Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 40 / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / Notices 12333 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 70–3103; NRC–2010–0264] 

Special Nuclear Material License 

Amendment From Louisiana Energy 

Services, LLC, for the National 

Enrichment Facility, Hobbs, NM 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Publication of environmental 

assessment and finding of no significant 

impact. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mary T. Adams, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555; telephone: 301– 

492–3113; email: Mary.Adams@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC or the Commission) 

is considering a request to amend 

special nuclear material license SNM– 

2010, held by Louisiana Energy 

Services, LLC, (LES), under which LES 

operates a uranium enrichment facility 

in Eunice, New Mexico. On May 6, 

2011, in accordance with Title 10 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 

Section 70.34, LES requested an 

amendment to SNM–2010 that would 

extend the license expiration date to 

recapture the 48 months that elapsed 

from the 2006 license issuance date to 

when authorization to introduce 

uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into 

Cascade 1 was granted on June 10, 2010 

(ML11131A048). During this 48-month 

period, construction, preoperational 

testing, and an operational readiness 

review were ongoing. The proposed 

action would extend the expiration date 

of SNM–2010 from June 22, 2036, to 

June 9, 2040. In response to agency 

questions about the changed operational 

schedule, LES provided a clarification 

of the license amendment request, dated 

November 23, 2011 (ML11329A080). 

II. Background 

On June 23, 2006, the NRC issued 

SNM–2010 to LES authorizing the 

construction and operation of the 

National Enrichment Facility (NEF) in 

New Mexico. License Condition 13 of 

SNM–2010 states that the license will 

expire 30 years after the date of license 

issuance. In June 2005, to support the 

issuance of SNM–2010, the NRC issued 

a final environmental impact statement 

(EIS) for the NEF (NUREG–1790) 

(ML051730238 and ML051730292) in 

accordance with 10 CFR Part 51 

(Environmental Protection Regulations 

for Domestic Licensing and Related 

Regulatory Functions), which 

implements the National Environmental 

Policy Act. The EIS concluded that 

operation of the NEF for 30 years will 

generally have small to moderate effects 

on the public and the environment. 

III. Environmental Assessment 

In support of the proposed action, the 

NRC has prepared an environmental 

assessment (EA), set forth below. Based 

on the EA, the NRC has concluded that 

a Finding of No Significant Impact is 

appropriate regarding the proposed 

action. 

Description of the Proposed Action 

The proposed action is to revise the 

expiration date of SNM–2010 from June 

22, 2036, to June 9, 2040. Table 2–1 of 

the 2005 EIS (NUREG–1790) set forth an 

operation schedule for the NEF as 

follows: 

Task Start date 

Submit license application to NRC .............................................................................................................................................. 12/2003 

Begin construction of facility ........................................................................................................................................................ 8/2006 

Begin operation of first cascade .................................................................................................................................................. 10/2008 

Achieve full production output ..................................................................................................................................................... 10/2013 

Operate at full capacity ................................................................................................................................................................ 10/2013–10/2027 

Submit decommissioning plan to NRC ........................................................................................................................................ 4/2025 

Complete construction of decontamination and decommissioning facility .................................................................................. 4/2027 

Cease all operation of cascades ................................................................................................................................................. 4/2033 

Complete decommissioning of facility ......................................................................................................................................... 4/2036 

In the license amendment request, 

LES provided an updated schedule of 

major steps associated with the 

proposed action, shown on the 

following table: 

Milestone Estimated date 

(actual date) 

Submit Facility License Application ......................................................................................................................................... December 2003 

(December 12, 2003) 

Initiate Facility Construction ..................................................................................................................................................... August 2006 

(August 2006) 

Start First Cascade .................................................................................................................................................................. October 2008 

(June 10, 2010) 

Achieve Full Nominal Production Output ................................................................................................................................ May 2014 

Submit License Termination Plan to NRC .............................................................................................................................. April 2029 

Complete Construction of D&D Facility ................................................................................................................................... April 2031 

D&D Completed ....................................................................................................................................................................... April 2040 

Need for the Proposed Action 

In the license amendment request, 

LES noted that because 48 months of the 

original license had elapsed before the 

facility actually began its operations, the 

facility’s operational period would be 

shorter than the 30 years authorized by 

the license. LES needs the proposed 

license expiration date extension to 

operate the facility for 30 years. 

