82 FR 59665 - Crow Butte Resources, Inc.; Marsland Expansion Area

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 240 (December 15, 2017)

Page Range		59665-59666
FR Document		2017-26934

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC source materials license SUA-1534 that would authorize Crow Butte Resources, Inc., to construct and operate an in situ uranium recovery (ISR) expansion area at the Marsland Expansion Area (MEA) site in Dawes County, Nebraska. The draft EA, ``Environmental Assessment for the Marsland Expansion Area License Amendment Application,'' documents the NRC staff's environmental review of the license amendment application.

Federal Register, Volume 82 Issue 240 (Friday, December 15, 2017)

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 240 (Friday, December 15, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59665-59666]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26934]



[[Page 59665]]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 40-8943; NRC-2012-0281]


Crow Butte Resources, Inc.; Marsland Expansion Area

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no 
significant impact; notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding 
of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC source 
materials license SUA-1534 that would authorize Crow Butte Resources, 
Inc., to construct and operate an in situ uranium recovery (ISR) 
expansion area at the Marsland Expansion Area (MEA) site in Dawes 
County, Nebraska. The draft EA, ``Environmental Assessment for the 
Marsland Expansion Area License Amendment Application,'' documents the 
NRC staff's environmental review of the license amendment application.

DATES: Submit comments by January 29, 2018. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received 
before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0281. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards individual listed 
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
     Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: OWFN-2-A13, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-0867, email: 
[email protected], U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0281 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0281.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and 
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, 
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this document 
(if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time 
that a document is referenced. The ADAMS Accession Number for the MEA 
draft EA is ML17334A870.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2012-0281 in your comment submission.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection. The NRC does not routinely edit 
comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment into the ADAMS Public Documents 
collection.

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering a request for an amendment to NRC source 
materials license SUA-1534, issued to Crow Butte Resources, Inc. (CBR 
or the licensee), to authorize construction and operation of the MEA, 
an ISR expansion facility that would be located in Dawes County, 
Nebraska. In accordance with NRC's regulations in part 51 of title 10 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Environmental Protection 
Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,'' 
that implement the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 
amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the NRC staff has prepared a 
draft EA documenting its environmental review of the license amendment 
application that included an environmental report (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML17325B322) and technical report, as amended (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML15328A422, ML16155A267, ML16155A268, and ML17193A314). Based on the 
environmental review, the NRC has made a preliminary determination that 
the proposed action will not significantly affect the quality of the 
human environment and that a FONSI is therefore appropriate.
    By this notice, the NRC is requesting public comment on the draft 
FONSI and supporting draft EA.

II. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment.

    The draft EA is publicly available in ADAMS using ADAMS Accession 
No. ML17334A870. A summary description of the proposed action and 
expected environmental impacts is provided below. The draft EA and the 
draft FONSI for the proposed MEA will also be available at the 
following public libraries: Crawford Public Library, 601 2nd Street, 
Crawford, NE 69339, and Chadron Public Library, 507 Bordeaux Street, 
Chadron, NE 69337.

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed Federal action is approval of CBR's license amendment 
application, which would authorize the expansion of CBR's commercial-
scale uranium recovery operations to the MEA. Under the proposed 
action, the licensee would perform construction, uranium recovery 
operations, aquifer restoration, and decommissioning activities at the 
proposed MEA, which would encompass approximately 4,622 acres (1,870 
hectares). CBR has proposed eleven production units in the MEA, which 
is located 11.1 miles (17.9

[[Page 59666]]

kilometers) south-southeast of the central processing facility (CPF) at 
the existing Crow Butte license area. Uranium recovery operations at 
the MEA would include injection of lixiviant into and pumping of water 
from the uranium-bearing aquifer, removal of uranium from the pumped 
water using ion exchange, and transport of loaded ion exchange resin to 
the existing Crow Butte CPF for further processing into yellowcake. 
Approval of the proposed action would authorize CBR to conduct uranium 
recovery operations at the MEA in accordance with its license amendment 
application, NRC source materials license SUA-1534, and the 
requirements in 10 CFR part 40, ``Domestic Licensing of Source 
Material.''

