[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 145 (Thursday, July 28, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45300-45301]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-19097]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 04009067; NRC-2008-0339]
Notice of Issuance of Materials License SUA-1597 and Record of
Decision for Uranerz Energy Corporation Nichols Ranch In Situ Recovery
Project
AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of issuance of materials license SUA-1597.
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or
the Commission) has issued a license to Uranerz Energy Corporation
(Uranerz) for its Nichols Ranch uranium in situ recovery (ISR) Project
in Johnson and Campbell Counties, Wyoming. Materials License SUA-1597
authorizes Uranerz to operate its facilities as proposed in its license
application, as amended, and to possess uranium source and byproduct
material at the Nichols Ranch ISR Project. Furthermore, Uranerz will be
required to operate under the conditions listed in Materials License
SUA-1597.
This notice also serves as the record of decision for the NRC
decision to approve Uranerz's license application for the Nichols Ranch
facility and issue Materials License SUA-1597. This record of decision
satisfies the regulatory requirement in Section 51.102(a) of Title 10
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), which requires a
Commission decision on any action for which a final environmental
impact statement has been prepared to be accompanied by or include a
concise public record of decision.
The NRC considers the entire publicly available record for a
license application to constitute the agency's record of decision.
Documents related to the application carry docket number 04009067.
These documents for the Nichols Ranch ISR Project include the license
application (including the applicant's environmental report)
(ML080080600), the Commission's Safety Evaluation Report (SER)
published in July 2011 (ML102240206) and the Commission's Final
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) (NUREG-1910,
Supplement 2) published in January 2011 (ML103440120). The record of
decision also includes the applicable portions of the Generic
Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling
Facilities (NUREG-1910) as incorporated by reference in the FSEIS.
As discussed in the Nichols Ranch FSEIS, the Commission considered
a range of alternatives. The reasonable alternatives discussed in
detail were the applicant's proposal as described in its license
application to conduct in-situ uranium recovery on the site and the no-
action alternative. Other alternatives considered but eliminated from
detailed analysis include conventional uranium mining and milling,
conventional mining and heap leach processing, alternative site
location, alternate lixiviants, and alternate wastewater treatment
methods. The factors considered when evaluating the alternatives,
discussion of preferences among the alternatives, and license
conditions and monitoring programs related to mitigation measures are
also discussed in the Nichols Ranch FSEIS. The FSEIS also contained the
NRC staff recommendation to the Commission, related to the
environmental aspects of the proposed action that the source material
license should be issued as requested, unless safety issues mandate
otherwise.
The NRC has found that the application for the source materials
license complied with the standards and requirements of the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's
regulations. As required by the Act and the Commission's regulations in
10 CFR 40.32(b-c), the staff has found that Uranerz is qualified by
reason of training and experience to use source material for the
purpose it requested and Uranerz's proposed equipment and procedures
for use at its Nichols Ranch Project are adequate to protect public
health and minimize danger to life or property. The NRC staff's review
supporting these findings is documented in the SER. The NRC staff also
concluded, in accordance with 10 CFR 40.32(d), that issuance of
Materials License SUA-1597 to Uranerz will not be inimical to the
common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public.
The staff also found in accordance with 10 CFR 40.32(e), after weighing
the environmental, economic, technical and other benefits against
environmental costs and considering available alternatives, that the
action called for is the issuance of License Amendment No. 1 to
Materials License SUA-1597.
Uranerz's request for a materials license was previously noticed in
the Federal Register on June 16, 2008 (73 FR 34052), with a notice of
an opportunity to request a hearing. The NRC did not receive any
requests for a hearing on the license application.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's
``Rules of Practice,'' the details with respect to this action,
including the SER and accompanying documentation and license, 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 the NRC's public documents. The ADAMS
accession numbers for the documents related to this notice are:
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1....................................... Applicant's application, November 30, 2007......... ML080080594
2....................................... Revisions to application, August 21, 2008.......... ML083230892
3....................................... Response to Request for Additional Information, ML090820568
March 11, 2009.
4....................................... Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In Situ ML091530075
Leach Uranium Milling Facilities, May 2009.
5....................................... Response to Open Issues in Safety Evaluation ML100740143
Report, February 24, 2010.
6....................................... Text Revisions to Open Issues to the Safety ML102650554
Evaluation Report, September 15, 2010.
7....................................... Revised Table of Contents to Technical Report, ML102730116
September 22, 2010.
8....................................... Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the ML103440120
Nichols Ranch In-Situ Recovery Project, January
2011.
9....................................... NRC Safety Evaluation Report, July 2011............ ML102240206
[[Page 45301]]
10...................................... Source Materials License for Nichols Ranch, July ML111751649
19, 2011.
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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 Public
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or
via 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron C. Linton, Project Manager,
Uranium Recovery Licensing Branch, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery
Licensing Directorate, 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. Telephone: (301) 415-7777; fax number: (301) 415-5369; e-mail:
[email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 19th day of July, 2011.
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. 2011-19097 Filed 7-27-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P