[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 3, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20146-20148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07704]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 040-09068; License SUA-1598; NRC-2008-0391]
Lost Creek ISR, LLC, Lost Creek Uranium In-Situ Recovery Project,
Sweetwater County, Wyoming
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact
for license amendment; availability.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering an
amendment to Source Materials License SUA-1598 for continued uranium
production operations and in-situ recovery (ISR) of uranium at the Lost
Creek Project in Sweetwater County, Wyoming.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2008-0391 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-2008-0391. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
[[Page 20147]]
(ADAMS): You may access publicly-available documents online in 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 (if that document is
available in ADAMS). In addition, for the convenience of the reader,
the ADAMS accession numbers are provided in a Table in Section IV of
this notice.
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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Alan B. Bjornsen, Project Manager,
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management
Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001; telephone: 301-415-1195; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
Lost Creek ISR, LLC (LCI) is proposing to install two rotary vacuum
dryers in the pre-existing space that was made available in the Central
Processing Plant (CPP), and requesting to increase their production
rate at the facility from 455,000 kilograms (kg) [1 million pounds
(lb)] to up to 909,000 kg [2 million lb] of dry yellowcake per year.
The licensee intends to increase production of yellowcake at the
facility by accepting equivalent feed including loaded (uranium-laden)
resin from other uranium recovery facilities, including potential
future satellite facilities, but has not requested a license amendment
to increase the flow rate at the Lost Creek wellfields. The NRC has
prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this proposed
license amendment, in accordance with the requirements in Part 51 of
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). The NRC is also
conducting a safety evaluation of the proposed license amendment,
pursuant to 10 CFR part 40. The results of the safety evaluation will
be documented in a separate Safety Evaluation Report (SER). If
approved, the NRC will issue the amended license following the
publication of this notice. The amended license and associated SER will
be made available in ADAMS.
II. Environmental Assessment Summary
On January 6, 2012, LCI (a wholly-owned subsidiary of UR-Energy,
Inc. of Littleton, Colorado) submitted an application to the NRC to
amend NRC License SUA-1598 to include yellowcake rotary vacuum drying
as an option within the CPP at the Lost Creek ISR Facility, and
subsequent offsite shipment of vacuum dried yellowcake up to 909,000 kg
[2 million lb] per year. This EA includes an evaluation of the
potential environmental impacts of the action requested in LCI's
license amendment application. The Lost Creek ISR Facility, which is
currently under construction, is located in northeastern Sweetwater
County, Wyoming, in the Wyoming West Uranium Milling Region identified
in NUREG-1910, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In-Situ
Leach Uranium Milling Facilities'' (GEIS).
The proposed action to include yellowcake rotary vacuum drying in
the CPP at the Lost Creek ISR Facility, and subsequent offsite shipment
of dried yellowcake up to 909,000 kg [2 million lb] per year is not
expected to result in significant additional impacts to the environment
for the following reasons: (1) The licensee intends to increase dry
yellowcake production in the future by accepting equivalent feed
including loaded resins from other uranium recovery facilities and
potential future satellite facilities, this would not affect the flow
rate from the existing Lost Creek well fields; and (2) the dryers would
be installed in a pre-existing space inside the CPP (identified in the
existing license), there would be no physical changes to the footprint
or structure of the building. As a result, there would be no additional
impacts to the following resources: land use; geology and soils; water
resources; ecological resources; visual and scenic resources; noise;
historic and cultural resources; socioeconomics; and environmental
justice. The resources that could be potentially affected are
transportation, groundwater, air quality, public and occupational
health, and waste management.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
Based on the information presented in this EA describing the
proposed action, the need for the proposed action, the alternatives to
the proposed action, the environmental impacts of the proposed action
and alternatives, and the agencies consulted, the NRC has determined
that the proposed action will not have a significant impact on the
quality of the human environment and does not warrant the preparation
of an Environmental Impact Statement. Accordingly, the NRC has
determined that a finding of no significant impact is appropriate.
This finding and any related environmental documents are available
for public inspection through ADAMS and may be accessed from the NRC
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action, including the application for
amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at
the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this
site, you can access the NRC's ADAMS, which provides text and image
files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the
documents related to this notice are provided in the following Table:
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Document ADAMS Accession No.
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Acceptance of Receipt of Request to Amend ML120330008
License to Operate Two Rotary Vacuum Dryers at
Lost Creek Project, February 1, 2012.
Acknowledge Receipt of Responses to the Request ML120730084
For Additional Information, March 12, 2012.
Summary of Teleconference and Response to RAIs ML12153A287
for Supplemental Information to License
Amendment Application, June 12, 2012.
Letter to WDEQ, Request for Comments............ ML12305A410
E-mail response from WDEQ....................... ML13045A502
Environmental Assessment........................ ML13045A829
E-mail from LCI Regarding the Increase in ML13078A342
Production and the Number of Resin Trucks
Likely to Come from a Future Satellite Facility.
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[[Page 20148]]
If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC PDR Reference
staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by email to
[email protected]. These documents may also be viewed electronically
on the public computers located at the NRC's PDR, O-1F21, One White
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR
reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th 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. 2013-07704 Filed 4-2-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P