```

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 250 (Tuesday, December 31, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 107168-107171]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-31376]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 70-7004; NRC-2024-0219]

American Centrifuge Operating, LLC; American Centrifuge Plant; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice; issuance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
amending Special Nuclear Material (SNM) License No. SNM-2011, issued on 
April 13, 2007, to American Centrifuge Operating, LLC (ACO) for the 
operation of the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP). The NRC is 
considering extending authorization of the high-assay, low-enriched 
uranium (HALEU) demonstration program operations to continue beyond 
December 31, 2024, through June 30, 2025. In the event of an extension 
of ACO's HALEU contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 
potentially the authorization would be extended through the revised 
contract period. For this proposed action, the NRC staff is issuing an 
environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact 
(FONSI).

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on 
December 31, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0219 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0219. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical 
questions, contact the individual listed in the ``For Further 
Information Contact'' section of this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS 
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at 301-415-4737, 
or by email to [email protected]. For the convenience of the reader, 
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are 
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
     NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies 
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an 
appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to 
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Pineda, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S.

[[Page 107169]]

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 
301-415-6789; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC staff is considering an amendment of ACO's license (SNM-
2011) to remove the contract expiration date from License Condition 
(LC) 15 and to add a new LC (LC 31), requiring ACO to provide the NRC 
prior notification of any DOE-ACO contract changes that are material to 
the ACP license SNM-2011, including contract extensions. Although the 
current DOE-ACO contract for operations of the HALEU program continues 
through June 30, 2025, the NRC staff evaluated potential impacts for 
the additional six months of operations in the event the DOE-ACO 
contract expiration date is extended. ACO's proposed modification of LC 
15, and the addition of LC 31 would streamline the NRC staff's review 
of future ACO contract modifications for minor, non-safety-related and 
non-security-related changes to the contract, such as a simple 6-month 
contract extension.
    The NRC initially authorized the operation of the HALEU 
demonstration cascade at the ACP in Pike County, Ohio in June 2021. In 
September 2024, the NRC approved a license amendment to increase ACO's 
licensed material possession limits to support the continued production 
of HALEU uranium hexafluoride (UF6) until December 31, 2024. 
Under the proposed action, HALEU operations would continue as currently 
approved for another six months (until June 30, 2025).
    ACO is producing HALEU for the DOE. HALEU is uranium that has been 
enriched so that the concentration of the fissile isotope U-235 is 
between 5 and 20 percent of the mass of the uranium. The DOE awarded a 
3-phase demonstration contract to ACO to enrich uranium up to 20 
percent in the HALEU cascade. The expiration date of the current phase 
(Phase 2) of the DOE-ACO contract is June 30, 2025; however, the DOE 
could choose to extend Phase 2 of the DOE-ACO contract, to ensure 
continued operations of the HALEU program.
    The DOE-ACO Phase 3 program involves up to three, 3-year periods of 
operation of the HALEU cascade; however, implementation of Phase 3 in 
its three stages requires Congressional appropriations as well as the 
NRC's review of future licensing requests. Phase 3 operations could 
begin on July 1, 2025, conditional on (1) Congressional appropriations, 
(2) the signing of the DOE-ACO Phase 3 contract, (3) ACO's submission 
of a license amendment request for Phase 3, and (4) the NRC staff's 
review and approval of a request. If the DOE does not extend Phase 2 of 
the DOE-ACO contract, or the Phase 3 HALEU operations are not approved 
on or before June 30, 2025, ACO would be required to shut down Phase 2 
HALEU operations. In the event of approval of continued operations, the 
NRC staff evaluated the environmental impacts of allowing the Phase 2 
HALEU program to continue until December 31, 2025, without changes in 
operations, provided requirements of LC 15 and LC 31 are met.
    As required in section 51.21 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Criteria for and identification of licensing 
and regulatory actions requiring environmental assessments,'' the NRC 
developed an EA for the current license amendment request to evaluate 
the environmental impacts of continued operations until December 31, 
2025. Based on the results of the EA that follows, the NRC has 
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for 
the amendment and is issuing a FONSI.

II. Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

    The NRC is proposing to amend ACO's license to remove the HALEU 
contract expiration date from LC 15, and to add LC 31, which requires 
ACO to provide prior notification to the NRC of any contract changes 
that are material to the ACP license SNM-2011, including contract 
extensions. During this potential period of extended operation, ACO 
would continue enrichment activities as approved in the license. The 
staff assessed the potential environmental effects of continuing HALEU 
operations in its September 2024 EA, finding continued operations does 
not involve construction of new buildings, ground-disturbing 
activities, the shipment of HALEU offsite, or changes to the NRC-
approved HALEU centrifuge cascade design. The proposed action is 
described in the licensee's application dated September 12, 2024, and 
its supplements dated November 7, 2024, and November 21, 2024.
    The NRC staff also considered environmental impacts associated with 
the NRC's review and approval of the financial documentation provided 
with ACO's LAR. The NRC staff finds ACO's financial qualifications, 
decommissioning funding, and nuclear insurance indemnification are 
categorically excluded from environmental review under the NRC's 
regulations in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(10)(i), which applies to a surety, 
insurance, and/or indemnity.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would allow ACO to continue operating the HALEU 
demonstration cascade as provided in ACO's contract with DOE and in 
accordance with ACO's license. The DOE has extended the contract for 
Phase 2 HALEU operations to June 30, 2025.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    In September 2024, the NRC staff prepared an EA for the NRC's 
review and approval of an increase in licensed material possession 
limits to support continued HALEU production. The September 2024 EA 
determined that the proposed increase in possession limits for HALEU 
production until December 31, 2024, would not significantly affect the 
quality of the human environment. The NRC staff issued that EA and a 
FONSI on September 19, 2024. The environmental review for this proposed 
action, considers the continued Phase 2 operations through December 31, 
2025, and evaluates the potential impacts of operations for another 
twelve months.
    The NRC staff assessed the potential environmental impacts of a 
twelve-month continuation of operations on land use; historic and 
cultural resources; visual and scenic resources; climatology, 
meteorology and air quality; geology and soils; water resources; 
ecological resources; socioeconomics; noise; traffic and 
transportation; public and occupational health and safety; and waste 
management. The NRC staff determined that facility operations for the 
current action, are unchanged from those evaluated in the NRC's 
September 2024 EA, except for the duration of operations. The NRC staff 
finds the additional period of operations would not affect most 
resource areas and not have significant impacts on air quality, 
transportation, occupational health and safety, and waste management. 
ACO would not make changes to the enrichment processes or to the 
outside portions of buildings. All HALEU produced would continue to be 
stored onsite. All enrichment activities would continue to take place 
indoors, resulting in no changes to noise levels. Because operations 
would continue entirely inside buildings, including storage of 
additional enriched UF6, depleted UF6, and 
wastes, and because the current rate of HALEU production would not 
change, there would be no change to

[[Page 107170]]

potential impacts on public health and safety except that the potential 
for these previously assessed impacts would be extended by up to twelve 
months. Because additional employees would not be required for the 
proposed action, there would be no change to socioeconomic impacts 
already assessed.
    The NRC's September 2024 EA concluded that continued HALEU 
operations with the possession limit increase would not have 
significant impacts on air quality, occupational health and safety, 
waste management, and transportation, and that these impacts were 
bounded by the impacts assessed in previous NRC environmental 
assessments, as documented in the NRC's 2021 EA for the approval of the 
HALEU program. This EA assesses the continued operations until December 
31, 2025, with continuation of the same impacts as described further in 
the following paragraphs.
