[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 6, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-8312]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: April 6, 1994]


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Part XIV





Department of Energy





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Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Waste 
Management at the Savannah River Site; Notices
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

 
Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Waste 
Management at the Savannah River Site

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intent to prepare 
an environmental impact statement (EIS) for waste management at the 
Savannah River Site, and to conduct a public scoping process pursuant 
to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 
4321 et seq.).
    The purpose of the Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS is to 
provide a basis for DOE to select a sitewide strategic approach to 
managing present and future Savannah River Site waste generated as a 
result of ongoing operations, environmental restoration activities, 
transition from nuclear production to other missions, and 
decontamination and decommissioning programs. This EIS will support 
project-level decisions on the operation of specific treatment, 
storage, and disposal facilities within the near term (10 years and 
less). In addition, this EIS will provide a baseline for analyses of 
future waste management activities and a basis for the evaluation of 
the specific waste management alternatives. The preparation of the 
Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS will be in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act, the Council on Environmental Quality 
National Environmental Policy Act Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), 
and the DOE National Environmental Policy Act Regulations (10 CFR part 
1021). Background information on the Savannah River Site and issues 
proposed to be considered in this EIS are presented in the 
Supplementary Information below.
    DOE is also announcing today its intent to prepare a Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement on the Defense Waste Processing Facility 
at the Savannah River Site. (See the notice in this issue of the 
Federal Register.)
    DOE invites individuals, organizations, and agencies to comment on 
issues to be considered, alternatives to be analyzed, and environmental 
impacts to be addressed in the Savannah River Site Waste Management 
EIS. Written and oral comments will be given equal weight. Written 
comments should be directed to Stephen R. Wright at the address below. 
Oral comments may be presented by voice mail at the telephone number 
below. Interested parties are invited to present comments at three 
public scoping meetings to be held at the dates and places indicated 
below. Additional notice will be given in appropriate local media. At 
the scoping meetings and informal information sessions to be held one 
month earlier, DOE also will provide the public with an opportunity to 
have information discussions with DOE representatives regarding waste 
management at the Savannah River Site. The scoping process and 
procedures are described in the Supplementary Information below.

DATES: The public scoping period for the Savannah River Site Waste 
Management EIS begins with the publication of this notice and continues 
until May 31, 1994. Written comments submitted by mail should be 
postmarked by that date to ensure consideration. DOE will consider 
comments mailed after that date to the extent practicable.

    DOE will host a series of informal information sessions to provide 
the public with additional information on waste management at the 
Savannah River Site and the proposed actions and alternatives discussed 
in this Notice of Intent. These sessions are intended to promote 
conversation with DOE representatives available to answer questions. 
These informal sessions are scheduled at the following times and 
locations:

    April 12, 1994; 1-4 and 6-9 p.m.; North Augusta Community 
Center, 495 Brookside Avenue, North Augusta, South Carolina.
    April 19, 1994; 1-4 and 6-9 p.m.; DeSoto Hilton Hotel, 15 
Liberty Street, Savannah, Georgia.
    April 21, 1994; 1-4 and 6-9 p.m.; Holiday Inn Coliseum at 
University of South Carolina, 630 Assembly Street, Columbia, South 
Carolina.

    Information sessions on two related EISs--the EIS for Interim 
Management of Nuclear Materials at the Savannah River Site (see the 
Notice of Intent published in the Federal Register on March 17, 1994; 
59 FR 12588) and the Defense Waste Processing Facility Supplemental EIS 
at the Savannah River Site--will be held at the same dates and 
locations.
    DOE will then conduct public scoping meetings to assist in defining 
the appropriate scope of the Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS 
and identifying significant environmental issues to be addressed. DOE 
representatives will be available at the meetings to discuss, in 
informal conversations, Savannah River Site waste management. These 
meetings are scheduled at the following times and locations:

    May 12, 1994; 1-4 and 6-9 p.m.; Coastal Georgia Center for 
Continuing Education, 305 Martin Luther King Boulevard (Battlefield 
Park), Savannah Georgia.
    Mat 17, 1994; 1-4 and 6-9 p.m.; North Augusta Community Center, 
495 Brookside Avenue, North Augusta, South Carolina.
    May 19, 1994; 1-4 and 6-9 p.m.; Holiday Inn Coliseum at 
University of South Carolina, 630 Assembly Street, Columbia, South 
Carolina.

