[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 51 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)] [Notices] [Pages 13077-13078] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 98-6780] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. 72-20] Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the U.S. Department of Energy To Construct and Operate an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation To Store the Three Mile Island Unit 2 Spent Fuel at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has published a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) (NUREG-1626) regarding the U.S. Department Of Energy's (DOE) proposed construction and operation of an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) to store the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) spent fuel at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). As part of its overall spent nuclear fuel (SNF) management program, the DOE has prepared a final programmatic environmental impact statement that provides an overview of the spent fuel management proposed for INEEL, including the construction and operation of the TMI-2 ISFSI (the DOE SNF EIS). In addition, the DOE--Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) to describe the environmental impacts associated with the stabilization of the Test Area North (TAN) storage pool and the construction/operation of the ISFSI at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP). As provided in NRC's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures outlined in 10 CFR Part 51, Appendix A to Subpart A, a FEIS of another Federal agency may be adopted in whole or in part in accordance with the procedures outlined in 40 CFR 1506.3 of the regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Under 40 CFR 1506.3(b), if the actions covered by the original EIS and the proposed action are substantially the same, the agency adopting another agency's statement is not required to recirculate it except as a final statement. The NRC has determined that its proposed action of issuing a license authorizing the construction and operation of the TMI-2 ISFSI is substantially the same as actions considered in 2 DOE's environmental documents referenced above and, therefore, has elected to adopt the DOE documents as the NRC FEIS. The NRC staff has independently reviewed the DOE SNF EIS and the DOE-ID EA to determine that they are current and that NRC NEPA procedures have been satisfied. The format used has been to excerpt from the DOE NEPA documents a description of the proposed action, an evaluation of alternative actions, a description of the affected environment, and an evaluation of the impacts of both construction and operation of the ISFSI. The NRC staff concludes that the facility can be constructed and operated with small and acceptable effects on the public and the existing environment at the INEEL. The FEIS is available for public inspection and copying at the Commission's Public Document Room at the Gelman Building, 2120 L Street, NW, Washington, DC and at the Local Reading Room at the INEEL Technical Library, 1776 Science Center Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho. [[Page 13078]] FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Dr. Edward Y. Shum, Spent Fuel Licensing Section, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, telephone 301-415-8545. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of March 1998. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Charles J. Haughney, Acting Director, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. 98-6780 Filed 3-16-98; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P