Notice of Availability of Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities, 27052-27054 [E9-13027]
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27052
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 107 / Friday, June 5, 2009 / Notices
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Type of Review: Extension without
change of a previously approved
collection.
Title of Collection: Temporary Labor
Camps (29 CFR 1910.142).
OMB Control Number: 1218–0096.
Affected Public: Business or other forprofits.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
833.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 67.
Estimated Total Annual Costs Burden
(excludes hourly wage costs): $0.
Description: The information is
required to safeguard the health of
temporary labor camp residents. The
information is used to limit the
incidence of communicable disease
among temporary labor camp residents.
For additional information, see the
related 60-day preclearance notice
published in the Federal Register at
Vol. 74 FR 11975 on March 20, 2009.
PRA documentation prepared in
association with the preclearance notice
is available on https://
www.regulations.gov under docket
number OSHA–2009–0003.
Agency: Occupational Safety and
Health Administration.
Type of Review: Extension without
change of a previously approved
collection.
Title of Collection: 1,3-Butadiene (29
CFR 1910.1051).
OMB Control Number: 1218–0170.
Affected Public: Business or other forprofits.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
115.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 955.
Estimated Total Annual Costs Burden
(excludes hourly wage costs): $95,288.
Description: The purpose of this
standard and its information collection
requirements are to provide protection
for employees from the adverse health
effects associated with occupational
exposure to 1,3-Butadiene. For
additional information, see the related
60-day preclearance notice published in
the Federal Register at Vol. 74 FR 11974
on March 20, 2009. PRA documentation
prepared in association with the
preclearance notice is available on
https://www.regulations.gov under
docket number OSHA–2009–0004.
Darrin A. King,
Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. E9–13155 Filed 6–4–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510–26–P
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training
Administration
Request for Certification of
Compliance—Rural Industrialization
Loan and Grant Program
AGENCY: Employment and Training
Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY: The Employment and
Training Administration is issuing this
notice to announce the receipt of a
‘‘Certification of Non-Relocation and
Market and Capacity Information
Report’’ (Form 4279–2) for the
following:
Applicant/Location: Jagdamba III
Corporation dba Golden Corral/
Queensbury, New York.
Principal Product/Purpose: The loan,
guarantee, or grant application is to
enable a new business venture to
purchase commercial real estate to
construct and open a Golden Corral
restaurant franchise. The NAICS
industry code for this enterprise is:
722110 Full-Service Restaurants.
DATES: All interested parties may submit
comments in writing no later than June
19, 2009. Copies of adverse comments
received will be forwarded to the
applicant noted above.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments
concerning this notice to Anthony D.
Dais, U.S. Department of Labor,
Employment and Training
Administration, 200 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Room S–4231,
Washington, DC 20210; or e-mail
Dais.Anthony@dol.gov; or transmit via
fax (202) 693–3015 (this is not a toll-free
number).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Anthony D. Dais, at telephone number
(202) 693–2784 (this is not a toll-free
number).
Section
188 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural
Development Act of 1972, as established
under 29 CFR part 75, authorizes the
United States Department of Agriculture
to make or guarantee loans or grants to
finance industrial and business
activities in rural areas. The Secretary of
Labor must review the application for
financial assistance for the purpose of
certifying to the Secretary of Agriculture
that the assistance is not calculated, or
likely, to result in: (a) A transfer of any
employment or business activity from
one area to another by the loan
applicant’s business operation; or (b) An
increase in the production of goods,
materials, services, or facilities in an
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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area where there is not sufficient
demand to employ the efficient capacity
of existing competitive enterprises
unless the financial assistance will not
have an adverse impact on existing
competitive enterprises in the area. The
Employment and Training
Administration within the Department
of Labor is responsible for the review
and certification process. Comments
should address the two bases for
certification and, if possible, provide
data to assist in the analysis of these
issues.
Signed at Washington, DC this 1st of June
2009.
Gay M. Gilbert,
Administrator, Office of Workforce
Investment, Employment and Training
Administration.
