[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 169 (Thursday, September 1, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52136-52137]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-4786]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-6622]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Pathfinder Mines 
Corporation, Shirley Basin Site, Carbon County, WY

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen J. Cohen, Project Manager, 
Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and 
Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: 
(301) 415-7182; fax number: (301) 415-5955; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an amendment to 
Materials License No. SUA-442, issued to Pathfinder Mines Corporation 
(the licensee), to authorize alternate concentration limits (ACLs) at 
its Shirley Basin site in Carbon County, WY. NRC has prepared an 
Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this amendment in 
accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. Based on the EA, 
the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) 
is appropriate. The amendment will be issued following the publication 
of this Notice.

II. EA Summary

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to authorize ACLs for 
chloride, radium-226 + -228, selenium, sulfate, thorium-230, total 
dissolved solids (TDS), and uranium at the licensee's Shirley Basin 
site. Specifically, the amendment will replace current ground-water 
protection standards with ACLs because reducing ground-water 
concentrations to meet current standards is not feasible using the 
current ground-water corrective action program (CAP). The Licensee will 
also deactivate the current CAP because approval of the ACLs will bring 
all ground-water constituents of concern into compliance with approved 
standards. The current CAP has significantly reduced concentrations of 
the aforementioned constituents in ground water to the extent that 
deactivating the CAP is not expected to impact human health, safety, 
and the environment.
    On April 3, 2000, Pathfinder Mines Corporation requested that NRC 
approve the proposed amendment. The staff has prepared the EA in 
support of the proposed license amendment. Staff considered impacts to 
land use, geology and soils, water resources, ecology, meteorology, 
climatology, air quality, socioeconomics, historical and cultural 
resources, public and occupational health, and transportation. The 
staff found that the impacts of the proposed action were not 
significant because ground-water remedial actions have significantly 
reduced the areal extent and concentration of hazardous constituents, 
and considerable modeling and ground-water sampling have adequately 
demonstrated that residual groundwater constituent concentrations are 
not expected to impact human health, safety, and the environment.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of the EA, NRC has concluded that there are no 
significant environmental impacts from the proposed amendment and has 
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for 
amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at 
the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide 
Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and 
image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for 
the documents related to this notice are as follows:

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             Document                ADAMS  Accession No.        Date
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Pathfinder Mines Corporation,      ML003701936                    4/3/00
 license amendment request and
 Shirley Basin Application for
 Alternate Concentration Limits.

[[Page 52137]]

 
Pathfinder Mines Corporation,      ML003721101                    6/1/00
 Shirley Basin Application for
 Alternate Concentration Limits,
 Page Revisions for Section 1.3.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory            ML012050189                   7/20/01
 Commission, Request for
 Additional Information--Shirley
 Basin Application for Alternate
 Concentration Limits.
Pathfinder Mines Corporation,      ML012530116                   8/29/01
 Shirley Basin Application for     ML012530146
 Alternate Concentration Limits,
 Response to NRC's Request for
 Information.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service     ML022880471                   9/26/02
 response to NRC, listing the
 threatened, endangered, and
 candidate species that may exist
 in Carbon County, Wyoming.
Pathfinder Mines Corporation,      ML023310580                  11/21/02
 Shirley Basin Application for
 Alternate Concentration Limits,
 Revisions to Section 4--
 Compliance Monitoring.
Wyoming Department of              ML030070703                    1/3/03
 Environmental Quality,
 Classification of Groundwater,
 Shirley Basin Facility.
Pathfinder Mines Corporation,      ML033250352                  11/14/03
 First Response to September 13,
 2003, Request for Additional
 Information--ACL Application.
Pathfinder Mines Corporation,      ML040350749                   1/30/04
 Response to September 13, 2003,
 Request for Additional
 Information--ACL Application.
Wyoming Department of              ML040920255                   3/22/04
 Environmental Quality, Spring
 Creek Stream Assessment, Draft
 Work Plan for Biotic Survey,
 Shirley Basin Site, Wyoming.
Wyoming Department of              ML041410244                   3/22/04
 Environmental Quality, Request
 for Additional Information,
 Pathfinder Mines, Alternate
 Concentration Limits
 Application, Shirley Basin Site,
 Wyoming.
U.S. NRC, to Pathfinder Mines      ML043130569                   11/1/04
 Corporation--Request for
 Additional Information
 Concerning Alternate
 Concentration Limits Application
 for the Shirley Basin, Wyoming
 Site.
Spring Creek Evaluation for        ML050280249                   1/12/05
 Pathfinder Mines Corporation,
 Shirley Basin Mine.
2004 Spring Creek Aquatic Study,   ML050280249                   1/12/05
 Shirley Basin Mine Area, October
 2004.
Wyoming Department of              ML050970395                   3/30/05
 Environmental Quality, Response
 to NRC Request for Additional
 Information, November 1, 2004.
Wyoming Department of              ML050970382                   3/30/05
 Environmental Quality, Biotic
 and Physical Survey of the
 Spring Creek Drainage System in
 the Vicinity of the Shirley
 Basin Mine Tailings Site,
 October 2004.
Environmental Assessment for       ML052270503                   7/31/05
 Amendment to Source Materials
 License SUA-442 for Ground Water
 Alternate Concentration Limits.
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    If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in 
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by e-mail to [email protected]. These documents may also be viewed 
electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's PDR, O 1 
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 20852. 
The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.

    Dated at Rockville, MD, this 25th day of August 2005.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert A. Nelson,
Chief Uranium Processing Section, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, 
Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E5-4786 Filed 8-31-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P