[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 112 (Thursday, June 11, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35584-35585]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-11785]
[[Page 35584]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-7038; EISX-429-00-000-1770360643; NRC-2026-2906]
Orano Enrichment USA LLC; Uranium Enrichment Facility; Notice of
Intent To Conduct Scoping Process and Prepare Environmental Impact
Statement
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will conduct a
scoping process to gather information necessary to prepare an
environmental impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the environmental
impacts of issuing a license to Orano Enrichment USA, LLC (Orano) to
construct and operate a gaseous centrifuge uranium enrichment facility
in Roane County, Tennessee. As part of the EIS development process, the
NRC is seeking comments on the scope of the EIS. The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management will be a
cooperating agency in the preparation of the EIS.
DATES: Submit comments on the scope of the EIS by July 13, 2026.
Comments received after this 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 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-2026-2906. 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-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: Stacey Imboden, telephone: 301-415-
2462; email: [email protected], or Patrick Donohue, telephone:
301-415-5237; email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards at the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2026-2906 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding 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-2026-2906.
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.
Public Library: A copy of the environmental report for the
Orano license application is available for review at the Oak Ridge
Public Library, 1401 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2026-2906 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
By letters dated January 30, 2026 (ADAMS Package Accession No.
ML26030A236) and March 27, 2026 (ADAMS Package Accession No.
ML26086A377), Orano submitted to the NRC an application for a license
to construct and operate a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility
in Roane County, Tennessee, to be known as Project IKE. The requested
license would authorize Orano to receive title to, own, acquire,
receive, possess, use, and transfer 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 gas centrifuge enrichment technology to enrich
uranium. The requested license would authorize Orano to enrich uranium
hexafluoride up to and including a maximum of 10 weight percent
uranium-235 for use in nuclear fuel applications.
The Orano Project IKE enrichment facility would be located on
approximately 600 acres of undeveloped land located within the city
limits of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The site was acquired from the DOE
through the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board. DOE will act as a
cooperating agency in developing the EIS with the NRC. The
responsibilities of each cooperating agency have been established in a
Memorandum of Understanding, dated April 23, 2026, which can be found
in ADAMS under Accession No. ML26099A038.
The NRC staff completed an acceptance review of Orano's license
application and determined it contains sufficient information for the
NRC to conduct a detailed technical review. An acceptance letter was
issued to Orano on May 21, 2026 (ADAMS Accession No. ML26134A324).
[[Page 35585]]
III. Request for Comment
This notice informs the public of the NRC's intention to conduct
environmental scoping and prepare an EIS regarding the license
application for the Orano Project IKE enrichment facility in accordance
with part 51 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),
``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and
Related Regulatory Functions.'' This notice also provides the public an
opportunity to participate in the environmental scoping process, as
defined in 10 CFR 51.29, ``Scoping-environmental impact statement and
supplement to environmental impact statement.''
The EIS will address the potential impacts from the proposed action
and its alternatives. As part of its environmental review, the NRC will
first conduct a scoping process and, as soon as practicable thereafter,
will prepare a draft EIS for public comment. Participation in this
scoping process by members of the public and local, State, Tribal, and
Federal government agencies is encouraged. While the NRC will not hold
a public scoping meeting, persons may participate in the scoping
process by submitting written comments, as explained in this notice,
regarding the appropriate scope of the EIS, including significant
environmental issues to be analyzed in depth, as well as those that
should be eliminated from detailed study because they are peripheral or
are not significant. In accordance with 10 CFR 51.29, the scoping
process for the draft EIS will be used to accomplish the following:
a. Define the proposed action that is to be the subject of the EIS;
b. Determine the scope of the EIS and identify the significant
issues to be analyzed in depth;
c. Identify and eliminate from the detailed study those issues that
are peripheral or are not significant or that have been covered by
prior environmental review;
d. Identify any environmental assessments and other ElSs that are
being or will be prepared that are related to, but are not part of, the
scope of the EIS under consideration;
e. Identify other environmental review and consultation
requirements related to the proposed action;
f. Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation
of the environmental analyses and the NRC's tentative planning and
decision-making schedule;
g. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate
assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the EIS to the
NRC and any cooperating agencies; and
h. Describe how the EIS will be prepared, including any contractor
assistance to be used.
In accordance with 10 CFR 51.28, ``Scoping--participants,'' the NRC
invites the following persons to participate in the scoping process:
a. The applicant, Orano;
b. Any Federal agency that has jurisdiction by law or special
expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved or that is
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards;
c. Affected State and local government agencies, including those
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards;
d. Any affected Indian Tribe;
e. Any person who requests or has requested an opportunity to
participate in the scoping process; and
f. Any person who has petitioned or intends to petition for leave
to intervene under 10 CFR 2.309.
Participation in the scoping process for Orano's Project IKE
enrichment facility EIS does not entitle participants to become parties
to the proceeding to which the EIS relates.
After the close of the scoping period, the NRC staff will prepare a
concise summary of its scoping process, the comments received, and the
NRC's responses to substantive comments. The summary will be made
available to the public as an appendix to the draft EIS and will be
sent to each participant in the scoping process for whom the NRC staff
has an email or mailing address.
The NRC will also provide a public comment period for the draft
EIS. Availability of the draft EIS and the dates of the public comment
period will be announced in a future Federal Register notice. The final
EIS will include the NRC's responses to public comments received on the
draft EIS.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.
Dated: June 9, 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. 2026-11785 Filed 6-10-26; 8:45 am]
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