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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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	Washington, DC 20555-001	E-mail: opa@nrc.gov

No. 99-259

December 7, 1999

NRC Issues Draft Policy Statement, Schedules Public Meeting on West Valley, New York, Site

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing a draft policy statement establishing the radiation dose criteria of its existing license termination rule as the decommissioning criteria for the West Valley site in New York. It will hold a public meeting on January 5 in West Valley, New York, to discuss the draft statement.

The West Valley site is currently being decommissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Administration (NYSERDA). Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. formerly operated a spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facility at the site -- the only commercial reprocessing plant that has operated in the United States. Reprocessing involves extracting usable uranium or plutonium from irradiated fuel so that it can be re-used.

The West Valley Demonstration Project Act authorizes DOE, in cooperation with NYSERDA, the owner of the site and the holder of a suspended NRC license, to carry out a high-level-waste-management demonstration project at the site that includes decommissioning. NRC responsibilities under the Act include issuing decommissioning criteria for the site.

Application of NRC's existing license termination rule to the decommissioning of the West Valley site is consistent with the decommissioning requirements for all NRC licensees and therefore no new policy implications are foreseen.

The draft policy statement on decommissioning criteria for West Valley was published in the Federal Register on December 3. Copies of the statement will also be available at the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room link at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html and at the NRC Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, N.W., Washington DC 20003.

The NRC's public meeting to discuss the draft statement will be held January 5 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Ashford Office Complex, 9030 Route 219, West Valley. It will provide an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions of the NRC staff and make comments related to the West Valley decommissioning criteria.

Interested persons are also invited to submit written comments on the draft statement to Jack D. Parrott, Project Scientist, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Mail Stop T-8F37 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The comments should be submitted by February 1.

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