    Scoping meetings on the EIS for Interim Management of Nuclear 
Materials at the Savannah River Site and the Defense Waste Processing 
Facility Supplemental EIS will be held at the same dates and locations. 
DOE will publish additional notices of the information sessions and 
scoping meetings in the local media in advance of the scheduled dates.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the scope of the Savannah River Site Waste 
Management EIS, requests to speak at the public scoping meetings, and 
requests for copies of the EIS Implementation Plan or draft EIS (when 
available) should be directed to: Mr. Stephen R. Wright, U.S. DOE, 
Savannah River Operations Office, P.O. Box 5031, Aiken, SC 29804-5031; 
(803) 725-3957 or (800) 242-8269. Envelopes should be marked: 
``Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS''.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:Questions regarding the Savannah River 
Site Waste Management EIS should be addressed to: Virginia L. Gardner, 
Environmental Restoration Division, U.S. DOE, Savannah River Operations 
Office, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC 29802; (803) 725-5752.
    Questions regarding the DOE National Environmental Policy Act 
process should be addressed to: Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of 
National Environmental Policy Act Oversight (EH-25), U.S. DOE, 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585; (202) 586-4600 or leave 
a message at (800) 472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Savannah River Site occupies approximately 300 square miles 
adjacent to the Savannah River, principally in Aiken and Barnwell 
Counties of South Carolina, approximately 25 miles southeast of 
Augusta, Georgia, and 20 miles south of Aiken, South Carolina. Since 
its establishment, the mission of the Savannah River Site has been to 
produce nuclear materials that support the defense, research, and 
medical programs of the United States. The Savannah River Site 
production process facilities include fuel and target fabrication 
facilities, nuclear production reactors, separation facilities, product 
preparation facilities, and waste management facilities. These 
facilities have generated a variety of low-level radioactive, high-
level radioactive, hazardous, mixed (hazardous and radioactive), and 
transuranic wastes.
    At present, the Savannah River Site is in transition to other 
missions; the new missions include an increased emphasis on waste 
management, environmental restoration, and decontamination and 
decommissioning. DOE is examining its current integrated waste 
management program and the suitability of existing and planned 
facilities in light of these recent mission changes.
    Two DOE-wide programmatic environmental impact statements, one for 
Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (Notice of Intent 
published in the Federal Register on October 22, 1990; 55 FR 42693) and 
one for Reconfiguration of the Weapons Complex (Notice of Intent 
published in the Federal Register on February 11, 1991; 56 FR 5590), 
may result in decisions to transfer certain waste management activities 
to or from the Savannah River Site. The alternatives for the Savannah 
River Site Waste Management EIS will be coordinated with the 
alternatives for the Programmatic EISs. The alternatives for the 
Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS will also bound the range of 
waste management activities resulting from the Federal Facility 
Compliance Act Site Treatment Plan now under development. The Site 
Treatment Plan will describe the development of treatment capacities 
and technologies for mixed (a combination of radioactive and hazardous) 
wastes.
    DOE prepared an Environmental Assessment and issued a subsequent 
Finding of No Significant Impact on the Consolidated Incineration 
Facility in 1992. In response to a public request, DOE took a ``fresh 
look'' into the suitability of constructing and operating the 
Consolidated Incineration Facility. DOE decided that while completing 
construction, DOE would propose to include the operation of the 
Consolidated Incineration Facility within the scope of the Savannah 
River Site Waste Management EIS. Under the proposed action, the 
Consolidated Incineration Facility would be the preferred facility for 
the treatment of only those wastes for which under Environmental 
Protection Agency regulations incineration is the specified technology 
or Best Demonstrated Available Technology. The proposed action also 
will evaluate incineration and other treatment alternatives for wastes 
where incineration is not the specified technology or Best Demonstrated 
Available Technology. In addition, the proposed action will include the 
incineration of low-level radioactive waste for volume reduction and 
the EIS will consider other volume reduction and treatment 
alternatives. DOE will not conduct any trial burns at the Consolidated 
Incineration Facility until DOE completes this EIS and issues a Record 
of Decision.
