[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4622-4624]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-1036]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-8905]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Rio Algom Mining LLC, 
Ambrosia Lake, NM

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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[[Page 4623]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael G. Raddatz, 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) 
415-6334; fax number: (301) 415-5955; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license 
amendment to Source Materials License No. SUA-1473 issued to Rio Algom 
Mining LLC (the licensee), to authorize Alternate Concentration Limits 
(ACLs) at its uranium mill tailings site in Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico. 
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 purpose of the proposed amendment is to authorize ACLs at the 
licensee's Ambrosia Lake facility. Specifically, ACLs have been 
approved for hazardous constituents gross alpha, lead-210, molybdenum, 
nickel, radium-226 & -228, selenium, thorium-230, and natural uranium 
and nonhazardous constituents chloride, nitrate, sulfate, and Total 
Dissolved Solids (TDS). On February 15, 2000, May 30, 2001, and July 7, 
2005, Rio Algom Mining LLC requested that NRC approve the proposed 
amendment. The licensee's request for the proposed change was 
previously noticed in the Federal Register on June 29, 2000, (65 FR 
40144) with a notice of an opportunity to request a hearing and an 
opportunity to provide comments on the amendment and its environmental 
impacts.
    The staff has prepared the EA in support of the proposed license 
amendment. The staff considered impacts to ground water, surface water, 
socioeconomic conditions, threatened and endangered species, 
transportation, land use, public and occupational health, and historic 
and cultural resources. The EA supports a FONSI because this licensing 
action does not involve any land disturbance; therefore, impacts to 
socioeconomic conditions, threatened and endangered species, 
transportation, land use, public and occupational health, and historic 
and cultural resources would not occur. In addition, reviews of ground 
water flow, fate and transport, and exposure models indicate that the 
ACLs are protective of human health and the environment at the point of 
exposure because hydrogeologic conditions, natural attenuation 
processes, and aquifer class of use near the facility would preclude 
human exposures and environmental impacts.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of the EA, 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 as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      ADAMS  accession
              Document                       No.              Date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quivira Mining Company, Corrective         ML003687843         2/15/2000
 Action Program and Alternate
 Concentration Limits Petition for
 Uppermost Bedrock Units, Ambrosia
 Lake Uranium Mill Facility Near
 Grants, New Mexico, Grants, New
 Mexico.............................
Rio Algom Mining, LLC, Ground Water        ML003737960         7/21/2000
 Modeling and Feasibility Analysis
 for the Application of Alternate
 Concentration Limits...............
Quivira Mining Company, Application        ML011690068         5/20/2001
 for Alternate Concentration Limits
 in the Alluvial Materials at
 Quivira Mill Facility, Ambrosia
 Lake, New Mexico, Grants, New
 Mexico.............................
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,        ML030170464         1/16/2003
 Rio Algom Mining LLC, Ground Water
 Alternate Concentration Limits,
 Request for Additional Information.
Rio Algom Mining LLC, Response to          ML031080523         4/11/2003
 Request for Additional Information
 for the Rio Algom Mining LLC's
 January 16, 2003, Application for
 Alternate Concentration Limits.....
Rio Algom Mining LLC, 2004a,               ML040430419          2/9/2004
 Response to Agreements Reached
 During August 12, 2003, Meeting
 With the Nuclear Regulatory
 Commission, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,            ML042780480         9/20/2004
 letter to J. Caverly...............
New Mexico Environment Department,         ML050800062         2/21/2005
 letter to Gary S. Janosko
 transmitting comments on the draft
 environmental assessment...........
Rio Algom Mining LLC, Response to          ML051990088          7/7/2005
 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
 Commission's February 10, 2005,
 Request for Additional Information
 To Incorporate Nonhazardous
 Constituents as Part of the Site
 Alternate Concentration Limit
 Petition...........................
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,        ML052770173        10/31/2005
 Rio Algom Mining LLC, Nonhazardous
 Constituent Alternate Concentration
 Limits, Request for Additional
 Information........................
Rio Algom Mining LLC, 2005b.               ML053480214         12/7/2005
 Response to October 31, 2005,
 Request for Additional Information.
Environmental Assessment for               ML060130097         1/20/2006
 Amendment of Source Materials
 License SUA-1473 for Ground Water
 Alternate Concentration Limits, Rio
 Algom Mining, LLC, Ambrosia Lake,
 New Mexico.........................
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    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, O1 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 23rd day of January, 2006.


[[Page 4624]]


    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michael G. Raddatz,
 Project Manager, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle 
Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards.
 [FR Doc. E6-1036 Filed 1-26-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P