Intent to Prepare A Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site Golden, CO

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Intent to Prepare A Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for

the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site Golden, CO

AGENCY: United States Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI).

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SUMMARY: DOE announces its intent to prepare a Site-wide Environmental

Impact Statement (SWEIS) for the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology

Site (formerly known as the Rocky Flats Plant) located near Golden in

Jefferson County, CO. The SWEIS is being prepared pursuant to the

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as amended (42 USC 4321 et

seq.), and in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality

Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR

Parts 1500-1508) and the DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures (10 CFR Part

1021).

DATES: The public scoping period begins with the publication of this

NOI and will continue until September 6, 1994. Written comments

postmarked by that date will be considered in the preparation of the

SWEIS. Comments postmarked after that date will be considered to the

extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Written comments or suggestions on the scope of the SWEIS or

the issues to be addressed should be submitted to: Ms. Beth Brainard-

Jordan, Office of Communications and Economic Development (T117A), U.S.

Department of Energy, Rocky Flats Field Office, P.O. Box 928, Golden,

CO 80402-0928 (Envelopes should be marked ``SWEIS.'')

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the Rocky

Flats SWEIS, please contact: Ms. Patricia Powell, NEPA Compliance

Officer, Environmental Guidance Division (T-117), U.S. Department of

Energy, Rocky Flats Field Office, P.O. Box 928, Golden, CO 80402-0928,

Telephone number: 1-303-966-3260 .

For general information on the DOE NEPA review process, please

contact: Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Oversight

(EH-25), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.,

Washington, DC 20585, Telephone number: 1-202-586-4600 or leave a

message at 1-800-472-2756.

Addresses of reading rooms where additional SWEIS information is

available are listed under Public Scoping Process, below.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Rocky Flats, a Federal Government-owned,

contractor-operated facility near Golden, Colorado, began operations in

1952. The site's primary mission was the production of component parts

for nuclear weapons. Key production activities involved the fabrication

of parts from plutonium, uranium, and nonradioactive metals, such as

beryllium, stainless steel, and aluminum. Components made at Rocky

Flats were shipped elsewhere for assembly. Components from obsolete

nuclear weapons were disassembled and processed to recover plutonium

and americium (a by-product of plutonium radioactive decay). Enriched

uranium components were separated and shipped elsewhere for recycling.

In support of weapon component fabrication, Rocky Flats operated

facilities for the storage, treatment, and transport of waste; chemical

laboratories; research and development facilities; and special support

operations for other DOE facilities.

In the process of fulfilling its national security mission, Rocky

Flats generated waste materials that have contaminated soils,

groundwater, and surface water with chemical and radioactive

substances. In 1989, Rocky Flats was placed on the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency's National Priorities List under the Comprehensive

Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as

amended. Cleanup, decontamination, and restoration of Rocky Flats is

part of DOE's overall commitment to properly and safely manage sites

under DOE's stewardship and to reduce or eliminate risks to the

environment and public health and safety. These activities are being

conducted at Rocky Flats under an Interagency Agreement regarding the

remedial cleanup of Rocky Flats between DOE, the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, and the Colorado Department of Health. This

agreement is currently under renegotiation as the Rocky Flats Cleanup

Agreement.

Rocky Flats will have completed a transition from a weapons complex

site to one that has predominantly an environmental restoration and

waste management mission by the end of fiscal year 1994 (September 30,

1994). The only weapons complex function still performed by the

facility is the manufacture of a number of nonnuclear parts for nuclear

weapons. As a result of the recent decision to consolidate the weapons

complex nonnuclear manufacturing activities, the remaining weapons

complex activities at the site will be terminated at the end of fiscal

year 1994, and will be moved to the Department's Kansas City Plant.

Thus, the new mission of the site will be to clean up and convert Rocky

Flats to beneficial uses in a manner that is safe, environmentally and

socially responsible, physically secure and cost-effective. In light of

these changes, the name of the facility has recently been changed from

the Rocky Flats Plant to the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site.

