Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Public Meetings for the General Electric-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment, LLC Proposed Laser-Based Uranium Enrichment Facility, 36447-36449 [2010-15445]
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 122 / Friday, June 25, 2010 / Notices
VEGP site (i.e., other than those already
approved by Amendment 1) that would
be used as additional onsite sources of
Category 1 and Category 2 backfill. The
environmental impacts from
disturbance of these borrow locations
were not previously evaluated in the
ESP FEIS or in the LSA EA; accordingly,
pursuant to 10 CFR 51.45, the May 24,
2010 letter also included an
environmental report (ER) assessing the
impacts associated with the remaining
portion of the revised LAR.
The staff has prepared the EA in
support of its review of the proposed
license amendment. The EA evaluates
the activities associated with acquiring
backfill from those on-site areas
specified in SNC’s letter of May 24,
2010 and summarizes the radiological
and nonradiological environmental
impacts that may result from granting
the amendment request. The staff has
determined that granting the proposed
amendment would not result in
significant nonradiological impacts to
land use, surface and groundwater
resources, terrestrial and aquatic
resources, threatened and endangered
species, socioeconomic factors and
environmental justice, cultural and
historical resources, air quality, and
nonradiological human health. In
addition, the staff has determined that
there are no significant radiological
health impacts associated with the
proposed action.
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III. Finding of No Significant Impact
On the basis of the EA, the NRC has
concluded that there are no significant
environmental impacts from the
proposed amendment and has
determined not to prepare an
environmental impact statement.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action,
including the application for
amendment and supporting
documentation, are available
electronically at the NRC’s Electronic
Reading Room at https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/adams.html. The NRC’s
Agencywide Document Access and
Management System (ADAMS), which
provides text and image files of NRC’s
public documents, may be accessed
from this site. The ADAMS accession
numbers for the documents related to
this notice are: The application dated
April 20, 2010, as supplemented by
letters dated April 23, 28, May 5, 10, 13,
20, and 24 2010 is available at
ML101120089, ML101160531,
ML101230337, ML101270283,
ML101330141, ML101340649,
ML101440385, and ML101470212
respectively. The EA and Finding of No
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Significant Impact evaluation is
available at ML101670592. Persons who
do not have access to ADAMS or who
encounter problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS should
contact the NRC Public Document Room
(PDR) Reference staff by telephone at 1–
800–397–4209, 301–415–4737 or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.
These documents may also be viewed
electronically on the public computers
located at the NRC’s Public Document
Room (PDR), O 1 F21, One White Flint
North, 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville,
MD 20852. The PDR reproduction
contractor will copy documents for a
fee.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 21st day
of June, 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Terri Spicher,
Project Manager, AP1000 Branch1, Division
of New Reactors Licensing, Office of New
Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2010–15441 Filed 6–24–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[NRC–2009–0157]
Notice of Availability of Draft
Environmental Impact Statement and
Public Meetings for the General
Electric-Hitachi Global Laser
Enrichment, LLC Proposed LaserBased Uranium Enrichment Facility
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 for public
comment a Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (DEIS) for the proposed
General Electric-Hitachi (GEH) Global
Laser Enrichment (GLE) Uranium
Enrichment Facility. On June 26, 2009,
GEH submitted a license application
that proposes the construction,
operation, and decommissioning of a
laser-based uranium enrichment facility
located near Wilmington, North
Carolina. GEH proposes to locate the
facility on the existing General Electric
Company (GE) site near Wilmington,
North Carolina (Wilmington Site).
GEH submitted an Environmental
Report (ER) in support of the proposed
facility on January 30, 2009. On May 8,
2009, the NRC granted an exemption to
authorize GEH to conduct certain
preconstruction activities on the
Wilmington Site. GEH submitted
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36447
Supplement 1 to its ER on July 22, 2009,
GLE Environmental Report Supplement
1—Early Construction. Supplement 1
distinguishes between the
environmental impacts of
preconstruction activities covered by
the May 8, 2009, exemption and NRClicensed construction activities, which
cannot be undertaken unless a license is
granted. On November 13, 2009, GLE
submitted Supplement 2 to its ER, GLE
Environmental Report Supplement 2—
Revised Roadway and Entrance.
Supplement 2 provides information
describing the environmental impacts
associated with developing an entrance
and roadway into the Wilmington Site
that are different from those proposed in
the original ER.
