[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: 94-27781]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: November 10, 1994]


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Part VI





Department of Energy





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Office of Nuclear Energy



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Management of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride; Request for 
Recommendations; Alternative Strategies for the Long-Term Management of 
Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Resources at Several Geographic 
Locations; Notices
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Nuclear Energy

 

Management of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6); Request 
for Recommendations

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of request for recommendations.

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SUMMARY: DOE is preparing to assess several alternative strategies for 
the long-term management or use of depleted UF6. As part of that 
assessment, DOE is requesting recommendations from interested persons, 
industry, and other Government agencies for potential uses for the 
depleted UF6 stored at the gaseous diffusion plants in Paducah, 
Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio, and at the Oak Ridge Reservation in 
Tennessee, as well as for technologies that could facilitate the long-
term management of this material.

DATES: Individuals or organizations wishing to make recommendations 
should do so in writing by December 12, 1994, to ensure their 
consideration.

ADDRESSES: Please submit recommendations to Mr. Charles E. Bradley Jr., 
Office of Uranium Programs, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department 
of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Background

    Uranium is a naturally-occurring radioactive element containing 
different isotopes, notably Uranium-238 (U-238) and Uranium-235 (U-
235). The usability of uranium for controlled fission in nuclear chain 
reactions in most nuclear reactors depends on increasing the proportion 
of the U-235 isotope in the material through an isotopic separation 
process called enrichment. This process divides a stream of UF6 
into separate streams--one enriched in U-235 and the other depleted in 
U-235. The first large scale enrichment process was developed by the 
United States through the Manhattan Project in the 1940s. The process 
of enrichment used in the United States is called ``gaseous 
diffusion,'' and has continued under the auspices of the Atomic Energy 
Commission and its successor agencies, including DOE. On July 1, 1993, 
general responsibility for uranium enrichment was transferred from DOE 
to the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC).
    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 defense needs of the United States, as well as low 
enriched uranium for use as fuel in commercial nuclear reactors. The 
production of highly enriched uranium was discontinued in 1992 due to 
the reduced requirements of the U.S. defense programs. All diffusion 
operations at the Oak Ridge facility ceased in 1985.
    A major consequence of the gaseous diffusion process is the 
accumulation of a significant amount of depleted UF6. This 
material is so named because it is depleted in the percentage of the U-
235 isotope, as compared to the original feed material. Most of this 
material is stored at the Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion 
Plants and at the Oak Ridge Reservation. The total amount in storage at 
these three sites is approximately 560,000 metric tons. Depleted 
UF6 is a solid at ambient temperatures, and is stored in large 
cylinders holding approximately 14 tons each, stacked two layers high, 
which are subject to regular inspection and maintenance. About 29,000 
cylinders are stored at Paducah, 13,000 at Portsmouth, and 5,000 at Oak 
Ridge.
    2. DOE is publishing, elsewhere in today's Federal Register, an 
Advance Notice of Intent (ANOI) to prepare an EIS on alternative 
strategies for the long-term management of depleted UF6. The first 
step in the process to consider alternative approaches is this Request 
to the public, industry, and other Government agencies for information 
and suggestions for potential uses for depleted UF6 and/or 
technologies that could facilitate the long-term management of the 
material. This Request will help to ensure that the resulting long-
range management strategy will consider all reasonable alternatives. 
For purposes of responding to this Request, current regulatory 
requirements should not be considered a barrier to recommended uses or 
technologies. DOE will evaluate each submission to determine if it 
should be included as a reasonable alternative in the EIS, which will 
assess the environmental impacts of the various alternative management 
strategies.
    3. DOE requests from the public, industry, and other Government 
agencies, their suggestions and recommendations on the following:
    A. Uses or applications of products or materials that use any form 
of depleted uranium. Such uses or applications could be for the 
depleted uranium in its current chemical form, for any of its 
individual components, for either the uranium or fluorine in some other 
chemical or physical form, or products made from any form or compound 
of depleted UF6 including alloys, cements, or other materials. 
Suggested uses and applications should not be limited to those that 
only DOE or another Government agency might pursue. The Department is 
interested in all possible uses or applications for the depleted 
UF6, whether by the public or the private sector. With the 
suggestions, the Department requires as much of the following 
information as possible:
    1. A description of the use or application, including a design 
description and/or flow sheet; material, fabrication, product, and 
other specifications; and resulting wastes or effluents;
    2. The potential annual and total usage;
    3. The technical status of the use or application (that is, whether 
it is standard industrial practice; demonstrated on a bench or small 
scale, but not on an industrial scale; engineering, materials, or 
design development needed; etc.);
    4. Facilities, equipment, other materials, and labor required;
    5. Environmental and health and safety approvals required;
    6. Any Government participation or funding required;
    7. Estimated cost, including research, development and 
demonstration; construction; operations; decontamination; 
decommissioning; basis for estimates; and assumptions; product value, 
if any; and
    8. Proposed schedule including, research, development and 
demonstration; and operations.
    B. Technologies that could facilitate the long-term management of 
the depleted uranium. The Department requires as much of the following 
information as possible concerning the recommended technology:
    1. The environmental, health and safety, and economic 
characteristics;
    2. A description of the technology and any processes or treatment, 
including a design description and/or flow sheet; material, 
fabrication, product, and other specifications; and resulting wastes or 
effluents;
    3. The status of the technology and any required research, 
development or demonstration;
    4. Materials balance information and chemical composition of any 
wastes produced;
    5. Labor requirements for both construction and operation;
    6. Timing of research, development and demonstration; construction; 
and operation;
    7. Factors that might limit siting choices;
    8. Facilities, equipment, or materials required; and
    9. Estimated cost, including research, development and 
demonstration; construction; operations; product value, if any; 
decontamination; decommissioning; basis for estimates; and assumptions.
    4. If any of the information supplied to the Department is 
proprietary, privileged and confidential commercial or financial 
information, a trade secret, or otherwise exempt from public 
disclosure, it should be so designated and the Department will protect 
this information in accordance with its standard procedures as 
prescribed in 10 CFR 1004.11 or other applicable law. The title page of 
the information should be marked with the restriction cited in the 
regulation. Each page to be so restricted should be marked with the 
following legend:
    Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the 
restriction on the title page.
    5. A DOE Laboratory will prepare a report, based on evaluations by 
independent experts, on the responses to the request for 
recommendations. After review of the laboratory report, responses DOE 
considers reasonable will be included as alternatives for which 
environmental impacts will be assessed in the EIS. DOE will also 
initiate a study of the life cycle costs of each EIS alternative. That 
study will also be considered, along with the final EIS, when DOE 
selects a strategy from among these alternatives.
    6. This Request is solely for the information described above and 
is not for the purpose of obtaining recommendations and/or proposals 
for research, development, and demonstration to be funded by the 
Government.
    7. Except as provided in paragraph 4, the written submissions from 
the public, industry, and other Government agencies will be made 
available for public review at DOE Public Reading Room located in Room 
1E-190 at 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585.
    8. Throughout this process, opportunities for public participation 
will be provided to discuss technologies submitted. Comments will be 
requested on the criteria that the technical experts will use to 
evaluate responses to this Request for Recommendations.
    9. In addition to the ANOI, DOE intends in the future to publish in 
the Federal Register, a notice of intent to begin the scoping process 
for the preparation of the EIS on the selection of a strategy for the 
long-term management of the depleted uranium hexafluoride.

    Issued in Washington, D.C. on this 26th day of October, 1994.
Terry R. Lash,
Director, Office of Nuclear Energy.
[FR Doc. 94-27781; Filed 11-9-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P