As defined in the DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures, a SWEIS is a

broad-scope, programmatic NEPA document that identifies and assesses

the individual and cumulative environmental effects of ongoing and

reasonably foreseeable future actions at a DOE site. A SWEIS may be

used to assess potential effects related to changes in overall

operational mode or mission. Subsequent, project-specific NEPA

documents may be tiered from a SWEIS, and general information included

in the SWEIS can be incorporated by reference into project-specific

NEPA documents.

The Rocky Flats SWEIS is being prepared to update and replace the

April 1980, Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Rocky Flats

Plant Site (DOE/EIS-0064), and to provide a basis for selection of a

site-wide strategic approach to implementing Rocky Flats' change in

mission from production of nuclear weapons components to nuclear

materials storage, waste management, cleanup, and economic conversion.

The SWEIS will also support project level decisions within the next 5-

10 years regarding land use, management of nuclear materials,

deactivation of Rocky Flats facilities, decontamination and

decommissioning of existing facilities for conversion to beneficial

uses, need for additional waste storage facilities, and possible onsite

and offsite transportation of radioactive, hazardous and mixed wastes.

This NOI provides a proposed action and two alternatives for public

review and comment.

This notice supersedes the NOI for the Rocky Flats SWEIS published

at 56 FR 10548, March 13, 1991, and the NOI for the Plutonium Recovery

Modification Project published at 55 FR 21919, May 22, 1990. As a

result of the cancellation of nuclear weapons production at Rocky

Flats, both the 1991 SWEIS NOI and the Plutonium Recovery Modification

Project NOI no longer reflect Rocky Flats' current mission.

Accordingly, both the 1991 SWEIS NOI and the Plutonium Recovery

Modification Project NOI are withdrawn.

Public Scoping Process: To ensure the SWEIS addresses the full

range of issues and alternatives related to this proposal, DOE invites

all interested parties, including the general public, to submit oral or

written comments on the issues to be addressed and the alternatives to

be analyzed in the SWEIS. Interested parties may submit written

comments to Beth Brainard-Jordan at the address listed above, at

facsimile number 1-303-966-6633, or at the public scoping meeting.

DOE also invites all interested parties to present oral and/or

written comments at the public scoping meeting scheduled for August 23,

1994. In addition, parties are invited to offer comments or suggestions

concerning the SWEIS by calling the Rocky Flats SWEIS telephone hotline

at 1-800-801-2026. All written and oral comments will be recorded and

given equal weight in preparation of the Draft SWEIS.

The scoping process includes informal scoping workshops, which have

begun and will continue until the close of the comment period. These

workshops are designed to provide interested parties with an effective,

informal mechanism for two-way communication with DOE. Dates, times,

and locations of the workshops will be advertised locally in the

Golden, CO, area.

A public scoping meeting is being held to assist in defining the

appropriate scope of the SWEIS and the significant environmental issues

to be addressed. This meeting is scheduled for August 23, 1994, from

2:00 to 4:30 P.M. and from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M., at the Arvada Center for

the Arts and Humanities, 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada, CO. This

public scoping meeting will be conducted by a facilitator, and will not

be a formal evidentiary hearing. The facilitator, DOE representatives,

and members of the public present may ask for clarification of comments

and statements. Requests to speak at the meeting and requests for

additional information may be made by calling the toll-free telephone

number 1-800-801-2026 or by facsimile at 1-303-832-9095. People may

also register at the meeting to speak.

To ensure that all interested parties have an opportunity to speak,

five minutes will be allotted for each speaker. Depending on the number

of persons requesting to speak, the facilitator may allow people to

speak more than once or allot additional time for elected officials,

organizations, or speakers representing multiple parties. Persons

speaking on behalf of organizations should identify the name of the

organization in their request to speak. Persons who have not submitted

a request to speak in advance of the public scoping meeting, but who

have registered at the meeting, will be called upon to speak in turn

after the pre-registered speakers. Written comments will also be

accepted at the meeting, and speakers are encouraged to provide written

versions of their oral comments for the record.

