Office of Environmental Management; Proposed Site Treatment Plans

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Environmental Management; Proposed Site Treatment Plans

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: Today's notice announces the availability of the Department of

Energy's (DOE) Proposed Site Treatment Plans (Proposed Plans) for

treating its mixed radioactive and hazardous waste (mixed waste). As

required by the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992 (FFCAct or the

Act), DOE prepared Proposed Plans for 40 sites in 20 States where DOE

stores or generates mixed waste. The Proposed Plans identify the

proposed treatment option and related schedule for development of the

option for each type of mixed waste. Each DOE site is submitting its

Proposed Plan to either its State regulators, or as appropriate, the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). DOE faces increasingly

tight funding in the near-term, and anticipates that funding will

continue to be constrained in the future. The schedules in the Proposed

Plans reflect those constraints. DOE expects, that for some sites,

further discussion with the State or Federal regulators concerning

priorities will result in modified schedules in the approved Plans. The

Proposed Plans are available at each site for review by the public.

Public comments on the Proposed Plans will be considered by the

appropriate regulatory agency in reviewing the plan. Additional

opportunities for public involvement in the FFCAct process will be

offered at many sites by the DOE and State or Federal regulators.

DATES: Written comments on the Proposed Plans should be sent to the

recipients identified in Table 1 by July 6, 1995. Written comments

received on or before July 6, 1995, will be considered by the State/

Federal regulators in reviewing the Proposed Plans.

ADDRESSES: Table 1 lists the recipient to which written comments should

be sent on each of the Proposed Plans. Section V of Supplementary

Information lists the Reading Rooms where the Proposed Plans may be

reviewed.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain general information on a

site's Proposed Plan or for the address of a Reading Room where

Proposed Plans may be viewed, contact the Center for Environmental

Management Information at 1-800-7EM-DATA (1-800-736-3282).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Section 3021(b) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

(RCRA), as amended by the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992

(FFCAct or the Act), requires the DOE to prepare Site Treatment Plans

for developing treatment capacities and technologies for mixed waste at

each site where the DOE stores or generates mixed waste. Mixed waste is

defined by the FFCAct as waste containing both hazardous

[[Page 17347]] waste subject to RCRA, and source, special nuclear, or

by-product material subject to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. DOE must

submit the Site Treatment Plans to the State or U.S. EPA, as

appropriate, for approval, disapproval, or approval with modification.

The FFCAct allows for a six month period during which the

regulatory agency reviews the Proposed Plan, makes it available to the

public, and approves, disapproves, or modifies the Proposed Plan. Upon

approval, the regulatory agency is to issue an Order requiring

compliance with the Proposed Plan. Sites that are in compliance with

approved Plans and Orders by October 6, 1995, are not subject to fines

and penalties related to the storage prohibition of section 3004(j) of

RCRA as long as they continue to comply with their Plan and Order.

After consultation with State and Federal regulators, the DOE

published a Federal Register Notice on April 6, 1993 (58 FR 17875),

which announced the DOE's plan to submit the Site Treatment Plans in

three stages. In the first stage, Conceptual Site Treatment Plans

describing a wide range of possible treatment alternatives for each

mixed waste at each site were submitted in October 1993. Draft Site

Treatment Plans (Draft Plans) narrowing the list of options to one or

two identified by each site, with input from the State and Federal

regulators, were submitted and announced in the Federal Register on

August 31, 1994, (59 FR 44979). The DOE planned to submit Proposed Site

Treatment Plans containing the DOE's preferred option for treatment of

each mixed waste to the appropriate regulatory agency in February 1995.

However, after consultation with the States and U.S. EPA, DOE announced

in the Federal Register on February 28, 1995 (60 FR 10840) that the

date for submitting the Proposed Plans was revised to no later than

April 6, 1995, to allow additional time for further discussions on

schedules for developing treatment capacity in light of anticipated

funding limitations.

