The Commission's developer, US Ecology, Inc., (USE) submitted a license application for a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility near the Village of Butte in Boyd County in July, 1990. The application was submitted to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Control (now known as Environmental Quality and referenced as NDEQ) and the Nebraska Department of Health (now known as Health and Human Services and referenced as NHHS).
The application was officially deemed complete by the State of Nebraska on December 24, 1991. After years of review, on May 31, 1995, US Ecology submitted to the State its responses to the fourth and final round of the state's technical comments. On June 15, 1995, US Ecology submitted its eighth revision to the Safety Analysis Report (SAR). On July 11, 1995, the NDEQ initiated its final review activities and confirmed that no more technical information would be requested from or accepted from the applicant. State evaluations and future decisions will be based on this final product.
During 1995 and early 1996, the State did not issue a licensing public review schedule or commit to a binding licensing review schedule . Compact law, as well as individual laws in four of the five member states (Kansas law will be in force upon issuance of the license or permit to operate the disposal facility), charges the Commission to "require the Host State to process all applications for permits and licenses required for the development and operation of any regional facility or facilities within a reasonable period from the time that a completed application is submitted."
Commission staff and the Facility Review Committee drafted a review schedule that was in compliance with the respective federal and state laws and regulations. This draft schedule was adopted by the Commissioners at their January 18, 1996, Mid-Year Meeting. At their Spring Quarterly Meeting on March 27, 1996, the Commissioners voted to reaffirm their schedule. At the Annual Meeting of the Commission on June 26, 1996, the Commissioners unanimously approved conducting a Special Commission Meeting on August 27, 1996, for the purpose of " . . . developing and determining a reasonable schedule for the completion of the processing of the pending application for a license for the Compact's regional low-level radioactive waste disposal facility."
At public information meetings conducted by the NDEQ and the NHHS on August 19 and 21, 1996, the state provided information which called for the issuance of a Draft Safety Evaluation Report (DSER) and a Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) in October, 1997. This information was provided to the Commission when the Commission conducted its special meeting on August 27th. The Commission agreed to take under advisement the materials and comments from the special meeting and that each Commissioner be prepared to discuss in open forum and vote on a decision for a reasonable time period for completion of the license application review during the Fall Quarterly Meeting of the Commission on September 30, 1996.
At their September 30th meeting, Commissioners approved a motion that a range of dates between December 14, 1996, and January 14, 1997, be adopted as the schedule date for receipt of the DSER and DEIA and a draft license decision by the NDEQ. They also approved
a motion that there be a single consolidated public comment period and public hearing process on the draft documents and draft license decision conforming to Nebraska law, previous Nebraska regulations, and similar environmental permits and license applications; federal statutes, regulations, and guidance, and other NRC agreement state's licensing processes.
On November 27, 1996, the State of Nebraska filed suit against the Commission regarding the issue of compliance with the Commission's proposed licensing schedule. Details of that lawsuit may be found elsewhere in this report. At the close of the 1996-1997 Fiscal Year on June 30, 1997, the State continued to hold to its announced plan to issue the draft documents and begin the public hearing process in October, 1997.
As a result of a Memorandum on Performance Assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), USE directed Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI) to assess the validity of the source term methodology used in the Safety Analysis Report (SAR). During February, 1997, BNI reviewed the NRC's information and found that the source term data and the site boundary dose presented in the SAR remains accurate and conservative. This finding further confirms the Butte facility's location and design will provide for the safe disposal of waste with no harm to the environment.
A subcontractor of NDEQ, the University of Nebraska Conservation and Survey Division, conducted a study titled \"Task III Field Summary Report\" regarding groundwater flow issues. USE requested BNI to assess this new data against the existing data contained in the SAR.
During June, 1997, BNI reviewed the Task III report on state monitoring wells. They found that the groundwater data obtained by the State confirmed the information presented in the SAR. The groundwater flow direction and destination presented in the SAR was therefore further confirmed by the independently obtained data.
Both of these actions indicate that the data presented by USE to the Host State Reviewers throughout the past several years continues to be valid and well within the limits and guidelines established by the NDEQ.