Official Transcript of Proceedings 

 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Title: Environmental Review for the Proposed 

 International Isotopes Fluorine Products, 

 Incorporated - Public Scoping Meeting 

 

Docket Number: (n/a) 

Location: Hobbs, New Mexico 

Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010 

Work Order No.: NRC-330 Pages 1-62 

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1

1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

3 + + + + + 

4 OFFICE OF FEDERAL AND STATE MATERIALS AND 

5 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS (FSME) 

6 + + + + + 

7 PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING ON 

8 THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW FOR THE PROPOSED 

9 INTERNATIONAL 

10 ISOTOPES FLUORINE PRODUCTS, INC. FLUORINE EXTRACTION 

11 PROCESS AND DEPLETED URANIUM DE-CONVERSION PLANT IN 

12 HOBBS, NEW MEXICO 

13 + + + + + 

14 THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2010 

15 + + + + + 

16 The Public Scoping Meeting convened at 

17 the Lea County Event Center, 5101 Lovington Highway, 

18 Hobbs, New Mexico 88240, at 5:30 p.m. 

19 NRC STAFF PRESENT: 

20 BILL MAIER, Regional State Liaison Office, 

21 NRC Region IV 

22 DAVID L. SKEEN, Deputy Director, 

23 Division of Waste Management and Environmental 

24 Protection 

25 
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1 MATTHEW BARTLETT, Project Manager, 

2 Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

3 Safeguards 

4 DR. ASIMIOS MALLIAKOS, Project Manager, 

5 Division of Waste Management and Environmental 

6 Protection 

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1 C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S 

2 Opening Remarks and Introductions ................. 3 

3 Bill Maier, NRC Facilitator 

4 The NRC Roles and Responsibilities ............... 10 

5 David L. Skeen, Deputy Director 

6 The Licensing Process ............................ 21 

7 Matthew Bartlett, Project Manager 

8 The Environmental Process ........................ 27 

9 Dr. Asimios Malliakos, Project Manager 

10 Question and Answer Period ....................... 36 

11 Bill Maier, NRC Facilitator 

12 Public Coments ................................... 38 

13 Bill Maier, NRC Facilitator 

14 Adjourn .......................................... 55 

15 

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1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 

2 [5:32 p.m.] 

3 MR. MAIER: Good evening everyone, and 

4 welcome to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or, as 

5 we like to call ourselves, the NRC, Public Scoping 

6 Meeting on the Environmental Review for the Proposed 

7 International Isotopes Fluorine Products, 

8 Incorporated, Fluorine Extraction Process, And 

9 Depleted Uranium De-Conversion Plant. 

10 My name is Bill Maier and I'm an 

11 employee at the NRC's Regional Office in Arlington, 

12 Texas, and it's my pleasure to be the facilitator 

13 for tonight's meeting, that's scheduled to go for 

14 three hours and end at 8:30 p.m., but we think it 

15 might end up a little bit before that time. 

16 The purpose of this meeting is twofold. 

17 It's being held to provide information to you about 

18 the NRC and its processes for licensing facilities 

19 such as the one being proposed, especially the 

20 environmental review process, but it is also being 

21 held to provide you the opportunity to speak up and 

22 let the NRC know about the environmental issues, 

23 factors, potential impacts and concerns that you 

24 believe should be considered in the environmental 

25 review of the facility's application. 
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1 The meeting will be divided into three 

2 parts, with, unfortunately, no breaks in between, 

3 but you're certainly welcome to take a break if you 

4 feel you need to. 

5 For roughly the first hour, several NRC 

6 officials will give presentations about the Agency, 

7 its functions and responsibilities, and how it 

8 intends to conduct its review of the license 

9 application that was submitted last December by 

10 International Isotopes Fluorine Products, 

11 Incorporated. 

12 The second part of the meeting will give 

13 you, the audience, an opportunity to ask questions 

14 of these officials about the items that they 

15 covered, in the event any clarification is needed. 

16 We have only budgeted about 15 minutes 

17 for the question-and-answer period, but it's my 

18 wish, and I'm sure it's the wish of the presenters 

19 as well, that no question should go unresolved or 

20 left lingering, if possible. 

21 Nevertheless, we'll try to get through 

22 the first parts of the meeting quickly, in order to 

23 maximize the time spent on the third and most 

24 important part. That's the part where registered 

25 speakers will be given an opportunity to tell the 
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1 NRC about what items, alternatives and impacts they 

2 feel should be included in the environment review 

3 for this proposed facility. 

4 First, a discussion of some health and 

5 safety items. All of you here are probably more 

6 familiar with this building that we're in tonight 

7 than I am, but I have a duty to inform about safety 

8 procedures and to point out necessary features. 

9 You probably saw on the way in that 

10 there are rest rooms located in the rear of our room 

11 here, just outside the door, but there are 

12 additional rest rooms in this corridor that runs 

13 this way, to your left, my right, and just going out 

14 the back and to the right would get you to 

15 additional rest room facilities. 

16 Drinking water can be found in that same 

17 corridor, going to the right outside the back door. 

18 For anyone who missed them on the way 

19 into this room, handouts of the presentations that 

20 the speakers will be speaking from can be found on 

21 the table outside the door, as well as an item that 

22 we call the NRC Public Meeting Feedback Form. 

23 We strongly urge, we strongly beg you to 

24 take a few minutes, at the end of the meeting, to 

25 fill out the feedback form, and tell us what went 
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1 well about the meeting, and what your suggestions 

2 are for how to improve it in the future. Pens are 

3 also available for filling out the forms. 

4 You can hand your forms in at the end of 

5 the meeting to any of the NRC participants before 

6 you leave, or drop them off at the table where you 

7 picked them up. 

8 You can also mail them to the NRC later, 

9 if you want to take some time to go home and think 

10 about what you want to say. You can fold the card 

11 in thirds and tape it together, and it has prepaid 

12 postage for begging it back to the NRC. 

13 In the event we have to evacuate the 

14 building during the evening, it is a simple matter, 

15 just go out the back doors and out the doors that 

16 most folks came in, to exist the building. 

17 We have some deputies from the Lea 

18 County Sheriff's Office as well as members of the 

19 New Mexico Mounted Patrol. They're here as a 

20 precaution only. We don't expect to need security 

21 for this, but it's a standard NRC process to include 

22 security for public meetings, in the event that it's 

23 needed, and we don't expect any need for security 

24 for tonight. 

25 Let me also go over a few ground rules 
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1 for conduct during the meeting. 

2 The third part of the meeting, as I 

3 said, is the most important part of the meeting. 

4 That's when the registered speakers will be given an 

5 opportunity to provide information to the NRC. You 

6 probably saw two colors of cards on your way in, 

7 yellow cards and blue cards. The yellow cards are 

8 for people who wish to register to speak on the 

9 record, for information they think they NRC should 

10 include in the environmental review. 

11 If you wish to speak during the meeting 

12 and have not already filled out a yellow card, 

13 please arise your hand, and Ms. Tarsha Moon, who's 

14 in the back of the room, she'll get a card to you, 

15 get you to fill it out and collect it. We need to 

16 have those cards collected before the beginning of 

17 the speakers portion, so we know how much time each 

18 speaker will be allowed to take. Currently, we only 

19 have about six cards, I think, already in hand, for 

20 speakers that want to make comments. 

21 The blue cards are for providing your 

22 contact information, if you wish to be kept on an e23 mail list and receive important NRC information 

24 about this license application. Also, if you ask a 

25 question that the NRC staff cannot answer here 
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1 tonight, put your contact information on a blue 

2 card, with your question that still needs an answer, 

3 and the staff will get an answer back to you. Put 

4 your e-mail address on it. If you don't have an e5 mail address, a telephone number will work just as 

6 well. 

7 Now for some general etiquette rules. 

8 This meeting is being recorded by Ms. Pam Hollinger 

9 over here, for transcription purposes to put into 

10 the official record. 

11 For that reason, it's vitally important 

12 that the comments being made on the record are 

13 clearly heard with no confusing background noise. 

