[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 26, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30733-30736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-10374]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-3103; CEQ ID EAXX-429-00-000-1775693431; NRC-2026-1156]
Louisiana Energy Services, LLC, dba Urenco USA; National
Enrichment Facility; Revised 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 issuing a
revised environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant
impact (FONSI) for an exemption request submitted by Louisiana Energy
Services, LLC (LES) also doing business as (dba) Urenco USA (UUSA),
that would allow UUSA, a general licensee and certificate of compliance
(CoC) user, to use a vendor's transportation package design (CoC No.
9362) for transport of certain limited shipments of uranium
hexafluoride (UF6) up to 10 weight (wt.) percent enrichment
of uranium-235 (U-235), a
[[Page 30734]]
higher enrichment than authorized in CoC No. 9362, Revision No. 5. This
EA includes revisions to account for a change in the proposed exemption
that would not result in changes to the potential environmental
impacts.
DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on
May 26, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2026-1156 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-2026-1156. 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.
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]. 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: Daneira Mel[eacute]ndez Col[oacute]n,
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-
7295; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is reviewing an exemption request from LES, also dba UUSA,
dated October 8, 2025, and supplemented on December 16, 2025, February
4, 2026, and
April 22, 2026. Urenco USA is requesting an exemption, pursuant to
section 71.12 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),
of paragraphs 71.17(c)(2) and 71.17(c)(3), that require UUSA to comply
with the terms and conditions of CoC No. 9362 and submit in writing
before the first use of the package. If approved, the exemption would
allow UUSA to use 30B cylinders within certified DN30 transportation
packages (i.e., CoC No. 9362) for domestic transport of UF6
enriched to greater than 5 but less than 10 wt. percent U-235.
Currently, CoC No. 9362, Revision No. 5, allows for transport of
UF6 with U-235 mass percentage not to exceed 5 wt. percent.
II. Environmental Assessment
This revised EA contains minor revisions to the discussion of the
NRC staff's criticality evaluation in the ``Environmental Impacts of
the Proposed Action'' section of this document. On April 22, 2026,
after issuance of the original EA (91 FR 20180), UUSA notified the NRC
of their desire to have maximum allowable 30B cylinder payload (i.e.,
mass) approved. The revised discussion does not result in changes to
the NRC staff's assessment of potential environmental impacts.
Description of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would authorize UUSA, a general licensee and
CoC user, to use 30B cylinders within certified DN30 transportation
packages (i.e., transportation package system) for domestic transport
of certain limited shipments of UF6 at an enrichment of
greater than 5, but less than 10 wt. percent U-235. Urenco USA is
currently a registered user of the DN30 transportation package. At this
time the CoC for the DN30 transportation package contents is limited to
5 wt. percent U-235 (CoC No. 9362, Revision No. 5). No physical or
design changes to the DN30 transportation package are proposed in this
exemption. The proposed exemption would be limited to using
approximately 40 to 50 cylinders in 2026-2027 for shipment of
UF6 to a single customer.
The CoC is the NRC approved design for each transportation package
system. The proposed action would exempt the applicant from the
requirements of 10 CFR 71.17(c)(2) and 71.17(c)(3) only as these
requirements pertain to the use of the 30B cylinder within the DN30
transportation package. The exemption would allow UUSA to use the DN30
transportation package with this content, despite not being in
compliance with the terms and conditions in CoC No. 9362.
The proposed action is in accordance with UUSA exemption request
dated October 8, 2025, as supplemented on December 16, 2025, February
4, 2026, and April 22, 2026.
Need for the Proposed Action
The nuclear industry is currently pursuing fuels with slightly
increased enrichments for reactors in order to support industry
initiatives, such as accident tolerant fuels and extended fuel cycle
fuel. Urenco USA and other nuclear facilities are pursuing advancements
in fuel and enrichment in concert with reactor designs that utilize
high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU); that is, fuels with
enrichments greater than 5 but less than 20 wt. percent U-235, to
support these initiatives.
Although UUSA's license (SNM-2010) permits enrichment of
UF6 up to less than 10 wt. percent U-235, the material must
still be packaged for transport to the fuel fabricators and reactor
operators. Currently, there is only one approved UF6
transportation package for commercial HALEU quantities--the Orano NCS
GmbH Model No. DN30-X (CoC No. 9388). The DN30-X transportation package
consists of the DN30 packaging and the 30B-X UF6 cylinder.
