ML25022A304
| ML25022A304 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 01/31/2025 |
| From: | Tievy E NRC/NMSS/DFM/FFLB |
| To: | Lav S NRC/NMSS/DFM/FFLB |
| References | |
| Download: ML25022A304 (1) | |
Text
January 31, 2025 MEMORANDUM TO: Samantha Lav, Chief Fuel Facility Licensing Branch Division of Fuel Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards FROM:
Ethan J. Tievy, Project Manager Fuel Facility Licensing Branch Division of Fuel Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
SUBJECT:
SUMMARY
OF DECEMBER 10, 2024, PARTIALLY CLOSED MEETING WITH ORANO USA TO DISCUSS PRE-APPLICATION FOR A NEW ENRICHMENT FACILITY The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff conducted a hybrid meeting with representatives from Orano USA on December 10, 2024. The meeting consisted of a public session followed by a closed session for the purpose of generally discussing the upcoming application from Orano.
I am enclosing the meeting summary for your use. The summary contains no proprietary or sensitive information and has been reviewed by both, NRC and Orano USA staffs, for factual correctness.
Enclosures:
1.
Summary of December 10, 2024, Meeting with Orano USA
- 2. Participants List cc: Peter Vescovi, Licensing Manager Orano USA CONTACT: Ethan J. Tievy, NMSS/DFM Signed by Tievy, Ethan on 01/31/25
ML25022A304 OFFICE NMSS/DFM/FFLB NMSS/DFM/FFLB NMSS/DFM/FFLB NAME ETievy OSiurano-Perez JGoodridge DATE 01/24/2025 01/26/2025 01/27/2025 OFFICE NMSS/DFM/FFLB NMSS/DFM/FFLB NAME JRowley for SLav ETievy DATE 01/31/2025 01/31/2025 ORANO ENRICHMENT USA
SUMMARY
OF PARTIALLY CLOSED MEETING DATE AND TIME:
December 10, 2024, 9:50 AM - 12:40 PM LOCATION:
Hybrid - HQ-TWFN-03D06 MEETING PARTICIPANTS (see also Attachment 1):
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Orano USA (Orano)
Shana Helton, et. al.
Jean-Luc Vincent, CEO, et.al BACKGROUND Earlier this year, Orano USA, previously Areva Enrichment Services (AES) and Areva Nuclear Materials (ANM), informed the NRC its intention to apply for a new license for a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility to be licensed pursuant to the requirements in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 70, Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material.
This application for a new facility, known as Project IKE, is being proposed for a site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, following the design of the withdrawn license for the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility (EREF) with AES/ANM, with the primary difference being the location of the facility.
SUMMARY
OF DISCUSSIONS Public Session During this portion of the meeting, Orano discussed its organization, plans for uranium enrichment activities in the US, previous interactions and discussions with the NRC, and information intended to be provided in the application. Below is a summary of the discussions under each of these.
A. Orano Organization Orano provided an overview of the fields that it operates in, including mining, conversion, enrichment, recycling, logistics, engineering, decommissioning, and nuclear medicine.
Orano also noted that it owns and operates the Georges Besse II gas centrifuge enrichment facility in France. Orano is looking to increase its enrichment capacity worldwide due to the current geopolitical context.
B. Enrichment in the US Orano is headquartered in Bethesda, MD, and created Orano Enrichment USA, LLC to build, commission, and operate chemistry and enrichment facilities in the U.S. Orano plans to provide enriched uranium to meet the increasing demands in the U.S. mainly driven by the ban on Russian imported uranium, the U.S. commitment to triple nuclear capacity by 2050, and the increased role of nuclear energy for powering data centers, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. Orano plans to accomplish this with Project IKE, a new enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Project IKE is planned to follow a similar design to the terminated EREF license, with the main difference being the location of the proposed facility.
2 C. Interactions with the NRC Orano has over 50 years of working with the NRC for licensing requirements and is a member of the Nuclear Energy Institute Fuel Facility Operations Committee and Fuel Cycle Facility Security Managers Committee. Orano intends on following NRC guidance in NUREG-1520, Standard Review Plan for Fuel Cycle Facilities License Applications, Revision 2, being available for audits/in-office reviews, attending quarterly drop-in meetings with NRC management, providing timely responses to requests for information, and having consistent and frequent communications with the NRC and project manager. According to its plans, Orano intends to submit its license application in the first quarter of 2026 and get the NRC license issued by the third quarter of 2027.
D. Licensing and Documentation With is application, Orano plans to include a guide or crosswalk comparing the application for the new facility against the application for the EREF.
