Crow Butte Marsland Documents Pertaining to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received an application from Crow Butte Resources, Inc. (CBR) to amend its NRC source materials license SUA-1534. This application requests authorization for CBR to construct and operate an in-situ uranium recovery (ISR) facility at the proposed Marsland Expansion Area (MEA) project site in Dawes County and Sioux County, Nebraska. The NRC staff is conducting an environmental review in accordance with the Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 51 (10 CFR Part 51), which implements the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA). The NRC staff is also conducting a Section 106 review in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (NHPA). NRC staff initiated its consultation under Section 106 for the proposed MEA in September of 2010. The staff made three documents available for public consideration and comment consistent with 36 CFR § 800.4(d)(1). The comment period closed on July 30, 2014.

The area of potential effect is defined as the site boundary of the proposed project which consists of 4,622 acres. The NRC staff consulted with interested Native American Tribes to identify historic properties, specifically ones of religious and cultural significance. The NRC staff also reviewed the information provided by CBR in its MEA license amendment application. The NRC acknowledges that the Tribes possess special expertise in identifying properties of cultural and religious significance and assessing the significance of these properties to their individual Tribes. The NRC Staff invited Tribes to participate in a field survey to identify historic properties. A Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) field survey completed by the Santee Sioux Nation and the Crow Nation is the first bulleted link below. The NRC staff also completed an independent site visit and analysis of the TCP field survey results, and the staff's findings are documented in a report in the second link below. Based on the information found in the TCP survey and the NRC staff's independent analysis, the NRC staff has preliminarily concluded that there are no sites or areas of historic, cultural, or religious significance to Tribes or other historic properties present in the area of potential effects of the proposed MEA project site. Therefore, the NRC's Section 106 finding at this time is that no historic properties would be affected. The NRC staff has documented its preliminary determination, detailing the Section 106 activities and cultural resources findings, and has included that documentation in the cultural resources sections of the draft Environmental Assessment for the MEA. A document containing those sections is available in the third link below.

• Traditional Cultural Property field survey completed by the Santee Sioux and Crow Nations tribes
• NRC Staff's Field Documentation of Potential Places of Tribal Religious or Cultural Significance
• NRC Documentation of its Section 106 Review Findings (cultural resources sections of draft Environmental Assessment)

For additional information regarding the proposed action, CBR's license application is publicly available from the NRC's Agency Wide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). Information about the proposed action, including links to CBR's license amendment application can also be found in the project's web page.