[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 28, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12087-12088]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4621]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-9091-MLA; ASLBP No. 12-915-01-MLA-BD01]


Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel; Strata Energy, Inc.; 
Memorandum and Order (Notice of Hearing)

February 22, 2012.
    Before the Licensing Board: G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chair, Dr. 
Richard F. Cole, Dr. Kenneth L. Mossman.

    This proceeding concerns the January 4, 2011 application of Strata 
Energy, Inc., (SEI) for a combined source and Atomic Energy Act (AEA) 
section 11e(2) byproduct materials license pursuant to 10 CFR part 
40.\*\ If issued, that license would authorize SEI to construct and 
operate an in situ recovery (ISR) uranium project at the Ross site in 
Crook County, Wyoming. In response to an October 27, 2011 notice of 
hearing and opportunity to petition for leave to intervene, see [SEI], 
Ross [ISR] Uranium Project, Crook County, WY; Notice of Materials 
License Application, Opportunity to Request a Hearing and to Petition 
for Leave to Intervene, and Commission Order Imposing Procedures for 
Document Access to Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information 
for Contention Preparation, 76 FR 41,308 (July 13, 2011), on October 
27, 2011, two public interest groups, the Natural Resources Defense 
Council and the Powder River Basin Resource Council (collectively Joint 
Intervenors), filed a timely request for hearing and petition for leave 
to intervene contesting the SEI ISR application. On November 2, 2011, 
this three-member Atomic Safety and Licensing Board was established to 
preside over this proceeding. See [SEI]; Establishment of Atomic Safety 
and Licensing Board, 76 FR 69,295 (Nov. 8, 2011).
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    \*\ As outlined by the Commission in its decision in Sequoyah 
Fuels Corp. (Gore, Oklahoma Site), CLI-03-15, 58 NRC 349 (2003), 
section 11e(2) byproduct material is that material, as defined by 
AEA section 11e(2), 42 U.S.C. 2014e(2), that is ``the tailings or 
wastes produced by the extraction or concentration of uranium or 
thorium from any ore processed primarily for its source material 
content.'' This byproduct material category was created in 1978 by 
the Uranium Mill Tailings and Reclamation Act to afford the NRC 
regulatory jurisdiction over mill tailings at active and inactive 
uranium milling sites. See Sequoyah Fuels, CLI-03-15, 58 NRC at 353-
54.
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    On December 20, 2011, the Board conducted a one-day initial 
prehearing conference, with counsel for SEI, the NRC staff, and the 
Joint Intervenors. During that prehearing conference, which was held in 
the Licensing Board Panel's Rockville, Maryland hearing room, the Board 
heard oral presentations concerning Joint Intervenors' standing to 
intervene and the admissibility of their five proffered environmental 
contentions. Thereafter, in a February 10, 2012 issuance, finding that 
each of the Joint Intervenors had established the requisite standing to 
intervene in this proceeding and that they had submitted four 
admissible contentions concerning the SEI application, the Board 
admitted Joint Intervenors as parties to this proceeding. See LBP-12-3, 
75 NRC ---- (Feb. 10, 2012), appeals pending.
    In light of the foregoing, please take notice that a hearing will 
be conducted in this proceeding. The hearing will be governed by the 
informal hearing procedures set forth in 10 CFR part 2, Subparts C and 
L, 10 CFR 2.300-2.390, 2.1200-2.1213.
    During the course of this proceeding, the Board may conduct an oral 
argument, as provided in 10 CFR 2.331; may hold additional prehearing 
conferences pursuant to 10 CFR 2.329; and may conduct evidentiary 
hearings in accordance with 10 CFR 2.327-2.328, 2.1206-2.1208. The 
public is invited to attend any oral argument, prehearing conference, 
or evidentiary hearing. Notices of those sessions will be published in 
the Federal Register and/or made available to the public at the NRC 
Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and through the NRC 
Web site, www.nrc.gov.
    Additionally, as provided in 10 CFR 2.315(a), any person not a 
party to the

[[Page 12088]]

proceeding may submit a written limited appearance statement. Limited 
appearance statements, which are placed in the docket for this 
proceeding, provide members of the public with an opportunity to make 
the Board and/or the participants aware of their concerns about matters 
at issue in the proceeding. A written limited appearance statement can 
be submitted at any time and should be sent to the Office of the 
Secretary using one of the methods prescribed below:
    Mail to: Office of the Secretary, Rulemakings and Adjudications 
Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    Fax to: (301) 415-1101 (verification (301) 415-1966).
    Email to: [email protected].
    In addition, a copy of the limited appearance statement should be 
sent to the Licensing Board Chairman using the same method at the 
address below:
    Mail to: Administrative Judge G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Atomic Safety 
and Licensing Board Panel, Mail Stop T-3F23, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    Fax to: (301) 415-5599 (verification (301) 415-7550).
    Email to: [email protected].
    Further, at a later date, the Board may conduct oral limited 
appearance sessions regarding this ISR proceeding at a location, or 
locations, in the vicinity of the Ross site. Notice of any oral limited 
appearance sessions will be published in the Federal Register and/or 
made available to the public at the NRC PDR and on the NRC Web site, 
www.nrc.gov.
    Documents relating to this proceeding are available for public 
inspection at the Commission's PDR or electronically from the publicly 
available records component of NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS, including its adjudicatory 
proceeding-related Electronic Hearing Docket, is accessible from the 
NRC Web site at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public 
Electronic Reading Room). Persons who do not have access to ADAMS, or 
who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, 
should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-
4209, (301) 415-4737, or by email to [email protected].
    It is so ordered.

    Dated: February 22, 2012.

    For the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
G. Paul Bollwerk, III,
Chair.
[FR Doc. 2012-4621 Filed 2-27-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P