00-10741. Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft Supplement to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities and To Hold a Public Meeting for the Purpose of Scoping and To Solicit Public Input Into the Process

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) intends to prepare a draft supplement to the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) on Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities (NUREG-0586, August 1988) and to hold public scoping meetings for the purpose of soliciting comments. Although NUREG-0586 covered all NRC-licensed facilities, this supplement will address only the decommissioning of nuclear power reactors.

The NRC will hold a public scoping meeting on May 17, 2000, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, 110 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (telephone: [phone]) to present an overview of the proposed supplement to the GEIS and to accept public comment on its proposal. The public scoping meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and continue to 10:00 p.m.

The meeting will be transcribed and will include (1) a presentation by the NRC staff on the reasons for preparing a supplement to the GEIS and the environmental issues related to power reactor decommissioning to be addressed in the GEIS, and (2) the opportunity for interested government agencies, private organizations, and individuals to provide comments. Anyone wishing to attend or present oral comments at this meeting may preregister by contacting Mr. Dino C. Scaletti by telephone at 1-800-368-5642, extension 1104, or by Internet to the NRC at [e-mail], 1 week prior to a specific meeting. Members of the public may also register to provide oral comments up to 15 minutes prior to the start of each meeting. Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register. If special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present information at the public meeting, the need should be brought to Mr. Scaletti's attention no later than 1 week prior to a specific meeting, so that the NRC staff can determine whether the request can be accommodated.

Any interested party may submit comments related to the NRC's intent to supplement the GEIS for consideration by the NRC staff. To be certain of consideration, comments on the intent to prepare the supplement must be received by July 15, 2000. Comments received after the due date will be considered if it is practical to do so. At this time, comments are being sought only on the intent to prepare the supplement. The NRC staff currently projects issuance of the draft supplement for comment in early 2001. Comments on the draft supplement will be solicited at that time. Written comments should be sent to:

Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Mail Stop T-6 D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001

Comments may be hand-delivered to the NRC at 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. Submittal of electronic comments may be sent by the Internet to the NRC at [e-mail]. All comments received by the Commission, including those made by Federal, State, and local agencies, Indian tribes, or other interested persons, will be made available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, NW, in Washington, DC. Also, publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the ADAMS Public Library component on the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov (the Public Electronic Reading Room).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. Dino C. Scaletti, Decommissioning Section, Project Directorate IV & Decommissioning, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Mr. Scaletti can be contacted at the aforementioned telephone number.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of April 2000.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Dino C. Scaletti,

Senior Project Manager, Decommissioning Section, Project Directorate IV and Decommissioning, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.