[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 213 (Monday, November 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76262-76263]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24408]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 70-00143; NRC-2022-0097]


Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc.; U-Metal Project

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact; 
issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a 
finding of no significant impact (FONSI) and accompanying environmental 
assessment (EA) regarding the NRC's consideration of a license 
amendment request to amend a Special Nuclear Material (SNM) license, 
SNM-124, held by Nuclear Fuel Service, Inc. (NFS) at the NFS site 
located in Erwin, Tennessee. If approved, the amendment would authorize 
NFS to operate uranium purification and conversion services (U-Metal 
Project) at the NFS site, pursuant to a contract with the U.S. 
Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. Based 
on the EA, the NRC staff has concluded that there will be no 
significant impacts to environmental resources from the requested 
license amendment, and therefore, a FONSI is appropriate.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document is available on 
November 6, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0097 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0097. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov 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.
     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, at 301-415-4737, 
or by email to [email protected]. For the convenience of the reader, 
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are 
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section of this document.
     NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies 
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an 
appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to 
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

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. Introduction

    The NRC is considering issuance of a license amendment request to 
amend NFS's part 70 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR) SNM license, SNM-124. The license amendment would authorize a 
change to current operations to include a U-Metal Project at NFS's site 
located in Erwin, Tennessee. As required by 10 CFR part 51, 
``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and 
Related Regulatory Functions,'' the NRC prepared an EA. Based on the 
results of the EA, the NRC has determined not to prepare an 
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the license amendment request 
and is issuing a FONSI.
    NFS's 10 CFR part 70 license was originally issued by the Atomic 
Energy Commission to W.R. Grace and Company, Davison Chemical Division, 
on September 18, 1957. W.R. Grace and Company authorized initial 
facility operations with enriched uranium. Later, the license was 
transferred to NFS on December 31, 1963. The license was renewed on the 
following dates: November 5, 1965; January 27, 1978; March 16, 1979; 
June 9, 1992; and July 2, 1999. On August 9, 2012, the NRC renewed 
NFS's license SNM-124 for a period of 25 years, which will allow 
operations through 2037.

II. Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is issuance of a license amendment to NFS's 10 
CFR part 70 SNM license, SNM-124, to authorize construction and 
operation of the U-Metal Project at the NFS facility pursuant to a 
contract with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security 
Administration (NNSA).
    The proposed action is described in the NFS's application and 
environmental report dated November 18, 2021, as supplemented by 
letters dated on March 7, 2022, and January 31, 2023.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is needed for NFS to maintain the ability to 
convert oxides to metal, provide a redundancy for the purification of 
uranium metals, and hedge against the technology risk associated with a 
new electrorefining facility.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC staff considered the potential impacts of the proposed 
action on land use, historical and cultural resources; visual and 
scenic resources; meteorology, climatology, and air quality; noise; 
geologic resource; water resources; ecological resources; 
socioeconomics; public and occupation health; transportation; 
environmental justice; and waste management. Given that construction 
would occur within the industrial facility footprint and within 
previous disturbed areas, and all other proposed activities would occur 
in an existing building, the activities associated with the proposed 
amendment would likely not alter any of the current characteristics of 
the site. Additionally, the proposed action would not result in 
significantly increased effluents. The proposed activities would not be 
expected to add to historical site contamination. Therefore, the 
proposed action would result in insignificant impacts and would not 
contribute to potential cumulative impacts when added to the past, 
present, or reasonably foreseeable future actions on the NFS site. Any 
future proposal to conduct NRC-regulated activities beyond the scope of 
the present license amendment would be evaluated, as appropriate, as 
part of

[[Page 76263]]

a separate licensing and environmental review.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Under the no-action alternative, the NRC would not amend the license to 
authorize construction and operation of new U-Metal Project at the NFS 
site. The NNSA would not have an option for conversion services to 
replace the legacy uranium processing equipment temporarily until the 
new electrorefining technology to purify high-enriched uranium metal is 
available, nor would NNSA have a redundancy for the purification of 
uranium metals.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On March 29, 2023, the NRC staff provided a copy of the draft EA to 
the State of Tennessee Division of Radiological Health for its review 
and comment. In its May 4, 2023, email response, the State noted that 
it has no concerns regarding the environmental impact of the proposed 
action. The State official concurred with the EA and FONSI.
    The NRC completed consultation under section 106 of the National 
Historic Preservation Act by consulting with the Tennessee State 
Historic Preservation Office and four Federally recognized Indian 
Tribes in correspondence dated September 13, 2022. In addition, the NRC 
staff, consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and 
determined that the proposed action ``may affect, but not likely to 
adversely affect'' five threatened or endangered species, would have 
``no effect'' on one additional species, and would have ``no effect'' 
on critical habitat. The NRC staff provided its effect determinations 
to FWS on August 18, 2023, and FWS concurred with those findings on 
September 28, 2023. Therefore, consultation has been completed under 
section 7 of the Endangered Species Act.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    Based on its review of the license amendment request, in accordance 
with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has determined 
that issuing the requested amendment of SNM-124 to add the U-Metal 
Project would not significantly affect the quality of human 
environment. No significant radiological or non-radiological impacts 
are expected from the proposed action. Therefore, the NRC staff has 
determined that pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, ``Determinations based on 
environmental assessment,'' preparation of an EIS is not required for 
the proposed action, and pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, ``Finding of no 
significant impact,'' a FONSI is appropriate. In accordance with 10 CFR 
51.32(a)(4), this FONSI incorporates the EA set forth in this notice by 
reference.

IV. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through ADAMS.

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            Document description                 ADAMS accession No.
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Nuclear Fuel Services, License Amendment     ML21327A099.
 Application, dated November 18, 2021.
Nuclear Fuel Services Supplemental           ML22066B005 and
 Environmental Report, dated November 2021    ML23041A236.
 and revised January 2023.
Tennessee Department of Environmental        ML23131A361.
 Quality email response NRC Request for
 Review of Draft EA, dated May 4, 2023.
Letter to Tennessee State Historic           ML22098A154.
 Preservation Office initiating
 consultation under Section 106 of the
 National Historic Preservation Act, dated
 September 13, 2022.
NRC letters to Tribal nations initiating     ML22256A146 (package).
 consultation under Section 106 of the
 National Historic Preservation Act, dated
 September 13, 2022.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Information for   ML23202A166.
 Planning and Consultation identifying
 Threatened or Endangered Species, dated
 June 6, 2023.
NRC letter to FWS regarding informal         ML23228A158.
 Section 7 consultation, determinations of
 effect, dated August 18, 2023.
Fish and Wildlife Service concurrence on     ML23272A109.
 NRC's determinations of effect, dated
 September 28, 2023.
Final Environmental Assessment for NFS       ML23299A062.
 Proposed U-Metal Project, dated October
 26, 2023.
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    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated: October 31, 2023.
Michelle S. Rome,
Acting Chief, Environmental Review Materials Branch, Division of 
Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2023-24408 Filed 11-3-23; 8:45 am]
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