[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 151 (Friday, August 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38514-38516]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-15087]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 040-38417; CEQ ID EAXX-429-00-000-1750645380; NRC-2025-
0084]
Disa Technologies, Inc.; Draft Generic Environmental Assessment
and Finding of No Significant Impact
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft generic environmental assessment (EA) and
finding of no significant impact (FONSI) regarding the proposed
issuance of a multi-site service provider license to Disa Technologies,
Inc., (Disa) for its high-pressure slurry ablation (HPSA) technology to
remediate abandoned uranium mine (AUM) waste. Disa's request is to use
the HPSA technology to perform remediation at certain AUM sites after
additional site-specific safety and environmental information is
provided to and approved by the NRC.
DATES: Submit comments by September 8, 2025. 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-2025-0084. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran;
telephone: 301-415-1003; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
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: Christine Pineda, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6789; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-0084 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2025-0084.
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 ADAMS Public 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]. The ADAMS accession number for each document
referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time
that it is mentioned in 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.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2025-0084 in your comment submission.
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 will post all comment submissions at
https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the 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. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.
II. Introduction
The NRC is considering issuance of a multi-site, service provider
license to Disa, for operation of its HPSA process at AUM sites located
in fourteen western States, namely Arizona, California, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota,
Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and the Navajo Nation. As required by
section 51.21 of
[[Page 38515]]
title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Criteria for
identification of licensing and regulatory actions requiring
environmental assessments,'' the NRC has prepared a draft generic EA
documenting its preliminary finding. The NRC concluded that the
proposed action would have no significant impact if conditions and
proposed operations at each site meet the assumptions detailed in the
draft generic EA. The draft generic EA is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML25216A003. For each site, the NRC will review the site-
specific information and supplement this evaluation as appropriate. A
summary of the draft generic EA follows.
III. Summary of Draft Generic Environmental Assessment
Description of the Proposed Action
Disa would use its HPSA technology in the form of mobile units to
treat mine waste at AUM sites. Use of the HPSA process to separate
uranium and thorium fines from mine waste rock and soils would result
in licensable quantities and concentrations of source material. The NRC
is proposing to issue a license to Disa under 10 CFR part 40,
``Domestic Licensing of Source Material,'' for the possession and
processing of source material ore. If granted, the license would allow
Disa to operate HPSA at AUM sites after the NRC has reviewed the site-
specific characteristics and operating plans that Disa would submit
before mobilizing to a site.
The length of time Disa would operate at each site depends on the
amount of material to be processed and could range from about 6 months
for small sites to almost 13 years for large sites. HPSA uses
mechanical and kinetic energy to separate mineral-rich patinas
containing source material (uranium and/or thorium) and other metals
from host sand grains. The HPSA treatment would generate two products:
coarse material and fines concentrates. Disa states that the coarse
material would be an inert sand and would be reintegrated into the mine
sites, assuming the material meets NRC and other regulatory
requirements. The fines concentrates, which would contain uranium and/
or thorium and other metals, would be transported to a licensed
recipient such as a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility, a
uranium recovery facility, or a storage facility. After HPSA operations
conclude, Disa would demobilize and leave the site, including deposited
coarse material, in a condition that meets NRC requirements for
unrestricted release.
The proposed action is in accordance with the applicant's
application dated March 28, 2025 (ADAMS Package Accession No.
ML25087A094) as supplemented by letters dated June 16, 2025 (ADAMS
Accession No. ML25167A328) and July 31, 2025 (ADAMS Package Accession
No. ML25213A083).
