80 FR 60720 - Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; In the Matter of Crow Butte Resources, Inc. (License Renewal for the In Situ Leach Facility, Crawford, Nebraska); Notice of Supplemental Hearing

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 194 (October 7, 2015)

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 194 (Wednesday, October 7, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60720-60722]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-25533]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-8943; ASLBP No. 08-867-02-OLA-BD01]


Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; In the Matter of Crow Butte 
Resources, Inc. (License Renewal for the In Situ Leach Facility, 
Crawford, Nebraska); Notice of Supplemental Hearing

September 25, 2015.

    Before Administrative Judges: Michael M. Gibson, Chair, Dr. 
Richard E. Wardwell, Brian K. Hajek, Alan S. Rosenthal (Special 
Assistant to the Board).

    The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board) hereby gives notice 
that it will convene a supplemental evidentiary hearing to receive 
testimony regarding Crow Butte Resources' (Crow Butte) contested 
application to renew its U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
license to operate an in-situ uranium leach recovery facility near 
Crawford, Nebraska.\1\
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    \1\ Application for 2007 License Renewal USNRC Source Materials 
License SUA-1534 Crow Butte License Area (Nov. 2007) (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML073480264) [hereinafter License Renewal 
Application]. ``ADAMS'' refers to the NRC's public document 
management system, and is discussed more below.
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I. Background of Proceeding

    On May 27, 2008, notice of the Crow Butte License Renewal 
Application was published in the Federal Register.\2\ Three groups 
petitioned to intervene as parties in the proceeding and requested an 
evidentiary hearing be held on the application.\3\ On November 21, 
2008, the Board granted two of the petitions,\4\ admitting the Oglala 
Sioux Tribe and Consolidated Intervenors \5\ as parties.\6\ At that 
time, the Board admitted nine contentions proposed by the 
intervenors.\7\ Shortly thereafter, on December 10, 2008, the Board 
admitted a tenth contention.\8\ The NRC Staff and Crow Butte appealed 
the Board's admission of the contentions.\9\ On appeal, the Commission 
affirmed the intervenors' standing, and affirmed the admissibility of 
four of the ten contentions.\10\ On January 5, 2015, the Oglala Sioux 
Tribe and Consolidated Intervenors moved to admit new contentions based 
on the Environmental

[[Page 60721]]

Assessment,\11\ which the NRC Staff made available on October 27, 
2014.\12\ The Board admitted five new contentions, and supplemented one 
of the four previously admitted contentions.\13\
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    \2\ Notice of Opportunity for Hearing, Crow Butte Resources, 
Inc., Crawford, NE., In Situ Leach Recovery Facility, 73 FR 30,426 
(May 27, 2008).
    \3\ Oglala Delegation of the Great Sioux Nation Treaty Council 
Request for Hearing and Petition for Leave to Intervene (July 30, 
2008) (ADAMS Accession No. ML082170263); Oglala Sioux Tribe Request 
for Hearing and/or Petition to Intervene (July 29, 2008) (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML082170264); Consolidated Request for Hearing and 
Petition for Leave to Intervene (July 28, 2008) (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML082170525).
    \4\ See LBP-08-24, 68 NRC 691, 760 (2008).
    \5\ Id. Although originally named Consolidated Petitioners, the 
Board now refers to Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance, Debra White 
Plume, Thomas Kanatakeniate Cook, Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook, 
Afraid of Bear/Cook Tiwahe, Joe American Horse, Sr., American Horse 
Tiospaye, Owe Aku/Bring Back the Way, and the Western Nebraska 
Resources Council as Consolidated Intervenors.
    \6\ The Board denied a request to intervene by the Oglala 
Delegation of the Great Sioux Nation Treaty Council, but admitted 
the delegation as an interested local government body. Id.
    \7\ Id. at 760-61.
    \8\ See LBP-08-27, 68 NRC 951, 957 (2008).
    \9\ NRC Staff's Notice of Appeal of LBP-08-24, Licensing Board's 
Order of November 21, 2008, and Accompanying Brief (Dec. 10, 2008) 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML083450781); Crow Butte Resources' Notice of 
Appeal of LBP-08-24 (Dec. 10, 2008) (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML083450359).
    \10\ See CLI-09-9, 69 NRC 331, 366 (2009).
    \11\ The Oglala Sioux Tribe's Renewed and New Contentions Based 
on the Final Environmental Assessment (October 2014) (Jan. 5, 2015) 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML15005A541); Consolidated Intervenors' New 
Contentions Based on the Final Environmental Assessment (October 
2014) (Jan. 5, 2015) (ADAMS Accession No. ML15006A274).
    \12\ Environmental Assessment Availability Notification, Letter 
from Marcia Simon, NRC Staff Counsel, to Administrative Judges and 
Parties (Oct. 27, 2014) (ADAMS Accession No. ML14300A228). The 
Environmental Assessment was prepared pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., and the agency's 
implementing regulations, located in 10 CFR part 51.
    \13\ LBP-15-11, 81 NRC __, __(slip op. at 59-61) (Mar. 16, 
2015).
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    From August 24 through August 28, 2015, the Board held an 
evidentiary hearing under 10 CFR part 2, subpart L procedures. During 
this evidentiary hearing the parties submitted new exhibits in response 
to witness testimony and questions from the Board. These exhibits have 
been admitted,\14\ and the Board has determined that some of the new 
exhibits raise questions regarding admitted contentions that need to be 
addressed through additional testimony. As a result, the parties are 
submitting additional pre-filed testimony to the Board, and a 
supplemental hearing limited to these new matters will be held on 
October 23, 2015.
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    \14\ Licensing Board Order (Admitting Remaining Exhibits; 
Scheduling Transcript Corrections) (Sept. 10, 2015) (unpublished); 
Licensing Board Order (Admitting Exhibits; Scheduling Supplemental 
Testimony and October Hearing Day) (Sept. 4, 2015) (unpublished).
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II. Matters To Be Considered

