36042 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 132 / Tuesday, July 9, 1996 / Notices

1 In the U.S./Russia HEU Agreement, the United

States and Russia agreed that USEC, as the United

States’ Executive Agent, would purchase lowenriched uranium derived from 500 metric tons of

highly enriched uranium extracted from nuclear

weapons dismantled in Russia.

2The Suspension Agreement, also referred to as

the ‘‘Agreement to Suspend Investigation on

Uranium from the Russia Federation, as amended,’’

settled an investigation into whether Russia was

dumping uranium into the United States market. It

established a mechanism known as ‘‘matched sales

arrangements’’ in which imports of Russian

uranium are linked with sales of uranium newly

produced in the United States. In a matched sale,

one-half of the uranium sold is Russian and the

other one-half is new domestic production. There

are annual quotas on the amount of matched sales

through 2004, when the Suspension Agreement

expires.

State Agencies Recognized for the

Approval of Nurse Education

Interim Report

1. New York State Board of Regents

(Nursing Education Unit)

In accordance with the Federal policy

governing the granting of academic

degrees by Federal agencies (approved

by letter from the Director, Bureau of the

Budget, to the Secretary, Health,

Education, and Welfare, dated

December 23, 1954), the Secretary of

Education is required to establish a

review committee to advise the

Secretary concerning any legislation

that may be proposed which would

authorize the granting of degrees by a

Federal agency. The review committee

forwards its recommendation

concerning a Federal agency’s proposed

degree-granting authority to the

Secretary, who then forwards the

committee’s recommendation to the

Office of Management and Budget for

review and transmittal to the Congress.

The Secretary uses the Advisory

Committee as the review committee

required for this purpose. Accordingly,

the Advisory Committee will review the

following institution at its November

meeting:

Proposed Bachelor’s Degree-Granting

Authority

1. Joint Military Intelligence College,

Bolling Air Force Base (for Bachelor

of Science in Intelligence)

Public Inspection of Petitions and

Third-Party Comments

All petitions and interim reports, and

those third-party comments received in

advance of this meeting, will be

available for public inspection and

copying at the U.S. Department of

Education, ROB–3, Room 3915, 7th and

D Streets, SW., Washington, DC 20202–

5244, telephone (202) 708–7417

between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30

p.m., Monday through Friday. It is

preferred that an appointment be made

in advance of such inspection or

copying.

Dated: July 2, 1996.

David A. Longanecker,

Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary

Education.

[FR Doc. 96–17348 Filed 7–8–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Intent to Prepare an

Environmental Assessment on the

Proposed Sale of Surplus Natural and

Low-Enriched Uranium

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy

(DOE) announces its intent to prepare

an Environmental Assessment (EA) on

the sale of natural uranium and lowenriched uranium located at the gaseous

diffusion plants in Portsmouth, Ohio,

and Paducah, Kentucky. DOE will

prepare the EA pursuant to the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969

(NEPA), the Council on Environmental

Quality’s NEPA regulations, and the

Department’s NEPA regulations. The EA

will describe: (1) the purpose and need

for action by the Department; (2) the

Department’s proposed action; (3)

alternatives (including a no-action

alternative) to the proposed action; and

(4) the potential impacts of the proposed

action and alternatives.

ADDRESSES: Questions regarding this

Environmental Assessment should be

addressed to: Mr. John Kotek, Office of

Nuclear Energy, Science and

Technology, NE–1, Department of

Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW,

Washington, DC 20585. Requests to

receive copies of the draft EA, when

available for review, should also be

directed to Mr. Kotek. Mr. Kotek may be

contacted by telephone at (202) 586–

6823, or by facsimile at (202) 586–0698.

DATES: DOE anticipates that it will issue

a draft EA by July 30, 1996, which it

will forward for review by affected

states, Indian tribes, and other parties

who have expressed an interest in the

proposed action or requested a copy of

the draft for review. The Department

will accept comments on the EA for 30

days following issuance of the draft EA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

general information on DOE’s NEPA

process, contact Ms. Carol M.

Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA

Policy and Assistance, EH–42,

Department of Energy, 1000

Independence Ave. SW, Washington,

DC 20585. Ms. Borgstrom may be

contacted by leaving a message at (800)

472–2756 or by calling (202) 586–4600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

DOE owns substantial amounts of

natural uranium and low-enriched

uranium (LEU) in excess of the

Department’s current needs. The

Department has declared about 21.5

million pounds of these materials to be

surplus. About 20.3 million pounds of

these materials contain the uranium

isotope U-235 in concentrations (0.711

percent) equivalent to natural uranium;

about 1.2 million pounds contain U-235

concentration of 4.5 percent, and are

therefore classified as LEU. The LEU is

stored at the gaseous diffusion plant in

Portsmouth, Ohio; the 20.3 million

pounds of natural uranium are stored at

Paducah, Kentucky. In addition to these

21.5 million pounds, the Department

will receive title to another 14.2 million

pounds of natural uranium associated

with the United States/Russia Highly

Enriched Uranium Purchase Agreement

(Russian HEU Agreement).1 These 14.2

million pounds are located at the

Paducah gaseous diffusion plant and

will remain under the control and

ownership of the United States

Enrichment Corporation (USEC) until

ownership is transferred to DOE before

the end of 1996.

Congress has imposed a number of

requirements on the sale and use of

these materials. Section 3112(b)(1) of

the United States Enrichment

Corporation Privatization Act of 1996

(USEC Privatization Act, Public Law

104–134) requires that DOE sell within

seven years the 14.2 million pounds of

natural uranium associated with the

U.S./Russia HEU Agreement. Under

section 3112(b)(2), DOE may sell this

natural uranium: (1) for overfeeding of

enrichment operations in the United

States at any time; (2) for end use

outside of the United States at any time;

(3) to the Russian Executive Agent in

1995 and 1996 for use in matched sales

pursuant to the Suspension

Agreement; 2 or (4) in 2001 for end use

in the United States beginning in 2002

in amounts not to exceed 3 million

pounds annually.

As to the 21.5 million pounds of

natural uranium and low-enriched

uranium DOE already has in its

inventory, Congress did not mandate
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 132 / Tuesday, July 9, 1996 / Notices 36043

that the Department sell these materials

within a particular period of time.

However, Congress anticipated in the

Energy and Water Development

Appropriations Act of 1996 that DOE

would sell about $35 million worth of

these materials in fiscal year 1996 and

use the proceeds to offset some of the

costs of maintaining and improving the

gaseous diffusion plants. The

Department believes that it will need to

sell additional amounts of these

materials beginning in 1996 in order to

continue financing maintenance and

other activities at the gaseous diffusion

plants.

Congress imposed three conditions on

the sale of material from DOE’s

inventory in section 3112(d) of the

USEC Privatization Act; two of these

conditions are relevant to the 21.5

million pounds of inventory material

considered in this Environmental

Assessment. Before selling materials

from DOE’s inventory, the Secretary of

Energy must make a determination that:

(1) the sale will not have an ‘‘adverse

material impact’’ on the domestic

uranium industry and (2) the

Department will receive a price that is

at least equal to the fair market value of

the materials.

Proposed Action

DOE proposes to sell the 21.5 million

pounds of surplus material in its

inventory and the 14.2 million pounds

of material associated with the Russian

HEU Agreement that the Department

will receive from USEC. All of the 35.7

million pounds are in the form of

uranium hexafluoride (UF6). DOE

proposes to sell these 35.7 million

pounds of uranium over six or more

years beginning in 1996. The potential

buyers are entities that already purchase

or manage inventories of uranium for

use in commercial applications: USEC,

utilities, convertors, brokers and

uranium producers. Accordingly, the

proposed action would not result in

new or different uses of uranium.

