[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 217 (Thursday, November 10, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-27780]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: November 10, 1994]


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Alternative Strategies for the Long-Term Management of Depleted 
Uranium Hexafluoride Resources at Several Geographic Locations

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Advance notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy is providing advance notice of its 
intent to prepare an environmental impact statement pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The environmental 
impact statement will assess the potential environmental impacts of 
alternative strategies for the long-term management or uses of depleted 
uranium hexafluoride (UF6) resources currently stored at Paducah, 
Kentucky; Portsmouth, Ohio; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
    This environmental impact statement will consider general strategy 
options, including the general impacts of siting potential facilities 
or transporting materials to or from such facilities. In addition, such 
analyses would focus on those issues that would affect strategy 
selection, such as consolidation at one site. The specific 
environmental impacts of the transportation of materials or impacts 
from the actual siting of any projects that would result from strategy 
selection would be further assessed by any necessary project NEPA 
documents to follow.

DATES AND ADDRESSES: The Department of Energy requests comments by 
January 9, 1994, but comments sent after that time will be considered 
to the extent possible. The anticipated date for the formal notice of 
intent is June 1995. The dates and locations of all scoping meetings 
will be announced in that notice of intent or subsequent Federal 
Register notices as well as in local media, prior to the planned 
meetings.
    Written comments on the scope of the environmental impact 
statement, questions concerning the proposed action, and requests for 
copies of referenced material should be directed to: Mr. Charles E. 
Bradley Jr., Office of Uranium Programs, Office of Nuclear Energy, 
United States Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, 
Maryland 20874, (301) 903-4781.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information on the 
Department of Energy NEPA review process, please contact Ms. Carol M. 
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Oversight, United States Department 
of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20585, 
(202) 586-4600 or 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Depleted UF6 is stored as a solid 
compound of uranium and fluorine in large cylinders. It is produced by 
an enrichment process that divides a single stream of UF6 into two 
separate streams--one enriched in uranium-235 and one depleted in 
uranium-235. The enriched UF6 is withdrawn from the process and 
used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. The depleted 
UF6 is withdrawn from the process and stored in large cylinders.
    The purpose of the environmental impact statement is to assess the 
potential impacts of a range of technological or market options related 
to the management of depleted UF6 (currently stored at Paducah, 
Kentucky; Portsmouth, Ohio; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee), including use, 
reuse, conversion, or disposal, and to select a strategy for the long-
term management of such depleted UF6 in light of the changed 
missions and functions. Should the Department of Energy develop any 
proposal in the future to use any fraction of the depleted UF6 
inventory for its own research or other activity, that proposal would 
be the subject of a separate NEPA document, and would not affect this 
notice.
    The environmental impact statement will focus on the Department of 
Energy's depleted UF6 stored at the Paducah, Portsmouth, and Oak 
Ridge sites. Other forms of depleted uranium (e.g., uranium oxides and 
uranium metal) and depleted UF6 used or stored at other sites 
would not be analyzed in the environmental impact statement since they 
exist only in small quantities (taken all together they total about 7 
percent of the quantity of the subject depleted UF6), would not 
affect strategy selection, and would involve different management and 
potentially different uses. Should the Department propose an action 
that involves these other forms of depleted uranium, such a proposal 
would receive appropriate NEPA review.
    The Department of Energy is publishing elsewhere in today's Federal 
Register a Request for Recommendations for potential uses for the 
depleted UF6, which includes a request for suggestions of 
technologies that could facilitate the long-term management of the 
material. The request will also be published in industry and trade 
publications.
    The Department of Energy intends to use technical experts to 
evaluate the responses that are received from the requests. Following 
the Department's receipt of the technical evaluations, the Department 
will determine which responses evaluated are reasonable and include 
them as alternatives to be assessed in the environmental impact 
statement. The Department will provide opportunities for the public to 
participate in the technology evaluation process. The Department will 
also initiate a separate study on the costs of the depleted UF6 
uses and management options assessed in the environmental impact 
statement. This request to the public, industry, and other Government 
agencies is the first step in the process to consider alternative 
approaches. The request and the evaluations that follow will help to 
ensure that the resulting long-range management strategy will consider 
all reasonable alternatives.
    The Department of Energy will also initiate a study of the life 
cycle costs of each environmental impact statement alternative. That 
study will also be considered, along with the final environmental 
impact statement, when the Department selects a strategy from among the 
reasonable alternatives.

Invitation To Comment

    The Department of Energy intends to conduct a full and open process 
to define the scope of the environmental impact statement and is 
issuing this Advance Notice of Intent as a preliminary step in seeking 
public comment on the proposed action, the range of alternatives, and 
the scope of impact analysis. Written comments from all interested 
parties are invited in order to assist the Department in defining the 
scope of the environmental impact statement, including the 
identification of the likely alternatives and significant environmental 
issues. Written comments should be sent to the address shown at the 
beginning of this notice.
    Following the completion of this preliminary public comment period, 
the Department of Energy will publish a notice of intent to initiate 
the scoping process, including the schedule of public meetings to 
receive oral or written comments on the scope of this environmental 
impact statement. At this time, the Department is not scheduling any 
public meetings in advance of the notice of intent. If there is 
significant interest in holding earlier public meetings, however, the 
Department will consider any requests and would publish notices for 
such meetings prior to holding them.

