ML18229A330
| ML18229A330 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 04008943 |
| Issue date: | 08/17/2018 |
| From: | NRC/OGC |
| To: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| RAS 54407, ASLBP 13-926-01-MLA-BD01, 40-8943-MLA2 | |
| Download: ML18229A330 (3) | |
Text
UNITED STATES OF AMERI CA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of CROW BUTTE RESOURCES, INC. (Marsland Expansion Area) Docket No. 40-8943-MLA-2 ASLBP No. 13-926-01-MLA-BD01 Hearing Exhibit Exhibit Number: Exhibit Title:
19576 Federal Register/Vol. 83, No. 86/Thursday, May 3, 2018/Notices NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 40-8943; NRC-2012-0281]
Crow Butte Resources, Inc.; Marsland
Expansion Area AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact;
issuance.
SUMMARY
- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
issuance of an amendment to source
materials license SUA-1534 that would
authorize Crow Butte Resources, Inc., to
construct and operate an in situ
uranium recovery (ISR) expansion
facility at the Marsland Expansion Area (MEA) site in Dawes County, Nebraska.
The NRC staff has prepared an
environmental assessment (EA) and
finding of no significant impact (FONSI)
for this licensing action.
DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on May 3, 2018. ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0281 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of
information regarding this document.
You may obtain publicly-available
information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
- Federal Rulemaking website:
Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0281. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer
Borges; telephone: 301-287-9127;
email: Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the
individual listed in the FORFURTHER INFORMATIONCONTACT section of this document.
- NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. To begin the search, select
ADAMS Public Documents and then
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 via
email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. 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:
You may examine and purchase copies of public documents at
the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. FORFURTHERINFORMATIONCONTACT
- Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-
0867, email:
Jean.Trefethen@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARYINFORMATION
- I.Introduction The NRC staff is considering a request for an amendment to source materials
license SUA-1534, issued to Crow Butte
Resources, Inc. (CBR or the licensee), to
authorize construction and operation of
the MEA, an ISR expansion facility that
would be located in Dawes County, Nebraska. In accordance with NRC's
regulations in part 51 of title 10 of the
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),
Environmental Protection Regulations
for Domestic Licensing and Related
Regulatory Functions, that implement
the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.), the NRC staff has prepared an EA documenting its environmental
review of the license amendment
application that included an
environmental report (ADAMS Accession No. ML17325B322) and
technical report, as amended (ADAMS
Accession Nos. ML15328A422, ML16155A267, ML16155A268, and
On December 15, 2017 (82 FR 59665), the NRC issued the draft FONSI and
draft EA for the proposed MEA license
amendment for public review and
comment. The NRC received 20
comments. Appendix A of the EA
contains the NRC's responses to those
comments. Based on the environmental
review and consideration of comments
received on the draft EA, the NRC staff
has determined that the proposed action
will not significantly affect the quality
of the human environment and
preparation of an environmental impact
statement is not required, and therefore
a FONSI is appropriate. II.Summary of Environmental Assessment The EA is publicly available in ADAMS using ADAMS Accession No.
ML18103A145. A summary description
of the proposed action and expected
environmental impacts is provided in
this notice.
Description of the Proposed Action The proposed Federal action is approval of CBR's license amendment application, which would authorize the
expansion of CBR's commercial-scale
uranium recovery operations to the
MEA. Under the proposed action, the
licensee would perform construction, uranium recovery operations, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning activities at the proposed MEA, which
would encompass approximately 4,622
acres (1,870 hectares). The CBR has
proposed eleven production units in the
MEA, which is located 11.1 miles (17.9
kilometers) south-southeast of the
central processing facility (CPF) at the
existing CBR license area. Uranium
recovery operations at the MEA would
include injection of lixiviant into and
pumping of water from the uranium-
bearing aquifer, removal of uranium
from the pumped water using ion
exchange, and transport of loaded ion
exchange resin to the CPF at the existing
CBR license area for further processing
into yellowcake. Approval of the
proposed action would authorize CBR to
conduct uranium recovery operations at
the MEA in accordance with its license
amendment application, source
materials license SUA-1534, and the
requirements in 10 CFR part 40,
Domestic Licensing of Source
Material.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action In the EA, the NRC staff assessed the potential environmental impacts from
the construction, operation, aquifer
restoration, and decommissioning of the
proposed MEA on the following
resource areas: Land use; geology and
soils; water resources; ecological
resources; climatology, meteorology, and air quality; historic and cultural
resources; demographics and
socioeconomics; environmental justice;
transportation; noise; scenic and visual
resources; public and occupational
health; and hazardous materials and
waste management. The NRC staff also
considered the cumulative impacts from
past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable future actions when
combined with the proposed action.