II. Proposed Site Treatment Plans

After submission of the Draft Plans in August 1994, the DOE, with

input from the State and Federal regulators, evaluated the treatment

options listed in the Draft Plans for the mixed waste at each site. The

goal of this evaluation was to gain a better understanding of the

appropriate configuration of treatment systems across the DOE complex,

and to eliminate redundancies and inefficiencies among the Draft Plans.

Discussions with the regulators led to further refinement of the

treatment configuration. The Proposed Plans reflect the results of this

evaluation and present the DOE's proposed option for treating each

site's mixed waste. The Proposed Plans follow a common format,

consisting of a Background Volume and a Compliance Plan Volume. The

Background Volume describes the site's treatment options, including the

associated technical uncertainties and funding constraints, to the

extent they are known. The Compliance Plan Volume identifies the

preferred treatment option(s) and associated schedules, and broadly

describes provisions for implementing and updating the Proposed Plan

once it is approved. The Compliance Plan Volume is intended to contain

requirements that will ultimately be enforced through a Consent or

Compliance Order. In addition to identifying treatment options, DOE is

also evaluating options for disposal of treatment residuals at the

request of the States. The Background Volume of each Proposed Plan

contains a description of the process for evaluating disposal options.

DOE will prepare a National Summary of the Proposed Site Treatment

Plans that compiles the information contained in the individual site

Proposed Plans and discusses the complex-wide treatment configuration.

The National Summary Report will describe the process used to develop

the Proposed Plans, the treatment options for each mixed waste,

technology development activities, and other related topics. The

National Summary Report is expected to be available to the public by

the end of June 1995.

III. Activities Occurring Between Submission of the Draft Plans and

Preparation of the Proposed Plans

In February 1995, between submission of the Draft Plans and

preparation of the Proposed Plans, the DOE, the State and Federal

regulators, and Tribal representatives met to discuss future funding of

DOE's Environmental Management Program, its Site Treatment Plans, and

strategies for working cooperatively to address anticipated funding

limitations.

Because of recent changes in funding projections, the schedules in

the Proposed Plans have not yet been fully integrated with those of

other DOE sites from a complex-wide perspective. Based on discussions

concerning its Fiscal Year 1997 Budget, the DOE anticipates that

funding will continue to be constrained. Accordingly, DOE anticipates

that after submission of the Proposed Plans and before Proposed Plans

and schedules are approved discussions will continue with regulatory

agencies and the public concerning the priority of mixed waste

treatment and other activities.

IV. Sites No Longer Preparing Proposed Site Treatment Plans

DOE has prepared Proposed Plans for 40 sites in 20 States. However,

because two of the Proposed Plans each address more than one site, only

37 Proposed Plans have been submitted for approval. The Idaho National

Engineering Laboratory and the Argonne Laboratory-West are located on a

single federally-owned reservation near Idaho Falls, Idaho, and both

are addressed within the Proposed Plan submitted by the U.S. DOE Idaho

Operations Office. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, K-25 Site, and Y-

12 Plant are all located within the federally-owned Oak Ridge

Reservation near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and are addressed within the

Proposed Plan submitted by the U.S. DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office.

Additionally, eight sites that initially developed Conceptual or Draft

Site Treatment Plans have not submitted Proposed Plans for approval.

These sites are: (1) General Electric, Vallecitos Nuclear Center,

Vallecitos, California; (2) Sandia National Laboratory, Livermore,

California; (3) Pinellas Plant, Largo, Florida; (4) Site A/Plot M Palos

Forest Preserve, Cook County, Illinois; (5) Kansas City Plant, Kansas

City, Missouri; (6) Middlesex Sampling Plant, Middlesex, New Jersey;

(7) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey; and (8)

the Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

These sites are not submitting Proposed Plans for one or more of the

following reasons: (1) The site is not generating or storing mixed

waste at this time; (2) the site no longer has mixed waste because the

waste has been consolidated at another site or has been treated; (3)

the site can already treat the waste it generates on a routine basis in

compliance with RCRA; or (4) it has not yet been determined through the

environmental restoration process whether mixed waste subject to RCRA

land disposal restrictions will be generated.

