Apart from the issue of the relative difficulty of restoring an...

Apart from the issue of the relative difficulty of restoring an aquifer after acid or alkaline leaching, the recent announcement avoids any mention of the fact that PEN is currently operating under an NRC materials license (SUA-1601), and cannot use acid lixiviant unless the company obtains an amendment to section 10.1 of that license. The permit amendment application submitted to the WDEQ will have no effect on the NRC license. If and when Wyoming is approved as an agreement state by the Commission, which may happen later this year, the WDEQ can consider amending the license it would adopt from the NRC. Even then, it's likely the NRC will need to sign off on any switch to acid lixiviant.