14 And although I didn't put it in my notes, somebody 

15 reminded me, very nicely, that all cell phones 

16 should be placed on mute or silenced. 

17 It is important that only one person be 

18 speaking at any given instant while comments are 

19 being transcribed. So please refrain from any 

20 commentary or shout-outs while a person is speaking 

21 on the record. It's just good policy to avoid 

22 speaking, unless you're being recognized. 

23 I will call up speakers three at a time, 

24 and ask them to take the first three chairs here 

25 that I've got the reserved sheets sitting on, so 
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1 that we can minimize the time it takes or someone to 

2 get up and back to the table. It looks like we'll 

3 have to have two shifts of speakers, which won't be 

4 too much of a burden. 

5 Speakers will speak from the lectern 

6 here, so we ask that you speak clearly into the 

7 microphone, and Ms. Pam Hollinger will give 

8 appropriate feedback if she's not getting the proper 

9 amount of volume that she needs in order to keep a 

10 good transcript. 

11 For the question-and-answer period, 

12 please try to keep your questions focused and 

13 direct, and avoid any long introduction to the 

14 question, if at all possible. 

15 As I mentioned, we budgeted only 15 

16 minutes for questions and answers, so it's important 

17 to try to get as many questions asked and answered, 

18 in the 15 minutes, as we can, in order to maximize 

19 the time for the speakers. And what's good for the 

20 goose is good for the gander too. I expect the NRC 

21 staff to appropriately provide focused answers to 

22 the questions and answer the questions as directly 

23 as possible. 

24 People speaking on the record will be 

25 able to use the lectern but questions will be asked 
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1 from the floor, and what I will do during the 

2 question-and-answer period is walk around with the 

3 hand mike. As you have a question, raise your hand, 

4 I'll try to keep a tab of who had their hands up, in 

5 what order, and get the microphone out to you. 

6 Please stand up when asking a question, 

7 and give your name, if you wish, and please don't be 

8 offended if I don't surrender the microphone to you. 

9 That is what they taught me in facilitator training 

10 as the cardinal rule of facilitation--never give up 

11 the microphone. 

12 And I don't want to embarrass both of us 

13 by engaging in a wrestling match for possession of 

14 the microphone. 

15 For translation purposes, everything 

16 here tonight will be in English. 

17 Hay alguien aqui, que no comprende 

18 Ingles? 

19 Not seeing any hands, I'm very relieved. 

20 But we had a contingency plan to deal with that as 

21 well. 

22 Any questions on anything I've gone over 

23 so far? 

24 [No response] 

25 If not, we'll start into the 
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1 presentations, and I will introduce the first 

2 speaker. His name is David Skeen. Dave is the 

3 Deputy Division Director in the Division of Waste 

4 Management and Environmental Protection in the NRC's 

5 Office of Federal and State Materials and 

6 Environmental Program Management. 

7 Dave. 

8 MR. SKEEN: Thanks, Bill. I appreciate 

9 that. Let me see if this device is going to work 

10 here for us tonight. Hey, it works. 

11 The first thing I wanted to say was I 

12 sure appreciate that the NRC got on the front page 

13 of the local paper. We--usually we get relegated to 

14 the back page, below the fold, and no one knows when 

15 we're in town. But certainly, I see that we're on 

16 top of the front page in the community news, so--and 

17 it looks like we've got a pretty good turnout for 

18 the meeting tonight. So again, we appreciate that. 

19 Also, I want to thank the people of Lea 

20 County and Hobbs. You've treated our staff very 

21 well this week. We've had meetings with several of 

22 the public officials and community leaders, some of 

23 the first responders, and we've gotten some very 

24 good input from those folks. 

25 So again, we appreciate your time for 
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1 giving us input. We think that's very important. 

2 So the first thing I want to talk about 

3 is who are we. Who's the NRC? First of all, I 

4 would say we looked at our slogan. It says we 

5 protect people and the environment. At one time we 

6 thought about "We're the NRC--no, we're not related 

7 to DOE." Because a lot of people think we're a 

8 subset of the Department of Energy. 

9 But basically, back in 1974, with the 

10 energy Reorganization Act, the Federal Government 

11 and Congress split the Atomic Energy Commission into 

12 two pieces. One was the Department of Energy, which 

13 was responsible for the military uses of nuclear 

14 materials, as well as promoting nuclear energy as a 

15 energy source. 

16 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was 

17 born to oversee or regulate that industry, and the 

18 fear was, from Congress, that there was some 

19 conflict of interest if the same agency was both 

20 promoting nuclear energy as well as overseeing and 

21 regulating nuclear materials. So that's how we were 

22 born. 

23 We are an independent federal agency. 

24 We get--94 percent of our budget is paid for by our 

25 licensees. Only 10 percent comes out of the General 
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1 Fund from Congress, from the taxpayers. So we 

2 depend a lot on getting fees for the services that 

3 we provide in overseeing nuclear materials. 

4 We are headed by a five member 

5 Commission. Each commissioner is appointed for a 

6 five year term. It's a rolling five year term. One 

7 commissioner is appointed every year to fill a five 

8 year term. They are appointed by the President of 

9 the United States, and then they are confirmed the 

10 Senate. The U.S. Senate has to confirm all of our 

11 commissioners. 

12 In general, it runs as the party that is 

13 in the White House, it has the majority control of 

14 the Commission, so, in general, if there's a 

15 Republican in the White House there are three 

16 Republican commissioners and two Democratic 

17 commissioners. Right now, there's a Democrat in 

18 the White House, so we have three Democratic 

19 commissioners and two Republican commissioners that 

20 oversee the Commission. 

21 We have the regulatory responsibility 

22 for the use of, all commercial use of nuclear 

23 materials in the United States. And that's why 

24 we're here. This facility that they're proposing 

25 for the International Isotopes Fluorine Products 
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1 comes under our jurisdiction. 

2 So what is our mission? We regulate the 

3 civilian use of byproduct, source, and special 

4 nuclear materials, and we want to ensure that the 

5 product is adequately protected from the use of 

6 those materials, as well as promoting the common 

7 defense and security of the United States and 

8 protecting the environment. 

9 A lot of times we say these words, and 

10 folks don't really know what we mean by product 

11 material, or source material, or special nuclear 

12 materials. Basically, what byproduct material is is 

13 materials used maybe in the nuclear industry or for 

14 industrial purposes, like a density gauge when 

15 you're building roads, or radiographers that do 

16 radiographs on welds or other kind of things like 

17 that. 

18 Source material. Basically, source 

19 material means thorium or uranium, and it's uranium 

20 as long as the uranium hasn't been enriched in the 

21 isotope with Uranium-235. Then we move into special 

22 nuclear materials. Special nuclear materials is 

23 basically plutonium or uranium-233, or uranium 

24 that's been enriched in the isotopes of uranium-233 

25 or uranium-235. So that's kind of the different 
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1 things, and I know it's a lot of chemistry and 

2 letters to think about, but that's basically the 

3 materials that we're talking about. 

4 So how is the NRC organized here? Well, 

5 basically we have four regions throughout the 

6 country as well as the headquarters in Washington, 

7 D.C., actually, just outside of Washington in 

8 Rockville, Maryland. 

9 But the, I guess the first step here, 

10 this is Region I and the base of that is King of 

11 Prussia, Pennsylvania, which is just outside of 

12 Philadelphia. Our Region II office is down in 

13 Atlanta, Georgia. Our Region III office is in 

14 Lisle, Illinois, which is just outside of Chicago, 

15 and then our Region IV office is Arlington, right 

16 there, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

17 So you may be asking, what are these two 

18 cross-hatched states, Missouri and Mississippi. 

19 That doesn't mean we don't regulate in those states. 

20 It's just--it's--what we're trying to do is explain 

21 to folks that if you see the green cross-hatching 

22 for Missouri and Mississippi, that means that we 

23 regulate the reactors in those states out of our 

24 Region IV office in Arlington, Texas. Otherwise, 

25 for all the other materials licenses that come 
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1 about, Mississippi is regulated for materials from 

2 our Atlanta office, and Missouri is regulated by our 

3 Lisle office in Illinois. 

4 So what do we regulate? We regulate 

5 different kinds of facilities. Certainly nuclear 

6 reactors. Any of the commercial reactors. We have 

7 104 commercial reactors operating in this country 

8 today, as well as 35 test and research reactors that 

9 we oversee, and then we're looking at new designs, 

10 that we're looking for new licenses now to 

11 potentially build some new plants as well, power 

12 plants. 

