Availability of Implementation Plan for the Medical Isotopes Production Project: Molybdenum-99 and Related Isotopes Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Availability of Implementation Plan for the Medical Isotopes

Production Project: Molybdenum-99 and Related Isotopes 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 Implementation Plan for the Medical Isotopes Production Project:

Molybdenum-99 and Related Isotopes Environmental Impact Statement

(EIS), DOE/EIS-0249-IP.

DATES: The Department intends to issue the Draft Medical Isotopes

Production Project EIS for public comment later this fall. A 45-day

public comment period will be provided. The Department plans to hold

public hearings on the Draft EIS during the public comment period. The

public hearings are tentatively scheduled to be held in the following

locations: Idaho Falls, Idaho, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Albuquerque, New

Mexico, Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The meetings will provide opportunities for information exchange

and discussion as well as for the submittal of written statements or

oral comments. Specific times, dates, and locations for the hearings

will be announced at a later date.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Medical Isotopes Production

Project EIS Implementation Plan or other correspondence regarding this

environmental review should be addressed to: Mr. Wade Carroll, MIPP EIS

Project Manager, NE-70, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown

Road, Germantown, MD 20874. Mr. Carroll may be contacted by telephone

at (301) 903-7731, facsimile (301) 903-5434.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information on the DOE

NEPA process, please contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Office of NEPA

Policy and Assistance, EH-42, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000

Independence Ave. SW, Washington, D.C. 20585. Ms. Borgstrom may be

contacted by leaving a message at (800) 472-2756 or by calling (202)

586-4600. For general information on the DOE isotope production

program, please contact: Mr. Owen W. Lowe, Associate Director, Office

of Isotope Production and Distribution, NE-70, U.S. Department of

Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874. Mr. Lowe may be

contacted by calling (301) 903-5161.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed medical isotopes production

project would establish a production capability to ensure a reliable

domestic supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which decays to form the

medical isotope technetium-99m (Tc-99m). The proposed project would

also enable the production of related medical isotopes (iodine-125,

iodine-131, and xenon-133).

Tc-99m is an important medical isotope, used in more than 30,000

diagnostic medical procedures each day in the United States. The United

States medical community is reliant upon a single 38 year old reactor

in Canada for its entire supply of Mo-99, from which Tc-99m is

obtained. The Department's near-term goal would be to provide a backup

capability to supply a baseline production level of 10 to 30 percent of

current United States demand for Mo-99 and 100 percent of the United

States demand should the existing Canadian source be unavailable. The

baseline production level would serve to maintain the capabilities of

the facilities and staff to respond on short notice to supply the

entire United States demand on an as-needed basis. The Department's

longer term objective is to support private sector production of Mo-99

in the United States.

The Department is preparing the Medical Isotopes Production Project

EIS to evaluate the environmental impacts of reasonable alternatives

for the domestic production of Mo-99. The EIS will also evaluate the

required ``no action'' alternative. Short descriptions of the

alternatives to be evaluated in the EIS are included in the

Implementation Plan.

The EIS Implementation Plan has been distributed to appropriate

Congressional members and committees, the States of Idaho, New Mexico,

and Tennessee, American Indian tribal governments, local county

governments, other federal agencies, and other interested parties. The

Implementation Plan is available for review at the following locations:

DOE Headquarters, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 1E-190,

Washington, DC, 20585, phone (202) 586-3142;

National Atomic Museum, Building 20358, Wyoming Boulevard, Kirtland Air

Force Base, New Mexico, 87158, phone (505) 845-4378;

Los Alamos National Laboratory Community Reading Room, 1450 Central

Avenue, Suite 101, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87544, phone (505) 665-2127;

Idaho Operations Office, Idaho Public Reading Room, 1776 Science Center

Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho, 83402, phone (208) 526-0271;

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, 138

Albany Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, phone (617) 253-4202;

Georgia Institute of Technology, Price Gilbert Memorial Library, 225

North Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia, 30332-0900, phone (404) 894-4519;

Rhode Island Nuclear Science Center, South Ferry Road, Naragansett,

Rhode Island, 02882, phone (401) 789-9391; and

University of Missouri-Columbia, Ellis Library, Columbia, Missouri,

65201, phone (314) 882-0748.

Signed in Washington, D.C., this 10th day of October, 1995, for

the United States Department of Energy.

Ray A. Hunter,

Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology.

[FR Doc. 95-26844 Filed 10-27-95; 8:45 am]

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