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    In the draft EA, the NRC staff assessed the potential environmental 
impacts from the construction, operation, aquifer restoration, and 
decommissioning of the proposed MEA on the following resource areas: 
land use; geology and soils; water resources; ecological resources; 
climatology, meteorology, and air quality; historic and cultural 
resources; demographics and socioeconomics; environmental justice; 
transportation; noise; scenic and visual resources; public and 
occupational health; and hazardous materials and waste management. The 
NRC staff also considered the cumulative impacts from past, present, 
and reasonably foreseeable future actions when combined with the 
proposed action.
    All long-term impacts were determined to be SMALL. The NRC staff 
concluded that approval of the proposed action would not result in a 
significant increase in short-term or long-term radiological risk to 
public health or the environment. The NRC staff identified a potential 
for MODERATE short-term impacts to a few resource areas, including 
noise (temporary impacts to the nearest resident to the MEA during 
construction), ecological resources (localized and temporary impacts 
resulting from the loss and slow recovery of forest habitat), and 
groundwater resources (short-term lowering of the potentiometric 
surface of the Basal Chadron Sandstone aquifer). While potential 
MODERATE impacts would be expected for specific aspects of these 
resource areas, the impacts are short-term and temporary. Therefore, 
the NRC staff concluded that the overall impacts related to these 
resource areas would be SMALL. Furthermore, the NRC staff found that 
there would be no significant negative cumulative impact to any 
resource area from the MEA when added to other past, present, and 
reasonably foreseeable future actions, and that a potential positive 
cumulative socioeconomic impact could result from additional tax 
revenue, employment, and local purchases.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Under the no-action alternative, the NRC would not authorize CBR to 
construct and operate the MEA. In situ uranium recovery activities 
would not occur within the MEA and the associated environmental impacts 
also would not occur.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact (Draft).

    In accordance with the NEPA and 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has 
conducted an environmental review of a request for a license amendment 
to NRC source materials license SUA-1534 that would authorize 
construction and operation of the MEA. Based on its environmental 
review of the proposed action, as documented in the draft EA, the NRC 
staff has preliminarily determined that granting the requested license 
amendment would not significantly affect the quality of the human 
environment. Therefore, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined, 
pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that preparation of an environmental impact 
statement is not required for the proposed action and a FONSI is 
appropriate.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of December 2017.
    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brian W. Smith,
Acting Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and 
Environmental Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2017-26934 Filed 12-14-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

59666 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 240 / Friday, December 15, 2017 / Notices

