Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials Draft

Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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

the Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials Draft

Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Storage and Disposition

Draft PEIS) for public review and comment. The Department has prepared

this Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS 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

Implementing Procedures (10 CFR Part 1021). The PEIS analyzes

alternatives for two proposed actions: (1) to provide a long-term

storage system for weapons-usable fissile materials that meets all

applicable environmental, safety, and health standards while reducing

storage and infrastructure cost; and (2) to provide for disposition of

surplus plutonium (Pu) and Pu that may be declared surplus in the

future, in order to achieve proliferation resistance by making the Pu

as inaccessible and difficult to retrieve after disposition as the Pu

in spent fuel from commercial reactors (referred to as the Spent Fuel

Standard). Throughout this Notice, reference to Pu or to plutonium

refers only to weapons-usable plutonium.

DATES: The public is invited to comment on the Storage and Disposition

Draft PEIS during the public comment period that begins on March 8,

1996 and continues until May 7, 1996. Comments postmarked after that

date will be considered to the extent practicable. The Department will

hold eight public meetings to discuss and receive comments on the

Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS. The times and locations of these

meetings are provided in the Supplementary Information to this Notice

of Availability.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Storage and Disposition Draft

PEIS and related information should be directed to: Office of Fissile

Materials Disposition (MD-4), Attention: Storage and Disposition PEIS,

U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC

20585, or by calling 1-800-820-5134.

Written comments on the Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS 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 by calling

1-800-820-5156.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Information regarding the DOE National

Environmental Policy Act process should be directed to: 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 by calling 1-800-472-2756.

Availability of the Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS: Copies of

the Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS are being distributed to

Federal, State, Indian tribal, and local officials, as well as

agencies, organizations and individuals who may be interested or

affected. Copies of the draft PEIS are also available for public review

along with supporting technical reports 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. 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, to solicit public

input, and to announce that public scoping meetings would be conducted

from August through October 1994. Twelve 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.

On March 30, 1995, the Implementation Plan for the PEIS was issued,

which provided guidance and the schedule for the preparation of the

PEIS.

Alternatives Considered

The Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS assesses environmental

impacts of the proposed actions, which include activities that would

result in:

--The long-term storage of inventories of non-surplus weapons-usable Pu

and highly enriched uranium (HEU);

--The storage of inventories of weapons-usable Pu and HEU that have

been or may be declared surplus, pending disposition; and,

--The disposition of weapons-usable Pu that has or may be declared

surplus (disposition of surplus HEU is being addressed in a separate

Disposition of Surplus Highly Enriched Uranium Environmental Impact

Statement).

The Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS analyzes the following

reasonable long-term storage alternatives: (1) upgrade or replacement

of current Pu and HEU storage facilities at multiple DOE sites, (2)

consolidation of Pu at a single DOE site, and (3) collocation of Pu and

HEU at a single DOE site. The six candidate storage sites are: Hanford

Site, Washington; Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), Idaho;

Nevada Test Site (NTS), Nevada; Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), Tennessee;

Pantex Plant, Texas; and Savannah River Site (SRS), South Carolina. For

disposition, the Draft PEIS analyzes broader, programmatic strategies

and technologies; DOE will prepare subsequent, tiered site specific

NEPA documentation as necessary for disposition. The reasonable

disposition alternatives fall into three categories: (1) the Deep

Borehole Category consisting of two alternatives--Direct Disposition,

and Immobilized Disposition; (2) the Immobilization Category consisting

of three alternatives--Vitrification, Ceramic Immobilization, and

Electrometallurgical Treatment; and (3) the Reactor Category consisting

of four alternatives--Existing Light Water Reactors (LWRs),

Evolutionary LWRs, Partially Completed LWRs, and the Canadian Deuterium

Uranium (CANDU) Reactor. In addition, No Action Alternatives are

analyzed, in which no change in storage and/or no disposition would

occur.

Under the upgrade at multiple sites long-term storage alternative,

DOE would either modify certain existing facilities or build new

facilities

[[Page 9444]]

depending on the site's requirements to meet standards for nuclear

material storage facilities, and would utilize existing site

infrastructure to the extent possible. These modified or new facilities

would be designed to operate for up to 50 years. Pu materials currently

stored at Hanford, INEL, Pantex, and SRS would remain at those four

sites, and HEU would remain at ORR. Pu materials at Rocky Flats would

be moved to one or more of these four sites. Currently, NTS does not

generally store weapons-usable fissile materials within the scope of

this PEIS and, therefore, is not a candidate site for this alternative.

Under the consolidation of Pu long-term storage alternative, Pu

materials at the above four existing sites, plus those at Rocky Flats,

would be removed, and the entire DOE inventory of Pu would be

consolidated at one site, while the HEU inventory would remain at ORR.

