[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 119 (Tuesday, June 24, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26839-26842]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-11522]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-7004; NRC-2025-0059]
American Centrifuge Operating, LLC; American Centrifuge Plant;
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
amending Special Nuclear Material (SNM) License No. SNM-2011, issued on
April 13, 2007, to American Centrifuge Operating, LLC (ACO) for the
operation of the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP). The NRC is
considering extending authorization of the high-assay, low-enriched
uranium (HALEU) demonstration program operations to continue through
June 30, 2034, along with a possession limit increase to support the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and ACO contract production milestone
of 900 kilograms of HALEU per year. In the event of an extension of
ACO's HALEU contract with the DOE, potentially the authorization would
be extended through the revised contract period. For this proposed
action, the NRC staff is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and a
finding of no significant impact (FONSI).
DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on
June 24, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-0059 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-2025-0059. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran;
telephone: 301-415-1003; 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.
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: Isaac Johnston, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-5649; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Discussion
The NRC staff is considering an amendment of ACO's license (SNM-
2011) to allow for continued operation of the HALEU demonstration
program for an additional 9 years through June 30, 2034. The 9-year
period would be divided into three sets of 3-year terms as defined in
the DOE-ACO contract for Phase III operations. Based on availability of
Congressional appropriations, the DOE redefined option period one to be
divided into three 1-year option periods, with the first 1-year option
funded to begin on July 1, 2025. The DOE would have the sole discretion
to renew the contract for
[[Page 26840]]
each option period, contingent upon Congressional appropriations.
The NRC initially authorized the operation of the HALEU
demonstration cascade at the ACP in Pike County, Ohio in June 2021. In
September 2024, the NRC approved a license amendment to increase ACO's
licensed material possession limits to support the continued production
of HALEU uranium hexafluoride (UF6) until December 31, 2024.
In December 2024, the NRC approved a license amendment to allow
HALEU operations to continue for another 6 months until June 30, 2025.
Under the proposed action, HALEU operations would continue for up to
another 9 years (until June 30, 2034), contingent upon Congressional
appropriations and the DOE opting to implement all option periods of
operations.
ACO is producing HALEU for the DOE. HALEU is uranium that has been
enriched so that the concentration of the fissile isotope uranium-235
(U-235) is between 5 and 20 percent of the mass of the uranium. The DOE
awarded a 3-phase demonstration contract to ACO to enrich uranium up to
20 percent in the HALEU cascade. The expiration date of the current
phase (Phase 2) of the DOE-ACO contract is June 30, 2025; however, the
DOE could choose to extend Phase 2 of the DOE-ACO contract, to ensure
continued operations of the HALEU program.
The DOE-ACO Phase III program involves up to three, 3-year periods
of operation of the HALEU cascade. Phase III operations could begin on
July 1, 2025, conditional on (1) Congressional appropriations, (2) the
signing of the DOE-ACO Phase III contract, (3) the NRC staff's review
and approval of the proposed license amendment. If the DOE does not
extend Phase 2 of the DOE-ACO contract, or the Phase III HALEU
operations are not approved on or before June 30, 2025, ACO would be
required to shut down Phase 2 HALEU operations.
As required in section 51.21 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Criteria for and identification of licensing
and regulatory actions requiring environmental assessments,'' the NRC
developed an EA for the current license amendment request to evaluate
the environmental impacts of continued operations until June 30, 2034.
Based on the results of the EA that follows, the NRC has determined
that an environmental impact statement (EIS) is not required for the
amendment and is issuing a FONSI.
II. Environmental Assessment
Description of the Proposed Action
The NRC is proposing to amend ACO's license to allow ACO to
continue operating the HALEU cascade until June 30, 2034. During this
potential period of extended operation, ACO would continue enrichment
activities as approved in the license. The staff assessed the potential
environmental effects of continuing HALEU operations in its September
2024 EA, finding continued operations does not involve construction of
new buildings, ground-disturbing activities, the shipment of HALEU
offsite, or changes to the NRC-approved HALEU centrifuge cascade
design. The proposed action is described in the licensee's application
dated December 19, 2024.
