Amended Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Continued Operation of the Pantex Plant and Associated Storage of Nuclear Weapon Components

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Amended Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact

Statement for the Continued Operation of the Pantex Plant and

Associated Storage of Nuclear Weapon Components

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Amended Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a Notice of Intent for

the preparation of a site-wide Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for

the Continued Operation of the Pantex Plant and Associated Storage of

Nuclear Weapon Components (59 FR 26635, May 23, 1994). In that notice,

alternatives involving the potential relocation of selected Pantex

Plant operations to other sites were not fully defined. DOE published

an EIS Implementation Plan (DOE/EIS-0225-IP, December 1994) which

defined the proposed scope of the EIS and the process of identifying

potential alternate sites. DOE has now identified the potential

reasonable alternate sites for relocation of selected Pantex Plant

operations which will be analyzed in the EIS, and is issuing this

amended Notice of Intent to announce these modifications to the scope

of the EIS and to solicit public comments regarding these changes.

DATES: DOE invites the general public, other government agencies, and

all other interested parties to comment on the amended scope and

content of this EIS. DOE is soliciting additional oral and written

comments, suggestions, requests for information, and requests for

public meetings no later than July 24, 1995. These comments will

receive equal consideration to comments presented during the June 1994

scoping period. [[Page 32662]]

Oral Comments

All interested parties are invited to record their comments,

suggestions, and requests concerning this EIS by calling the Pantex

Plant EIS Hotline at 1-800-788-0306. The Hotline will give instructions

on how to record your comments.

Written Comments

Written comments to assist DOE in identifying significant

environmental issues and the appropriate scope of this EIS, questions

concerning the Pantex Plant or the other sites involved, requests to be

placed on the Pantex Plant EIS mailing list, requests for copies of the

Implementation Plan, requests to be placed on the EIS distribution

list, and requests for public meetings should be directed to: Ms.

Nanette Founds, U.S. Department of Energy, Albuquerque Operations

Office, P.O. Box 5400, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-5400.

Written comments, suggestions, and requests can be submitted using

the Pantex Plant EIS Faxline at 1-800-822-5499. Facsimiles should be

marked: Pantex Plant EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on DOE's NEPA process,

please contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy

and Assistance (EH-42), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence

Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585, 202-586-4600 or 1-800-472-2756.

ADDRESSES: In addition to those locations listed in the original Notice

of Intent, copies of all written comments, transcripts of all oral

comments, and copies of the Implementation Plan will be prepared and

retained by DOE for inspection by the public at the following

additional locations:

Pantex SWEIS Public Information Center, c/o Tetra Tech, Inc., 6900 I-40

West, Suite 260, Amarillo, Texas 79106, 806-355-9480

U.S. Department of Energy, Public Reading Room, Washington State

University, 100 Sprout Road, Richland, WA 99352, 509-376-8583

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Program Changes

The Implementation Plan (Plan) summarized the comments received

during scoping in June 1994, described the scope of the EIS, the

alternatives that were planned to be evaluated, and the methodology for

preparing the EIS. After publication of the Plan in December 1994, the

proposed action and alternatives for relocating some of the Pantex

Plant operations were modified. These modifications are described

below:

Relocating Pantex Plant Weapons Operations: In the Plan, DOE

proposed to analyze the impacts of relocating some or all of the Pantex

Plant operations to one or more sites. The Nevada Test Site was

identified as the only alternate site for relocation of Pantex

operations involving disassembly, modification, maintenance, or quality

assurance of nuclear weapons components. Since the publication of the

Plan, DOE has begun planning a

Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic EIS (60 FR 31291,

June 14, 1995) that will address the nuclear weapons complex

requirements in the year 2005 and beyond. One of the anticipated

alternatives of this Programmatic EIS is the possible relocation of the

Pantex nuclear weapons operations to another site. Any decision on

relocation of Pantex nuclear weapons operations will be made in the

Record of Decision for the

Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic EIS and not the

Pantex site-wide EIS. Therefore, the Pantex site-wide EIS will not

examine the impacts at any other site of relocating the Pantex nuclear

weapons operations to that site. However, for completeness of analysis,

the Pantex site-wide EIS will evaluate the impacts at Pantex of

relocating these operations to another site. (See Implementation Plan,

Section 3.2.3, Option A.)

Relocating Plutonium Pits Interim Storage Operations: The Pantex

site-wide EIS will analyze alternatives to the interim storage of

plutonium pits from disassembled weapons at Pantex pending decisions on

their disposition. Initially, DOE identified four DOE sites as

potential alternate pit storage locations pending future site

identification activities. These were: The Nevada Test Site; The

Savannah River Site in South Carolina; the Oak Ridge Reservation in

Tennessee; and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Based

on further examination of more than 70 DOE and Department of Defense

(DOD) sites, DOE has modified the list of alternative sites for

relocating interim storage of plutonium pits. The Pantex site-wide EIS

will now analyze relocating interim pit storage from Pantex to each of

the following candidate sites: the Nevada Test Site; the Hanford

Reservation, the Savannah River Site, and DOD's Manzano Facility at

Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The Oak Ridge Reservation and

the Los Alamos National Laboratory have been eliminated as reasonable

interim pit storage sites due to inadequate storage space.

Analysis of Storage of Depleted Uranium: DOE currently ships

depleted uranium components from disassembled weapons to the Oak Ridge

Reservation for routine processing and storage. The Plan identified

four alternate sites for interim storage of depleted uranium components

(See Implementation Plan, Section 3.2.3., Option B-3). However, DOE has

determined that there are currently no reasonable alternative sites for

the receipt of depleted uranium from disassembled weapons in the 5 to

10 year period covered by the Pantex Site-Wide EIS because of the lack

of facilities to perform the routine processing (demilitarization or

recycling) of this material at any site other than the Oak Ridge

Reservation. Therefore, the processing and storage of depleted uranium

will not be addressed in the Pantex site-wide EIS.

Potential New Missions: Pantex has been identified as a reasonable

alternative location for actions being analyzed in other DOE EISs.

Pantex is one of the reasonable alternatives for the proposed new

tritium facility in the Tritium Supply and Recycling Programmatic EIS

(60 FR 14433, March 17, 1995). Pantex is also under consideration for

long-term plutonium component storage in the Long-Term Storage and

Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials Programmatic EIS (59 FR

31985, June 21, 1994). In addition, Pantex may be identified as an

alternative for other defense missions during preparation of the

Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic EIS. The Pantex site-

wide EIS will consider the potential receipt of such new activities in

its cumulative impact analysis; however, decisions on where to locate

these new missions will be made on the basis of the programmatic EISs,

and not on the basis of the Pantex site-wide EIS.

Subsequent Document Preparation

After the completion of this additional public scoping process, DOE

will prepare an addendum to the Implementation Plan and make it

available in the public reading rooms. The addendum will record the

results of the additional comment period. DOE intends to complete the

draft EIS in December 1995 and will announce its availability in the

Federal Register. DOE will solicit comments from the public,

organizations, and other agencies on the draft EIS, and will consider

all comments in its preparation of the final EIS.

[[Page 32663]] Issued in Washington, DC, on June 19, 1995.

Tara O'Toole,

Assistant Secretary Environment, Safety and Health.

[FR Doc. 95-15469 Filed 6-22-95; 8:45 am]

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