AUC, LLC Reno Creek, In Situ Project, New Source Material License Application, 51753-51754 [2013-20386]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 162 (Wednesday, August 21, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51753-51754]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-20386]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 040-09092; [NRC-2013-0164]


AUC, LLC Reno Creek, In Situ Project, New Source Material License 
Application

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: By letter dated October 3, 2012, AUC, LLC (AUC) submitted to 
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) an application for a new 
source material license. The requested license, or the proposed action, 
would authorize the construction and operation, and decommissioning of 
AUC's proposed in-situ uranium recovery (ISR, also known as in-situ 
leach) facilities, and would require restoration of the aquifer from 
which the uranium would be extracted. The proposed facility will be 
located near the town of Wright, Wyoming in Campbell County. The 
application was accepted for review by NRC on June 18, 2013. A notice 
of receipt and availability of the license application, including the 
Environmental Report (ER), and opportunity to request a hearing was 
published in the Federal Register on August 5, 2013 (78 FR 47427).

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0164 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access publicly-available information related to this action by the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0164. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC 
Library at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the 
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's 
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. Information and documents 
associated with the Reno Creek ISR Project, including the license 
application, are available for public review through our electronic 
reading room: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html and on the NRC's 
Reno Creek ISR Project Web page: https://www.nrc.gov/materials/uranium-recovery/license-apps/reno-creek.html.
     NRC'S PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jill Caverly, Senior Project Manager, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001; telephone: 301-415-6699; email: Jill.Caverly@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1.0 Background

    The purpose of this notice of intent is to inform the public that 
the NRC will be preparing a site-specific Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement (SEIS) regarding the proposed action in accordance 
with NRC's regulations in part 51 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Environmental Protection Regulations for 
Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,'' that implement 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). The SEIS will tier off of the Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling 
Facilities (ISR GEIS) (NUREG-1910) that was published in 2009. The SEIS 
will examine the potential environmental impacts of the proposed 
construction, operation, and decommissioning of the Reno Creek ISR 
facility. The SEIS will also include an analysis of impacts from the 
proposed action to historic and cultural resources. The NRC staff will 
coordinate compliance with the Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (NHPA) in parallel with the NEPA 
process using the process set forth in 36 CFR 800.8(c).
    AUC submitted its application for a 10 CFR part 40 license by 
letter dated October 3, 2012. A notice of receipt and availability of 
the license application, including the ER, and opportunity to request a 
hearing was published in the Federal Register on August 5, 2013 (73 FR 
47427).
    The NRC will prepare a SEIS for the issuance of the ISR license to 
possess and use source material for uranium milling to fulfill 10 CFR 
51.20(b)(8) requirements. The purpose of this Notice of Intent is to 
inform the public that the NRC staff, as part of its review of AUC's 
application, is preparing a draft SEIS for public comment that will 
tier off of the ISR GEIS. The GEIS identifies specific areas for 
consideration on a site specific basis that form the staff's intended 
scope for this site specific SEIS. While NRC's part 51 regulations do 
not require scoping for SEISs, the NRC staff is planning to place ads 
in newspapers serving communities near the proposed site, requesting 
information and comments from the public regarding the proposed action 
as well as information about other resources, such as historic and 
cultural resources, that could be affected by the proposed action. In 
preparing the SEIS, the NRC staff will also consult with Environmental 
Protection Agency Region 8, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Wyoming 
Department of Environmental Quality; Wyoming State Historic 
Preservation Office; potentially interested Tribes and public interest 
groups; and Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
    The NRC will evaluate the potential environmental impacts 
associated with the proposed ISR facility in parallel with the safety 
review of the license application. The environmental evaluation will be 
documented in draft and final SEISs in accordance with NEPA and NRC's 
implementing regulations contained in 10 CFR part 51.

2.0 Reno Creek ISR Facilities

    The facilities, if licensed, would use ISR technology to extract 
uranium from the 6,057-acre project site. The facility

[[Page 51754]]

would include a central processing plant, consisting of pressurized 
down flow ion exchange columns, accompanying wellfields (including 
injection and production wells), and horizontal and vertical excursion 
monitoring well networks. The ISR process involves the dissolution of 
the water-soluble uranium from the mineralized host sandstone rock by 
pumping oxidants and chemical compounds through a series of injection 
wells. The uranium-rich solution is transferred from production wells 
to the central processing plant for uranium concentration using ion 
exchange columns. Final processing is conducted in the central 
processing plant to produce yellowcake, which would be sold to offsite 
facilities for further processing and eventual use as commercial fuel 
in nuclear power reactors.

3.0 Alternatives To Be Evaluated

    No-Action--the no-action alternative would be to deny the license 
application. Under this alternative, the NRC would not issue the 
license. This serves as a baseline for comparison.
    Proposed Action--the proposed federal action is to issue a license 
authorizing the possession and use of source material at the proposed 
ISR facilities. The license review process analyzes the safety and 
environmental issues related to the construction, operation, and 
decommissioning of the ISR facilities, and the restoration of the 
aquifer from which the uranium would be extracted. The applicant would 
be issued an NRC license under the provisions of 10 CFR part 40.
    Other alternatives not listed here may be identified through the 
environmental review process.

4.0 Environmental Impact Areas To Be Analyzed

    The following areas have been tentatively identified for analysis 
in the SEIS:
     Land Use: Plans, policies, and controls;
     Transportation: Transportation modes, routes, quantities, 
and risk estimates;
     Geology and Soils: Physical geography, topography, 
geology, and soil characteristics;
     Water Resources: Surface and groundwater hydrology, water 
use and quality, and the potential for degradation;
     Ecology: Wetlands, aquatic, terrestrial, economically and 
recreationally; Important species, and threatened and endangered 
species;
     Air Quality: Meteorological conditions, ambient 
background, pollutant sources, and the potential for degradation;
     Noise: Ambient, sources, and sensitive receptors;
     Historical and Cultural Resources: Historical, 
archaeological, and traditional cultural resources;
     Visual and Scenic Resources: Landscape characteristics, 
manmade features and viewshed;
     Socioeconomics: Demography, economic base, labor pool, 
housing, transportation, utilities, public services/facilities, and 
education;
     Environmental Justice: Potential disproportionately high 
and adverse impacts to minority and low-income populations;
     Public and Occupational Health: Potential public and 
occupational consequences from construction, routine operation, 
transportation, and credible accident scenarios (including natural 
events);
     Waste Management: Types of wastes expected to be 
generated, handled, and stored; and
     Cumulative Effects: Impacts from past, present, and 
reasonably foreseeable actions at and near the site(s).
    This list is not intended to be all inclusive, nor is it a 
predetermination of potential environmental impacts.

5.0 The NEPA Process

    The SEIS for the Reno Creek ISR Project will be prepared pursuant 
to the NRC's NEPA regulations at 10 CFR Part 51. The NRC will conduct 
its environmental review of the application and as soon as practicable, 
the NRC will prepare and publish a draft SEIS. The NRC currently plans 
to have a 45-day public comment period for the draft SEIS. Availability 
of the draft SEIS and the dates of the public comment period will be 
announced in the Federal Register and the NRC Web site: www.nrc.gov. 
The final SEIS will include responses to public comments received on 
the draft SEIS.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of August, 2013.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Aby Mohseni,
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. 2013-20386 Filed 8-20-13; 8:45 am]
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