[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 24 (Friday, February 5, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6067-6068]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-2548]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-1162; NRC-2010-0038]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Revised Groundwater 
Protection Standards, Western Nuclear, Inc., Jeffrey City, WY

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Chang, Project Manager, 
Special Projects 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) 415-7188; fax number: (301) 415-5369; e-
mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuing 
a license amendment to Materials License No. SUA-56, held by Western 
Nuclear, Inc. (WNI), to authorize revised groundwater protection 
standards for its facility near Jeffrey City, Wyoming. On June 19, 
1981, WNI announced that the facility would be placed on standby 
because of a diminishing demand for the ore and because of depressed 
uranium prices. The facility remained on standby until 1986 when the 
NRC staff amended the license to terminate the use of the tailings 
impoundments for disposal, and WNI was required to submit a tailings 
reclamation plan. On December 1, 2008, as supplemented by a February 7, 
2009, submittal, WNI submitted a license amendment request for revised 
groundwater protection standards. On

[[Page 6068]]

March 9, 2009, WNI submitted an additional amendment request for 
groundwater protection standards for other constituents. NRC staff sent 
a request for additional information on April 1, 2009, which WNI 
responded to on June 16, 2009. NRC has prepared an Environmental 
Assessment (EA) in support of this amendment request 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 revised 
groundwater protection standards for the site. Specifically, WNI has 
requested that an alternate concentration limit (ACL) be set for 
selenium at the point of compliance wells equal to 0.05 mg/L. This 
requested selenium value is equal to the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency's (EPA's) maximum contaminant level (MCL) for selenium in 
drinking water. WNI has also requested that natural uranium trigger 
levels for licensee action at the point of exposure be set at 
background levels, specifically 0.087 mg/L for the Split Rock aquifer 
and 0.044 mg/L for the flood-plain aquifer. The request excludes one 
well (Well SWAB-32), where the existing standard will not change.
    The NRC staff has prepared the EA in support of the proposed 
license amendment. The NRC staff considered impacts to groundwater, 
surface water, endangered and threatened species, historic and cultural 
resources, socioeconomic conditions, and transportation. This EA 
references previously approved ACLs, which were granted in 2006. The 
site currently has institutional controls in place limiting the 
domestic use of groundwater within the proposed long-term surveillance 
boundary. Because WNI is requesting a standard for selenium values at 
the points of compliance equal to EPA's MCL and the trigger levels for 
licensee action at the point of exposure for natural uranium at 
background levels, the staff does not expect the proposed action to 
significantly impact the following resource areas: groundwater, surface 
water, endangered and threatened species, historic and cultural 
resources, socioeconomic conditions, and transportation.

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:

 
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       Document title                    Date              Accession No.
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Split Rock Uranium Mill       December 1, 2008..........     ML083380453
 Tailings Facility Proposed
 Amendments to LC 74.
License Amendment Request     February 7, 2009..........     ML090430285
 for Western Nuclear, Inc.,
 Source Materials License
 SUA-56.
License Amendment Request     March 9, 2009.............     ML090750922
 for Western Nuclear, Inc.,
 Source Materials License
 SUA-56.
Request For Additional        April 1, 2009.............     ML090820330
 Information--Amendments To
 License Condition 74,
 Materials License SUA-56,
 Western Nuclear Inc., Split
 Rock Site, Jeffrey City,
 Wyoming.
Request for Additional        June 16, 2009.............     ML091680563
 Information--Amendments to
 L.C. 74, Materials License
 SUA056, Western Nuclear
 Inc., Split Rock Site.
Final Environmental           January 28, 2010..........     ML092780271
 Assessment.
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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 28th day of January, 2010.

    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. 2010-2548 Filed 2-4-10; 8:45 am]
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