[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 14 (Thursday, January 22, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3184-3185]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-1318]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 40-8964]
Finding of No Significant Impact and Notice of Availability of
the Environmental Assessment Concerning the License Amendment Request
for the Operation of the Gas Hills Project Satellite In Situ Leach
Uranium Recovery Facility
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding
of No Significant Impact.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rick Weller, Fuel Cycle Facilities
Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Mail Stop T8-A33, Washington DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-7287
and e-mail [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received, by letter
dated June 24, 1998, a request from Power Resources Inc. (PRI) to amend
Source Materials License SUA-1511 for the Highland Uranium Project to
allow the operation of a satellite in situ leach uranium recovery
facility at the Gas Hills Project site located in Fremont and Natrona
Counties, Wyoming. PRI subsequently acquired the operating Smith Ranch
in situ leach uranium recovery facility located adjacent to the
Highland Uranium Project and, in August 2003, the Highland license
(SUA-1511) was integrated into the Smith Ranch Source Materials License
SUA-1548. As such, PRI's request to amend the Highland license for the
Gas Hills Project became a request to amend the Smith Ranch license
(SUA-1548) upon the combination of the two licenses for these
contiguous facilities.
Pursuant to the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51 (Environmental
Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory
Functions), the NRC has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) to
evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the proposed
operation of the Gas Hills Project satellite in situ leach uranium
recovery facility. Based on this evaluation, the NRC has concluded that
a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate for the
proposed licensing action.
II. Summary of the Environmental Assessment
The EA was prepared to evaluate the environmental impacts
associated with the proposed operation of the Gas Hills Project
satellite in situ leach uranium recovery facility. In the conduct of
its evaluation, the NRC considered the following: (1) PRI's license
amendment application, as supplemented and revised, (2) information
contained in prior environmental evaluations of uranium recovery
activities in the Gas Hills Uranium District of Wyoming, and (3)
information derived from NRC site visits to the Gas Hills Project site
and from communications with PRI, the Wyoming Department of
Environmental Quality, the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office,
the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the Wyoming State Geological
Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management. In preparing the EA, the NRC evaluated the environmental
impacts associated with the construction, operation, reclamation, and
decommissioning of the Gas Hills Project, including the impacts to air
quality, local soils, surface water, groundwater, cultural resources,
and threatened and endangered species. Additionally, the NRC evaluated
the potential impacts to members of the public from transportation
activities and from releases of radioactive materials to the
environment and disposal of radioactive wastes. The results of the
staff's evaluation are documented in an EA which is available
electronically for public inspection or from the Publicly Available
Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). The safety
aspects of the Gas Hills Project are discussed separately in a Safety
Evaluation Report that will accompany the agency's final licensing
action on PRI's request to amend Source Materials License SUA-1548.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
Pursuant to 10 CFR Part 51, the NRC has prepared the EA, summarized
above, concerning the proposed operation of the Gas Hills Project
satellite in situ leach uranium recovery facility. On the basis of the
EA, the NRC has concluded that this licensing action would not have any
significant effect on the quality of the environment, and, therefore,
an environmental impact statement is not required. The NRC has
concluded that the approval of the Gas Hills Project will not cause any
significant impacts on the environment and is protective of human
health. The basis for this conclusion is supported by the following
findings. The NRC has determined that the Gas Hills Project will not
result in any adverse impacts to regional surface water or groundwater.
A groundwater monitoring program will be established to detect both
horizontal and vertical excursions of the circulating groundwater used
to leach uranium from the subsurface ore bodies. Any groundwater
impacted by these uranium recovery operations will be restored to
baseline water quality conditions or, as a minimum, to the pre-mining
Wyoming class-of-use water quality standards. All radioactive wastes
generated by facility operations will be disposed offsite at a licensed
disposal site. Evaporation ponds constructed for the temporary storage
of process waste streams will be provided with both primary and
secondary liners and leakage detection and collection capability.
Standard operating procedures will be established for all operational
process activities involving radioactive materials that are handled,
processed, or stored. Radiological effluents from the operation of the
well-field, ion exchange, and water treatment facilities will be a
small fraction of regulatory limits, and an environmental and effluent
monitoring program will monitor all releases. A radiation protection
program will be established to ensure that exposures will be kept as
low as is reasonably achievable.
IV. Further Information
The EA for this proposed action as well as the licensee's request,
as supplemented and revised, are available electronically for public
inspection in the NRC's Public Document Room or from the Publicly
Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS).
ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
[[Page 3185]]
The ADAMS Accession Numbers for the licensee's request, as supplemented
and revised, are: ML030300468, ML030300472, ML030300495, ML030300504,
ML030300524, ML030300553, ML030300554, ML030300612, ML030300622,
ML030300672, ML030300719, ML030310080, ML030310108, ML030310133,
ML030310195, ML030310304, ML030310343, ML030310345, ML030310352,
ML030310413, ML030310415, ML030310499, ML030310503, ML030310519,
ML030310529, ML030310540, (June 24, 1998); ML023640335, ML023640343,
(September 24, 1999); ML993300211 (November 11, 1999); and ML021340187
(May 3, 2002). The ADAMS Accession Numbers for the EA are: ML040070538
and ML040070311. Documents can also be examined and/or copied for a
fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room, located at One White Flint
North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Any questions with
respect to this action should be referred to Rick Weller, Fuel Cycle
Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office
of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Mail Stop T8-A33, Washington DC 20555-0001, telephone (301)
415-7287.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of January, 2004.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Rick Weller,
Senior Project Manager, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel
Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 04-1318 Filed 1-21-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P