[FR Doc. E9–13112 Filed 6–4–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510–FN–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[NRC–2008–0420]
Notice of Availability of Final Generic
Environmental Impact Statement for InSitu Leach Uranium Milling Facilities
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC), with the
cooperation of the Wyoming
Department of Environmental Quality,
Land Quality Division, is issuing a final
Generic Environmental Impact
Statement (GEIS) that assesses the
potential environmental impacts of the
construction, operation, aquifer
restoration, and decommissioning at an
in-situ leach (ISL) uranium milling
facility located in particular regions of
the western United States. The rationale
for developing the GEIS is that ISL
facilities use the same or very similar
technology, such that the potential
environmental impacts associated with
the technology could be assessed on a
generic (programmatic) basis. In this
way repetitive reviews of certain of
these impacts could be avoided, thus
focusing NRC’s evaluation on unique
issues of concern for each ISL license
application.
The NRC anticipates that it will
receive numerous new license
applications for ISL uranium milling
within the next several years. NRC will
use the GEIS to provide a starting point
for the staff’s National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) analyses for site-
E:\FR\FM\05JNN1.SGM
05JNN1
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 107 / Friday, June 5, 2009 / Notices
specific license applications for new ISL
facilities. Additionally, the NRC staff
plans to use the GEIS, along with
applicable previous site-specific
environmental review documents, in its
NEPA analysis for applications to renew
or otherwise amend operations at
existing NRC-licensed ISL facilities. In
these analyses, NRC would evaluate the
site-specific data to determine whether
relevant sections of the GEIS could be
incorporated by reference into the sitespecific environmental review.
Additionally, NRC would determine
which GEIS impact conclusions can be
adopted in the site-specific review and
whether additional data and analysis is
needed to determine the potential
impacts for a specific environmental
resource area. NRC will prepare a
Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement (SEIS) on a license
application for a new ISL facility. NRC
will prepare an Environmental
Assessment (EA), SEIS, or
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
for license renewals or amendments to
ISL facility applications.
The GEIS may be accessed
on the Internet at https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/
by selecting ‘‘NUREG–1910.’’
Additionally, the NRC maintains an
Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS), which
provides text and image files of the
NRC’s public documents. The GEIS 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 either do not have access to
ADAMS or if there is a problem
accessing documents located in
ADAMS, contact the NRC Public
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1 (800) 397–4209, 1 (301) 415–4737 or
by e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.
Information and documents
associated with the GEIS are also
available for public review through the
NRC Public Electronic Reading Room on
the Internet at https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/adams.html and at the
NRC’s Web site for the GEIS, https://
www.nrc.gov/materials/uraniumrecovery/geis.html. Both information
and documents associated with the
Final GEIS also are available for
inspection at the Commission’s PDR,
NRC’s Headquarters Building, 11555
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville,
Maryland. For those without access to
the Internet, paper copies of any
electronic documents may be obtained
for a fee by contacting the NRC’s PDR
at 1–800–397–4209. The GEIS and
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ADDRESSES:
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Jkt 217001
related documents may also be found at
the following public libraries:
Albuquerque Main Library, 501 Copper
NW., Albuquerque, New Mexico
87102, 505–768–5141.
Mother Whiteside Memorial Library,
525 West High Street, Grants, New
Mexico 87020, 505–287–4793.
Octavia Fellin Public Library, 115 W
Hill Avenue, Gallup, New Mexico
87301, 505–863–1291.
Natrona County Public Library, 307 East
Second Street, Casper, Wyoming
82601, 307–332–5194.
Carbon County Public Library, 215 W
Buffalo Street, Rawlins, Wyoming
82301, 307–328–2618.
Campbell County Public Library, 2101
South 4J Road, Gillette, Wyoming
82718, 307–687–0009.
Weston County Library, 23 West Main
Street, Newcastle, Wyoming 82701,
307–746–2206.
Chadron Public Library, 507 Bordeaux
Street, Chadron, Nebraska 69337,
308–432–0531.
Rapid City Public Library, 610 Quincy
Street, Rapid City, South Dakota
57701, 605–394–4171.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
James Park, Project Manager,
Environmental Review Branch, Division
of Waste Management and
Environmental Protection, Office of
Federal and State Materials and
Environmental Management Programs,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555. Telephone:
(301) 415–6935; e-mail:
James.Park@nrc.gov.
