Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 67 / Thursday, April 9, 2009 / Notices 16237 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2009–0157] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Proposed General Electric—Hitachi 

Global Laser Enrichment Uranium 

Enrichment Facility 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI). 

SUMMARY: General Electric—Hitachi 

Global Laser Enrichment, LLC (GLE) 

submitted an Environmental Report (ER) 

on January 30, 2009, that proposes the 

construction, operation, and 

decommissioning of a laser-based 

uranium enrichment facility. GLE 

proposes to locate the facility on the 

existing General Electric Company (GE)/ 

Global Nuclear Fuel—Americas (GNF– 

A) site near Wilmington, North 

Carolina. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC), in accordance with 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) and its regulations at 10 CFR 

Part 51, announces its intent to prepare 

an Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS) evaluating this proposed action. 

The EIS will examine the potential 

environmental impacts of the proposed 

GLE facility. 

DATES: NRC invites public comments on 

the appropriate scope of issues to be 

considered in the EIS. The public 

scoping process begins with publication 

of this NOI. Written comments 

submitted by mail should be 

postmarked by no later than June 8, 

2009, to ensure consideration. 

Comments mailed after that date will be 

considered to the extent practical. 

The NRC will conduct two public 

scoping meetings in Wilmington, North 

Carolina, to assist in defining the 

appropriate scope of the EIS, and to 

help identify the significant 

environmental issues that need to be 

addressed in detail. The meeting date, 

times, and location are listed below: 

—Date: May 19, 2009. 

—Times: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 

10 p.m. 

—Location: Warwick Center, Ballroom 

1, University of North Carolina at 

Wilmington, North Carolina 28403. 

ADDRESSES: Members of the public are 

invited and encouraged to submit 

written comments regarding the 

appropriate scope and content of the 

EIS. Comments may be sent to the Chief, 

Rules and Directives Branch, Mail Stop 

TWB 5B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. Please note Docket No. 70–7016 

when submitting comments. 

Commenters also may send comments 

electronically to GLE.EIS@nrc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

general or technical information 

associated with the licensing review of 

the GLE application, please contact Tim 

Johnson at (301) 492–3121 or 

Timothy.Johnson@NRC.gov. For general 

information on the NRC NEPA process, 

or the environmental review process 

related to the GLE application, please 

contact Christianne Ridge at (301) 415– 

5673 or Christianne.Ridge@NRC.gov. 

Information and documents 

associated with the GLE project, 

including the GLE ER (submitted on 

January 30, 2009), are available for 

public review through NRC’s electronic 

reading room at http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. Members of the 

public may access the applicant’s ER in 

NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access 

and Management System (ADAMS) at 

accession number ML090910573. 

A copy of the applicant’s ER is 

available for public inspection at the 

New Hanover County Library, located at 

201 Chestnut Street, Wilmington, North 

Carolina 28401. Documents also may be 

obtained from NRC’s Public Document 

Room at U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission Headquarters, 11555 

Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 

Maryland. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

1.0 Background 

On January 30, 2009, GLE submitted 

an ER to NRC as part of its application 

for authorization to construct and 

operate a laser-based uranium 

enrichment facility. To complete its 

license application, GLE must submit 

additional information related to facility 

safety in accordance with the Atomic 

Energy Act. The EIS will evaluate the 

potential environmental impacts 

associated with the proposed GLE 

enrichment facility. The results of the 

NRC’s safety review will be documented 

separately in a Safety Evaluation Report. 

The environmental evaluation will be 

documented in draft and final EISs in 

accordance with NEPA and NRC’s 

implementing regulations at 10 CFR Part 

51. 

If NRC later finds GLE’s complete 

license application to be acceptable for 

review, a Notice of Hearing and 

Opportunity to Petition for Leave to 

Intervene will be published in a future 

Federal Register notice. The purpose of 

the present notice is to inform the 

public that the NRC staff will prepare an 

EIS as part of the review of the 

application, and to encourage the public 

to participate in the environmental 

scoping process as defined in 10 CFR 

51.29. 

