ML24366A043
| ML24366A043 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07007004 |
| Issue date: | 12/19/2024 |
| From: | American Centrifuge Operating |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards |
| Shared Package | |
| ML24366A069 | List: |
| References | |
| ACO 24-0108 LA-3605-0002 | |
| Download: ML24366A043 (1) | |
Text
Enclosure 3 of ACO 24-0108 Proposed Changes for LA-3605-0002, Environmental Report for the American Centrifuge Plant Information Contained Within Does Not Contain Export Controlled Information Reviewing Official :
Lori A. 1 lawk A 0 Date:
12/ 18/2024
Environmental Report for the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio Proposed Change LA-3605-0002 Docket No. 70-7004 December 2024 Information contained within does not contain Export Controlled Information Reviewer:
Lori A. llawk, ACO Date:
12/18/2024
Blanlt Page
Environmental Report for the American Centrifuge Plant Proposed Change EM4RONMENTAL REPORT FOR THE AMERICAN CENTRIFUGE PLANT in Pili:eten, Ohie Docket Ne. 70 7004 Revision 21 December 2024 LA J60S 0002
Environmental Report for the American Centrifuge Plant Proposed Change Bionic Page December 2024
Environmental Report for the American Centr(fuge Plant Proposed Change December 2024 Page No.
Revision Page No.
Revision Cover Page 21 1-15 19 Inside Co*,cer Page u
1-16 19 ULOEP-1 through 21 1-17 19 ULOEP-6 1-18 19 I
17 1-19 19 Ii 17 1-20 19 Iii 17 1-21 19 Iv 17 1-22 19 V
17 1-23 19 Vi 17 1-24 19 VII 17 1-25 19 VIII 17 1-26 19 Ix 17 1-27 19 X
17 l-28 19 Xi 17 1-29 19 XII 17 1-30 19 Executive Summary - 1 17 2-1 17 Executive Summary - 2 17 2-2 20 Executive Summary - 3 17 2-3 20 Executive Summary - 4 17 2-4 17 Executive Summary - 5 17 2-5 17 Executive Summary - 6 17 2-6 17 1-1 17 2-7 17 1-2 17 2-8 17 1-3 17 2-9 17 1-4 17 2-10 17 1-5 21 2-l 1 17 1-6 20 2-12 17 1-7 21 2-13 17 1-8 21 2-14 17 1-9 21 2-15 17 1-10 21 2-16 17 1-11 21 2-17 17 1-1 2 19 2-18 17 1-1 3 19 2-19 17 1-14 19 2-20 17 ULOEP-2
FOR INFORMATION ONLY Environmental Report/or the American Centr{fuge Plant Proposed Change
1.0 INTRODUCTION
December 2024 American Centrifuge Operating, LLC (ACO), the Licensee is the applicant for a license to construct and operate a uranium enrichment facility. The Licensee is the only private corporation providing enrichment services to the nuclear industry and the only domestic supplier of enriched uranium. The license authorizes the Licensee to possess and use special nuclear, source, and by-product material in the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP). As required by l O Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 51, this Environmental Report (ER) is being submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by the Licensee to support licensing of the ACP. The ACP is an important step toward advancing the national energy security goals of maintaining a reliable and economical domestic source of enriched uranium. The Licensee proposes -
as the Proposed Action -
to locate the ACP at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reservation in Piketon, Ohio in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, l O CFR Parts 70, 40, and 30, and other applicable laws and regulations.
This ER is organized in accordance with the guidance contained in NUREG-1748, Environmental Review Guidance for Licensing Actions Associated with NMSS Programs, dated August 2003. Chapter 1.0 provides an introduction and background on the history of the site, and discusses why the Licensee is requesting, from the NRC, a license to construct and operate a uranium enrichment facility. Chapter 2.0 discusses the Proposed Action and alternatives including the No Action Alternative and siting alternatives. Chapter 3.0 discusses the existing environmental conditions at the DOE reservation in Piketon, Ohio, and Chapter 4.0 discusses how those conditions would be modified, if any, by the ACP. Chapter 5.0 discusses any mitigation measures employed by the ACP. Chapter 6.0 discusses the environmental measurement and monitoring program utilized for the ACP. Chapter 7.0 discusses the Cost Benefit Analysis. Chapter 8.0 provides the summary of any environmental consequences from deployment of the ACP. Chapters 9.0 and l 0.0 contain a list of references and preparers, respectively. Chapter 11.0 contains a Glossary of terms used in this ER. Appendices contain Acronyms and Abbreviations; Chemicals and Units of Measure; Metric/English Conversion Chart; Metric Prefixes; Consultation Letters; Environmental Impact of Decommissioning; Proprietary Cost Benefit Analysis; and ER Tables and Figures.
This ER has bounded the size and schedule of the ACP at an annual 7.6 million SWU (four process buildings and support facilities) to facilitate the license amendment process for future expansion from a 3.8 million SWU licensed plant.
1.0.1 Background The DOE reservation is located at latitude 39°00'30" north and longitude 83°00'00" west measured at the center of the DOE reservation on approximately 1,497 ha (3,700 acres) in Pike County, Ohio, one of the state's lesser populated counties. The DOE reservation is located between Chillicothe and Portsmouth, Ohio, approximately 113 kilometers (km) (70 miles [mi])
south of Columbus, Ohio.
