[Federal Register: May 22, 1997 (Volume 62, Number 99)] [Notices] [Page 28009-28014] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr22my97-55] =======================================================================----- ------------------------------------------------------------------ DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Surplus Plutonium Disposition Environmental Impact Statement AGENCY: Department of Energy ACTION: Notice of intent ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on the disposition of United States' weapons-usable surplus plutonium. This EIS is tiered from the Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Storage and Disposition PEIS) (DOE/EIS-0229), issued in December 1996, and the associated Record of Decision (62 FR 3014), issued on January 14, 1997. The EIS will examine reasonable alternatives and potential environmental impacts for the proposed siting, construction, and operation of three types of facilities for plutonium disposition. The first is a facility to disassemble and convert pits (a nuclear weapons component) into plutonium oxide suitable for disposition. As explained in the January 1997 Record of Decision, this pit disassembly and conversion facility will be located at either DOE's Hanford Site, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), Pantex Plant, or Savannah River Site (SRS). The second is a facility to immobilize surplus plutonium in a glass or ceramic form for disposition in a geologic repository pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. This second facility will be located at either Hanford or SRS, and include a collocated capability to convert non-pit plutonium materials into a form suitable for immobilization. The EIS will discuss various technologies for immobilization. The third type of facility would fabricate plutonium oxide into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. The MOX fuel fabrication facility would be located at either Hanford, INEEL, Pantex or SRS. MOX fuel would be used in existing commercial light water reactors in the United States, with subsequent disposal of the spent fuel in accordance with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Some MOX fuel could also be used in Canadian deuterium uranium (CANDU) reactors depending upon negotiation of a future international agreement between Canada, Russia, and the United States. The EIS will also discuss decommissioning and decontamination (D&D) of the three facilities. This Notice of Intent describes the Department's proposed action, solicits public input, and announces the schedule for the public scoping meetings. DATES: Comments on the proposed scope of the Surplus Plutonium Disposition EIS (SPD EIS) are invited from the public. To ensure consideration in the draft EIS, written comments should be postmarked by July 18, 1997. Comments received after that date will be considered to the extent practicable. DOE will hold interactive scoping meetings near sites that may be affected by the proposed action to discuss issues and receive oral and written comments on the scope of the EIS. The locations, dates and times for these public meetings are included in the Supplementary Information section of this notice and will be announced by additional appropriate means. ADDRESSES: Comments and questions concerning the plutonium disposition program can be submitted by calling (answering machine) or faxing them to the toll free number 1-800-820-5156, or by mailing them to: Bert Stevenson, NEPA Compliance Officer, Office of Fissile Materials Disposition, U.S. Department of Energy, Post Office Box 23786, Washington, DC 20026-3786. Comments may also be submitted electronically by using the Office of Fissile Materials Disposition's web site. The address is http:// web.fie.com/fedix/fisl.html. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information on the DOE NEPA process, please contact: Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance, U.S. Department of Energy 1000, Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20585, 202-586-4600 or 1-800-472-2756. [[Page 28010]] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background The Storage and Disposition Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) analyzed the potential environmental consequences of alternatives for the long-term storage (up to 50 years) of weaponsusable fissile materials and the disposition of surplus plutonium. Surplus plutonium for disposition refers to that weapons-usable plutonium that the President has declared surplus to national security needs, as well as such plutonium that may be declared surplus in the future. As stated in the Record of Decision for the Storage and Disposition PEIS, the Department decided to pursue a hybrid approach that allows immobilization of surplus plutonium in glass or ceramic form and burning of some of the surplus plutonium as MOX fuel in existing, commercial light water reactors in the United States (and potentially in Canadian Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactors in Canada depending on future international agreement). The Department decided that the extent to which either or both of these disposition approaches would ultimately be deployed would depend in part upon future NEPA review, although the