Disposition of Surplus Highly Enriched Uranium; Draft Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Disposition of Surplus Highly Enriched Uranium; Draft

Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of

the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Disposition of Surplus

Highly Enriched Uranium (draft HEU EIS) for public review and comment.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

(NEPA), the Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR Parts

1500-1508), and the Department's NEPA Implementation Procedures (10 CFR

Part 1021), the Department has prepared this draft HEU EIS to evaluate

alternatives for the disposition of United States-origin weapons-usable

highly enriched uranium (HEU) that has been, or may be, declared

surplus to national defense needs by the President.

DATES: The public is invited to comment on the draft HEU EIS during a

comment period that will continue until December 11, 1995. Comments

postmarked after that date will be considered to the extent

practicable. The Department will hold two public workshops to discuss

and receive comments on the draft HEU EIS on November 14 and 16, 1995.

The times and locations of the workshops are provided in the

Supplementary Information.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the draft HEU EIS and requests for information

should be directed to: Office of Fissile Materials Disposition (MD-4),

Attention: HEU EIS, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, 1-800-820-5134.

Written comments on the draft HEU EIS should be mailed to the

following address: DOE--Office of Fissile Materials Disposition, P.O.

Box 23786, Washington, DC 20026-3786. Comments may also be submitted

orally (to a recording machine) or by fax to 1-800-820-5156.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the DOE National

Environmental Policy Act process, contact: Carol M. Borgstrom,

Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance (EH-42), U.S. Department

of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-

4600 or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.

Availability of the draft HEU EIS: Copies of the draft HEU EIS have

been distributed to Federal, State, Indian tribal, and local officials,

agencies, and interested organizations and individuals. Copies of the

draft HEU EIS and supporting technical reports are also available for

public review at the locations listed at the end of this Notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On June 21, 1994, the Department published a Notice of Intent (NOI)

in the Federal Register (59 FR 31985) to prepare a programmatic EIS

(PEIS) for weapons-usable fissile materials, including both surplus and

non-surplus HEU. The purpose of the NOI was to inform the public of the

proposed scope of the Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile

Materials PEIS (Storage and Disposition PEIS), to solicit public input,

and to announce that public scoping meetings would be conducted from

August through October 1994.1 During that period, 12 public

meetings were held throughout the United States to obtain input

regarding the scope, alternatives, and issues associated with weapons-

usable fissile materials that should be addressed in the Storage and

Disposition PEIS. The extensive scoping process for the Storage and

Disposition PEIS included options for the disposition of surplus HEU.

\1\ In the NOI, the PEIS was referred to as the Long-Term

Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials PEIS.

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In the course of the PEIS public scoping process, it appeared that

it may be more appropriate to analyze the impacts of surplus HEU

disposition in a separate EIS. The Department held a public meeting on

November 10, 1994, to obtain comments on this potential course of

action. While views were expressed both pro and con, the Department

subsequently concluded that a separate EIS would be appropriate.

Accordingly, the Department published a notice in the Federal Register

(60 FR 17344) on April 5, 1995, to inform the public of the proposed

plan to prepare a separate EIS for the disposition of surplus HEU.

Alternatives Considered

The draft HEU EIS assesses environmental impacts of five reasonable

alternatives identified for the disposition of up to 200 metric tons of

surplus HEU. This includes HEU that has already been declared surplus

(165 metric tons) as well as additional weapons-usable HEU that may be

declared surplus in the future. The material is currently located at

facilities throughout the Department's nuclear weapons complex, but the

majority is in, or destined for, interim storage at the Department's Y-

12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Except for no action, all reasonable

alternatives involve blending HEU with depleted, natural, or low-

enriched uranium (LEU) to make LEU,

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which is not weapons-usable, and the majority of which would have

potential commercial value as non-defense, nuclear power plant fuel

feed. The alternatives, except for the no action alternative, represent

different ratios of blending HEU to LEU for commercial use versus

blending HEU to LEU for disposal as waste. The alternatives also

represent different combinations of blending sites and blending

processes.

Alternative 1 is No Action (continued storage of surplus HEU).

Alternative 2 is No Commercial Use, and represents blending all 200

metric tons of surplus HEU to waste (fuel/waste ratio of 0/100) using

four sites. Alternative 3 is Limited Commercial Use, and includes

transferring 50 metric tons of HEU (and 7,000 metric tons of natural

uranium) to the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) for

commercial use, but blending the remaining 150 metric tons of HEU to

waste (fuel/waste ratio of 25/75). Alternative 3 assumes the 50 metric

tons of commercial material would be blended at two commercial blending

sites, and the waste material would be blended at four sites.

Alternative 4 is Substantial Commercial Use, and represents blending

130 metric tons of HEU for commercial use and 70 metric tons for

disposal as waste (fuel/waste ratio of 65/35). Alternative 5 is Maximum

Commercial Use, and represents blending 170 metric tons of HEU for

commercial use and 30 metric tons for disposal as waste (fuel/waste

ratio of 85/15). Both Alternatives 4 and 5 include the proposal to

transfer 50 metric tons of HEU and 7,000 metric tons of natural uranium

to USEC for commercial use. Alternatives 4 and 5 each have four site

variations: a) two DOE sites only, b) two commercial sites only, c) all

four sites, and d) each site alone.