All long-term impacts were determined to be SMALL. The NRC staff
concluded that approval of the proposed
action would not result in a significant
increase in short-term or long-term
radiological risk to public health or the
environment. The NRC staff identified a
potential for MODERATE short-term
impacts to a few resource areas, including noise (temporary impacts to
the nearest resident to the MEA during
construction), ecological resources (localized and temporary impacts
resulting from the loss and slow
recovery of forest habitat), and
groundwater resources (short-term
lowering of the potentiometric surface
of the Basal Chadron Sandstone
aquifer). While potential MODERATE
impacts would be expected for specific
aspects of these resource areas, the
19577 Federal Register/Vol. 83, No. 86/Thursday, May 3, 2018/Notices impacts are short-term and temporary.
Therefore, the NRC staff concluded that
the overall impacts related to these
resource areas would be SMALL.
Furthermore, the NRC staff found that
there would be no significant negative
cumulative impact to any resource area
from the MEA when added to other
past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable future actions, and that a
potential positive cumulative
socioeconomic impact could result from
additional tax revenue, employment, and local purchases.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered denial of the
proposed action (i.e., the no-action
alternative). Under the no-action
alternative, the NRC would not
authorize CBR to construct and operate
the MEA. In situ uranium recovery
activities would not occur within the
MEA and the associated environmental
impacts also would not occur. III.Finding of No Significant Impact In accordance with the NEPA and 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has conducted an environmental review of
CBR's request for a license amendment
to NRC source materials license SUA-
1534 that would authorize construction
and operation of the MEA. Based on its
environmental review of the proposed
action, as documented in the EA, the
NRC staff has determined that granting
the requested license amendment would
not significantly affect the quality of the
human environment. Therefore, the
NRC staff has 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 at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of April, 2018.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Craig G. Erlanger, Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2018-09382 Filed 5-2-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION Submission for OMB Review; Comments Request AGENCY: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
SUMMARY
- Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35), agencies are required to
publish a Notice in the Federal Register
notifying the public that the agency is
modifying an existing previously
approved information collection for
OMB review and approval and requests
public review and comment on the
submission. Comments are being
solicited on the need for the
information; the accuracy of OPIC's
burden estimate; the quality, practical
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and ways to minimize
reporting the burden, including
automated collected techniques and
uses of other forms of technology.
DATES: Comments must be received within sixty (60) calendar days of
publication of this Notice.
ADDRESSES: Mail all comments and requests for copies of the subject form
to OPIC's Agency Submitting Officer:
James Bobbitt, Overseas Private
Investment Corporation, 1100 New York
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20527.
See SUPPLEMENTARYINFORMATION for other information about filing. FORFURTHERINFORMATIONCONTACT
- OPIC Agency Submitting Officer: James
Bobbitt, (202) 336-8558. SUPPLEMENTARYINFORMATION
- All mailed comments and requests for copies of the
subject form should include form
number OPIC-129 on both the envelope
and in the subject line of the letter.
Electronic comments and requests for
copies of the subject form may be sent
to James.Bobbitt@opic.gov, subject line OPIC-129.
Summary Form Under Review Type of Request:
Revision of currently approved information collection.
Title: Sponsor Disclosure Report.
Form Number:
OPIC-129.
Frequency of Use:
One per investor per project.
Type of Respondents:
Business or other institution (except farms);
individuals.
Standard Industrial Classification Codes: All. Description of Affected Public:
U.S. companies or citizens investing
overseas.
Reporting Hours:
500 (1 hour1.157407e-5 days <br />2.777778e-4 hours <br />1.653439e-6 weeks <br />3.805e-7 months <br /> per form). Number of Responses:
500 per year.
Federal Cost:
$27,455 ($54.91 x 500 x 1). Authority for Information Collection:
Sections 231, 234(a), 239(d), and 240A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended.
Abstract (Needs and Uses):
The information provided in the OPIC-129
is used by OPIC as a part of the
Character Risk Due Diligence/
background check procedure (similar to
a commercial bank's Know Your
Customer procedure) that it performs on
each party that has a significant
relationship (10% or more beneficial
ownership, provision of significant
credit support, significant managerial
relationship) to the projects that OPIC
finances or insures. OPIC has a robust
due diligence process that includes
access to electronic databases. Certain
questions that can be addressed through
such electronic databases have been
removed from the OPIC-129 form to
eliminate duplication. These search
tools provide immediate results, and
thus, the OPIC-129 form is only one
aspect of the due diligence review. The
form has also been revised to update the
electronic input fields in a manner that
is consistent with new programming at
OPIC. The form will include limited
drop-down menus tailored to the
specific applicant and OPIC business
line. Dated: April 30, 2018.
Nichole Skoyles, Administrative Counsel, Department of Legal Affairs. [FR Doc. 2018-09397 Filed 5-2-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3210-01-P POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. CP2018-166, MC2018-147 and
CP2018-211]
New Postal Products AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY
- The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing for the Commission's consideration concerning
negotiated service agreements. This
notice informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other
administrative steps.
DATES: Comments are due:
May 4, 2018.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission's
Filing Online system at http://
www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit
comments electronically should contact
the person identified in the FORFURTHER INFORMATIONCONTACT section by telephone for advice on filing
alternatives. FORFURTHERINFORMATIONCONTACT
- David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at
202-789-6820. SUPPLEMENTARYINFORMATION