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

Response
In preparation of the final Statement, the Department
of Energy (DOE) has taken several steps to be responsive to
the recommendations on the organization and presentation of
.the draft Statement. The structure of Volume 1 was modified
heavily on jargon, acronyms, convoluted sentences and bulky tables and to focus on the proposed Federal action and to make more
figures, much of which could be dispensed with by distillation into evident the systems aspects of the Statement.
simple English. Many parts of the Statement are redundant, confusing,
and sometimes conflictin , This was accomplished by:
dometies confctin. Reorganization could follow in part the
guidelines for environmental impact statements of the Council on Environ-. Outlining the purpose and need of the Statement
mental Quality. (Chapter 2). This chapter discusses the intent of the
2. SmHoAuY
2. S territory covered."
document, the proposed Federal action, and the "decision
After revising the statement, a short clear, concise accurate and 2. Identifying programmatic alternatives (Chapter 3)
readable suaarv should be prepared that is comprehensive and reflects including a statement of a no-action alternative which
the findings of the Statement as a whole. An even shorter suary should the draft Statement did not do.
so be prepared aid at fuller comprehenson b thegeeral publi. 3. Developing Chapter 4, which discusses predisposal
Many who testified or wrote comments had read only the Statement Summaryptions and ystems
from Volume 1. It appeared to the Board that few read Volume I and 4. Emphasizing the proposed action (mined geologic reposi-
fewer Volume 2. Almost none had seen the other eight volumes. It is tory) by discussing in a separate Chapter (5) with the
important that a short summary carry the essential message clearly. presentation of disposal alternatives in Chapter 6.
3. CONCLUSIONS A~D RECOENM :TIONS 5. Including a new Chapter 7, which discussed tradeoffs
between the proposed action and the two alternative
Conclusions or recommendations should be recogni-able s suh tht actions on a complete system basis.
eqluivocation or hedging.
The Summary chapter was extensively revised in order
The conclusions and recommendations should be presented in a positive.and that the material would be more easily understood by the
straightforward manner, thus assisting the reader in determinng what is general. public. In revising this chapter DOE was sensitive
important, what is known, the degree of that knowledge t the coments that the significant conclusions be high-
of the Statement. lighted-in the Summary and that they be substantiated by the
material in the text. An effort was also made to increase
the overall clarity and readability of the document by
reducing the page length, being consistent in the use of
terminology, utilizing summary tables whenever possible, and
relegating supporting data or information to the appendices.