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Proposed: The State of Utah will Ammend its current agreement with the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Regulate Utah Uranium Mills and Tailings
In August 1999, the Division of Radiation Control (DRC) began evaluating whether or not to amend its current Agreement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to regulate Utah uranium mills and tailings. An initial meeting was held with representatives from the Office of State Programs and Region IV of NRC on August 25, 1999 in which the application process was explained in detail by the NRC and questions were posed by the State to the NRC. A public meeting was held following the morning meeting in which the State and the NRC summarized the results of the meeting to interested individuals including members of the Utah Radiation Control Board and stakeholders such as the Utah Mining Association.
During September 1999, DRC initiated several information gathering efforts including contact with Agreement and non-Agreement States regarding uranium mill issues, development of adminstrative plans for funding and staffing, determination of statutory and rulemaking changes that are necessary to move forward with an Agreement amendment, and development of a scoping briefing document for future stakeholder meetings.
During October and November 1999, DRC conducted one or more stakeholder meetings with potential licensees including Envirocare, International Uranium, Rio Algom and Plateau Resources. A strategy for public scoping was developed, evaluated, and approval given to move forward. Five public scoping meetings were held in Salt Lake City, Tooele, Ticaboo, Blanding, and Moab. Thirty-nine persons offered oral comments during the five meetings, approximately 150 persons attended the five scoping meetings. In addition, ten written comments were received during or just following a public comment period that ran from October 28, 1999 to December 6, 1999.
During December 1999, a draft public participation document was prepared that identifies major issues during the scoping, provides responses to major issues, and provides transcripts of the five scoping meetings. Major issues identified during the scoping process included support or opposition to Agreement State status, program funding/duplication, staffing, both positive and negative aspects of NRC regulation of mills, alternatives to Agreement State status, including Atlas as part of the Agreement, the Atlas liability issue, economic concerns of mill operators, their workers, and the local community, alternate feed issues, formerly utilized site remediation action program (FUSRAP) concerns, and various miscellaneous issues including DOE long term custody concerns, transportation, and other tailings issues.. DRC will provide responses by commentors to these various issues in the public participation document as well as the DRC perspective on the issues. Recommendations regarding how a Utah Agreement program for mills and tailings could look and whether Utah should proceed are being developed separately from the public participation document.
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