2017-10072. Construction Permit Application for the Northwest Medical Isotopes, LLC, Medical Radioisotope Production Facility

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Environmental impact statement; issuance.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction permit application submitted on February 5, 2014, by Northwest Medical Isotopes, LLC (NWMI) for the NWMI Medical Radioisotope Production Facility, NUREG-2209 (NWMI facility).

DATES:

The final EIS for the NWMI Construction Permit is available as of May 18, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0235 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this document using any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0235. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. To begin the search, select “ADAMS Public Documents” and then select “Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.” For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [e-mail]. The final EIS for the NWMI Construction Permit is in ADAMS under Accession No. ML17130A862.
• NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David Drucker, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

In accordance with § 51.118 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the NRC is making available the final EIS for the Construction Permit Application for the NWMI facility. The draft EIS was noticed by the NRC in the Federal Register on November 9, 2016 (81 FR 78865), and noticed by the Environmental Protection Agency on November 10, 2016 (81 FR 79019). The public comment period on the draft EIS ended on December 29, 2016, and the comments received are addressed in the final EIS. The final EIS is available as indicated in the ADDRESSES section of this document.

II. Discussion

As discussed in Chapter 6 of the final EIS, the NRC determined that after weighing the environmental, economic, technical, and other benefits against environmental and other costs, and considering reasonable alternatives, the NRC staff recommends the issuance of the construction permit to NWMI, unless safety issues mandate otherwise. This recommendation is based on (1) NWMI's Environmental Report, (2) the NRC's consultation with Federal, State, and local agencies, (3) the NRC's independent environmental review; and (4) the NRC's consideration of public comments.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of May 2017.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Jeffery J. Rikhoff,

Acting Chief, Environmental Review and Project Management Branch, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.