13 In the nuclear materials world, all the 

14 reactor fuel and radioactive materials for medical, 

15 industrial and academic uses in the world of nuclear 

16 waste. We also regulate the transportation, storage 

17 and disposal of commercial waste, things that we not 

18 military waste, we have jurisdiction over, as well 

19 as de-commissioning of facilities that we do 

20 regulate. 

21 And then in nuclear security, we have 

22 the responsibility for the physical security of the 

23 commercial nuclear materials and to protect that 

24 material from sabotage or attacks. 

25 Someone didn't turn their cell phone 
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1 off. 

2 So our primary functions. How is it 

3 that we regulate? The NRC regulates by establishing 

4 rules and regulations, issuing rules, or revising 

5 those rules when we need to for the commercial use 

6 of nuclear materials. 

7 We issue licenses to allow the use of 

8 these materials to certain entities, and of course 

9 we get licensing fees for doing that. When we issue 

10 a license, the licensee pays us to give them a 

11 license. 

12 We also provide our oversight through 

13 inspection. In our 104 reactors around the country 

14 we have resident inspectors that are there all the 

15 time. 

16 Now for different facilities, we may not 

17 have resident inspectors. Sometimes we just have 

18 regional inspectors that come and inspect on some 

19 period of time. But we don't always have resident 

20 inspectors at all fuel facilities. 

21 We also conduct research to provide 

22 support for our regulatory decisions. We have an 

23 Office of Research in headquarters that helps us 

24 look kind of out into the future, or if we have 

25 regulatory actions that we're considering, and we 
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1 need extra technical expertise, they will go off and 

2 do some studies for us, to help make sure that we're 

3 looking at all of the potential issues that we need 

4 to in making a regulatory decision. 

5 And finally, we respond to emergencies. 

6 We practice, all the time, with drills for--in case 

7 there is an event that would involve nuclear 

8 materials, but--so we just want to be prepared in 

9 case that happens. 

10 So I told you what we did. Here's what 

11 we don't do. The NRC doesn't build any plants. We 

12 don't promote nuclear facilities. We're the 

13 referees or the umpires. We're the ones that look 

14 at all the information we gather, to decide, is this 

15 facility going to be safe? Will it be constructed, 

16 operated safely, and then when it's decommissioned, 

17 will the public be safe from all those different 

18 actions that take place? So that's our main 

19 function. 

20 We don't own or operate any nuclear 

21 plants. Even though we may have resident 

22 inspectors on sites, or we bring inspectors in, we 

23 have nothing to do with the operation of the 

24 facility itself, only if it's being operated in a 

25 safe manner. 
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1 We don't regulate the nuclear weapons. 

2 That's why I explained that the Department of Energy 

3 took responsibility for all military uses of nuclear 

4 materials, so the NRC really doesn't have any 

5 jurisdiction or authority over those. 

6 We don't regulate naturally-occurring 

7 radioactive material. It's all around us. There's 

8 naturally-occurring radioactive materials 

9 everywhere. But again, the NRC does not regulate 

10 that. 

11 So what we try to do, we try to do our 

12 business in an open way. We basically try to bend 

13 over backwards to be open and transparent in the way 

14 that we do our business. 

15 Our goals are to make sure that we 

16 achieve nuclear safety, nuclear security, openness 

17 in the way we do business, hopefully effectiveness 

18 as a regulator, and operational excellence in our 

19 goals of being, managing the regulation of these 

20 nuclear materials. 

21 We place a very high priority on keeping 

22 the public and stakeholders informed in what we do. 

23 We feel it just allows them to participate in our 

24 regulatory processes, and actually gives us a better 

25 answer, in the end, when we get--when we hear from 
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1 everyone, we feel like we make a better decision. 

2 So because of that, we encourage 

3 stakeholder participation in our regulatory process, 

4 as much as possible. Every step of the way, we try 

5 to make sure that the public's involved. We listen 

6 to their comments. We may not always agree with the 

7 comments we get, but we will give due consideration 

8 to any comment we get from members of the public, 

9 and all of our stakeholders. 

10 And then finally, you can go to our Web 

11 site, our public Web site is www.nrc.gov, and 

12 there's lots of information on there for you, and if 

13 you have any questions, I'm sure we'd be glad to 

14 talk to you about anything you find on our Web site. 

15 So for us, communications is a key way 

16 of doing our business. We want to participate in 

17 active dialogue with all of our stakeholders, and 

18 basically, we want to start with you, and you means 

19 the members of the public. 

20 We've heard a lot from the business 

21 leaders and the elected officials in this area, but 

22 we also want to hear from just the average public 

23 person that may have some concern, or some interest, 

24 in this facility that's going to be built here. So 

25 what we hope to hear from you tonight is some 
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1 issues, if you have any issues or concerns about any 

2 of the potential environmental impacts that building 

3 this facility may have on your area. 

4 We also deal with public interest 

5 groups. If there are public interest groups that 

6 are interested in talking to us, we always want to 

7 hear from them as well. 

8 Also the Indian tribes. State and local 

9 officials, as I said, we've been talking with them 

10 along the way. Other state agencies, other federal 

11 agencies. We're part of the federal family, and we 

12 certainly want to work closely with our federal 

13 counterparts, EPA, DOE, in certain cases, and other 

14 agencies as well. 

15 And also the Congress. The Congress has 

16 a large interest in NRC activities, and we regularly 

17 interface with them. Our commissioners are down on 

18 the Hill talking to different congressional 

19 delegations all the time. Sometimes we get invited 

20 to hearings, to speak about what might be going on 

21 as far as nuclear materials go. 

22 And then there's the nuclear industry 

23 groups. The Nuclear Energy Institute, or the 

24 Institute for Nuclear Power Operations. We 

25 interface with those folks as well, to make sure we 
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1 hear their concerns about how the industry's being 

2 regulated. 

3 And then finally, international 

4 organizations. The U.S. is a large player in what 

5 goes on, internationally, through the International 

6 Atomic Energy Agency. We support that group. We 

7 have several of our staff consult with many of the 

8 international regulators and folks at the IAEA, and, 

9 you know, we feel that it's important that we share 

10 our knowledge, and get knowledge from other folks 

11 from around the world, to make sure we're making the 

12 industry as safe as we can. 

13 So finally, why are we here in Hobbs? 

14 Well, as part of our licensing process, we come out 

15 and do a public scoping meeting, to try to 

16 understand from everybody, if there's any issues 

17 they may have about any licensing decision we may 

18 have in front of us. In this case, it's building 

19 the International Isotopes facility here near Hobbs. 

20 So we certainly want to hear from 

21 anyone. If you have any concerns, or any issues you 

22 want to raise to us, that helps us in our 

23 assessment, to determine whether we should actually 

24 issue a license for this facility to be constructed 

25 and operated. So you input is vital to us, to 
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1 understand any issues you may have. You folks live 

2 here, and you know this area better than we ever 

3 will. So it's very important that you let us know 

4 if there's any concerns that you may have. 

5 Again, we're only at the very beginning 

6 of the process. Our folks are going to come up here 

7 and talk to you a little bit on our process of the 

8 licensing reviews, and then the environmental 

9 reviews we do. So it's important that we get your 

10 input, early on, to help us know what areas we want 

11 to look into further, or areas we may not need to 

12 look into as closely. 

13 And I would say that no decisions have 

14 been made yet. Right now, we will make our 

15 licensing decision somewhere after--it may be 

16 January of 2012, before the final decision is made 

17 whether to issue a license for this facility or not. 

18 So with that being said, now you're 

19 going to hear an overview in both the licensing and 

20 environmental review process from some of our staff, 

21 and after that, we look forward to hearing from you 

22 during the question-and-answer period as well as the 

23 comment period that we'll have afterward. 

