[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 62 (Monday, April 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19540-19541]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07549]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2013-0061]


Memorandum of Understanding Between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission and the Bureau of Land Management

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Alan Bjornsen, Project Manager, 
Environmental Review Branch, Division of Waste Management and 
Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and State Materials and 
Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852, Telephone: 301-415-1195, fax number: 301-
415-5369; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    On February 12, 2013, the United States Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) and the Bureau of Land Management, United States 
Department of the Interior (BLM) entered into a Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU) concerning the development of uranium or thorium 
resources on BLM administered public lands, including Federal mineral 
estates. The MOU sets forth the cooperative working relationship 
between the NRC and the BLM, primarily for the purpose of enhancing 
each agency's compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 
(NHPA). In particular, the MOU improves interagency communications, 
facilitates sharing of special expertise and information, and 
coordinates the preparation of studies, reports and environmental 
analyses. The MOU supersedes the original memorandum of understanding 
entered into between the NRC and the BLM on November 30, 2009.

II. Summary

    The MOU provides a framework for this cooperative relationship and 
identifies the responsibilities of each agency. The intent of the MOU 
is to improve interagency communications, facilitate the sharing of 
special expertise and information, and coordinate the preparation of 
studies, reports and environmental analyses pertaining to NRC licensing 
actions that involve BLM administered public lands. The MOU includes 
provisions that cover compliance with NEPA and Section 106 of the NHPA. 
The agencies will implement the MOU through periodic coordination 
meetings between the NRC and BLM management and staff, establishing 
points of contact at each agency, identifying information gaps that can 
be filled by each agency, and ensuring that specific environmental and 
historic preservation issues of interest to each agency are addressed 
in environmental reviews. To the fullest extent possible, NRC and BLM 
will participate either as lead agency, co-lead or cooperating agency 
on the preparation of site-specific environmental review documents.

[[Page 19541]]

III. Further Information

    Addresses: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0061 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 are publicly available, using any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0061. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC 
are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public 
can gain entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's 
public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are 
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's 
PDR reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to 
[email protected]. The ``Memorandum of Understanding between the 
Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior and the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, an Independent Agency'' is available 
electronically under ADAMS Accession Number ML13072A778.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 22nd day of March, 2013.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Christepher McKenney,
Acting 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. 2013-07549 Filed 3-29-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P