[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 61 (Friday, March 29, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19330-19332]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07332]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2011-0148]
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Ross In-Situ
Uranium Recovery Project in Crook County, Wyoming
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft supplemental environmental impact statement; request for
comment.
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SUMMARY: By letter dated January 4, 2011, Strata Energy, Inc., (Strata)
submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) for a new source materials license for the proposed Ross In-Situ
Uranium Recovery (ISR) Project (Ross Project) proposed to be located in
Crook County, Wyoming. The NRC is issuing for public comment a Draft
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS) for the Ross
Project. The Draft SEIS is Supplement 5 to NUREG-1910, ``Generic
Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ Leach Uranium Milling
Facilities.''
DATES: Submit comments by May 13, 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 is publically available,
by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2011-
0148. 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-2011-0148. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules,
Announcements, and
[[Page 19331]]
Directives Branch, 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: Johari Moore, Project Manager, Office
of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC, 20555-0001;
telephone: 301-415-7694; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments
A. Accessing Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0148 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may
access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses
and is publicly available by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2011-0148.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents associated with
the Ross 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 Draft SEIS (NUREG-1910, Supplement 5) is
available in ADAMS under Accession Number ML13078A036. 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-2011-0148 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, the 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 Ross Project is located within the Nebraska-South Dakota-
Wyoming Uranium Milling Region identified in the GEIS. The Draft SEIS
supplements the GEIS and incorporates by reference relevant portions
from the GEIS, and uses site-specific information from Strata's license
application and independent sources to fulfill the requirements in 10
CFR 51.20(b)(8).
The Draft SEIS for the proposed Ross 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 5,'' or
on the NRC's Ross Project Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/materials/uranium-recovery/license-apps/ross.html. Additionally, a copy of the
Draft SEIS will be available at the following public libraries:
Crook County Library, Hulett Branch, 401 Sager Street, Hulett, WY
82720.
Crook County Library, Moorcroft Branch, 105 E Converse, Moorcroft, WY
82721.
The Draft SEIS was prepared in response to an application submitted
by Strata by letter dated January 4, 2011. 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,
Attenuation Environmental Company, 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 Ross Project will be located approximately 34.6
kilometers (km) (21.5 miles [mi]) north of the town of Moorcroft,
Wyoming and would encompass approximately 697 hectares (ha) (1,721
acres [ac]).
The Draft SEIS is being issued as part of the NRC's process to
decide whether to issue a license to Strata pursuant to 10 CFR Part 40.
In the Draft SEIS, the NRC staff has assessed the potential
environmental impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer
restoration, and decommissioning of the proposed Ross 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.
The NRC staff evaluated site-specific data and information on the
Ross Project to determine if Strata'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
[[Page 19332]]
specific environmental resource area. The NRC documented its
assessments and conclusions in the Draft SEIS.
In addition to the action proposed by Strata, the NRC staff
addressed the no-action alternative, as well as alternative location
for proposed facility. 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 Ross Project).
The 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 May 13, 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 20th day of March 2013.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Aby Mohseni,
Deputy Director, Environmental Protection and Performance Assessment
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection,
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2013-07332 Filed 3-28-13; 8:45 am]
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