Crow Butte Resources, Inc.; Marsland Expansion Area, 59665-59666 [2017-26934]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 240 / Friday, December 15, 2017 / Notices 1. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments [Docket No. 40–8943; NRC–2012–0281] Crow Butte Resources, Inc.; Marsland Expansion Area Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant impact; notice of availability and request for comments. AGENCY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC source materials license SUA–1534 that would authorize Crow Butte Resources, Inc., to construct and operate an in situ uranium recovery (ISR) expansion area at the Marsland Expansion Area (MEA) site in Dawes County, Nebraska. The draft EA, ‘‘Environmental Assessment for the Marsland Expansion Area License Amendment Application,’’ documents the NRC staff’s environmental review of the license amendment application. DATES: Submit comments by January 29, 2018. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this date. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods: • Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2012–0281. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. • Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: OWFN–2– A13, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 0001. For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting comments, see ‘‘Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments’’ in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301– 415–0867, email: Jean.Trefethen@ nrc.gov, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 0001. sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: VerDate Sep<11>2014 23:42 Dec 14, 2017 entering the comment into the ADAMS Public Documents collection. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Jkt 244001 A. Obtaining Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2012– 0281 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain publiclyavailable information related to this action by any of the following methods: • Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2012–0281. • NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection 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. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this document (if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced. The ADAMS Accession Number for the MEA draft EA is ML17334A870. • 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. B. Submitting Comments Please include Docket ID NRC–2012– 0281 in your comment submission. The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at https:// www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into the ADAMS Public Documents collection. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information. If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or PO 00000 Frm 00091 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 59665 I. Introduction The NRC is considering a request for an amendment to NRC source materials license SUA–1534, issued to Crow Butte Resources, Inc. (CBR or the licensee), to authorize construction and operation of the MEA, an ISR expansion facility that would be located in Dawes County, Nebraska. 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 NRC staff has prepared a draft EA documenting its environmental review of the license amendment application that included an environmental report (ADAMS Accession No. ML17325B322) and technical report, as amended (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML15328A422, ML16155A267, ML16155A268, and ML17193A314). Based on the environmental review, the NRC has made a preliminary determination that the proposed action will not significantly affect the quality of the human environment and that a FONSI is therefore appropriate. By this notice, the NRC is requesting public comment on the draft FONSI and supporting draft EA. II. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment. The draft EA is publicly available in ADAMS using ADAMS Accession No. ML17334A870. A summary description of the proposed action and expected environmental impacts is provided below. The draft EA and the draft FONSI for the proposed MEA will also be available at the following public libraries: Crawford Public Library, 601 2nd Street, Crawford, NE 69339, and Chadron Public Library, 507 Bordeaux Street, Chadron, NE 69337. Description of the Proposed Action The proposed Federal action is approval of CBR’s license amendment application, which would authorize the expansion of CBR’s commercial-scale uranium recovery operations to the MEA. Under the proposed action, the licensee would perform construction, uranium recovery operations, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning activities at the proposed MEA, which would encompass approximately 4,622 acres (1,870 hectares). CBR has proposed eleven production units in the MEA, which is located 11.1 miles (17.9 E:\FR\FM\15DEN1.SGM 15DEN1 59666 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 240 / Friday, December 15, 2017 / Notices sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES kilometers) south-southeast of the central processing facility (CPF) at the existing Crow Butte license area. Uranium recovery operations at the MEA would include injection of lixiviant into and pumping of water from the uranium-bearing aquifer, removal of uranium from the pumped water using ion exchange, and transport of loaded ion exchange resin to the existing Crow Butte CPF for further processing into yellowcake. Approval of the proposed action would authorize CBR to conduct uranium recovery operations at the MEA in accordance with its license amendment application, NRC source materials license SUA– 1534, and the requirements in 10 CFR part 40, ‘‘Domestic Licensing of Source Material.’’ Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action In the draft EA, the NRC staff assessed the potential environmental impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning of the proposed MEA on the following resource areas: land use; geology and soils; water resources; ecological resources; climatology, meteorology, and air quality; historic and cultural resources; demographics and socioeconomics; environmental justice; transportation; noise; scenic and visual resources; public and occupational health; and hazardous materials and waste management. The NRC staff also considered the cumulative impacts from past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions when combined with the proposed action. All long-term impacts were determined to be SMALL. The NRC staff concluded that approval of the proposed action would not result in a significant increase in short-term or long-term radiological risk to public health or the environment. The NRC staff identified a potential for MODERATE short-term impacts to a few resource areas, including noise (temporary impacts to the nearest resident to the MEA during construction), ecological resources (localized and temporary impacts resulting from the loss and slow recovery of forest habitat), and groundwater resources (short-term lowering of the potentiometric surface of the Basal Chadron Sandstone aquifer). While potential MODERATE impacts would be expected for specific aspects of these resource areas, the impacts are short-term and temporary. Therefore, the NRC staff concluded that the overall impacts related to these resource areas would be SMALL. Furthermore, the NRC staff found that there would be no significant negative VerDate Sep<11>2014 23:42 Dec 14, 2017 Jkt 244001 cumulative impact to any resource area from the MEA when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions, and that a potential positive cumulative socioeconomic impact could result from additional tax revenue, employment, and local purchases. Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ‘‘no-action’’ alternative). Under the no-action alternative, the NRC would not authorize CBR to construct and operate the MEA. In situ uranium recovery activities would not occur within the MEA and the associated environmental impacts also would not occur. III. Finding of No Significant Impact (Draft). In accordance with the NEPA and 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has conducted an environmental review of a request for a license amendment to NRC source materials license SUA–1534 that would authorize construction and operation of the MEA. Based on its environmental review of the proposed action, as documented in the draft EA, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined that granting the requested license amendment would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Therefore, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required for the proposed action and a FONSI is appropriate. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of December 2017. For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Brian W. Smith, Acting Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. 2017–26934 Filed 12–14–17; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION Proposed Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Annual Reporting (Form 5500 Series) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. ACTION: Notice of request for extension of OMB approval, with modifications. AGENCY: PO 00000 Frm 00092 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extend approval, with modifications, under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, of its collection of information for Annual Reporting (OMB control number 1212–0057, which expires on August 31, 2020). This notice informs the public of PBGC’s request and solicits public comment on the collection of information. DATES: Comments must be submitted by January 16, 2018 to be assured of consideration. ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, via electronic mail at OIRA_DOCKET@ omb.eop.gov or by fax to (202) 395– 6974. A copy of the request is posted at https://www.pbgc.gov/prac/pg/other/ guidance/paperwork-notices. It may also be obtained without charge by writing to the Disclosure Division of the Office of the General Counsel of PBGC at 1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005, faxing a request to 202–326–4042, or calling 202–326–4040 during normal business hours. TTY and TDD users may call the Federal relay service tollfree at 1 800–877–8339 and ask to be connected to 202–326–4040. The Disclosure Division will email, fax, or mail the request to you, at your request. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jo Amato Burns (burns.jo.amato@ pbgc.gov), Regulatory Affairs Division, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005– 4026, 202 326–4400, extension 3072, or Daniel S. Liebman (Liebman.Daniel@ pbgc.gov), Acting Assistant General Counsel, same address and phone number, extension 6510. TTY and TDD users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 800–877–8339 and ask to be connected to 202–326–4400. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) contains three separate sets of provisions—in Title I (Labor provisions), Title II (Internal Revenue Code provisions), and Title IV (PBGC provisions)—requiring administrators of employee pension and welfare benefit plans (collectively referred to as employee benefit plans) to file returns or reports annually with the federal government. PBGC, the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) work together to produce the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and Form 5500– SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\15DEN1.SGM 15DEN1