These eight sites have submitted and will update information on

their mixed waste compliance to the regulatory agencies as needed. In

the future, if any of these sites generate mixed waste that cannot be

treated in compliance with RCRA, the site will propose a Plan for

approval that meets the requirements of the Act. In addition, the

Hanford Site in Richland, Washington, has signed an agreement with the

State of Washington that addresses mixed waste treatment as

[[Page 17348]] specified in the FFCAct. Therefore, the Hanford site is

not required to prepare a Site Treatment Plan; however, the Hanford

Site and its State regulators are actively participating in the FFCAct

discussions.

V. Availability of Proposed Site Treatment Plans and Opportunity for

Comment

The Proposed Site Treatment Plans for all DOE sites subject to the

FFCAct will be available for review at the site's public reading room

or at nearby locations by mid-April 1995. To review or request

information on a specific Proposed Plan, contact the Center for

Environmental Management Information at 1-800-7EM-DATA (1-800-736-

3282). Full sets of the Proposed Plans from the 40 sites will also be

available for review by mid-April 1995 at the following locations:

U.S. Department of Energy Headquarters Reading Room, Room 1E-190,

1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, D.C. 20585, 202/586-6025

Center for Environmental Management Information, 470 L'Enfant Plaza

East, SW., Suite 7110, Washington, D.C. 20024, 800/736-3282

Albuquerque Operations Office, National Atomic Museum, P.O. Box

5400, Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM 87185-5400, 505/845-

6670

Hanford Site, U.S. DOE Reading Room, Washington State University,

Tri-Cities, 100 Sprout Road, Room 130, Richland, WA 99352, 509/376-

8583

Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, INEL Technical Library, 1776

Science Center Drive, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2300,

208/526-1185

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, DOE Reading Room, 1301 Clay

Street, Oakland, CA 94612, 510/637-1762

Mound Plant, Miamisburg Senior Adult Center Public Reading Room, 305

Central Ave., Miamisburg, OH 45343, 513/866-8999

Nevada Test Site, Nevada Test Site Reading Room, 3084 South Highland

Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89109, 702/295-3521

Oak Ridge Reservation, DOE Public Reading Room, 55 Jefferson Circle,

Oak Ridge, TN 37831, 615/576-1216

Rocky Flats Plant, Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site Reading

Room, Front Range Community College Library, 3645 West 112th Ave.,

Westminster, CO 80030, 303/469-4453

Savannah River Site, Gregg-Graniteville Library, University of South

Carolina-Aiken, 171 University Parkway, Aiken, SC 29801, 803/641-

3465

Opportunities for public involvement in the FFCAct process will be

offered at many sites. To obtain information about these opportunities

contact the Center for Environmental Management Information at 1-800-

7EM-DATA (1-800-736-3282). Persons interested in receiving the National

Summary of the Proposed Site Treatment Plans when available, or other

information on the development of the Site Treatment Plans and related

activities, should contact the Center for Environmental Management

Information. Information about the FFCAct may also be obtained

electronically through the FFCAct Bulletin Board on the Internet at

http://eagle.haz.ornl.gov/ffcabb/ffcamain.html.

Issued in Washington, DC on March 30, 1995.

Stephen Cowan,

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management, Environmental

Management.

Table 1.--Sites Preparing Site Treatment Plans and Comment Recipients

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State Facility/location Reviewing agency recipient of comments

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California.......... Energy Technology Engineering Chet Kawashige, California Department of Toxic

Center; Canoga Park. Substances Control, P.O. Box 806, Mail Code HQ-10,

General Atomics; San Diego........ Sacramento, CA 95812-0806.

Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory; Livermore.

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory;

Berkeley.

Laboratory for Energy-Related

Health Research; Davis.

Mare Island Naval Shipyard;

Vallejo.

Colorado............ Grand Junction Project Office; Jacqueline Hernandez-Berardini, Director,

Grand Junction. Environmental Integration Group. Colorado Department

Rocky Flats Environmental of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek

Technology Site; Golden. Drive South, OE-EIG-B2, Denver, CO 80222-1530.

