[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 160 (Thursday, August 20, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42129-42130]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-20041]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0361; Docket No. 40-8964]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Receipt and Processing 
of Third Party Ion Exchange Resin Power Resources, Inc., Glenrock, WY

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas T. Mandeville, Project 
Manager, Uranium Recovery Licensing Branch, Division of Waste 
Management and Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and State 
Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: (301) 415-
0724; fax number: (301) 415-5369; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license 
amendment to Material License No. SUA-1548, issued to Power Resources, 
Inc. (PRI), to authorize the receipt and processing of third party ion 
exchange resin at its in situ recovery (ISR) facility near Glenrock, 
Wyoming. 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 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 the receipt 
and processing of third party ion exchange resins at PRI's Smith 
Ranch--Highland Uranium Project facility near Glenrock, Wyoming. 
Specifically, PRI sought permission to accept and process 365 shipments 
of ion exchange resin per year from NRC licensed facilities in the 
State of Wyoming. This action would be performed within the currently 
approved processing limits of 20,000 gpm flowrate in the central 
processing plant and annual yellowcake production of 5.5 million pounds 
per year. PRI submitted the license amendment request to the NRC on 
June 19, 2008.
    The staff has prepared the EA in support of the proposed license

[[Page 42130]]

amendment. The staff considered impacts to public and occupational 
exposures, groundwater, endangered and threatened species, historic and 
cultural resources, socioeconomic conditions, noise, transportation, 
waste management, soils, and air quality. This proposed action does not 
seek to increase the wellfield areas, land application area, or the 
currently authorized production limits. Furthermore, PRI will not open 
any new wellfields as a result of this licensing action, beyond those 
currently addressed by its license. Therefore, the staff does not 
expect the proposed action to impact public and occupational exposures, 
groundwater, endangered or threatened species, historic and cultural 
resources, socioeconomic conditions, and noise.
    NRC staff does not expect significant environmental impacts to 
transportation, waste management, soils, and air quality. The 
additional traffic volume of approximately 1 truck per day is 
relatively small compared to the existing traffic volumes on the 
roadways. Therefore, the additional traffic resulting from shipment of 
IX resin to and from SR-HUP is not expected to significantly contribute 
to the congestion or accident rates on these roadways. Vehicle 
emissions from the additional traffic are not expected to significantly 
contribute to the vehicle emissions on these roadways. Since PRI has 
committed in the license amendment request to remain below the 
currently approved flow rate and yellowcake production limits, the 
amount of liquid and solid effluents generated at the facility will 
remain at or below current maximum estimated levels. Therefore, the 
proposed action is not expected to significantly impact waste 
management practices at SR-HUP.

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 that there is no need 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 
Documents 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:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Document title                 Date            Accession No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Smith Ranch--Highland Uranium    June 19, 2008.....  ML081760278
 Project License Amendment
 Request for Processing of
 Third-Party Resin.
Acceptance Review of Request     July 23, 2008.....  ML082030638
 for Approval of Processing of
 Third-Party Resin at the Smith-
 Ranch Highland Uranium Project.
Response to Request to Provide   October 1, 2008...  ML082820419
 Additional Information
 Concerning Third Party Resin
 Bead Processing.
Acceptance Review of Request     November 5, 2008..  ML083040047
 for Approval of Processing of
 Third-Party Resin at the Smith-
 Ranch Highland Uranium Project.
Final Environmental Assessment   July 28, 2009.....  ML091420421
 for the Third Party Processing
 of Ion Exchange Resin.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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 12th day of August 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Keith I. McConnell,
Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery Licensing 
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs.
[FR Doc. E9-20041 Filed 8-19-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P