The ``X'' in DN30-X and 30B-X is replaced by either ``10'' or by ``20''
to refer to a specific design for a maximum enrichment of 10 or 20
percent by weight U-235, respectively. Urenco USA has supported testing
of the prototypes and ordered 30B-10 cylinders, but manufacturing of
this approved transportation package has not yet occurred. With ANSI
(American National Standards Institute) N14.1 standard updates and
facility implementation still pending, UUSA is not certain when the new
transportation package approved for HALEU fuel contents will be
available. Given that UUSA has contracted HALEU orders that will need
shipping, this has created a business risk. To address this risk in the
meantime, while awaiting the manufacturing of the newly approved
transportation package (i.e., DN30-X) that will allow up to 10 wt.
percent U-235, UUSA requested regulatory approval to use 30B cylinders
within the DN30 transportation package for domestic UF6
delivery, limited to use approximately 40 to 50 cylinders in 2026-2027
for shipment to a single customer.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
This revised EA evaluates the potential environmental impacts of
granting an exemption from certain
[[Page 30735]]
terms and conditions in CoC No. 9362. The exemption would allow UUSA to
use 30B cylinders within certified DN30 transportation packages for
domestic transport of UF6 enriched to greater than 5, but
less than 10 wt. percent U-235. This exemption would be limited to
using approximately 40 to 50 cylinders in 2026-2027 to deliver
UF6 to a single customer.
The potential environmental impacts of transporting radioactive
material pursuant to 10 CFR part 71 was initially published in 1977 as
NUREG-0170, ``Final Environmental Statement on the Transportation of
Radioactive Material by Air and Other Modes'' for the Proposed Rule to
amend 10 CFR part 71. The Commission concluded that impacts from the
transportation of radioactive material are small. As such, a
categorical exclusion for transportation package approvals is given in
10 CFR 51.22(c)(13), ``Approval of package designs for packages to be
used for the transportation of licensed materials'' (See 49 FR 9352, at
9368). The categorical exclusion provided in NRC's environmental
regulations, however, is specific to package approvals and does not
apply to requests for exemption from those approvals. Therefore, the
NRC has prepared an environmental assessment in support of the
exemption request and, in doing so, is tiering off this ``Final
Environmental Statement.''
Certificates of compliance approving package designs for packages
to be used in the transportation of radioactive materials are issued
upon demonstration that the package designs meet applicable performance
standards contained in part 71 of the Commission's regulations.
NUREG-0170 determined that the principal unavoidable environmental
effect of transport of radioactive material was found to be population
exposure resulting from normal transport of radioactive materials. As
part of the review of this exemption request, the NRC staff concluded
by evaluation of dose rate calculations submitted with the application
that any radiation exposure from the transport of UF6,
enriched to greater than 5, but less than 10 wt. percent U-235,
utilizing 30B cylinders within certified DN30 transportation packages
to the public or workers will not exceed regulatory limits under normal
or hypothetical accident conditions during shipment. Any radiological
or non-radiological environmental impacts of transporting
UF6, enriched to greater than 5, but less than 10 wt.
percent U-235, utilizing 30B cylinders within certified DN30
transportation packages would be no greater than those already
evaluated for the transport of UF6 and would be bound by the
previous environmental analysis (NUREG-0170). Further, in its safety
evaluation for this exemption the staff concluded that transportation
under the exemption would not compromise the shielding performance
needed to ensure that external dose rates remain well within NRC
limits.
In addition, the staff reviewed the applicant's criticality
analyses of the DN30 transportation package containing 30B cylinders
with UF6 enrichments up to 10 wt. percent U-235. The
applicant's analysis of single DN30 transportation packages and arrays
of packages containing 30B cylinders with UF6 enrichments up
to 10 wt. percent U-235, along with additional NRC staff analyses,
demonstrated that the package will be adequately subcritical when the
number of packages per conveyance is limited to that appropriate for
the revised calculated criticality safety index (CSI), and for the
limited duration and number of shipments that are requested in this
exemption. Additionally, the staff agrees that the revised calculated
CSI, based on the applicant's normal conditions of transport and
hypothetical accident conditions package array analysis, as
supplemented by staff confirmatory analysis, is acceptable. As such,
the staff finds with reasonable assurance that the package, with the
requested contents, will meet the criticality safety requirements of 10
CFR part 71.
