Tribes Notified of Uranium Mining's Environmental Impact

Official Seal of the U.S. Department of Energy, from Wikimedia Commons

U.S. Department of Energy Announces the Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Activities in Support of Commercial HALEU Production

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the final Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) evaluating the potential impacts of the Department’s Proposed Action to acquire, through procurement from commercial sources, high-assay low-enriched uranium(HALEU) and to facilitate the establishment of commercial HALEU fuel production.

HALEU is a crucial material required by most U.S. advanced reactors to achieve smaller designs, longer operating cycles, and increased efficiencies over current nuclear energy technologies. HALEU is not currently available in sufficient amounts from domestic suppliers. The lack of an adequate domestic, commercial fuel supply could impede both reactor demonstrations and the development of future advanced reactor technologies.

The final EIS follows the Notice of Availability of the Draft HALEU EIS on March 8, 2024. DOE formally accepted comments on the draft through April 22, 2024, but accepted comments received beyond that date to the extent practicable. During the review and comment period, DOE held two virtual Tribal listening sessions, one in-person Tribal listening session, and three virtual public hearings. DOE received a total of 223 comment submissions on the draft EIS. Thirty-six of those comment submissions came from Tribes or Tribal members and the rest came from Federal and state agencies, industry, nonprofit organizations, and the public. In preparing the final HALEU EIS, DOE considered and responded to all comments. The responses can be found in Volume 3 of the final HALEU EIS.

The Final EIS is available on the project website at https://www.energy.gov/ne/haleuenvironmental-impact-statement.

Requests for physical copies of the final HALEU EIS can be made through email to HALEUEIS@nuclear.energy.gov or U.S. mail to, Mr. James Lovejoy, DOE EIS Document Manager ,U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office, 1955 Fremont Avenue, MS 1235, Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415.

DOE will issue a Record of Decision for the final HALEU EIS no sooner than 30 days after the publication of the Notice of Availability of the final HALEU EIS by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Record of Decision will be available in the Federal Register and on the project website.