Again, the four sites with existing Pu storage are candidate sites for

Pu consolidation. In addition, NTS and ORR are also candidate sites for

this alternative.

Under the collocation of Pu and HEU long-term storage alternative,

the entire DOE inventory of Pu described above would be consolidated

and collocated at the same site as the HEU inventory. The six candidate

sites are the same as those for the consolidation of Pu alternative.

With respect to the disposition alternatives, the first step in Pu

disposition would be to remove the surplus Pu from storage, then

process this material in a pit disassembly and conversion facility or a

Pu conversion facility (for non-pit metal and oxides) at a DOE site, so

that the Pu material would be in a suitable form for disposition.

For the deep borehole category of disposition alternatives, surplus

weapons-usable Pu would be disposed of in deep boreholes that would be

drilled at least 4 km (2.5 mi) into ancient, geologically stable rock

formations beneath the water table. The deep borehole would provide a

geologic barrier against potential proliferation. A generic site for

the borehole is analyzed in the draft PEIS. The borehole complex would

consist of five major facilities: processing, drilling, emplacing/

sealing, waste management, and support (security, maintenance,

utilities). Under the deep borehole direct disposition alternative, the

surplus Pu would be converted to a form suitable for emplacement,

packaged, shipped, and placed in a deep borehole. The deep borehole

would be sealed to isolate the Pu from the ambient environment. Under

the deep borehole immobilized disposition alternative, the surplus Pu

would first be immobilized in cylindrical ceramic pellets at a ceramic

immobilization facility, and the ceramic pellets would then be emplaced

in the borehole.

For the immobilization category of disposition alternatives,

surplus Pu would be immobilized to create a chemically stable form for

the domestic high-level waste (HLW) program, and possible future

disposal in a HLW repository. For all alternatives in this category,

the Pu material would be mixed with HLW or other radioactive isotopes

and immobilized to create a radiation field that would serve as a

proliferation deterrent, thereby achieving the Spent Fuel Standard.

Under the vitrification immobilization alternative, surplus Pu would be

mixed with glass frit and the highly radioactive isotope cesium-137

(Cs-137) to produce borosilicate glass logs. Under the ceramic

immobilization alternative, surplus Pu would be mixed with

nonradioactive ceramic materials and Cs-137 to produce ceramic disks.

Under the electrometallurgical treatment immobilization alternative,

surplus Pu would be mixed with zeolites (aluminum silicate materials),

glass frit, and Cs-137. This mixture would be immobilized through an

electrorefining processing to produce glass-bonded zeolite forms,

shaped like large hockey pucks.

The reactor category of disposition alternatives considered in the

Storage and Disposition PEIS would utilize surplus Pu in mixed oxide

(MOX) fuel, for use in commercial nuclear reactors that generate

electricity. Under the existing LWRs alternative, the MOX fuel

containing surplus Pu would be fabricated and transported to two or

more existing commercial LWRs in the U.S., either pressurized water

reactors (PWRs) or boiling water reactors (BWRs), for use in place of

conventional uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel. Under the partially

completed LWRs alternative, commercial LWRs on which construction has

been halted would be completed. The completed reactors would use MOX

fuel containing surplus Pu. The characteristics of these LWRs would be

essentially the same as those of the existing LWRs discussed in the

existing LWR alternative. Under the evolutionary LWRs alternative,

improved versions of existing commercial LWRs would be used. Two design

approaches for evolutionary LWRs are considered in the Storage and

Disposition PEIS. The first is a large PWR or BWR similar to the size

of the existing PWRs and BWRs. The second is a small PWR approximately

one-half the size of a large PWR. Under the CANDU reactor alternative,

the MOX fuel containing surplus Pu would be fabricated in a domestic or

foreign facility, and then transported for use in a commercial heavy

water reactor in Canada.

Preferred Alternative

A preferred alternative has not yet been identified. After

considering comments on the draft PEIS and after completion of

technical, schedule, cost, and policy assessments, DOE will identify a

preferred alternative in the Storage and Disposition Final PEIS.

Invitation To Comment

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

all portions of the Storage and Disposition Draft PEIS. DOE's responses

to comments received during the public comment period will be presented

in the Storage and Disposition Final PEIS.

The Department particularly invites public comment on the

reasonableness of the deep borehole category of alternatives. DOE is

considering whether to drop the deep borehole category of alternatives

from the final PEIS. These alternatives were included in the draft PEIS

in response to a report from the National Academy of Sciences.

