The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding a public comment meeting in Idaho Falls Dec. 10 to assess community support for international energy firm Areva’s proposed Eagle Rock Uranium Enrichment Facility at a site near the Idaho National Laboratory.
The meeting is part of the lengthy application process Areva must go through for licensing of the facility, news station KPVI reports.
Areva, which announced that it had selected the Idaho Falls area for its new enrichment plant earlier this year, has already submitted both parts of its loan guarantee application to the Department of Energy, asking for the federal government to guarantee $2 billion in loans to finance the Eagle Rock project.
Company officials said last week that the loan guarantee application was a “critical step” in the project, with the next phase focusing on licensing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that oversees nuclear permitting and oversight.
Areva said it plans to file its license application with the NRC by the end of this month, and hopes the commission will complete its review within two-and-a-half years of the filing.
Ground could be broken on the $2 billion facility as early as 2011, with operations commencing in 2014. Areva plans to employ 250 full-time workers at the operational site and 1,000 during construction.
The public comment meeting will be held in Grand Teton Room of the Shilo Inns-Idaho Falls at 6 p.m.
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5 Comments
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We will not be able to attend the public meeting Dec. 9 in Idaho Falls. However, we would like to make a written comment that we don't approve of another plant in Idaho producing hazardous material and radioactive waste. Idaho has more than its share and the US DOE has never met any of the promises it has made to the citizens of Idaho to clean up the toxic radioactive waste sitting over our water supply, The Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer. Our family has already suffered far more than the average number of cancers due to drift from the atomic and hydrogen bomb testing in Nevada in the 1950s. We do NOT need any more radioactive waste anywhere near us. We do not need the energy produced by enriched uranium. We have plenty of solar, wind and geothermal clean and renewable sources for producing enough energy for our citizens now and into the future. All we need are some real incentives from the US DOE to develop these renewable and safe sources of energy. We are outraged that the US DOE continues to give incentives like guaranteed loans for guaranteed killers to poison us. We do NOT deserve to be poisoned nor do we deserve to be continually expected to accept the poisonous radio active waste produced by people who have no regard for our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren for thousands of years. They have no regard for our clean air and water and they have no regard for our environment. Just because there is already a radio active mess in Eastern Idaho, there is no excuse to consider our state an on-going repository for this type of poisonous waste. Enough is enough. Kathleen and William Tanaka Comment By Kathleen A. & WilliamTanaka
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 @ 6:20 PM
You cannot trust the French. I believe they should stick with what they do best, turn their back on friends and paint still life scenery. They will pollute your landscape and waterways and close up shop within 5 years. Do not let them into your state. Thanks for reading this and excuse me while I return to eating my Freedom Fries. Toborthe8th a concerned citizen from Philadelphia, Pa., USA Comment By Toborthe8th
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 @ 7:24 PM
We do not need another potentially toxic nuclear site in our region. The effect on our citizens health as well as the detrimental effects to the environment outweigh the few temporary jobs created for the French immigrants they will bring in. Also, why should our government be giving a loan guarantee to a French company?? Geoff P. Driggs, ID Comment By Geoff Pendexter
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 @ 8:12 PM
Do not allow Areva (A French Company) to receive federal funding for this project; up to $2 BILLION! It's not good for America. Another company is in the running for the same loan and is the only company that provides the front-end nuclear fuel cycle owned by AMERICANS, worked by AMERICANS, and benefit AMERICA. Comment By Everett
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 @ 10:23 AM
You can find more information about Idaho National Laboratory's projects at www.inl.gov or at the YouTube site at http://www.youtube.com/user/IdahoNationalLab. Comment By htomfields
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 @ 10:33 AM
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