[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 9, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-3096]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: February 9, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Availability of a Revised Draft Environmental Assessment of the
Urgent-Relief Acceptance of Foreign Research Reactor Spent Fuel
AGENCY: United States Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, 42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq., the Council on Environmental Quality regulations
implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, 40 CFR 1500 et
seq., and the United States Department of Energy's implementing
procedures, 10 CFR part 1021, the Department of Energy has prepared a
revised draft Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-0912) to evaluate the
potential environmental impacts of the proposed urgent-relief
acceptance of foreign research reactor spent fuel containing uranium
enriched in the United States.
DATES: The revised draft Environmental Assessment is available to the
general public, and has been distributed to individuals known to be
interested in the proposal. Written comments received on or before
March 7, 1994, will be considered in the decisionmaking process and, if
appropriate, in preparing the final Environmental Assessment. Written
comments received after March 7, 1994, will be considered to the extent
practicable. Written comments should be sent to Mr. Charles Head at the
address listed below.
ADDRESSES AND FURTHER INFORMATION: Persons requesting additional
information regarding this proposed action or desiring a copy of the
revised draft Environmental Assessment should contact:
Mr. Charles Head, Office of Spent Fuel Management, Office of
Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, U.S. Department of
Energy (Mail Stop EM-37), 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington,
DC 20585, (202) 586-0200.
Copies of the revised draft Environmental Assessment are available
for public review at the following Department of Energy reading rooms:
U.S. Department of Energy, Freedom of Information Reading Room,
Forrestal Building, room 1E-190, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585.
U.S. Department of Energy, Public Reading Room, Gregg Graniteville
Library, 171 University Parkway, Aiken, SC 29801.
For general information regarding the Department of Energy National
Environmental Policy Act process, please contact:
Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Office of National Environmental Policy Act
Oversight, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-4600 or (800) 472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In October 1993, the Department of Energy
distributed for comment a draft Environmental Assessment which
evaluated the proposed urgent-relief acceptance of up to 700 elements
of foreign research reactor spent fuel containing uranium enriched in
the United States. The Department proposed to transport that spent fuel
to the United States as part of an effort to minimize the use of highly
enriched uranium in civil programs worldwide. This reduces the risk of
theft or diversion of this material for use in developing nuclear
weapons. The urgency of that proposed action arose from the need to
ensure that countries currently possessing this spent fuel continue to
support the nonproliferation initiatives of the United States embodied
in the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program until
an Environmental Impact Statement could be completed on the proposed
policy to accept up to 15,000 spent fuel elements from foreign research
reactors for up to fifteen years.
It was apparent from the comments that the Department received in
response to the October 1993 draft Environmental Assessment that many
people did not agree that there is a need for the United States to
accept this spent fuel. Others expressed concerns regarding DOE's plans
for implementing the proposed action.
Recently completed visits by teams of experts from the United
States to foreign research reactors in Europe and Australia, while
altering some details of the Department's proposal for urgent-relief
acceptance, have confirmed the near-term need for the acceptance of a
limited number of foreign research reactor spent fuel elements until
the Environmental Impact Statement has been completed. A Notice of
Intent announcing the Department's plans for preparation of this
Environmental Impact Statement was published in the Federal Register on
October 21, 1993, and nine public scoping meetings were held during
November and December 1993.
A revised draft Environmental Assessment, which includes revisions
made in response to comments received on the October 1993 draft, has
now been prepared and is available for public review and comment. The
proposed action is to accept a limited number of highly enriched
uranium spent fuel elements which would be shipped by sea to any one of
seven ports (Newport News, Norfolk, or Portsmouth, Virginia;
Charleston, South Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina; Savannah,
Georgia; and Jacksonville, Florida) and then by truck to the
Department's Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina, for
interim storage.
The revised draft Environmental Assessment notes that failure to
accept any spent fuel would have serious negative impacts on the
Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program and the
attendant United States policy to minimize the civil use of highly
enriched uranium. The Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors
Program, initiated in 1978 and still ongoing, is aimed at reducing the
demand for highly enriched uranium by developing high density, low
enriched uranium fuels which are not directly usable in nuclear
weapons, to replace the highly enriched uranium fuels used in both
domestic and foreign research reactors. Although the countries from
which the Department is considering accepting spent fuel are not
themselves countries of nuclear proliferation concern, these countries
export research reactors and fuel to developing countries and have
participated in the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors
program. This program has been responsible for gaining worldwide
acceptance of low enriched uranium fuels for research reactors, thus
promoting important nonproliferation interests.
The Department of Energy invites those interested in the proposed
urgent-relief acceptance of a limited number of spent fuel elements
from foreign research reactors to review the revised draft
Environmental Assessment and to provide comments. Comments postmarked
by March 7, 1994, will receive full consideration in the decisionmaking
process. Comments postmarked after that date will be considered to the
extent practicable.
Issued at Washington, DC, this February 4, 1994.
Tara O'Toole,
Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 94-3096 Filed 2-8-94; 8:45 am]
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