    In 1982, DOE published an EIS and a Record of Decision for the 
design, construction, and operation of the Defense Waste Processing 
Facility, which would immobilize liquid high-level radioactive waste in 
glass (vitrification). The vitrified waste would then be encapsulated 
in stainless steel canisters and stored onsite until a geologic 
repository is available for final disposal. DOE then modified the 
Defense Waste Processing Facility to improve facility efficiency and 
safety. A Supplement Analysis was prepared to determine whether 
modifications as of 1990, primarily the introduction of the In-Tank 
Precipitation process and manufacture and disposal of saltstone, 
required the preparation of a supplement to the Defense Waste 
Processing Facility EIS. On the basis of the Supplement Analysis, DOE 
concluded in 1991 that a Supplemental EIS was not needed.
    Further modifications to the Defense Waste Processing Facility 
system have now been proposed and are in various stages of 
implementation, including process safety enhancement and a Late-Wash 
Facility. In view of the accumulated changes and the near-term 
(estimated 1996) initial operation of the facility, DOE believes that a 
focused EIS-level review of the environmental impacts of the facility 
as now envisioned would be timely and appropriate.
    DOE proposes to perform the Defense Waste Processing Facility 
review in a supplement to the 1982 EIS for the Defense Waste Processing 
Facility. Although the analysis could be included in the Savannah River 
Site Waste Management EIS, DOE believes public review and DOE's 
decision making process would be facilitated by preparing a separate 
document because the Defense Waste Processing Facility is a very 
specialized operation with limited connections to the activities to be 
covered in the Waste Management EIS. Where there are interconnections, 
duplicate discussions within both documents may be required or the 
documents may cross reference one another.
    Activities at the Defense Waste Processing Facility have proceeded 
on the basis of the 1982 EIS and Record of Decision. Construction of 
the Defense Waste Processing Facility is almost complete, testing of 
the system with cold chemicals has begun and processing runs of 
simulated (non-radioactive) material will begin in the next few months. 
DOE committed in an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency 
and the state of South Carolina to adhere to a schedule that provides 
for radionuclide testing at the Defense Waste Processing Facility to 
begin in December, 1995. In order to support that schedule and to 
manage efficiently the high level radioactive wastes contained in the 
tank farms, in-tank precipitation must begin in late 1994 or early 
1995. A supplemental EIS focussing on the changes to the Defense Waste 
Processing Facility can be completed in time to meet this schedule, 
while the Waste Management EIS is expected to take several more months 
to prepare. These two EISs will be closely coordinated. Delay of start-
up for the Defense Waste Processing Facility would cost approximately 
$21,000,000 per month.
    The Supplemental EIS will examine all reasonably foreseeable 
impacts of operating the Defense Waste Processing Facility, including 
alternative methods of managing the waste streams from the facility. 
DOE believes that this will provide sufficient information to decide 
whether to proceed with operation of the facility in advance of 
completion of the Savannah River Waste Management EIS.
    The proposed scope for the Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS 
does not include management of spent nuclear fuel and other materials 
that have historically been the feed materials for Savannah River Site 
materials production and reprocessing programs. Such nuclear materials 
are being addressed in several National Environmental Policy Act 
documents under preparation by DOE: (1) The Programmatic EIS for Spent 
Nuclear Fuel Management will include, among other issues, a 
programmatic analysis of the transportation, receipt, processing, and 
storage of spent nuclear fuel at DOE sites, including the Savannah 
River Site; (2) the Environmental Assessment for Urgent Relief 
Acceptance of Foreign Research Reactor Nuclear Spent Fuel and a 
subsequent broader scope EIS (Notice of Intent published October 21, 
1993; 58 FR 54336) will analyze the proposed adoption and 
implementation of a policy for the acceptance of as many as 15,000 
spent nuclear fuel elements from foreign research reactors; and (3) the 
EIS for the Interim Management of Nuclear Materials at the Savannah 
River Site (Notice of Intent published March 17, 1994; 59 FR 12588), 
will evaluate and determine materials that can safely remain in their 
current form for an interim period (approximately five years) until 
disposition decisions can be made and materials that require near-term 
stabilization to help maintain the health and safety of workers and the 
public and to maintain environmental quality. In addition, DOE will 
also evaluate converting some material into a useable form.

Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Programmatic EIS

    The Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS will be prepared at 
the same time as, and in close coordination with, the DOE Environmental 
Restoration and Waste Management Programmitic EIS, which will address 
DOE complex-wide issues and alternatives for environmental restoration 
and waste management policies and practices. Alternatives under that 
Programmatic EIS will include decentralization, regionalization, and 
centralization of waste management functions.
    The alternatives analysis in the Savannah River Site Waste 
Management EIS will be consistent with the DOE complex-wide policies 
and practices that will be analyzed in the Programmatic EIS. The 
Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS will be supplemented, as 
necessary, to maintain consistency with decisions reached on broader 
programmatic issues.

Site Treatment Plan

    The Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS will also be 
coordinated with the development of the Savannah River Site Treatment 
Plan that DOE is preparing in compliance with the Federal Facility 
Compliance Act of 1992. The Conceptual Site Treatment Plan issued in 
October 1993 identifies waste treatment needs, capabilities, and 
options for Savannah River Site mixed waste. The Draft Site Treatment 
Plan scheduled to be issued in August 1994 will identify DOE's 
preferred options for treating the Savannah River Site mixed wastes and 
proposed schedules for constructing treatment capacity. The preferred 
options will correspond to the proposed action in the Savannah River 
Site Waste Management EIS.

Waste Types To Be Addressed in the Savannah River Site Waste Management 
EIS

    Solid low-level radioactive waste forms include operating and 
laboratory wastes (for example protective clothing, plastic sheeting, 
gloves, analytical wastes, decontamination residues), contaminated 
equipment, reactor and reactor fuel hardware, spent lithium-aluminum 
targets from which tritium has been extracted, and spent deionizer 
resin from reactor areas. The Analytical Laboratories, Reactor 
Materials, Reactors, Separations, Savannah River Technology Center, 
Tritium facilities, and waste management and environmental restoration 
activities generate the Savannah River Site low-level radioactive 
waste.
    High-level radioactive waste includes the highly radioactive 
material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, 
including the liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient 
concentrations. In the production of nuclear materials, DOE used the F- 
and H-Area chemical separations plants to separate and purify 
plutonium-238 and -239 produced in Savannah River Site reactors and to 
reclaim fissionable material (uranium-235) from onsite and offsite 
sources (e.g., research reactor fuel and material from disassembled 
retired weapons) for recycling. These processes dissolved target 
elements in nitric acid and separated them into (1) a solution of 
plutonium, uranium, and neptunium, and (2) liquid high-level 
radioactive waste. Further processing separated and purified the metals 
in solution, and converted the plutonium to solid form for shipment and 
the other materials for storage or reuse. The liquid high-level 
radioactive waste is stored in steel tanks in the F- and H-Area Tank 
Farms.
    Hazardous waste and mixed waste include materials such as lead, 
solvents, paints, tritiated mercury, tritiated oil contaminated with 
mercury, other mercury-contaminated materials and equipment from the 
tritium facilities in H-Area, filter paper takeup rolls from the Liquid 
Effluent Treatment Facility, cadmium-plated high-efficiency particulate 
air filters, and contaminated soils. The Analytical Laboratories, 
Reactor materials, Reactors, and Separations facilities and waste 
management and environmental restoration activities generate the 
Savannah River Site hazardous and mixed waste.
    Transuranic wastes include job control wastes (e.g., paper, wipes, 
cloth, rags, tools, instruments), sludges, resins, filters, and various 
other miscellaneous wastes. Transuranic waste contains radioactive 
isotopes with atomic numbers greater than 92 and half-lives longer than 
20 years at concentrations exceeding 100 nanocuries per gram. Savannah 
River Site also manages low-level radioactive waste with transuranic 
radionuclides at concentration of 10 to 100 nanocuries per gram in a 
manner similar to transuranic waste. The Savannah River Technology 
Center, F-Area laboratories, and F- and H-Area separations facilities 
generate the Savannah River Site transuranic waste.

