[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 240 (Friday, December 15, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59665-59666]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26934]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-8943; NRC-2012-0281]


Crow Butte Resources, Inc.; Marsland Expansion Area

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no 
significant impact; notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding 
of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC source 
materials license SUA-1534 that would authorize Crow Butte Resources, 
Inc., to construct and operate an in situ uranium recovery (ISR) 
expansion area at the Marsland Expansion Area (MEA) site in Dawes 
County, Nebraska. The draft EA, ``Environmental Assessment for the 
Marsland Expansion Area License Amendment Application,'' documents the 
NRC staff's environmental review of the license amendment application.

DATES: Submit comments by January 29, 2018. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received 
before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0281. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards individual listed 
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
     Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: OWFN-2-A13, 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: Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-0867, email: 
[email protected], U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0281 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0281.
     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 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this document 
(if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time 
that a document is referenced. The ADAMS Accession Number for the MEA 
draft EA is ML17334A870.
     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-2012-0281 in your comment submission.
    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 the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection. 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 into the ADAMS Public Documents 
collection.

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering a request for an amendment to NRC source 
materials license SUA-1534, issued to Crow Butte Resources, Inc. (CBR 
or the licensee), to authorize construction and operation of the MEA, 
an ISR expansion facility that would be located in Dawes County, 
Nebraska. In accordance with NRC's regulations in part 51 of title 10 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Environmental Protection 
Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,'' 
that implement the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 
amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the NRC staff has prepared a 
draft EA documenting its environmental review of the license amendment 
application that included an environmental report (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML17325B322) and technical report, as amended (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML15328A422, ML16155A267, ML16155A268, and ML17193A314). Based on the 
environmental review, the NRC has made a preliminary determination that 
the proposed action will not significantly affect the quality of the 
human environment and that a FONSI is therefore appropriate.
    By this notice, the NRC is requesting public comment on the draft 
FONSI and supporting draft EA.

II. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment.

    The draft EA is publicly available in ADAMS using ADAMS Accession 
No. ML17334A870. A summary description of the proposed action and 
expected environmental impacts is provided below. The draft EA and the 
draft FONSI for the proposed MEA will also be available at the 
following public libraries: Crawford Public Library, 601 2nd Street, 
Crawford, NE 69339, and Chadron Public Library, 507 Bordeaux Street, 
Chadron, NE 69337.

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed Federal action is approval of CBR's license amendment 
application, which would authorize the expansion of CBR's commercial-
scale uranium recovery operations to the MEA. Under the proposed 
action, the licensee would perform construction, uranium recovery 
operations, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning activities at the 
proposed MEA, which would encompass approximately 4,622 acres (1,870 
hectares). CBR has proposed eleven production units in the MEA, which 
is located 11.1 miles (17.9

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kilometers) south-southeast of the central processing facility (CPF) at 
the existing Crow Butte license area. Uranium recovery operations at 
the MEA would include injection of lixiviant into and pumping of water 
from the uranium-bearing aquifer, removal of uranium from the pumped 
water using ion exchange, and transport of loaded ion exchange resin to 
the existing Crow Butte CPF for further processing into yellowcake. 
Approval of the proposed action would authorize CBR to conduct uranium 
recovery operations at the MEA in accordance with its license amendment 
application, NRC source materials license SUA-1534, and the 
requirements in 10 CFR part 40, ``Domestic Licensing of Source 
Material.''

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    In the draft EA, the NRC staff assessed the potential environmental 
impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and 
decommissioning of the proposed MEA on the following resource areas: 
land use; geology and soils; water resources; ecological resources; 
climatology, meteorology, and air quality; historic and cultural 
resources; demographics and socioeconomics; environmental justice; 
transportation; noise; scenic and visual resources; public and 
occupational health; and hazardous materials and waste management. The 
NRC staff also considered the cumulative impacts from past, present, 
and reasonably foreseeable future actions when combined with the 
proposed action.
    All long-term impacts were determined to be SMALL. The NRC staff 
concluded that approval of the proposed action would not result in a 
significant increase in short-term or long-term radiological risk to 
public health or the environment. The NRC staff identified a potential 
for MODERATE short-term impacts to a few resource areas, including 
noise (temporary impacts to the nearest resident to the MEA during 
construction), ecological resources (localized and temporary impacts 
resulting from the loss and slow recovery of forest habitat), and 
groundwater resources (short-term lowering of the potentiometric 
surface of the Basal Chadron Sandstone aquifer). While potential 
MODERATE impacts would be expected for specific aspects of these 
resource areas, the impacts are short-term and temporary. Therefore, 
the NRC staff concluded that the overall impacts related to these 
resource areas would be SMALL. Furthermore, the NRC staff found that 
there would be no significant negative cumulative impact to any 
resource area from the MEA when added to other past, present, and 
reasonably foreseeable future actions, and that a potential positive 
cumulative socioeconomic impact could result from additional tax 
revenue, employment, and local purchases.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Under the no-action alternative, the NRC would not authorize CBR to 
construct and operate the MEA. In situ uranium recovery activities 
would not occur within the MEA and the associated environmental impacts 
also would not occur.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact (Draft).

    In accordance with the NEPA and 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has 
conducted an environmental review of a request for a license amendment 
to NRC source materials license SUA-1534 that would authorize 
construction and operation of the MEA. Based on its environmental 
review of the proposed action, as documented in the draft EA, the NRC 
staff has preliminarily determined that granting the requested license 
amendment would not significantly affect the quality of the human 
environment. Therefore, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined, 
pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that preparation of an environmental impact 
statement is not required for the proposed action and a FONSI is 
appropriate.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of December 2017.
    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brian W. Smith,
Acting Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and 
Environmental Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2017-26934 Filed 12-14-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P