The NRC staff also considered environmental impacts associated with
the NRC's review and approval of the financial documentation provided
with ACO's license amendment request. The NRC staff finds ACO's
financial qualifications, decommissioning funding, and nuclear
insurance indemnification are categorically excluded from environmental
review under the NRC's regulations in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(10)(i), which
applies to a surety, insurance, and/or indemnity.
Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action would allow ACO to continue operating the HALEU
demonstration cascade as provided in ACO's contract with DOE and in
accordance with ACO's license.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
In December 2024, the NRC staff prepared an EA for the NRC's review
of the continued Phase II operations through December 31, 2025, and the
potential impacts of operations for another 12 months. The December
2024 EA determined that the license extension would not significantly
affect the quality of the human environment. The NRC issued that EA and
FONSI on December 23, 2024. The environmental review for this proposed
action considers the Phase III operations through June 30, 2034, and
evaluates the potential impacts of operations for up to another 9
years.
The NRC staff assessed the potential environmental impacts of a 9-
year continuation of operations on land use; historic and cultural
resources; visual and scenic resources; climatology, meteorology and
air quality; geology and soils; water resources; ecological resources;
socioeconomics; noise; traffic and transportation; public and
occupational health and safety; and waste management. The NRC staff
determined that facility operations for the current action are
unchanged from those evaluated in the NRC's December 2024 EA, except
for the duration of operations. The NRC staff finds the additional
period of operations would not affect most resource areas and not have
significant impacts on air quality, transportation, occupational health
and safety, and waste management. ACO would not make changes to the
enrichment processes or to the outside portions of buildings. All HALEU
produced would continue to be stored onsite. All enrichment activities
would continue to take place indoors, resulting in no changes to noise
levels. Because operations would continue entirely inside buildings,
including storage of additional enriched UF6, depleted
UF6, and wastes, and because the current rate of HALEU
production would not change, there would be no change to potential
impacts on public health and safety except that the potential for these
previously assessed impacts would be extended by up to 9 years. Because
additional employees would not be required for the proposed action,
there would be no change to socioeconomic impacts already assessed.
The NRC's December 2024 EA concluded that continued HALEU
operations would not have significant impacts on air quality,
occupational health and safety, waste management, and transportation,
and that these impacts were bound by the impacts assessed in previous
NRC EAs, as documented in the NRC's 2021 EA for the approval of the
HALEU program and 2024 EA for the possession limit increase. This EA
assesses the continued operations until June 30, 2034, with
continuation of the same impacts as described further in the following
paragraphs.
Air Quality: The December 2024 EA for the 12-month license
extension determined that continued operations would not affect the
rates of air emissions containing hydrogen fluoride (HF) and
radionuclides because the rate of HALEU production would remain
unchanged from the rates evaluated in the NRC's 2021 licensing document
and EA for the original HALEU demonstration. Under the current action,
the potential non-radiological and radiological air emissions would
continue for up to 9 years. As explained in the September 2024 EA, for
the period July through December 2023, the average exposure to HF for
the maximally exposed individual was 4.8e-9 micrograms per cubic meter,
which is significantly lower than the
[[Page 26841]]
Occupational Safety and Health Administration's 8-hour permissible
exposure limit for HF of 2500 micrograms per cubic meter. As indicated
in ACO's effluent monitoring report for the period of July 1 through
December 31, 2024, the average HF concentration was calculated to be
3.96e-7 micrograms per cubic meter. Uranium isotopes in air emissions
in the same effluent monitoring report were 0.0239 millicuries uranium-
234, 0.00167 millicuries U-235, and 0.00541 millicuries uranium-238.