Preliminary Description of Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS 
Alternatives

(1) The ``No-Action'' Alternative

    DOE will analyze a no-action alternative that would assume 
continued waste generation and current waste management practices. DOE 
would continue ongoing activities and implement planned actions, 
including high-level radioactive waste management, for which National 
Environmental Policy Act review has been completed and decisions made. 
Further, decisions reached through ongoing National Environmental 
Policy Act reviews that are completed before the issuance of a Record 
of Decision for this EIS will be incorporated into the no-action 
alternative. Although the no-action alternative may not be a reasonable 
alternative in all respects, its analysis will establish a baseline for 
comparison of the environment impacts of the proposed action and its 
alternatives.
    DOE would continue waste management practices that are now in 
effect, including packaging and disposal of low-level radioactive waste 
in the Solid Waste Disposal Facility, storage of liquid high-level 
radioactive waste in the F- and H-Area Tank Farm, disposal of salt 
solution at the Saltstone Facility, preparation for vitrification in 
the Defense Waste Processing Facility, storage of liquid high-level 
radioactive waste in the F- and H-Area Tank Farm, disposal of salt 
solution at the Saltstone Facility, preparation for vitrification in 
the Defense Waste Processing Facility, storage of hazardous waste in 
hazardous waste storage buildings and the solid waste storage pads, and 
continued storage of mixed waste. Drums of transuranic waste on mounded 
pads would be retrieved, overpacked, and stored with existing 
transuranic waste drums on concrete pads; DOE would leave undisturbed 
the transuranic waste that is in stored in below-grade culverts or in 
culverts on mounded pads.
    Also included as part of the no-action alternative are operation of 
the already-constructed Solid Waste Disposal Facility Expansion Vaults 
for disposal of low-level radioactive waste (E-Area) and continued 
construction, but not operation, of the Consolidated Incineration 
Facility.

(2) The Proposed Action Alternative

    The proposed action is comprised of the no-action alternative 
activities plus programmatic and project-level actions to enhance waste 
management operations over the next 10 years, comply with regulatory 
requirements, protect human health and the environment, and support 
Savannah River Site missions. Project specific National Environmental 
Policy Act review that supplements this EIS might be required to reach 
final decisions on some of these activities.
    DOE will consider various combinations of pollution prevention, 
waste minimization, treatment, storage and disposal technologies, with 
pollution prevention and waste minimization as the highest priority. 
For each waste type, DOE will identify the optimal mix of technologies 
for the protection of human health and the environment, cost-
effectiveness, and waste minimization. DOE will identify the preferred 
strategy for each waste type that will contain the optimum approaches 
developed for specific individual waste streams at the Savannah River 
Site. Any potential shipments to or from the Savannah River Site of DOE 
weapons complex waste and establishment of onsite waste treatment 
capabilities would be examined in a manner that is consistent with the 
Site Treatment Plan for mixed waste and the two DOE-wide Programmatic 
EISs.
    Programmatic considerations regarding the Site Treatment Plan, land 
use planning, technology development, and pollution prevention would be 
included in the proposed action alternative. DOE will ensure that these 
strategies are consistent with those identified in the Environmental 
Restoration and Waste Management Programmatic EIS. Although specific 
environmental restoration and decontamination and decommissioning 
activities would be subject to separate National Environmental Policy 
Act review, as appropriate, DOE will provide its best current estimate 
of waste streams anticipated from the environmental restoration of 
existing waste sites and the decontamination and decommissioning of 
surplus facilities. Similarly, DOE will base the proposed action on 
this best current estimate of waste streams that might be received from 
offsite under decisions resulting from the Environmental Restoration 
and Waste Management and Reconfiguration Programmatic EISs and the 
Federal Facility Compliance Act/Site Treatment Plan process.