24 So with that, I'd like to invite Matt 

25 Bartlett up to talk a little bit about the safety 
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1 review process. Thanks. 

2 MR. BARTLETT: Good evening, and thanks 

3 for coming out to our meeting. As Dave said, my 

4 name is Matt Bartlett and I'm the project manager 

5 for the licensing safety review. I basically just 

6 have two objectives for my portion of the talk. The 

7 first is to just give you kind of an overview of the 

8 International Isotopes proposed facility, and then 

9 secondly, to give you an overview of where we are in 

10 the licensing process. 

11 As I'm sure you're all aware, the 

12 facility is proposed to be built in about the middle 

13 of Lea County. It's about 14 miles west of Hobbs. 

14 The facility basically is going to take, receive 

15 depleted uranium hexafluoride, otherwise known as 

16 DUF-6, receive this material from the enrichment 

17 facilities, similar to the LES facility down near 

18 Eunice. 

19 These enrichment facilities, as they 

20 create fuel for the nuclear reactors, end up 

21 producing as waste, or tails, a lot of this depleted 

22 uranium hexafluoride. 

23 The thing to keep in mind with this 

24 facility, even though it's regulated by the NRC, the 

25 de-conversion process is primarily a chemical 
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1 process, and the reason that it's regulated by the 

2 NRC is because of the uranium, right? which is a 

3 radioactive compound. Since it's depleted uranium 

4 we're dealing with, it's relatively of low, low 

5 radioactivity. 

6 The process basically involves receiving 

7 the DUF-6 in 14-ton cylinders, similar to this one. 

8 The material will go into the facility and then 

9 they'll also have silicon dioxide and boron 

10 trioxide, and it'll go into the facility where it'll 

11 be reacted. 

12 And then the goal is to provide both 

13 depleted uranium dioxide and then high purity 

14 fluoride compounds. 

15 The depleted uranium dioxide is much 

16 more stable than the DUF-6, and it actually can be 

17 disposed of at a licensed disposal facility such as 

18 the facility in Clive, Utah. 

19 The high-purity fluoride compounds can 

20 be sold commercially, and they include silicon 

21 tetrafluoride, boron trifluoride, and anhydrous 

22 hydrogen fluoride. 

23 Okay. Now more information on the 

24 review process. We received the application that 

25 was mentioned earlier, in the December 2009 
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1 timeframe. We initiated what's called an acceptance 

2 review, and that's basically a 45-day review to 

3 determine if there's sufficient information in the 

4 application to do an in-depth review, and February 

5 24th, 2010, we accepted the application for a formal 

6 review, and that basically--once we accept it, once 

7 we accepted it in February, that initiated an 18-

8 month formal review, in-depth safety review. 

9 That's ongoing. We're about six months 

10 into that. Now running in parallel, you know, 

11 parallel to the safety review, we have an 

12 environmental team that's developing an 

13 Environmental Impact Statement. That review takes a 

14 little bit longer, typically 24 months, and we're 

15 also six months into that. 

16 And that's primarily the reason we're 

17 here this evening, as part of the Environmental 

18 Impact Statement, to review your input. The 

19 ultimate goal will be, once we've completed our 

20 review, if we've determined that the Applicant 

21 complies with the NRC's regulation, then we'll issue 

22 a license, and as Dave mentioned, that'll be some 

23 time in the early 2012 timeframe. 

24 And of course we also have to say that 

25 that schedule is dependent on the quality of the 
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1 application, how the Applicant responds to our 

2 questions, and any other high-priority safety issues 

3 which may arise. 

4 Okay. The safety review. Basically, we 

5 have a review team. We have individuals that focus 

6 in on reviewing the radioactive safety program in 

7 the application. We have individuals that focus in 

8 on the chemical safety, fire, emergency 

9 preparedness, environmental issues, seismic issues, 

10 security issues, etcetera. We have reviewers 

11 looking at each of these areas, and they will all 

12 contribute to the eventual determination that we 

13 make. 

14 In addition to reviewing the 

15 application, International Isotopes has also 

16 submitted--or done an Integrated Safety Analysis and 

17 submitted a safety analysis summary, a document 

18 that's completely separate from the application, and 

19 in the I--this is also known as an ISA. In the ISA, 

20 the Applicant works to identify all potential 

21 accidents that could happen at the facility, and 

22 then they rank those accidents, and any that could 

23 be intermediate, or high consequence, they implement 

24 what are called items relied on for safety. These 

25 could be engineered systems, they could be safety 
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1 systems, they could be procedures, and the goal is 

2 to make it so that the accident is much less likely 

3 to happen, or if it were to happen, the consequences 

4 would be much less likely, or much less severe. 

5 The outcome of our safety review is to 

6 develop what's called a Safety Evaluation Report, or 

7 SER. We're working on that right now, and as we go 

8 through the application, typically, we'll come 

9 across areas where we need more information, and 

10 we'll submit requests for additional information to 

11 the Applicant, and they'll respond. 

12 But our ultimate goal is to develop this 

13 Safety Evaluation Report document, which basically 

14 says what we looked at and why we made the 

15 determination that the Applicant complies with the 

16 regulations. And then once we've made that 

17 determination, we'll issue the license. 

18 Opportunities to get involved. One way 

19 to be involved is to--you can contact us. My e-mail 

20 address, phone number, is there, if you have 

21 questions or comments. You're always welcome to 

22 shoot us, shoot me an e-mail, or a call. You can 

23 also contact Asimios Malliakos, who's the 

24 environmental project manager. 

25 Another good way to get involved is what 
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1 you're already doing, and that's participating in 

2 these public meetings. We do these to get your 

3 comments and get your feedback. In addition to this 

4 environmental scoping meeting, we'll have three 

5 additional meetings. Draft EIS. Once the draft EIS 

6 is completed, we'll come back out and explain it, 

7 and get your comments on it. 

8 Once my piece, the SER, is completed, 

9 we'll come back out and explain to you our findings, 

10 again, to receive your comments. And then once the 

11 facility is constructed, the NRC's role doesn't 

12 stop. We have an in-depth inspection program that 

13 beings, and follows the operations, to ensure that 

14 the Applicant's doing what they committed to do, and 

15 we'll come out and explain our inspection program. 

16 As Dave mentioned, one good way to get 

17 information, more information probably than you ever 

18 wanted, is the public Web site, www.nrc.gov. If 

19 you're looking for specific information, sometimes, 

20 on International Isotopes, or on de-conversion, 

21 sometimes it can be difficult to find. But here's 

22 the specific Web site. We have created specific Web 

23 sites that have information on de-conversion and 

24 International Isotopes, and you can use these Web 

25 sites to find it. 
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1 And I should just mention that this Web 

2 site for International Isotopes has the public 

3 version of their license application, the public 

4 version of their environmental report, so you can 

5 actually access those documents online. 

6 And then we also maintain an e-mail 

7 distribution list, and this is just a list of people 

8 who've expressed interest in receiving updates, and 

9 documents on International Isotopes. If you let me 

10 know, either by e-mailing me, telling me tonight, we 

11 can add your name to that e-mail distribution list, 

12 and we'll send you an e-mail any time we have an 

13 update. 

14 And at this point I will turn it over to 

15 Asimios Malliakos, who's the environmental project 

16 manager. 

17 DR. MALLIAKOS: Thank you, Matt. Thank 

18 you very much. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. 

19 It's good to see you here. Without you, we're not 

20 going to have a public meeting. Thank you for 

21 coming. 

22 I'm going to be speaking on the 

23 environmental review process of the proposed 

24 fluorine extraction process and the de-conversion 

25 facility that International Isotopes is proposing. 
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1 It has been a significant effort up to this point in 

2 time, not only for, to come to this point, for this 

3 meeting, but also to meet with the public officials 

4 who had a very good welcome, very good input, very 

5 productive meetings, but also to come at this 

6 meeting. Everything was very successful up to this 

7 point in time. The meetings is in progress. All 

8 this effort has paid off. 

