[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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