The
Atomic Energy Act (AEA) and the
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation
Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA)
authorize NRC to issue licenses for the
possession and use of source material
and byproduct material. The statutes
require NRC to license facilities that
meet NRC regulatory requirements that
were developed to protect public health
and safety from radiological hazards.
ISL uranium milling facilities must meet
NRC regulatory requirements in order to
obtain this license to operate. Under the
NRC’s environmental protection
regulations in Title 10, Part 51 of the
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR
part 51), which implements NEPA,
issuance of a license to possess and use
source material for uranium milling
requires an EIS or a supplement to an
EIS.
To help fulfill this requirement, the
NRC staff and its contractor, the Center
for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses,
in cooperation with the Wyoming
Department of Environmental Quality
(Land Quality Division), prepared the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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27053
GEIS. The GEIS was prepared to assess
the potential environmental impacts
associated with the construction,
operation, aquifer restoration, and
decommissioning of an ISL facility in
four specified geographic areas of the
western United States (U.S.). The intent
of the GEIS is to determine which
impacts would be essentially the same
for all ISL facilities and which ones
would result in varying levels of
impacts for different facilities, thus
requiring further site-specific
information to determine the potential
impacts. As such, the GEIS provides a
starting point for its NEPA analyses for
site-specific license applications for
new ISL facilities, as well as for
applications to renew or amend existing
ISL licenses.
The NRC is expecting numerous
license applications for new ISL
uranium milling facilities in the next
several years. ISL milling facilities
recover uranium from low grade ores
that may not be economically
recoverable by other methods. In this
process, a leaching agent, such as
oxygen with sodium bicarbonate, is
added to native groundwater for
injection through wells into the
subsurface ore body to dissolve the
uranium. Before ISL operations can
begin, the portion of the aquifer
designated for uranium recovery must
be exempted by EPA as an underground
source of drinking water in accordance
with the Safe Drinking Water Act (40
CFR 146.4). The leach solution,
containing the dissolved uranium, is
pumped back to the surface and sent to
the processing plant, where ion
exchange is used to separate the
uranium from the solution. The
underground leaching of the uranium
also frees other metals and minerals
from the host rock. Operators of ISL
facilities are required to restore the
groundwater affected by the leaching
operations and decommission the
facility when operations have ceased.
The milling process concentrates the
recovered uranium into the product
known as ‘‘yellowcake,’’ which is then
shipped to uranium conversion facilities
for further processing in the overall
uranium fuel cycle.
The proposed Federal action
identified in the GEIS is to grant an
application to obtain, renew, or amend
a source material license for an ISL
facility. In reviewing a license
application for a new ISL facility, NRC
will use the GEIS as starting point for its
site-specific environmental reviews.
NRC will evaluate site-specific data and
information to determine if the
applicant’s proposed activities and the
site characteristics are consistent with
E:\FR\FM\05JNN1.SGM
05JNN1
erowe on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
27054
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 107 / Friday, June 5, 2009 / Notices
those evaluated in the GEIS. NRC will
then determine which sections of the
GEIS can be incorporated by reference
and which impact conclusions can be
adopted in the site-specific
environmental review, and whether
additional data or analysis is needed to
determine the environmental impacts
for a specific resource area.
Additionally, the GEIS provides
guidance in the evaluation for certain
impact analyses (e.g., cumulative
impacts, environmental justice) for
which the GEIS did not make impact
conclusions. No decision on whether to
license an ISL facility will be made
based on the GEIS alone. The licensing
decision will be based, in part, on a sitespecific environmental analysis that
makes use of the GEIS.
The GEIS also addresses the no-action
alternative. Under this alternative, NRC
would deny the applicant’s or licensee’s
request for a new ISL facility. As a
result, the license applicant may choose
to resubmit the application to use an
alternate uranium recovery method or
decide to obtain the yellowcake from
other sources. A licensee whose license
renewal application is denied would
have to commence shutting down
operations in a timely manner. Denials
of license amendments would require
the licensee to continue operating under
its previously approved license
conditions. The no-action alternative
serves as a baseline for comparison of
the potential environmental impacts.