This DEIS is being issued as part of
the NRC’s process to decide whether to
issue a license to GEH, pursuant to Title
10 of the U.S. Code of Federal
Regulations Parts 30, 40, and 70, to
build and operate the proposed uranium
enrichment facility. Specifically, GEH
proposes to use laser-based technology
to enrich the uranium-235 isotope found
in natural uranium to concentrations up
to 8 percent by weight. The enriched
uranium would be used to manufacture
nuclear fuel for commercial nuclear
power reactors.
The NRC staff will hold two public
meetings on July 22, 2010 to present an
overview of the licensing process and
the contents of the DEIS, and to accept
oral and written public comments on
the DEIS. The meetings will take place
in Ballroom 5 of the Warwick Center at
the University of North Carolina
Wilmington. Prior to each public
meeting, the NRC staff will be available
to informally discuss the proposed GLE
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 meetings officially begin at 2:30
p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The meetings will
include the following agenda items: (1)
A brief presentation summarizing the
NRC licensing review, (2) a presentation
summarizing the contents of the DEIS,
and (3) an opportunity for interested
government agencies, organizations, and
individuals to provide comments on the
DEIS. Both public meetings 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 meetings, the
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36448
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 122 / Friday, June 25, 2010 / Notices
need should be brought to the attention
of Ms. Jennifer Davis no later than July
8, 2010, 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 meetings
and may be submitted at any time
during the comment period, as
described in the DATES section of this
notice. Any interested party may submit
comments on the DEIS for consideration
by NRC staff. Comments may be
submitted by any of the methods
described in the ADDRESSES section of
this notice.
DATES: The public comment period on
the DEIS begins on the date of
publication of the U. S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s Federal Register
Notice of Filing and ends on August 9,
2010. To ensure consideration,
comments on the DEIS and the
proposed action must be received or
postmarked by August 9, 2010. The NRC
staff will consider comments received or
postmarked after that date to the extent
practical.
The NRC will conduct two public
meetings in Wilmington, North
Carolina. The meeting date, times, and
location are listed below:
Meeting Date: July 22, 2010.
Meeting Location: Warwick Center,
Ballroom 5, 601 S. College Rd.,
University of North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina, 28403.
Informal Open House Sessions: 1:30–
2:30 p.m. and 6:30–7:30 p.m.
DEIS Comment Meetings: 2:30–5 p.m.
and 7:30–10 p.m.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
by any one of the following methods.
Please include Docket ID NRC–2009–
0157 in the subject line of your
comments.
Electronic mail: Comments may be
mailed to GLE.EIS@nrc.gov.
Federal Rulemaking Web site:
Comments can be submitted
electronically at https://
www.regulations.gov. Search for
documents filed under Docket ID NRC–
2009–0157. Address questions about
NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher 301–
492–3668; e-mail
Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov.
Mail: Comments may be submitted by
sending mail to Cindy Bladey, Chief,
Rules, Announcements, and Directives
Branch (RADB), Division of
Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, Mail Stop: TWB–05–
B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555–
0001, or by fax to RADB at (301) 492–
3446.
Comments submitted in writing or in
electronic form will be posted on the
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16:23 Jun 24, 2010
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NRC Web site and on the Federal
Rulemaking Web site https://
www.regulations.gov. Because
comments will not be edited to remove
any identifying or contact information,
the NRC cautions you against including
any information in your submission that
you do not want to be publicly
disclosed. The NRC requests that any
party soliciting or aggregating comments
received from other persons for
submission to the NRC inform those
persons that the NRC will not edit their
comments to remove any identifying or
contact information, and therefore, they
should not include any information in
their comments that they do not want
publicly disclosed.
Document Availability: Publicly
available documents related to this
notice can be accessed using any the
methods described in this section. One
appendix of the DEIS contains Sensitive
Unclassified Non-Safeguards
Information (SUNSI) and has been
withheld from public inspection in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.390,
Availability of Public Records. This
appendix contains proprietary business
information as well as security-related
information. The NRC staff has
considered the information in this
appendix in forming the conclusions
presented in the publicly-available
version of the document. Procedures for
obtaining access to SUNSI were
published in the NRC’s Notice of
Hearing and Commission Order (75 FR
1819).
NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR):
Publicly-available portions of GEH’s
application, safety analysis report,
environmental report, supplements to
its environmental report, and NRC’s
DEIS are available to the public at the
Commission’s Public Document Room
(PDR), located at One White Flint North,
11555 Rockville Pike (first floor),
Rockville, Maryland, 20852. Members of
the public can contact the NRC’s PDR
reference staff by calling 1–800–397–
4209, by faxing a request to 301–415–
3548, or by e-mail to
pdr.resource@nrc.gov. Hard copies of
the documents are available from the
PDR for a fee.