Background

    Uranium is a naturally-occurring radioactive element containing 
different isotopes, notably Uranium-238 and Uranium-235. The ability to 
use uranium for controlled fission in nuclear chain reactions in most 
nuclear reactors depends on increasing the proportion of the Uranium-
235 isotope in the material through an isotopic separation process 
called enrichment. This process divides a single stream of UF6 
into two separate streams--one enriched in Uranium-235 and the other 
depleted in Uranium-235. The first large-scale enrichment process was 
developed by the United States through the Manhattan Project in the 
1940s. The enrichment technology employed in the United States is 
called ``gaseous diffusion,'' which has continued under the auspices of 
the Atomic Energy Commission and its successor agencies including the 
Department of Energy. On July 1, 1993, general responsibility for 
uranium enrichment in the United States was transferred from the 
Department to the United States Enrichment Corporation.
    Gaseous diffusion was developed, on a large scale, first at the Oak 
Ridge Reservation in Tennessee and later at plants located near 
Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. Using UF6 as feed 
material for the enrichment process, these plants produced highly 
enriched uranium for the defense needs of the United States, as well as 
low enriched uranium for use in making fuel for commercial nuclear 
power reactors. All diffusion operations at the Oak Ridge facility 
ceased in 1985, and that facility is awaiting decontamination and 
decommissioning.
    The Energy Policy Act of 1992 established the United States 
Enrichment Corporation as a new Government corporation which generally 
has responsibility for enriched uranium production at the Portsmouth 
and Paducah plants, as well as United States marketing rights for 
enriched uranium produced or blended at those plants. The United States 
Enrichment Corporation is leasing the plants from the Department of 
Energy, has signed an agreement for division of responsibilities 
between the Department and the Corporation at the two plants, and 
assumed responsibility for enriched uranium production on July 1, 1993. 
All depleted UF6 created beginning July 1, 1993, is the 
responsibility of the Corporation. Consequently, the proposed 
Department strategy for depleted UF6 management does not include 
material created after July 1, 1993; however, the Department's 
decisions on depleted UF6 disposition could affect the 
Corporation's operating plans and policies. The environmental impact 
statement will include a discussion of the likely impacts of any of the 
Department's decisions on the Corporation, but cannot commit to a 
course of action for material controlled by the Corporation without 
prior agreement. Public comment on the scope of possible actions and 
agreements is welcome.
    A major consequence of the gaseous diffusion process is the 
accumulation of a significant amount of depleted UF6. Most of this 
material is stored at the Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion 
Plants and at the Oak Ridge Reservation. The total amount of depleted 
UF6 stored at these three sites is approximately 560,000 metric 
tons. Depleted UF6 is stored in large steel cylinders holding 
approximately 14 tons each, stacked two layers high, in large ``yards'' 
at the sites. The cylinders are inspected regularly to detect and 
repair any leaks should they occur. About 29,000 cylinders are stored 
at Paducah, 13,000 at Portsmouth, and 5,000 at Oak Ridge.
    Potential uses of depleted UF6 and its chemical constituents 
include: (1) use of uranium metal in armament manufacture or as metal 
or oxide-based shielding in the management of radioactive materials, 
including wastes or spent nuclear fuel; and (2) use of hydrogen 
fluoride, hydrofluoric acid, and fluorine for commercial industrial 
processes.

Purpose of the Environmental Impact Statement

    The purpose of the environmental impact statement is to evaluate 
the impacts of alternative strategies for the long-term management and 
use of depleted UF6 stored at the Paducah, Portsmouth, and Oak 
Ridge sites. Such alternatives would be analyzed for their impacts on 
the human environment, including risks to public health and safety, 
occupational health and safety, and effects upon the natural 
environment. The need for the proposed action arises from changes in 
various domestic and international factors. These factors include: the 
changed mission and functions of the Department of Energy programs for 
nuclear materials production and research; changes brought about by the 
end of the Cold War; the shift in emphasis mandated by the President's 
budget requests; and by directives of the Secretary of Energy to 
reconsider future Department missions, functions, and responsibilities. 
The unique properties and value of depleted UF6, as well as the 
large volumes in storage, suggest that the evaluation, analysis, and 
decisions on the fate of this material be made separate from those of 
other materials in storage or awaiting disposition. The Department has 
determined that such an action is a major Federal action with 
potentially significant environmental impacts and requires the 
preparation of an environmental impact statement in accordance with 
NEPA. This environmental impact statement will aid in making management 
decisions on depleted UF6 by evaluating the environmental impacts 
of a range of reasonable alternatives, as well as providing a means for 
a public voice in the decision-making process. The Department is 
committed to ensuring that the public has a full and complete 
opportunity to be heard on this matter and is providing this advance 
notice of intent to that end.

