[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 59 (Friday, March 27, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14882-14883]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-05955]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-7033; CEQ ID EISX-429-00-000-1754990851; NRC-2025-1007]
Global Laser Enrichment, LLC; Paducah Laser Enrichment 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 Statement (EIS) regarding a
license application from Global Laser Enrichment, LLC (GLE) to
construct and operate the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF). The
draft EIS evaluates the environmental impacts of the proposed action of
issuing a license that would authorize GLE to construct and operate a
uranium enrichment facility on a 322-acre site located in McCracken
County, Kentucky, approximately 5 miles west of Paducah. The
environmental impacts of the no-action alternative (i.e., denying the
license application) are also evaluated.
DATES: Members of the public are invited to submit comments by May 11,
2026. 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-2025-1007. 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.
Email: Comments may be submitted to the NRC electronically
using the email address [email protected].
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-5-A85, 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: Amy Minor, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 817-200-1454; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-1007 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-2025-1007.
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)
[[Page 14883]]
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. ML26061A085.
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 will be available
for public review at the McCracken County Public Library, 555
Washington St., Paducah, KY 42003.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal Rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2025-1007 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 GLE's application for a license to construct and operate a
uranium enrichment facility on a 322-acre greenfield site in McCracken
County, Kentucky. This draft EIS assesses the potential environmental
impacts of the GLE license application and the associated proposal to
construct, operate, and decommission the enrichment facility, as well
as the no-action alternative to the proposed action (i.e., denying the
license application).
The proposed Federal action is the issuance of a license that would
authorize GLE to receive title to, own, acquire, receive, possess, use,
transfer, and/or deliver source material, special nuclear material, and
byproduct material as specified in the license for the purposes of
constructing, and then operating for up to 40 years, a facility that
uses laser-based isotope separation technology to enrich uranium. The
facility would be authorized to re-enrich depleted uranium hexafluoride
(DUF6) tails to natural levels and enrich natural-grade
UF6 up to 8 percent uranium-235 (U-235) by weight.
The draft EIS contains the NRC staff's preliminary analysis of the
environmental impacts of the proposed action and the no-action
alternative to the proposed action. The draft EIS also contains the NRC
staff's preliminary recommendation on the proposed action, which is
based on the following factors:
The NRC staff's review of GLE's environmental report
(included as part of the GLE license application) and associated
responses from GLE 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 construct and
operate the proposed enrichment facility to GLE.
Dated: March 24, 2026.
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. 2026-05955 Filed 3-26-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P