted Sept. 5th; re: Mobile Chernobyl shipping risks.

21st set; submitted Sept. 9th; re: Risks of Loss of Institutional Control if De Facto Permanent, Surface Storage, Parking Lot Dumps are Abandoned, Containers Fail, and Release Catastrophic Amounts of Hazardous Radioactivity into the Environment.

22nd set; submitted Sept. 9th; re: Risk of De Facto Permanent, Surface Storage, Parking Lot Dump.

23rd set; submitted Sept. 9th; re: Stringent Criteria for a Highly Radioactive Waste Geologic Repository; 1,000+ organizations opposed to the Yucca dump targeted at Western Shoshone land in NV.  

24th set; submitted Sept. 10th; re: Why Are These CISF Risks Being Taken? To Offload High-Level Radioactive Wastes' title (ownership) and liability on the backs of the public taxpayer.

25th set; submitted Sept. 12; re: the radioactive skeletons' in Holtec's and its partner SNC-Lavalin's closets.

26th set; submitted Sept. 21; re: NM does not consent; cumulative impacts; environmental racism; threats to cultural properties and historic sites; threats to water and wildlife; threats from transporting irradiated nuclear fuel; Holtec's project is illegal; Holtec's site is geologically unstable and unsuitable; Holtec's and NRC's assumption that Yucca Mountain, NV will become the permanent repository is bogus, baseless, erroneous, misleading, and outrageous.

27th set, submitted Sept. 22, re: Beyond Nuclear members'/supporters' comments opposing Holtec's CISF.

28th set, submitted Sept. 22, re: process and substance concerns with NRC's DEIS and its public comment proceeding verbal comment call-in sessions.

29th set, submitted Sept. 22, re: more process and substance concerns with NRC's DEIS and its public comment proceeding verbal comment call-in sessions.

30th set, submitted Sept. 22, re: a 113-organization coalition's comments on NRC's DEIS, in opposition to Holtec's CISF.

31st set, submitted Sept. 22, re: yet more process and substance concerns with NRC's DEIS and its public comment proceeding verbal comment call-in sessions.

32nd set, submitted Sept. 22, re: NISG "People's Hearing" verbal comments, transcribed and submitted by NISG on behalf of Beyond Nuclear.

Interim Storage Partners: Draft Environmental Impact Statement public comment meetings -- October 1, 6, 8, and 15

As announced by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC):

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: WCS_CISFEIS Resource <WCS_CISFEIS.Resource@nrc.gov>
Date: Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 2:54 PM
Subject: Interim Storage Partners: Draft Environmental Impact Statement public comment meetings

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is notifying you of upcoming public comment meetings for the NRC staff’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP’s) proposed Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) located in Andrews County, Texas.

The NRC staff will be holding four virtual meetings in early October 2020.  These meetings will be held on October 1, 6, 8, and 15, 2020, during which the NRC staff will present the results of its environmental analysis and then accept comments on the draft EIS.  Persons interested in attending these meetings should check the NRC’s Public Meeting Schedule Web page at https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg for additional information, agendas for the meetings, and access information for the webinar and telephone line. The NRC had planned to conduct public meetings in person near the project site; however, the staff is not able to hold the in person meetings due to the current COVID-19 public health emergency.

The draft EIS is available, along with an overview of the report in English and Spanish, from the NRC’s project website for its review of the ISP license application: https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/cis/waste-control-specialist.html.

The NRC is accepting public comments on the draft EIS through November 3, 2020.  Comments can be submitted several ways:

• Mail to the Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001;
• E-mail at WCS_CISF_EIS@nrc.gov; and
• Posting online at the federal government’s rulemaking website, using Docket ID NRC-2016-0231

Here is the link to the NRC press release, which gives the exact times, and other information, re: each of the call-in sessions: <https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2020/20-046.pdf>

Here is that paragraph:

Information for the webinars will be posted on the NRC’s Public Meetings webpage. They will be held at different times of the day to maximize opportunities for the public to participate. The webinars are tentatively scheduled for Oct. 1 from 6-9 p.m.; Oct. 6 from 2-5 p.m.; Oct. 8 from 6-9 p.m.; and Oct. 15 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. All times are Eastern.

Please submit public comments opposing the ISP/WCS CISF in TX by Nov. 3!

WCS/ISP DEIS: Ideas for comments you can use to write your own for submission to NRC

<http://archive.beyondnuclear.org/centralized-storage/2020/5/27/wcsisp-deis-ideas-for-comments-you-can-use-to-write-your-own.html>

Action alert from the SEED (Sustainable Energy and Economic Development) Coalition in Austin, TX re: NRC's ISP/WCS CISF DEIS:

Comments still needed:

 

Please help out by letting people know about the letters that can be personalized and sent to the NRC at www.NoNuclearWaste.org 

For those who can, please send an action alert out through your network as well. 

We have a Nov. 3 deadline for comments on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Waste Control Specialists' high-level radioactive waste storage plan, the Interim Storage Partners irradiated nuclear fuel consolidated interim storage facility in Andrews County, west Texas. This is our last opportunity for public comment on the license application

Update on September 23, 2020 by admin

Speak out against Mobile Chernobyls in your community! Sample script for contacting your Members of Congress to urge they demand public comment meetings in your state/district re: NRC Draft EIS on WCS/ISP, TX nuke waste Consolidated Interim Storage Facility

<http://archive.beyondnuclear.org/centralized-storage/2020/5/27/speak-out-against-mobile-chernobyls-in-your-community-sample.html>

AP: New Mexico objects to license for nuclear fuel storage plan

As reported by the Associated Press, "New Mexico objects to license for nuclear fuel storage plan."

A link to the letter from officials of the NM Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham administration, to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is included.

NM State Cabinet Secretaries, including James Kenney of the NM Environment Department, spoke out, on behalf of the Lujan Grisham administration, against the Holtec CISF, at the June 23rd NRC public comment verbal call-in session.