[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 194 (Wednesday, October 7, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60720-60722]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-25533]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 40-8943; ASLBP No. 08-867-02-OLA-BD01]
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; In the Matter of Crow Butte
Resources, Inc. (License Renewal for the In Situ Leach Facility,
Crawford, Nebraska); Notice of Supplemental Hearing
September 25, 2015.
Before Administrative Judges: Michael M. Gibson, Chair, Dr.
Richard E. Wardwell, Brian K. Hajek, Alan S. Rosenthal (Special
Assistant to the Board).
The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board) hereby gives notice
that it will convene a supplemental evidentiary hearing to receive
testimony regarding Crow Butte Resources' (Crow Butte) contested
application to renew its U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
license to operate an in-situ uranium leach recovery facility near
Crawford, Nebraska.\1\
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\1\ Application for 2007 License Renewal USNRC Source Materials
License SUA-1534 Crow Butte License Area (Nov. 2007) (ADAMS
Accession No. ML073480264) [hereinafter License Renewal
Application]. ``ADAMS'' refers to the NRC's public document
management system, and is discussed more below.
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I. Background of Proceeding
On May 27, 2008, notice of the Crow Butte License Renewal
Application was published in the Federal Register.\2\ Three groups
petitioned to intervene as parties in the proceeding and requested an
evidentiary hearing be held on the application.\3\ On November 21,
2008, the Board granted two of the petitions,\4\ admitting the Oglala
Sioux Tribe and Consolidated Intervenors \5\ as parties.\6\ At that
time, the Board admitted nine contentions proposed by the
intervenors.\7\ Shortly thereafter, on December 10, 2008, the Board
admitted a tenth contention.\8\ The NRC Staff and Crow Butte appealed
the Board's admission of the contentions.\9\ On appeal, the Commission
affirmed the intervenors' standing, and affirmed the admissibility of
four of the ten contentions.\10\ On January 5, 2015, the Oglala Sioux
Tribe and Consolidated Intervenors moved to admit new contentions based
on the Environmental
[[Page 60721]]
Assessment,\11\ which the NRC Staff made available on October 27,
2014.\12\ The Board admitted five new contentions, and supplemented one
of the four previously admitted contentions.\13\
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\2\ Notice of Opportunity for Hearing, Crow Butte Resources,
Inc., Crawford, NE., In Situ Leach Recovery Facility, 73 FR 30,426
(May 27, 2008).
\3\ Oglala Delegation of the Great Sioux Nation Treaty Council
Request for Hearing and Petition for Leave to Intervene (July 30,
2008) (ADAMS Accession No. ML082170263); Oglala Sioux Tribe Request
for Hearing and/or Petition to Intervene (July 29, 2008) (ADAMS
Accession No. ML082170264); Consolidated Request for Hearing and
Petition for Leave to Intervene (July 28, 2008) (ADAMS Accession No.
ML082170525).
\4\ See LBP-08-24, 68 NRC 691, 760 (2008).
\5\ Id. Although originally named Consolidated Petitioners, the
Board now refers to Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance, Debra White
Plume, Thomas Kanatakeniate Cook, Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook,
Afraid of Bear/Cook Tiwahe, Joe American Horse, Sr., American Horse
Tiospaye, Owe Aku/Bring Back the Way, and the Western Nebraska
Resources Council as Consolidated Intervenors.
\6\ The Board denied a request to intervene by the Oglala
Delegation of the Great Sioux Nation Treaty Council, but admitted
the delegation as an interested local government body. Id.
\7\ Id. at 760-61.
\8\ See LBP-08-27, 68 NRC 951, 957 (2008).
\9\ NRC Staff's Notice of Appeal of LBP-08-24, Licensing Board's
Order of November 21, 2008, and Accompanying Brief (Dec. 10, 2008)
(ADAMS Accession No. ML083450781); Crow Butte Resources' Notice of
Appeal of LBP-08-24 (Dec. 10, 2008) (ADAMS Accession No.
ML083450359).
\10\ See CLI-09-9, 69 NRC 331, 366 (2009).
\11\ The Oglala Sioux Tribe's Renewed and New Contentions Based
on the Final Environmental Assessment (October 2014) (Jan. 5, 2015)
(ADAMS Accession No. ML15005A541); Consolidated Intervenors' New
Contentions Based on the Final Environmental Assessment (October
2014) (Jan. 5, 2015) (ADAMS Accession No. ML15006A274).
\12\ Environmental Assessment Availability Notification, Letter
from Marcia Simon, NRC Staff Counsel, to Administrative Judges and
Parties (Oct. 27, 2014) (ADAMS Accession No. ML14300A228). The
Environmental Assessment was prepared pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., and the agency's
implementing regulations, located in 10 CFR part 51.
\13\ LBP-15-11, 81 NRC __, __(slip op. at 59-61) (Mar. 16,
2015).
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From August 24 through August 28, 2015, the Board held an
evidentiary hearing under 10 CFR part 2, subpart L procedures. During
this evidentiary hearing the parties submitted new exhibits in response
to witness testimony and questions from the Board. These exhibits have
been admitted,\14\ and the Board has determined that some of the new
exhibits raise questions regarding admitted contentions that need to be
addressed through additional testimony. As a result, the parties are
submitting additional pre-filed testimony to the Board, and a
supplemental hearing limited to these new matters will be held on
October 23, 2015.
