The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has started the public comment period on the draft environmental impact statement for International Isotopes’s planned depleted uranium de-conversion facility in New Mexico.

Idaho Falls-based International Isotopes Inc. is in the licensing and design phase of an environmentally friendly, green technology, uranium de-conversion and fluorine extraction processing facility near Hobbs, N.M., where a public hearing will be held Feb. 2. Comments on the project will be taken until Feb. 27.

“The NRC currently anticipates completion of this licensing process and issuing the license for the facility in mid to late summer of 2012,” Steve T. Laflin, president and CEO, said. “In the next few months, the exact timing of the NRC license issuance will become much clearer and allow the company to complete financing and start construction on this important project.”

The application can be viewed at http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/inisfacility.html. The Draft EIS is available in the NRC’s ADAMS online database by entering Accession Number ML12001A000 in the content search box.

International Isotopes Inc. manufactures a range of nuclear medicine calibration and reference standards, high purity fluoride gases, and cobalt-60 products. The company also provides a selection of radioisotopes and radiochemicals for medical devices, calibration, clinical research, life sciences, and industrial applications and provides a host of analytical, measurement, recycling, and processing services on a contract basis to clients.