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

Response
REFERENCE ENVIRONMENTS
DOE agrees. Care must be taken when siting a repository. The selection of such sites
will be based on several site-specific parameters.
Issue
Several letters commented on the reference environment approach.
Draft Appendix F--The material presented on the reference environment was abbreviated
and generally inadequate. (12)
Draft Appendix F--Why are additional reference environments not considered? If the
reference environment described is located in Wisconsin, then serious consideration would
have to be given to transportation problems. (43)
Draft Appendix F--Failure to identify the location of the reference environment has
resulted in fear that DOE will not seek input from local officials when siting a repos-
itory. (129)
Location of the generic site in the middle west typifies the industry's disregard for
human life. (96)
Inasmuch as the GEIS is a programmatic statement, a site-specific description of an
environment is not necessary; however, development of data that will be required in a
specific evaluation is appropriate, and the GEIS incorporates a reference environment to
evaluate source terms on a generic basis. However, once having determined the significance
of an impact on the reference environment, the GEIS fails to remind the reader that con-
clusions reached relate only to those particular conditions. 'Indeed, statements in the
GEIS indicate that even its writers do not fully appreciate these limitations. Effects on
the reference environment are presented as the impacts of an alternative without recogni-
tion of the fact that the impacts could be much different for a different reference envi-
ronment. For an example of how to prepare a GEIS with detailed discussions of siting opt-
ions and impacts, see the FES on Floating Nuclear Plants (NUREG-0056). (208-NRC)
Response
The reference environment concept was originally used to deal with the potential eco-
logical and other impacts of geologic disposal, and the environment was representative of
the North Central United States in a moderately wet environment. Subsequently some com-
parisons were made to an arid Southwestern U.S. location (draft Appendix G also compares
socioeconomic aspects of these sites). To try to deal with ecological impacts on a generic
basis is not very meaningful; the adoption of the reference environment was used to provide
a degree of site specificity in order to overcome this problem.