The report estimated that the public dose from the releases of uranium
isotopes over the previous year (December 2023 through December 2024)
is 2.6e-5 millirem. The emission levels are and would continue to be
well below regulatory limits through June 30, 2034. Therefore, the NRC
staff concludes the potential air quality impacts of an up to 9-year
extension of operations would not be significant.
Occupational Health and Safety: The staff evaluated the potential
impacts on worker health of up to 9 years of continued operations
beyond the period evaluated in the December 2024 EA. HALEU enrichment
activities must comply with the NRC regulations, including 10 CFR part
20, subpart C, ``Occupational Dose Limits for Adults,'' and 10 CFR part
20, subpart D, ``Radiation Dose Limits for Individual Members of the
Public'' as well as the conditions specified in the license. The NRC
staff also assessed the most recent effluent monitoring report for the
period of July 1 through December 31 of 2024, which reported that total
exposure to the nearest resident for the prior 12 months (December 2023
through December 2024) was 2.6e-5 millirem. The NRC staff concludes
that dose limits in 10 CFR part 20 for workers (50 mSv/yr or 5000 mrem/
yr) and for members of the public (1 mSv/yr or 100 mrem/yr) will
continue to be met.
As such, the NRC staff concludes that radiological impacts on
workers would not be noticeably different from the impacts as assessed
in the NRC's December 2024 EA and therefore the potential impacts would
not be significant. In the ``Air Quality'' paragraph of this notice,
the NRC staff states the extension of HALEU operations would not
significantly increase non-radiological HF emissions and worker
exposures and would remain significantly lower than the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration's 8-hour limit for HF of 2500
micrograms per cubic meter.
Transportation: The December 2024 EA evaluated the potential
environmental impacts for a 12-month extension of operations, finding
new shipments of feed material to support the production of an
increased amount of HALEU would be few in number. The EA concluded the
few additional shipments of feed material through December 2025 would
not have a noticeable impact on transportation. Moreover, the few
additional shipments of feed material for up to 9 additional years
would have an insignificant impact, when compared with the 1,100 yearly
shipments estimated for the commercial ACP. Therefore, the NRC staff
conclude that the proposed action would have no significant impact on
transportation.
Waste Management: In the December 2024 EA, the NRC staff found that
HALEU operations would insignificantly increase the quantity of low-
level radioactive waste. ACO estimates that up to 21 B-25 boxes of low-
level radioactive waste would be generated over the 9-year license
term, for a total volume of nearly 53.5 cubic meters (1900 cubic feet).
Therefore, the NRC staff concludes that the impacts from waste
management through June 30, 2034, would not be significant.
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, ACO would cease operating the HALEU
cascade on June 30, 2025. The no-action alternative could result in ACO
being unable to meet the terms of its contract with DOE. The potential
environmental impacts of the no-action alternative would be the same as
the NRC's finding of no significant impact reported in the December
2024 EA.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
In accordance with NRC policy, on April 15, 2025, the staff
consulted with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the Ohio
Department of Health, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA's) Region V office regarding the EA and FONSI. The NRC received no
comments on the EA.
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)
requires Federal agencies to consider the effects of their undertakings
on historic properties. The proposed action is not the type of activity
that has the potential to cause effects on any historic properties that
may be present. Therefore, in accordance with 36 CFR 800.3(a)(1), the
NRC has no further obligation under Section 106 of the NHPA.
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that, prior
to taking a proposed action, Federal agencies determine whether the
proposed Federal action may affect endangered or threatened species or
their critical habitats. The proposed action would not result in
construction activities or land disturbance and would allow
continuation of HALEU production activities that are already ongoing.