Conventional mining/milling and the
heap leach process are two other
methods of uranium recovery. However,
inasmuch as the suitability and
practicality of using these alternative
milling methodologies depends upon
site-specific conditions, a generic
discussion of potential environmental
impacts associated with these
methodologies in the GEIS is not
appropriate. Accordingly, the GEIS does
not contain a detailed analysis of
alternative milling methodologies to the
ISL process. A detailed analysis of
reasonable alternative milling
methodologies that can be applied at a
specific site will be addressed in the
NRC’s site-specific environmental
review for individual ISL license
applications.
The GEIS is structured in the
following manner. The NRC staff began
by identifying four uranium milling
regions in the western U.S. to use as a
framework for discussions in the
document. Two regions are found in
Wyoming, one in New Mexico, and a
final region encompasses portions of
Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Next, the GEIS provides a description
of the ISL process and addresses the
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construction, operation, aquifer
restoration, and decommissioning
activities for an ISL facility. Financial
assurance is also discussed, whereby the
ISL licensee or applicant establishes a
bond or other financial mechanism prior
to operations to ensure that sufficient
funds are available to complete aquifer
restoration, decommissioning, and
reclamation activities for the site.
Then, the GEIS describes the affected
environment in each uranium milling
region, using the environmental
resource areas and topics identified
through public scoping comments on
the GEIS and from NRC guidance to its
staff found in NUREG–1748,
‘‘Environmental Review Guidance for
Licensing Actions Associated With
NMSS Programs,’’ issued by NRC in
2003.
Finally, the GEIS provides an
evaluation of the potential
environmental impacts of constructing,
operating, aquifer restoration, and
decommissioning at an ISL facility in
each of the four uranium milling
regions. Impacts are examined for the
following resource areas:
• Land use
• Transportation
• Geology and soils
• Water resources
• Ecology
• Air Quality
• Noise
• Historical and cultural resources
• Visual and scenic resources
• Socioeconomic
• Public and occupational health
Following the discussion of potential
environmental impacts, the GEIS
addresses cumulative impacts;
environmental justice; practices,
measures, and actions to mitigate
potential impacts; environmental
monitoring activities; and the
consultation process with Federal and
tribal entities.
To document its review of the
potential environmental impacts for a
new ISL facility, NRC will prepare an
SEIS. NRC’s decision to prepare an SEIS
is a change to its previously stated
position (72 FR 54947; September 27,
2007) that allowed for the possibility of
NRC preparing an EA on a new ISL
license application. NRC’s decision to
prepare an SEIS will more clearly meet
the requirement for completing an EIS
for new ISL facilities and considers
public comments received on the draft
GEIS. The NRC will follow the public
participation procedures outlined in 10
CFR part 51, which can include requests
for public input on the scope of the SEIS
and requires public comment on the
draft SEIS.
For applications to renew or amend
existing ISL licenses, NRC will conduct
PO 00000
Frm 00049
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
an environmental review, consistent
with the provisions in 10 CFR part 51.
This review may be an EA, SEIS, or an
EIS. The NRC previously stated in the
Federal Register on September 27, 2007
(72 FR 54947) that all draft EAs
prepared for ISL facility license
applications would be available for
public comment. This statement was
made in anticipation that NRC would be
preparing EAs for applications for new
ISL facilities. As noted, based on public
comments NRC received on the draft
GEIS, NRC has decided to prepare an
SEIS for new license applications. The
NRC will follow the public participation
procedures outlined in 10 CFR part 51,
which require public comment on the
draft SEIS. The NRC may make a draft
EA and accompanying Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI) available for
public comment. The decision to submit
a draft EA for public comment would
take into account the provisions in 10
CFR 51.33 concerning the similarity of
the proposed actions to actions
normally requiring preparation of an EIS
and the precedent setting nature of the
proposed action. Additionally, the NRC
may consider the level of public interest
and the contentious nature of the
proposed action in determining whether
to publish a draft EA/FONSI for public
comment. The NRC staff would address
public comments received on the draft
EA/FONSI in the staff’s final
environmental review document. This
approach is consistent with NRC
regulations.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day
of May 2009.
