Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct a public meeting in Nye County, Nev., on Tuesday, Sept. 23, to discuss how the agency will review the Department of Energy’s application to build and operate the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

DOE submitted its application June 3, and the NRC accepted the application for review on Sept 8. The meeting will provide an opportunity for residents of Nye County, where Yucca Mountain is located, to obtain information about how the NRC will decide whether to authorize construction of the proposed repository.

“We want the people in Nye County to understand our roles and responsibilities in reviewing the application,” said Lawrence Kokajko, Director of the Division of High-Level Waste Repository Safety in the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

The meeting will be held at the Longstreet Inn, Highway 373 in Amargosa Valley, Nev., from 5 to 7 p.m. NRC staff presentations will describe the agency’s decision to accept the Yucca Mountain application and adopt, with supplements, DOE's Environmental Impact Statement, along with providing an overview of the NRC’s review and decision process. The staff will also answer the public’s questions about the Yucca Mountain review. NRC staff members will be available for an hour prior to the meeting to talk informally with local residents and other interested members of the public.

A detailed agenda is available from the NRC’s electronic document database, ADAMS, by entering ML082560789 in the ADAMS search engine at: http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm

If approved, Yucca Mountain would become the nation’s permanent disposal site for spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste. More information on the Yucca Mountain licensing process is available on the agency’s Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/waste/hlw-disposal/yucca-lic-app.html