GTCC EIS TO BE RELEASED LATER THIS SUMMER

The Department of Energy’s final environmental impact statement on disposal of Greater-Than-Class-C radwaste could be published as soon as July, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management Christine Gelles said at the Electric Power Research Initiative’s International Low-Level Waste Conference yesterday. “We’ve been working since 2005 … and we still haven’t published the final EIS,” Gelles said. “But we are dangerously close to doing so. It is in its very final review.” Gelles said all DOE sites have concurred, and “as soon as my office signs off on it and the Office of the General Counsel approves it, then it will be published,” which could be “in August, if not late July.” The final EIS is more than 15,000 pages, Gelles said. She also noted that the statutorily-mandated report to Congress—required before DOE can issue its final decision in the EIS—has already been developed. “We are working hard to be sure [members of Congress are] ready to digest this,” Gelles said, though, “Whether this will be a high priority for them, I can’t be sure.”