Finding of No Significant Impact: Interim Storage of Plutonium Components at the Pantex Plant, Amarillo, TX

Finding of No Significant Impact: Interim Storage of Plutonium

Components at the Pantex Plant, Amarillo, TX

AGENCY: United States Department of Energy.

ACTION: Finding of No Significant Impact for the Interim Storage of

Plutonium Components at the Pantex Plant.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, 42

U.S.C. 4321 et seq., the Council on Environmental Quality regulations

implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, 40 CFR 1500 et

seq., and the United States Department of Energy's implementing

procedures, 10 CFR 1021, the Department of Energy has prepared an

Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-0812, January 1994) to evaluate the

potential environmental impacts of increased interim storage of

plutonium components (pits) at the Pantex Plant located in Carson

County about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas.

The Environmental Assessment analyzed the potential environmental

impacts of interim storage of up to 20,000 pits at the Pantex Plant

until decisions can be implemented on the long-term storage of

plutonium required for national security purposes and on the

disposition of surplus plutonium. In response to comments received from

State and local officials and other stakeholders, the Department has

decided to store no more than 12,000 pits at Pantex until it completes

a site-wide environmental impact statement covering all current and

proposed facilities and activities at Pantex. A Record of Decision for

this environmental impact statement will be issued by November 15,

1996. The Department's interim storage decision will enable

approximately three more years of nuclear weapons dismantlement

activities at Pantex. The Department now envisions that the Pantex

Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement will address all storage

requirements, including alternative locations, for all plutonium,

highly enriched uranium, tritium, and classified weapons components

that result from Pantex dismantlement activities. Scoping meetings for

this Environmental Impact Statement will be held in Amarillo, Texas,

and at other sites that might be affected by the activities at Pantex

by June 30, 1994. In addition, the Reconfiguration Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled to be completed in 1995. It

will analyze all reasonable long-term pit storage alternatives and

discuss the disposition options the Department is considering, and the

Record of Decision will include decisions on pit storage locations. The

Pantex Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement will take into account

any decisions resulting from the Reconfiguration Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement.

The Department of Energy provided a pre-approval review copy of the

Environmental Assessment to the State of Texas in December 1992.

Subsequently, the State provided the pre-approval Environmental

Assessment to interested and affected members of the public. State and

public comments were submitted to the Department for consideration

during February and March, 1993. In response to these comments, the

Department reviewed and revised the Environmental Assessment and added

a Comment Response Document. This revised pre-approval Environmental

Assessment was issued on November 11, 1993, for public review and

comment.

The Department then held a public meeting on December 6, 1993, in

Amarillo, Texas, to discuss the revised Environmental Assessment and

Comment Response Document and to respond to comments from State and

local officials and the public. Subsequent to the public meeting, the

Department accepted written comments on the revised pre-approval

Environmental Assessment until December 20, 1993. The Environmental

Assessment was expanded to include the Department's response to the

comments received on the revised Environmental Assessment.

Based upon the analyses in the Environmental Assessment and after

careful consideration of all comments from State and local officials

and members of the public, the Department of Energy has determined that

storage of no more than 12,000 pits at Pantex does not constitute a

major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human

environment, within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy

Act. Therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required and

the Department issues this Finding of No Significant Impact.

ADDRESSES AND FURTHER INFORMATION: Persons requesting additional

information regarding this action or desiring a copy of the

Environmental Assessment should contact: Mr. Thomas Walton, Public

Affairs Officer, Amarillo Area Office, P.O. Box 30030, Amarillo, Texas

79120, (806) 477-3120.

Copies of the Environmental Assessment are available for public

review at the following Department of Energy reading rooms:

U.S. Department of Energy, Freedom of Information Reading Room,

Forrestal Building, room 1E-190, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-6020.

U.S. Department of Energy, Reading Room, Amarillo College, Lynn

Library/Learning Center, P.O. Box 447, Amarillo, Texas 79178, (806)

371-5400.

U.S. Department of Energy, Reading Room, Carson County Library, P.O.

Box 339, Panhandle, Texas 79068, (806) 537-3742.

For general information regarding the Department of Energy National

Environmental Policy Act process, please contact: Ms. Carol M.

Borgstrom, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of National Environmental

Policy Act Oversight, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC

20585, (202) 586-4600 or (800) 472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Pantex Plant is located in Carson

County, about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas, and central to the

panhandle of Texas. As a component of the national nuclear weapons

research, development, and production complex administered by the

Department of Energy, the primary mission of Pantex is the assembly,

disassembly, and surveillance of nuclear weapons. Within the

disassembly portion of the Department of Energy mission, weapons are

returned to Pantex from the Department of Defense, disassembled and the

plutonium pits stored at Pantex.

