Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed American Centrifuge Plantin Piketon, Ohio: Chapters 1–10 (NUREG–1834, Volume 1)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: April 2006
Date Published: April 2006

Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

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Abstract

USEC Inc. (USEC) has submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to construct, operate, and decommission the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP), a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility located on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reservation in Piketon, Ohio. The American Centrifuge Plant, if licensed, would enrich uranium for use in commercial nuclear fuel for power reactors. Feed material would be comprised of non-enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF₆). USEC proposes to enrich uranium up to 10 percent by weight of uranium-235. The initial license application is for a 3.5 million separative work unit¹ (SWU) per year facility. Because USEC indicated the potential for future expansion to 7.0 million SWU per year, the environmental review looks at the impacts from a 7.0 million SWU per year facility. The proposed ACP would be licensed in accordance with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act. Specifically, an NRC license under Title 10, "Energy," of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Parts 30, 40, and 70 would be required to authorize USEC to possess and use special nuclear material, source material, and byproduct material at the proposed ACP site.

This Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the NRC regulations for implementing the Act. This EIS evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the proposed action and its reasonable alternatives. This EIS also describes the environment potentially affected by USEC's proposal, presents and compares the potential environmental impacts resulting from the proposed action and its alternatives, and describes USEC's environmental monitoring program and mitigation measures.

¹ SWU relates to a measure of the amount of work used to enrich uranium.