[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 23, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84016-84018]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28290]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-8907; NRC-2019-0026]


United Nuclear Corporation Church Rock Project

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft environmental impact statement; extension of comment 
period.

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SUMMARY: On November 13, 2020, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC) issued for public comment a draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) for United Nuclear Corporation's (UNC) license amendment request. 
The UNC is requesting authorization to amend its license (SUA-1475) to 
excavate approximately 1 million cubic yards

[[Page 84017]]

(CY) of mine waste from the Northeast Church Rock Mine Site and dispose 
of it at the existing mill site in McKinley County, New Mexico. The 
comment period was originally scheduled to close on December 28, 2020. 
The NRC has decided to extend the public comment period to allow more 
time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments. 
The NRC plans to hold a public meeting in the future to promote full 
understanding of the contemplated action and facilitate public comment.

DATES: The due date of comments requested in the document published 
November 13, 2020 (85 FR 72706) is extended. Comments should be filed 
no later than February 26, 2021. 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 on or before this 
date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods; 
however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal Rulemaking website:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov/ and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0026. Address 
questions about Docket IDs to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-9127; 
email: [email protected].
    For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
     Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 
TWFN-7-A60M, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
     Email comments to: [email protected].
     Leave a voicemail at: 888-672-3425.
    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: Ashley Waldron, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-7317; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0026 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain publicly available information related to this action by the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0026.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, 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].
     Attention: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies 
of public documents is currently closed. You may submit your request to 
the PDR via email at [email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 
between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.
     Project web page: Information related to the UNC Church 
Rock project can be accessed on the NRC's project web page at: https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/uranium/united-nuclear-corporation-unc-.html.
     Public Libraries: A copy of the draft EIS can be accessed 
at the following public library:
    [cir] Octavia Fellin Public Library Gallup, NM 87301

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal Rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2019-0026 in your comment submission. Written 
comments may be submitted during the draft EIS comment period as 
described in the ADDRESSES section of the document.
    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 posts all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov and enters all 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 because the NRC does not 
routinely edit comment submissions before making the comment 
submissions available to the public or entering the comment submissions 
into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    On November 13, 2020 (85 FR 72706), the NRC issued for public 
comment the draft EIS for UNC license amendment to excavate 
approximately 1 million CY of mine waste from the Northeast Church Rock 
Mine Site and dispose of it at the existing mill site in McKinley 
County, New Mexico.
    The draft EIS for UNC's license amendment application includes the 
preliminary analysis that evaluates the environmental impacts of the 
proposed action and alternatives to the proposed action. After 
comparing the impacts of the proposed action to the No-Action 
alternative, the NRC staff, in accordance with the requirements in part 
51 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, preliminarily 
recommends the proposed action, which would authorize UNC to transfer 
and dispose Northeast Church Rock mine waste on top of the UNC tailings 
impoundment. This recommendation is based on (i) the license 
application request, which includes the Environmental Report and 
supplemental documents and the licensee's responses to the NRC staff's 
requests for additional information; (ii) consultation with Federal, 
State, Tribal, and local agencies and input from other stakeholders; 
and (iii) independent NRC staff review as documented in the assessments 
summarized in this EIS.
    The public comment period was originally scheduled to close on 
December 28, 2020. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment 
until February 26, 2021 to allow more time for members of the public to 
submit their comments. Comments of Federal, State, and local agencies, 
Indian Tribes or other interested persons will be made available for 
public inspection when received.
    Stakeholders should monitor the NRC's public meeting website for 
information about the public meeting at: https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm.

    Dated: December 17, 2020.


[[Page 84018]]


    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jessie M. Quintero,
Chief, Environmental Review Materials Branch, Division of Rulemaking, 
Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2020-28290 Filed 12-22-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P