[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 165 (Friday, August 26, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52597-52598]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-18435]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 40-8943; NRC-2022-0153]
Crow Butte Resources, Inc.; In Situ Uranium Recovery Facility
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft environmental assessment supplement and finding of no
significant impact; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft finding of no significant impact (FONSI) and
accompanying draft supplement to the NRC staff's environmental
assessment (EA) for the license renewal of the Crow Butte Resources,
Inc. (CBR) in situ uranium recovery (ISR) facility located in Dawes
County, Nebraska. Based on the analysis in the draft EA Supplement, the
NRC staff has preliminarily concluded that there will be no significant
impacts to cultural resources from the renewal of CBR's license and,
therefore, a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) remains
appropriate.
DATES: Submit comments by September 26, 2022. Comments received after
this date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but the
Commission 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-2022-0153. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual 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.
Email comments to: [email protected].
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: Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-0867; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 52598]]
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0153 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may
obtain publicly available information related to this action by the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0153.
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 Web-based ADAMS
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or
by email to [email protected]. The draft Supplemental EA can be
found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML22223A161.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR),
Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland 20852. 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 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Project Website: Information related to the CBR project
can be accessed on the NRC's CBR website at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/materials/uranium/licensed-facilities/crow-butte.html. Under the
section titled ``Operating,'' scroll down to ``Key Documents'' and
click on Draft EA, Draft Report for Comment.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2022-0153 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 is issuing for public comment the draft FONSI and
accompanying draft Supplement to the NRC staff's EA for the license
renewal of CBR's ISR facility. The draft Supplement describes the NRC
staff's efforts to address the deficiencies identified in the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board's partial initial decision (LBP-16-7), which
found that the NRC staff did not meet its identification obligations
under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and was deficient
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) ``for failing to
take a hard look at potential TCPs [traditional cultural properties]
within the Crow Butte license area[.]'' Specifically, the Supplement
describes the methodology, implementation, and results of the 2021
tribal cultural survey to identify sites of significance to the Oglala
Sioux Tribe. It also documents the NRC staff's evaluation of the
identified sites according to the criteria for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and the NRC staff's assessment of
potential impacts of the license renewal on the identified sites under
the NHPA (for sites eligible for the NRHP) or NEPA (for other sites of
significance to the Tribe). Based on these evaluations in the EA
Supplement, the NRC staff preliminarily concludes that there will be no
significant impacts to cultural resources identified during the 2021
tribal cultural survey. Accordingly, based on the 2014 EA and the draft
EA Supplement, the staff has preliminarily concluded that an
environmental impact statement is not necessary and a FONSI remains
appropriate.
III. Draft Finding of No Significant Impact
Based on its review of the proposed action, in accordance with the
requirements in part 51 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR), ``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing
and Related Regulatory Functions,'' the NRC staff has preliminarily
concluded that the proposed action, renewal of NRC Source Materials
License No. SUA-1534 for CBR's ISR facility located in Crawford,
Nebraska, will not have a significant impact on the cultural resources
discussed in the EA Supplement and will not significantly affect the
quality of the human environment. Therefore, the NRC staff has
preliminarily determined, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that preparation of
an environmental impact statement is not required for the proposed
action and a FONSI is appropriate.
Dated: August 23, 2022.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John M. Moses,
Deputy Director, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental and Financial
Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2022-18435 Filed 8-25-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P