Inyo County has been participating in licensing activities being conducted by Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concerning the proposed Repository for High Level Nuclear Waste at Yucca Mountain for many years.  In 2008, the NRC issued and Adoption Determination Report (ADR) which concluded that the Department of Energy’s (DOE) final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which addresses the impact of the proposed Repository did not adequately address all the potential impacts on groundwater or from surface discharges of groundwater – in part due to the County’s concerns – and required the DOE to prepare a Supplemental EIS (SEIS) analyzing groundwater impacts.  In accordance with applicable law, DOE elected to not prepare the required SEIS, but instead, requested the NRC to prepare it and submitted an Analysis of Postclosure Groundwater Impactsreport in July 2009 to the NRC.  In October 2014, DOE issued an updated Analysis of Postclosure Groundwater Impacts report, which provided technical updates to the 2009 report and information necessary to allow for NRC to prepare the required SEIS.  

The NRC released the draft SEIS for public comment in August of this year (see Exhibit 2 for the federal register notice). The SEIS supplements DOE’s 2002 Final EIS for the Repository and the subsequent 2008 Final SEIS, as required by the NRC’s 2008 ADR.  The SEIS describes the affected environment and assesses potential impacts with respect to contaminant releases that could be transported through the volcanic-alluvial aquifer in Fortymile Wash and the Amargosa Desert, and to the Furnace Creek/Middle Basin area of Death Valley, over a one-million-year period on the aquifer, soils, ecology, and public health, as well as the potential for disproportionate impacts on minority or low-income populations and cumulative effects.  The draft SEIS finds that all of the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts would be small. Comments on the SEIS on due November 20, 2015.

Inyo County Board of Supervisors Correspondence Regarding the SEIS

• Board of Supervisors Supplemental EIS Comment Letter, November 17, 2015
• Attachment 1: Bredehoeft, John, NAE , and King, Michael, R.G., C.E.G., C.HG, Memorandum
  Research Program for Evaluation of Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository Site, October 10th, 2015
• Attachment 2: Andy Zdon and Associates, LLC, Technical Review Summary of the Draft Supplement To U.S. Department Of Energy’s Environmental Impact Statement For The Proposed Nuclear Fuel And High-Level Radioactive Waste Repository At Yucca Mountain, Nevada, October 23, 2015
  • Appendix A
  • Appendix B
  • Appendix C
  • Appendix D
  • Appendix E

Supporting Documents:

• Agenda Request Form - Board of Supervisors Meeting November 17th, 2015
• Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement - Groundwater Impacts

Previous documents and studies:

• Board of Supervisor's Agenda Request Form for the Yucca Mountain Presentation
• July 2012 Geosciences Research Paper: A Bimodal Volcanic Field in the Greenwater Range, California: Implications for Volcanic Hazards Studies at Yucca Mountain