    Air Quality: The September 2024 EA for the possession limit 
increase request determined that continued operations would not affect 
the rates of air emissions containing hydrogen fluoride (HF) and 
radionuclides because the rate of HALEU production would remain 
unchanged from the rates evaluated in the NRC's 2021 licensing document 
and EA for the original HALEU demonstration. Under the current action, 
the potential non-radiological and radiological air emissions would 
continue at least another six months, and may continue for as long as 
twelve months. As explained in the September 2024 EA, for the period 
July through December 2023, the average exposure to HF for the 
maximally exposed individual was 4.8 x 10-9 micrograms per 
cubic meter, which is significantly lower than the Occupational Safety 
and Health Administration's 8-hour permissible exposure limit for HF of 
2000 micrograms per cubic meter. As indicated in ACO's effluent 
monitoring report for the period of January 1 through June 30, 2024, 
the average HF concentration was calculated to be 2.4 x 10-7 
micrograms per cubic meter. Uranium isotopes in air emissions in the 
same effluent monitoring report were 0.00894 millicuries U-234, 0.0011 
millicuries U-235, and 0.00875 millicuries U-238. The report estimated 
that the public dose from the releases of uranium isotopes over the 
previous year (June 2023 through June 2024) is 1.6 x 10-5 
millirem. The emission levels under Phase 2 operations are and would 
continue to be well below regulatory limits through December 31, 2025. 
Therefore, the NRC staff concludes the potential air quality impacts of 
an additional twelve-month extension of Phase 2 operations would not be 
significant.
    Occupational Health and Safety: The staff evaluated the potential 
impacts on worker health of twelve months of continued operations 
beyond the period evaluated in the September 2024 EA. HALEU enrichment 
activities must comply with the NRC regulations, including 10 CFR part 
20, subpart C, ``Occupational Dose Limits for Adults,'' and 10 CFR part 
20, subpart D, ``Radiation Dose Limits for Individual Members of the 
Public'' as well as the conditions specified in the license. The NRC 
staff also assessed the most recent effluent monitoring report for the 
period of January 1 through June 30 of 2024, which reported that total 
exposure to the nearest resident for the prior 12 months (June 2023 
through June 2024) was 1.6 x 10-5 millirem. The NRC staff 
concludes that dose limits in 10 CFR part 20 for workers (50 mSv/yr or 
5000 mrem/yr) and for members of the public (1 mSv/yr or 100 mrem/yr) 
will continue to be met.
    As such, the NRC staff concludes that radiological impacts on 
workers would not be noticeably different from the impacts as assessed 
in the NRC's September 2024 EA and therefore the potential impacts 
would not be significant. In the ``Air Quality'' paragraph of this 
notice, the NRC staff states the extension of Phase 2 HALEU operations 
would not significantly increase non-radiological HF emissions and 
worker exposures and would remain significantly lower than the 
Occupational Safety and Health Administration's 8-hour limit for HF of 
2000 micrograms per cubic meter.
    Transportation: The September 2024 EA evaluated the potential 
environmental impacts for the increase in possession limits, finding 
new shipments of feed material to support the production of an 
increased amount of HALEU would be few in number. The EA concluded the 
few additional shipments of feed material through December 2024 would 
not have a noticeable impact on transportation. Moreover, the few 
additional shipments of feed material over an additional 12 months 
would have an insignificant impact, when compared with the 1,100 yearly 
shipments estimated for the commercial ACP.
    Waste Management: In the September 2024 EA for the increase in 
possession limits the NRC staff found that HALEU operations would 
insignificantly increase the quantity of low-level radioactive waste. 
Specifically, the EA stated that 400 cubic feet of low-level 
radioactive waste would be generated per quarter through December 31, 
2024. The staff expects the same quantity of waste to be generated for 
up to twelve additional months of operations. Therefore, the NRC staff 
concludes that the impacts from waste management through December 31, 
2025, would not be significant.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Under the no-action alternative, ACO would cease operating the HALEU 
cascade on December 31, 2024. The no-action alternative could result in 
ACO being unable to meet the terms of its contract with DOE. The 
potential environmental impacts of the no-action alternative would be 
the same as the NRC's finding of no significant impact reported in the 
September 2024 EA.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with NRC policy, on November 4, 2024, the staff 
consulted with the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, the Ohio 
Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Department of Health, and the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Region 5 office 
regarding the EA and FONSI. The NRC received no comments on the EA.
    Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) 
requires Federal agencies to consider the effects of their undertakings 
on historic properties. The proposed action is not a type of activity 
that has the potential to cause effects on any historic properties that 
may be present. Therefore, in accordance with 36 CFR 800.3(a)(1), the 
NRC has no further obligation under Section 106 of the NHPA. 
Nevertheless, the NRC staff provided a courtesy notification of the 
proposed action to the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office on 
November 4, 2024.
    Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that, prior 
to taking a proposed action, Federal agencies determine whether the 
proposed Federal action may affect endangered or threatened species or 
their critical habitats. The proposed action has no potential to affect 
any special status species or habitats. Therefore, no consultation is 
required under Section 7 of the ESA.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The NRC staff prepared this EA as part of its review of the 
proposed action. The NRC staff concludes there would be no significant 
environmental impacts

[[Page 107171]]

from the extension of HALEU operations through December 31, 2025. 
Therefore, staff finds the preparation of an EIS is not warranted. 
Accordingly, the NRC determined that a FONSI is appropriate. In 
accordance with 10 CFR 51.32(a)(4), the FONSI incorporates the EA set 
forth in this notice by reference.

IV. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as 
indicated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                ADAMS accession  No./
            Document description              Federal Register citation/
                                                       website
------------------------------------------------------------------------
License Amendment Request for American       ML24262A084.
 Centrifuge Operating, LLC's License
 Application and Supporting Documents for
 the American Centrifuge Plant, dated
 September 12, 2024.
Supplement to License Amendment Request for  ML24324A321 (Package).
 American Centrifuge Operating, LLC's
 License Application for the American
 Centrifuge Plant, dated November 4, 2024.
Supplement to License Amendment Request for  ML24331A050.
 American Centrifuge Operating, LLC's
 License Application for the American
 Centrifuge Plant, dated November 21, 2024.
NRC Email to ACO re: NRC's Acceptance for    ML24298A160.
 Detailed Review of American Centrifuge
 Operating's Request to Extend Phase II
 HALEU Operations, dated October 21, 2024.
License Amendment 24, NRC Approval of        ML24068A189.
 American Centrifuge Operating's Amendment
 Request to Increase its Possession Limits
 to Support HALEU Production at the
 American Centrifuge Plant, dated September
 20, 2024.
License SNM-2011, Amendment 24, dated        ML24068A191.
 September 20, 2024.
EA for Proposed License Amendment to         ML24254A206.
 Increase Possession Limits for Licensed
 Material for the HALEU Program at the
 American Centrifuge Plant, Piketon, Ohio,
 dated September 2024.
Federal Register Notice for EA Proposed      89 FR 76871
 License Amendment to Increase Possession    ML24214A324.
 Limits for Licensed Material for the HALEU
 Program at the American Centrifuge Plant,
 Piketon, Ohio, publication date September
 19, 2024.
License Amendment 13, NRC Approval of        ML21138A826 (Package).
 American Centrifuge Operating's Request
 Operate Sixteen Centrifuges to Demonstrate
 Production of High-Assay Low-Enriched
 Uranium, dated June 11, 2021.
American Centrifuge Operating Effluent       ML24253A176
 Reporting for the Period of January 1       ML24253A175 (corrected
 through June 30, 2024; dated August 29,      report).
 2024. Corrected report, dated September 5,
 2024.
Email transmitting the draft EA to Ohio      ML24346A064.
 agencies for review, dated November 4,
 2024.
Email to EPA Region 5 transmitting the       ML24346A059.
 draft EA for review, dated November 4,
 2024.
Email to Ohio State Historic Preservation    ML24346A060.
 Office re: courtesy notification of NRC
 review of ACO's license amendment request,
 dated November 4, 2024.
Biden-Harris Administration Announces 6      https://www.energy.gov/ne/
 Contracts to Spur America's Domestic HALEU   articles/biden-harris-
 Supply Chain as Part of Investing in         administration-announces-6-
 America Agenda, dated October 8, 2024.       contracts-spur-americas-
                                              domestic-haleu-supply.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Dated: December 23, 2024.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Diana Diaz Toro,
Acting Chief, Environmental Project Management, Branch 2, Division of 
Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-31376 Filed 12-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
```