Notice of Intent to Prepare An Environmental Impact Statement Concerning Interim Storage of Plutonium at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site

Federal RegisterJul 17, 1996

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Intent to Prepare An Environmental Impact Statement

Concerning Interim Storage of Plutonium at the Rocky Flats

Environmental Technology Site

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intent to prepare

an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) pursuant to the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), in accordance with the Council on

Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing the Procedural

Provisions of NEPA and the DOE NEPA implementing regulations. DOE has

identified a need to provide safe interim storage of approximately 10

metric tons of plutonium at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology

Site (RFETS). The plutonium at RFETS is in the form of both metals

(including plutonium-bearing weapons components known as ``pits'') and

oxides. The 10 metric ton amount includes the current plutonium

inventory at RFETS as well as the additional inventory projected to be

generated from future processing of plutonium residues into more stable

forms suitable for safe storage. DOE intends to prepare an EIS to

evaluate the potential environmental impacts associated with reasonable

alternative means of providing the needed storage.

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

NOI and will continue until August 16, 1996. Written comments

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

Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Comments

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postmarked after that date will be considered to the extent

practicable.

A public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 6, 1996, from

6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at RFETS, Building 60 (located immediately off

State Highway 93 at the RFETS west entrance).

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

Flats Plutonium Storage EIS, including issues to be addressed, should

be submitted to: Ms. Dorothy Newell, NEPA Document Manager, U.S.

Department of Energy, Rocky Flats Field Office, Office of Material

Stabilization and Disposition (Building 460), P.O. Box 928, Golden, CO

80402-0928, (Facsimile number 303-966-2497).

Envelopes should be marked ``Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS''.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the Rocky

Flats Plutonium Storage EIS, please contact: Ms. Dorothy Newell, NEPA

Document Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, Rocky Flats Field Office,

Office of Material Stabilization and Disposition (Building 460),

Telephone number: 303-966-3521.

For general information on the DOE NEPA process, please contact:

Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance

(EH-42), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20585, Telephone number: 202-586-4600 or leave a

message at 800-472-2756.

Addresses of reading rooms where additional Rocky Flats Plutonium

Storage EIS information is available are listed in the Public Scoping

Process section, below.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The DOE announces its intent to prepare an

EIS pursuant to NEPA (42 USC 4321, et seq.), in accordance with the CEQ

Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR

Parts 1500-1508) and the DOE NEPA implementing regulations (10 CFR Part

1021). DOE has identified the need to provide for safe interim storage

of the approximately 10 metric tons of plutonium metals (including

pits, which are plutonium-bearing weapons components) and oxides

currently at the RFETS or projected to be generated from future

processing of plutonium residues into more stable forms suitable for

safe storage. DOE intends to prepare an EIS to evaluate the potential

environmental impacts associated with alternative reasonable means of

providing the needed storage.

DOE also announces its decision to defer completion of a RFETS

Site-wide EIS (SWEIS), pending completion of a new cleanup agreement

among DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the State of

Colorado for RFETS, and pending decisions that may result from issuance

of the Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (WM

PEIS) (DOE/EIS-0200-D, Draft EIS issued August 1995). At the time of

the publication of the Notice of Intent (59 FR 40011, August 5, 1994)

for the Rocky Flats SWEIS, the Department anticipated that the SWEIS

would analyze reasonable alternatives regarding waste management,

cleanup, economic conversion, and special nuclear materials (which

include plutonium and highly enriched uranium) management activities at

RFETS. Because future activities proposed at RFETS are expected to be

heavily influenced by the terms of the new cleanup agreement and the

programmatic decisions resulting from the WM PEIS, DOE has determined

that it is preferable to defer completion of the SWEIS until these

decisions are made.

Purpose and Need

RFETS, a Federal Government-owned, contractor-operated facility

located near Golden, Colorado, began operations in 1952. RFETS's

primary mission was the production of component parts for nuclear

weapons. Although weapon component production ceased in 1989, RFETS

still has a plutonium metal and oxide inventory (including pits) of 9.8

metric tons stored in six major buildings. In addition, current plans

for processing plutonium-bearing residues into a more stable form

suitable for storage will result in approximately 0.45 metric tons of

plutonium oxide: 0.15 metric tons derived from stabilization of

solutions and 0.3 metric tons from stabilization of solid residues.

As discussed further below, the Department needs to improve the

storage arrangements for plutonium metals and oxides at RFETS. Although

DOE is engaged in a programmatic (Department-wide) evaluation of

alternatives for the long-term storage and disposition of plutonium, no

decisions regarding long-term storage and disposition have yet been

made. The analysis being undertaken by DOE in the Rocky Flats Plutonium

Storage EIS for interim storage of plutonium metals and oxides at RFETS

will serve to ensure that decisions on safe and cost-effective interim

storage can be made and implemented in the event that long-term storage

and disposition decisions, or the implementation of these decisions,

should be delayed for any reason.