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\14\ Licensing Board Order (Admitting Remaining Exhibits;
Scheduling Transcript Corrections) (Sept. 10, 2015) (unpublished);
Licensing Board Order (Admitting Exhibits; Scheduling Supplemental
Testimony and October Hearing Day) (Sept. 4, 2015) (unpublished).
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II. Matters To Be Considered
At the supplemental evidentiary hearing the Board will receive
testimony on the following topics:
Whether the water levels in the Brule aquifer have lowered
due to mining activities;
What is the available head in the Basal Chadron/
Chamberlain Pass formation and the maximum anticipated drawdown during
Crow Butte's operation and restoration of its mining facility;
Whether the results from the four pump tests \15\
demonstrate a hydraulic connection between the Brule and Basal Chadron/
Chamberlain Pass formations;
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\15\ Crow Butte conducted four pump tests to estimate the
hydraulic properties of the Basal Chadron and Brule aquifer as a
result of pumping water from the uranium-bearing ore zone of the
Basal Chadron.
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Whether the Basal Chadron/Chamberlain Pass formation
exists beneath the Pine Ridge reservation and its connection (if any)
to the Basal Chadron/Chamberlain Pass formation beneath the license
renewal area;
To what degree (if any) do the additional exhibits that
were admitted after the hearing commenced affect the conclusions
regarding the structure of the White River feature and the NRC Staff's
maximum likelihood modeling; and
To what degree (if any) do the additional exhibits that
were admitted after the hearing commenced illustrate the groundwater
flow directions in the Arikaree and Brule aquifers underlying the Pine
Ridge reservation and the license renewal area.
III. Date, Time, and Location of the Supplemental Evidentiary Hearing
The supplemental hearing will commence on Friday, October 23, 2015,
at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, 8:00 a.m., Mountain Time, and will continue
until complete.\16\ The parties have the opportunity to participate in
this supplemental hearing either in person, through video conference,
or by telephone. The judges will be present in the Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board Panel's Rockville Hearing Room, with a video conference
link set up to the Scottsbluff Room of the student center of Chadron
State College, 1000 Main Street, Chadron, Nebraska 69337. An
Information Technology specialist from the Atomic Safety and Licensing
Board Panel will be present in the Scottsbluff Room to assist with the
video conference link. Any parties or witnesses unable to attend the
hearing either in Rockville or in Chadron will be provided with a call
in number and may participate in the hearing by telephone.
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\16\ Funding for the U.S. government for fiscal year 2016 has
not yet been appropriated by Congress. The NRC may be able to
operate for a limited period of time even without funding
appropriated. The parties to this proceeding will be made aware if
ASLBP activities must be suspended because the NRC has to shut down.
Once funding for ASLBP activities becomes available, the Board will
contact the parties either to reaffirm the October 23 supplemental
hearing date, or to reschedule the hearing if that proves necessary.
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Members of the public and media are welcome to attend and observe
the evidentiary hearing either in the Rockville Hearing Room or in
Chadron State College's Scottsbluff Room. The Scottsbluff Room will
open at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time on the day of the hearing. A telephone
bridge line will also be provided for members of the public who are
unable to travel to either location, but nevertheless wish to listen to
the proceeding. The dial in number for this bridge line is (888) 603-
7019, and the passcode for listen-only access to the hearing is
7856326. Participation in the hearing, however, will be limited to the
parties' lawyers and witnesses. Please be aware that security measures
will be employed at the entrance to both facilities, including searches
of hand-carried items such as briefcases or backpacks. No signs,
banners, posters, or other displays will be permitted.\17\ No firearms
or other weapons will be allowed in either facility, and the Board's
Notice regarding weapons, dated July 14, 2015, remains in effect.\18\
Moreover, Chadron State College places additional restrictions on the
presence of weapons on campus.\19\
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\17\ See Procedures for Providing Security Support for NRC
Public Meetings/Hearings, 66 FR 31,719 (June 12, 2001).
\18\ Licensing Board Notice (Regarding Weapons at Atomic Safety
and Licensing Board Proceeding) (July 14, 2015) at 1 (prohibiting
the possession of weapons at ``all proceedings conducted in Nebraska
by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission'').
\19\ See Chadron State College Student Handbook 36-37 (2015
rev.), available at http://www.csc.edu/documents/publications/csc_student_handbook.pdf.
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IV. Availability of Documentary Information Regarding the Proceeding
Documents relating to Crow Butte's License Renewal Application are
available on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/materials/uranium/licensed-facilities/crow-butte.html. These and other
documents related to this proceeding are available for public
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located in
One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville,
Maryland 20852, or electronically from the publicly available records
component of the NRC's document management system (ADAMS). ADAMS is
accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.\20\ Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who
encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should
contact the NRC PDR reference staff by telephone between 8:00 a.m. and
4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except federal holidays)
at (800) 397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by sending an email to
[email protected].
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\20\ Documents which are determined to contain sensitive or
proprietary information may only be available in redacted form. All
non-sensitive documents are available in their complete form.
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It is so ordered.
Dated: September 25, 2015.
[[Page 60722]]
For the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
Michael M. Gibson,
Chair, Administrative Judge, Rockville, Maryland.
[FR Doc. 2015-25533 Filed 10-6-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P