Preliminary Description of Alternatives for Environmental Impact 
Statement

    The Department of Energy requests public input on all relevant 
aspects of the long-term management and use of depleted UF6 and 
potential alternatives. At this time, the Department has no preferred 
alternative and will consider for inclusion in the environmental impact 
statement all reasonable alternatives. The following is a discussion 
about the preliminary list of alternatives for the environmental impact 
statement that may be modified by additions or deletions; public 
comment on the range of alternatives is hereby requested.

Continue Current Storage and Management Practices (NO ACTION)

    This alternative would continue present storage and management 
practices for depleted UF6 at the Paducah, Portsmouth, and Oak 
Ridge locations for at least twenty to thirty years, until shutdown and 
decommissioning of the facilities. At this time, the depleted UF6 
at the Department of Energy's Paducah, Portsmouth, and Oak Ridge 
facilities is stored in steel cylinders the specifications for which 
are typically: a capacity of 14 tons, a diameter of 48 inches, a length 
of 12 feet, and wall thickness of \5/16\ inch. There are approximately 
47,000 such cylinders in storage at the three sites (29,000 at Paducah, 
13,000 at Portsmouth, and 5,000 at Oak Ridge).
    Current management practices consist of: (1) use of special 
equipment to transport cylinders within the storage yards; (2) regular 
visual inspection of all cylinders to verify cylinder integrity; (3) 
replacement/refurbishment of deteriorating cylinders, as necessary; (4) 
construction/reconstruction of cylinder storage yards, as necessary; 
(5) operating procedures for control of radioactive and hazardous 
material exposure to workers and for response to any unanticipated 
releases of depleted UF6; (6) restacking of cylinders when needed 
to facilitate inspections, and replacing wood ``saddles'' (storage 
chocks) with concrete saddles; (7) technical assessments of cylinder 
performance and development of improved inspection methods; and (8) 
research on coatings to apply to cylinder surfaces to control 
corrosion.

Modifications to Depleted UF6 Storage Facilities and Procedures

    This alternative would include significant changes in the 
Department of Energy's facilities and management procedures for 
depleted UF6 in storage. Such changes could consist of one or more 
of the following:
    (1) redesign of the storage yards to add diking and runoff 
collection;
    (2) construction of storage buildings in lieu of outdoor storage;
    (3) provision of double-walled containers for the cylinders; and
    (4) increased inspection frequency.

Use of Depleted UF6

    This alternative would consist of a number of sub-alternatives for 
depleted UF6 use by means of conversion through chemical processes 
that separate the uranium from the fluorine. Likely end products could 
be uranium oxide, calcium fluoride, depleted uranium metal, depleted 
uranium concrete, hydrogen fluoride or hydrofluoric acid, the latter 
having commercial value in industrial processing. Locations for such 
conversions could include one or more of the following: (1) Department 
of Energy facilities where depleted UF6 is stored; (2) One or more 
commercial nuclear fuel fabrication plants or industrial facilities in 
the United States; or (3) Commercial nuclear facilities outside of the 
United States. The analysis of this alternative would include the 
results of feasibility studies of each subalternative, as well as a 
discussion of the relative impacts of each subalternative.
    Use of the converted depleted UF6 would be evaluated as 
subalternatives including: (1) use as radiation shielding in the 
management of nuclear materials including waste and spent nuclear fuel, 
and (2) use in armament manufacture.

Disposal of Depleted UF6

    This alternative would consist of the analysis of potential impacts 
from the disposal of depleted UF6 either in its present form, or 
in other forms, at appropriate waste disposal facilities.
    Identification of Environmental Issues. The impact analysis would 
consider, for each alternative, the health and safety risks to workers 
and to the public of material transportation, storage, and use, as well 
as any potential impacts to environmental resources. As to the site-
specific impacts of technologies, the analyses would be generic rather 
than site-specific for any technology alternative; selection of a site 
is not part of the proposed Department of Energy action and will be 
preceded by appropriate NEPA documentation. The environmental impact 
statement would provide estimates of the maximum impacts expected.
    Related and Other Department of Energy NEPA Documentation. Should 
the depleted UF6 strategy selection result in site-specific 
actions, additional NEPA documents would be prepared to consider the 
specific impacts on the site and vicinity from any proposed action. 
Such analyses would address site-specific issues such as historic 
resources, threatened and endangered species, critical environmental 
resources, floodplain, and land use.
    The Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statements on the 
Alternative Strategies for the Long-Term Management of Depleted Uranium 
Hexafluoride Resources at Several Geographic Locations, and related 
documents, will be available for inspection, when completed, at the 
Department of Energy's Freedom of Information Reading Rooms. The 
location of these Reading Rooms will be announced in the Notice of 
Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

    Issued in Washington, D.C., this 21st day of October, 1994.
Peter N. Brush,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 94-27780; Filed 11-9-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P