Orano Enrichment USA LLC; Uranium Enrichment Facility; Notice of Intent To Conduct Scoping Process and Prepare Environmental Impact Statement

This site displays a prototype of a “Web 2.0” version of the daily Federal Register. It is not an official legal edition of the Federal Register, and does not replace the official print version or the official electronic version on GPO’s govinfo.gov. The documents posted on this site are XML renditions of published Federal Register documents. Each document posted on the site includes a link to the corresponding official PDF file on govinfo.gov. This prototype edition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov will remain an unofficial informational resource until the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register (ACFR) issues a regulation granting it official legal status. For complete information about, and access to, our official publications and services, go to About the Federal Register on NARA's archives.gov. The OFR/GPO partnership is committed to presenting accurate and reliable regulatory information on FederalRegister.gov with the objective of establishing the XML-based Federal Register as an ACFR-sanctioned publication in the future. While every effort has been made to ensure that the material on FederalRegister.gov is accurately displayed, consistent with the official SGML-based PDF version on govinfo.gov, those relying on it for legal research should verify their results against an official edition of the Federal Register. Until the ACFR grants it official status, the XML rendition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov does not provide legal notice to the public or judicial notice to the courts. Notice Enter a search term or FR citation e.g. 88 FR 38230 FR 78782024-13208USDA09/05/24RULE0503-AA39SORN Choosing an item from full text search results will bring you to those results. Pressing enter in the search box will also bring you to search results. Choosing an item from suggestions will bring you directly to the content. Thank you for taking the time to create a comment. Your input is important. Once you have filled in the required fields below you can preview and/or submit your comment to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review. All comments are considered public and will be posted online once the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reviewed them. Submit comments on the scope of the EIS by July 13, 2026. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date. Table of Contents Enhanced Content - Table of Contents This table of contents is a navigational tool, processed from the headings within the legal text of Federal Register documents. This repetition of headings to form internal navigation links has no substantive legal effect. This PDF is FR Doc. 2026-11785 as it appeared on Public Inspection on 06/10/2026 at 8:45 am. It was viewed 2 times while on Public Inspection. If you are using public inspection listings for legal research, you should verify the contents of the documents against a final, official edition of the Federal Register. Only official editions of the Federal Register provide legal notice of publication to the public and judicial notice to the courts under 44 U.S.C. 1503 & 1507. Learn more here. Published Document: 2026-11785 (91 FR 35584) This document has been published in the Federal Register. Use the PDF linked in the document sidebar for the official electronic format. ( printed page 35584) AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice; request for comment. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will conduct a scoping process to gather information necessary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the environmental impacts of issuing a license to Orano Enrichment USA, LLC (Orano) to construct and operate a gaseous centrifuge uranium enrichment facility in Roane County, Tennessee. As part of the EIS development process, the NRC is seeking comments on the scope of the EIS. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management will be a cooperating agency in the preparation of the EIS. DATES: Submit comments on the scope of the EIS by July 13, 2026. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods; however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website. Federal rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2026-2906. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran; telephone: 301-415-1003; email: Bridget.Curran@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual(s) listed in the For Further Information Contact section of this document. Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-5-A85, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff. For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting comments, see “Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments” in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stacey Imboden, telephone: 301-415-2462; email: Stacey.Imboden@nrc.gov, or Patrick Donohue, telephone: 301-415-5237; email: Patrick.Donohue@nrc.gov. Both are staff of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments A. Obtaining Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2026-2906 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this action. You may obtain publicly available information related to this action by any of the following methods: 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 ADAMS Public 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 PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this document. 