9 I would like also to thank the NRC 

10 management for their support, and I would like to 

11 thank my colleagues for their help. Without that, 

12 we're not going to have a public meeting. 

13 I had also a nice surprise coming to 

14 Hobbs, coming to New Mexico, coming from Washington, 

15 D.C. I thought this time of the year here is more 

16 hot than Washington, D.C. That wasn't the case. 

17 This is not what I found. It was cooler weather 

18 here, and actually, I found the humidity--I was 

19 expecting that I guess--the humidity is more here, 

20 which feels even cooler. It was a nice surprise to 

21 have. 

22 But why we're here. We're here because 

23 the NRC is conducting an environmental review as 

24 part of the licensing application review of the 

25 proposed International Isotopes facility. This 
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1 review is required by the National Environmental 

2 Policy Act of 1969, as amended. I'm going to speak 

3 a little bit more on this later. 

4 We're also here for your comments, any 

5 input you might provide us, any comments, for any 

6 issues you might think. We're going to use it to 

7 refine the scope of our environmental review. 

8 I would like to talk about the law, 

9 regulation, and guidance documents we have. I just 

10 spoke, in the earlier slide, about the National 

11 Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended. A lot 

12 of times we call it NEPA. And what NEPA is, is this 

13 act was used to establish a national policy for the 

14 environment and to provide for the establishment of 

15 a Council of Environmental Quality, and for other 

16 purposes. 

17 We also use for regulation Title 10 of 

18 the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 51. That Part 

19 51 is titled Environmental Protection Regulations 

20 for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory 

21 Functions. 

22 And this part contains environmental 

23 protection regulations applicable to NRC's domestic 

24 licensing and related regulatory functions. 

25 And then for guidance documents, we have 
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1 NUREG 1748. What is a NUREG. NUREGs are documents 

2 that the NRC, NRC staff is producing. This one is 

3 titled Environmental Review Guidance for Licensing 

4 Actions Associated with NMSS programs. NMSS is one 

5 of the offices within NRC. And the document 

6 provides general procedures for the environmental 

7 review of licensing actions regulated by the NRC. 

8 What's the environmental process we're 

9 following? For us to study environmental process, 

10 we have to review an environmental report from an 

11 Applicant. As a first step, we perform an 

12 acceptance review. 

13 The purpose of that review is to look 

14 through and find out any major issues. Is anything 

15 major missing, that will be an obstacle for us to 

16 continue on with our review? If everything is okay, 

17 then the environmental report is accepted for 

18 further review, and we issue a Federal Register 

19 notice. 

20 Immediately after that, we engage 

21 consulting and cooperating agencies, and in 

22 parallel, we begin this scoping process, and we call 

23 a public scoping meeting, and that's what we're 

24 doing today, that is why we are here, and this is 

25 one of the opportunities that the public can 
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1 participate. One of them. 

2 I'll come back to this slide later on, 

3 because I'm going to follow the steps after that. 

4 What's the scoping process of an 

5 environmental review? Is a requirement of NEPA, and 

6 also for NRC regulations. It's used to refine the 

7 environmental review. We take it very seriously, 

8 because it does refine the environmental review. 

9 It's being used to receive and address 

10 your comments. We are looking forward to that. 

11 We're identifying any significant issues that you 

12 may bring us up. It is also equally important for 

13 us to identify anything that you might bring us, 

14 that is not important. That way, we eliminate it. 

15 We're identifying alternatives. What are 

16 alternatives? 

17 International Isotopes, or any 

18 application proposes specific action. It may be a 

19 specific plan. What we look into: Is any other way 

20 we can address that need, that the company comes and 

21 proposes? 

22 One of the alternatives is also the "no 

23 action alternative." In that case, what is going to 

24 happen if that plant doesn't go forward, if the NRC 

25 doesn't give license to that? 
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1 We identify related documents that will 

2 be used in the environmental review. We identify 

3 other environmental review and consultation 

4 requirements. And also the scoping process be used 

5 to listen and receive written comments. 

6 What is the proposed site? The proposed 

7 site is in Lea County, and there is an environmental 

8 report that International Isotopes has provided, 

9 back in December 2009, and that report is accessible 

10 at the NRC Web site. 

11 What is an EIS? First, what it stands 

12 for. EIS stands for Environmental Impact Statement. 

13 And what is it? This is the document, that's the 

14 report, that the NRC documents the environmental 

15 review. It describes the potential environmental 

16 impacts of the proposed action, and the 

17 alternatives, the alternatives as I talked earlier, 

18 and provides information to the public, for you, but 

19 also it serves the purpose for the Agency to make--

20 for the decision makers of the Agency. 

21 What are topics the Environmental Impact 

22 Statement will address? It's five main topics. 

23 First, the proposed action, including the purpose, 

24 its purpose, and the need it meets. The 

25 alternatives, including the "no action." The 
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1 affected environment. Impact to the environment, 

2 and mitigated measures. What are mitigated 

3 measures? 

4 Mitigated measures are these actions, or 

5 these processes that the Applicant can use in order 

6 to eliminate, reduce, and possibly eliminate, 

7 impacts to the environment. 

8 What effects we're considering. We 

9 start from the beginning. Construction of the 

10 facility, construction of the plant, operation, and 

11 of course, after operation is complete, the 

12 commissioning. Should include all these three 

13 stages. 

14 Example is just examples of review 

15 areas, include air, water, soils, plants and 

16 animals. Public and worker health. It is very 

17 important for us. Historic archeological or 

18 architectural property and artifacts. Economic 

19 resources, cultural resources, and social services. 

20 Also includes environmental justice. 

21 What is environmental justice? Back on 

22 February 11, in 1994, the President signed an 

23 executive order--actually, the number is Executive 

24 Order 12,898, and in this executive order 

25 environmental justice is described as identifying 
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1 and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately 

2 high and adverse human health or environmental 

3 effects of its programs, policies and activities, on 

4 minority populations and low-income populations. 

5 Also address impacts. This might be 

6 direct, indirect, or cumulative. A direct impact, 

7 to give you an example, is a new plant, a new 

8 facility, is going to impact a number of people. 

9 New salaries are coming to these people. This is a 

10 direct impact to these people. These people, 

11 they're going to use these salaries for their own 

12 purpose, for their own use, to purchase goods in the 

13 local economy. This is going to have an impact in 

14 the local grocery store, in the local business. 

15 That's an indirect impact. Is going to also have a 

16 cumulative impact. 

17 What is a cumulative impact? The 

18 Council on Environmental Quality describes 

19 cumulative impacts as the impact on the environment 

20 which results from the action, connected to the 

21 other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable 

22 future actions, regardless of what agency, federal 

23 or non-federal, or person, undertakes such other 

24 actions. So we consider all these things. 

25 Again to the slide I was talking 
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1 earlier, once the public meeting finished, after 

2 that, we're going to publish a scoping summary 

3 report. We're going to identify and analyze 

4 environmental impacts, and we are going to publish a 

5 draft EIS for public comment. 

6 Then again, we're going to begin a 

7 public comment period, and we're going to hold a 

8 public meeting on the draft EIS. This is another 

9 opportunity for public participation. The comments 

10 that we're going to get from the public, we're going 

11 to use them to revise the draft EIS, Environmental 

12 Impact Statement, and then we're going to publish 

13 the final EIS, which is going to be used for the 

14 licensing action. 

15 How you can make a comment? First 

16 thing, of course, you can speak at this meeting, and 

17 we would like to hear your comments. As I said 

18 before, we're taking the comments very seriously, 

19 we're going to consider them in the review. 

20 Regardless, if the comments bring an impact, or if 

21 you tell us that there is something that we need to 

22 eliminate from consideration, for us, is equally 

23 important. 

24 You can fill out of course a yellow card 

25 at this meeting. You can send us an e-mail to the 
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1 address, inis.eis@nrc.gov. Or you can write to the 

2 NRC, Docket Number 440-9086, Chief, Rules and 

3 Directives Branch, Mail Stop TWB5301M, U.S. Nuclear 

4 Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001. 

