Comment period for environmental impact statement extended
The public will have until Dec. 2 to submit comments on the Nevada National Security Site's draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement.
With the comment period set to expire Oct. 27, officials for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration in Nevada decided to extend the comment period in response to numerous requests.
A news release Thursday said the extension will allow the public and stakeholders "an additional opportunity to review and comment" on the 1,576-page draft document.
The document analyzes options for guiding activities over the next decade at the site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. For six decades, the Rhode Island-sized tract was known as the Nevada Test Site.
Three alternatives are under consideration: Take no action, expand operations or reduce operations.
Among issues addressed is the program that tracks radioactive contamination from nuclear weapons tests that were conducted from 1951 until they were put on hold indefinitely in 1992.
A remnant of nuclear tests, tritium, showed up in groundwater beyond the site's boundary in 2009.
Other prominent potential activities include the development of solar energy demonstration projects and commercial solar power facilities.
In addition, the report looks at the test site's role in counterterrorism programs, training first responders and disposing of low-level radioactive waste from the nation's Cold War-era nuclear weapons production facilities.
More than 150 people attended hearings this month in Las Vegas, Pahrump, Tonopah, Carson City and St. George, Utah.
For information about submitting comments call 877-781-6105.
