[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 160 (Friday, August 19, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48785-48786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-4531]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-8027]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Sequoyah Fuels 
Corporation, Gore, OK

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Myron Fliegel, Project Manager, Fuel 
Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, 
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 415-6629; 
fax number: (301) 415-5955; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license 
amendment to Materials License No. SUB-1010 issued to Sequoyah Fuels 
Corporation (the licensee), to authorize the licensee to implement a 
ground water monitoring plan (GWMP) at its Gore, Oklahoma facility. The 
NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this 
amendment in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based 
on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant 
Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment will be issued following 
the publication of this Notice.

II. EA Summary

    The proposed action is implementation of the GWMP. The GWMP 
identifies well, seep, and surface water locations where samples would 
be collected, the schedule for sample collection, and the constituents 
that would be analyzed for.
    The licensee has been monitoring ground water at the site since the 
1970's under requirements in its NRC license and as a result of U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency requirements under the Resource 
Conservation Recovery Act. The GWMP would rely in large part on 
existing monitoring points. However, 157 existing wells would be 
abandoned and plugged and 10 new wells would be installed. Abandoned 
wells would be plugged in accordance with Oklahoma requirements to 
ensure that they would not provide pathways between aquifers. New wells 
would be drilled and completed using standard equipment and techniques 
for shallow wells (the deepest well to be drilled would be 
approximately 78 feet below ground surface). The licensee estimates 
that well drilling and plugging activities would be completed in about 
4 months.
    Drilling additional groundwater monitoring wells would consist of 
using a drill rig to bore holes into the subsurface and then 
constructing monitoring wells using PVC piping, with sand and grout 
placed in-between the PVC pipe and the soil. The licensee has not 
contracted with a drilling company, pending NRC approval of the GWMP, 
but expects that the bidder chosen would likely use one or two drill 
rigs to accomplish this work. Drill cuttings and the small potential 
for a minor amount of dust may occur while drilling with minor surface 
disruption. In addition, a number of monitoring wells would be 
abandoned in accordance with the State of Oklahoma well abandonment 
criteria. A drill rig may also be used to accomplish this and a small 
amount of dust may occur. Cement grout would be placed into the 
borehole to seal the hole in order to prevent surface runoff from 
migrating down the drill hole.
    On June 12, 2003, the licensee requested that the NRC approve the 
proposed amendment. As a result of NRC staff review, the GWMP was 
revised several times, and the final version was submitted on February 
25, 2005. The licensee's request for the proposed amendment was 
previously noticed in the Federal Register on August 25, 2003, (68 FR 
51033) with a notice of an opportunity to request a hearing.
    The staff has prepared the EA in support of the proposed license 
amendment. The only potential environmental impacts of implementing the 
GWMP, would be those associated with the necessary physical activities 
of plugging abandoned wells and drilling and completing several new 
wells. The drill rigs to be used would generate a moderate amount of 
noise (most operators wear ear protection) but as the nearest resident 
is about a half a mile away with a buffer zone of trees, noise impacts 
are not expected. The drilling and plugging operations may also 
generate a small amount of dust but the impact offsite would be minor 
to nonexistent. These impacts would only exist for the short period of 
time necessary to complete these actions and are very minor.

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 http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide 
Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and 
image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for 
the documents related to this notice are:

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                                            ADAMS accession
                 Document                         No.            Date
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SFC's Amendment Requests.................        ML031710847  06/12/2003
SFC's Amendment Requests.................        ML050680226  02/25/2005
NRC's Environmental Assessment...........        ML052200616  08/09/2005
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[[Page 48786]]

    If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in 
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, (301) 415-4737, 
or by e-mail to [email protected].
    These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public 
computers located at the NRC's 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 10th day of August, 2005.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Myron Fliegel,
Project Manager, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle 
Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E5-4531 Filed 8-18-05; 8:45 am]
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