ML25036A341
| ML25036A341 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07007038 |
| Issue date: | 02/05/2025 |
| From: | Vescovi P Orano Enrichment USA |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Document Control Desk |
| References | |
| OE-25-0002, EPID L-2024-NEW-0007 | |
| Download: ML25036A341 (1) | |
Text
1 February 5, 2025 Cor. #: OE-25-0002 Attention: Document Control Desk Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-001
Subject:
Environmental Report Exemption Request for Orano Enrichment USA LLC, IKE Enrichment Facility (Docket #: 07007038, EPID #: L-2024-NEW-0007)
References:
- 1) NRC Docket 70-7038
- 2) NRC Regulation 10 CFR 51.6 Specific Exemptions
- 3) NRC Regulation 10 CFR 70.17 Specific Exemptions In accordance with 10 CFR §§ 51.6 and 70.17 (References 2 and 3), Orano Enrichment USA LLC (OE) hereby submits a request for an exemption from the timing requirement in 10 CFR § 51.60(a) to allow submittal of environmental report information required by Part 51 separately from and before, but within 6 months of, the remainder of a license application request is submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
The enclosure to this letter provides OE USA justification and evaluation criteria for the exemption pursuant to 10 CFR § 51.6 and 10 CFR § 70.17.
OE also requests that the NRC perform an expedited review of this exemption request and grant an approval no later end of CY 2025 Q2 (NRC FY 2025 Q3). OE plans to submit the environmental report to the NRC during CY 2025 Q3 (NRC FY 2025 Q4).
If there are any questions regarding this letter and its contents, please do not hesitate to contact me at 336-420-8325 or at peter.vescovi@orano.group Sincerely, Peter Vescovi Licensing Manager Orano Enrichment USA LLC 4747 Bethesda Avenue Suite 1001 Bethesda, MD 20814
www.orano.group 2
cc:
Osiris Siurano-Perez, USNRC/NMSS/DFM/FFLB Diana Woodyatt, USNRC/NMSS/DFM/FFLB Enc:
- 1. Technical Justification for 10 CFR 70.21(h) and 10 CFR 51.60(a)
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Technical Justification for 10 CFR § 70.21(h) and 10 CFR § 51.60(a) Exemption Request Pursuant to Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 70.17 (10 CFR § 70.17),
Orano Enrichment USA (OE) hereby submits this 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 Part 51 separately from and before the remainder of the license application is submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
10 CFR § 70.21(h) states:
A license application for a uranium enrichment facility must be accompanied by an Environmental Report required under subpart A of part 51 of this chapter.
10 CFR § 51.60(a) states:
Each applicant for a license or other form of permission, or an amendment to or renewal of a license or other form of permission issued pursuant to parts... 70... of this chapter, and covered by paragraphs (b)(l) through (b)(5) of this section, shall submit with its application... a separate document, entitled "Applicant's Environmental Report"...
The location of the future OE IKE Enrichment Facility site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was owned and maintained by the Department of Energy (DOE).
The selected site is well characterized and documented such that the preparation of the ER is ahead of the remainder of the license application. The environmental report that will be submitted as per 10 CFR § 51.60 is on track to be completed and ready to submit to the NRC during CY 2025 Q3 (NRC FY 2025 Q4). The remainder of the license application documents that will be submitted as per 10 CFR § 70.21, "Filing," are on track to be completed and ready to submit to the NRC during CY 2026 Q1 (NRC FY 2026 Q2).
OE specifically requests that an exemption be granted from 10 CFR 51.60(a) such that the environmental report information can be submitted to the NRC for review approximately 6 months prior to the submittal of the safety and safeguards portions of the license application.
OE acknowledges that the NRC notice for an opportunity for a hearing under 10 CFR Part 2, that is published in the Federal Register for a major application, will not occur until after submittal of and NRC acceptance of the complete application including both the environmental report and license application documents.
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The basis for this exemption request is provided below.
=
Background===
OE advised the NRC of the intent to prepare a license application for the authority to construct and operate a gas centrifuge enrichment facility under 10 CFR Part 70 in a letter of intent dated January 29, 2025. The license application is associated with OE plans to construct and operate the OE IKE Enrichment Facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on a 920-acre site on the Roane County side of Oak Ridge.
Regulatory Requirements 10 CFR § 51.20, Criteria for and identification of licensing and regulatory actions requiring environmental impact statements, (b)(10) states that a type of action that requires an environmental impact statement is issuance of a license for a uranium enrichment facility.
10 CFR § 51.60, Environmental report - material licenses, states "(a)
Each applicant for a license... issued pursuant to parts... 70... shall submit with its application... a separate document, entitled "Applicant's Environmental Report... "
10 CFR § 51.6, Specific Exemptions, states The Commission may, upon application of any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant such exemptions from the requirements of the regulations in this part as it determines are authorized by law and are otherwise in the public interest.
10 CFR § 70.21, Filing, states "(h) A license application for a uranium enrichment facility must be accompanied by an Environmental Report required under subpart A of part 51 of this chapter."
10 CFR § 70.17, Specific exemptions, states (a) The Commission may, upon application of any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant such exemptions from the requirements of the regulations in this part as it determines are authorized by law and will not endanger life or property or the common defense and security and are otherwise in the public interest.
Technical Justification Authorized by Law The scope of 10 CFR Part 51 implements Section 102(2) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended. The proposed exemption would allow for the NRC to begin the review of the environmental report while the safety and safeguards portions of the license application preparation is completed.
