USEC Inc.'s Proposed American Centrifuge Plant; Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement, 53396-53398 [E5-4878]
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53396
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices
This meeting will be open to the SUMMARY: The NRC has recently
submitted to OMB for review the
following proposal for the collection of
MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:
information under the provisions of the
Wednesday, September 14, 2005, Open
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
Session.
U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby
informs potential respondents that an
Open Session (11 a.m. to 12 noon)
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and
Discussion of Draft Report of NSB
that a person is not required to respond
examination of the NSF Merit Review
to, a collection of information unless it
System.
displays a current valid OMB control
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.
number.
Michael P. Crosby, Executive Officer
1. Type of submission, new, revision,
and NSB Office Director, (703) 292–
or extension: Extension.
7000, https://www.nsf.gov/nsb.
2. The title of the information
collection: NRC Form 313, ‘‘Application
Michael P. Crosby,
for Material License’’; and NRC Form
Executive Officer and NSB Office Director.
313A, ‘‘Training and Experience and
[FR Doc. 05–17948 Filed 9–6–05; 3:46 pm]
Preceptor Statement.’’
BILLING CODE 7555–01–M
3. The form number if applicable:
NRC Form 313 and NRC Form 313A.
4. How often the collection is
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
required: There is a one-time submittal
of information to receive a license. Once
Sunshine Act; Meeting
a specific license has been issued, there
is a 10-year resubmittal of the
AGENCY HOLDING MEETING: National
information for renewal of the license.
Science Board; Programs and Plans
5. Who will be required or asked to
Committee.
report: All applicants requesting a
DATE AND TIME: September 13, 2005,
license for byproduct or source material.
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. (e.t.).
6. An estimate of the number of
PLACE: National Science Foundation,
responses: 3074 new, amendment, and
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA
renewal applications to NRC; 12,840
22230, Public Meeting Room 110.
new, amendment, and renewal
STATUS: This meeting will be open to the applications to Agreement States, for a
public.
total of 15,914 responses.
7. The estimated number of annual
MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:
respondents: 15,914 (3,074 NRC
Tuesday, September 13, 2005, Open
licensees + 12,840 Agreement State
Session.
licensees).
8. An estimate of the number of hours
Open Session (11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.)
needed annually to complete the
• Review of NSF Draft
requirement or request: 70,022 (13,526
Cyberinfrastructure Document.
hours for NRC licensees and 56,496
• Open Discussion and Comments.
hours for Agreement State licensees).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.
9. An indication of whether Section
Michael P. Crosby, Executive Officer
3507(d), Pub. L. 104–13 applies: Not
and NSB Office Director, (703) 292–
applicable.
7000, https://www.nsf.gov/nsb.
10. Abstract: Applicants must submit
NRC Forms 313 and 313A to obtain a
Michael P. Crosby,
specific license to possess, use, or
Executive Officer and NSB Office Director.
distribute byproduct or source material.
[FR Doc. 05–17951 Filed 9–6–05; 3:46 pm]
The information is reviewed by the NRC
BILLING CODE 7555–01–P
to determine whether the applicant is
qualified by training and experience,
and has equipment, facilities, and
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
procedures which are adequate to
COMMISSION
protect the public health and safety, and
minimize danger to life or property.
Agency Information Collection
A copy of the final supporting
Activities: Submission for the Office of statement may be viewed free of charge
Management and Budget (OMB)
at the NRC Public Document Room, One
Review; Comment Request
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Room O–1 F23, Rockville, MD
AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
20852. OMB clearance requests are
Commission (NRC).
available at the NRC worldwide Web
ACTION: Notice of the OMB review of
site: https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/
information collection and solicitation
doc-comment/omb/. The
of public comment.
document will be available on the NRC
STATUS:
public.
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Home page site for 60 days after the
signature date of this notice.
Comments and questions should be
directed to the OMB reviewer listed
below by October 11, 2005. Comments
received after this date will be
considered if it is practical to do so, but
assurance of consideration cannot be
given to comments received after this
date. John Asalone, Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs
(3150–0120), NEOB–10202, Office of
Management and Budget, Washington,
DC 20503.
Comments can also be e-mailed to
John_A._Asalone@omb.eop.gov or
submitted by telephone at (202) 395–
4650.