Low-Level Radioactive Waste

    DOE proposes to reduce the volume of solid nonhazardous low-level 
radioactive waste. DOE would package the low-level radioactive waste in 
accordance with the Waste Acceptance Criteria established for the Solid 
Waste Disposal Facility (E-Area) Expansion Vaults (operation of the E-
Area vaults is based on completed National Environmental Policy Act 
reviews and is included in the no-action alternative). As part of the 
proposed action alternative, volume reduction technology(ies) would 
replace existing Savannah River Site compactors, which are reaching the 
end of their useful lives. The immediate requirement is to process 
contact-handled waste; the proposed facility(ies) would have limited 
capability to volume-reduce equipment. Subsequently, DOE would develop 
the capability to volume-reduce remotely handled waste. DOE would also 
develop treatment capabilities for liquid low-level radioactive waste 
(e.g., tritiated oil).

Liquid High-Level Radioactive Waste

    The management of liquid high-level radioactive waste including 
storage in the F- and H-Area Tank Farm, disposal of salt solution at 
the Saltstone Facility, and preparation for vitrification in the 
Defense Waste Processing Facility is the same for the proposed action 
as for the no-action alternative. The examination of the potential 
environmental impacts of operating the Defense Waste Processing 
Facility and associated high-level radioactive waste facilities at the 
Savannah River Site as they are presently designed will be done in the 
Defense Waste Processing Facility Supplemental EIS. The cumulative 
impacts of liquid high-level radioactive waste management, including 
the results from the Defense Waste Processing Facility Supplemental 
EIS, will be incorporated into the Savannah River Site Waste Management 
EIS.

Hazardous Waste/Mixed Waste

    The Draft Site Treatment Plan will consider the Consolidated 
Incineration Facility a ``planned'' facility for mixed waste treatment. 
As part of the proposed action, this EIS will consider other 
alternatives for waste for which incineration has not been established 
as the Best Demonstrated Available Technology or specified technology, 
including potential offsite options and commercialization, for 
incinerable Savannah River Site hazardous and mixed wastes. For 
example, DOE could construct and operate a new facility permitted under 
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at the Savannah River Site 
to receive, handle, treat, and repackage hazardous and mixed waste. 
This facility could also provide size reduction and repackaging of 
hazardous and mixed wastes in preparation for treatment at the 
Consolidated Incineration Facility. The proposed treatment building 
would be able to handle waste that DOE could not treat elsewhere on the 
Savannah River Site or send such waste offsite for treatment and 
disposal. DOE would also evaluate treatment options for non-incinerable 
hazardous and mixed wastes.

Transuranic Waste

    Under the proposed action, DOE would prepare both currently-stored 
and newly-generated transuranic waste for certification and disposal at 
the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant or for reclassification and disposal as 
low-level radioactive waste. Facilities would be provided to sort, 
characterize, and repackage drums of low-activity (less than a total of 
0.5 curie per 55-gallon drum) transuranic waste in preparation for 
direct shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant or for storage until 
treatment to a final waste form. Portions of these activities are 
included in the no-action alternative because they are covered in the 
completed Environmental Assessment for Management Activities for 
Retrieved and Newly Generated Transuranic Waste (DOE/EA-0315).
    DOE would provide treatment, such as vitrification or 
stabilization, for retrievably stored transuranic wastes with activity 
greater than 0.5 curie per container if required to meet future 
criteria of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant or another Federal 
repository. The proposed action would provide the capability to treat 
high-activity waste drums, boxes, etc., for shipment to the Waste 
Isolation Pilot Plant or another repository. DOE would design treatment 
facilities when it has a better understanding of Waste Isolation Pilot 
Plant acceptance requirements for the transuranic waste stream.

