[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 203 (Thursday, October 23, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48508-48509]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-19646]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-7027; NRC-2022-0201]
TRISO-X, LLC; Special Nuclear Material License Application for
the TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication Facility; Draft Environmental Impact
Statement
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 Environmental Impact
[[Page 48509]]
Statement (EIS) for a Special Nuclear Material License Application for
the TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication Facility. TRISO-X, LLC (TRISO-X) would be
authorized to possess and use special nuclear material to manufacture
high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel. The proposed fuel
fabrication facility would be located on a 110-acre site at the Horizon
Center in Oak Ridge, Roane County, Tennessee.
DATES: Members of the public are invited to submit comments by November
17, 2025. Comments received after that date will be considered if it is
practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only
for comments received on or before that 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-2022-0201. 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: Jill Caverly, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-7674; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0201 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may
obtain publicly available information related to this action using any
of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0201.
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 draft EIS is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML25267A128.
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.
Public Library: A copy of the draft EIS for a Special
Nuclear Material License Application for the TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication
Facility will be available for public review at the Oak Ridge Public
Library, 1401 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN 37830.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal Rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2022-0201 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. Discussion
The NRC has prepared a draft EIS as part of its environmental
review of the TRISO-X application for a 40-year license to possess and
use special nuclear material at a fuel fabrication facility (FFF) to be
constructed on a 110-acre greenfield site in Oak Ridge, Roane County,
Tennessee. This draft EIS assesses the potential environmental impacts
of the TRISO-X license application and the associated proposal to
construct, operate, and decommission the FFF, as well as an alternative
to the proposed action.
The proposed federal action is the issuance of a license, under
part 70 title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),
``Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material'' to authorize TRISO-X
to possess and use special nuclear material to manufacture HALEU fuel
at a to-be-constructed FFF. The FFF would produce tri-structural
isotropic-based coated particles and final fuel forms using uranium
enriched to less than 20 weight percent uranium-235. Issuance of a
license enabling the possession and use of special nuclear material at
the FFF would be for a first-of-its-kind fabrication operation in the
United States.
The draft EIS for TRISO-X's license application includes the NRC
staff's preliminary analysis that evaluates the environmental impacts
of the proposed action and the no-action alternative to the proposed
action. The NRC staff based its recommendation on the following
factors:
The NRC staff's review of TRISO-X's environmental report
(included as part of the TRISO-X license application) and associated
responses from TRISO-X to requests from the NRC staff for clarifying
information;
The NRC staff's review of comments received as part of the
scoping process;
The NRC staff's communications with Federal, State, and
local agencies, as well as Tribal officials; and
The NRC staff's independent environmental review.
The NRC staff's preliminary recommendation, unless safety issues
mandate otherwise, is that the NRC issue the license to possess and use
special nuclear material to TRISO-X.
Dated: October 21, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Kimyata Savoy,
Acting Deputy Director, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and
Financial Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2025-19646 Filed 10-22-25; 8:45 am]
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