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 PDR.Resource@nrc.gov 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. Public Library: A copy of the environmental report for the Orano license application is available for review at the Oak Ridge Public Library, 1401 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830. B. Submitting Comments The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website ( https://www.regulations.gov). Please include Docket ID NRC-2026-2906 in your comment submission. The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information. If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such information before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS. II. Discussion By letters dated January 30, 2026 (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML26030A236) and March 27, 2026 (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML26086A377), Orano submitted to the NRC an application for a license to construct and operate a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility in Roane County, Tennessee, to be known as Project IKE. The requested license would authorize Orano to receive title to, own, acquire, receive, possess, use, and transfer source material, special nuclear material, and byproduct material as specified in the license for the purposes of constructing, and then operating for up to 40 years, a facility that uses gas centrifuge enrichment technology to enrich uranium. The requested license would authorize Orano to enrich uranium hexafluoride up to and including a maximum of 10 weight percent uranium-235 for use in nuclear fuel applications. The Orano Project IKE enrichment facility would be located on approximately 600 acres of undeveloped land located within the city limits of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The site was acquired from the DOE through the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board. DOE will act as a cooperating agency in developing the EIS with the NRC. The responsibilities of each cooperating agency have been established in a Memorandum of Understanding, dated April 23, 2026, which can be found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML26099A038. The NRC staff completed an acceptance review of Orano's license application and determined it contains sufficient information for the NRC to conduct a detailed technical review. An acceptance letter was issued to Orano on May 21, 2026 (ADAMS Accession No. ML26134A324). ( printed page 35585) III. Request for Comment This notice informs the public of the NRC's intention to conduct environmental scoping and prepare an EIS regarding the license application for the Orano Project IKE enrichment facility in accordance with part 51 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), “Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.” This notice also provides the public an opportunity to participate in the environmental scoping process, as defined in 10 CFR 51.29, “Scoping-environmental impact statement and supplement to environmental impact statement.” The EIS will address the potential impacts from the proposed action and its alternatives. As part of its environmental review, the NRC will first conduct a scoping process and, as soon as practicable thereafter, will prepare a draft EIS for public comment. Participation in this scoping process by members of the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal government agencies is encouraged. While the NRC will not hold a public scoping meeting, persons may participate in the scoping process by submitting written comments, as explained in this notice, regarding the appropriate scope of the EIS, including significant environmental issues to be analyzed in depth, as well as those that should be eliminated from detailed study because they are peripheral or are not significant. In accordance with 10 CFR 51.29, the scoping process for the draft EIS will be used to accomplish the following: a. Define the proposed action that is to be the subject of the EIS; b. Determine the scope of the EIS and identify the significant issues to be analyzed in depth; c. Identify and eliminate from the detailed study those issues that are peripheral or are not significant or that have been covered by prior environmental review; d. Identify any environmental assessments and other ElSs that are being or will be prepared that are related to, but are not part of, the scope of the EIS under consideration; e. Identify other environmental review and consultation requirements related to the proposed action; f. Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation of the environmental analyses and the NRC's tentative planning and decision-making schedule; g. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the EIS to the NRC and any cooperating agencies; and h. Describe how the EIS will be prepared, including any contractor assistance to be used. In accordance with 10 CFR 51.28, “Scoping—participants,” the NRC invites the following persons to participate in the scoping process: a. The applicant, Orano; b. Any Federal agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved or that is authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards; c. Affected State and local government agencies, including those authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards; d. Any affected Indian Tribe; e. Any person who requests or has requested an opportunity to participate in the scoping process; and f. Any person who has petitioned or intends to petition for leave to intervene under 10 CFR 2.309. Participation in the scoping process for Orano's Project IKE enrichment facility EIS does not entitle participants to become parties to the proceeding to which the EIS relates. After the close of the scoping period, the NRC staff will prepare a concise summary of its scoping process, the comments received, and the NRC's responses to substantive comments. The summary will be made available to the public as an appendix to the draft EIS and will be sent to each participant in the scoping process for whom the NRC staff has an email or mailing address. The NRC will also provide a public comment period for the draft EIS. Availability of the draft EIS and the dates of the public comment period will be announced in a future Federal Register notice. The final EIS will include the NRC's responses to public comments received on the draft EIS. Chief, Environmental Project Management, Branch 2, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.