[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 117 (Wednesday, June 18, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34792-34794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14276]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0142]


Conducting the Section 106 Process of the National Historic 
Preservation Act for Uranium Recovery Licensing Actions

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

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ACTION: Draft interim staff guidance; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing draft 
Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) FSME-ISG-02, ``Guidance for Conducting the 
Section 106 Process of the National Historic Preservation Act for 
Uranium Recovery Licensing Actions,'' for review and comment. The 
purpose of this draft ISG is to assist NRC staff in conducting the 
Section 106 process of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, 
as amended (NHPA), specific to uranium recovery licensing actions. 
While this guidance is primarily intended for the NRC staff, it also 
provides useful information to participants in the Section 106 process 
for uranium recovery licensing actions.

DATES: Submit comments by September 2, 2014. 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 submit comments by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0142. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: 3WFN-06-44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Diana Diaz Toro, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-
0930; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0142 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain publicly-available 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-2014-0142.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 ISG, FSME-ISG-02, ``Guidance for Conducting the Section 106 
Process of the National Historic Preservation Act for Uranium Recovery 
Licensing Actions,'' is available in ADAMS under accession number 
ML14163A049.
     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-2014-0142 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. Background

    The NRC is responsible for regulating the civilian use of nuclear 
materials and facilities in a manner that protects public health and 
safety from radiological hazards and common defense and security. The 
NRC has statutory authority to regulate and license uranium recovery 
facilities through the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA) and 
the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978. In part, these 
statutes require that the NRC to ensure the management of source 
material, as defined in AEA Section 11z., and byproduct material, as 
defined in AEA Section 11e.(2), conforms to applicable regulatory 
requirements.
    License applicants initiate the proposed federal action by 
submitting an application to the NRC for projects or activities 
requiring an NRC license or approval. The NRC must then make a decision 
whether to grant or deny the applicant's request. In addition to the 
NRC staff's safety review, the NRC staff conducts an environmental 
review, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA). Through the environmental review, the NRC 
evaluates the potential environmental impacts from the applicant's 
proposal. The NRC's NEPA implementing regulations are in Part 51 of 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Environmental 
Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory 
Functions.''
    Congress enacted the NHPA to support and encourage the preservation 
of prehistoric and historic resources. Section 106 of the NHPA requires 
federal agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings 
on historic properties and allow the Advisory Council on Historic 
Preservation an opportunity to review and comment on the undertaking. 
The NHPA implementing regulations are in 36 CFR part 800, ``Protection 
of Historic Properties.'' Federal agencies carry out the Section 106 
process through consultation as appropriate with the State Historic 
Preservation Officer, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, other 
federal, state, and local governmental agencies, Tribal governments, 
other interested parties, and the public. The NRC conducts the Section 
106 process as part of its reviews of requests for license 
applications. In accordance with 36 CFR 800.1(c), the NRC must complete 
the

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Section 106 process prior to making licensing decision on the request 
for the licensing action.
    The NRC's guidance for conducting environmental reviews in support 
of the Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental 
Management Programs and Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards licensing and regulatory actions is provided in NUREG-1748, 
``Environmental Review Guidance for Licensing Actions Associated With 
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Programs'' (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML032450279). NUREG-1748 also includes general guidance for complying 
with the NHPA Section 106 process.
    Over the past several years, an increase in the number of licensing 
action for in situ uranium recovery (ISR) facilities has resulted in an 
increase in the NRC's Section 106 activities. In addition, the 
complexity of the Section 106 reviews associated with the ISR licensing 
actions has grown significantly. As a result, the NRC has decided to 
supplement the Section 106 guidance contained in NUREG-1748 by 
providing specific guidance for the NRC's implementation of the Section 
106 process in uranium recovery licensing actions. The purpose of this 
draft ISG is to assist NRC staff in conducting the Section 106 process 
specific to uranium recovery licensing actions. While this guidance is 
primarily intended for the NRC staff, it is also provides useful 
information for participants in the Section 106 process for uranium 
recovery licensing actions. This ISG, however, only provides guidance 
and does not impose regulatory requirements.
    The NRC staff plans to revise the applicable sections of NUREG-1748 
to include the guidance in this ISG. Until then, the NRC staff will use 
this ISG and revise and update the document as needed to clarify the 
content or incorporate subsequent modifications.
    The NRC staff will review and consider the comments received in 
response to this request and revise the ISG as appropriate.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of June 2014.

    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. 2014-14276 Filed 6-17-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P