Permitting and licensing new uranium recovery facilities

With the nuclear renaissance, the uranium mining industry has undergone a dramatic renaissance, as well. This was evidenced with the 2006 National Mining Association (NMA)/Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) workshop drawing its largest attendance ever, with more than 180 attendees representing both established, as well as many new junior firms. And the meeting focused, not on site closure - but on the growing industry and plans for permitting new uranium recovery facilities. With this, the program provided overviews of the programs for permitting and licensing new uranium mines, from both the State and Federal perspectives. A subsequent one-day licensing workshop presented in February 2007 by NRC at its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland drew a crowd of experienced and first-time license applicants. Modern uranium mining is both safer and more environmentally protective than past practices - due largely to the industry's maturing and continuous efforts to improve. This paper will look at the new generation of uranium mining and recovery facilities that are developing in the US, and focus primarily on US permitting and licensing requirements and trends. Understanding these trends is essential to ensuring a vibrant US uranium recovery industry; assured supplies of this important fuel for our energy and the US economy; and environmental protection. (authors)