kilometers) south-southeast of the cumulative impact to any resource area SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty
central processing facility (CPF) at the from the MEA when added to other Corporation (PBGC) is requesting that
existing Crow Butte license area. past, present, and reasonably the Office of Management and Budget
Uranium recovery operations at the foreseeable future actions, and that a (OMB) extend approval, with
MEA would include injection of potential positive cumulative modifications, under the Paperwork
lixiviant into and pumping of water socioeconomic impact could result from Reduction Act of 1995, of its collection
from the uranium-bearing aquifer, additional tax revenue, employment, of information for Annual Reporting
removal of uranium from the pumped and local purchases. (OMB control number 1212–0057,
water using ion exchange, and transport which expires on August 31, 2020). This
Environmental Impacts of the
of loaded ion exchange resin to the notice informs the public of PBGC’s
Alternatives to the Proposed Action
existing Crow Butte CPF for further request and solicits public comment on
processing into yellowcake. Approval of As an alternative to the proposed the collection of information.
the proposed action would authorize action, the staff considered denial of the DATES: Comments must be submitted by
CBR to conduct uranium recovery proposed action (i.e., the ‘‘no-action’’ January 16, 2018 to be assured of
operations at the MEA in accordance alternative). Under the no-action consideration.
with its license amendment application, alternative, the NRC would not
authorize CBR to construct and operate ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to
NRC source materials license SUA–
the MEA. In situ uranium recovery the Office of Information and Regulatory
1534, and the requirements in 10 CFR
activities would not occur within the Affairs, Office of Management and
part 40, ‘‘Domestic Licensing of Source
MEA and the associated environmental Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for
Material.’’
impacts also would not occur. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation,
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed via electronic mail at OIRA_DOCKET@
Action III. Finding of No Significant Impact omb.eop.gov or by fax to (202) 395–
(Draft). 6974. A copy of the request is posted at
In the draft EA, the NRC staff assessed
the potential environmental impacts In accordance with the NEPA and 10 https://www.pbgc.gov/prac/pg/other/
from the construction, operation, aquifer CFR part 51, the NRC staff has guidance/paperwork-notices. It may also
restoration, and decommissioning of the conducted an environmental review of a be obtained without charge by writing to
proposed MEA on the following request for a license amendment to NRC the Disclosure Division of the Office of
resource areas: land use; geology and source materials license SUA–1534 that the General Counsel of PBGC at 1200 K
soils; water resources; ecological would authorize construction and Street NW, Washington, DC 20005,
resources; climatology, meteorology, operation of the MEA. Based on its faxing a request to 202–326–4042, or
and air quality; historic and cultural environmental review of the proposed calling 202–326–4040 during normal
resources; demographics and action, as documented in the draft EA, business hours. TTY and TDD users
socioeconomics; environmental justice; the NRC staff has preliminarily may call the Federal relay service toll-
transportation; noise; scenic and visual determined that granting the requested free at 1 800–877–8339 and ask to be
resources; public and occupational license amendment would not connected to 202–326–4040. The
health; and hazardous materials and significantly affect the quality of the Disclosure Division will email, fax, or
waste management. The NRC staff also human environment. Therefore, the mail the request to you, at your request.
considered the cumulative impacts from NRC staff has preliminarily determined, FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jo
past, present, and reasonably pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that Amato Burns (burns.jo.amato@
foreseeable future actions when preparation of an environmental impact pbgc.gov), Regulatory Affairs Division,
combined with the proposed action. statement is not required for the Office of the General Counsel, Pension
All long-term impacts were proposed action and a FONSI is Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K
determined to be SMALL. The NRC staff appropriate. Street NW, Washington, DC 20005–
concluded that approval of the proposed Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day 4026, 202 326–4400, extension 3072, or
action would not result in a significant of December 2017. Daniel S. Liebman (Liebman.Daniel@
increase in short-term or long-term For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory pbgc.gov), Acting Assistant General
radiological risk to public health or the Commission. Counsel, same address and phone
environment. The NRC staff identified a Brian W. Smith, number, extension 6510. TTY and TDD
potential for MODERATE short-term Acting Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, users may call the Federal relay service
impacts to a few resource areas, Safeguards, and Environmental Review, toll-free at 800–877–8339 and ask to be
including noise (temporary impacts to Office of Nuclear Material Safety and connected to 202–326–4400.
the nearest resident to the MEA during Safeguards. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
construction), ecological resources [FR Doc. 2017–26934 Filed 12–14–17; 8:45 am] Employee Retirement Income Security
(localized and temporary impacts BILLING CODE 7590–01–P Act of 1974 (ERISA) contains three
resulting from the loss and slow separate sets of provisions—in Title I
recovery of forest habitat), and (Labor provisions), Title II (Internal
groundwater resources (short-term PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY Revenue Code provisions), and Title IV
lowering of the potentiometric surface CORPORATION (PBGC provisions)—requiring
of the Basal Chadron Sandstone administrators of employee pension and
aquifer). While potential MODERATE Proposed Submission of Information welfare benefit plans (collectively
impacts would be expected for specific Collection for OMB Review; Comment
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES

referred to as employee benefit plans) to
aspects of these resource areas, the Request; Annual Reporting (Form 5500 file returns or reports annually with the
impacts are short-term and temporary. Series) federal government.
Therefore, the NRC staff concluded that AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty PBGC, the Department of Labor
the overall impacts related to these Corporation. (DOL), and the Internal Revenue Service
resource areas would be SMALL. (IRS) work together to produce the Form
ACTION: Notice of request for extension
Furthermore, the NRC staff found that 5500 Annual Return/Report of
of OMB approval, with modifications.
there would be no significant negative Employee Benefit Plan and Form 5500–

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Category		Regulatory Information
Collection		Federal Register
sudoc Class		AE 2.7: GS 4.107: AE 2.106:
Publisher		Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
Section		Notices
Action		Draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant impact; notice of availability and request for comments.
Dates		Submit comments by January 29, 2018. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this date.
Contact		Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-0867, email: [email protected], U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
FR Citation		82 FR 59665