GLE Web site: Documents related to
this notice also are available on the
NRC’s GE Laser Enrichment Facility
Licensing Web site at https://
www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/
laser.html#2a.
NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS):
Members of the public can access the
NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS) at
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. From this Web site, enter
PO 00000
Frm 00103
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
the accession numbers included here for
GEH’s license application
(ML091871003), the exemption
authorizing certain preconstruction
activities (ML083510647), GEH’s
Environmental Report (ML090910573),
Supplement 1 to the Environmental
Report (ML092100577), Supplement 2
to the Environmental Report
(ML093240135), and NRC’s DEIS
(ML101680345).
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public
comments and supporting materials
related to this notice can be found at
https://www.regulations.gov by searching
on Docket ID: NRC–2009–0157.
The DEIS for the proposed GLE
Facility may be accessed on the internet
at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doccollections/nuregs/staff/sr1938. Copies
of the DEIS also will be available at the
New Hanover County Library, 201
Chestnut Street, Wilmington, North
Carolina, 28401.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
general or technical information
associated with the licensing review of
the GLE application, please contact Tim
Johnson at (301) 492–3121 or
Timothy.Johnson@nrc.gov. For
information about the DEIS or
environmental review process, please
contact Jennifer A. Davis at (301) 415–
3835 or Jennifer.Davis@nrc.gov.
This DEIS
was prepared in response to an
application submitted by GEH dated
June 26, 2009. The application proposes
the construction, operation, and
decommissioning of the proposed GLE
Facility, to be located near Wilmington,
North Carolina. The DEIS was prepared
by the NRC and its contractor, Argonne
National Laboratory, in compliance with
the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969, as amended, (NEPA) and the
NRC’s regulations for implementing
NEPA (10 CFR Part 51).
The DEIS is being issued as part of the
NRC’s process to decide whether to
issue a license to GEH, 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
proposed GLE Facility. Specifically,
GLE proposes to use laser-based
technology to enrich the uranium-235
isotope found in natural uranium to
concentrations up to 8 percent by
weight. The enriched uranium would be
used to manufacture nuclear fuel for
commercial nuclear power reactors.
GEH proposes to locate the facility on
the existing GE site near Wilmington,
North Carolina.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 122 / Friday, June 25, 2010 / Notices
The NRC staff published a Notice of
Intent to prepare an EIS for the
proposed GLE Facility and to conduct a
scoping process in the Federal Register
on April 9, 2009 (74 FR 16237). The
NRC staff accepted comments through
June 8, 2009, and subsequently
extended the scoping comment period
(74 FR 36781) to August 31, 2009, to
accommodate public inspection of
GEH’s license application, submitted
June 26, 2009. The NRC staff issued a
Scoping Summary Report in November
2009 (ADAMS Accession Number:
ML093280734).
The NRC staff assessed 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, historic 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 and associated
preconstruction activities 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 road construction, land
clearing, and building construction, (2)
small to moderate impacts related to
increased traffic congestion near the site
entrance during preconstruction and
construction activities, (3) small to
moderate impacts on historic and
cultural resources associated with
potential facility expansion, (4) small to
moderate impacts on vegetation and
wildlife associated with preconstruction
activities, and (5) moderate but
temporary noise impacts during road
construction.
In addition to the action proposed by
GEH, the NRC staff addressed two
alternatives in the DEIS: A no-action
alternative and use of gas centrifuge
uranium enrichment technology. Under
the no-action alternative, NRC would
deny GEH’s application for a license to
construct and operate a laser-based
uranium enrichment facility. The noaction alternative serves as a baseline
for comparison of the potential
environmental impacts of granting the
license. Under the gas centrifuge
alternative, GEH would implement gas
centrifuge technology to enrich uranium
at the Wilmington Site instead of using
the proposed laser-based technology.
Because specific design information for
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16:23 Jun 24, 2010
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a gas centrifuge facility at the
Wilmington Site does not exist, the gas
centrifuge alternative was evaluated
qualitatively and in less detail than the
proposed alternative and the no-action
alternative. Other alternatives (e.g.,
alternate locations, alternate
technologies) also were considered but,
for reasons discussed in the DEIS, were
eliminated from detailed analysis.