The NRC Clearance Officer is Brenda
Jo Shelton, 301–415–7233.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day
of September, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Beth St. Mary,
Acting NRC Clearance Officer, Office of
Information Services.
[FR Doc. E5–4877 Filed 9–7–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70–7004]
USEC Inc.’s Proposed American
Centrifuge Plant; Notice of Availability
of Draft Environmental Impact
Statement
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability of Draft
Environmental Impact Statement.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is issuing a Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
for the USEC Inc. (USEC) license
application, dated August 23, 2004, for
the possession and use of source,
byproduct and special nuclear materials
at its proposed American Centrifuge
Plant (ACP) located near Piketon, Ohio.
The DEIS is being issued as part of the
NRC’s decision-making process on
whether to issue a license to USEC,
pursuant to Title 10 of the U.S. Code of
Federal Regulations Parts 30, 40, and 70.
The scope of activities conducted under
the license would include the
construction, operation, and
decommissioning of the ACP.
Specifically, USEC proposes to use gas
centrifuge technology to enrich the
uranium-235 isotope found in natural
uranium up to 10-weight percent. The
enriched uranium would be used to
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices
manufacture nuclear fuel for
commercial nuclear power reactors.
The NRC staff will hold a public
meeting to present an overview of the
DEIS and to accept oral and written
public comments. The meeting date,
time and location are listed below:
Meeting Date: Thursday, September
29, 2005.
Meeting Location: Vern Riffe Career
Technology Center, 175 Beaver Creek
Road, Piketon, OH 45661.
Informal Open House: 6–7 p.m.
DEIS Comment Meeting: 7–9:45 p.m.
Prior to the public meeting, the NRC
staff will be available to informally
discuss the proposed USEC project and
answer questions in an ‘‘open house’’
format. This ‘‘open house’’’ format
provides for one-on-one discussions
with the NRC staff involved with the
preparation of the DEIS. The DEIS
meeting officially begins at 7 p.m. and
will include: (1) A presentation
summarizing the contents of the DEIS
and (2) an opportunity for interested
government agencies, organizations, and
individuals to provide comments on the
DEIS. This portion of the meeting will
be transcribed by a court reporter.
Persons wishing to provide oral
comments will be asked to register at
the meeting entrance. Individual oral
comments may have to be limited by the
time available, depending upon the
number of persons who register. If
special equipment or accommodations
are needed to attend or present
information at the public meeting, the
need should be brought to the attention
of Mr. Matthew Blevins no later than
September 22, 2005, to provide NRC
staff with adequate notice to determine
whether the request can be
accommodated. Please note that
comments do not have to be provided at
the public meeting and may be
submitted at any time throughout the
comment period, through October 24,
2005, as described in the DATES and
ADDRESSES sections of this notice.
DATES: The public comment period on
the DEIS begins with publication of this
notice and continues until October 24,
2005. Written comments should be
submitted as described in the
ADDRESSES section of this notice.
Comments submitted by mail should be
postmarked by that date to ensure
consideration. Comments received or
postmarked after that date will be
considered to the extent practical. A
public meeting to discuss the DEIS will
be held on September 29 as described in
the SUMMARY section of this notice.
ADDRESSES: Members of the public are
invited and encouraged to submit
comments to the Chief, Rules Review
VerDate Aug<18>2005
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and Directives Branch, Mail Stop T6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555–
0001. Please note Docket No. 70–7004
when submitting comments. Comments
will also be accepted by e-mail at
NRCREP@nrc.gov or by facsimile to
(301) 415–5397, Attention: Mr. Matthew
Blevins.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
questions related to the safety review or
overall licensing of the USEC facility,
please contact Mr. Yawar Faraz at at
(301) 415–8113. For environmental
review questions, please contact Mr.
Matthew Blevins at (301) 415–7684.
The DEIS may be accessed on the
Internet at:
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doccollections/nuregs/staff/ by selecting
‘‘NUREG–1834.’’ Additionally, the NRC
maintains an Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System
(ADAMS), which provides text and
image files of NRC’s public documents.