Production and storage of HALEU occurs within existing buildings that
formerly housed the Lead Cascade Facility. The proposed action does not
increase any effluent release rates or introduce any new effluent
release pathways, nor does it expand the license control area. NRC
staff has determined that even if endangered or candidate species are
present in the vicinity of the HALEU cascade building on the DOE
reservation, the proposed action would not affect such species or their
habitats. Therefore, no consultation is required under Section 7 of the
ESA.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC staff prepared this EA as part of its review of the
proposed action. The NRC staff concludes there would be no significant
environmental impacts from the extension of HALEU operations through
June 30, 2034. Therefore, the NRC staff find the preparation of an EIS
is not warranted. Accordingly, the NRC determined that a FONSI is
appropriate. In accordance with 10 CFR 51.32(a)(4), the 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 one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
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ADAMS accession No./
Document description Federal Register citation/
website
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License Amendment Request for American ML24366A069 (Package).
Centrifuge Operating, LLC's License
Application for the American Centrifuge
Plant--Phase III of HALEU Operations, dated
December 19, 2024.
[[Page 26842]]
NRC Email to ACO re: NRC's Acceptance for ML25042A390.
Detailed Review of ACO's License Amendment
Request for Phase III HALEU Operations at
the ACP in Piketon, OH, dated February 10,
2025.
EA Proposed License Amendment at the American ML25084A113.
Centrifuge Plant, Piketon, Ohio, issued June
2025.
Letter--License Amendment 24, NRC Approval of ML24068A189 (Package).
American Centrifuge Operating's Amendment
Request to Increase its Possession Limits to
Support HALEU Production at the American
Centrifuge Plant, dated September 20, 2024.
EA for Proposed License Amendment to Increase ML24254A206.
Possession Limits for Licensed Material for
the HALEU Program at the American Centrifuge
Plant, Piketon, Ohio, published September
2024.
Federal Register Notice for EA Proposed 89 FR 76871.
License Amendment to Increase Possession
Limits for Licensed Material for the HALEU
Program at the American Centrifuge Plant,
Piketon, Ohio, published September 19, 2024.
NRC Approval of Centrus/ACO's Request to ML24345A251 (Package).
Extend Phase 2 Amendment 27, dated December
31, 2024.
Federal Register Notice--Environmental 89 FR 107168.
Assessment for Proposed License Amendment to
Extend Period of HALEU Operations at the
American Centrifuge Plant in Pike County,
Ohio, published December 31, 2024.
License Amendment 13, NRC Approval of ML21138A826 (Package).
American Centrifuge Operating's Request
Operate Sixteen Centrifuges to Demonstrate
Production of High-Assay Low-Enriched
Uranium, dated June 11, 2021.
Letter--American Centrifuge Plant, Submittal ML25056A059.
of 10 Code of Federal Regulations 70.59
Effluent Reporting, dated February 20, 2025.
Email to Ohio transmitting the draft EA for ML25112A292.
review, dated April 15, 2025.
Email to EPA Region V transmitting the draft ML25112A289.
EA for review, dated April 15, 2025.
Email to Ohio State Historic Preservation ML25112A305.
Office re: courtesy notification of NRC
review of ACO's license amendment request,
dated April 18, 2025.
Email Responses from Ohio agencies providing ML25112A298, ML25112A300.
comments on the draft EA to Ohio agencies
for review, dated April 15 and 21, 2025.
Letter--Supplemental Proposed Changes License ML25164A029.
Application for the American Centrifuge
Plant--Phase III of HALEU Operations, dated
June 12, 2025.
Email Response from EPA providing comments on ML25114A164.
the draft EA to Ohio agencies for review,
dated April 22, 2025.
Biden-Harris Administration Announces 6 https://www.energy.gov/ne/
Contracts to Spur America's Domestic HALEU articles/biden-harris-
Supply Chain as Part of Investing in America administration-announces-
Agenda, dated October 8, 2024. 6-contracts-spur-
americas-domestic-haleu-
supply.
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Dated: June 18, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert Sun,
Chief, Environmental Project Management, Branch 2, Division of
Rulemaking, Environmental, and, Financial Support, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2025-11522 Filed 6-23-25; 8:45 am]
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