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 its preliminary recommendation
regarding the proposed action. The NRC
staff preliminarily recommends that,
unless safety issues mandate otherwise,
the proposed action should be approved
(i.e., NRC should 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. Comments
received on the DEIS will be addressed
in the Final EIS. Notice of the
availability of the Final EIS will be
published in the Federal Register. The
Final EIS is scheduled to be completed
in February 2011.
The NRC staff in the Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, Division
of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards is
currently completing the safety review
of GEH’s license application. The safety
review is currently scheduled for
completion in December 2010.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day
of June, 2010.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Larry W. Camper,
Director, Division of Waste Management and
Environmental Protection, Office of Federal
and State Materials and Environmental
Management Programs.
[FR Doc. 2010–15445 Filed 6–24–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Dockets 50–029, 72–31; NRC–2010–0231]
Yankee Atomic Electric Co.; Yankee
Atomic Independent Spent Fuel
Storage Installation; Issuance of
Environmental Assessment and
Finding of No Significant Impact
Regarding the Request for Exemption
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
PO 00000
Frm 00104
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
36449
ACTION: Issuance of environmental
assessment and finding of no significant
impact.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John
Goshen, Project Manager, Division of
Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation,
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC. 20555.
Telephone: (301) 492–3325; fax number:
(301) 492–3342; e-mail:
john.goshen@nrc.gov.
Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is considering
issuance of an exemption to Yankee
Atomic Electric Company (YAEC),
pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, from the
specific provisions of 10 CFR
72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(2)(i)(A),
72.212(b)(7), and 72.214. YAEC is using
a dry cask storage system, the NAC–
MPC, Certificate of Compliance (CoC)
No. 1025, to store spent nuclear fuel
under a general license in an
independent spent fuel storage
installation (ISFSI) associated with the
decommissioned Yankee Nuclear Power
Station, located at Rowe, Massachusetts.
YAEC stores spent fuel in fifteen NAC–
MPC casks at the YAEC ISFSI, all
loaded under Amendment No. 3 to CoC
No. 1025. Under the current 10 CFR part
72 regulations, the general licensee is
bound by the terms and conditions of
the CoC under which it loaded a given
cask. Amendment No. 3 will remain in
effect for the casks at the YAEC ISFSI
until the NRC expressly approves the
application of changes authorized by a
later CoC amendment. Such an approval
is typically accomplished through a 10
CFR 72.7 exemption.
In its letter dated February 23, 2010,
YAEC stated that it intended to adopt
Amendment No. 5 to CoC No. 1025 for
all fifteen NAC–MPC casks at the site.
Implementation of Amendment No. 5 of
CoC No. 1025 to all fifteen NAC–MPC
casks will allow a visual alternative to
Technical Specification (TS)
Surveillance Requirement 3.1.6.1 to
verify the operability of the concrete
cask heat removal system to maintain
safe storage conditions and will also
remove a specification in the CoC for
tamper indicating devices. The NRC
published the direct final rule for
Amendment No. 5 of CoC No. 1025 on
May 10, 2007 (72 FR 26535), with an
effective date of July 24, 2007 (72 FR
38468, July 13, 2007).
In its letter of February 23, 2010,
YAEC did not request that the NRC
expressly approve implementation of
Amendment No. 5 to all fifteen NAC–
MPC casks at the site. YAEC, however,
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 122 (Friday, June 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36447-36449]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-15445]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2009-0157]
Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement
and Public Meetings for the General Electric-Hitachi Global Laser
Enrichment, LLC Proposed Laser-Based Uranium Enrichment Facility
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 for public comment a Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed General Electric-Hitachi (GEH)
Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) Uranium Enrichment Facility. On June 26,
2009, GEH submitted a license application that proposes the
construction, operation, and decommissioning of a laser-based uranium
enrichment facility located near Wilmington, North Carolina. GEH
proposes to locate the facility on the existing General Electric
Company (GE) site near Wilmington, North Carolina (Wilmington Site).
GEH submitted an Environmental Report (ER) in support of the
proposed facility on January 30, 2009. On May 8, 2009, the NRC granted
an exemption to authorize GEH to conduct certain preconstruction
activities on the Wilmington Site. GEH submitted Supplement 1 to its ER
on July 22, 2009, GLE Environmental Report Supplement 1--Early
Construction. Supplement 1 distinguishes between the environmental
impacts of preconstruction activities covered by the May 8, 2009,
exemption and NRC-licensed construction activities, which cannot be
undertaken unless a license is granted. On November 13, 2009, GLE
submitted Supplement 2 to its ER, GLE Environmental Report Supplement
2--Revised Roadway and Entrance. Supplement 2 provides information
describing the environmental impacts associated with developing an
entrance and roadway into the Wilmington Site that are different from
those proposed in the original ER.