DOE is committed to providing opportunities for the involvement of

interested individuals and groups in this and other DOE planning

activities. DOE will publish additional information on the date and

location of the public scoping meeting in local newspapers well in

advance of the scheduled meeting date. If it becomes necessary to

change the date, time or location of the public scoping meeting, the

changes will be announced in appropriate media.

DOE will record and prepare transcripts of the public scoping

meeting comments. Interested parties will be able to review the

transcripts, written comments, reference material, related NEPA

documents, and background information on Rocky Flats during normal

business hours at the following reading rooms:

The DOE Freedom of Information Room, Room 1E-190, Forrestal Building,

1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, 1-202-586-6020

The Colorado Department of Health, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South,

Building B-2, Denver, CO 80222-1530, 1-303-692-2056

DOE Rocky Flats Public Reading Room, Front Range Community College

Library, 3645 West 112th Avenue, Westminster, CO 80030, 1-303-469-4435

Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, 9035 Wadsworth Parkway, Suite

2250, Westminster, CO 80021, 1-303-420-7855

Standley Lake Library, 8485 Kipling Street, Arvada, CO 80005, 1-303-

456-0806

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Superfund Records Center, 999

18th Street, 5th Floor, Denver, CO 80202-2405, 1-303-293-1807

DOE will prepare a SWEIS Implementation Plan after completion of

the public scoping process. The SWEIS Implementation Plan will be

placed in the public reading rooms for review, and copies will be made

available to the public upon request. The Implementation Plan will be a

brief document that will provide guidance for the preparation of the

SWEIS in accordance with 10 CFR 1021.312 and will include a discussion

of the intended scope and content of the SWEIS; a summary of the

comments received and their disposition; and target dates for

completion of the Draft SWEIS, Final SWEIS, and issuance of a Record of

Decision.

Preliminary Alternatives: This section describes three preliminary

alternatives that represent the spectrum of options available for

future actions at Rocky Flats. Each alternative represents a broad

direction regarding materials management, waste management, and site

cleanup that DOE could take during the ten-year period after the

issuance of a Record of Decision.

DOE recognizes that there may be a need to redefine these

alternatives and welcomes comments on the best way to accomplish this.

The actions DOE chooses to implement, through the Record of Decision,

may be composites of actions analyzed in the SWEIS alternatives.

Proposed future actions that are not well enough defined to be analyzed

in the SWEIS will be subject to separate NEPA review tiered from the

SWEIS.

Alternative 1--No Action: Analysis of the no action alternative

provides a reference point for comparison with the environmental

effects of the other alternatives analyzed. The No Action alternative

would include ongoing activities and planned activities for which

decisions have already been made to proceed. DOE will continue to

conduct these activities as the SWEIS is being prepared.

The ongoing activities included in the no action alternative are

site cleanup and minor facility upgrades. Examples include:

Transfer of non-nuclear weapons manufacturing to Kansas

City

Continuation of remediation under the Interagency

Agreement

Treatment and storage of onsite wastes up to currently

approved limits

Shipping wastes offsite to permitted disposal facilities

that have agreed to accept the waste

Maintenance activities

Activities needed to support ongoing site programs and to

safeguard nuclear material

DOE is also considering certain proposed actions for which NEPA

review may be completed during the preparation of the SWEIS. DOE may

decide to proceed with actions for which NEPA review has been completed

and which are allowable as interim actions during the preparation of

the SWEIS (see limitations stated in 40 CFR 1506.1, for example). These

actions would then become a part of the No Action alternative. Such

planned activities may include:

Consolidation of fissile materials storage locations

Rehabilitation of site drainage ditches

Actinide solution processing

Construction of a storage facility for investigation-

derived material

The no action alternative would not include cleanup activities and

waste management activities that require new permits or facility

upgrades that involve major expansions or modifications to existing

buildings. Transfer of buildings or property to private ownership

(economic conversion) would not be included in the no action

alternative. Excluding these actions from this alternative provides the

reference point that shows the effects of site operations with no major

improvements or modifications.

