[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 209 (Friday, October 30, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56189-56191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-26207]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration


Notice of Availability of the Draft Site-Wide Environmental 
Impact Statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex

AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of 
Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability and public hearings.

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SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a 
separately-organized agency within the Department of Energy (DOE), 
announces the availability of the Draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex (Draft Y-12 SWEIS, 
DOE/EIS-0387). The Draft Y-12 SWEIS analyzes the potential 
environmental impacts of reasonable alternatives for ongoing and 
foreseeable future operations, facilities, and activities at Y-12. Five 
alternatives are analyzed: No Action Alternative (maintain the status 
quo); Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) Alternative; Upgrade-in-Place 
Alternative; Capability-sized UPF Alternative; and No Net Production/
Capability-sized UPF Alternative. DOE NNSA has prepared the Draft Y-12 
SWEIS in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 
the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations that implement 
the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), and DOE 
regulations implementing NEPA (10 CFR Part 1021). The CEQ regulations 
allow an agency to identify its preferred alternative or alternatives, 
if one or more exist, in a draft EIS (40 CFR 1502.14[e]). For the Draft 
Y-12 SWEIS, the Capability-sized UPF Alternative is the preferred 
alternative.

DATES: DOE NNSA invites comments on the Draft Y-12 SWEIS during the 
public comment period, which ends on January 4, 2010. DOE NNSA will 
consider comments received after this date to the extent practicable as 
it prepares the Final Y-12 SWEIS.
    DOE NNSA will hold two public hearings on the Draft Y-12 SWEIS at 
the following location, dates, and times:
    Oak Ridge, Tennessee, New Hope Center, 602 Scarboro Road (Corner of 
Scarboro Road and Second Street), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Tuesday, 
November 17, 2009, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m. and Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 
10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES: Requests for additional information on the Draft Y-12 SWEIS, 
including requests for copies of the document, should be directed to: 
Ms. Pam Gorman, Y-12 SWEIS Document Manager, Y-12 Site Office, 800 Oak 
Ridge Turnpike, Suite A-500, Oak Ridge, TN 37830, or by Telephone: 865-
576-9903. Written comments on the Draft Y-12 SWEIS should be submitted 
to the above address, by facsimile to 865-483-2014, or by electronic 
mail to [email protected]. Please mark correspondence 
``Draft Y-12 SWEIS Comments.'' Additional information on the Y-12 SWEIS 
may be found at http://www.y12sweis.com.
    For general information regarding the DOE NEPA process contact: Ms. 
Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance, GC-
20, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, 
DC 20585, telephone 202-586-4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756. 
Additional information regarding DOE NEPA activities and access to many 
of DOE's NEPA documents are available on the Internet through the DOE 
NEPA Web site at http://www.gc.energy.gov/nepa.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background. Y-12 is one of three primary installations on the DOE 
Oak Ridge Reservation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The other installations 
are the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the East Tennessee Technology 
Park (formerly the Oak Ridge K-25 Site). Construction of Y-12 started 
in 1943 as part of the World War II Manhattan Project. The early 
missions of the site included the separation of uranium-235 from 
natural uranium by the electromagnetic separation process and the 
manufacture of nuclear weapons components from uranium and lithium. 
Today, as one of the DOE NNSA major production facilities, Y-12 is the 
primary site for enriched uranium processing and storage, and one of 
the primary manufacturing facilities for maintaining the U.S. nuclear 
weapons stockpile. Y-12 is unique in that it is the only source of 
secondaries, cases, and other nuclear weapons components within the DOE 
NNSA nuclear security enterprise. Y-12 also dismantles weapons 
components, safely and securely stores and manages special nuclear 
material (SNM), supplies SNM for use in naval and research reactors, 
and dispositions surplus materials. Y-12 nuclear nonproliferation 
programs play a critical role in securing our nation and the globe and 
combating the spread of weapons of mass destruction by removing, 
securing, and dispositioning SNM.
    In the mid-1990s, DOE prepared several programmatic environmental 
impact statements (PEISs) to inform decisionmakers and the public on 
the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for carrying out 
its national security missions. DOE then made a number of decisions 
related to the nuclear security enterprise operations at Y-12 and the 
long-term storage and disposition of fissile material. Specifically, 
DOE decided that the mission of Y-12 would not change, and that Y-12 
would continue to maintain the capability and capacity to fabricate 
nuclear weapons secondaries, cases, and limited-life components in 
support of the nuclear weapons stockpile, and store/process non-
surplus, highly enriched uranium (HEU) long-term, and store surplus HEU 
pending disposition.
    Most recently, DOE NNSA prepared the Complex Transformation 
Supplemental PEIS (SPEIS) (DOE/EIS-0236-S4) to analyze potential 
environmental impacts of alternatives for transforming the nuclear 
weapons complex into a smaller, more efficient enterprise. In the 
record of decision (ROD) for that SPEIS, DOE NNSA affirmed that 
manufacturing and research and development (R&D)