Department committed to immobilize at least 8 metric tons (tonnes) of currently declared surplus plutonium and reserved the option of immobilizing all surplus weapons plutonium. In the Record of Decision for the Storage and Disposition PEIS, the Department further decided to: (1) locate the immobilization facility (collocated with a plutonium conversion facility) at either Hanford or SRS; (2) locate a potential MOX fuel fabrication facility at either Hanford, INEEL, Pantex, or SRS; (3) locate a pit disassembly and conversion facility at either Hanford, INEEL, Pantex, or SRS; and (4) determine the specific technology for immobilization based in part on this follow-on disposition EIS. The processes, materials and technologies involved in surplus plutonium disposition are depicted in Figure 1. BILLING CODE 6450-01-P [[Page 28011]] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN22MY97.024 BILLING CODE 6450-01-C [[Page 28012]] Proposed Action The Department proposes to determine whether to continue with both the immobilization and MOX approaches for surplus plutonium disposition and if so, to site, construct, and operate and ultimately D&D three types of facilities for plutonium disposition at one or more of four DOE sites, as follows: A collocated non-pit plutonium conversion and immobilization facility at either Hanford, near Richland, Washington, or SRS, near Aiken, South Carolina, with sub-alternatives for the technology and facilities used to form the immobilized plutonium. A pit disassembly/conversion facility at either Hanford; SRS; INEEL, near Idaho Falls, Idaho; or the Pantex Plant, near Amarillo, Texas. A MOX fuel fabrication facility at either Hanford, INEEL, Pantex, or SRS, with sub-alternatives for fabrication of Lead Test Assemblies for use in fuel qualification demonstrations. Construction of these facilities would be on previously disturbed land and could include the modification of existing facilities where practicable, to reduce local environmental impacts, reduce costs, and shorten schedules. In the pit disassembly and conversion facility, the Department proposes to disassemble surplus pits and convert the plutonium in them to an unclassified oxide form suitable for disposition. The Department also proposes to convert most non-pit plutonium materials to plutonium oxide at the plutonium conversion facility, which will be collocated with the immobilization facility. Plutonium Disposition Decisions The Department expects to make the following decisions based upon the results of this EIS and other information and considerations: Whether to construct and operate collocated plutonium conversion and immobilization facilities, and if so, where (including selection of the specific immobilization technology). Whether to construct and operate a pit disassembly/ conversion facility, and if so, where. Whether to construct and operate a MOX fuel fabrication facility, and if so, where (including selection of the site for fabrication of Lead Test Assemblies). The exact extent to which the MOX approach would ultimately be deployed will depend on a number of factors, in addition to environmental impacts. These are likely to include cost, contract negotiations, and international agreements. Alternatives No Action A No Action alternative will be analyzed (Alternative 1) in the SPD EIS. Implementation of the No Action alternative would mean that disposition would not occur, and surplus weapons-usable plutonium, including pits, metals and oxides, would remain in storage in accordance with the Storage and Disposition PEIS Record of Decision. Plutonium Disposition Alternatives The SPD EIS will analyze alternatives for the siting, construction and operation of the three facilities at various candidate sites as described in the Proposed Action. These facilities would be designed so that they could collectively disposition surplus plutonium (existing and future) over their operating lives. Although the exact quantity of plutonium that may be declared surplus over time is not known, for purposes of analysis a nominal 50 tonnes of surplus plutonium will be used for assessing the environmental impacts of plutonium disposition activities at the various candidate sites. Under alternatives involving the ``hybrid'' (immobilization and MOX) approach selected in the Storage and Disposition Record of Decision, the SPD EIS will analyze the same distribution of surplus plutonium that was analyzed in the Storage and Disposition PEIS, which is fabrication of pits and pure plutonium metal or oxide (approximately 33 tonnes) into MOX fuel, and immobilization of the remaining non-pit plutonium (approximately 17 tonnes). The Record of Decision on the Storage and Disposition PEIS states, ``DOE will immobilize at least eight tonnes of currently declared surplus plutonium materials that DOE has already determined are not suitable for use in MOX fuel.'' Since the issuance of that decision, the Department has further determined that a total of about 17 tonnes of surplus plutonium is not suitable for use in MOX fuel without extensive processing. Thus, an alternative for fabricating all surplus plutonium into MOX fuel will not be analyzed. However, converting the full 50 tonnes of surplus plutonium into an immobilized form will be analyzed as a reasonable