Management of Commercially Generated Radioactive Waste - U.S. ...

INTRODUCTION
This volume is prepared in compliance with present regulations which provide for the
assessment and consideration of public comment on draft environmental impact statements
(40 CFR 1503.4, 1506.6). The purpose of this volume is to summarize public response to the
draft Statement (DOE/EIS-0046D). Recommendations for revision of the draft Statement, pro-
vided through individual written comment and through the Hearing Board, are presented with
a description of the way in which these comments were used during preparation of the final
Statement.
Notice of availability of the draft Statement appeared in the Federal Register of
April 20, 1979. This Federal Register notice requested interested public groups and indi-
viduals to review and comment on the draft Statement. Comments on the draft Statement came
in the form of written comments addressed to the Department of Energy and/or as oral testi-
mony given before the Hearing Board. Discussion of written comments comprise the major
portion of this volume and are presented first. Discussion of the Hearing Board recommen-
dations (which were based on the oral testimony) are presented following the written
comments.
Written Comments
Written comments on thedraft Statement were received from numerous sources, including
individuals, representatives of industry, public interest groups, and state and Federal
government agencies. Two hundred and nineteen comment letters were received. Individual
comments presented in the letters ranged from one to approximately 300 for a total of
greater than 2000 separate comments identified in the letters received by DOE.
Each letter was given an identification number when it wasreceived. Letters were then
examined and substantive comments were identified. As shown in Figure 1, comments were
categorized into three general areas: policy, technical, and editorial. Policy issues are,
in general, those which recommend an approach, courses of action or legalistic concerns
regarding issues of waste management. Technical issues are those which specifically address
the content, presentation and/or the analysis presented in the draft Statement: Policy and
technical categories were further subdivided into topic areas. In the case of comments
regarding policy, nine specific topic areas were identified. In the case of technical com-
ments, there were eighteen topic areas. After comments were assembled into topic areas,
they were gathered together in similar groups and paraphrased as summary or key issues where
possible. Key issues were then addressed and responses were prepared for each key issue.
In many cases, comments were of such a specific nature that they could not be grouped as
summary or key issues within a topic area. In such instances, responses were prepared for
the individual comment. Editorial comments (i.e., spelling and grammatical errors, incor-
rect cross-referencing, and errors in tables and figures) were considered during preparation
of the final Statement and the appropriate changes were made. Such comments have not been
discussed in this volume.
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