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed 

Action 

The 2005 EIS (NUREG–1790) 

determined that the environmental 

impacts of the license issuance that 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
12334 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 40 / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / Notices 

would authorize operation for 30 years 

were small to moderate. These findings 

were summarized in Table 2–9 of the 

EIS. The license extension would shift 

the operating period by four years (i.e., 

changing it from 2006–2036 to 2010– 

2040). Because the facility will still 

operate for 30 years as originally 

envisioned in the EIS, environmental 

impacts relating to the construction of 

the facility or its duration of operations 

will not be significantly different from 

those documented in the EIS. An 

assessment of each of the environmental 

impacts examined in Chapter 4 of the 

EIS is discussed below: 

Land use impacts are described in EIS 

Section 4.2.1. Because the footprint of 

the LES facility and the duration of its 

operations will be unchanged by the 

license extension, there is no impact on 

land use beyond those previously 

evaluated in the EIS. 

Historical and cultural resource 

impacts are described in EIS Section 

4.2.2. Based on the successful 

completion of the identification of 

historic and archaeological sites, 

National Register of Historic Places 

evaluations, and effective treatment of 

potential adverse effects to historic 

properties, along with the existence of 

written procedures to provide 

immediate notification in the event of 

inadvertent discovery of cultural 

resources, the potential impacts on 

historical and cultural resources at the 

proposed NEF site were expected to be 

small. No additional impacts will occur 

due to the license extension because 

LES will continue to follow the written 

procedures in the event of an 

inadvertent discovery of cultural 

resources. 

Visual and scenic resource impacts 

are described in EIS Section 4.2.3. A 

delay in decommissioning the LES 

facility allowed by the license extension 

would extend the visual impact by 4 

years; however, the visual impact of the 

construction and operation of the 

facility was initially determined to be 

small, and will not be significantly 

changed by the brief license extension. 

Air quality impacts are described in 

EIS Section 4.2.4. A change in the years 

of enrichment operations will not 

change the facility’s impact on air 

quality. Air quality impacts are 

evaluated on an annual basis, and the 

license extension will only shift the 

years in which the effluents are released 

to a later period, but will not change the 

amount of annual effluents. 

Impacts on geology and soils are 

described in EIS Section 4.2.5. Most 

impacts on geology and soils occurred 

during construction, and were 

determined to be small. Regarding 

impacts from operations, accumulation 

of uranium and fluoride in the Treated 

Effluent Evaporative Basin was 

evaluated over an operating period of 30 

years (EIS Section 4.2.12.2), and since 

the license amendment will not increase 

the operating period above 30 years, this 

accumulation will not change as a result 

of the license extension. 

Impacts on water resources are 

described in EIS Section 4.2.6. LES will 

obtain its water from the Eunice and 

Hobbs city water supplies. Eunice and 

Hobbs obtain the water from the 

Ogallala aquifer. LES estimates a peak 

use of 23.1 million gallons per year, 

approximately 695 million gallons over 

the 30-year life of the facility. The EIS 

adequately evaluated the water use 

impacts of 30 years of plant operations, 

and the brief proposed license extension 

only changes which years the plant will 

operate, but not the duration of plant 

operations. 

Impacts on ecological resources 

during operations are described in EIS 

Section 4.2.7, and were determined to 

be small because no additional lands 

will be disturbed beyond those utilized 

during construction and LES will 

implement wildlife management 

practices. The license extension will not 

change the impact on ecological 

resources because LES will continue to 

implement its wildlife management 

practices during the period of the 

license extension. 