alternative. Under each disposition approach, DOE could in principle locate one, two, or all three facilities at a candidate site. However, locating one facility at each of three sites would mean conducting disposition activities at three widely separated locations around the country. This would substantially increase transportation cost, unnecessarily increase exposure of workers and the public, and increase transportation risks, without any apparent compensating benefit. Therefore, the Department is proposing to consider only alternatives that locate two or more facilities at one site, with the possibility of one facility at a separate site. Further, certain combinations of facilities and sites are not being considered as reasonable alternatives, because they would also substantially increase transportation cost, unnecessarily increase exposure to workers and the public, and increase transportation risks, without any apparent compensating benefit. Based on the above considerations and the candidate site selections in the Storage and Disposition Record of Decision, the following alternatives have been developed in addition to the No Action alternative. Table 1 summarizes the alternatives by site. Alternatives 2 through 10 (see Table 1) would involve immobilization of approximately 17 tonnes of low purity (non-pit) plutonium, and fabrication of approximately 33 tonnes of high purity plutonium (pits and plutonium metal) into MOX fuel. The differences among alternatives 2 through 10 are the locations of the proposed facilities. Alternatives 11 and 12 would involve immobilization of all 50 tonnes of plutonium at either Hanford or SRS. The Department has identified existing facilities that can be modified for use in plutonium disposition at various candidate sites. A summary of the existing and new facilities (shown in the parentheses in Table 1) to be used in the SPD EIS analyses is given in Table 1, where FMEF is the Fuel and Materials Examination Facility, FPF is the Fuel Processing Facility, and DWPF is the Defense Waste Processing Facility. Lead Test Assemblies With respect to the MOX alternatives, the Department would qualify MOX fuel forms for use in existing commercial reactors. DOE will analyze two sub-alternatives for the fabrication of the lead test assemblies needed to qualify the fuel. In one sub-alternative, the lead test assemblies would be fabricated in the United States. Fabrication in the United States would involve constructing a pilot capability in conjunction with the fuel fabrication facility. Therefore, the potential sites include the candidate sites for the fuel fabrication facility (i.e., Hanford, INEEL, Pantex, and SRS). The pilot capability could also be located in an existing small facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The [[Page 28013]] second alternative would be for fabrication in existing European facilities; three potential fabrication sites exist (Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom) that would allow fabrication of the Lead Test Assemblies sooner than with any facility under the United States alternative. [NOTE:This table was reformatted to fit Eudora PRO e-mail. If it comes thru scrmbled, the Federal Register is available online http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov ] Table 1.--Disposition Alternatives ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Alternative/Site/Disposition Facility ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Plutonium conversion Alt. Pit disassembly MOX plant and immobilization Amounts of Pu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- 1................ (3)No Action 2... Hanford (FMEF)... Hanford (FMEF)... Hanford (FMEF)... 17t Imm / 33t MOX. 3... SRS (New)....... SRS (New).. ..... SRS (New, or Bldg 17t Imm / 33t MOX 221F, and DWPF). 4.... Pantex (New).... Hanford (FMEF)... Hanford (FMEF).. 17t Imm/ 33t MOX. 5... Pantex (New).... SRS (New)........ SRS (New, or Bldg 17t Imm / 33t MOX 221F, and DWPF). 6... Hanford (FMEF).. Hanford (FMEF)... SRS (New, or Bldg 17t Imm / 33t MOX 221F, and DWPF). 7... INEEL (FPF).... INEEL (New)...... SRS (New, or Bldg 17t Imm/ 33tMOX 221F, and DWPF). 8... INEEL (FPF)..... INEEL (New)...... Hanford (FMEF)... . 17t Imm / 33t MOX 9... Pantex (New).... Pantex (New)..... SRS (New, or Bldg 17t Imm /33t MOX 221F, and DWPF). 10.. Pantex (New).... Pantex (New)..... Hanford (FMEF)..... 17t Imm / 33 t MOX 11.. Hanford (FMEF). N/A... .......... Hanford (FMEF).... 50t Imm / 0t MOX. 12.. SRS (New)....... N/A.............. SRS (New, or Bldg 50t Imm / 0t MOX 221F, and DWPF). MOX.