For The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission
Patrice M. Bubar,
Deputy Director, Environmental Protection
and Performance Assessment Directorate,
Division of Waste Management and
Environmental Protection, Office of Federal
and State Materials and Environmental
Management Programs.
[FR Doc. E9–13027 Filed 6–4–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
[OMB Control No. 3206–0042; Form RI 25–
15]
Proposed Collection; Request for
Comments on an Existing Information
Collection
AGENCY: Office of Personnel
Management.
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub.
E:\FR\FM\05JNN1.SGM
05JNN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 107 (Friday, June 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27052-27054]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-13027]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2008-0420]
Notice of Availability of Final Generic Environmental Impact
Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC), with the cooperation of the Wyoming Department of
Environmental Quality, Land Quality Division, is issuing a final
Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) that assesses the
potential environmental impacts of the construction, operation, aquifer
restoration, and decommissioning at an in-situ leach (ISL) uranium
milling facility located in particular regions of the western United
States. The rationale for developing the GEIS is that ISL facilities
use the same or very similar technology, such that the potential
environmental impacts associated with the technology could be assessed
on a generic (programmatic) basis. In this way repetitive reviews of
certain of these impacts could be avoided, thus focusing NRC's
evaluation on unique issues of concern for each ISL license
application.
The NRC anticipates that it will receive numerous new license
applications for ISL uranium milling within the next several years. NRC
will use the GEIS to provide a starting point for the staff's National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses for site-
[[Page 27053]]
specific license applications for new ISL facilities. Additionally, the
NRC staff plans to use the GEIS, along with applicable previous site-
specific environmental review documents, in its NEPA analysis for
applications to renew or otherwise amend operations at existing NRC-
licensed ISL facilities. In these analyses, NRC would evaluate the
site-specific data to determine whether relevant sections of the GEIS
could be incorporated by reference into the site-specific environmental
review. Additionally, NRC would determine which GEIS impact conclusions
can be adopted in the site-specific review and whether additional data
and analysis is needed to determine the potential impacts for a
specific environmental resource area. NRC will prepare a Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) on a license application for a
new ISL facility. NRC will prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA),
SEIS, or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for license renewals or
amendments to ISL facility applications.
ADDRESSES: The GEIS may be accessed on the Internet at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/ by selecting
``NUREG-1910.'' Additionally, the NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image
files of the NRC's public documents. The GEIS 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
either do not have access to ADAMS or if there is a problem accessing
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR)
reference staff at 1 (800) 397-4209, 1 (301) 415-4737 or by e-mail to
pdr.resource@nrc.gov.
Information and documents associated with the GEIS are also
available for public review through the NRC Public Electronic Reading
Room on the Internet at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html and at
the NRC's Web site for the GEIS, https://www.nrc.gov/materials/uranium-recovery/geis.html. Both information and documents associated with the
Final GEIS also are available for inspection at the Commission's PDR,
NRC's Headquarters Building, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor),
Rockville, Maryland. For those without access to the Internet, paper
copies of any electronic documents may be obtained for a fee by
contacting the NRC's PDR at 1-800-397-4209. The GEIS and related
documents may also be found at the following public libraries:
Albuquerque Main Library, 501 Copper NW., Albuquerque, New Mexico
87102, 505-768-5141.
Mother Whiteside Memorial Library, 525 West High Street, Grants, New
Mexico 87020, 505-287-4793.
Octavia Fellin Public Library, 115 W Hill Avenue, Gallup, New Mexico
87301, 505-863-1291.
Natrona County Public Library, 307 East Second Street, Casper, Wyoming
82601, 307-332-5194.
Carbon County Public Library, 215 W Buffalo Street, Rawlins, Wyoming
82301, 307-328-2618.
Campbell County Public Library, 2101 South 4J Road, Gillette, Wyoming
82718, 307-687-0009.
Weston County Library, 23 West Main Street, Newcastle, Wyoming 82701,
307-746-2206.
