[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 227 (Monday, November 26, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70486-70487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-28425]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0277]


Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Dewey-
Burdock In-Situ Uranium Recovery Project in Custer and Fall River 
Counties, SD

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Availability of draft supplemental environmental impact 
statement; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement 
(Draft SEIS) for the Dewey-Burdock In-Situ Uranium Recovery (ISR) 
Project in Custer and Fall River Counties, South Dakota. The Draft SEIS 
is Supplement 4 to NUREG-1910, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement 
for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities,'' May 2009. By letter 
dated August 10, 2009, Powertech USA, Inc. (Powertech) submitted an 
application to the NRC for a new source materials license for the 
Dewey-Burdock ISR Project. Powertech is proposing to recover uranium 
from the Dewey-Burdock Project site using an in-situ recovery process.

DATES: The public comment period on the draft SEIS begins with 
publication of this notice and continues until January 10, 2013. 
Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical 
to do so, but the NRC is able to assure consideration only for comments 
received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may access information and comment submissions related 
to this document, which the NRC possesses and are publically available, 
by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2012-
0277. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0277. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
     Fax comments to: RADB at 301-492-3446.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Haimanot Yilma, Project Manager, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001; telephone: 301-415-8029; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0277 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access information related to this document by any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0277.
    NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): 
You may access publicly available documents associated with the Dewey-
Burdock ISR Project through the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public 
Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For 
problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room 
(PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to 
[email protected]. The ADAMS accession number for each document 
referenced in this notice is provided below. The ``Draft SEIS (NUREG-
1910, Supplement 4) is available in ADAMS under Accession Numbers 
ML12312A039 (Volume 1) and ML12312A040 (Volume 2). NUREG-1910 is 
available in ADAMS under Accession Numbers ML091480244 (Volume 1) and 
ML091480188 (Volume 2).
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0277 in the subject line of your 
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make 
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Further Information

    Under the NRC's environmental protection regulations in part 51 of 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), which implement 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), preparation of an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or supplement to an EIS (SEIS) is 
required for issuance of a license to possess and use source material 
for uranium milling (see 10 CFR 51.20(b)(8)).
    In May 2009, the NRC staff issued NUREG-1910, ``Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling 
Facilities'' (herein referred to as the GEIS). In the GEIS, NRC 
assessed the potential environmental impacts from construction, 
operation, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning of an in-situ leach 
uranium milling facility (also known as an ISR facility) located in 
four specific geographic regions of the western United States. The 
proposed Dewey-Burdock ISR Project is located within the Nebraska-South 
Dakota-Wyoming Uranium Milling Region identified in the GEIS. This 
Draft SEIS supplements the GEIS and incorporates by reference relevant 
portions from the GEIS, and uses site-specific information from the 
applicant's license application

[[Page 70487]]

and independent sources to fulfill the requirements in 10 CFR 
51.20(b)(8).
    The Draft SEIS for the proposed Dewey-Burdock Project may also be 
accessed on the internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/ by selecting ``NUREG-1910'' and then 
``Supplement 4,'' or on the NRC's Dewey-Burdock ISR Project Web page at 
http://www.nrc.gov/materials/uranium-recovery/license-apps/dewey-burdock.html. Additionally, a copy of the Draft SEIS will be available 
at the following public libraries:
Edgemont Public Library, 412 2nd Avenue, Edgemont, SD 57735.

Rapid City Public Library, 610 Quincy Street, Rapid City, SD 57701-
3630.

Custer County Library, 447 Crook Street, Custer, SD 57730.

Weston County Library, 23 West Main Street, Newcastle, WY 82701.

Hot Springs Public Library, 145 N. Chicago Street, Hot Springs, SD 
57747.

Oglala Lakota College Library, P.O. Box 310, Kyle, SD 57752.

    The Draft SEIS was prepared in response to an application submitted 
by Powertech on August 10, 2009. The applicant proposes the 
construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning of an 
ISR facility.
    The Draft SEIS was prepared by the NRC and its contractor, the 
Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, in cooperation with the 
U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The NRC has prepared this Draft 
SEIS in compliance with NEPA and the NRC's regulations for implementing 
NEPA (10 CFR Part 51).
    The proposed Dewey-Burdock ISR Project will be located 
approximately 21 kilometers (13 miles) north-northwest of Edgemont, 
South Dakota, in northern Fall River and southern Custer Counties. The 
proposed facility would encompass approximately 4,282 hectares (10,580 
acres), which consists of two contiguous mining units: the Burdock Unit 
and the Dewey Unit.
    The Draft SEIS is being issued as part of the NRC's process to 
decide whether to issue a license to Powertech pursuant to 10 CFR Part 
40. In this Draft SEIS, the NRC staff has assessed the potential 
environmental impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer 
restoration, and decommissioning of the proposed Dewey-Burdock Project. 
The NRC staff assessed the impacts of the proposed action and its 
alternatives on land use; historical and cultural resources; visual and 
scenic resources; climatology, meteorology and air quality; geology, 
minerals and soils; water resources; ecological resources; 
socioeconomics; environmental justice; noise; traffic and 
transportation; public and occupational health and safety; and waste 
management. Additionally, the Draft SEIS analyzes and compares the 
benefits and costs of the proposed action.
    In doing so, the NRC staff evaluated site-specific data and 
information on the Dewey-Burdock ISR Project to determine if 
Powertech's proposed activities and the site characteristics were 
consistent with those evaluated in the GEIS. NRC then determined which 
relevant sections of, and impact conclusions in, the GEIS could be 
incorporated by reference. The NRC staff also determined if additional 
data or analysis was needed to assess the potential environmental 
impacts for a specific environmental resource area. The NRC documented 
its assessments and conclusions in the Draft SEIS.
    In addition to the action proposed by Powertech, the NRC staff 
addressed the no-action alternative, as well as alternative wastewater 
disposal options under the proposed action. All the alternatives were 
analyzed in detail. The no-action alternative serves as a baseline for 
comparing the potential environmental impacts of the proposed action.
    After weighing the impacts of the proposed action and comparing the 
alternatives, the NRC staff, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.71(f), sets 
forth its preliminary recommendation regarding the proposed action. 
Unless safety issues mandate otherwise, the NRC staff preliminarily 
recommends that the proposed action be approved (i.e., the NRC should 
issue a source material license for the proposed Dewey-Burdock ISR 
Project).
    This Draft SEIS is being issued for public comment. The public 
comment period on the Draft SEIS begins with publication of this notice 
and continues until January 10, 2013. Written comments should be 
submitted as described in the ADDRESSES section of this document. The 
NRC will consider comments received or postmarked after that date to 
the extent practical.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of November 2012.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Aby Mohseni,
Deputy Director, Environmental Protection and Performance Assessment 
Directorate, and Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and State 
Materials.
[FR Doc. 2012-28425 Filed 11-21-12; 11:15 am]
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