Two factors combine to create the need for increased interim

storage of pits. First, decisions to reduce the size of the nuclear

weapons stockpile have accelerated the accumulation of pits. These pits

need to be stored on an interim basis until decisions can be

implemented on the long-term storage of plutonium required for national

security purposes and on the disposition of surplus plutonium.

Second, pits are no longer being shipped from Pantex to the Rocky

Flats Plant, near Golden, Colorado, to be recycled. This function was

temporarily halted at the Rocky Flats Plant in 1989 to make

improvements in the operations and facilities. In January 1992, pit

recycle operations were suspended indefinitely. Subsequently, the

Department has decided to no longer maintain a nuclear component

production capability at the Rocky Flats Plant.

Proposed Action Described in the Environmental Assessment and

Decision: The proposed action as described in the Environmental

Assessment was to provide additional storage beyond the present pit

storage capacity (6,800 pits) for up to 20,000 pits for an interim time

period. In response to comments received from State and local officials

and other stakeholders, the Department has decided to increase the

interim storage of pits at Pantex under this Finding of No Significant

Impact to no more than 12,000 pits. There would not be a need to

construct or demolish any additional facilities; nor would there be any

increased generation or management of wastes, uncontained plutonium

handling, or plutonium processing as a result of this decision. The

Department will implement this decision in the same manner as described

in the proposed action for storage of 20,000 pits with one exception,

the number of magazines that will be utilized. Approximately 31

magazines will be used instead of 49. The operations will remain the

same in that inspections and inventories of pits will be carried out in

the same manner, the method of storage will remain as described in the

proposed action, and the number of pits stored in each magazine will

remain the same.

Two types of magazines exist at Pantex. There are 18 Modified-

Richmond magazines, and 42 Steel Arch Construction magazines.

Currently, Steel Arch Construction magazines are not utilized for pit

storage. Dismantlement activities at Pantex will continue and pit

storage will be expanded to include the Zone 4 Steel Arch Construction

magazines consistent with the Environmental Assessment and the Final

Safety Analysis Report for Zone 4 and all magazines will use the

preferred interim storage configurations in the Environmental

Assessment. The preferred interim storage configurations are either

multiple stacking of containers placed horizontally on pallets or a

single layer of containers placed vertically on the floor with aisles

to facilitate access for inventory and surveillance activities. Because

of its overall advantages, storage eventually will be accomplished

using the multiple stacked configuration. After successful completion

of the Department's Operational Readiness Review for horizontal

stacking, scheduled for mid-February 1994, storage using this

configuration will begin. Until then, storage will be undertaken using

the vertical configuration previously described. The number of pits

that could be held within each of the 18 Modified-Richmond magazines

will increase from 378 pits to a maximum of 440 as accomplished by

using a horizontal palletized multiple stacking configuration. In

addition, each Steel Arch Construction magazine will hold up to 384 or

392 pits, in the vertical single-layer or horizontal palletized

multiple stacking configurations, respectively.

These two configurations represent the limiting cases for the

numbers of pits held in a single Modified-Richmond or Steel Arch

Construction magazine. In the vertical configuration, individual pit

containers may rest on casters rather than on the concrete floor of

magazines. This will facilitate inventory operations and worker safety,

and accommodate operational needs. In addition, some Steel Arch

Construction magazines will be reserved for assembled weapons and

component staging activities that have taken place in the past, and

will continue in these facilities.

Each pit is clamped in a holding fixture and inserted in a storage

container comprised of a carbon or stainless steel drum lined with a

nominal three inches of insulating and cushioning material. The pallets

for the horizontal multiple stacking configuration are designed to

ensure structural integrity and stability. An electric forklift with

shielding for radiation protection will be used for storage, retrieval,

and inventory operations for the horizontal palletized stacking

configuration. The shielded forklift has a passive guidance system

(e.g., rail guides, wire guides, etc.,), which prevents the forklift

from veering from the aisle, and is equipped with a lateral motion,

turret-type fork assembly, which allows palletized pit containers to be

stacked and retrieved.

Alternatives: The Environmental Assessment considers the

alternatives of No Action, Combination of the Proposed Action Storage

at Pantex with Storage at Other Department of Energy Sites (Savannah

River Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Hanford Site),

Supplement No-Action Alternative Storage Capacity with Storage at Other

Department of Energy Sites, and Interim Storage at a Department of

Defense Facility. Based on the analysis in the Environmental

Assessment, none of the alternatives would provide sufficient increased

interim storage capacity for pits while continuing disassembly

operations at the anticipated rate, and none would meet other

programmatic objectives, i.e., to provide an approach that is timely

and cost effective and utilizes to the maximum extent practicable

existing facilities and infrastructures.