The DEIS and its appendices may also
be accessed through the NRC’s Public
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet
at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. If you do not have access
to ADAMS or if there are problems in
accessing the documents located in
ADAMS, contact the NRC Public
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff
at 1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737 or
by e-mail to PDR@nrc.gov.
The DEIS is also available for
inspection at the Commission’s Public
Document Room, U.S. NRC’s
Headquarters Building, 11555 Rockville
Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
Upon written request and to the extent
supplies are available, a single copy of
the DEIS can be obtained for a fee by
writing to the Office of Information
Services, Reproduction and Distribution
Services Branch, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001; by electronic mail at
DISTRIBUTION@nrc.gov; or by fax at
(301) 415–2289.
A selected group of documents
associated with the USEC facility may
also be obtained from the Internet on
NRC’s USEC Web page: https://
www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/
usecfacility.html. In addition, all
comments of Federal, State and local
agencies, Indian tribes or other
interested persons will be made
available for public inspection when
received.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This DEIS
was prepared in response to an
application submitted by USEC dated
August 23, 2004, for the possession and
use of source, byproduct and special
nuclear materials at its proposed ACP
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53397
located near Piketon, Ohio. The DEIS for
the proposed ACP was prepared by the
NRC staff and its contractor, ICF
Consulting, Inc., in compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) and the NRC’s regulations for
implementing NEPA (10 CFR Part 51).
The DEIS is being issued as part of the
NRC’s decision-making process on
whether to issue a license to USEC,
pursuant to Title 10 of the U.S. Code of
Federal Regulations Parts 30, 40, and 70.
The scope of activities conducted under
the license would include the
construction, operation, and
decommissioning of the ACP.
Specifically, USEC proposes to use gas
centrifuge technology to enrich the
uranium-235 isotope found in natural
uranium up to 10-weight percent. The
enriched uranium would be used to
manufacture nuclear fuel for
commercial nuclear power reactors.
USEC proposes to locate the ACP in
leased portions of the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) reservation in Piketon,
OH. This is the same site as DOE’s
Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
The ACP would consist of refurbished
existing facilities and newly constructed
facilities, primarily located in the
southwestern portion of the central DOE
reservation.
The NRC staff published a Notice of
Intent to prepare an EIS for the
proposed ACP and to conduct a scoping
process, in the Federal Register on
October 15, 2004 (69 FR 61268). The
NRC staff accepted comments through
February 1, 2005, and subsequently
issued a Scoping Summary Report in
April 2005 (ADAMS Accession Number:
ML050820008). The DEIS describes the
proposed action and alternatives to the
proposed action, including the noaction alternative. The NRC staff
assesses the impacts of the proposed
action and its alternatives on public and
occupational health, air quality, water
resources, waste management, geology
and soils, noise, ecology resources, land
use, transportation, historical and
cultural resources, visual and scenic
resources, socioeconomics, accidents
and environmental justice.
Additionally, the DEIS analyzes and
compares the costs and benefits of the
proposed action.
Based on the preliminary evaluation
in the DEIS, the NRC environmental
review staff has concluded that the
proposed action would have small
effects on the physical environment and
human communities with the exception
of: (1) Short-term moderate impacts
associated with increases in particulate
matter released to the air during the
construction phase, (2) short-term
moderate impacts related to increased
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 173 / Thursday, September 8, 2005 / Notices
traffic congestion during the
construction phase, (3) potential
moderate impacts due to transportation
accidents, (4) potential moderate
impacts from facility operation
accidents, (5) moderate impacts
associated with a potential operating
extension of the DOE depleted uranium
tails conversion facility, and (6)
moderate employment impacts on the
local communities associated with the
construction and operation phases.
After weighing the impacts, costs, and
benefits of the proposed action and
comparing alternatives, the NRC staff, in
accordance with 10 CFR 51.71(e), set
forth their preliminary recommendation
regarding the proposed action. The NRC
staff recommend that, unless safety
issues mandate otherwise, the action
called for is the approval of the
proposed action (i.e., issue a license).
The DEIS is a preliminary analysis of
the environmental impacts of the
proposed action and its alternatives.
The Final EIS and any decision
documentation regarding the proposed
action will not be issued until public
comments on the DEIS have been
received and evaluated. Notice of the
availability of the Final EIS will be
published in the Federal Register.