5 And one can get more information. We 

6 have a project Web site. I can understand, it's 

7 kind of difficult to write all these things down now 

8 in a note. However, we have on the table outside 

9 copies of the viewgraphs and all this others is here 

10 and available there. They're also available at the 

11 NRC's electronic reading room. Docket number again: 

12 40-9086. And also in the Hobbs Public Library, the 

13 environmental report of the Applicant is available 

14 there. 

15 You can also contact the NRC Licensing 

16 Review Project Manager, Matt Bartlett, phone number 

17 301-492-3119, or you can contact me. My phone 

18 number: 301-415-6458. Thank you very much. Thank 

19 you. And I will turn the meeting, the control of 

20 the meeting to Bill. 

21 MR. MAIER: You saw me violate the first 

22 rule of facilitation just now. 

23 I'll make one more pitch for anybody who 

24 hasn't registered to make statements on the record 

25 and would like to do so. We can get you a yellow 
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1 card, if you're interested. If you'll please raise 

2 your hand. 

3 What we'll start now is the question4 and-answer session, and if there's anybody that has 

5 a question, I'll come around with the mike, you can 

6 ask the question. You can ask it of the three 

7 officials who just spoke, and we have additional NRC 

8 staff in the audience. If there's additional input 

9 needed from them, we can go to them for answers as 

10 well. 

11 Anybody have a question they'd like to 

12 ask. 

13 Going once. If you'll stand up, and if 

14 you want to state your name, you can; if not, that's 

15 fine too. 

16 MR. GROBBEN: My name is Gerard Grobben. 

17 I'm Dutch. Sorry. My English is not so good. But 

18 I have a question. Since the licensing progress, 

19 theme goes, it's already, already going before the 

20 license is, is given, or is it also everybody has to 

21 wait until the license is given, and then the first 

22 spade goes in the ground? 

23 MR. BARTLETT: Typically, the way the 

24 regulations in Part 40, which this facility will be 

25 regulated under, are written, currently written, the 
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1 licensee, or the Applicant, can't begin any 

2 construction until they receive a license. That 

3 would be not until 2012. There is the option to 

4 request, in a separate licensing request, actually 

5 an exemption request, to be able to do what's called 

6 prelicensing construction. 

7 That would be things like moving dirt 

8 around, constructing fences, warehouses. That 

9 typically has to be done in a separate request where 

10 we grant them an exemption to do that kind of 

11 construction, and it could be done, you know, that 

12 could take place in 2011, potentially. But that 

13 would be a separate request and at this point we 

14 haven't received such a request. 

15 MR. MAIER: Any other questions from 

16 anyone? 

17 [No response] 

18 MR. MAIER: Okay. What we'll do now is 

19 maybe take a break, since we're ahead of schedule. 

20 Is that okay with you folks? Why don't we do that. 

21 If anybody needs to either, you know, make a phone 

22 call, visit the rest room or something. It's 6:25. 

23 If we'll come back within 15 minutes, and we'll 

24 start on schedule with speakers comments at 6:40. 

25 [A recess was taken from 6:26 p.m. until 
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1 6:41 p.m.] 

2 MR. MAIER: And 110 minutes to get it 

3 done, and that's 11 minutes per speaker. I'm hoping 

4 that no speaker expects to go beyond 11 minutes. So 

5 I'll rely on your self-regulating capabilities. 

6 I would like Mr. Marco Grajeda to please 

7 come to the lectern. Mr. Grajeda is representing 

8 U.S. Senator Tom Udall. 

9 MR. GRAJEDA: Good evening. As you 

10 mentioned, my name is Marco Grajeda, and I'm a field 

11 representative for Senator Tom Udall, and I have a 

12 brief statement from the senator, and thanks for 

13 allowing me to read this. 

14 "Thank you for allowing me to share a 

15 few words with you today. I wish that I could be 

16 here in person. First of all, I would like to thank 

17 the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for holding 

18 this meeting in Hobbs. It's important that folks 

19 from Lea County get a chance to share their opinions 

20 during the environmental scoping process, and I 

21 trust you will take the views expressed today very 

22 seriously. 

23 "I have heard many good things about the 

24 proposed International Isotopes fluorine products 

25 facility, and I'm very excited about the possibility 
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1 of a new energy-related business coming to this 

2 already-important region. But there is still an 

3 important step ahead of us. 

4 "The NRC has the important task of 

5 ensuring that the people and environment of Lea 

6 County and New Mexico will be protected. If the NRC 

7 gives the company the go-ahead, I believe the 

8 International Isotopes would provide good jobs 

9 resulting in an economic investment for the region. 

10 "In addition, the company will recycle 

11 left-over material from the uranium enrichment 

12 process more efficiently, helping to facilitate our 

13 nation's clean energy future. 

14 "Because of this, I joined U.S. Senator 

15 Jeff Bingaman and Congressman Harry Teague, this 

16 week, in sending a letter of support for 

17 International Isotopes' application to the 

18 Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program. 

19 "This program paves the way for federal 

20 support to innovative energy-efficiency projects. I 

21 look forward to the NRC conducting a thorough 

22 analysis of the potential environmental impact of 

23 this facility, so that in the nature, Lea County, 

24 and our entire nation, can benefit from a safe and 

25 successful depleted uranium de-conversion facility. 
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1 "Sincerely, Tom Udall, United States 

2 Senator." 

3 MR. SKEEN: Thank you very much for that 

4 comment. We appreciate that. 

5 MR. MAIER: Thank you, Mr. Grajeda. 

6 I'll now ask Commissioner Gary Schubert 

7 from the Lea County Commission. 

8 COMMISSIONER SCHUBERT: Good evening. 

9 I'm proud to represent the Lea County commission 

10 tonight. I'd like to read this letter that we 

11 composed on behalf of the project, and addressed it 

12 to Mr. Skeen. 

13 "On behalf of the Lea County Board of 

14 Commissioners, please be aware of our continuing 

15 support 

16 for the International Isotopes project. Lea County 

17 has assisted International Isotopes with the site 

18 selection and acquisition of the site property. We 

19 have worked closely with Mr. Laflin and his staff, 

20 and have been kept very well-informed of the 

21 progress of the project by International Isotopes. 

22 "Because of this communication of the 

23 information, we feel very comfortable with the 

24 project and our new corporate citizen. We welcome 

25 the evolution of the project idea into reality. 
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1 "Because the open communication of 

2 International Isotopes and the capable oversight of 

3 the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the 

4 citizens of Lea County are supportive of this 

5 opportunity as we continue to add to the supporting 

6 industries of the EnergyPlex. We welcome the 

7 opportunity to help provide a workforce that can be 

8 used to implement the technological assets of 

9 International Isotopes while we diversify our 

10 economy and expand the nuclear culture in Lea 

11 County. 

12 "We stand, once again, ready to assist 

13 International Isotopes and the U.S. Nuclear 

14 Regulatory Commission to make this project a 

15 reality. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity 

16 to communicate our strong support for the project." 

17 MR. SKEEN: Thank you very much. 

18 MR. MAIER: Thank you, Commissioner 

19 Schubert. I'll now ask Mayor Gary Don Reagan to 

20 come say a few words. 

21 MAYOR REAGAN: Thank you very much. I'd 

22 like, first of all, to officially welcome each of 

23 you to the City of Hobbs. This facility is in the 

24 city limits of Hobbs, so I want you to know that 

25 we're very proud of that. We appreciate your 
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1 coming,. I was here at the earlier meeting that you 

2 had several months ago, and learned the process. So 

3 I'll be very brief. 

4 And yet, when I was told about the 

5 meeting today, I was asked, did I have any issues or 

6 concerns that would relate to environmental or 

7 safety issues? 

8 And for the record, officially, the 

9 answer's no. Okay? So I'm going to go past that. 

10 Every now and then in the real world, something 

11 happens that makes a whole lot of sense, and when 

12 you think about what Urenco has now done--and we 

13 learned Tuesday night at a meeting that Louisiana 

14 Energy Services is no longer using that name in Lea 

15 County. They want to be known as Urenco, because 

16 they're not Louisiana anymore. Okay? 

