Nuclear Regulatory Commission July 28, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), with the cooperation of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Land Quality Division, is issuing for public comment a Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft GEIS) that identifies and evaluates on a programmatic basis, the potential environmental impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning at in-situ leach (ISL) uranium milling facilities located in particular regions of the western United States. The Draft GEIS addresses environmental issues common to ISL milling facilities to aid in making more efficient environmental reviews of individual site-specific ISL license applications. The NRC anticipates that nearly 75 percent of new license applications for uranium milling received by the agency within the next several years will propose use of the ISL process. By addressing common issues associated with environmental reviews of ISL facilities, the NRC will use the GEIS to provide a starting point in the staff's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses for site-specific license applications for new ISL facilities. Additionally, the NRC staff plans to use the GEIS, along with applicable previous site-specific environmental review documents, in its NEPA analysis for the restart or expansions of existing ISL facilities. In its review of individual ISL license applications, the NRC would evaluate the site-specific data to determine whether relevant sections of the GEIS could be incorporated by reference into the site-specific environmental review. Additionally, the NRC would determine whether aspects of the site and/or the applicant's proposed activities are consistent with those evaluated in the GEIS or are such that additional analysis in specific topic areas would be required. As such, the subsequent site-specific NEPA reviews (i.e., either environmental assessments or environmental impact statements) will tier from the analyses of common issues evaluated in the GEIS and address the unique attributes of individual sites. To encourage broad participation in the preparation of the GEIS, the NRC staff has scheduled a series of public meetings in potentially affected regions of the four states (Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico) where uranium milling companies have indicated to the NRC their desire to pursue uranium recovery using the ISL process. The purpose of these meetings will be for the NRC staff to present an overview of the Draft GEIS and to accept oral and written public comments on the Draft GEIS from interested members of the public. The meeting dates, times, and locations are listed below: Meeting Date: August 25, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Holiday Inn Hotel & Convention Center, 305 N. 27th Street, Spearfish, SD 57783, Phone (605) 642-4683. Meeting Date: August 27, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Chadron State College, Student Center Ballroom, 1000 Main Street, Chadron, NE., 69337, Phone (308) 432-6380. Meeting Date: August 29, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Weston Senior Center, 627 Pine Street, Newcastle, WY 82701, Phone (307) 746-4903. Meeting Date: September 8, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Best Western Inn & Suites, 3009 West Highway 66, Gallup, NM, Phone (505) 722-2221. Meeting Date: September 9, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Best Western Inn & Suites, 1501 East Santa Fe Ave., Grants, NM, 87020, Phone (505) 287-7901. Meeting Date: September 11, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Hilton Albuquerque, 1901 University Boulevard NE., Albuquerque, NM, Phone (505) 884-2500. Meeting Date: September 23, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Best Western Ramkota Hotel, 800 N. Poplar, Casper, WY, Phone (307) 266-6000. Meeting Date: September 25, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: Best Western Tower West Lodge, 109 North U.S. Highway 14 &16, Gillette, WY, 82716, Phone (307) 686-2210. For each meeting, members of the NRC staff will be available for informal discussions with members of the public from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The formal meeting and associated NRC presentation will begin at 7 p.m. For planning purposes, those who wish to present oral comments at a particular meeting are encouraged to pre-register no later than one week (7 days) prior to the meeting by contacting either Tarsha Moon of the NRC at 1-800-368-5642, extension 7843 or Antoinette Walker-Smith of the NRC at 1-800-368-5642, Extension 6390. Interested persons also may register to speak at the meetings. Depending on the number of speakers for a meeting, each speaker may be limited in the amount of time allocated for their comments so that all speakers will have an opportunity to offer comments. The NRC will issue a Final GEIS after considering both oral and written public comments on the Draft GEIS.