This DEIS is being issued as part of the NRC's process to decide
whether to issue a license to GEH, pursuant to Title 10 of the U.S.
Code of Federal Regulations Parts 30, 40, and 70, to build and operate
the proposed uranium enrichment facility. Specifically, GEH proposes to
use laser-based technology to enrich the uranium-235 isotope found in
natural uranium to concentrations up to 8 percent by weight. The
enriched uranium would be used to manufacture nuclear fuel for
commercial nuclear power reactors.
The NRC staff will hold two public meetings on July 22, 2010 to
present an overview of the licensing process and the contents of the
DEIS, and to accept oral and written public comments on the DEIS. The
meetings will take place in Ballroom 5 of the Warwick Center at the
University of North Carolina Wilmington. Prior to each public meeting,
the NRC staff will be available to informally discuss the proposed GLE
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 meetings officially
begin at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The meetings will include the
following agenda items: (1) A brief presentation summarizing the NRC
licensing review, (2) a presentation summarizing the contents of the
DEIS, and (3) an opportunity for interested government agencies,
organizations, and individuals to provide comments on the DEIS. Both
public meetings 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 meetings, the
[[Page 36448]]
need should be brought to the attention of Ms. Jennifer Davis no later
than July 8, 2010, 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 meetings and may be
submitted at any time during the comment period, as described in the
DATES section of this notice. Any interested party may submit comments
on the DEIS for consideration by NRC staff. Comments may be submitted
by any of the methods described in the ADDRESSES section of this
notice.
DATES: The public comment period on the DEIS begins on the date of
publication of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's Federal
Register Notice of Filing and ends on August 9, 2010. To ensure
consideration, comments on the DEIS and the proposed action must be
received or postmarked by August 9, 2010. The NRC staff will consider
comments received or postmarked after that date to the extent
practical.
The NRC will conduct two public meetings in Wilmington, North
Carolina. The meeting date, times, and location are listed below:
Meeting Date: July 22, 2010.
Meeting Location: Warwick Center, Ballroom 5, 601 S. College Rd.,
University of North Carolina Wilmington, North Carolina, 28403.
Informal Open House Sessions: 1:30-2:30 p.m. and 6:30-7:30 p.m.
DEIS Comment Meetings: 2:30-5 p.m. and 7:30-10 p.m.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods.
Please include Docket ID NRC-2009-0157 in the subject line of your
comments.
Electronic mail: Comments may be mailed to GLE.EIS@nrc.gov.
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Comments can be submitted
electronically at https://www.regulations.gov. Search for documents
filed under Docket ID NRC-2009-0157. Address questions about NRC
dockets to Carol Gallagher 301-492-3668; e-mail
Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov.
Mail: Comments may be submitted by sending mail to Cindy Bladey,
Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Division of
Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-05-
B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or
by fax to RADB at (301) 492-3446.
Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted
on the NRC Web site and on the Federal Rulemaking Web site https://www.regulations.gov. Because comments will not be edited to remove any
identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against
including any information in your submission that you do not want to be
publicly disclosed. The NRC requests that any party soliciting or
aggregating comments received from other persons for submission to the
NRC inform those persons that the NRC will not edit their comments to
remove any identifying or contact information, and therefore, they
should not include any information in their comments that they do not
want publicly disclosed.
Document Availability: Publicly available documents related to this
notice can be accessed using any the methods described in this section.
One appendix of the DEIS contains Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards
Information (SUNSI) and has been withheld from public inspection in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.390, Availability of Public Records. This
appendix contains proprietary business information as well as security-
related information. The NRC staff has considered the information in
this appendix in forming the conclusions presented in the publicly-
available version of the document. Procedures for obtaining access to
SUNSI were published in the NRC's Notice of Hearing and Commission
Order (75 FR 1819).
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): Publicly-available portions of
GEH's application, safety analysis report, environmental report,
supplements to its environmental report, and NRC's DEIS are available
to the public at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located
at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor),
Rockville, Maryland, 20852. Members of the public can contact the NRC's
PDR reference staff by calling 1-800-397-4209, by faxing a request to
301-415-3548, or by e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. Hard copies of the
documents are available from the PDR for a fee.