(3) The ``Minimum Treatment, Storage, and Disposal'' Alternative

    The alternative represents a lower-bound of waste management 
activities at the Savannah River Site. The quantities and 
characteristics of the waste would be based on reasonable lower-bound 
estimates of ongoing operations, onsite environmental restoration and 
decontamination and decommissioning waste, and wastes that DOE might 
receive from offsite as a result of Federal Facility Compliance Act, 
Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Programmatic EIS, and 
Reconfiguration Programmatic EIS decisions. Also consistent with 
alternatives being considered in the Environmental Restoration and 
Waste Management Programmatic EIS, certain quantities of waste in 
storage and newly generated waste would be shipped offsite.

(4) The ``Maximum Treatment, Storage, and Disposal'' Alternative

    This alternative represents a condition where the Savannah River 
Site would manage more waste than that anticipated under the proposed 
action. The quantities and characteristics of the waste would be based 
on reasonable upper-bound estimates of ongoing operations, on site 
environmental restoration and decontamination and decommissioning 
waste, and wastes that DOE might receive from offsite as a result of 
Federal Facility Compliance Act, Environmental Restoration and Waste 
Management Programmatic EIS, and Reconfiguration Programmatic EIS 
decisions. Under this alternative, DOE would augment its waste 
treatment, storage, and disposal facilities at the Savannah River Site. 
This increase will be described and analyzed in terms of an increment 
above the current and projected quantities used in the analysis of the 
proposed action.

Identification of Environmental and Other Issues

    DOE has identified the following issues to be addressed in the 
analysis of proposed and alternative actions in the EIS. Additional 
issues may be identified as a result of the scoping process.
    1. Public and worker safety and health risk assessment: 
radiological and nonradiological impacts of the proposed action and 
alternatives, including projected effects on workers and the public 
from construction, normal operation, and potential accidents.
    2. Impacts from releases to air, water, and soil.
    3. Impacts to plants, animals, and habitat, including impacts to 
wetlands, and threatened or endangered species and their habitat.
    4. The consumption of natural resources and energy including water, 
natural gas, and electricity.
    5. Impacts of the transportation of construction and operation 
supplies, materials, equipment, products, and wastes to, from, and 
within the site.
    6. Socioeconomic impacts to affected communities from construction 
and operation labor forces and support services.
    7. Environmental Justice: disproportionately high or adverse human 
health and environmental effects on minority and low-income 
populations.
    8. Impacts to cultural resources such as historic, archaeological, 
scientific, or culturally important sites.
    9. Accuracy of projected waste volumes.
    10. Status of compliance with applicable Federal, state, and local 
statutes and regulations.
    11. Cumulative impacts from the proposed action and other past, 
present, and reasonably foreseeable actions at the Savannah River Site.
    12. Potential irreversible and irretrievable commitments of 
resources.
    13. Pollution prevention, waste minimization, and potential 
mitigative measures.

Related Documentation

    Completed and ongoing environmental reviews may affect the scope of 
this EIS. Background information listed below on past, present, and 
future waste management activities at the Savannah River Site is 
available in the public reading rooms listed below.

(1) Final Environmental Impact Statements, Environmental 
Assessments, and Other National Environmental Policy Act Documents

    Waste Management Operations, ERDA-1537, 1977.
    Long-Term Management of Defense High-Level Radioactive Wastes 
(Research and Development Program for Immobilization), DOE/EIS-0023, 
1979.
    Double-Shell Tanks for Defense High-Level Radioactive Waste 
Storage, DOE/EIS-0062, 1980.
    Defense Waste Processing Facility, DOE/EIS-0082, 1982.
    Waste Form Selection for Savannah River Plant High-Level Waste, 
DOE/EA-179, 1982.
    Waste Management Activities for Groundwater Protection DOE/EIS-
0120, 1987.
    Management Activities for Retrieved and Newly Generated 
Transuranic Waste, Savannah River Plant, DOE/EA-0315, 1988.
    Continued Operation of K-, L-, and P-Reactors, Savannah River 
Site, DOE/EIS-0147, 1990.
    Consolidated Incineration Facility, DOE/EA-0400, 1992.
    Implementation Plan; Nuclear Weapons Reconfiguration 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, DOE/EIS-0161IP, 
February 1992.
    Nonnuclear Consolidation Environmental Assessment, DOE/EA-0792, 
1993.
    Implementation Plan; Environmental Restoration and Waste 
Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, DOE/EIS-
0200, January 1994.