This draft HEU EIS assesses potential environmental impacts at two

DOE sites and two commercial sites where HEU conversion and blending

could occur: DOE's Y-12 Plant at the Oak Ridge Reservation in Oak

Ridge, Tennessee; DOE's Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina;

the Babcock & Wilcox Naval Nuclear Fuel Division in Lynchburg,

Virginia; and the Nuclear Fuel Services Fuel Fabrication Plant in

Erwin, Tennessee. The EIS also assesses the environmental impacts of

necessary transportation of materials.

The alternatives as described are not intended to represent

exclusive choices among which the Department must choose, but rather

are analyzed to represent reasonable points in the matrix of possible

choices. The draft HEU EIS explains how impacts would change if the

exact fuel/waste ratio or division among sites or processes were

different.

Preferred Alternative

The draft HEU EIS identifies DOE's preferred alternative as

Alternative 5 (Maximum Commercial Use) and site variation c (all four

sites). Under this alternative, the commercial use of surplus HEU would

be maximized and the blending would most likely be done at some

combination of commercial and DOE sites. The Department prefers this

alternative because commercial use of LEU derived from surplus HEU

would serve the objective of rendering these materials non-weapons-

usable in the most timely fashion. It would allow for peaceful,

beneficial reuse of the material, recover investment for the Federal

Treasury, and reduce Government waste disposal costs that would be

incurred if all (or a greater portion of) the material were blended to

waste.

Invitation to Comment

The public is invited to submit written and oral comments on any or

all portions of the draft HEU EIS. DOE's responses to comments received

during the public comment period will be presented in the final HEU

EIS.

DOE will hold two public workshops to provide information and

receive comments on the draft HEU EIS (with identical afternoon and

evening sessions in each location), as detailed in the following

schedule. The workshop format will provide for collection of written

and oral comments and will enable the public to discuss issues and

concerns with DOE managers. Participants are asked to register for the

workshops in advance by calling 1-800-820-5134.

Schedule of Public Workshops

November 14, 1995--Knoxville, TN

1:00-5:00 pm and 6:00-10:00 pm, eastern time, Knoxville Hilton, 501

Church Avenue, SW, Knoxville, TN 37902; phone (423) 523-2300, fax (423)

546-1716.

November 16, 1995--Augusta, GA

1:00-5:00 pm and 6:00-10:00 pm, eastern time, Ramada Plaza Hotel

and Convention Center, 640 Broad Street, Augusta, GA 30901; phone (706)

722-5541, fax (706) 724-0053.

DOE Public Reading Rooms

Copies of the draft HEU EIS as well as technical data reports and

other supporting documents are available for public review at the

following locations:

Department of Energy Headquarters, Freedom of Information Reading Room,

Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC

20585, Attn: Carolyn Lawson, 202-586-6020

Albuquerque Operations Office, National Atomic Museum, 20358 Wyoming

Blvd., SE., Kirtland AFB, NM 87117, Attn: Diane Zepeda, 505-845-4378

Nevada Operations Office, Nevada Operations Office, U.S. Department of

Energy, Public Reading Room, 2753 South Highland Dr., P.O. Box 98518,

Las Vegas, NV 89193-8518, Attn: Charlotte Cox, 702-295-1459

Oak Ridge Operations Office, U.S. Department of Energy, Public Reading

Room, 200 Administration Road, P.O. Box 2001, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-8501,

Attn: Jane Greenwalt, 615-576-1216

Richland Operations Office, Washington State University, Tri-Cities

Branch Campus, 300 Sprout Road, Room 130 West, Richland, WA 99352,

Attn: Terri Traub, 509-376-8583

Rocky Flats Office, Front Range Community College Library, 3645 West

112th Avenue, Westminister, CO 80030, Attn: Dennis Connor, 303-469-4435

Savannah River Operations Office, Gregg-Graniteville Library,

University of South Carolina-Aiken, 171 University Parkway, Aiken, SC

29801, Attn: Paul Lewis, 803-641-3320, DOE Contact: James M. Gaver,

803-725-2889

Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, c/o Los

Alamos Community Reading Room, 1450 Central, Suite 101, Los Alamos, NM

87544, Attn: Tom Ribe, 505-665-2127

Chicago Operations Office, Office of Planning, Communications & EEO,

U.S. Department of Energy, 9800 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439,

Attn: Gary L. Pitchford, 708-252-2013

Amarillo Area Office, U.S. Department of Energy, Amarillo College, Lynn

Library/Learning Center, P.O. Box 447, Amarillo, TX 79178, PH: 806-371-

5400, FX: 806-371-5470

U.S. DOE Reading Room, Carson County Library, P.O. Box 339, Panhandle,

TX 79068, PH: 806-537-3742, FX: 806-537-3780, DOE Contact: Tom Walton,

PH: 806-477-3120, FX: 806-477-3185, Contractor Contact: Kerry Cambell,

PH: 806-477-4381, FX: 806-477-5743

Sandia National Laboratory/CA, Livermore Public Library, 1000 S.

Livermore Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550, Attn: Julie Casamajor, PH: 510-

373-5500, FX: 510-373-5503.

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Issued in Washington, DC, October 20, 1995.

Gregory P. Rudy,

Acting Director, Office of Fissile Materials Disposition.

[FR Doc. 95-26601 Filed 10-25-95; 8:45 am]

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