Chadron Public Library, 507 Bordeaux Street, Chadron, Nebraska 69337,
308-432-0531.
Rapid City Public Library, 610 Quincy Street, Rapid City, South Dakota
57701, 605-394-4171.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. James Park, Project Manager,
Environmental Review Branch, Division of Waste Management and
Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and State Materials and
Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 415-6935; e-mail:
James.Park@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Atomic Energy Act (AEA) and the Uranium
Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA) authorize NRC to
issue licenses for the possession and use of source material and
byproduct material. The statutes require NRC to license facilities that
meet NRC regulatory requirements that were developed to protect public
health and safety from radiological hazards. ISL uranium milling
facilities must meet NRC regulatory requirements in order to obtain
this license to operate. Under the NRC's environmental protection
regulations in Title 10, Part 51 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10
CFR part 51), which implements NEPA, issuance of a license to possess
and use source material for uranium milling requires an EIS or a
supplement to an EIS.
To help fulfill this requirement, the NRC staff and its contractor,
the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, in cooperation with
the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (Land Quality
Division), prepared the GEIS. The GEIS was prepared to assess the
potential environmental impacts associated with the construction,
operation, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning of an ISL facility
in four specified geographic areas of the western United States (U.S.).
The intent of the GEIS is to determine which impacts would be
essentially the same for all ISL facilities and which ones would result
in varying levels of impacts for different facilities, thus requiring
further site-specific information to determine the potential impacts.
As such, the GEIS provides a starting point for its NEPA analyses for
site-specific license applications for new ISL facilities, as well as
for applications to renew or amend existing ISL licenses.
The NRC is expecting numerous license applications for new ISL
uranium milling facilities in the next several years. ISL milling
facilities recover uranium from low grade ores that may not be
economically recoverable by other methods. In this process, a leaching
agent, such as oxygen with sodium bicarbonate, is added to native
groundwater for injection through wells into the subsurface ore body to
dissolve the uranium. Before ISL operations can begin, the portion of
the aquifer designated for uranium recovery must be exempted by EPA as
an underground source of drinking water in accordance with the Safe
Drinking Water Act (40 CFR 146.4). The leach solution, containing the
dissolved uranium, is pumped back to the surface and sent to the
processing plant, where ion exchange is used to separate the uranium
from the solution. The underground leaching of the uranium also frees
other metals and minerals from the host rock. Operators of ISL
facilities are required to restore the groundwater affected by the
leaching operations and decommission the facility when operations have
ceased. The milling process concentrates the recovered uranium into the
product known as ``yellowcake,'' which is then shipped to uranium
conversion facilities for further processing in the overall uranium
fuel cycle.
The proposed Federal action identified in the GEIS is to grant an
application to obtain, renew, or amend a source material license for an
ISL facility. In reviewing a license application for a new ISL
facility, NRC will use the GEIS as starting point for its site-specific
environmental reviews. NRC will evaluate site-specific data and
information to determine if the applicant's proposed activities and the
site characteristics are consistent with
[[Page 27054]]
those evaluated in the GEIS. NRC will then determine which sections of
the GEIS can be incorporated by reference and which impact conclusions
can be adopted in the site-specific environmental review, and whether
additional data or analysis is needed to determine the environmental
impacts for a specific resource area. Additionally, the GEIS provides
guidance in the evaluation for certain impact analyses (e.g.,
cumulative impacts, environmental justice) for which the GEIS did not
make impact conclusions. No decision on whether to license an ISL
facility will be made based on the GEIS alone. The licensing decision
will be based, in part, on a site-specific environmental analysis that
makes use of the GEIS.
The GEIS also addresses the no-action alternative. Under this
alternative, NRC would deny the applicant's or licensee's request for a
new ISL facility. As a result, the license applicant may choose to
resubmit the application to use an alternate uranium recovery method or
decide to obtain the yellowcake from other sources. A licensee whose
license renewal application is denied would have to commence shutting
down operations in a timely manner. Denials of license amendments would
require the licensee to continue operating under its previously
approved license conditions. The no-action alternative serves as a
baseline for comparison of the potential environmental impacts.