The NRC staff in the Division of Fuel
Cycle Safety and Safeguards are
currently completing the safety review
for USEC’s license application and is
currently scheduled for completion in
the Spring of 2006.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day
of August, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Scott C. Flanders,
Deputy Director, Environmental and
Performance Assessment Directorate,
Division of Waste Management and
Environmental Protection, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E5–4878 Filed 9–7–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET
Acquisition Advisory Panel;
Notification of Upcoming Meetings of
the Acquisition Advisory Panel
Office of Management and
Budget, Executive Office of the
President.
ACTION: Notice of Federal advisory
committee meetings.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The Office of Management
and Budget announces a meeting of the
Acquisition Advisory Panel (AAP or
‘‘Panel’’) established in accordance with
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15:25 Sep 07, 2005
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the Services Acquisition Reform Act of
2003.
DATES: The public meeting of the Panel
will be held on September 27, 2005,
beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time and
ending no later than 5 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be
held at the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC), Basement
auditorium, 801 17th Street NW.,
Washington, DC 20434. The public is
asked to pre-register one week in
advance of the meeting due to security
and/or seating limitations (see below for
information on pre-registration).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Members of the public wishing further
information concerning the meeting or
the Acquisition Advisory Panel itself, or
to pre-register for the meeting, should
contact Ms. Laura Auletta, Designated
Federal Officer (DFO), at:
laura.auletta@gsa.gov, phone/voice mail
(202) 208–7279, or mail at: General
Services Administration, 1800 F. Street,
NW., Room 4006, Washington, DC
20405. Members of the public wishing
to reserve speaking time should refer to
the instructions in paragraph (c) below,
Oral Public Comments.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
(a) Background: The purpose of the
Panel is to provide independent advice
and recommendations to the Office of
Federal Procurement Policy and
Congress pursuant to Section 1423 of
the Services Acquisition Reform Act of
2003. The Panel’s statutory charter is to
review Federal contracting laws,
regulations, and governmentwide
policies, including the use of
commercial practices, performancebased contracting, performance of
acquisition functions across agency
lines of responsibility, and
governmentwide contracts. Interested
parties are invited to attend the
meetings. Opportunity for oral public
comments will be provided at this
meeting. See paragraph (c) below for
instructions on presenting oral public
comments. Time for oral public
comments is expected at future public
meetings as well and will be announced
in the Federal Register.
September 27, 2005 Meeting—The
working groups, established at previous
public meetings of the AAP (see https://
www.acqnet.gov/aap for a list of
working groups), will report on their
first drafts of background statements.
The Panel also expects to hear from
additional invited speakers from the
public and private sectors who will
address issues related to the Panel’s
statutory charter, including commercial
practices and performance-based
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
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contracting as well as interagency
contracting.
(b) Availability of Materials for the
Meetings: Please see the Acquisition
Advisory Panel Web site for any
available materials, including draft
agendas, for these meetings (https://
www.acqnet.gov/aap). Questions/issues
of particular interest to the Panel are
also available to the public on this Web
site on its front page, including
‘‘Questions for Government Buying
Agencies,’’ ‘‘Questions for Contractors
that Sell Commercial Goods or Services
to the Government,’’ ‘‘Questions for
Commercial Organizations,’’ and an
issue raised by one Panel member
regarding the rules of interpretation and
performance of contracts and liabilities
of the parties entitled ‘‘Proposal for
Public Comment.’’ The Panel
encourages the public to address any of
these questions/issues when presenting
either oral public comments or written
statements to the Panel. The public may
also obtain copies of Initial Working
Group Reports presented at the March
30, 2005 public meeting and the followup scope reports presented at the June
14, 2005 public meeting at the Panel’s
Web site under ‘‘Meeting Materials’’ at
this Web site. Minutes for each meeting
are also posted.
(c) Procedures for Providing Public
Comments: It is the policy of the
Acquisition Advisory Panel to accept
written public comments of any length,
and to accommodate oral public
comments whenever possible. To
facilitate Panel discussions at its
meetings, the Panel may not accept oral
comments at all meetings. The Panel
Staff expects that public statements
presented at Panel meetings will be
focused on the Panel’s statutory charter
and working group topics, and not be
repetitive of previously presented oral
comments, and that comments will be
relevant to the issues under discussion.