[[Page 56190]]

involving uranium will remain at Y-12 (73 FR 77644, December 19, 2008). 
DOE NNSA also announced that it will construct and operate a UPF at Y-
12 as a replacement for existing facilities that are more than 50 years 
old and face significant safety and maintenance challenges to their 
continued operation. The DOE NNSA committed to evaluating the site-
specific potential environmental impacts associated with continued 
production operations at Y-12 in this SWEIS, including those related to 
construction and operation of a UPF.
    The continued operation of Y-12 is critical to DOE NNSA's Stockpile 
Stewardship Program and to preventing the spread and use of nuclear 
weapons worldwide. However, continued operation of Y-12 is made more 
difficult by the fact that most of the facilities at Y-12 are old, 
oversized, and inefficient. Continued long-term reliance on World War 
II-era facilities originally designed for other purposes, and on 
support facilities built in some cases to be temporary, would not meet 
DOE NNSA's objectives to transform its Y-12 infrastructure into one 
that is more responsive to future national security needs, less costly 
and more efficient to operate, and improve the level of security and 
safeguards necessary for future activities. Over time, nearly all Y-12 
facilities will need to be replaced with structures designed for their 
intended present-day use. Modernizing this old, over-sized, and 
inefficient infrastructure is a key strategic goal of DOE NNSA and is 
consistent with strategic planning initiatives and prior programmatic 
NEPA documents.
    In this SWEIS, DOE NNSA is considering alternatives that would 
support decisions for the modernization of Y-12, and implement the 
Complex Transformation SPEIS decisions. These Y-12 modernization 
alternatives would: (1) Improve the level of security and safeguards; 
(2) replace/upgrade end-of-life facilities and ensure a reliable 
enriched uranium processing capability to meet the mission of DOE NNSA; 
(3) improve efficiency of operations and reduce operating costs by 
consolidating and modernizing equipment and operation; (4) reduce the 
size of the Protected Area by 90 percent and reduce the operational 
cost necessary to meet the security requirements; (5) improve worker 
protection with an emphasis on incorporating engineered controls; and 
(6) comply with modern building codes and environment, safety, and 
health standards.
    DOE NNSA conducted a public scoping process that began with the 
publication of a Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register on 
November 28, 2005 (70 FR 71270), in which DOE NNSA announced its 
intention to prepare a SWEIS and invited public comment on the scope of 
the NEPA review. The NOI also announced the schedule for public scoping 
meetings that were held on December 15, 2005, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 
In addition to the meetings, the public was encouraged to provide 
comments via mail, e-mail, and fax. All comments received during the 
public scoping period were considered by DOE NNSA in preparing the 
Draft Y-12 SWEIS. DOE's development and analysis of alternatives for 
the Draft Y-12 SWEIS reflect consideration of these comments.
    DOE NNSA had originally planned to issue the Draft Y-12 SWEIS in 
late 2006; however, in October 2006, DOE NNSA decided to prepare the 
Complex Transformation SPEIS. As a result, DOE NNSA decided to delay 
the Draft Y-12 SWEIS until programmatic decisions on the Complex 
Transformation SPEIS were made.
    Alternatives. The Y-12 SWEIS assesses the following five 
alternatives:
    No Action Alternative. The No Action Alternative reflects the 
current nuclear weapons program missions at Y-12 and includes the 
manufacture and assembly/disassembly of weapons components, the 
continued processing and storage of enriched uranium materials, 
disposition of excess materials, and the continued removal of excess 
buildings and infrastructure. Under the No Action Alternative, DOE NNSA 
would consolidate the storage of enriched uranium into the Highly 
Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (HEUMF). The No Action Alternative 
includes continued operations related to other national security 
programs, such as nonproliferation, the Global Threat Reduction 
Initiative, and support to the Naval Reactors program. Additionally, 
there are many non-DOE NNSA activities at Y-12 that would also continue 
under this alternative. Under the No Action Alternative, DOE NNSA would 
make only those repairs and improvements to existing HEU processing 
facilities necessary to maintain existing levels of operation and to 
support essential worker safety and health requirements. Construction 
of a UPF and Complex Command Center (CCC) would not occur under the No 
Action Alternative.
    Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) Alternative. Under this 
alternative, DOE NNSA would continue the No Action Alternative, and 
construct and operate a UPF and CCC. The UPF (388,000 square feet) 
would consolidate existing enriched uranium operations from multiple 
facilities into an integrated manufacturing operation. Under this 
alternative, the UPF would be sited adjacent to the HEUMF to allow the 
two facilities to function as one integrated HEU complex. Transition of 
the enriched uranium production operations to the UPF and transition of 
enriched uranium storage operations into the HEUMF would enable the 
creation of a new high-security area 90 percent smaller than the 
current high security protected area. The CCC would house equipment and 
personnel for emergency operations.
    Upgrade-in-Place Alternative. Under this alternative, DOE NNSA 
would continue the No Action Alternative and upgrade the existing HEU 
and non-nuclear processing facilities to contemporary environmental, 
safety, and security standards to the extent possible within the 
limitations of the existing structures and without prolonged 
interruptions of manufacturing operations. Under this alternative there 
would be no UPF and parts of the current high-security area would not 
be downsized. Although existing production facilities would be 
modernized, it would not be possible to attain the combined level of 
safety, security and efficiency made possible by the UPF Alternative. 
Although an upgrade of existing facilities was not selected in the 
Complex Transformation SPEIS ROD, the Upgrade-in-Place Alternative is 
included as a reasonable alternative because it would correct to the 
extent possible within the limitations of the existing structures 
facility deficiencies associated with the existing enriched uranium and 
non-nuclear processing facilities, and could potentially require 
smaller upfront capital expenditures than the construction of a UPF. 
The construction of the CCC would also take place under this 
alternative.
    Capability-Sized UPF Alternative. Under this alternative, DOE NNSA 
would continue the No Action Alternative but would reduce the capacity 
of enriched uranium operations. DOE NNSA would maintain a basic 
manufacturing capability to conduct surveillance and produce and 
dismantle secondaries and cases. To support this alternative, DOE NNSA 
would build a smaller UPF (350,000 square feet) compared to the UPF 
described under the UPF Alternative (388,000 square feet). A smaller 
UPF would maintain all capabilities for fabricating secondaries and 
cases, and capabilities for planned dismantlement, surveillance and 
uranium work for other DOE NNSA and non-DOE NNSA

