DOE published an Advance Notice of Intent on March 22, 2006, to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Technology Demonstration Program (71 FR 14505). DOE invited the public to comment on the Advance Notice of Intent and received more than 800 comment documents, some of which recommended that DOE prepare a PEIS for the entire GNEP Program proposal, not just the GNEP Technology Demonstration Program.

Following the Advance Notice of Intent comment period, DOE sought additional input from industry and potential hosting sites to obtain more information to determine the feasibility of a GNEP Program. On August 3, 2006, DOE announced that it would issue financial assistance grants, for the purpose of conducting siting studies, to public or commercial entities interested in hosting GNEP facilities and subsequently received responses from interested organizations. DOE reviewed these applications and on January 30, 2007, issued grants to 11 commercial and public consortia to conduct detailed siting studies for hosting an advanced nuclear fuel-recycling center and/or an advanced recycling reactor at the following sites: Atomic City, Idaho; Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho; Morris. Illinois; Paducah, Kentucky; Hobbs, New Mexico; Roswell, New Mexico; Portsmouth, Ohio; Barnwell, South Carolina; Savannah River Site, South Carolina; Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee; and Hanford, Washington.

Public officials comment on the scope of the GNEP PEIS at a meeting in Idaho.On January 4, 2007, DOE published a Notice of Intent to prepare the GNEP PEIS. During the scoping process (January 4 through June 4, 2007), meetings in 13 cities throughout the U.S. provided the public with an opportunity to comment, ask questions, and discuss issues relating to the GNEP PEIS with DOE officials. Approximately 2,500 persons attended the meetings and approximately 550 persons provided oral comments at the meetings. DOE received more than 14,000 documents commenting on the alternatives and issues to be analyzed in the GNEP PEIS. As a result of these comments and other considerations, DOE added several programmatic alternatives (i.e., alternative fuel cycles and technologies). In addition, DOE reconsidered its proposals regarding specific facilities in light of scoping comments and other considerations. As a result, DOE eliminated the project-specific proposals for siting, constructing and operating a nuclear fuel-recycling center, an advanced recycling reactor, and an advanced fuel cycle research facility from the GNEP PEIS. DOE will not make any decision based on this PEIS regarding sites for these facilities.

DOE will publish a Notice of Availability when it releases the PEIS for review and will provide public notice of related NEPA meetings and opportunities to comment on the document. A Record of Decision (ROD) will be issued once a final PEIS has been completed.