NRC review of the safety and safeguards portions of the application and the
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environmental report are typically scheduled in parallel. The proposed exemption would allow for the start of the reviews to be staggered for a few months. The review of the safety and safeguards portion of the application is a separate and distinct activity from the review of the environmental report. The Section 51.20(b)(10) requirement will be met in full through submittal of an Environmental Report, and NRC preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement. A licensing decision will not be made by the NRC on OE application to possess special nuclear material and operate the OE IKE Enrichment Facility under 10 CFR Part 70 until after the NRC has completed a NEPA review based on the proposed application and environmental report, and the appropriate regulatory findings are made.
The proposed exemption is consistent with an existing NRC mechanism provided for Part 50 and Part 52 licensees in 10 CFR § 2.101(a)(5). That Section allows applicants to submit their applications for a construction permit or combined operating license in two parts: one part for the environmental report and the other part for the remainder of the application. This procedural rule was initially intended to streamline construction permit reviews and reduce the time required to bring online nuclear power plants which satisfy all environmental and safety requirements [and remove] unnecessary obstacles to the construction of power plants needed to meet the nations energy needs. 39 FR 14508. The Commission later expanded the rule to combined operating license applications under Part 52 in recognition of the fact that [t]here are no considerations unique to combined licenses which would weigh against allowing a combined license applicant to submit a two-part application under paragraph (a)(5) of § 2.101. 72 FR 49412. The Commission later expanded the rule to the proposed SHINE facility, recognizing the procedural nature of [the] rule, the need to respond to the nations demand for a domestic supply of Mo-99, and the absence of any unique considerations for medical isotope production facilities, which would weigh against allowing a license applicant such as SHINE to submit a two-part application under 10 CFR [§]
2.101(a)(5). 78 FR 19538-19539.
The proposed exemption, which relates to the timing of the submittals, is within the scope of past NRC practice and will not result in a violation of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or the NRC regulations. Therefore, the exemption is authorized by law.
Will Not Endanger Life or Property or the Common Defense and Security Since the exemption request is a procedural request that relates to the timing of when environmental information documents are submitted and thus when reviews may begin, it would not endanger life or property. OE commits that the exemption will not:
a) impact the probabilities of evaluated accidents, b) affect margins of safety, c) affect effectiveness of programs contained in licensing documents, d) increase effluents,
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e) increase occupational radiological exposures, or f) impact operations or decommissioning activities.
The proposed exemption also will not have an impact on common defense and security since the exemption only relates to the timing of when license application documents are submitted.
Otherwise In the Public Interest The NRC has previously allowed for the use of staggered submittals in cases where there was a deep national concern over energy sources and supply.
See 78 FR 19539 (citing 39 FR 14508). The same is true here, given the deep need for addition uranium enrichment capacity within the United States to supply enriched uranium product (EUP) for commercial nuclear power plant fuel fabrication.
For the past 30 years, the U.S. nuclear fuel market has been heavily reliant on Russian nuclear fuel imports. Approximately 20 percent of the EUP used by the U.S. reactor fleet currently comes from Russia. This poses a critical national security threat. In response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, the Administration has prioritized a secure and resilient nuclear fuel supply chain that is free of Russian influence.1 Congress has passed legislation to fully ban Russian enriched uranium imports beginning in 2028.2 Further, Congress passed the Nuclear Fuel Security Act to fund an expansion of the domestic low enriched uranium fuel supply chain.3 More recently, on January 20, 2025, President Trump directed [t]he heads of executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall identify and exercise any lawful emergency authorities available to them, as well as all other lawful authorities they may possess, to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining [e.g. enrichment], and generation of domestic energy resources [e.g. uranium], including, but not limited to, on Federal lands. This further supports the NRCs use of its well-established lawful authority to stagger submittals to facilitate OEs application for additional uranium enrichment capacity in the United States, the timely deployment of which will significantly contribute to efforts by the nation and industry to build a domestic supply chain to replace Russian imports.
Environmental Evaluation 1 Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Secure Nuclear Fuel Supply Chain, Equip Revitalized Domestic Nuclear Industry for the Future. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/biden-harris-administration-takes-action-secure-nuclear-fuel-supply-chain-equip1 2 H.R.1042 - Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1042 3 Nuclear Fuel Security Act of 2023. https://www.congress.gov/118/plaws/publ31/PLAW-118publ31.pdf
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The granting of the proposed exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment as it is procedural in nature and relates to the timing of the submittals of the environmental report information and the safety and safeguards portions of the license application.
Much like the exemption that allowed SHINE to pursue a similar staggered submittal, 78 FR 19539, the proposed exemption request meets the criteria in 10 CFR § 51.22(c)(25) for a licensing action that is categorically excluded from an environmental assessment because the granting of this exemption:
(1) Neither involves a significant reduction in the margin of safety nor creates a possibility of an accident, thus resulting in no significant hazards consideration, (2) would not result in the release of effluents, thus resulting in no significant change in the types or significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that may be released offsite, (3) neither introduces new radiological hazards nor increases existing radiological hazards, thus, resulting in no significant increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational radiation exposure, (4) would not involve construction, thus resulting in no significant construction
- impact, (5) would occur prior to any radiological components being in place at the facility and would not create any new accident precursors, thus resulting in no significant increase in the potential for or consequences from radiological accidents; and (6) would allow the submission of the required environmental report, to be provided approximately 6 months prior to the remainder of the license application, which is related to a scheduling requirement and is administrative in nature in accordance with 10 CFR § 51.22(c)(25)(G) and (I), respectively.
Conclusion OE is requesting an exemption from requirements in 10 CFR § 51.60(a)
Environmental Report - Materials Licenses to submit the supplemental environmental report information required by 10 CFR Part 51 separately from and approximately 6 months before the remainder of the license application is submitted to the NRC. Approval of this proposed exemption is warranted since it will not endanger life or property or the common defense and security and [is] otherwise in the public interest per 10 CFR § 51.6 and 10 CFR § 70.17 as described above.