[[Page 56191]]

customers. The CCC would also be constructed under this alternative.
    No Net Production/Capability-Sized UPF Alternative. Under a No Net 
Production/Capability-Sized UPF Alternative, DOE NNSA would maintain 
the capability to conduct surveillance and produce and dismantle 
secondaries and cases; however, under this alternative, DOE NNSA would 
not add new types or increased numbers of secondaries to the stockpile. 
This alternative would involve an even further reduction of production 
throughput at Y-12 compared to the Capability-Sized UPF Alternative. To 
support this alternative, DOE NNSA would build the smaller UPF 
(approximately 350,000 square feet) compared to the UPF described under 
the UPF Alternative (388,000 square feet). The CCC, described in 
Section S.1.4.2.2, would also be constructed under this alternative.
    Public Hearings and Invitation to Comment. DOE NNSA will hold two 
public hearings on the Draft Y-12 SWEIS. The hearings will be held at 
the following location, dates, and times: Oak Ridge, Tennessee, New 
Hope Center, 602 Scarboro Road (Corner of Scarboro Road and Second 
Street), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 6:30 p.m.-9 
p.m. and Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
    Individuals who would like to present comments orally at these 
hearings must register upon arrival at the hearing. Speaking time will 
be allotted by the hearing moderator to each individual wishing to 
speak so as to ensure that as many people as possible have the 
opportunity to speak. DOE NNSA representatives will be available to 
discuss the Draft Y-12 SWEIS and answer questions during the first half 
hour of the hearing. DOE NNSA will then hold a plenary session during 
which representatives will explain the Draft Y-12 SWEIS and the 
analyses in it. Following the plenary session, the public will have an 
opportunity to provide oral and written comments. Oral comments from 
the hearings and written comments submitted during the comment period 
will be considered by DOE NNSA in preparing the Final Y-12 SWEIS.
    The Draft Y-12 SWEIS and additional information regarding Y-12 are 
available on the Internet at http://www.Y12.doe.gov and http://
www.Y12sweis.com. The Draft Y-12 SWEIS and references are available for 
review by the public at the DOE Reading Rooms listed below:

U.S. Department of Energy, FOIA/Privacy Act Group, 1000 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, Phone: (202) 586-3142.
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Department of Energy, Environmental 
Information Center and Reading Room, 115 Memorial Drive, Barkley 
Centre, Paducah, Kentucky 42001, Phone: (270) 554-6979.
Oak Ridge Operations Office, DOE Oak Ridge Information Center, 475 Oak 
Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, Phone: (865) 241-4780 or 
(toll-free) 1 (800) 382-6938, option 6.
Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Department of Energy, Environmental 
Information Center, 1862 Shyville Rd., Room 220, Piketon, Ohio 45661.

    Following the end of the public comment period on the Draft SWEIS 
described above, the DOE NNSA will consider and respond to the comments 
received, and issue the Final Y-12 SWEIS. The DOE NNSA will consider 
the environmental impact analysis presented in the Final Y-12 SWEIS, 
along with other information, in making its decisions related to 
operations at Y-12.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on October 22, 2009.
Thomas P. D'Agostino,
Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration.
[FR Doc. E9-26207 Filed 10-29-09; 8:45 am]
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