NRC to hold meetings on Nevada waste-dump environmental draft report

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said on Friday that it will hold public meetings in Nevada and at the agency's headquarters in Rockville, Maryland,

on a supplement to the Department of Energy’s Environmental Impact Statement for a proposed geologic high-level nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

The first meeting will take place 3-5 p.m. EDT on Sept. 3 in Maryland.

The NRC has made webcasting and call-in options available to those who are unable to attend the meeting in person.

Additional meetings will take place at the Embassy Suites Convention Center in Las Vegas on Sept. 15 and at the Amargosa Community Center in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, on Sept. 17. Both meetings will be 7-9 p.m. PDT.

A final meeting will be held as a teleconference 2-4 p.m. EDT on Oct. 15.

The NRC released a draft environmental impact statement on Aug. 13 that indicated there would be little impact on groundwater near the dump site. The public-comment period began on Friday and will last until Oct. 20. Public comments will be reviewed and taken into consideration for the final draft of the environmental impact report on the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.