[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 238 (Wednesday, December 10, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75088-75090]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-29240]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
National Nuclear Security Administration
Amended Record of Decision: Surplus Plutonium Disposition; Waste
Solidification Building
AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Amended Record of Decision.
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SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a
separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),
is amending the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Surplus Plutonium
Disposition Environmental Impact Statement (SPD EIS) (DOE/EIS-0283,
November 1999). In the SPD EIS ROD (65 FR 1608; January 11, 2000), DOE
announced decisions for implementing the U.S. Surplus Plutonium
Disposition Program, including affirming its January 1997 decision (62
FR 3014) to pursue a hybrid approach for the safe and secure
disposition of up to 50 metric tons of surplus weapons-usable plutonium
using both immobilization and mixed oxide (MOX) fuel technologies as
evaluated in the Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile
Materials Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Storage and
Disposition PEIS) (DOE/EIS-0229, November 1996). Decisions announced in
the SPD EIS ROD included construction and operation of three new
facilities at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina,
to disposition approximately 17 tons of surplus plutonium using the
immobilization approach and the use of up to 33 metric tons as MOX fuel
that would be irradiated in commercial reactors. The three new
facilities were identified as a pit disassembly and conversion facility
(PDCF), an immobilization facility,\1\ and a MOX fuel fabrication
facility (MFFF). These facilities as analyzed in the SPD EIS were to be
constructed in F-Area at SRS and included capabilities for management
of wastes generated as part of the processing activities in each of the
facilities. DOE/NNSA is today announcing its decision to construct and
operate a standalone building, the waste solidification building (WSB),
for treating and solidifying liquid transuranic waste and certain
liquid low-level radioactive wastes from MFFF and PDCF, specifically a
high-activity (high-alpha) waste stream from MFFF, a low-activity
stripped-uranium waste stream from MFFF, and a low-activity laboratory
waste stream from PDCF.\2\ This decision is based on the Supplement
Analysis for Construction and Operation of a Waste Solidification
Building at the Savannah River Site (WSB SA) (DOE/EIS-0283-SA-2)
prepared pursuant to DOE procedures implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (10 CFR 1021.314). The WSB SA
demonstrates that construction and operation of a standalone WSB
represent neither substantial changes relevant to environmental
concerns nor significant new circumstances or information relevant to
environmental concerns from those evaluated in previous NEPA documents.
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\1\ In an April 19, 2002, amended ROD (67 FR 19432), DOE
announced cancellation of the immobilization component of the U.S.
Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program.
\2\ The decision announced in this amended ROD is consistent
with the approach discussed in the Construction Authorization
Request and the License Application submitted to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) by DOE/NNSA's contractor for the Mixed
Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility. The decision also is
consistent with the approach discussed in the NRC's Environmental
Impact Statement on the Construction and Operation of a Proposed
Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site,
South Carolina (NUREG-1767).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information concerning
construction and operation of the waste solidification building, or to
obtain copies of this amended ROD, contact: Ms. Sachiko W. McAlhany,
Office of Site Engineering and Construction Management, U.S. Department
of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration, Savannah River
Site, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, Telephone: (803) 952-6110, E-mail:
[email protected].
For information on the DOE's NEPA process, contact: Ms. Carol M.
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance, GC-20, U.S.
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20585-0103, (202) 586-4600, or leave a message at (800) 472-2756.
This Amended ROD, the WSB SA, and other DOE NEPA documents are
available on the DOE NEPA Web site at http://www.gc.energy.gov/NEPA.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The U.S. Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program was first evaluated
under NEPA in the Storage and Disposition PEIS. Among the alternatives
evaluated, the Reactor Category and Common Activities Alternative
included a MOX fuel fabrication facility conceptual design with a
standalone building to manage wastes. The ROD for the Storage and
Disposition PEIS (62 FR 3014) outlined DOE's decision to pursue a
hybrid disposition strategy that allowed for both immobilization of
surplus weapons-usable plutonium for disposal in a geologic repository
and fabrication of MOX fuel for use in existing domestic, commercial
nuclear power reactors followed by disposal of the spent MOX fuel in a
geologic repository.