Environmental Impacts: Routine Operating Conditions: Under normal

operating conditions, the storage of up to 12,000 pits would result in

only minor releases of air pollutants associated with equipment engines

and a minor increase in particulates (dust) associated with forklift

operations in moving security blocks and pit containers to the

magazines. There would be no impact to water resources, flood plains,

wetlands, cultural resources, or other site features. No new facilities

are required to increase storage capacity. Consequently, there would be

no environmental impact due to the need for construction or significant

modification of facilities.

The primary impact of routine operations is occupational radiation

exposure to workers involved in placement of pits into storage and

periodic inspections and inventories of pits stored on an interim

basis. Increasing the number of pits from 6,000 to 12,000 will increase

the estimated cumulative personnel exposure by approximately 14 percent

(from 67.8 person-rem per year as reflected in Appendix F of the

Environmental Assessment to approximately 80.4 person-rem per year).

For all operations at the Pantex Plant, worker radiation doses are

maintained below the annually established Pantex operating limit of 1

rem per year. This limit is well below the federally mandated limit of

5 rem per year. Limiting the number of pits stored at Pantex on an

interim basis to a maximum of 12,000 pits would reduce the cumulative

Personnel Exposure (person-rem/yr) estimated to occur from the proposed

action in Appendix F of the Environmental Assessment from 92.4 person-

rem per year to 80.4 person-rem per year. The reduction would result

from reducing the total number of magazines inventoried on an annual

basis from 40 magazines per year to 24 magazines per year. The handling

procedures and rate of fill of the magazines described in the

Environmental Assessment remain unchanged. Individual exposures would

be maintained well within Federal and Department guidelines. Emphasis

will be placed on ensuring that doses to workers will be minimized

through implementation of ``As Low As Reasonably Achievable''

practices.

Additionally, the level of penetrating radiation expected to result

from storage of up to 12,000 pits would result in no measurable effect

on exposure to an individual occupying a position for an entire year at

the nearest Pantex site boundary. Such a level would be

indistinguishable from natural background radiation. No adverse health

effects would be expected among the general public as a result of

routine operations from this action.

Abnormal Events/Accidents: The Department of Energy analyzed a

series of potential accidents in the Environmental Assessment. By using

conservative assumptions (i.e., those that tend to overestimate

potential impacts), the Department of Energy attempted to bound all

reasonably foreseeable adverse impacts. The Department of Energy

analyzed impacts from abnormal events having a probability of

occurrence of greater than one in a million (1 x 10-6).

Potential accident-initiating events considered in the Safety

Analysis Report of the Zone 4 magazines were reviewed for potential

impact. Included were earthquakes, external explosions, forklift

accidents, missiles, tornados, and aircraft crashes. The potential for

consequences for an abnormal event/accident range from negligible to

marginal. No consequences to the public or the environment would be

anticipated. The workers in the immediate vicinity of the accident site

could receive a marginal radiation dose. An analysis performed of the

likelihood of an aircraft crash into a Modified-Richmond or Steel Arch

Construction magazine in Zone 4 indicated an annual probability of less

than 1 x 10-6 per year.

Because the Ogallala Aquifer is the primary water source for most

of the Texas Panhandle, and in response to the expressed interest of

State and local officials and the public regarding possible

contamination of the aquifer, the Department of Energy performed

additional analyses on potential impacts to the aquifer. The analyses

describe the potential for aquifer contamination should plutonium be

released to the environment within an 80-km radius of the Pantex Plant.

No accident or routine operating condition with a probability greater

than 1 x 10-6 was identified that could result in a plutonium

release having an impact on the Ogallala Aquifer. In the unlikely event

of an accident that resulted in a release of plutonium, it is expected

that the majority of the radioactivity (90 percent) deposited on the

soil surface would remain in that top layer of soil. Because plutonium

is relatively immobile in soils similar to those found at and near the

Pantex site, no effects to the Ogallala Aquifer would be expected.

Determination: Based upon the analyses in the Environmental

Assessment, and after careful consideration of comments received, the

Department of Energy has determined that the storage of no more than

12,000 pits at Pantex does not constitute a major Federal action

significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.

Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement is not required and the

Department issues this Finding of No Significant Impact.

Any new Finding of No Significant Impact, if that should prove

necessary, that relies on the Environmental Assessment for Interim

Storage of Plutonium Components at the Pantex Plant will be issued only

after consultation with State and affected stakeholders regarding DOE's

views of the need for a revised Finding of No Significant Impact and

after a public meeting in Amarillo to consider the proposed Finding of

No Significant Impact. If a new Finding of No Significant Impact is

issued, it will respond to comments received during the consultation

and public meeting process.

Issued at Washington, DC, this January 19, 1994.

Tara O'Toole,

Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.

[FR Doc. 94-1610 Filed 1-25-94; 8:45 am]

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