[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 166 (Friday, August 27, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52780-52781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-21126]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2009-0364]
Notice of Availability of Final Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement for the Moore Ranch In-situ Recovery Project in Campbell
County, Wyoming, Supplement to the Generic Environmental Impact
Statement for In-situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) has published a final Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement (SEIS) to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement
for In-situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities (GEIS), (NUREG-1910,
Supplement 1) regarding the Moore Ranch In-Situ Recovery Project in
Campbell County, Wyoming. By letter dated October 2, 2007, Energy
Metals Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uranium One Americas
(Uranium One), submitted an application to the NRC for a new source
material license for the proposed Moore Ranch Project, located in
southwest Campbell County, Wyoming. Uranium One is proposing to recover
uranium from the Moore Ranch site using the in-situ leach (also known
as the in-situ recovery [ISR]) process. In this final SEIS, the NRC
staff assessed the environmental impacts from the construction,
operation, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning of the proposed
Moore Ranch ISR Project.
In addition to the proposed action, the NRC staff assessed the no-
action alternative in the final SEIS. Under this alternative, NRC would
deny Uranium One's request to construct, operate, conduct aquifer
restoration, and decommission an ISR facility at the Moore Ranch
Project. Possible alternatives that were considered, but were
eliminated from detailed analysis include: conventional mining (whether
by open pit or underground techniques) and conventional milling or heap
leach processing. However, given the substantial environmental impacts
of these alternatives, they were not further considered. The NRC staff
also evaluated alternative lixiviants, alternative wastewater disposal
options, and an alternative site location within the proposed license
area. For reasons discussed in the SEIS, these alternatives were also
eliminated from further consideration.
As discussed in Section 2.3 of the final SEIS, unless safety issues
mandate otherwise, the NRC staff's recommendation to the Commission
related to the environmental aspects of the proposed action is that the
source material license be issued as requested. This recommendation is
based upon (1) the license application, including the environmental
report submitted by Uranium One and the applicant's supplemental
letters and responses to the NRC staff's requests for additional
information; (2) consultation with Federal, State, Tribal, and local
agencies; (3) the NRC staff's independent review; (4) the NRC staff's
consideration of comments received on the draft SEIS; and (5) the
assessments summarized in this SEIS.
The final SEIS for the Moore Ranch ISR Project may be accessed on
the internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1910/s1/. Additionally, the NRC maintains an Agencywide
Documents and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image
files of the NRC's public documents. The SEIS may also be accessed
through the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the internet at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The ``Environmental Impact
Statement for the Moore Ranch ISR Project in Campbell County, Wyoming--
Supplement to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In-situ
Leach Uranium Milling Facilities'' is available electronically under
ADAMS Accession Number ML102290470. If you do not have access to ADAMS
or if there is a problem accessing documents located in ADAMS, contact
the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1 (800) 397-4209,
1 (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected]. Hard copies of
the final SEIS are available upon request. Both information and
[[Page 52781]]
documents associated with the final SEIS are also available for
inspection at the Commission's PDR, NRC's Headquarters Building, 11555
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. For those without
access to the Internet, paper copies of any electronic documents may be
obtained for a fee by contacting the NRC's PDR at 1 (800) 397-4209. The
final SEIS and related documents may also be found at the following
public library: Campbell County Public Library, 2101 South 4J Road,
Gillette, Wyoming 82718, 307-687-0009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Behram Shroff, Project Manager,
Environmental Review Branch-B, Division of Waste Management and
Environmental Protection (DWMEP), Office of Federal and State Materials
and Environmental Management Programs, Mail Stop T-8F5, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: 1 (800)
368-5642, extension 0666; E-mail: [email protected]. For general or
technical information associated with the safety and licensing of
uranium milling facilities, please contact Stephen Cohen, Team Lead,
Uranium Recovery Licensing Branch, DWMEP, Mail Stop T-8F5, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: 1 (800)
368-5642, extension 7182; E-mail: [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of August 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David Skeen,
Acting Deputy Director, Environmental Protection and Performance
Assessment Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental
Protection Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental
Management Programs.
[FR Doc. 2010-21126 Filed 8-26-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P