Analysis of the no action alternative is required by Council on

Environmental Quality and DOE regulations.

Alternative 2--Proposed Action: This alternative encompasses the

activities addressed in Alternative 1 plus other actions necessary to

meet environmental, regulatory, and security requirements and other

mission objectives that would be taken within the ten years following

the Record of Decision. The proposed action includes activities

described in the Transition Plan Report to Congress, the Rocky Flats

Strategic Plan, actions under discussion in connection with the Rocky

Flats Cleanup Agreement that is currently being negotiated, and

anticipated activities under the Federal Facility Compliance Act.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

Materials management--consolidate all non-waste materials

Waste Management--store onsite and dispose of offsite;

pretreat, if necessary

Upgrade buildings to meet the new mission and current

regulatory requirements

Economic conversion to transfer buildings or property to

private use or ownership

Deactivation of onsite facilities

Alternative 3: This alternative assumes that offsite disposal

facilities may not be available as envisioned in current plans, and

involves programs that would create suitable facilities for prolonged

storage of waste and other materials. The onsite activities included in

Alternative 2, with the exception of economic conversion, would be

encompassed by this alternative plus the construction of onsite

facilities suitable for storing nuclear materials and transuranic waste

until offsite disposition is available. Low-level waste and mixed

wastes would be disposed of onsite.

This alternative is consistent with the current mission statement,

but involves design and construction of additional prolonged onsite

storage and disposal capacity.

Preliminary Issues To Be Addressed: The SWEIS will address the

impacts of the alternatives to the extent necessary to make a reasoned

choice among the alternatives, using available data where possible and

by obtaining new data where necessary. In accordance with Council on

Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR 1500.4 and 1502.21), other

documents, as appropriate, may be incorporated into the impact analyses

by reference, in whole or in part. The following preliminary issues are

presented to facilitate public comment on the SWEIS. This presentation

is not intended to be all-inclusive nor to be a predetermination of

impacts to be considered.

1. Land Use. The SWEIS will consider land use planning issues in

consultation with the Citizen's Advisory Board, including economic

conversion and potential land use restrictions based on residual

contamination levels.

2. Economic Conversion. The impacts of converting buildings onsite

and portions of the buffer zone to private sector usage, including the

impacts of decontaminating land and buildings for economic conversion.

3. Environmental Restoration. The impacts of environmental

restoration activities to remediate past releases to ground water,

surface water, sediment, and soils.

4. Waste Management. The impacts of management (treatment, storage,

and disposal) of solid and liquid waste, including residues, non-

hazardous, hazardous, and mixed transuranic and low-level wastes.

5. Pollution Prevention. The SWEIS will consider appropriate and

innovative pollution prevention, waste minimization, and energy and

water use reduction technologies, including eliminating or

significantly reducing (a) acquisition of unnecessary hazardous

substances; and (b) energy, water, and related environmental impacts by

promoting use of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

6. Nuclear Materials. The impacts of storage and management of

nuclear materials until their disposition can be determined.

7. Soil, Water, and Air. Potential impacts to soil, water, and air.

8. Sensitive Environmental Resources. Potential impacts to plants,

animals, and habitat, including impacts to floodplains, wetlands, and

threatened and endangered species and their habitat.

9. Cultural Resources. Potential impacts to cultural resources,

such as historic, archaeological, scientific, or other culturally

important sites.

10. Socioeconomic. Potential impacts to local and regional

socioeconomic conditions and factors, including urban encroachment,

employment, housing, tax base, and community infrastructure and

services.

11. Environmental Justice. Potential disproportionate impacts of

DOE activities on minority or low-income populations.

12. Transportation. Potential impacts on the environment and public

health from the on- and off-site transportation of radioactive and/or

hazardous materials, equipment, products, and wastes.