(2) Other Documents

    Facility Pollution Prevention Guide, EPA/600/R-92/088, May 1992.
    Savannah River Site Environmental Report for 1992, Volumes 1 and 
2, WSRC-TR-93-075, 1993.
    Interim Mixed Waste Inventory Report: Waste Streams, Treatment 
Capacities and Technologies, DOE/NBM-1100, 1993.
    Land Disposal Restrictions Federal Facility Compliance 
Agreement, between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 
IV and the U.S. DOE, March 13, 1991. Amended April 27, 1992 and 
April 2, 1993.
    Federal Facility Agreement for the Savannah River Site, and 
Responsiveness Summary, between the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Region IV; U.S. DOE; and South Carolina Department of Health 
and Environmental Control, effective August 16, 1993.
    Savannah River Site Conceptual Site Treatment Plan, ESH-FSS-93-
0744, 1993.

Public Meetings

    DOE will host a series of informal information sessions to provide 
the public with additional information on waste management at the 
Savannah River Site and the proposed actions and alternatives discussed 
in this Notice of Intent. These sessions are intended to promote 
conversation with DOE representatives available to answer questions.
    Oral and written comments will be received at public scoping 
meetings to be held at the locations and times indicated above. The 
meetings will be chaired by a presiding officer and attended by DOE 
officials. The public scoping meetings will not be conducted as 
evidentiary hearings; speakers will not be cross-examined, although the 
presiding officer and DOE representatives present may ask clarifying 
questions. The DOE panel members will respond to comments and questions 
from the public. In addition DOE representatives will be available to 
discuss the Savannah River Site waste management program in informal 
conversations.
    To facilitate scheduling of speakers, requests to speak at these 
meetings may be made in advance by calling 1-800-242-8269 between 8:30 
a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, or by calling Mr. 
Stephen R. Wright at 803-725-3957 at least two days before the 
designated meeting. To ensure that everyone has an adequate opportunity 
to speak, five minutes will be allotted each speaker. Depending on the 
number of persons who request an opportunity to speak, the presiding 
officer may allow more time for speakers representing multiple parties 
or organizations. Persons wishing to speak on behalf of organizations 
should identify the organization in their request. Persons who have not 
submitted an advance request to speak may register at the meetings and 
will be called on to speak in the order of registration as time 
permits. Written comments also will be accepted at the meetings, and 
speakers are encouraged to provide written versions of their oral 
comments for the record.
    DOE will prepare transcripts of the scoping meetings. Individuals 
may review the transcripts, other National Environmental Policy Act 
documents, and unclassified background information on waste management 
at the Savannah River Site at the following DOE public reading rooms 
during normal business hours:

    U.S. DOE Reading Room, University of South Carolina, Aiken 
Campus, University Library--2nd Floor, University Parkway, Aiken, SC 
29801; (803) 648-6851.
    U.S. DOE, Freedom of Information Reading Room, Room 1E-190, 
Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 
20585; (202) 586-6020.

Development of the Savannah River Site Waste Management EIS

    DOE will consider comments and suggestions received during the 
scoping period in its preparation of the draft EIS. Results of the 
scoping process (including a summary of comments received, DOE's 
response to public comments, and an outline of the intended scope and 
environmental issues to be discussed in the EIS) will be presented in a 
publicly available Implementation Plan. On completing the draft EIS, 
DOE will announce its availability in the Federal Register and local 
media, and will again solicit public comments. DOE will consider 
comments on the draft EIS in its preparation of the final EIS.
    The preliminary schedule for issuance of the Savannah River Site 
Waste Management EIS is shown below.

    Availability of Implementation Plan: June 1994.
    Availability of Draft EIS: October 1994.
    Draft EIS Public Comment Period: November 1994 through December 
1994.
    Availability of Final EIS: April 1995.
    Record of Decision: June 1995.

    Issued in Washington, DC on April 1, 1994.
Tara O'Toole,
Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 94-8312 Filed 4-5-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P