Subsequent to the Storage and Disposition PEIS, DOE prepared the
SPD EIS, which supported selection of specific technologies and sites
for
[[Page 75089]]
surplus plutonium disposition. In the ROD for the SPD EIS (65 FR 1608;
January 11, 2000), DOE announced its decision to fabricate
approximately 33 metric tons (36 tons) of surplus weapons-usable
plutonium in pits and clean metal into MOX fuel for use in existing
domestic, commercial nuclear power reactors and to immobilize
approximately 17 metric tons (19 tons) of surplus weapons-usable non-
pit plutonium in a ceramic matrix surrounded by Defense Waste
Processing Facility \3\ high-level radioactive waste glass. In the 2000
ROD, DOE also announced that the three facilities required to effect
this disposition (MFFF, PDCF, and an Immobilization Facility) would be
constructed and operated at SRS.
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\3\ Nuclear materials production operations at SRS resulted in
generation of large quantities of high-level radioactive waste. The
Defense Waste Processing Facility was constructed at SRS to convert
this high-level radioactive waste to a stable glass form suitable
for disposal in a geologic repository.
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On April 19, 2002, DOE/NNSA announced in an Amended ROD for the
Storage and Disposition PEIS and the SPD EIS (67 FR 19432) that it was
cancelling the immobilization component of the U.S. Surplus Plutonium
Disposition Program, thereby reducing the number of facilities to be
constructed at SRS from three to two. In the amended ROD, DOE/NNSA
explained that the revised disposition strategy involved a MOX-only
approach, under which up to 34 metric tons (37 tons) of surplus
plutonium would be dispositioned by converting it to MOX fuel and
irradiating the fuel in existing domestic, commercial nuclear power
reactors. The DOE/NNSA also indicated that no final decisions would be
made with respect to the MOX portion of the revised disposition program
until DOE/NNSA had completed additional analysis pursuant to NEPA. That
additional NEPA analysis was completed upon issuance of the Supplement
Analysis for Changes Needed to the Surplus Plutonium Disposition
Program (MOX SA) (DOE/EIS-0283-SA1) in April 2003, and an Amended ROD
was issued (68 FR 20134; April 24, 2003) announcing DOE/NNSA's decision
to fabricate 34 metric tons (37 tons) of surplus plutonium into MOX
fuel, including up to 6.5 metric tons (7.2 tons) originally intended
for immobilization.
In the MOX SA, DOE/NNSA evaluated proposed changes to the Surplus
Plutonium Disposition Program to accommodate fabrication of this
additional plutonium into MOX fuel at MFFF and also those refinements
identified through the design process for MFFF. Consistent with the
design at the time, a stand-alone WSB in which both liquid low-level
radioactive waste and transuranic waste would be treated and solidified
was evaluated in the MOX SA. This was a refinement from the facility
designs assumed in the SPD EIS, in which MFFF and PDCF each included
waste processing equipment to treat and solidify low-level radioactive
waste and transuranic waste. A stand-alone WSB takes advantage of an
economy of scale in that similar waste streams from both MFFF and PDCF
can be treated together in the same location, rather than having
duplicate equipment installed in both facilities. A stand-alone WSB was
also evaluated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the
2005 Environmental Impact Statement on the Construction and Operation
of a Proposed Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah
River Site, South Carolina (MFFF EIS).\4\ A standalone WSB is also
discussed in the Construction Authorization Request and the License
Application submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by DOE/
NNSA's contractor to design, construct and operate MFFF.
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\4\ Pursuant to Section 202(5) of the Energy Reorganization Act
as added by Section 3134 of the Strom Thurmond National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999, MFFF must be licensed by the
NRC. NRC prepared the MFFF EIS in accordance with NEPA to support
NRC licensing decisions concerning MFFF. Neither WSB nor PDCF will
be licensed by NRC, but both were evaluated in the MFFF EIS as
connected actions.
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Waste Solidification Building
During the detailed design process for the MFFF, and after DOE/NNSA
considered using existing SRS facilities for processing all or some of
the MFFF and PDCF waste streams, the MFFF design was changed from the
conceptual design evaluated in the SPD EIS to include the standalone
WSB, because, among other reasons, closure schedules for these SRS
facilities were not at that time compatible with the Surplus Plutonium
Disposition schedule.
In 2004, planning for WSB was suspended because of uncertainties
with the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program. Specifically, delays in
negotiations with the Russian Federation (for Russian disposition of
excess Russian weapons-grade plutonium) coupled with significant
funding constraints for the domestic program had caused the project
schedules for MFFF and PDCF to be extended. At that time, detailed
design for WSB was about to begin, with the assumption that treatment
for five liquid waste streams from MFFF and PDCF would occur in WSB.