2.0 Proposed GLE Enrichment Facility 

The GLE facility, if licensed, would 

enrich uranium for use in 

manufacturing commercial nuclear fuel 

for use in power reactors. Feed material 

would be natural (not enriched) 

uranium in the form of uranium 

hexafluoride (UF6) which contains the 

uranium-235 isotope. GLE proposes to 

use a laser-based technology to enrich 

this isotope in the UF6 to up to 8 

percent by weight. The capacity of the 

plant would be up to 6 million 

separative work units (SWU) [SWU 

relates to a measure of the work used to 

enrich uranium]. The enriched UF6

would be used on-site by GNF–A in its 

fuel fabrication facility and transported 

off-site to additional fuel fabrication 

facilities. The depleted UF6 would be 

stored on site until it is either sold, 

disposed of commercially, or taken by 

the Department of Energy. 

3.0 Alternatives to be Evaluated 

No-Action—The no-action alternative 

would be to not build the proposed 

uranium enrichment facility. Under this 

alternative, the NRC would not approve 

the license application. This serves as a 

baseline for comparison. 

Proposed Action—The proposed 

action involves the construction, 

operation, and decommissioning of a 

laser-based uranium enrichment facility 

to be located near Wilmington, North 

Carolina. The applicant would be issued 

an NRC license under the provisions of 

10 CFR Parts 30, 40, and 70. 

Other alternatives not listed here may 

be identified through the scoping 

process. 

4.0 Environmental Impact Areas to be 

Analyzed 

The following areas have been 

tentatively identified for detailed 

analysis in the EIS: 

—Land Use: Plans, policies and 

controls; 

—Transportation: Transportation 

modes, routes, quantities, and risk 

estimates; 

—Geology and Soils: Physical 

geography, topography, geology and 

soil characteristics; 

—Water Resources: Surface and 

groundwater hydrology, water use 

and quality, and the potential for 

degradation; 

—Ecology: Wetlands, aquatic, terrestrial, 

economically and recreationally 

important species, and threatened and 

endangered species; 

—Air Quality: Meteorological 

conditions, ambient background, 


dwashington3 on PROD1PC60 with NOTICES
16238 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 67 / Thursday, April 9, 2009 / Notices 

1 15 U.S.C. 78m(f). 

2 15 U.S.C. 78a et seq. 

pollutant sources, and the potential 

for degradation; 

—Noise: Ambient, sources, and 

sensitive receptors; 

—Historical and Cultural Resources: 

Historical, archaeological, and 

traditional cultural resources; 

—Visual and Scenic Resources: 

Landscape characteristics, manmade 

features, and viewshed; 

—Socioeconomics: Demography, 

economic base, labor pool, housing, 

transportation, utilities, public 

services and facilities, education, 

recreation, and cultural resources; 

—Environmental Justice: Potential 

disproportionately high and adverse 

impacts to minority and low-income 

populations; 

—Public and Occupational Health: 

Potential public and occupational 

consequences from construction, 

routine operation, transportation, and 

credible accident scenarios (including 

natural events); 

—Waste Management: Types of wastes 

expected to be generated, handled, 

and stored; and 

—Cumulative Effects: Impacts from 

past, present and reasonably 

foreseeable actions at and near the 

site. 

This list is not intended to be all 

inclusive, nor is it a predetermination of 

potential environmental impacts. The 

list is presented to facilitate comments 

on the scope of the EIS. Changes to this 

list may occur as a result of the public 

scoping process. 

5.0 Scoping Meetings 

One purpose of this notice is to solicit 

public comments on the proposed scope 

and content of the EIS. Scoping is an 

early and open process designed to 

determine the range of actions, 

alternatives, and potential impacts to be 

considered in the EIS, and to identify 

significant issues related to the 

proposed action. It is intended to solicit 

input from the public and other 

agencies so that the analysis can be 

more clearly focused on issues of 

genuine concern. The principal goals of 

the scoping process are to: 

—Ensure that concerns are identified 

early and are properly studied; 

—Identify alternatives to be examined; 

—Identify significant issues to be 

analyzed; 

—Eliminate unimportant issues from 

detailed consideration; and 

—Identify public concerns. 

