Kennecott Uranium Corporation; Sweetwater Uranium Project, 26708-26709 [2018-12350]

Download as PDF 26708 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2018 / Notices NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. 40–8584; NRC–2015–0025] [Notice: 18–050] Kennecott Uranium Corporation; Sweetwater Uranium Project Planetary Science Advisory Committee; Meeting Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact; issuance. AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. AGENCY: ACTION: Notice of meeting. In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the Planetary Science Advisory Committee (PAC). This Committee functions in an advisory capacity to the Director, Planetary Science Division, in the NASA Science Mission Directorate. The meeting will be held for the purpose of soliciting, from the planetary science community and other persons, scientific and technical information relevant to program planning. SUMMARY: Monday, July 2, 2018, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time. DATES: The meeting will be held telephonically and via WebEx. Any interested person may dial the USA toll free conference call number 1–800–779– 9966 or toll number 1–517–645–6359, passcode 3954829, followed by the # sign, to participate in this meeting. The WebEx link is https://nasa.webex.com/; the meeting number is 994 146 371, password is PAC@July2 (case sensitive). ADDRESSES: Ms. KarShelia Henderson, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546, (202) 358–2355, fax (202) 358–2779, or khenderson@ nasa.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The agenda for the meeting includes the following topics: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1 —Planetary Science Division Update —Planetary Science Division Research and Analysis Program Update It is imperative that the meeting be held on these dates to accommodate the scheduling priorities of the key participants. Patricia Rausch, Advisory Committee Management Officer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. [FR Doc. 2018–12307 Filed 6–7–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7510–13–P VerDate Sep<11>2014 16:53 Jun 07, 2018 Jkt 241001 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering renewal of Source Material License SUA–1350 issued to Kennecott Uranium Corporation (KUC) for continued operations at the Sweetwater Uranium Project (SUP) in Sweetwater County, Wyoming (Docket No. 40–8584). The NRC has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for this licensing action. DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on June 8, 2018. ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2015–0025 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this document using any of the following methods: • Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC–2015–0025. Address questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301–287–9127; email: Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. • 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. • 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. SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Ashley Waldron, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415–7317; email: Ashley.Waldron@ nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The NRC is considering renewal of Source Material License SUA–1350 issued to Kennecott Uranium Corporation (KUC) for continued operations at the SUP site located in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. As required by part 51 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ‘‘Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,’’ the NRC performed an EA. Based on the results of the EA, the NRC has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the amendment and is issuing a FONSI. II. Environmental Assessment Description of the Proposed Action The proposed action would authorize KUC to operate a conventional uranium mill at the SUP for an additional ten years. The licensee’s application dated July 24, 2014, is available at ADAMS Package Accession No. ML14251A113. Need for the Proposed Action The proposed action would allow KUC to recover uranium at the SUP. The licensee would process the recovered uranium into yellowcake on site at the SUP. Yellowcake is a type of uranium concentrate powder obtained from leach solutions in an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ores that is used to produce various products, including fuel for commercially-operated nuclear power reactors. Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The NRC staff has assessed the potential environmental impacts from operations and decommissioning at the SUP. The NRC staff assessed the impacts of the proposed action on land use; historical and cultural resources; visual and scenic resources; climatology, meteorology and air quality; geology, minerals, and soils; water resources; ecological resources; socioeconomics; noise; traffic and transportation; public and occupational health and safety; and waste management. The NRC staff concluded that the renewal of Source Material License SUA–1350 authorizing KUC to continue operations for ten years at the E:\FR\FM\08JNN1.SGM 08JNN1 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 111 / Friday, June 8, 2018 / Notices SUP would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Approval of the proposed action would not result in increased radiological risk to public health or the environment. 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). The no-action alternative would mean that the NRC would not approve license SUA–1350, and KUC would commence decommissioning activities. amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1 Agencies and Persons Consulted In accordance with its stated policy, on March 26, 2018, the NRC staff consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) regarding the proposed action. The FWS stated that no federally listed or proposed endangered or threatened species occur within the area affected by the proposed action. The SHPO notified NRC that it had no comments related to the historic and cultural resources on the proposed license renewal. The WDEQ stated that it had no comments on the draft EA. Additional Information The NRC staff conducted an environmental review in accordance with 10 CFR part 51, which implements the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA). The results of the NRC’s environmental review can be found in the final EA (ADAMS Accession No. ML18135A206). Based on the results of this environmental assessment, the NRC has determined not to prepare an EIS for license renewal of the SUP and is instead issuing a FONSI. After weighing the impacts of the license renewal and comparing to the no-action alternative, the NRC staff, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.91(d), sets forth its NEPA recommendation regarding the proposed action (granting the request for renewal of license SUA– 1350). Unless safety issues mandate otherwise, the NRC staff’s recommendation related to the environmental aspects of the proposed action is that an NRC license renewal be issued. III. Finding of No Significant Impact Based on its review of the proposed action, and in accordance with the requirements in 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has determined that license VerDate Sep<11>2014 16:53 Jun 07, 2018 Jkt 241001 renewal of SUP would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Based on the EA, the NRC staff determined that approval of the proposed action would not result in a significantly increased radiological risk to public health or the environment. The NRC staff has determined that pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, preparation of an EIS is not required for the proposed action and, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, a FONSI is appropriate. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, on June 5, 2018. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Craig G. Erlanger, Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. 2018–12350 Filed 6–7–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590–01–P NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket Nos. 50–390 and 50–391; NRC– 2018–0107] Tennessee Valley Authority; Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: License amendment application; opportunity to request a hearing and to petition for leave to intervene; order imposing procedures. AGENCY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received, and is considering approval of, an application from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA or the licensee) for amendments to Facility Operating License Nos. NPF–90 and NPF–96, which authorizes the operation of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Unit Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. The amendments would allow the loading of tritium producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs) in WBN, Unit 2 and would make associated technical specification changes for WBN, Unit Nos. 1 and 2. Because this amendment request contains sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information (SUNSI), an order imposes procedures to obtain access to SUNSI for contention preparation. SUMMARY: A request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene must be filed by August 7, 2018. Any potential party as defined in § 2.4 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), who believes access to SUNSI is necessary to respond to this notice must request document access by June 18, 2018. DATES: PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 26709 Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2018–0107 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–2018–0107. Address questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301–287–9127; email: Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. • 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 (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this document. • 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: John G. Lamb, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 0001; telephone: 301–415–3100, email: John.Lamb@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: ADDRESSES: I. Introduction The NRC is considering issuance of amendments to Facility Operating License Nos. NPF–90 and NPF–96, issued to TVA, for operation of the WBN, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, located in Rhea County, Tennessee. The proposed amendments would revise the WBN, Unit 2 Technical Specification (TS) 4.2.1, ‘‘Fuel Assemblies,’’ to add a limit for the number of TPBARs that can be loaded in the WBN, Unit 2, core; the proposed limit would be 1,792 TPBARs. The proposed amendments would also revise TS 3.7.15, ‘‘Spent Fuel Assembly Storage’’; TS 3.9.9, ‘‘Spent Fuel Boron Concentration’’; and TS 4.3, ‘‘Fuel Storage,’’ and add TS 3.7.18, ‘‘Fuel Storage Pool Boron Concentration’’; and E:\FR\FM\08JNN1.SGM 08JNN1