Conventional mining/milling and the heap leach process are two
other methods of uranium recovery. However, inasmuch as the suitability
and practicality of using these alternative milling methodologies
depends upon site-specific conditions, a generic discussion of
potential environmental impacts associated with these methodologies in
the GEIS is not appropriate. Accordingly, the GEIS does not contain a
detailed analysis of alternative milling methodologies to the ISL
process. A detailed analysis of reasonable alternative milling
methodologies that can be applied at a specific site will be addressed
in the NRC's site-specific environmental review for individual ISL
license applications.
The GEIS is structured in the following manner. The NRC staff began
by identifying four uranium milling regions in the western U.S. to use
as a framework for discussions in the document. Two regions are found
in Wyoming, one in New Mexico, and a final region encompasses portions
of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Next, the GEIS provides a description of the ISL process and
addresses the construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and
decommissioning activities for an ISL facility. Financial assurance is
also discussed, whereby the ISL licensee or applicant establishes a
bond or other financial mechanism prior to operations to ensure that
sufficient funds are available to complete aquifer restoration,
decommissioning, and reclamation activities for the site.
Then, the GEIS describes the affected environment in each uranium
milling region, using the environmental resource areas and topics
identified through public scoping comments on the GEIS and from NRC
guidance to its staff found in NUREG-1748, ``Environmental Review
Guidance for Licensing Actions Associated With NMSS Programs,'' issued
by NRC in 2003.
Finally, the GEIS provides an evaluation of the potential
environmental impacts of constructing, operating, aquifer restoration,
and decommissioning at an ISL facility in each of the four uranium
milling regions. Impacts are examined for the following resource areas:
Land use
Transportation
Geology and soils
Water resources
Ecology
Air Quality
Noise
Historical and cultural resources
Visual and scenic resources
Socioeconomic
Public and occupational health
Following the discussion of potential environmental impacts, the
GEIS addresses cumulative impacts; environmental justice; practices,
measures, and actions to mitigate potential impacts; environmental
monitoring activities; and the consultation process with Federal and
tribal entities.
To document its review of the potential environmental impacts for a
new ISL facility, NRC will prepare an SEIS. NRC's decision to prepare
an SEIS is a change to its previously stated position (72 FR 54947;
September 27, 2007) that allowed for the possibility of NRC preparing
an EA on a new ISL license application. NRC's decision to prepare an
SEIS will more clearly meet the requirement for completing an EIS for
new ISL facilities and considers public comments received on the draft
GEIS. The NRC will follow the public participation procedures outlined
in 10 CFR part 51, which can include requests for public input on the
scope of the SEIS and requires public comment on the draft SEIS.
For applications to renew or amend existing ISL licenses, NRC will
conduct an environmental review, consistent with the provisions in 10
CFR part 51. This review may be an EA, SEIS, or an EIS. The NRC
previously stated in the Federal Register on September 27, 2007 (72 FR
54947) that all draft EAs prepared for ISL facility license
applications would be available for public comment. This statement was
made in anticipation that NRC would be preparing EAs for applications
for new ISL facilities. As noted, based on public comments NRC received
on the draft GEIS, NRC has decided to prepare an SEIS for new license
applications. The NRC will follow the public participation procedures
outlined in 10 CFR part 51, which require public comment on the draft
SEIS. The NRC may make a draft EA and accompanying Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI) available for public comment. The decision
to submit a draft EA for public comment would take into account the
provisions in 10 CFR 51.33 concerning the similarity of the proposed
actions to actions normally requiring preparation of an EIS and the
precedent setting nature of the proposed action. Additionally, the NRC
may consider the level of public interest and the contentious nature of
the proposed action in determining whether to publish a draft EA/FONSI
for public comment. The NRC staff would address public comments
received on the draft EA/FONSI in the staff's final environmental
review document. This approach is consistent with NRC regulations.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th\\ day of May 2009.
For The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Patrice M. Bubar,
Deputy Director, Environmental Protection and Performance Assessment
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection,
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management
Programs.
[FR Doc. E9-13027 Filed 6-4-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P