NRC: News Release - 2003-015 - NRC Licensing Board Decides to Rule on Three Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., Amendment Applications at One Time

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NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs	Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001	E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
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No. 03-015

January 31, 2003

NRC LICENSING BOARD DECIDES TO RULE ON THREE NUCLEAR
FUEL SERVICES, INC., AMENDMENT APPLICATIONS AT ONE TIME
Printable Version

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has decided it will rule at one time on potential challenges to three separate license amendment applications from Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) to authorize uranium processing operations at a Blended Low-Enriched Uranium Preparation Facility within its existing facility located in Erwin, Tennessee.

This facility is part of a U.S. Department of Energy program to reduce stockpiles of surplus high-enriched uranium through re-use or disposal as radioactive waste. NFS currently manufactures high-enriched nuclear reactor fuel and is constructing a new complex at the Erwin site to manufacture low-enriched nuclear reactor fuel.

The Agency has already offered an opportunity for a hearing on the first two NFS license amendment applications, dated February 28, and October 11, 2002 (see January 3 NRC press announcement at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2003/03-001.html).
Several requests for a hearing were filed on the first amendment application. The deadline for filing hearing requests on the second amendment is February 6. NFS expects to file the third application for a license amendment with the NRC in the next several months. Information that must be included in a hearing request is described in the associated Federal Register notices dated July 9, October 30, and November 12.

The Board has decided it will not rule on the hearing requests or take any other action regarding the first and second amendment applications until after the third application is filed. The expiration of the time period for submitting hearing requests on the third application will be set out in a future Federal Register notice. Hearing requests addressed to the second or third license amendment application may incorporate by reference all or part of any hearing request previously filed by that hearing requestor.

Copies of the first two license amendment applications are available through the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS). Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public Document Room staff at 301-415-4737 or 1-800-397-4209, or by sending a message to pdr@nrc.gov via e-mail. The documents are also available for inspection at the NRC’s Public Document Room in Rockville, Maryland.