Oral Public Comments: One hour has
been reserved for oral public comments
at this meeting. Speaking times will be
confirmed by Panel staff on a ‘‘firstcome/first-serve’’ basis. To
accommodate as many speakers as
possible, oral public comments must be
no longer than 10 minutes. Because
Panel members may ask questions,
reserved times will be approximate.
Interested parties must contact Ms.
Pamela Gouldsberry, AAP Senior Staff
Analyst, in writing at:
pamela.gouldsberry@gsa.gov, by FAX at
202–501–3341, or mail at the address
given above for the DFO, no later than
one week prior to the meeting in order
to be placed on the public speaker list.
Verbal requests for speaking time will
not be taken. Speakers are requested to
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 173 (Thursday, September 8, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53396-53398]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-4878]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-7004]
USEC Inc.'s Proposed American Centrifuge Plant; Notice of
Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is issuing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(DEIS) for the USEC Inc. (USEC) license application, dated August 23,
2004, for the possession and use of source, byproduct and special
nuclear materials at its proposed American Centrifuge Plant (ACP)
located near Piketon, Ohio.
The DEIS is being issued as part of the NRC's decision-making
process on whether to issue a license to USEC, pursuant to Title 10 of
the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Parts 30, 40, and 70. The scope of
activities conducted under the license would include the construction,
operation, and decommissioning of the ACP. Specifically, USEC proposes
to use gas centrifuge technology to enrich the uranium-235 isotope
found in natural uranium up to 10-weight percent. The enriched uranium
would be used to
[[Page 53397]]
manufacture nuclear fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors.
The NRC staff will hold a public meeting to present an overview of
the DEIS and to accept oral and written public comments. The meeting
date, time and location are listed below:
Meeting Date: Thursday, September 29, 2005.
Meeting Location: Vern Riffe Career Technology Center, 175 Beaver
Creek Road, Piketon, OH 45661.
Informal Open House: 6-7 p.m.
DEIS Comment Meeting: 7-9:45 p.m.
Prior to the public meeting, the NRC staff will be available to
informally discuss the proposed USEC project and answer questions in an
``open house'' format. This ``open house''' format provides for one-on-
one discussions with the NRC staff involved with the preparation of the
DEIS. The DEIS meeting officially begins at 7 p.m. and will include:
(1) A presentation summarizing the contents of the DEIS and (2) an
opportunity for interested government agencies, organizations, and
individuals to provide comments on the DEIS. This portion of the
meeting will be transcribed by a court reporter. Persons wishing to
provide oral comments will be asked to register at the meeting
entrance. Individual oral comments may have to be limited by the time
available, depending upon the number of persons who register. If
special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present
information at the public meeting, the need should be brought to the
attention of Mr. Matthew Blevins no later than September 22, 2005, to
provide NRC staff with adequate notice to determine whether the request
can be accommodated. Please note that comments do not have to be
provided at the public meeting and may be submitted at any time
throughout the comment period, through October 24, 2005, as described
in the DATES and ADDRESSES sections of this notice.
DATES: The public comment period on the DEIS begins with publication of
this notice and continues until October 24, 2005. Written comments
should be submitted as described in the ADDRESSES section of this
notice. Comments submitted by mail should be postmarked by that date to
ensure consideration. Comments received or postmarked after that date
will be considered to the extent practical. A public meeting to discuss
the DEIS will be held on September 29 as described in the SUMMARY
section of this notice.
ADDRESSES: Members of the public are invited and encouraged to submit
comments to the Chief, Rules Review and Directives Branch, Mail Stop
T6-D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
Please note Docket No. 70-7004 when submitting comments. Comments will
also be accepted by e-mail at NRCREP@nrc.gov or by facsimile to (301)
415-5397, Attention: Mr. Matthew Blevins.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions related to the safety
review or overall licensing of the USEC facility, please contact Mr.
Yawar Faraz at at (301) 415-8113. For environmental review questions,
please contact Mr. Matthew Blevins at (301) 415-7684.
The DEIS may be accessed on the Internet at: https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/ by selecting ``NUREG-1834.''