Connecticut......... Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory; Fred Scheuritzel, Air Monitoring and Radiation,

Windsor. Department of Environmental Protection, 79 Elm

Street, 6th Floor, Hartford, CT 06106-5127.

Hawaii.............. Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard; Tony Terrell, U.S. EPA (H41), Region 9, 75 Hawthorne

Honolulu. Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.

Idaho............... Argonne National Laboratory-West; Brian Monson, Bureau Chief, DEQ, 1410 North Hilton

Idaho Falls. Street, Boise, ID 83706-1290.

Idaho National Engineering

Laboratory; Idaho Falls.

Illinois............ Argonne National Laboratory-East; Richard Allen, Manager, Office of Environmental

Argonne. Safety, Department of Nuclear Safety, 1034 Outer Park

Drive, 5th floor, Springfield, IL 62704.

Iowa................ Ames Laboratory; Ames............. Ken Herstowki, U.S. EPA (Iowa Section), Region 7, 726

Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66101.

Kentucky............ Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; Caroline P. Haight, Director of Division of Waste

Paducah. Management, 14 Rally Road--OMEGA Bldg., Frankfort, KY

40601.

Maine............... Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; Kittery Joan Serra, U.S. EPA (HRR-CNN3), Region 1, JFK Federal

Building, Boston, MA 02203.

Missouri............ Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Dan Tschirgi, Missouri Department of Natural

Project; St. Charles County. Resources, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-

University of Missouri; Columbia.. 0176.

Nevada.............. Nevada Test Site; Mercury......... Paul Liebendorfer, Bureau Chief, Bureau of Federal

Facilities, Division of Environmental Protection, 123

W. Nye Lane, Carson City, NV 89710.

New Mexico.......... Los Alamos National Laboratory; Jim Seubert, Environmental Specialist 525 Camino, De

Los Alamos. Los Marquez, Santa Fe, NM 87502.

Sandia National Laboratory--New

Mexico; Albuquerque.

[[Page 17349]]

New York............ Brookhaven National Laboratory; Norm Drapeau, Environmental Engineer III, 50 Wolf

Upton. Road, Albany, NY 12233.

Colonie Interim Storage Site;

Colonie.

Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory--

Kesselring; West Milton.

Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory--

Schenectady; Niskayuna.

West Valley Demonstration Project;

West Valley.

Ohio................ Battelle Columbus Laboratories Thomas Crepeau, Manager, Data Management Section,

Decommissioning Project; Columbus. Division of Hazardous Waste Management, Ohio EPA,

Fernald Environmental Management P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049.

Project; Fernald.

Mound Plant; Miamisburg...........

Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion

Plant; Portsmouth.

RMI Titanium Inc.; Ashtabula......

Pennsylvania........ Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory; David Friedman, U.S. EPA, Region 3, 841 Chestnut

West Mifflin. Building, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

South Carolina...... Charleston Naval Shipyard; David Wilson, Jr., Assistant Bureau Chief, 8901 Farrow

Charleston. Road, Columbia, SC 29223.

Savannah River Site; Aiken........

Tennessee........... K-25 Site, Y-12 Plant and Oak Earl Leming, Tennessee Department of Environment and

Ridge National Laboratory; Oak Conservation, DOE Oversight Office, 761 Emory Road,

Ridge Reservation; Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge, TN 37830.

Texas............... Pantex Plant; Amarillo............ Dan Pearson, Executive Director, Natural Resource

Conservation Commission, P.O. Box 13087, Austin,

Texas 78711-3087.

Virginia............ Norfolk Naval Shipyard; Norfolk... David Friedman, U.S. EPA, Region 3, 841 Chestnut

Building, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

Washington.......... Puget Sound Naval Shipyard; Jeff Breckel, Washington-Oregon Interstate Liaison,

Bremerton. Nuclear and Mixed Waste Management Program,

Washington Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, 300

Desmond Drive SE, Lacey, WA 98503.

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[FR Doc. 95-8359 Filed 4-4-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450-01-P