Background

A number of the buildings at RFETS, including those storing the

site's plutonium inventory, are several decades old. In early 1994,

RFETS began consolidating its entire plutonium metal and oxide

inventory into Building 371, the newest and most structurally sound

building at the site. DOE examined issues associated with the

consolidation and safe storage of plutonium in Building 371 at levels

above the building's historic limit in the Consolidation and Interim

Storage of Special Nuclear Material at the Rocky Flats Environmental

Technology Site Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-1060, June 1995). In

addition to enhancing the safety of plutonium storage at RFETS, this

consolidation, when completed, will also reduce costs associated with

operations, maintenance, and security of storage facilities.

In its Recommendation 94-3 (September 1994), the Defense Nuclear

Facilities Safety Board, which oversees nuclear safety at DOE sites,

questioned the suitability of Building 371 for storage of the RFETS

plutonium inventory, in light of the uncertainty of the duration of the

storage mission at RFETS. Recommendation 94-3 questioned the ability of

Building 371 to withstand certain accident scenarios, especially

earthquakes, that could potentially lead to the release of plutonium

and pose a hazard to workers, the public, and the surrounding

environment. The Board recommended that DOE formulate an integrated

program plan to address the civil engineering, structural, seismic, and

safety issues related to the storage activities in Building 371 and to

specify building upgrades and improvements consistent with the

building's storage mission. In response to the Board's recommendations,

DOE initiated studies of safer and more cost effective plutonium

storage methods at RFETS in parallel with its ongoing consolidation

efforts. These studies provide much of the foundation for the

preliminary alternatives identified below for ensuring safe interim

storage of the RFETS plutonium inventory.

When the Notice of Intent for the SWEIS was published in 1994, DOE

intended that the SWEIS would examine the environmental impacts

associated with RFETS special nuclear materials management activities

(including safe storage), waste management, cleanup, and economic

conversion activities. With the exception of plutonium metal and oxide

storage issues, the remaining activities

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to be analyzed in the SWEIS are likely to be influenced by the new

RFETS cleanup agreement and decisions based on completion of the

Department's WM PEIS (discussed under ``Related Documentation,''

below). The RFETS cleanup agreement is intended to establish a process

for setting enforceable cleanup milestones and accelerating cleanup

actions. The WM PEIS (Draft EIS issued August 1995) addresses

nationwide Departmental management alternatives for various categories

of waste, and RFETS is considered in that document as a potential

treatment, storage, and/or disposal location for some waste types. Upon

completion of the RFETS cleanup agreement (planned for the summer of

1996) and issuance of Records of Decision for individual waste types

for the WM PEIS (scheduled for early 1997), it is expected that the

purpose and need, scope, and proposed actions for the RFETS SWEIS will

be better defined. Therefore, completion of the SWEIS will be deferred,

pending completion of the cleanup agreement and decisions resulting

from the WM PEIS.

With regard, however, to the storage of RFETS plutonium metals and

oxides, a decision on a course of action to ensure the continued safe

interim storage of this material is required sooner than, and

independently of, the waste management and land use decisions on which

the planned SWEIS analysis would focus. For this reason, DOE has

decided to proceed at this time to analyze storage alternatives in the

Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS rather than deferring this analysis

to the SWEIS. However, any decisions made following completion of the

Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS will be included as appropriate in

the cumulative impacts analysis in the SWEIS.

The Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS will analyze alternatives for

the safe interim storage of RFETS plutonium metals and oxides. Long-

term storage and disposition options for these materials are being

analyzed in DOE's Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile

Materials Programmatic EIS (S&D PEIS)(DOE/EIS-0229-D, Draft EIS issued

February 1996). Under the No Action alternative in the S&D PEIS, RFETS

weapons-usable fissile materials would remain at the RFETS. Other

alternatives considered in the S&D PEIS include the transportation and

storage of this material to six other DOE sites: the Hanford Site in

Washington, the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, the Pantex Plant

in Texas, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Nevada Test

Site, and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. Any decisions

resulting from the Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS will be consistent

with the decisions made as a result of the S&D PEIS analysis. The draft

S&D PEIS was issued for public review in February 1996. The final S&D

PEIS is scheduled to be completed in November 1996, and the Record of

Decision is scheduled for December 1996, before the Record of Decision

for the Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS.

Public Scoping Process

To ensure that the Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS addresses the

full range of issues and alternatives related to the safe interim

storage of RFETS plutonium metals and oxides, DOE invites all

interested persons to submit relevant oral or written comments to Ms.

Dorothy Newell at the address listed above. DOE also invites all

interested persons to present oral and/or written comments at the

public scoping meeting scheduled for August 6, 1996. All written and

oral comments will be recorded and given equal weight in preparation of

the draft Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS.

