[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 25, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38646-38648]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-18539]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Revision to the Record of Decision for the Department of Energy's
Waste Management Program: Treatment and Storage of Transuranic Waste
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Revision to record of decision.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE), pursuant to 10 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) 1021.315, is revising the Record of Decision (ROD)
for the DOE Waste Management Program: Treatment and Storage of
Transuranic (TRU) Waste, issued on January 20, 1998 (63 Federal
Register (FR) 3629) and revised previously on December 29, 2000 (65 FR
82985). The Department has now decided to transfer approximately 300
cubic meters of contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) waste from the
Mound Plant in Ohio to the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina
for storage, characterization, and repackaging prior to sending it to
the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico for disposal. The
CH-TRU waste will be shipped to SRS in specially designed railcars
under an exemption granted by the U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT). The exemption allows for the shipment of 10 railcar loads, each
containing no more than 200 curies of plutonium, and is in effect
through May 2002. Previously in its ROD, based in part on the analysis
in the Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (WM
PEIS, DOE/EIS-0200F, dated May 1997), DOE had decided (with one
exception) that each DOE site would prepare its own TRU waste for
disposal and store it onsite until it is shipped to WIPP. Because DOE
is closing the Mound Plant and the site is being converted into a
commercial/industrial park, establishing a new capability at Mound to
repackage its TRU waste to meet the specifications for shipment to WIPP
is not practical or cost-effective.
DOE needs to ship its TRU waste from the Mound Plant to another
site for repackaging into the TRU Package Transporter-II (TRUPACT-II)
containers that are required for shipments to WIPP.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the WM PEIS, the 1998 WM
PEIS ROD for TRU waste, the first revised WM PEIS ROD for TRU waste
(issued in 2000), this revised ROD, and the Supplement Analysis for
Transportation of TRU Waste from the Mound Plant to SRS for
Repackaging, Characterization, and Storage (DOE/EIS-0200-SA02) will be
available on DOE's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Web at:
http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa under DOE NEPA Analyses. To request copies
of any of these documents, please write or call:
The Center for Environmental Management Information, P.O. Box
23769, Washington, DC 20026-3769, Telephone: 1-800-736-3282 (in
Washington, DC 202-863-5084).
For further information regarding disposal of TRU waste at WIPP,
contact: Ms. Lynne Smith, WIPP Office (EM-23), Office of Environmental
Management, U.S. Department of Energy, 19001 Germantown Road,
Germantown, Maryland 20874-1290, Telephone: 301-903-3124.
For further information on the DOE program for the management of
TRU
[[Page 38647]]
waste at the Mound Plant or this revision to the ROD, contact: Mr.
Robert S. Rothman, Miamisburg Environmental Management Project, Ohio
Field Office, U.S. Department of Energy, 1 Mound Road, Miamisburg, Ohio
45342, Telephone: 937-865-3823.
For information on DOE's NEPA process, contact: Ms. Carol
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance, EH-42, U.S.
Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC
20585, Telephone: 202-586-4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The WM PEIS, DOE/EIS-0200F, May 1997, evaluated the potential
environmental impacts of treating and storing TRU waste. In the 1998 WM
PEIS ROD for TRU waste, DOE decided that ``each of the Department's
sites that currently has or will generate TRU waste will prepare and
store its waste on site'' prior to shipment to WIPP. (The only
exception to this decision was the Sandia National Laboratory in New
Mexico, which will ship its waste to the Los Alamos National Laboratory
for disposal preparation and storage before disposal in WIPP.) DOE also
noted that ``in the future, the Department may decide to ship TRU
wastes from sites where it may be impractical to prepare them for
disposal to sites where DOE has or will have the necessary
capability,'' stating that ``transportation of TRU waste would occur
only in situations where the sites at which the waste is located lack
the capability to prepare it for disposal.'' The WM PEIS ROD also
stated that the sites that could receive TRU waste shipments from other
sites were the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory,
the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the SRS, and the Hanford Site, and
that such decisions would be subject to appropriate review under NEPA.
The Miamisburg Environmental Management Project of the DOE Ohio
Field Office is responsible for managing approximately 300 cubic meters
of CH-TRU waste from past and present activities and future plans at
the Mound Plant. Most of this waste (pipes and waste boxes) is too
large to ship in the Type B TRUPACT-II containers that must be used to
transport CH-TRU waste to WIPP. The Mound Plant does not possess the
necessary facilities or equipment to reduce the size of and repackage
the TRU waste to meet WIPP's shipping requirements and therefore would
need to establish such a capability at the Mound Plant in order to
place its inventory of TRU waste into TRUPACT-II containers for direct
shipment to WIPP.