    At the supplemental evidentiary hearing the Board will receive 
testimony on the following topics:
     Whether the water levels in the Brule aquifer have lowered 
due to mining activities;
     What is the available head in the Basal Chadron/
Chamberlain Pass formation and the maximum anticipated drawdown during 
Crow Butte's operation and restoration of its mining facility;
     Whether the results from the four pump tests \15\ 
demonstrate a hydraulic connection between the Brule and Basal Chadron/
Chamberlain Pass formations;
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    \15\ Crow Butte conducted four pump tests to estimate the 
hydraulic properties of the Basal Chadron and Brule aquifer as a 
result of pumping water from the uranium-bearing ore zone of the 
Basal Chadron.
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     Whether the Basal Chadron/Chamberlain Pass formation 
exists beneath the Pine Ridge reservation and its connection (if any) 
to the Basal Chadron/Chamberlain Pass formation beneath the license 
renewal area;
     To what degree (if any) do the additional exhibits that 
were admitted after the hearing commenced affect the conclusions 
regarding the structure of the White River feature and the NRC Staff's 
maximum likelihood modeling; and
     To what degree (if any) do the additional exhibits that 
were admitted after the hearing commenced illustrate the groundwater 
flow directions in the Arikaree and Brule aquifers underlying the Pine 
Ridge reservation and the license renewal area.

III. Date, Time, and Location of the Supplemental Evidentiary Hearing

    The supplemental hearing will commence on Friday, October 23, 2015, 
at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, 8:00 a.m., Mountain Time, and will continue 
until complete.\16\ The parties have the opportunity to participate in 
this supplemental hearing either in person, through video conference, 
or by telephone. The judges will be present in the Atomic Safety and 
Licensing Board Panel's Rockville Hearing Room, with a video conference 
link set up to the Scottsbluff Room of the student center of Chadron 
State College, 1000 Main Street, Chadron, Nebraska 69337. An 
Information Technology specialist from the Atomic Safety and Licensing 
Board Panel will be present in the Scottsbluff Room to assist with the 
video conference link. Any parties or witnesses unable to attend the 
hearing either in Rockville or in Chadron will be provided with a call 
in number and may participate in the hearing by telephone.
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    \16\ Funding for the U.S. government for fiscal year 2016 has 
not yet been appropriated by Congress. The NRC may be able to 
operate for a limited period of time even without funding 
appropriated. The parties to this proceeding will be made aware if 
ASLBP activities must be suspended because the NRC has to shut down. 
Once funding for ASLBP activities becomes available, the Board will 
contact the parties either to reaffirm the October 23 supplemental 
hearing date, or to reschedule the hearing if that proves necessary.
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    Members of the public and media are welcome to attend and observe 
the evidentiary hearing either in the Rockville Hearing Room or in 
Chadron State College's Scottsbluff Room. The Scottsbluff Room will 
open at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time on the day of the hearing. A telephone 
bridge line will also be provided for members of the public who are 
unable to travel to either location, but nevertheless wish to listen to 
the proceeding. The dial in number for this bridge line is (888) 603-
7019, and the passcode for listen-only access to the hearing is 
7856326. Participation in the hearing, however, will be limited to the 
parties' lawyers and witnesses. Please be aware that security measures 
will be employed at the entrance to both facilities, including searches 
of hand-carried items such as briefcases or backpacks. No signs, 
banners, posters, or other displays will be permitted.\17\ No firearms 
or other weapons will be allowed in either facility, and the Board's 
Notice regarding weapons, dated July 14, 2015, remains in effect.\18\ 
Moreover, Chadron State College places additional restrictions on the 
presence of weapons on campus.\19\
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    \17\ See Procedures for Providing Security Support for NRC 
Public Meetings/Hearings, 66 FR 31,719 (June 12, 2001).
    \18\ Licensing Board Notice (Regarding Weapons at Atomic Safety 
and Licensing Board Proceeding) (July 14, 2015) at 1 (prohibiting 
the possession of weapons at ``all proceedings conducted in Nebraska 
by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission'').
    \19\ See Chadron State College Student Handbook 36-37 (2015 
rev.), available at http://www.csc.edu/documents/publications/csc_student_handbook.pdf.
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IV. Availability of Documentary Information Regarding the Proceeding

    Documents relating to Crow Butte's License Renewal Application are 
available on the NRC Web site at  http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/materials/uranium/licensed-facilities/crow-butte.html. These and other 
documents related to this proceeding are available for public 
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located in 
One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, or electronically from the publicly available records 
component of the NRC's document management system (ADAMS). ADAMS is 
accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.\20\ Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who 
encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should 
contact the NRC PDR reference staff by telephone between 8:00 a.m. and 
4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except federal holidays) 
at (800) 397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by sending an email to 
[email protected].
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    \20\ Documents which are determined to contain sensitive or 
proprietary information may only be available in redacted form. All 
non-sensitive documents are available in their complete form.
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    It is so ordered.

    Dated: September 25, 2015.

[[Page 60722]]

    For the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
Michael M. Gibson,
Chair, Administrative Judge, Rockville, Maryland.
[FR Doc. 2015-25533 Filed 10-6-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P