Native Community Action Council P.O. Box 46301 Las Vegas, NV 89114 Public Comment To Inform the Design of a ConsentBased Siting Process for Nuclear Waste Storage and Disposal Facilities Thursday, July 28, 2016 As a tribal community stakeholder group, the Native Community Action Council (NCAC) continues to analyze and advocate on behalf of the land the people of the Great Basin. We have only one land, one air and one water. Last year the NRC admitted that radiation will discharge into the groundwater from the proposed Yucca Mountain high level nuclear waste repository currently undergoing licensing. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Staff were directed to consider disproportionate impact to low income and minority populations. The NRC staff did not. Then, consequentially the NRC found that impacts to Native Americans will be minimal. We view the NRC as abdicating responsibility, an inordinate act of negligence. We want to advise others from our experience as down-winders, victims of nuclear weapons testing, and as stakeholders in the siting of the proposed Yucca Mountain high level nuclear waste repository. As “a party with standing” in the Yucca Mountain licensing proceedings, the NCAC’s primary contention is that the Department of Energy cannot meet the requirement of ownership and that significant legal encumbrances exist, disqualifying the site under the NRC regulation, 10 CFR 63 Land Ownership and Control.1 Yucca Mountain is Western Shoshone domain defined by the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley and the US cannot prove ownership. The proposed Yucca Mountain repository is a violation of treaty of Ruby Valley and the Western Shoshone do not consent to the inclusion of any part of Newe Sogobia into the boundaries or jurisdiction of any US state or territory.2 Yucca Mountain is the longest and most complicated legal proceeding ever contemplated in human history. We are the only non-federally funded party to the proceedings, which puts the NCAC at a disadvantage in the proceedings. Since selection of Yucca Mountain in 1987 by Congress, the DOE has not considered any argument made by the Western Shoshone that does not support licensing by the NRC. Our well documented comments about disproportionate burden of risk from exposure to radiation

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§ 63.121 Requirements for ownership and control of interests in land. (a) Ownership of land. (1) The geologic repository operations area must be located in and on lands that are either acquired lands under the jurisdiction and control of DOE, or lands permanently withdrawn and reserved for its use. (2) These lands must be held free and clear of all encumbrances, if significant, such as:… 2

U.S. Statutes at Large, 1863, v. 12, pp. 209-214 Provided, further, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said Territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians, or to include any territory which, by treaty with any Indian tribe, is not, without the consent of said tribe, to be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory;…

in fallout and land rights treaty are ignored.3 Other state and counties have been funded for the past 30 years with the $15 billion spent from the nuclear waste fund for site characterization. This is unfair and constitutes environmental racism. In 2015 President Obama found that: “In accordance with the Act, I find the development of a repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste resulting from atomic energy defense activities only is required.” Disposal cost for any civilian high-level waste will increase substantially. Also, the US could choose any location for high-level waste disposal under “national security.” The Great Basin is a “crushed rock aquifer” with all tribal communities sharing in the “one water.” All tribal communities are stakeholders. The US has an obligation to preserve the water quality and clarity necessary to meet the future needs of the Western Shoshone people. Deliberate contamination with radiation cannot be tolerated now, or at any time in the future as contemplated by the NRC. Radiation protection can change putting tribal communities at risk. To meet the current EPA radiation protections standards, in 100 years, titanium drip shields will be installed at Yucca Mountain. The amount of titanium is more that is currently used in the Air Force with $15 billion dollars or more cost. We do not believe promises of what Congress will do in 100 years. We believe that the DOE should meet the radiation protection standards without the drip shields that may never be installed. Our final contention at the NRC licensing of Yucca Mountain is that the EPA inappropriately used the “reasonably maximally exposed individual” modeling (RMEI), applying it to Native Americans when setting radiation protection standards for Yucca Mountain. We informed the EPA that a disproportionate burden of risk to Native Americans exists based on lifestyle differences that was not considered. We continue to make an important point to the DOE, EPA and now NRC, that all have failed to address: calculate risk studies using a culturally appropriate context for Western Shoshone. The EPA, DOE and NRC have all failed to investigate cumulative risk to Native Americans living in community. Our experience as a Native American tribal community stakeholder group is a cautionary tale of what to expect in the characterization and licensing of nuclear facilities. We want to state again that, the current ongoing licensing of Yucca Mountain constitutes environmental racism.

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Frohmberg E, Goble R, Sanchez V, et al. 2000. The Assessment of Radiation Exposures in Native American Communities from Nuclear Weapons Testing in Nevada. Risk Anal 20(1):101-11