Persons desiring to speak at the meeting are requested to submit

their written requests by mail or facsimile to Ms. Dorothy Newell, at

the address or number listed above, at least two working days before

the meeting. Persons who register at the meeting will be called on to

speak as time permits, after the pre-registered speakers. This meeting

is scheduled for Tuesday, August 6, 1996, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.,

at RFETS, Building 60 (located immediately off State Highway 93 at the

RFETS west entrance). Written comments also will 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 the preparation of the EIS. DOE

will publish additional notices of the date, time, 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 oral comments

received during the public scoping meeting. Interested persons will be

able to review the transcripts, written comments, reference material,

related NEPA documents, and background information on RFETS during

normal business hours at the following locations:

U.S. Department of Energy, Freedom of Information Room, Room 1E-190,

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

20585, Telephone: 202-586-6020

U.S. Department of Energy, Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site

Public Reading Room, Front Range Community College Library, 3645 West

112th Avenue, Westminster, CO 80030, Telephone: 303-469-4435

Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, Citizens Advisory Board,

9035 Wadsworth Parkway, Suite 2250, Westminster, CO 80021, Telephone:

303-420-7855.

Preliminary Alternatives

Discussed below are the preliminary alternatives identified for

safe interim storage of RFETS plutonium metal and oxide. DOE welcomes

comments on these or other reasonable alternatives and on the

identification of a preferred alternative.

Alternative 1--No Action: As required by Council on Environmental

Quality and DOE regulations, the No Action alternative provides a

reference point against which the environmental impacts associated with

the other alternatives analyzed can be compared. In general, the No

Action alternative consists of the continuation of ongoing storage

activities and stabilization activities, and the initiation of any new

activities for which NEPA analysis has already been completed.

Specifically, the No Action alternative consists of the continued

consolidation of plutonium metals and oxides from other buildings into

Building 371, and completion of immediate safety upgrades, such as

installation of fasteners between beams and repairs to fire doors, in

Building 371. The No Action alternative also includes the continuation

of RFETS activities associated with the stabilization and repackaging

of plutonium metals and oxides in compliance with DOE's Criteria for

Safe Storage of Plutonium Metal and Oxide. These criteria include

standards for material form, container specifications, packaging, and

surveillance and inspection.

Alternative 2--On-Site Storage: In addition to the stabilization

and repackaging activities and the immediate safety upgrades addressed

in Alternative 1, this alternative would encompass the following two

subalternatives:

a. New Storage Vault--A new storage vault would be constructed to

store the entire RFETS plutonium metals and oxides inventory. Until the

vault would be ready for operation, DOE would

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continue to consolidate plutonium metals and oxides into Building 371

and undertake minimal structural and system upgrades in addition to

those identified under Alternative 1.

b. Building 371 with Seismic Upgrades--DOE would continue to

consolidate plutonium metals and oxides into Building 371 and would

enhance the building's safety envelope with seismic and safety system

upgrades. Upgrades to Building 371 under this subalternative would be

more extensive than those defined for Alternative 1 or 2(a).

Alternative 3--Off-site Storage: This alternative incorporates the

activities considered in Alternative 1 and provides for the interim

storage of the RFETS plutonium metal and oxide at another DOE site.

RFETS plutonium metals and oxides, packaged in accordance with the DOE

Criteria for Safe Storage of Plutonium Metal and Oxide, would be

shipped to one or more of the six sites that are being considered for

long-term storage and disposition in the S&D PEIS and that have

available storage capacity to meet the interim storage needs for the

RFETS materials.

Preliminary Issues To Be Addressed

The Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS will address the impacts of

alternatives to the extent necessary to make a reasoned choice among

the alternatives. The following preliminary issues are presented to

facilitate public discussion of the Rocky Flats Plutonium Storage EIS.

This presentation is not intended to be all inclusive.

1. Public and Occupational Safety and Health. The potential

radiological and non-radiological impacts of the plutonium storage

alternatives, including projected effects on workers and the public

from routine operations and potential accidents.

2. Environmental Media. Potential impacts on soil, water, and the

air.

3. Sensitive Environmental Resources. Potential impacts on plants,

animals, and habitat, including impacts to flood plains, wetlands, and

threatened and endangered species and their habitat.

4. Resource Consumption. Potential impacts from consumption of

natural resources and energy, including water, natural gas, and

electricity.

5. Socioeconomic. Potential impacts on local communities, including

labor force employment and support services.

6. Environmental Justice. Potential for disproportionately high and

adverse impacts of DOE activities on minority and low-income

populations.

7. Cultural Resources. Potential impacts on cultural resources,

such as historic, archeological, scientific, or culturally important

sites.

8. Regulatory Compliance. The impacts of the alternatives on

compliance of RFETS with applicable Federal and state laws and

regulations.

9. Cumulative Impacts. The impacts of alternatives in conjunction

with other past, present and reasonably foreseeable future actions

regardless of agency (Federal or non-Federal) or persons undertaking

such other actions.

10. Potential Irreversible and Irretrievable Commitment of

Resources. The potential irreversible and irretrievable commitments of

resources that would be involved in each alternative.