17 So I'm going to say Urenco. It's the 

18 plant five miles east of Eunice, that does the 

19 uranium enrichment. But what makes sense to me, is 

20 that when the uranium enrichment process finishes--

21 and Matt Bartlett mentioned this earlier--there is a 

22 byproduct that they commonly call "tail" in the 

23 industry, and that's a fancy term for me--but what 

24 do you do with the byproduct after the Urenco 

25 process? And understand at some point, not too 
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1 awfully far in the future, the Urenco plant will be 

2 manufacturing one-half of the fuel needed for 

3 enrichment in all the nuclear reactors in the United 

4 States, as I understand it. Now I certainly could 

5 be wrong. 

6 But it's a tremendous amount of 

7 production, going to be a lot of "tail," a lot of 

8 waste. International Isotopes comes around and 

9 says, oh, we can make a contract with Urenco, take 

10 that waste, or some of that waste product, and 

11 certainly not all--but take some of that waste 

12 product, and believe it or not, make usable and 

13 useful things in American society. Well, what kind 

14 of things? 

15 I remember, from the first presentation 

16 I ever saw, the screens for cell phones, TVs. Steve 

17 Laflin's here. He can tell you the whole bunch 

18 more. But things that are imminently useful in our 

19 society today, and what better way to take care of 

20 those "tails." So that makes sense to me. As a 

21 person who's not a scientist, by any stretch, that 

22 make a lot of sense. 

23 So I'm delighted that's going on. I'm 

24 delighted that each of you came today, all the staff 

25 that's here, and as you know, we very much support 
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1 that. 

2 And in summary, I'm wearing my badge 

3 that says International Isotopes, Inc., welcome to 

4 Lea County. Thank you. I don't have any written 

5 comments. 

6 MR. MAIER: Thank you, Mayor Reagan. 

7 I'll ask Mayor Matt White of the City of 

8 Eunice to please come to the lectern, and I'll ask 

9 the following folks to please come sit up in the 

10 front. The future speakers. 

11 Lisa Hardison. Curtis Schrader. And 

12 Robert Caudle. 

13 MAYOR WHITE: Good evening. I'd like to 

14 also thank the NRC for being here tonight. This is 

15 not our first rodeo, I can tell you that, but we do 

16 appreciate your being here. I am here to offer 

17 support for this program, 100 percent. We've been 

18 actively involved throughout the Urenco/LES project. 

19 We've been highly impressed with the NRC and their 

20 process. We're very pleased with the way that 

21 safety is handled on the project, during the design 

22 as well as through construction. 

23 During--I think the mayor already 

24 mentioned, during the licensing for LES, it was 

25 always a concern on the storage, from the governor 
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1 all the way down, about the tailings and the 

2 containers. Again, I support this project cause I 

3 think it helps with this issue, has a place for us 

4 to go with the tailings. 

5 We've been very involved throughout the 

6 developing and very pleased with all the planning. 

7 I'd like to thank the International Isotopes group. 

8 Even though we're not the community next to this 

9 project, they have involved us. They personally 

10 came down and briefed the City of Eunice, and the 

11 council, on what was going on, and we have been--

12 I've been very impressed with what they're doing. 

13 Basically, we're here to offer support 

14 for the program. Thank you. 

15 MR. MAIER: Thank you, Mayor White. 

16 The next speaker will be Lisa Hardison. 

17 Lisa is the president of the Economic Development 

18 Corporation of Lea County. 

19 MS. HARDISON: Well, it's a pleasure to 

20 have you back in our community again, and a joy to 

21 have you here. I hope that you enjoyed your stay in 

22 the EnergyPlex, and we will welcome you back again, 

23 some day. 

24 I have two letters to read. Senator 

25 Carroll Leavell asked that I read one on his behalf, 
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1 and I will do that now. 

2 "Senate District 41 includes the south 

3 half of both Lea and Eddy Counties. The proposed 

4 International Isotopes plant is just north of this 

5 senate district but will impact the constituents of 

6 the district. The jobs created by the construction 

7 and operation of this project will have a very 

8 positive impact on the citizens of this district. 

9 "I have heard no negative concerns 

10 expressed about the operation of the proposed plant. 

11 My duties have me in Santa Fe this week, so I will 

12 not be available for the public hearing on the 

13 licensing of the International Isotopes. I wish the 

14 NRC to know my strong support of the proposal to 

15 construct and operate an integrated fluorine 

16 extraction process and a depleted uranium de17 conversion plant 14 miles west of Hobbs, New Mexico. 

18 "The citizens of senate District 41 are 

19 knowledgeable concerning the management and 

20 processing of uranium, as well as the management of 

21 nuclear waste, due to the history of WIP in Eddy 

22 County, and now the operation of Urenco in Lea 

23 County. 

24 "As I have previously stated, you will 

25 find strong support for the project in the 
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1 leadership of Southeast New Mexico. I would urge 

2 the NRC to contact me at any time you have any 

3 concerns that I might answer. Thank you for your 

4 positive consideration of this project." 

5 MR. MAIER: Thank you. 

6 MS. HARDISON: And then I would like to 

7 also read some comments from the EDC of Lea County, 

8 from our chairman, Sam Spencer. 

9 "The Economic Development Corporation of 

10 Lea County is in full support of the International 

11 Isotopes planned fluorine extraction facility in Lea 

12 County. We are confident that this industry will 

13 help to continue to diversify our economy and create 

14 high-paying jobs for Lea County residents. 

15 "INIS has provided comprehensive 

16 information to our organization, county leaders, and 

17 area residents, about their planned project, and, in 

18 turn, representatives from the EDC and the community 

19 have visited their concurrent operations in Idaho. 

20 This business will complement Lea County's uranium 

21 enrichment processing plant and will help to further 

22 utilize the skills of our workforce. 

23 "We have found INIS to be forthcoming 

24 with their facility plans, and their leaders to 

25 conduct business with integrity. It is through this 
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1 thorough due diligence process, that we have been 

2 assured that the INIS facility will have a positive 

3 impact on the economic diversity and prosperity of 

4 Lea County. 

5 "We hope that you will take our comments 

6 of support into consideration during your evaluation 

7 process. Without hesitation, the EDCLC supports the 

8 construction and licensure of the International 

9 Isotopes facility." 

10 MR. MAIER: Thank you very much. 

11 Thank you, Ms. Hardison. 

12 The next speaker will be Mr. Curtis 

13 Schrader. Mr. Schrader is the city manager of the 

14 City of Eunice. 

15 MR. SCHRADER: Thank you. It's a 

16 pleasure to have the NRC back here in Lea County. 

17 It's always good to see the staff of the NRC. As 

18 has been mentioned by the previous speakers, Lea 

19 County is very supportive of this project. The City 

20 of Eunice is very supportive of this project. The 

21 NRC, I think very appropriately, has as their motto, 

22 "Protecting people and the environment," and I think 

23 that's probably the main thing that we have seen in 

24 our experience of working with the NRC to get the 

25 Urenco USA facility up and operational. 
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1 The depth and the breadth of review and 

2 analysis, and study, and review and analysis, and 

3 study, and Perry and Dave are both looking at me--

4 [laughter]--has been really an amazing process, and 

5 as our mayor mentioned, this isn't our first rodeo. 

6 And I think any time you deal with a project, it's 

7 always helpful to have another project to look at, 

8 to see what went right, what went wrong, and the 

9 fact that this type of project isn't one that gets 

10 built every day in the United States, and hasn't, 

11 for over 30 years. 

12 And I think that it's been a very 

13 valuable learning process for both the NRC staff and 

14 for the community of Lea County, to have gone 

15 through an NRC licensing and permitting and 

16 operational process already. And I am very 

17 confident that because of that process, that this 

18 facility will receive its operational license and 

19 that the ongoing inspection of that facility will be 

20 just as thorough and just as comprehensive as the 

21 process that the NRC staff is currently using with 

22 the Urenco USA facility. 

