[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 23 (Friday, February 5, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8386-8387]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02360]


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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. 
UNC is requesting authorization to amend its license (SUA-1475) to 
excavate approximately 1 million cubic yards (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 public comment period was 
originally scheduled to close on December 28, 2020. On December 23, 
2020, the NRC extended the public comment until February 26, 2021. The 
NRC has decided to further extend the public comment until May 27, 2021 
to allow more time for members of the public to develop and submit 
their comments. The NRC plans to further engage the local communities 
to promote full understanding of the proposed action and facilitate 
public comment and will also hold a public comment meeting during the 
extended comment period.

DATES: The due date of comments requested in the document published 
December 23, 2020 (85 FR 84016) is extended. Comments should be filed 
no later than May 27, 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 Stacy Schumann; telephone: 301-415-0624; 
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].
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
     Leave a voicemail at: 888-672-3425.

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 or 
301-415-4737, 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 the 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

[[Page 8387]]

NRC staff's 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 reasonable 
alternatives and 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) UNC's license application request, which includes 
Environmental Report and supplemental documents, as well as UNC'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. On December 23, 2020, the NRC extended the public 
comment until February 26, 2021 (85 FR 84016). The NRC has decided to 
further extend the public comment until May 27, 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 future public meetings at: https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings.html.

    Dated: February 1, 2021.

    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. 2021-02360 Filed 2-4-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P