13. Public and Occupational Safety and Health. The radiological and

non-radiological impacts on workers and the public from routine site

operations and potential accidents.

14. Regulatory Compliance. The impacts of the alternatives on

compliance of Rocky Flats with applicable Federal and State

requirements.

Related Documentation: NEPA documents that have been or are being

prepared that concern activities at Rocky Flats include the following:

1. Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Environmental

Restoration and Waste Management (EM-PEIS). The EM-PEIS will analyze

complex-wide environmental restoration and waste management issues and

alternatives. DOE published the NOI to prepare the EM-PEIS on October

22, 1990 (55 FR 42633) and issued an Implementation Plan on December

23, 1993. The Rocky Flats SWEIS will discuss its relationship to the

EM-PEIS and how issues addressed in the EM-PEIS could affect the

alternatives analyzed in the SWEIS.

2. Proposed Interim Storage of Enriched Uranium Above the Maximum

Historic Storage Levels at the Y-12 Plant (Enriched Uranium

Environmental Assessment). The Enriched Uranium Environmental

Assessment will analyze the treatment and storage of enriched uranium,

including highly enriched uranyl nitrates now stored at Rocky Flats and

at DOE's Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, TN. DOE will incorporate into the

Rocky Flats SWEIS, as appropriate, any decisions made about interim

storage and treatment of highly enriched uranium as a result of the

Enriched Uranium Environmental Assessment.

3. Resumption of Thermal Stabilization of Plutonium in Building

707, Rocky Flats Plant: Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-0887). This

environmental assessment analyzed the impacts of heating small

quantities of plutonium powder in gloveboxes, under controlled

conditions, in Building 707. DOE issued a Finding of No Significant

Impact on February 10, 1994. The Rocky Flats SWEIS will incorporate the

decisions made about thermal stabilization of plutonium into the Rocky

Flats SWEIS and discuss how issues addressed in the Building 707

Environmental Assessment could affect the alternatives analyzed in the

Rocky Flats SWEIS.

4. Nonnuclear Consolidation Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-0792).

The Nonnuclear Consolidation Environmental Assessment analyzed the

DOE's proposal to withdraw defense activities from the Mound, Pinellas,

and Rocky Flats Plants, and consolidate most of the nonnuclear

activities at the Kansas City Plant. Consolidation was evaluated in

terms of operating costs, protection of the environment and public and

worker health and safety, and preservation of technical competency to

maintain the nuclear deterrent. DOE issued a Finding of No Significant

Impact on July 8, 1993. The Rocky Flats SWEIS will discuss how issues

addressed in the Nonnuclear Consolidation Environmental Assessment

could affect the alternatives analyzed in the Rocky Flats SWEIS.

5. Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Storage and

Disposition of Fissile Nuclear Materials. This Environmental Impact

Statement will assess alternatives and assist in establishing a

national policy for the long term storage and disposition of fissile

nuclear materials. Any decisions resulting from the Rocky Flats SWEIS

regarding the storage and disposition of fissile nuclear materials will

be interim decisions that will not affect the long-term, DOE-wide

decisions to be made following completion of the Nuclear Materials

Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.

6. Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for the Nevada

Test Site and Other Off-site Test Locations within the State of Nevada.

This SWEIS would evaluate alternative management strategies for the

Nevada Test Site, which would support current and future defense

related missions, research and development, waste management,

environmental restoration, infrastructure maintenance, and facility

upgrades and alternative uses over the next 5-10 years. This SWEIS

would also address environmental restoration and other related

activities at other offsite test locations within the State of Nevada,

which include the Project Shoal Area, Central Nevada Test Area, Tonopah

Test Range, and portions of the Nellis Air Force Range. In the Nevada

SWEIS, DOE would consider the transportation, management and disposal

at the Nevada Test Site of wastes from other locations, including the

Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site.

Issued in Washington, DC, on July 29, 1994.

Tara J. O'Toole,

Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.

[FR Doc. 94-19149 Filed 8-4-94; 8:45 am]

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