Public Health and Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Yucca Mountain, Nevada; Proposed Rule

We, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are proposing to revise certain of our public health and safety standards for radioactive material stored or disposed of in the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Section 801(a) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EnPA, Pub. L. 102Ð 486) directed us to develop these standards. These standards (the 2001 standards) were originally promulgated on June 13, 2001 (66 FR 32074). Section 801 of the EnPA also required us to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study to provide findings and recommendations on reasonable standards for protection of the public health and safety. The health and safety standards promulgated by EPA are to be "based upon and consistent with " the findings and recommendations of NAS. On August 1, 1995, NAS released its report (the NAS Report), titled "Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards. " In promulgating our standards, we considered the NAS Report as the EnPA directs.