AREVA Enrichment Services, LLC Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Facility Licensing

On December 30, 2008, AREVA Enrichment Services, LLC (AES a subsidiary of AREVA NC, Inc.), submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), seeking a license to construct and operate a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility in the United States. Specifically, AES selected a site in Bonneville County, Idaho, for its new facility, which was intended to be known as the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility. In October 2011, NRC issued a license (SNM-2015) to AES to construct and operate the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility to be located near the city of Idaho Falls, ID.  By letter dated July 25, 2016, as supplemented by information provided via electronic communication dated September 13, 2016; and submittals dated August 22, 2016 (1 and 2), August 23, 2016, and September 16, 2016; AREVA Inc. requested NRC consent to the indirect transfer of control of the SNM-2015 license, from AES to AREVA Nuclear Materials, LLC (ANM).  The NRC approved the license transfer via Order Number EA-16-201, dated September 30, 2016.  In January of 2018, ANM notified the NRC of the company’s re-branding from ANM to Orano USA, LLC (Orano).  In May 2018, Orano requested termination of the SNM-2015 NRC license for the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility which was never constructed.  As requested by Orano, the NRC terminated the SNM-2015 license in August 2018.

For details see the following topics on this page:

On this page:

• Regulation and Legislation
• License Application
• Safety Evaluation Report
• Environmental Review
• License
• Correspondence and Other Information
• Public Involvement

Regulation and Legislation

In 1990, Congress passed the Solar, Wind, Waste, and Geothermal Power Production Incentives Act. Among other things, that legislation amended the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to require licensing of uranium enrichment facilities under NRC regulations in Title 10, Parts 40 and 70, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 40 and 10 CFR Part 70). The Act also stated that the construction and operation of a uranium enrichment facility is considered a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment for the purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Therefore, an environmental impact statement (EIS) needs to be prepared for this type of facility, and an adjudicatory hearing must be completed before issuing a license for its construction and operation. In addition, the Act requires the applicant to obtain public liability insurance for the facility, and requires the NRC to inspect the facility before operations begin to ensure that the plant is constructed to meet the license requirements.

License Application

AES submitted its license application and environmental report for the Eagle Rock gas centrifuge enrichment facility on December 30, 2008. On April 24, 2009, AREVA resubmitted the application to request an enrichment capacity increase from 3.3 million separative work units (SWU) per year to 6.6 million SWU per year. The facility was to be located in Bonneville County, Idaho.

On July 23, 2009, the Commission issued an Order initiating the proceedings applicable to AREVA's application for a uranium enrichment plant. The Order offereds an opportunity for a hearing; a 30-month licensing review schedule; instructions for potential parties to the proceeding regarding access to documents that contained sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information and safeguards information; and addressed several policy issues applicable to uranium enrichment facility licensing.

On August 10, 2009, NRC sent to AREVA Enrichment Services a Request for Additional Information (RAI) on the environmental report. AREVA submitted its response to the RAI on September 9, 2009. In addition, on September 18, 2009, AREVA submitted its Unanticipated Discovery Plan in response to the RAI. And, on September 25, 2009, AREVA submitted its response to RAI-1 and RAI-3.

On August 26, 2009, an RAI on the license application was sent to AREVA Enrichment Services. Areva submitted its response to the RAI on September 28, 2009.

The licensing of the AREVA Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility was successfully completed within the 30-month time frame. The licensing review schedule demonstrated when agency actions were completed.

The following is a list of the revisions to the Safety Analysis Report and the Environmental Report:

Safety Evaluation Report

In September 2010, the NRC staff completed its technical safety and security reviews of the AES license application. The results of the review are documented in the Safety Evaluation Report for the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility in Bonneville County, Idaho, AREVA Enrichment Services LLC, (NUREG-1951).

Environmental Review

As required by NEPA, the NRC develops an environmental impact statement (EIS) for "major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." Licensing a uranium enrichment facility is considered a "major Federal action" and, therefore, requires an EIS. 

The NRC staff held a public meeting on the scope of the EIS for the proposed Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility (EREF) on June 6, 2009, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The public was encouraged to provide comments and information for the NRC's scoping process. The Scoping Summary Report was issued on September 11, 2009.

In July 2010, the NRC staff issued its Draft EIS for the proposed Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility. Comments on this document from the public were requested; the public comment period ended on September 13, 2010. Also, public meetings to obtain comments were held on August 9 and August 12, 2010, in Boise and Idaho Falls, Idaho, respectively. The meetings' transcript and other information are available on the NRC's public website (see Public Involvement).

In February 2011, the NRC staff issued its Final EIS for the proposed Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility (NUREG-1945, Volume 1 and Volume 2). In the Final EIS, the staff analyzed the environmental impacts from the proposed facility and determined that the impacts would be mostly minor. In preparing the Final EIS, the staff addressed approximately 1,150 comments on the Draft EIS that were received from approximately 220 government officials and agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and members of the general public.

License

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) presided over the mandatory hearing concerning the staff's safety and environmental reviews. The ASLB made its decision authorizing the staff to issue a license for the AES Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility on October 7, 2011. The NRC staff issued a license (SNM-2015) to AES to construct and operate the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility on October 12, 2011.

On September 30, 2016, the NRC issued Order Number EA-16-201 approving AREVA's July 25, 2016, request for NRC consent to the indirect transfer of control of the SNM-2015 license, from AES to AREVA Nuclear Materials, LLC (ANM).  In January of 2018, ANM notified the NRC of the company's re-branding from ANM to Orano USA, LLC (Orano).  In May 2018, Orano requested termination of the SNM-2015 NRC license for the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility which was never constructed.  As requested by Orano, the NRC terminated the SNM-2015 license in August 2018.

Correspondence and Other Information

This page includes links to files in non-HTML format. See Plugins, Viewers, and Other Tools for more information.

Public Involvement

Meeting Schedule

For upcoming meetings, see our Public Meeting Schedule. Information for the meetings on this page are available at this Web site or in ADAMS if an accession number is given.

Meeting Archive

The following table lists, in chronological order, the public meetings that the NRC staff has conducted in regard to the application and licensing processes for the AREVA Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility.