NRC to conduct environmental review of Orano’s Project Ike enrichment facility

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is to prepare an environmental impact statement in its review of Orano Enrichment's license application to build and operate a new uranium enrichment facility near Oak Ridge, Tenn., and is asking the public for comments on the scope of its environmental review.

Notice of the NRC's intent to prepare an EIS and conduct the scoping process for Orano's proposed enrichment facility, called Project Ike, was published in the June 11 Federal Register with a deadline for comments of July 13.

The NRC said the public can participate in this stage of the EIS process by submitting written comments "regarding the appropriate scope of the EIS, including significant environmental issues to be analyzed in depth, as well as those that should be eliminated from detailed study because they are peripheral or are not significant."

Background: Orano submitted its application to the NRC for Project Ike in March, and the agency announced on May 21 its plans to complete its licensing review on an accelerated 12-month schedule.

The 750,000-square-foot facility is to be located on a 624-acre parcel of unused former Manhattan Project land recently transferred from the Department of Energy to the city of Oak Ridge's Industrial Development Board.

The project: Part of a national effort to rebuild America's nuclear fuel supply chain amid growing concerns over reliance on foreign enrichment services, Project Ike is expected to cost $5 billion. The project is being supported by a $900 million DOE award, with further support by the state of Tennessee's Nuclear Energy Fund.

According to Orano's application, the Project Ike facility will be able to produce about 7.4 million separative work units (SWUs) per year. Using gas centrifuge enrichment, the company intends to enrich natural uranium hexafluoride to a product containing up to 10 percent uranium-235.

Next steps: Comments on the EIS scoping can be made on the federal rulemaking website (Docket ID NRC-2026-2906). The NRC has said it will not hold a public meeting on the EIS scoping.

Following the scoping period, the NRC will prepare for public comment a draft EIS that will address the potential impacts of building and operating the enrichment facility. The draft EIS, which will be prepared in cooperation with the DOE's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, will include a concise summary of the agency's scoping process and comments received.

Availability of the draft EIS and public comment dates will be announced in a future Federal Register notice.