------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------- Immobilization Technology The Record of Decision on the Storage and Disposition PEIS stated, ``Because there are a number of technology variations that could be used for immobilization, DOE will also determine the specific immobilization technology based upon the follow-on EIS * * *'' (i.e., the SPD EIS). The technologies to be considered are those identified as variants in the Storage and Disposition PEIS. Preferred Alternative For immobilization, the Department prefers to use the ``can-incanister'' technology at the DWPF at SRS. Under the can-in-canister approach, cans containing plutonium in glass or ceramic form would be placed in DWPF canisters, which would be filled with borosilicate glass containing high-level waste. Classified Information The Department plans to prepare the SPD EIS as an unclassified document with a classified appendix. The classified information in the SPD EIS will not be available for public review. However, the classified information will be considered by DOE in reaching a decision on the disposition of surplus plutonium. DOE will provide as much information as possible in unclassified form to assist public understanding and comment. Research and Development Activities The Department recently announced its intent to prepare two environmental assessments (EAs) for proposed research and development activities that DOE would conduct prior to completion of the SPD EIS and ROD. One EA will analyze the potential environmental impacts of a proposed pit disassembly and conversion integrated systems test at LANL. In addition, to further the purposes of NEPA, this EA will describe other research and development activities currently on-going at various sites, including work related to immobilization and to MOX fuel fabrication. The other EA will be prepared for the proposed shipment of special MOX fuel to Canada for an experiment involving the use of United States and Russian fuel in a Canadian test reactor, for development of fuel for the CANDU reactors. This EA will analyze the prior and future fabrication and proposed shipment of the fuel pellets needed for the experiment. Relationships With Other DOE NEPA Activities In addition to the SPD EIS and the EAs discussed above, the Department is currently conducting NEPA reviews of other activities that have a potential relationship with the SPD EIS. They include: 1. Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Managing Treatment, Storage and Disposal of Radioactive and Hazardous Waste (DOE/EIS-0200D) (Draft issued: September 22, 1995; 60 FR 49264). 2. Management of Certain Plutonium Residues and Scrub Alloy Stored at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site EIS (Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement: November 19, 1996; 61 FR 58866). Invitation To Comment DOE invites comments on the scope of this EIS from all interested parties, including potentially affected Federal, State, and local agencies, and Indian tribes. Comments can be provided by any of the means listed in the Address Section of this notice and by providing oral and written comments at the scoping meetings. The Department is requesting, by separate correspondence, that Federal agencies 1 desiring to be designated as cooperating agencies on the SPD EIS inform DOE by July 18, 1997.--------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ Arms Control and Disarmament Agency; Department of Defense; Department of State; Environmental Protection Agency; and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Scoping Meetings Public scoping meetings will be held near each site that may be affected by the proposed action. The interactive scoping meetings will provide the public with the opportunity to present comments, ask questions, and discuss concerns regarding plutonium disposition activities with DOE officials, and for the Department to receive oral and written comments on the scope of the EIS. Written and oral comments will be given equal weight in the scoping process. Input from the scoping meetings along with comments received by other means (phone, mail, fax, web-site) will be used by the Department in refining the scope of the EIS. The locations and dates for these public meetings are as shown below. All meetings will consist of two sessions (1:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm). Hanford Site: July 1, 1997 Shilo Inn 50 Comstock Richland, WA 99352 509-946-4661 [[Page 28014]] Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory June 10, 1997 Shilo Inn 780 Lindsay Boulevard Idaho Fall, ID 83402 208-523-0088 Pantex Plant June 12, 1997 Radisson Inn Airport 7909 I-40 East at Lakeside Amarillo, TX 79104 806-373-3303 Savannah River Site June 19, 1997 North Augusta Community Center 495 Brookside Avenue North Augusta, SC 29841 803-441-4290 Advanced registration for the public meetings is requested but not required. Please call 1-800-820-5134 and leave your name and the location of the meeting(s) you plan to attend. This information will be used to determine the size and number of rooms needed for the meeting. Scoping Meeting Format: The Department intends to hold a plenary session at the beginning of each scoping meeting in which DOE officials will more fully explain the framework for the plutonium disposition program, the proposed action, preliminary alternatives for accomplishing the proposed action and public participation in the NEPA process. Following the plenary session, the Department intends to discuss relevant issues in more detail, answer questions, and receive comments. Each scoping meeting for the Surplus Plutonium Disposition EIS will have two sessions, with each session lasting approximately three to four hours. Issued in Washington, DC this 16 day of May, 1997, for the United States Department of Energy. Peter N. Brush, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health. [FR Doc. 97-13494 Filed 5-21-97; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P