Socioeconomic impacts during plant 

operation are described in EIS Section 

4.2.8. The plant payroll during 

operations is projected to be 

approximately $10.9 million in 2004 

dollars per year of operation. Therefore, 

extension of the license operating term 

will extend this moderate annual impact 

on local employment for four more 

years. 

Environmental justice impacts are 

described in EIS Section 4.2.9. It was 

determined that there were no 

disproportionately high and adverse 

impacts to minority or low-income 

populations from either construction or 

normal operations, rather, all impacts 

were small. Shifting the period of 

operations by four years will not change 

the impact on these populations. 

Noise impacts are described in EIS 

Section 4.2.10. They were determined to 

be small for construction and operations 

because the nearest resident is 

approximately 2.6 miles from the 

facility. The proposed license extension 

will not significantly change noise 

impacts because the plant will still 

operate for 30 years as envisioned in the 

EIS. 

Transportation impacts are described 

in EIS Section 4.2.11. Impacts during 

post-construction normal operations 

were found to be small. The likelihood 

of transportation accidents with 

chemical or radiological consequences 

were evaluated on an annual basis and 

the impacts were found to be small to 

moderate. Shifting the plant’s period of 

operation by four years will not change 

the annual likelihood or the 

consequences of transportation 

accidents. 

Public and occupational health 

impacts are described in EIS Section 

4.2.12. The radiological and nonradiological impacts of normal 

operations were evaluated on an annual 

basis, found to be small, and during the 

brief license extension, annual exposure 

to both workers and the public will 

remain the same as previously evaluated 

in the EIS. 

EIS Section 4.2.13 describes public 

and occupational impacts from 

accidents during operations. These 

impacts were determined to be small to 

moderate, and will not significantly 

change during the period of license 

extension. The impacts of industrial 

accidents, including rupture of an 

overfilled and/or overheated cylinder, 

were determined to be small to 

moderate. The likelihood of accidents is 

significantly reduced by specified 

design features and will not 

significantly change during the period 

of the license extension. 

EIS Section 4.2.14 describes waste 

management impacts. The impacts of 

solid wastes on local land disposal 

capacity were evaluated on an annual 

basis, were determined to be small, and 

will not be increased by the license 

extension because the previously 

evaluated annual volume of solid wastes 

is a small fraction of the Lea County 

landfill capacity and will not change. 

The impacts of DUF6 waste management 

were determined to be small to 

moderate, and will not be changed by 

the license extension because the plant 

will not generate any more DUF6 than 

was originally evaluated in the EIS. 

The EIS considered cumulative 

impacts in Section 4.4. The license 

extension would not increase any 

cumulative environmental impacts 

because the EIS previously evaluated 

cumulative impacts for a full 30 years of 

facility operations. 

Environmental Impacts of Alternatives 

to the Proposed Action 

An alternative to the proposed action 

is for the NRC to deny the request for 

the license extension. If this ‘‘no-action’’ 

alternative were adopted, LES would 

need to cease operations after 26 years 

in accordance with the original license 

expiration date (i.e., in 2036). Although 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 40 / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / Notices 12335 

the environmental impacts that would 

be caused by 26 years of operation 

would be slightly less than those that 

would be caused by the full 30 years of 

operation previously evaluated in the 

EIS, the difference is not significant. 

Therefore, denial of the amendment 

request would result in no significant 

change in the environmental impacts 

previously evaluated in the EIS. 

Alternative Use of Resources 

The proposed action does not involve 

the use of any different resources than 

those considered in the EIS for NEF 

(NUREG–1790). 

List of Agencies and Persons Consulted 

and Identification of Sources Used 

The NRC staff consulted the New 

Mexico Environment Department 

(NMED) in December 2011 for their 

review and comment on the draft EA/ 

FONSI. In an email response dated 

December 28, 2011 (ML120370017), the 

NMED indicated that it had no 

comments on the EA and supported 

approval of the license amendment. 

The NRC staff has determined that 

consultation with the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service for compliance with 

Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act 

is not necessary because the proposed 

action does not have the potential to 

affect listed species or critical habitat. 