The Need for the Proposed Action
The purpose of the proposed NRC action, issuance of the license, is
to allow Disa to conduct HPSA activities safely in accordance with the
conditions of the license and with applicable NRC requirements under 10
CFR part 20, ``Standards for Protection Against Radiation,'' and part
40, ``Domestic Licensing of Source Material.'' Disa proposes to conduct
HPSA activities in part to respond to a need identified by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remediate abandoned uranium
mine sites. The EPA has documented approximately 15,000 AUMs primarily
in 14 western States, including areas on the Navajo Nation. These sites
resulted from a uranium mining industry that began in the 1940s to
produce uranium for weapons and later for nuclear fuel.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC staff developed a generic assessment of the potential
environmental impacts of operating the HPSA process at AUM sites. The
NRC staff assessed the potential impacts on land use; historic and
cultural resources; visual and scenic resources; air quality; geology
and soils; water resources; ecological resources; socioeconomics;
noise; transportation; public and occupational health and safety; and
waste management. The NRC staff determined that the proposed action
would not have significant impacts on these resource areas if all of
the assumptions described in the draft generic EA are met at a given
site. Before mobilizing to a site, Disa would provide site-specific
information to the NRC in a premobilization notification, which the NRC
staff would review to determine whether the generic EA's assumptions
apply for a site. If any assumptions for a specific site would not be
met, the NRC staff would conduct a site-specific review to assess the
impacts for that site. In all cases, the NRC or its designee would
conduct site-specific consultations to fulfill its consultation
responsibilities under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act and
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. In all cases,
the NRC staff will evaluate the potential impacts of depositing the
coarse material back onto the site after HPSA operations conclude.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed issuance of a license to Disa,
the NRC considered the no-action alternative. Under the no-action
alternative, the NRC would not issue the license and Disa would not be
allowed to operate its HPSA units at AUM sites. A consequence of
denying the license could be that Disa submits a revised application,
or that AUM sites potentially suitable for HPSA would need to be
remediated using other means. In the absence of HPSA operations, the
NRC would not be involved in AUM site cleanup unless the remedial
activity involves another NRC licensee or applicant.
The potential environmental impacts of the no-action alternative
would include the direct impacts of continuing current site conditions
(i.e., no change to a site) as well as the potential impacts of using
remediation alternatives instead of the proposed action. The potential
impacts of continuing current site conditions include the continued
unavailability of AUM land for human use and the avoidance of the
impacts assessed generically in the EA for the proposed HPSA
operations. However, the NRC does not have authority over AUM site
cleanup and did not assess further in the draft generic EA the
potential impacts of other remedial actions beyond its jurisdiction and
authority. The draft generic EA generally describes two main approaches
EPA uses for remediating AUM sites: excavation and removal is one
approach and consolidation and capping is another. These and other
approaches might be used instead of the HPSA process or in addition to
it.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
The NRC has published the draft generic EA to receive comments from
individual members of the public, Federal and State agencies, American
Indian Tribes, organizations, and other entities. Disa would submit
site-specific information to the NRC approximately 90 days before
mobilizing to a site. During its review of this information about HPSA
operations at a particular site, the NRC staff would consult as needed
with the state, agencies of interested American Indian Tribes, and
other Federal agencies.
[[Page 38516]]
IV. Preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact
On the basis of the draft generic EA, the NRC concludes that the
proposed action will not have a significant effect on the quality of
the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined not to
prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed action.
As described in the draft generic EA, before Disa mobilizes to a
site, the NRC staff would review Disa's operating plans and the
conditions at that site. The NRC staff would compare the site-specific
information to the assumptions in the generic EA. If HPSA operations at
a site would meet all of the assumptions in the EA, the FONSI would
apply for that site. If some assumptions are not met, the NRC staff
would conduct an analysis to identify the site-specific impacts for
those environmental areas. In all cases, the NRC or its designee will
conduct site-specific reviews and consultations under Section 106 of
the National Historic Preservation Act and Section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act and will assess the site-specific impacts of depositing
coarse material onto the site. This site-specific analysis would result
in a FONSI or, if necessary, a determination that an environmental
impact statement should be prepared.
Dated: August 6, 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. 2025-15087 Filed 8-7-25; 8:45 am]
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