Following these discussions, a questions and answers session was conducted. Among other issues, the NRC staff requested Orano to clarify whether their planned timeline for the application and the NRC staff review included time for the mandatory hearing required pursuant to 10 CFR 70.23a, Hearing required for uranium enrichment facility. On this regard, Orano stated that the timeline does not account the time for the hearing. A short discussion on Oranos plans for submitting their application was conducted. On this regard, Orano plans to submit a request for an exemption from the requirements in 10 CFR 51.60(a), "Environmental Report -
Materials Licenses" and 70.21(h), "Filing," in order to submit the Environmental Report (ER) required by 10 CFR 51 separately from and before the remainder of the application is submitted to the NRC (i.e., bifurcation of the application). The NRC staff brought to attention that timelines for environmental reviews may not fit into the schedule under the Fiscal Responsibility Act since this timeline is 12 months, and the timeline for an environmental impact statement is 24 months, after acceptance of the application, respectively.
Following the conclusion of these discussions, the public was afforded an opportunity to discuss, ask questions, and/or provide comments on the topics discussed during the meeting.
There were no questions by members of the public. However, a comment thanking NRC and Orano for conducting this meeting was provided. Following the public participation session, the meeting was adjourned at around 11:30 am after NRC staff and Orano representatives closing remarks.
Closed Session During this portion of the meeting, Orano and the NRC discussed Oranos licensing strategy and Oranos project management plan. Below is a summary of the discussions under each of these.
3 A. Licensing Strategy Orano gave a preliminary layout for the proposed IKE Enrichment Facility and basic data about processes, centrifuge types, enrichment levels and enrichment capacity. Orano will also provide a comparison matrix to the NRC focusing on similarities and differences between the EREFs application and the IKE application intended to assist the NRC staff to streamline the review process. Orano also discussed a potential approach for reducing the time for conducting the NRC staff review of the application and to increase the overall efficiency of the process for both Orano and the NRC staff as well.
B. Project Management Plan Orano discussed a preliminary timeline for Project IKE including estimated application submittal dates, construction timelines, and anticipated operation timeline. Under this timeline, Orano would submit their request to be exempted from the 10 CFR 51.60(a) and 70.21(h) requirements by the end of January 2025, the ER by fall of 2025, and the remainder of the application by early 2026.
Following the conclusion of the discussion between the NRC and Orano USA, the meeting was adjourned at around 12:40 pm.
Action items During the meeting, Orano requested information regarding bifurcation of an application and on construction at risk. The NRC committed to provide the information as soon as possible.
Principal contributors Osiris Siurano-Pérez, Project Manager, NMSS/DFM Ethan Tievy, Project Manager, NMSS/DFM Diana Woodyat, Project Manager, NMSS/DFM December 10, 2024, Orano Enrichment USA Pre-Application Meeting Attendance List Name Organization Eben Allen U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Santiago Aguilar NRC Suzanne Ani NRC Lionel Antognelli Orano Enrichment USA (Orano)
Oliver Barrett Unverified Andrew Barto NRC Samuel Bazian NRC Gilberto Blas NRC Tom Boyce NRC Mike Call NRC Michael Callahan Unverified Jesse Carlson NRC Nicole Cortes NRC Logan Crevelt NRC Douglas Diethrich NRC Tim Eveleigh Orano Harry Felsher NRC David Furst NRC Eliezer Goldfeiz NRC Amitava Ghosh NRC Tekia Govan NRC James Hammelman NRC Holly Harvey Unverified Shana Helton NRC Stacey Imboden NRC Diane Jackson NRC Patricia Jehle NRC Andrea Jennetta SP Global Andrea Johnson NRC Dante Johnson NRC Isaac Johnston NRC Benjamin Karmiol NRC Kenneth Kline NRC Sylvie Kramer Orano Langston Lewis NRC Ming Li NRC KIM Loris (FRA-FL)
Framatome Juan Lopez NRC Matthieu Lucas Orano Mark MacDonald NRC Dave McIntyre NRC Brian Mekdeci Orano Eric C Michel NRC Fred Miller NRC
2 Alexander Sapountzis NRC Osiris Siurano-Pérez NRC Alexis Sotomayor-Rivera NRC John Russell NRC Zee St Hilaire NRC Robert Sun NRC Louie Swallow Urenco David H. Tiktinsky Orano Spencer Toohill Unverified Glenn Tuttle NRC Cameron Ubben NRC Yilia Vega Claudio NRC Peter Vescovi Orano Jean-Luc Vincent Orano Diana Woodyatt NRC Greg Unverified Brian Wagner NRC 15712433778 Unverified 17033036478 Unverified Tim Unverified