The general location is an area of steep to gently rolling hills, with average elevations of 37 meters (m) (120 feet [ft]) above the Scioto River valley. The steep hills characteristically are 1-1
FOR INFORMATION ONLY Environmental Report for the American Centrifuge Plant Proposed Change December 2024 and water, exposure to personnel, and personnel injuries/illnesses were monitored to enable assessment of environmental impacts. Based on this monitoring, it was concluded that operation of the Lead Cascade did not result in any unanticipated releases, discharges, or exposures to the environment, the public, or employees (DP-2605-0001 ). Decommissioning efforts of the Lead Cascade were completed in 2018.
American Centrifuge Plant The ACP was the third step in the plan to deploy the American Centrifuge technology. The ACP encompasses the construction, startup, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of a uranium enrichment process to produce, as an initial target, 3.8 million SWU per year, potentially expandable to 7.6 million SWU per year, using American Centrifuge technology. The ACP utilizes existing buildings located on the DOE reservation near Piketon, Ohio, that were built to support the gaseous diffusion process beginning in the 1950s and the gaseous centrifuge process beginning in the 1980s, in addition to several newly constructed buildings and facilities.
American Centrifuge technology is modular, with the basic building block of enrichment capacity being a cascade of centrifuges. Information gained and work performed during the Demonstration Project and Lead Cascade included vital information on performance, reliability, and economics that will be used in the final construction of the ACP.
A license application for the ACP was prepared pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended, 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 70, 40, 30, and other applicable laws and regulations. The ACP LEU cascade is designed to enrich and safely contain and handle uranium hexafluoride (UF6) up to 10 weight (wt.) percent 235U.
The ACP uses portions of the DOE reservation and the former DOE GCEP along with eight new proposed facilities. The ACP utilizes existing utilities and infrastructure that support the DOE reservation including the utilities and infrastructure that were intended to support GCEP. New proposed facilities may be necessary for feed, withdrawal, sampling, and blending/transfer operations. The Licensee has updated the American Centrifuge technology from that used in the GCEP program, but the American Centrifuge components remain compatible with existing infrastructure and facilities.
On October 31, 2019, ACO signed a contract with the DOE to deploy a cascade of centrifuges to demonstrate production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel with existing United States origin enrichment technology and provide DOE with HALEU for near term use in its research and development for the advancement of civilian nuclear energy and national security, as well as other programmatic missions. HALEU is a component for advanced nuclear reactor fuel that is not commercially available today and may be required for a number of advanced reactor designs currently under development in both the commercial and government sectors. The program has been under way since the Licensee and DOE signed a preliminary letter agreement on May 31, 2019, which allowed work to begin while the full contract was being finalized.
On November 10, 2022, the DOE announced an approximately $150 million cost-shared award with ACO to demonstrate the nation's ability to produce HALEU. This award builds on 1-7
Environmental Report for the American Centrifuge Plant Proposed Change December 2024 DOE's previous three-year cascade demonstration program with ACO to manufacture and demonstrate the centrifuge enrichment cascade to produce up to 600 kilograms of HALEU in the form of UF6 for the DOE contract that expires on November 30, 2022.
This new HALEU performance-based contract will have three phases. During Phase I of the new contract, ACO wi II complete the final steps of centrifuge assembly and clear an operational readiness review (ORR) to start up the demonstration cascade. ACO will complete testing once the centrifuges have been installed and process gas (feed material) has been introduced following the required NRC ORRs. Once the HALEU demonstration cascade is operational, ACO will begin enriching UF6 gas to produce HALEU, meeting the contract requirement for the initial 20 kilograms of HALEU. Upon completion of Phase I, ACO plans to continue to produce HALEU under Phase II up to the NRC authorized possession limits. Phase II includes production of a minimum 900 kilograms of HALEU to a nominal 19.75 wt. percent 235U. Completion of Phases I and II are considered the Base Contract._ After completion of the Base Contract, the contract allows DOE to enter into a Phase III, which W£Ould exercise up to three three-year option periods for a combined total of 10 years of production (Phases II and III) at a minimum production level of 900 kilograms of HALEU per year.
The Licensee' s long-term goal is to resume commercial enrichment production consistent with market demand. It is the intent of the Licensee to deploy portions of the ACP in a modular fashion to accommodate market demand on a scalable, economical gradation. This modular deployment will encompass util ization of cascades of LEU production for customer product or feed material into HALEU cascades.
Results from the operation of the HALEU demonstration program will be used in preparation of the design for the full-scale ACP facility. During the process of remediation, construction, infrastructure modification, manufacturing, and test operations for the scope of this ER, the design for these elements are reviewed for compliance with regulatory standards for releases, emissions, and wastes generated and for minimization of the quantity and toxicity of the materials used and wastes generated.
1.1 Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action Nuclear power generates about 20 percent of the electricity for the United States.
Construction and operation of a gas centrifuge plant utilizing the US-origin advanced technology is key to supporting DOE's national energy security goals by providing a reliable and secure domestic source of enriched uranium. The primary purpose of this action is to allow the Licensee to construct and operate a plant to enrich uranium up to IO weight (wt.) percent with an initial capacity of approximately 3.8 million SWU expandable to 7.6 million SWU, at the Licensee's option, using advanced U.S. centrifuge technology at the DOE reservation located in Piketon, Ohio.
The gas centrifuge is an enrichment process that increases the concentration of 235U, the isotope desired for production of nuclear energy. The gas centrifuge process has three inherent characteristics that make it particularly attractive: (l) it is a proven technology; (2) it has low operating cost; and (3) it is amenable to modular architecture. The low energy requirements of gas 1-8