Press Release-11-203, NRC Finds No Significant Environmental Impact from Proposed Renewal of Nfs Operating License

Press Release-11-203: NRC Finds No Significant Environmental Impact from Proposed Renewal of Nfs Operating License

ML11299A071
Person / Time
Site:	Erwin
Issue date:	10/26/2011
From:	Office of Public Affairs
To:
References
Press Release-11-203
Download: ML11299A071 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: opa.resource@nrc.gov Site: www.nrc.gov Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov No.11-203 October 26, 2011 NRC FINDS NO SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FROM PROPOSED RENEWAL OF NFS OPERATING LICENSE The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a final environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact from the proposed renewal of the operating license for Nuclear Fuel Services Inc. (NFS) in Erwin, Tenn.

The NRC staff has determined that renewal of the NFS license for a 40-year period would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment, and the EA, published today in the Federal Register, thus makes a finding of no significant impact. The NRC staff is currently conducting a safety review of the NFS license renewal application as well.

Under the conditions of a special nuclear materials license (License SNM-124), NFS operates a nuclear fuel fabrication facility. .If granted, the renewed license would allow NFS to continue operations and activities at the site for a 40-year period that would begin with issuance of the renewed license.

The current license authorizes NFS to receive, possess, store, use, and ship special nuclear material enriched up to 100 percent. Under the proposed action, NFS would continue production of reactor fuel for the U.S. Navy and for commercial domestic operations.

On June 30, 2009, NFS submitted its license renewal application and accompanying environmental report (ER) to the NRC. On Oct. 6, 2009, the NRC provided notice in the Federal Register (74 FR 51323) of its receipt of the license renewal application and also noticed an opportunity to request a hearing on the application. No requests for a hearing were received.

The NRC staff published for public comment a draft EA for the proposed action on Oct. 15, 2010, (75 FR 63519). The NRC staff accepted comments on the draft EA until Dec. 31, 2010, and hosted a meeting in Erwin on Oct. 26, 2010, to accept oral and written public comments. The NRC staff revised the draft EA in response to some of the comments.

The public may examine and have copied, for a fee, publicly available documents related to the NFS facility and license renewal at the NRCs Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Md. 20852. Members of the public can contact the NRCs PDR reference staff by calling 1-800-397-4209, by faxing a request to 301-415-3548, or by e-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.

Members of the public can access NRCs ADAMS online document database on the NRC website. From this website, the following documents related to the NRCs environmental review can be obtained by entering the accession numbers provided:

NFS license renewal application (ML091880040)

NFS environmental report (ML091900072)

NRC Final EA (ML112560265)

Documents will also be available at the Unicoi County Public Library in Erwin, the Jonesborough Branch of the Washington County Library in Jonesborough, Tenn., and the Green County Public Library in Greenville, Tenn.

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