GLE Web site: Documents related to this notice also are available
on the NRC's GE Laser Enrichment Facility Licensing Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/laser.html#2a.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):
Members of the public can access the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS) at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this Web site, enter the accession numbers included
here for GEH's license application (ML091871003), the exemption
authorizing certain preconstruction activities (ML083510647), GEH's
Environmental Report (ML090910573), Supplement 1 to the Environmental
Report (ML092100577), Supplement 2 to the Environmental Report
(ML093240135), and NRC's DEIS (ML101680345).
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public comments and supporting
materials related to this notice can be found at https://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID: NRC-2009-0157.
The DEIS for the proposed GLE Facility may be accessed on the
internet at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1938. Copies of the DEIS also will be available at the New Hanover
County Library, 201 Chestnut Street, Wilmington, North Carolina, 28401.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general or technical information
associated with the licensing review of the GLE application, please
contact Tim Johnson at (301) 492-3121 or Timothy.Johnson@nrc.gov. For
information about the DEIS or environmental review process, please
contact Jennifer A. Davis at (301) 415-3835 or Jennifer.Davis@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This DEIS was prepared in response to an
application submitted by GEH dated June 26, 2009. The application
proposes the construction, operation, and decommissioning of the
proposed GLE Facility, to be located near Wilmington, North Carolina.
The DEIS was prepared by the NRC and its contractor, Argonne National
Laboratory, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended, (NEPA) and the NRC's regulations for implementing
NEPA (10 CFR Part 51).
The DEIS is being issued as part of the NRC's process to decide
whether to issue a license to GEH, 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 proposed GLE Facility.
Specifically, GLE proposes to use laser-based technology to enrich the
uranium-235 isotope found in natural uranium to concentrations up to 8
percent by weight. The enriched uranium would be used to manufacture
nuclear fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors. GEH proposes to
locate the facility on the existing GE site near Wilmington, North
Carolina.
[[Page 36449]]
The NRC staff published a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS for
the proposed GLE Facility and to conduct a scoping process in the
Federal Register on April 9, 2009 (74 FR 16237). The NRC staff accepted
comments through June 8, 2009, and subsequently extended the scoping
comment period (74 FR 36781) to August 31, 2009, to accommodate public
inspection of GEH's license application, submitted June 26, 2009. The
NRC staff issued a Scoping Summary Report in November 2009 (ADAMS
Accession Number: ML093280734).
The NRC staff assessed 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, historic 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 and
associated preconstruction activities 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 road construction, land clearing, and
building construction, (2) small to moderate impacts related to
increased traffic congestion near the site entrance during
preconstruction and construction activities, (3) small to moderate
impacts on historic and cultural resources associated with potential
facility expansion, (4) small to moderate impacts on vegetation and
wildlife associated with preconstruction activities, and (5) moderate
but temporary noise impacts during road construction.
In addition to the action proposed by GEH, the NRC staff addressed
two alternatives in the DEIS: A no-action alternative and use of gas
centrifuge uranium enrichment technology. Under the no-action
alternative, NRC would deny GEH's application for a license to
construct and operate a laser-based uranium enrichment facility. The
no-action alternative serves as a baseline for comparison of the
potential environmental impacts of granting the license. Under the gas
centrifuge alternative, GEH would implement gas centrifuge technology
to enrich uranium at the Wilmington Site instead of using the proposed
laser-based technology. Because specific design information for a gas
centrifuge facility at the Wilmington Site does not exist, the gas
centrifuge alternative was evaluated qualitatively and in less detail
than the proposed alternative and the no-action alternative. Other
alternatives (e.g., alternate locations, alternate technologies) also
were considered but, for reasons discussed in the DEIS, were eliminated
from detailed analysis.
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 its preliminary recommendation regarding the
proposed action. The NRC staff preliminarily recommends that, unless
safety issues mandate otherwise, the proposed action should be approved
(i.e., NRC should 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.
Comments received on the DEIS will be addressed in the Final EIS.
Notice of the availability of the Final EIS will be published in the
Federal Register. The Final EIS is scheduled to be completed in
February 2011.
The NRC staff in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards is currently
completing the safety review of GEH's license application. The safety
review is currently scheduled for completion in December 2010.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of June, 2010.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Larry W. Camper,
Director, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection,
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2010-15445 Filed 6-24-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P