23 From a support standpoint, the City of 

24 Eunice always tries to support our biggest suburb, 

25 of Hobbs. Just kind a let that wash over you a 
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1 little bit, and it'll sink in. And we are 

2 definitely happy to offer our support to this 

3 facility. It's about 25 miles from Eunice, and with 

4 all these NRC facilities in Lea County, let me be 

5 the first person to offer you some office space in 

6 the City of Eunice. 

7 MR. SKEEN: Thank you very much for your 

8 comments. 

9 MR. MAIER: Thank you, Mr. Schrader. 

10 The next speaker will be Mr. Robert 

11 Caudle, and while Mr. Caudle is coming to the 

12 lectern, I'll ask the following folks to please come 

13 towards the front of the room. 

14 Hollis Riley. Evelyn Holgeen 

15 (phonetic). And Kenyon Burns. The next speaker is 

16 Mr. Robert Caudle. Mr. Caudle is with the New 

17 Mexico Center for Energy Policy. 

18 MR. CAUDLE: Thank you very much. Thank 

19 you all for coming here. This is a very, very 

20 important process, which we very much support, along 

21 with expressed support for this particular 

22 application. But again, thank you. I certainly 

23 support these areas that you note that you regulate, 

24 and look forward to International Isotopes 

25 successful completion and issuance. Thank you. 
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1 MR. SKEEN: Thank you. 

2 MR. MAIER: Thank you. 

3 Mr. Hollis Riley. 

4 MR. RILEY: Well, hey, guys, I want to--

5 can you hear me now? 

6 MR. MAIER: Yes, sir. 

7 MR. RILEY: Well, I want to thank you 

8 for all this time. I'm a member of the 

9 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 

10 Local Union 611, and we have our counterpart, we 

11 call them NICA, the National Electrical Contractors 

12 Association. They're all in favor of the Isotopes 

13 plant here in Lea County. 

14 But I wanted to mention something about 

15 the safety on these projects. I'm kind of one of 

16 the lucky guys. Or unlucky. I've worked, what we 

17 call, with our tools, nuclear power plants. I worked 

18 out here at Urenco for two and a half years. So 

19 just to reinforce it, safety is their number one 

20 priority on these projects. We're just--you know, 

21 we're for the Isotopes--you know. 

22 MR. MAIER: Good. Thank you very much. 

23 Thank you, sir. Ms. Holgeen informs me 

24 that Ms. Burns will be speaking for her. So Mr. 

25 Kenyon Burns. Mr. Burns is with the Lovington 
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1 Economic Development Corporation. 

2 MR. BURNS: Good afternoon, NRC staff. 

3 Thank you for being here this afternoon. My name is 

4 Kenyon Burns. I'm the president of the Lovington 

5 Economic Development Corporation. I have a brief 

6 letter of support that I'd like to read, right 

7 quick, on behalf of the EDC of Lovington. 

8 "The Lovington Economic Development 

9 Corporation would like to express our support of the 

10 International Isotopes fluorine extraction facility 

11 plant here, in Lea County. We're proud that 

12 International Isotopes has selected Lea County as 

13 the site of their project, and we look forward to 

14 the positive enhancements that this new industry 

15 will bring to our residents. 

16 "International Isotopes has projected 

17 that their proposed industrial development project 

18 will provide 150 well-paying jobs,. These newly19 created jobs will offer greater opportunity to our 

20 residents and help diversify our economic base. Lea 

21 County enthusiastically embraced the LES facility, 

22 and the same positive support is found for the 

23 International Isotopes project. 

24 "The Lovington Economic Development 

25 Corporation knows that the residents of Lea County 
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1 will be the beneficiary of increased prosperity with 

2 each new project that is gained, and International 

3 Isotopes will create a positive impact. 

4 "Without reservation, the Lovington 

5 economic Development Corporation supports the 

6 proposed International Isotopes project. Thank you 

7 very much." 

8 MR. SKEEN: Thank you, sir. 

9 MR. MAIER: Thank you, Mr. Burns. Mr. 

10 Burns was the last registered speaker. And we have 

11 another card. Commissioner Jonathan Sena from the 

12 City of Hobbs. 

13 COMMISSIONER SENA: We just want to say 

14 thank you so much for being a part of our community 

15 and we are honored to have you here, and we look 

16 forward to an incredible partnership with you all. 

17 It's been such a pleasure to work with 

18 Urenco, and we believe that everything that 

19 International Isotopes will bring to our community 

20 is just further steps in an incredible, incredible 

21 community that just supports the nuclear industry. 

22 So thank you so much. 

23 MR. SKEEN: Thank you. 

24 MR. MAIER: Thank you, Commissioner 

25 Sena. 
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1 That's the end of the registered 

2 speakers. We are an hour and a half ahead of time. 

3 What are we going to do for that period of time? I 

4 don't know. 

5 If there is anyone else who would like 

6 to bring to the NRC's attention any sort of issues, 

7 or environmental considerations they think the NRC 

8 should be aware of, could you please raise your hand 

9 and we'll recognize you. 

10 Not hearing any or seeing any hands, I 

11 think I'll give the folks of the NRC and the panel 

12 an opportunity. If you want to close this out with 

13 some comments, Dave. 

14 MR. SKEEN: Sure. On behalf of the NRC, 

15 we certainly appreciate the comments that we got 

16 here this evening. Clearly, there's a lot of 

17 support from the community here, and we understand 

18 that and appreciate that. Recognize again, our role 

19 here is in scoping out the environmental impacts 

20 that this facility could have on the area, and so we 

21 appreciate the meetings that we've had with the 

22 officials this week, business leaders, first 

23 responders, and we'll take away the comments that we 

24 got here this evening and you will see us again. 

25 Once we get the draft Environmental 
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1 Impact Statement ready and issued for public 

2 comment, we'll be back down here in the spring of 

3 next year, to visit with you again. 

4 So again, appreciate your interest, that 

5 we had a good turnout here this evening, and that we 

6 clearly understand the people of this area support 

7 this application. So again, thank you very much. 

8 [Applause] 

9 MR. MAIER: Thank you very much. I 

10 guess I also wanted to recognize some people who 

11 didn't get a chance to speak. There are some other 

12 folks from the NRC who are here. You saw Tarsha. 

13 She was probably the hardest-working person here in 

14 the room tonight. I want to thank her for the 

15 support she did in getting the room set up. I want 

16 to thank you again, Pam, for the transcript 

17 services. And we also had other members of the NRC 

18 who didn't get a chance to speak. I'll ask them to 

19 just stand for a second. 

20 Diana Diaz-Toro. Diana is the branch 

21 chief of the Environmental Review Branch A, and has 

22 branch responsibility for the project that will do 

23 the environmental review of the International 

24 Isotopes facility. 

25 Molly Barkman. Molly is an attorney in 
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1 our Office of the General Counsel. She was here to, 

2 I guess, keep us all in line, and answer any 

3 questions regarding any potential hearings or things 

4 like that. 

5 And Tom Hiltz. Tom is the chief of the 

6 Advanced Fuel Cycle, Enrichment and Uranium 

7 Conversion Branch. Did I get that right? 

8 [Laughter] 

9 MR. MAIER: I'll have to get another 

10 look at that org chart when we get out of here. Tom 

11 is the branch chief responsible for the project 

12 management for the safety portion of the review of 

13 the license. 

14 With that, I think I will thank you very 

15 much for coming to our meeting. I particularly want 

16 to thank the speakers for making the comments that 

17 they did, making sure that their thoughts and 

18 feelings were known. I will urge you, once again, 

19 to please, if you have the time, pick up one of 

20 those public meeting feedback forms. You don't have 

21 to give it back to one of us. You can give it back 

22 to any of the NRC folks who I've identified. But 

23 you can also just fold it in three folds, in two 

24 folds in three places, and you can put it in the 

25 mail. 
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1 We would very much welcome your 

2 feedback, and figure out how to give you a better 

3 product next time we come out here. 

4 Any questions? 

5 [No response] 

6 MR. MAIER: Thank you very much and have 

7 a safe drive home. 

8 [Whereupon, at 7:06 p.m., the meeting 

9 was concluded] 

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