Agencies

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 111 (Friday, June 8, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26708-26709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-12350]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-8584; NRC-2015-0025]


Kennecott Uranium Corporation; Sweetwater Uranium Project

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact; 
issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
renewal of Source Material License SUA-1350 issued to Kennecott Uranium 
Corporation (KUC) for continued operations at the Sweetwater Uranium 
Project (SUP) in Sweetwater County, Wyoming (Docket No. 40-8584). The 
NRC has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no 
significant impact (FONSI) for this licensing action.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on 
June 8, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0025 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0025. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     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.
     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: Ashley Waldron, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-7317; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering renewal of Source Material License SUA-1350 
issued to Kennecott Uranium Corporation (KUC) for continued operations 
at the SUP site located in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. As required by 
part 51 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and 
Related Regulatory Functions,'' the NRC performed an EA. Based on the 
results of the EA, the NRC has determined not to prepare an 
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the amendment and is issuing a 
FONSI.

II. Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would authorize KUC to operate a conventional 
uranium mill at the SUP for an additional ten years. The licensee's 
application dated July 24, 2014, is available at ADAMS Package 
Accession No. ML14251A113.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would allow KUC to recover uranium at the SUP. 
The licensee would process the recovered uranium into yellowcake on 
site at the SUP. Yellowcake is a type of uranium concentrate powder 
obtained from leach solutions in an intermediate step in the processing 
of uranium ores that is used to produce various products, including 
fuel for commercially-operated nuclear power reactors.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC staff has assessed the potential environmental impacts from 
operations and decommissioning at the SUP. The NRC staff assessed the 
impacts of the proposed action on land use; historical and cultural 
resources; visual and scenic resources; climatology, meteorology and 
air quality; geology, minerals, and soils; water resources; ecological 
resources; socioeconomics; noise; traffic and transportation; public 
and occupational health and safety; and waste management. The NRC staff 
concluded that the renewal of Source Material License SUA-1350 
authorizing KUC to continue operations for ten years at the

[[Page 26709]]

SUP would not significantly affect the quality of the human 
environment. Approval of the proposed action would not result in 
increased radiological risk to public health or the environment.

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). 
The no-action alternative would mean that the NRC would not approve 
license SUA-1350, and KUC would commence decommissioning activities.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on March 26, 2018, the NRC 
staff consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the 
Wyoming State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), and the Wyoming 
Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) regarding the proposed 
action. The FWS stated that no federally listed or proposed endangered 
or threatened species occur within the area affected by the proposed 
action. The SHPO notified NRC that it had no comments related to the 
historic and cultural resources on the proposed license renewal. The 
WDEQ stated that it had no comments on the draft EA.

Additional Information

    The NRC staff conducted an environmental review in accordance with 
10 CFR part 51, which implements the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA). The results of the 
NRC's environmental review can be found in the final EA (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML18135A206). Based on the results of this environmental 
assessment, the NRC has determined not to prepare an EIS for license 
renewal of the SUP and is instead issuing a FONSI.
    After weighing the impacts of the license renewal and comparing to 
the no-action alternative, the NRC staff, in accordance with 10 CFR 
51.91(d), sets forth its NEPA recommendation regarding the proposed 
action (granting the request for renewal of license SUA-1350). Unless 
safety issues mandate otherwise, the NRC staff's recommendation related 
to the environmental aspects of the proposed action is that an NRC 
license renewal be issued.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    Based on its review of the proposed action, and in accordance with 
the requirements in 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has determined that 
license renewal of SUP would not significantly affect the quality of 
the human environment. Based on the EA, the NRC staff determined that 
approval of the proposed action would not result in a significantly 
increased radiological risk to public health or the environment. The 
NRC staff has determined that pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, preparation of 
an EIS is not required for the proposed action and, pursuant to 10 CFR 
51.32, a FONSI is appropriate.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, on June 5, 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Craig G. Erlanger,
Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental 
Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2018-12350 Filed 6-7-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

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