DOE would comply with sections

3112 (b) and (d) of the USEC

Privatization Act in making the sales it

is proposing. In 1996, DOE proposes to

sell some of the 14.2 million pounds it

will receive under the Russian HEU

Agreement to the Russian Executive

Agent, or the Agent’s representative, for

use in matched sales pursuant to the

Suspension Agreement. The Department

would sell, to the extent practical, the

remainder of this 14.2 million pounds

for end use outside the United States or

for overfeeding the gaseous diffusion

plants during the period 1997 through

2000. Any remaining material would be

sold in 2001 for consumption by

domestic end users beginning in 2002 at

a rate not to exceed 3 million pounds

per year. As to the 21.5 million pounds

from DOE’s inventory, the Department

proposes to sell the one million pounds

of LEU in 1996 in order to obtain the

revenue Congress anticipated DOE

would receive in the Energy and Water

Development Appropriations Act of

1996. DOE would sell the remaining

20.3 million pounds of inventory

materials during the period 1997

through 2002 in order to continue

financing maintenance and other

activities at the gaseous diffusion plants.

All sales of inventory materials would

be contingent on the Secretary making

the determinations required by section

3112(d)(2) of the USEC Privatization

Act.

The sales proposed and evaluated in

this Environmental Assessment would

be in addition to sales evaluated in two

other NEPA analyses: (1) the Disposition

of Surplus Highly Enriched Uranium

Final EIS (DOE/EIS—0240, June 1996),

and (2) the Environmental Assessment

for the Purchase of Russian Low

Enriched Uranium Derived from the

Dismantlement of Nuclear Weapons in

the Countries of the Former Soviet

Union (USEC/EA—94001, DOE/EA—

0837, January 1994). The Department

will analyze the cumulative effects of

the sales proposed in this

environmental assessment, those

proposed in the two other NEPA

analyses, and those scheduled under the

Russian HEU Agreement and the

Suspension Agreement.

Alternatives

DOE has identified alternatives to its

proposed sale of these materials, and

may identify others during the

preparation of the EA. All alternatives

will be evaluated against the purpose

and need for action by the Department,

and those that are reasonable and meet

the need for action by the Department

will be evaluated in the EA.

No Action

The Council on Environmental

Quality’s NEPA regulations require that

federal agencies analyze the impacts of

not taking the proposed action (the ‘‘No

Action Alternative’’). In this case, the

No Action Alternative would be that

DOE would continue to store the 35.7

million pounds of uranium at

Portsmouth and Paducah rather than

selling it.

Alternatives that Satisfy the Need for

Department Action

Alternatives that are under

consideration for evaluation in the EA

include:

(1) Different schedules for the sale of

this uranium; and

(2) Selling amounts other than 21.5

million pounds of inventory material.

Preliminary Identification of Potential

Environmental Impacts

The Department has tentatively

identified the following potential

impacts for evaluation in the EA. This

list is not intended to be all-inclusive or

to predetermine the potential impacts of

any of the alternatives.

(1) Potential health and safety impacts

to on-site workers and to the public

from storage, handling, and transport of

uranium, including accidents;

(2) Socioeconomic impacts on the

uranium industry in the United States;

(3) Potential cumulative impacts of

these and other sales; and

(4) Considerations of environmental

justice.

DOE anticipates that it will issue a

draft EA by July 30, 1996, which it will

forward for review by affected states,

Indian tribes, and other parties who

have expressed an interest in the

proposed action or requested a copy of

the draft for review. The Department

will accept comments on the EA for 30

days following issuance of the draft EA.

Based on the EA and any comments it

receives, DOE will then determine

whether it will prepare an

environmental impact statement or

issue a finding of no significant impact.

Issued in Washington, D.C., this 1st day of

July, 1996, for the United States Department

of Energy.

Ray A. Hunter,

Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Energy,

Science and Technology.

[FR Doc. 96–17432 Filed 7–8–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

Environmental Management SiteSpecific Advisory Board, Pantex Plant;

Meeting

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of Open Meeting.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of

the Federal Advisory Committee Act

(Public Law 92–463, 86 Stat. 770) notice

is hereby given of the following

Advisory Committee meeting:

Environmental Management SiteSpecific Advisory Board (EM SSAB),

Pantex Plant.

DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, July 23, 1996:

10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: Carson County Square

House Museum, 5th and Elsie,

Panhandle, Texas.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom

Williams, Program Manager,