Because of the programmatic uncertainties, DOE/NNSA determined instead
to suspend WSB Project activities.
Design activities for WSB resumed in 2006. During the project
suspension, changes in closure schedules for certain SRS waste
management facilities allowed DOE/NNSA to reconsider the use of
existing SRS site treatment capabilities that were originally scheduled
to be shut down before completion of the plutonium disposition mission.
As a result, DOE/NNSA requested the SRS management and operating
contractor to undertake an analysis to identify potential reasonable
alternatives that would lead to the optimum WSB configuration. The goal
of this study was to identify which waste processing and management
operations could be conducted in existing SRS facilities and which, if
any, would need to be provided independently.
The study comparing a range of potential alternatives comprising
combinations of new and existing facilities was submitted in June 2005.
The DOE/NNSA evaluation of these alternatives showed that the most
reasonable alternative with the least project risk would be to (1) use
existing SRS facilities (the Effluent Treatment Project) for waste
treatment for two waste streams projected to have minimal (or no)
radioactive contamination; (2) use existing SRS facilities for
certification, packaging and shipping wastes solidified in WSB or
generated during WSB operations; and (3) provide independent treatment
and management capabilities (i.e., construct and operate a WSB) for
three waste streams that are not compatible with existing SRS
operations without major, costly modifications to SRS facilities and
planned closure schedules.
The WSB will be constructed near MFFF and PDCF in F-Area and will
process liquid waste streams from both MFFF and PDCF. The WSB will
receive three waste streams transferred from MFFF and PDCF through
underground, double-walled stainless steel lines: A high-activity
(high-alpha) waste stream from MFFF, a low-activity stripped-uranium
waste stream from MFFF, and a low-activity waste stream from the PDCF
laboratory. Waste streams will be stored at WSB in tanks pending
subsequent treatment by neutralization, volume reduction by
evaporation, and cementation. Condensed overheads from the evaporators
will be either transferred through a lift station and piping to the
existing SRS Effluent Treatment Project if the overheads meet
[[Page 75090]]
the acceptance criteria for that facility or routed back through WSB
processes for further treatment.
The WSB SA discusses existing NEPA evaluations for surplus
plutonium disposition activities relative to WSB, and provides a
comparison of the potential environmental impacts of constructing and
operating the WSB in F-Area at SRS to impacts identified in the SPD EIS
for constructing and operating MFFF and PDCF. The WSB SA also
qualitatively compares the impacts of a stand-alone WSB to the impacts
of the relevant waste processing, treatment and solidification
operations discussed as part of both the MFFF and the PDCF in the SPD
EIS. Construction and operation of the stand-alone WSB to treat and
solidify transuranic and low-level radioactive wastes from MFFF and
PDCF does not involve environmental impacts that are significantly
different from those identified in previous NEPA analyses, in
particular, the SPD EIS. Activities proposed for this stand-alone
building, the WSB, would be similar to those identified in the SPD EIS
to occur separately in both MFFF and PDCF.
The WSB SA demonstrates that construction and operation of a stand-
alone WSB represent neither substantial changes relevant to
environmental concerns nor significant new circumstances or information
relevant to environmental concerns. Therefore, pursuant to 10 CFR
1021.314(c), no additional NEPA analyses are required to construct and
operate a stand-alone WSB.
Decision
DOE/NNSA has decided to construct and operate a stand-alone waste
solidification building for treating and solidifying liquid transuranic
waste and certain liquid low-level radioactive wastes generated by MFFF
and PDCF, specifically a high-activity (high-alpha) waste stream from
MFFF, a low-activity stripped-uranium waste stream from MFFF, and a
low-activity laboratory waste stream from PDCF. As described in the WSB
SA (DOE/EIS-0283-SA-2), the potential environmental impacts of
constructing and operating a stand-alone WSB are not significantly
different from the impacts of treating and solidifying these wastes in
MFFF and PDCF as analyzed in the SPD EIS.
Issued in Washington, DC this 26th day of November, 2008.
Thomas P. D'Agostino,
Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration.
[FR Doc. E8-29240 Filed 12-9-08; 8:45 am]
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