Public Meetings

DOE will hold eight public meetings, each with a combination of

morning, afternoon or evening sessions in each location (except for the

Washington, D.C. meeting as noted below), as detailed in the following

schedule. The meeting format will provide for collection of written and

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

with DOE officials. Participants are asked to register for the meetings

in advance by calling 1-800-820-5134. Morning sessions will be from

8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Afternoon sessions will be from Noon to 5:00

p.m. Evening sessions will be from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Meetings on

the dates identified with an asterisk (*) are being coordinated with

the public meetings for other EISs such as the Stockpile Stewardship

and Management PEIS and the Pantex Site-Wide EIS. This will provide the

public with a better opportunity to participate in the process for each

of these documents which are occurring in the same time frame, may

involve some of the same sites, and may have relationships between some

of the activities.

March 26, 1996

Afternoon & Evening

Denver, CO,

Arvada Center,

[[Page 9445]]

6901 Wadsworth Boulevard,

Arvada, CO 80003,

(303) 431-3082

March 28 & 29, 1996*

3/28 Evening, 3/29 Morning

Las Vegas, NV,

Sands Convention Center,

201 East Sands Avenue,

Las Vegas, NV 89109,

(702) 733-5369

April 2, 1996*

Morning & Evening

Oak Ridge, TN,

Garden Plaza,

215 South Illinois Street,

Oak Ridge, TN 37830,

(423) 481-2468

April 11, 1996

Afternoon & Evening,

Richland, WA,

Red Lion/Hanford House,

802 George Washington Way,

Richland, WA 99352,

(509) 946-7611

April 15, 1996

Afternoon & Evening

Idaho Falls, ID,

Shilo Inn,

780 Lindsay Boulevard,

Idaho Falls, ID 83402,

(208) 523-0088

April 18, 1996*

Morning

Washington, D.C.,

U.S. Department of Energy,

Forrestal Building, Room 1E-245,

1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, D.C. 20585,

(202) 586-4513

April 22 & 23, 1996*

4/22 Evening, 4/23 Morning & Afternoon

Amarillo, TX,

Radisson Inn,

Amarillo Airport,

7909 I-40,

East Amarillo, TX 79104,

(806) 373-3303

April 30, 1996*

Morning & Evening

North Augusta, SC,

North Augusta Community Center,

495 Brookside Avenue,

North Augusta, SC,

(803) 441-4290

DOE Public Reading Rooms

Copies of the draft Storage and Disposition PEIS, as well as

technical data reports and other supporting documents, are available

for public review at the following locations:

Albuquerque Operations Office, National Atomic Museum, 20358 Wyoming

Boulevard, SE, Kirtland AFB, NM 87117, 505-284-3243

Amarillo Area Office

1. U.S. Department of Energy, Amarillo College, Lynn Library/

Learning Center, 2201 South Washington, P.O. Box 447, Amarillo, TX

79178,806-371-5400

2. U.S. DOE Reading Room, Carson County Library, 401 Main Street,

P.O. Box 339, Panhandle, TX 79068,806-537-3742

Chicago Operations Office,

Office of Planning, Communications & EEO,

U.S. Department of Energy,

9800 South Cass Avenue,

Argonne, Il 60439,

708-252-2013

Headquarters, Department of Energy,

U.S. Department of Energy,

Room 1E-190, Forrestal Building,

1000 Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC 20585,

202-586-3142

Idaho Operations Office,

Idaho Public Reading Room,

1776 Science Center Drive,

Idaho Falls, ID 83402,

208-526-0271

Los Alamos National Laboratory,

U.S. Department of Energy,

c/o Los Alamos Community Reading Room,

1350 Central, Suite 101,

Los Alamos, NM 87544,

505-665-2127

Nevada Operations Office,

Nevada Operations Office,

U.S. Department of Energy,

Public Reading Room,

2621 Losse Road,

North Las Vegas, NV 89030,

702-295-1128,

Oak Ridge Operations Office,

U.S. Department of Energy,

Public Reading Room,

55 South Jefferson Circle, Room 112,

P.O. Box 2001,

Oak Ridge, TN 37831-8501,

423-241-4780

Richland Operations Office,

Washington State University,

Tri-Cities Branch Campus,

100 Sprout Road, Room 130 West,

Richland, WA 99352,

509-376-8583

Rocky Flats Office,

Front Range Community College Library,

3645 West 112th Avenue,

Westminister, CO 80030,

303-469-4435,

Sandia National Laboratory,

Livermore Public Library,

1000 S. Livermore Avenue,

Livermore, CA 94550,

510-373-5500

Savannah River Operations Office,

Gregg-Graniteville Library,

University of South Carolina-Aiken,

171 University Parkway,

Aiken, SC 29801,

803-641-3320

Issued in Washington, DC, March 5, 1996.

Gregory P. Rudy,

Acting Director, Office of Fissile Materials Disposition.

[FR Doc. 96-5562 Filed 3-7-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450-01-P