On May 19, 2009, the NRC will hold 

two public scoping meetings in 

Wilmington, North Carolina, to solicit 

both oral and written comments from 

interested parties. Both meetings will be 

transcribed to record public comments. 

The first meeting will convene at 1 p.m. 

and will continue until approximately 4 

p.m. The second meeting will convene 

at 7 p.m. and will continue until 

approximately 10 p.m. Both meetings 

will begin with NRC staff providing a 

description of the NRC’s role and 

mission. A brief overview of the 

licensing process will be followed by a 

brief description of the environmental 

review process. Most of the meeting 

time will be allotted for attendees to 

make oral comments. 

In addition, the NRC staff will host 

informal discussions for one hour prior 

to the start of each public meeting. No 

formal comments on the proposed scope 

of the EIS will be accepted during the 

informal discussions. To be considered, 

comments must be provided either at 

one of the transcribed public meetings 

or in writing, as discussed below. 

Persons may register to attend or 

present oral comments at the scoping 

meetings by contacting Christianne 

Ridge at (301) 415–5673, or by sending 

e-mail to GLE.EIS@nrc.gov no later than 

April 30, 2009. Members of the public 

may also register to speak at the meeting 

prior to the start of the session. 

Individual oral comments may be 

limited by the time available, depending 

on the number of persons who register. 

Members of the public who have not 

registered may also have an opportunity 

to speak, if time permits. If special 

equipment or accommodations are 

needed to attend or present information 

at the public meeting, please contact 

Christianne Ridge no later than April 

23, 2009, so that the NRC staff can 

determine whether the request can be 

accommodated. 

6.0 Scoping Comments 

Members of the public may provide 

comments orally at one of the 

transcribed public scoping meetings or 

in writing. Written comments may be 

sent by e-mail to GLE.EIS@nrc.gov or 

mailed to the address listed above in the 

ADDRESSES Section. 

At the conclusion of the scoping 

process, the NRC staff will prepare a 

summary of public comments regarding 

the scope of the environmental review 

and significant issues identified. NRC 

staff will send this summary to each 

participant in the scoping process for 

whom the staff has an address. This 

summary and project-related material 

will be available for public review 

through our electronic reading room: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. The scoping meeting 

summaries and project-related materials 

will also be available on NRC’s GLE 

Web page: http://www.nrc.gov/ 

materials/fuel-cycle-fac/laser.html (case 

sensitive). 

7.0 The NEPA Process 

The EIS for the GLE facility will be 

prepared pursuant to the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and 

NRC’s NEPA Regulations at 10 CFR Part 

51. After the scoping process is 

complete, NRC and its contractor will 

prepare and publish a draft EIS. A 45- 

day public comment period on the draft 

EIS is planned, and public meetings to 

receive comments will be held 

approximately three weeks after 

publication of the draft EIS. Availability 

of the draft EIS, the dates of the public 

comment period, and information about 

the public meetings will be announced 

in the Federal Register, on NRC’s GLE 

Web page, and in the local news media. 

The final EIS will include responses to 

any comments received on the draft EIS. 

Signed in Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd 

day of April 2009. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Patrice M. Bubar, 

Director, Environmental Protection and 

Performance Assessment Directorate, 

Division of Waste Management and 

Environmental Protection, Office of Federal 

and State Materials and Environmental 

Management Programs. 

[FR Doc. E9–8062 Filed 4–8–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of Investor 

Education and Advocacy, 

Washington, DC 20549–0213. 

Extension: 

Form 13F; SEC File No. 270–22; OMB 

Control No. 3235–0006. 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), the Securities 

and Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments 

on the collection of information 

summarized below. The Commission 

plans to submit this existing collection 

of information to the Office of 

Management and Budget for extension 

and approval. 

Section 13(f) 1 of the Securities 

Exchange Act of 1934 2 (the ‘‘Exchange 

Act’’) empowers the Commission to: (1) 

Adopt rules that create a reporting and 


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