II. Decision
DOE has decided to transfer approximately 300 cubic meters of CH-
TRU waste (having a total of approximately 1,000 curies) from the Mound
Plant to SRS for storage, characterization, and repackaging for
disposal at WIPP. DOE will ship this Mound CH-TRU waste to SRS in OHOX
railcars (formerly known as ATMX railcars), in accordance with a DOT
exemption from the requirement for shipping this waste in a Type B
container. DOE will make up to ten shipments, each with one OHOX
railcar loaded with no more than 200 curies of TRU waste.
III. Basis for the Decision
DOE is closing the Mound Plant and the site is being converted into
a commercial/industrial park. Given DOE's plan to close the Mound
Plant, establishing a new treatment capability at Mound to repackage
its TRU waste, as would be necessary to meet the specifications for
shipment to WIPP, is not practical or cost-effective. Moreover, the
operation and eventual decontamination and decommissioning of such a
waste treatment capability at Mound would delay closure of the site and
generate additional waste that would require disposal. Thus, DOE needs
to ship its TRU waste from the Mound Plant to another site for
repackaging for shipment to WIPP.
At SRS, the TRU waste will be managed with TRU waste from SRS; that
is, the Mound waste will be stored, characterized, and then repackaged
for shipment to WIPP for disposal. SRS is currently managing and will
continue to manage large amounts of TRU waste (approximately 12,000
cubic meters through 2033). SRS TRU waste is stored on pads in E-area.
DOE has decided to construct and operate the TRU Waste
Characterization/Certification Facility at the SRS, in which it will
characterize, repackage (including size-reduce), and certify TRU waste
for shipment for disposal at WIPP (SRS WM EIS, DOE/EIS-0217F, July
1995, and Supplemental ROD SRS WM, 62 FR 27241, May 1997). Before
implementing DOE's plans to construct and operate such a facility (in
about 2012), however, DOE will determine what, if any, additional NEPA
review is needed.
DOE believes that use of the OHOX railcar will be a safe
alternative to use of a Type B container for shipping the Mound TRU
waste to SRS because of the terms of the DOT exemption, the design of
the OHOX railcar, and the previous safe use record of the OHOX railcar.
Under the DOT exemption (DOT-E 5948, June 26, 2000 and in effect
through May 2002), the curie content per railcar can be no greater than
200 curies, and there can be no more than ten shipments. With these
limitations, DOE has calculated that the risks and consequences of
shipping Mound TRU waste in OHOX railcars would be no greater than
those estimated in the WM PEIS, even under severe accident conditions.
The design criteria for the OHOX railcar included structural and
fire resistant qualities for preventing or mitigating damage to the
contents in the event of an accident. The car was originally designed
and built for use in transporting nuclear weapons. It can withstand
major impacts through its heavy cast-steel underframe and strong
superstructure, including cross-bracing of the sides. The cars have
been enhanced over the years by structural and insulation modifications
and refurbished and certified to meet current railroad and DOT
standards.
IV. Mitigation
DOE believes that all practicable means to avoid and minimize
environmental harm from implementing this revised decision have already
been adopted in the 1998 WM PEIS ROD for TRU waste referenced above. Of
particular note is DOE's commitment for assistance to States, tribal
and local governments, and other public entities concerning human
health and environmental and economic impacts, including transportation
planning and emergency response assistance.
V. Prior NEPA Analyses
The WM PEIS evaluated the shipment of approximately 1,390 curies of
CH-TRU waste (in ten shipments) in TRUPACT-II containers from Mound to
SRS for storage and preparation for disposal as part of the analysis of
several Regionalized Alternatives for managing TRU waste. DOE recently
prepared a Supplement Analysis for Transportation of TRU Waste from the
Mound Plant to the SRS for Repackaging, Characterization, and Storage
to determine whether the activities and impacts of transporting Mound
TRU waste to SRS in OHOX railcars would present a substantial change in
the proposed action relevant to environmental concerns or significant
new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and
bearing on the proposed action or its impacts and, consequently,
whether a
[[Page 38648]]
supplemental EIS or a new EIS would be needed.
Under the proposed transportation action compared to that analyzed
for the WM PEIS, there would be a reduced total number of curies being
shipped from the Mound Site to SRS, a lower external exposure rate, and
the same or lower number of shipments. Under even severe accident
scenarios, the releases of plutonium would be similar to those
previously analyzed. The transportation risk analysis DOE prepared to
support the DOT exemption for the proposed transportation action is
summarized in and attached to the Supplement Analysis. DOE has
concluded that the proposed action would not, either under incident-
free or accident conditions, present a substantial change relevant to
environmental concerns or significant new circumstances or information
relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action
or its impacts. Therefore, DOE concluded that a supplemental EIS or a
new EIS is not required under 40 CFR 1502.9(c) or 10 CFR 1021.314(c) to
implement this proposal.
Issued in Washington, D.C., this 13 day of July, 2001.
Carolyn L. Huntoon,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 01-18539 Filed 7-24-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P