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[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 240 (Friday, December 15, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59665-59666]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26934]



[[Page 59665]]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-8943; NRC-2012-0281]


Crow Butte Resources, Inc.; Marsland Expansion Area

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no 
significant impact; notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding 
of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC source 
materials license SUA-1534 that would authorize Crow Butte Resources, 
Inc., to construct and operate an in situ uranium recovery (ISR) 
expansion area at the Marsland Expansion Area (MEA) site in Dawes 
County, Nebraska. The draft EA, ``Environmental Assessment for the 
Marsland Expansion Area License Amendment Application,'' documents the 
NRC staff's environmental review of the license amendment application.

DATES: Submit comments by January 29, 2018. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received 
before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0281. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards individual listed 
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
     Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: OWFN-2-A13, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-0867, email: 
[email protected], U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0281 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0281.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 [email protected]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this document 
(if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time 
that a document is referenced. The ADAMS Accession Number for the MEA 
draft EA is ML17334A870.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0281 in your comment submission.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection. The NRC does not routinely edit 
comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment into the ADAMS Public Documents 
collection.

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering a request for an amendment to NRC source 
materials license SUA-1534, issued to Crow Butte Resources, Inc. (CBR 
or the licensee), to authorize construction and operation of the MEA, 
an ISR expansion facility that would be located in Dawes County, 
Nebraska. 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 NRC staff has prepared a 
draft EA documenting its environmental review of the license amendment 
application that included an environmental report (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML17325B322) and technical report, as amended (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML15328A422, ML16155A267, ML16155A268, and ML17193A314). Based on the 
environmental review, the NRC has made a preliminary determination that 
the proposed action will not significantly affect the quality of the 
human environment and that a FONSI is therefore appropriate.
    By this notice, the NRC is requesting public comment on the draft 
FONSI and supporting draft EA.

II. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment.

    The draft EA is publicly available in ADAMS using ADAMS Accession 
No. ML17334A870. A summary description of the proposed action and 
expected environmental impacts is provided below. The draft EA and the 
draft FONSI for the proposed MEA will also be available at the 
following public libraries: Crawford Public Library, 601 2nd Street, 
Crawford, NE 69339, and Chadron Public Library, 507 Bordeaux Street, 
Chadron, NE 69337.

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed Federal action is approval of CBR's license amendment 
application, which would authorize the expansion of CBR's commercial-
scale uranium recovery operations to the MEA. Under the proposed 
action, the licensee would perform construction, uranium recovery 
operations, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning activities at the 
proposed MEA, which would encompass approximately 4,622 acres (1,870 
hectares). CBR has proposed eleven production units in the MEA, which 
is located 11.1 miles (17.9

[[Page 59666]]

kilometers) south-southeast of the central processing facility (CPF) at 
the existing Crow Butte license area. Uranium recovery operations at 
the MEA would include injection of lixiviant into and pumping of water 
from the uranium-bearing aquifer, removal of uranium from the pumped 
water using ion exchange, and transport of loaded ion exchange resin to 
the existing Crow Butte CPF for further processing into yellowcake. 
Approval of the proposed action would authorize CBR to conduct uranium 
recovery operations at the MEA in accordance with its license amendment 
application, NRC source materials license SUA-1534, and the 
requirements in 10 CFR part 40, ``Domestic Licensing of Source 
Material.''

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    In the draft EA, the NRC staff assessed the potential environmental 
impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and 
decommissioning of the proposed MEA on the following resource areas: 
land use; geology and soils; water resources; ecological resources; 
climatology, meteorology, and air quality; historic and cultural 
resources; demographics and socioeconomics; environmental justice; 
transportation; noise; scenic and visual resources; public and 
occupational health; and hazardous materials and waste management. The 
NRC staff also considered the cumulative impacts from past, present, 
and reasonably foreseeable future actions when combined with the 
proposed action.
    All long-term impacts were determined to be SMALL. The NRC staff 
concluded that approval of the proposed action would not result in a 
significant increase in short-term or long-term radiological risk to 
public health or the environment. The NRC staff identified a potential 
for MODERATE short-term impacts to a few resource areas, including 
noise (temporary impacts to the nearest resident to the MEA during 
construction), ecological resources (localized and temporary impacts 
resulting from the loss and slow recovery of forest habitat), and 
groundwater resources (short-term lowering of the potentiometric 
surface of the Basal Chadron Sandstone aquifer). While potential 
MODERATE impacts would be expected for specific aspects of these 
resource areas, the impacts are short-term and temporary. Therefore, 
the NRC staff concluded that the overall impacts related to these 
resource areas would be SMALL. Furthermore, the NRC staff found that 
there would be no significant negative cumulative impact to any 
resource area from the MEA when added to other past, present, and 
reasonably foreseeable future actions, and that a potential positive 
cumulative socioeconomic impact could result from additional tax 
revenue, employment, and local purchases.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Under the no-action alternative, the NRC would not authorize CBR to 
construct and operate the MEA. In situ uranium recovery activities 
would not occur within the MEA and the associated environmental impacts 
also would not occur.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact (Draft).

    In accordance with the NEPA and 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has 
conducted an environmental review of a request for a license amendment 
to NRC source materials license SUA-1534 that would authorize 
construction and operation of the MEA. Based on its environmental 
review of the proposed action, as documented in the draft EA, the NRC 
staff has preliminarily determined that granting the requested license 
amendment would not significantly affect the quality of the human 
environment. Therefore, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined, 
pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that preparation of an environmental impact 
statement is not required for the proposed action and a FONSI is 
appropriate.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of December 2017.
    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brian W. Smith,
Acting Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and 
Environmental Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2017-26934 Filed 12-14-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
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