NRC Seeks Comment on Draft EIS for Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility

Content

ACTION:

Notice; request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) regarding
a license application from Global Laser Enrichment, LLC (GLE) to construct and operate the Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility
(PLEF). The draft EIS evaluates the environmental impacts of the proposed action of issuing a license that would authorize
GLE to construct and operate a uranium enrichment facility on a 322-acre site located in McCracken County, Kentucky, approximately
5 miles west of Paducah. The environmental impacts of the no-action alternative (i.e., denying the license application) are also evaluated.

DATES:

Members of the public are invited to submit comments by May 11, 2026. Comments received after that date will be considered
if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before that date.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments by any of the following methods; however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through
the Federal rulemaking website:

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2025-1007. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran; telephone: 301-415-1003; email: Bridget.Curran@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the
For Further Information Contact
section of this document.

• Email: Comments may be submitted to the NRC electronically using the email address GLE-PLEF-EIS@nrc.gov.

• Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-5-A85, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Program
Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.

For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting comments, see “Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments”
in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Amy Minor, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001;
telephone: 817-200-1454; email: Amy.Minor@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-1007 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document.
You may obtain publicly available information related to this action using any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2025-1007.

• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select “Begin ADAMS Public Search.” For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document
Room (PDR)

  reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at 301-415-4737, or by email to *PDR.Resource@nrc.gov.* The draft EIS is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML26061A085.

• NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an appointment
to visit the PDR, please send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415- 4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.

• Public Library: A copy of the draft EIS will be available for public review at the McCracken County Public Library, 555 Washington St., Paducah,
KY 42003.

B. Submitting Comments

The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal Rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please include Docket ID NRC-2025-1007 in your comment submission.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying
or contact information.

If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons
not to include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly disclosed in their comment submission.
Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such information before making
the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

The NRC has prepared a draft EIS as part of its environmental review of GLE's application for a license to construct and operate
a uranium enrichment facility on a 322-acre greenfield site in McCracken County, Kentucky. This draft EIS assesses the potential
environmental impacts of the GLE license application and the associated proposal to construct, operate, and decommission the
enrichment facility, as well as the no-action alternative to the proposed action (i.e., denying the license application).

The proposed Federal action is the issuance of a license that would authorize GLE to receive title to, own, acquire, receive,
possess, use, transfer, and/or deliver source material, special nuclear material, and byproduct material as specified in the
license for the purposes of constructing, and then operating for up to 40 years, a facility that uses laser-based isotope
separation technology to enrich uranium. The facility would be authorized to re-enrich depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF 6) tails to natural levels and enrich natural-grade UF 6 up to 8 percent uranium-235 (U-235) by weight.

The draft EIS contains the NRC staff's preliminary analysis of the environmental impacts of the proposed action and the no-action
alternative to the proposed action. The draft EIS also contains the NRC staff's preliminary recommendation on the proposed
action, which is based on the following factors:

• The NRC staff's review of GLE's environmental report (included as part of the GLE license application) and associated responses from GLE to requests from the NRC staff for clarifying information;
• The NRC staff's review of comments received as part of the scoping process;
• The NRC staff's communications with Federal, State, and local agencies, as well as Tribal officials; and
• The NRC staff's independent environmental review. The NRC staff's preliminary recommendation, unless safety issues mandate otherwise, is that the NRC issue the license to construct and operate the proposed enrichment facility to GLE.

Dated: March 24, 2026. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Robert Sun, Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 2, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards. [FR Doc. 2026-05955 Filed 3-26-26; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

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