Additionally, the NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's
public documents. The DEIS and its appendices may also be accessed
through the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. If you do not have access to
ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in
ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-
800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to PDR@nrc.gov.
The DEIS is also available for inspection at the Commission's
Public Document Room, U.S. NRC's Headquarters Building, 11555 Rockville
Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Upon written request and to
the extent supplies are available, a single copy of the DEIS can be
obtained for a fee by writing to the Office of Information Services,
Reproduction and Distribution Services Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; by electronic mail at
DISTRIBUTION@nrc.gov; or by fax at (301) 415-2289.
A selected group of documents associated with the USEC facility may
also be obtained from the Internet on NRC's USEC Web page: https://
www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/usecfacility.html. In addition,
all comments of Federal, State and local agencies, Indian tribes or
other interested persons will be made available for public inspection
when received.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This DEIS was prepared in response to an
application submitted by USEC dated August 23, 2004, for the possession
and use of source, byproduct and special nuclear materials at its
proposed ACP located near Piketon, Ohio. The DEIS for the proposed ACP
was prepared by the NRC staff and its contractor, ICF Consulting, Inc.,
in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the
NRC's regulations for implementing NEPA (10 CFR Part 51).
The DEIS is being issued as part of the NRC's decision-making
process on whether to issue a license to USEC, pursuant to Title 10 of
the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Parts 30, 40, and 70. The scope of
activities conducted under the license would include the construction,
operation, and decommissioning of the ACP. Specifically, USEC proposes
to use gas centrifuge technology to enrich the uranium-235 isotope
found in natural uranium up to 10-weight percent. The enriched uranium
would be used to manufacture nuclear fuel for commercial nuclear power
reactors. USEC proposes to locate the ACP in leased portions of the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reservation in Piketon, OH. This is the
same site as DOE's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The ACP would
consist of refurbished existing facilities and newly constructed
facilities, primarily located in the southwestern portion of the
central DOE reservation.
The NRC staff published a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS for
the proposed ACP and to conduct a scoping process, in the Federal
Register on October 15, 2004 (69 FR 61268). The NRC staff accepted
comments through February 1, 2005, and subsequently issued a Scoping
Summary Report in April 2005 (ADAMS Accession Number: ML050820008). The
DEIS describes the proposed action and alternatives to the proposed
action, including the no-action alternative. The NRC staff assesses the
impacts of the proposed action and its alternatives on public and
occupational health, air quality, water resources, waste management,
geology and soils, noise, ecology resources, land use, transportation,
historical and cultural resources, visual and scenic resources,
socioeconomics, accidents and environmental justice. Additionally, the
DEIS analyzes and compares the costs and benefits of the proposed
action.
Based on the preliminary evaluation in the DEIS, the NRC
environmental review staff has concluded that the proposed action would
have small effects on the physical environment and human communities
with the exception of: (1) Short-term moderate impacts associated with
increases in particulate matter released to the air during the
construction phase, (2) short-term moderate impacts related to
increased
[[Page 53398]]
traffic congestion during the construction phase, (3) potential
moderate impacts due to transportation accidents, (4) potential
moderate impacts from facility operation accidents, (5) moderate
impacts associated with a potential operating extension of the DOE
depleted uranium tails conversion facility, and (6) moderate employment
impacts on the local communities associated with the construction and
operation phases.
After weighing the impacts, costs, and benefits of the proposed
action and comparing alternatives, the NRC staff, in accordance with 10
CFR 51.71(e), set forth their preliminary recommendation regarding the
proposed action. The NRC staff recommend that, unless safety issues
mandate otherwise, the action called for is the approval of the
proposed action (i.e., issue a license). The DEIS is a preliminary
analysis of the environmental impacts of the proposed action and its
alternatives. The Final EIS and any decision documentation regarding
the proposed action will not be issued until public comments on the
DEIS have been received and evaluated. Notice of the availability of
the Final EIS will be published in the Federal Register.
The NRC staff in the Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards
are currently completing the safety review for USEC's license
application and is currently scheduled for completion in the Spring of
2006.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of August, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Scott C. Flanders,
Deputy Director, Environmental and Performance Assessment Directorate,
Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E5-4878 Filed 9-7-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