The NRC staff has determined that the 

proposed extension of the license 

expiration date is not a type of activity 

that has potential to cause effects on 

historic properties because it will not 

authorize any additional activities that 

were not previously evaluated in the 

final EIS for NEF (NUREG–1790) in 

Section 4.2.2, and because, as noted 

above, LES will continue to follow the 

written procedures in the event of an 

inadvertent discovery of cultural 

resources. Therefore, no further 

consultation is required under Section 

106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act. 

Finding of No Significant Impact 

The NRC reviewed LES’s license 

amendment request to revise license 

condition 13 to extend the expiration 

date from 2036 to 2040, and found no 

significant environmental impacts from 

the shift in enrichment operation dates. 

On the basis of this EA, the NRC 

concludes that the proposed action will 

not have a significant effect on the 

quality of the human environment. 

Accordingly, the NRC has determined 

not to prepare an EIS for the proposed 

action. 

IV. Further Information 

Documents related to this action, 

including the application for license 

amendment and supporting 

documentation are available online in 

the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, 

you can access the NRC’s Agencywide 

Documents Access and Management 

System (ADAMS), which provides text 

and image files of NRC’s public 

documents. The ADAMS accession 

numbers for the documents related to 

this Notice are: 

ML11329A080 ............ Clarification of License Amendment Request 10–13, November 23, 2011. 

ML051730238 ............. 2005/06/30–NUREG–1790, Vol. 1, ‘‘Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed National Enrichment Facility in Lea County, New Mexico, Chapters 1 through 10 and Appendices A through G. Final Report.’’ 

ML051730292 ............. 2005/06/30–NUREG–1790, Vol. 2, ‘‘Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed National Enrichment Facility in Lea County, New Mexico, Appendices H through J. Final Report.’’ 

ML120370017 ............. Email from Butch Tongate, New Mexico Environment Department, December 28, 2011. 

If you do not have access to ADAMS 

or if there are problems in accessing the 

documents located in ADAMS, contact 

the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) 

Reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301– 

415–4737 or by email to pdr.resource@

nrc.gov. These documents may also be 

viewed electronically on the public 

computers located at the NRC’s PDR, 

O1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. 

The PDR reproduction contractor will 

copy documents for a fee. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day 

of February 2012. 

Brian W. Smith, 

Chief, Uranium Enrichment Branch, Division 

of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office 

of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2012–4823 Filed 2–28–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

PEACE CORPS 

Information Collection Requests Under 

OMB Review 

AGENCY: Peace Corps. 

ACTION: 30-Day notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Peace Corps will submit 

the following information collection 

request to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for approval. In 

compliance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 

chapter 35), the Peace Corps invites the 

general public to comment on this 

request revision of a currently approved 

collection, Peace Corps 50th 

Anniversary Archive Project (OMB 

Control Number: 0420–0542). The title 

of the information collection will 

change from Peace Corps 50th 

Anniversary Archives to Peace Corps 

Digital Library. This process is 

conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 

1320.10. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

March 30, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be 

addressed to Denora Miller, Freedom of 

Information Act Officer. Denora Miller 

can be contacted by telephone at 202– 

692–1236 or email at pcfr@ 

peacecorps.gov. Email comments must 

be made in text and not in attachments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Denora Miller at Peace Corps address 

above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 50th 

Anniversary Archive Project collects 

stories and photographs from Returned 

Peace Corps Volunteers along with basic 

contact information (name, phone 

number, email address) and information 

about their Peace Corps service, such as 

dates of service, geographic location, 

and sector of service. 

Method: The information is collected 

from an online form. 

Old Title: Peace Corps 50th 

Anniversary Archive Project. 

New Title: Peace Corps Digital 

Library. 

OMB Control Number: 0420–0542. 

Type of Information Collection: 

Revision of a currently approved 

collection. 

Affected Public: Returned Peace Corps 

Volunteer and general public. 

Respondents’ Obligation To Reply: 

Voluntary. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES