 Hello, I'm Andean Bowden, scientist, engineer, and member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Waste Confidence Directorate. Operating nuclear reactors generate waste, spent nuclear fuel. Waste confidence has historically been the NRC's generic determination regarding the safety and environmental impacts of storing spent nuclear fuel after the end of a reactor's licensed life and before it's permanently disposed, such as in a geologic repository. Many NRC licensing decisions rely upon waste confidence, including initial nuclear reactor licensing and license renewal. Waste confidence role was first published in 1984, and since then, the NRC has reviewed it to make sure it's up to date, and we have periodically updated the role. Last update was completed in 2010. The 2010 update was challenged in court, and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that waste confidence did not satisfy the NRC's obligations with regard to the National Environmental Policy Act, and identified some deficiencies in the NRC's environmental review of waste confidence. In response to the court's ruling, the NRC is not issuing any final licenses that rely upon waste confidence until the court's issues are addressed. The NRC formed a special director to address the court's rule, update the waste confidence rule, and develop a generic environmental impact statement that analyzes the impacts of continued storage of spent nuclear fuel. We are completely focused on ensuring a robust technical analysis, keeping a transparent process, and providing ample opportunity for public involvement in which a broad range of views are heard and considered. The NRC's Waste Confidence Directorate is composed of about 20 staff from a variety of scientific and engineering backgrounds, including national environmental policy experts, rulemaking staff, administrative staff, project managers, communication experts, and legal counsel. Just a few weeks, the Waste Confidence Directorate will be issuing its draft generic environmental impact statement and proposed waste confidence rule for public comment. The public comment period will be 75 days in a row. During the comment period, the director will be holding 10 public meetings to discuss and accept public comments on the draft generic environmental impact statement and proposed rule. Two meetings will be held at the NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. These meetings will be open for public attendance. Of course, they will also be nationally webcast on the NRC's website and will be accessible by telephone. The remaining eight public meetings will be held in New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Minnesota, Southern California, Central California, Ohio, and North Carolina. The times, dates, locations, and registration information for all 10 meetings can be found on the NRC's website. We encourage participants to pre-register for public meetings. The best way to participate in the Waste Confidence Rulemaking is to review the draft generic environmental impact statement and proposed rule when they are published, and then tell us what you think about the documents by submitting your comments during the 75-day comment period. There are many ways you can submit comments by email, online at regulations.gov, by fax or by mail. The NRC will consider all comments equally, no matter how they are submitted. The NRC periodically sends out information and announcements by email to join the Waste Confidence email list. Just send a request to wcoutreach at nrc.gov. A great way to stay in touch with our activities is by checking out our website, which you can get to by going to www.nrc.gov, and clicking on the Waste Confidence Decision, which is on the left side of the page, just under spot. I'm Andy Mboden, the Branch Chief of the Communications, Planning, and Rulemaking Branch in the NRC's Waste Confidence Rule, and I look forward to your participation in the upcoming BRAF Generic Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Rule Comment Period in the fall of 2013.