Therefore, the staff has determined that there will be no
significant environmental impacts as a result of approving the
exemption for the use of 30B cylinders within certified DN30
transportation packages for transport of certain limited shipments of
UF6 at an enrichment of greater than 5, but less than 10 wt.
percent U-235. The staff confirmed that no physical or design changes
to the DN30 transportation package are proposed in this exemption and
that the exemption is limited to the use of approximately 40 to 50
cylinders in 2026-2027 for shipment to a single customer. After
evaluating dose rate and criticality calculations submitted in the
application, and conducting separate confirmatory analyses, the NRC
staff concluded that the package design would continue to meet
applicable performance standards in part 71 of the Commission's
regulations. Any radiological or non-radiological environmental impacts
of transporting UF6, enriched to greater than 5, but less
than 10 wt. percent U-235, utilizing 30B cylinders within certified
DN30 transportation packages would be no greater than those already
evaluated and would be bounded by the previous environmental analysis
(NUREG-0170).
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered
denial of the proposed exemption request (i.e., the ``no-action''
alternative). The potential environmental impacts of denying the
request would be unchanged from the current impacts of using 30B
cylinders within certified DN30 transportation packages for transport
of UF6 at an enrichment of up to 5 wt. percent U-235. Under
this alternative, UUSA would need to identify another way to transport
UF6 product to the customer, and this alternative shipment
arrangement would result in similar environmental impacts.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
In accordance with NRC policy, on March 20, 2026, the NRC staff
provided a draft of the EA to the State of New Mexico and the State of
Washington for review. The NRC received a comment from the State of New
Mexico on April 8, 2026, after the close of the comment period. The
comment did not result in a change to the staff's assessment of
potential environmental impacts of the proposed action. The staff
responded separately to ensure the stakeholder received clear and
complete closure. No comments were received from the State of
Washington.
On May 19, 2026, the staff notified the states of New Mexico and
Washington that the environmental assessment had been revised to
clarify the terms of the exemption.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed
in accordance with the requirements in 10 CFR part 51, which are the
NRC's NEPA implementing regulations. Based upon the foregoing revised
environmental assessment, the NRC finds that the proposed action of
granting the exemption for the regulation in 10 CFR 71.17(c)(2) and
71.17(c)(3), which require the general licensee and CoC user to comply
with the terms and conditions of the CoC and submit in writing before
the first use of the package, in this particular case limited to the
use of approximately 40 to 50 30B cylinders of UF6 in
calendar years 2026 through 2027 for shipment to a single customer,
would not significantly impact the quality of the human environment.
Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a finding of no significant
impact (FONSI) is
[[Page 30736]]
appropriate, and an environmental impact statement is not warranted.
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./web
Document description link/Federal Register
citation
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Louisiana Energy Services, LLC, also dba ML25281A317.
Urenco USA, exemption request, dated October
8, 2025.
Supplements to request for exemption, dated ML25350C350.
December 16, 2025, February 4, 2026, and ML26035A335.
April 22, 2026. ML26114A114.
NUREG-0170, Final Environmental Statement on ML022590355 (Package).
the Transportation of Radioactive Material ML022590370.
by Air and Other Modes, Volumes 1 and 2,
December 1977.
Final Rule--51.22(c)(13)..................... 49 FR 9352, at 9368.
Certificate of Compliance No. 9362, Revision ML24159A018 (Package).
No. 5, dated June 11, 2024.
NRC email to State of New Mexico, ``Request ML26098A002.
for State comments regarding an
environmental assessment--Urenco USA,''
dated March 20, 2026.
NRC email to State of Washington, ``Request ML26098A001.
for State comments regarding an
environmental assessment--Urenco USA,''
dated March 20, 2026.
State of New Mexico email to NRC, ``Re: ML26099A018.
Request for State comments regarding an
environmental assessment--Urenco USA,''
dated April 8, 2026.
NRC Response to comment from State of New ML26100A208.
Mexico, ``Response to comment re: Request
for State comments regarding and
environmental assessment--Urenco USA,''
dated April 10, 2026.
NRC email to State of New Mexico, ML26139A229.
``Notification of revision to EA re:
proposed exemption for Urenco USA,'' dated
May 19, 2026.
NRC email to State of Washington, ML26139A230.
``Notification of revision to EA re:
proposed exemption for Urenco USA,'' dated
May 19, 2026.
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Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.
Dated: May 20, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Yoira Diaz-Sanabria,
Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel
Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2026-10374 Filed 5-22-26; 8:45 am]
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