[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 163 (Wednesday, August 23, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43779-43785]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-20878]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Intent To Prepare Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Disposal Phase

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: The Department announces its intent to prepare a Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS II) for the proposed continued 
phased development of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for 
disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste. The Department will prepare the 
SEIS II pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 
1969, in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality 
regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA and the 
Department's implementing procedures, and to conduct public scoping 
meetings.
    The Department has been proceeding with the phased development of 
WIPP to meet its statutory responsibility to demonstrate the safe 
disposal of TRU waste resulting from United States defense activities. 

[[Page 43780]]

    After preparing an EIS in 1980, the Department decided in its 1981 
Record of Decision to begin phased development of a research and 
development facility to demonstrate the safe disposal of TRU wastes in 
salt by constructing WIPP near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The Department 
prepared its first Supplemental EIS in 1990 to analyze changes in 
environmental impacts resulting from significant new information and 
changed circumstances since the 1980 EIS. In a 1990 Record of Decision, 
the Department decided to continue with phased development of WIPP by 
conducting test phase activities to demonstrate WIPP's compliance with 
applicable disposal regulations. Test phase activities were to have 
included tests with TRU waste in the excavated underground area of 
WIPP. In October 1993, however, the Department decided to conduct tests 
using radioactive wastes in above-ground laboratories rather than 
underground at WIPP. Some experiments to further examine the 
hydrologic, geologic and physical characteristics of the repository 
continue to be conducted underground at WIPP.
    In the Record of Decision for the 1990 Supplemental EIS, the 
Department stated that it would prepare the SEIS II before deciding 
whether to proceed with the WIPP disposal phase. The Department 
proposes to continue phased development of WIPP to begin waste disposal 
in 1998. The Department is aware that a bill, H.R. 1663, has been 
introduced in Congress that, if enacted, could accelerate this planned 
schedule. The Department intends to prepare the SEIS II to further 
examine the environmental impacts of the proposed future phases of 
WIPP, including the disposal, closure, and post-closure phases.

DATES: The Department invites all interested parties to submit comments 
or suggestions concerning the scope of the issues to be addressed, 
alternatives to be analyzed, and the environmental impacts to be 
assessed in the SEIS II during a comment period ending September 30, 
1995. All comments will be considered in preparation of the SEIS II. 
Written comments must be postmarked by September 30, 1995 to assure 
consideration. Comments postmarked after that date will be considered 
to the extent practicable.
    The public is also invited to attend scoping meetings where 
comments will be received on the SEIS II. Public scoping meetings will 
be held on the dates and at the locations given below:

Carlsbad, New Mexico..................  September 7, 1995................  Holiday Inn Carlsbad, 601 South Canal
                                                                            Street, Carlsbad, NM 88220, (505)   
                                                                            885-8500.                           
Albuquerque, New Mexico...............  September 12, 1995...............  Pyramid Holiday Inn, 5151 San        
                                                                            Francisco Road NE., Albuquerque, NM 
                                                                            87109, (505) 821-3333.              
Santa Fe, New Mexico..................  September 14, 1995...............  Best Western High Mesa Inn, 3347     
                                                                            Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, 
                                                                            (505) 473-2800.                     
Denver, Colorado......................  September 19, 1995...............  Denver Marriott West, 1717 Denver    
                                                                            West Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401,   
                                                                            (303) 273-4022.                     
Boise, Idaho..........................  September 20, 1995...............  Red Lion Inn Riverside, 2900 Chinden 
                                                                            Boulevard, Boise, ID 83714, (208)   
                                                                            343-1871.                           
                                                                                                                

    Scoping meetings will be conducted in the afternoon and evening at 
the New Mexico locations. Only evening scoping meetings are planned for 
Denver and Boise. The hours for scoping meetings will be: 2:00 PM to 
5:00 PM for the afternoon meetings and 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM for the 
evening meetings.
    The scoping meetings will be conducted as workshops. Displays will 
provide an overview of the WIPP project, and Department personnel will 
be present to answer general questions about the project. Separate 
displays will explain individual aspects of the WIPP project in more 
detail and experts will be present to answer questions on a variety of 
topics, including transportation, waste handling and disposal plans, 
and long-term performance issues (including geology, hydrology, and 
health impact assessment). Additional displays and experts may be added 
to the presentation based on public input before the scoping meetings.
    Note takers will capture the substance of public comments in the 
display and discussion areas. A separate area also will be available 
where the public can write their own comments or record them on 
audiotape.
    Records of, and responses to, the oral and written scoping comments 
will be presented in the Implementation Plan for the SEIS II. The 
Implementation Plan will also provide guidance for preparation of the 
SEIS II and state the planned scope and content (10 CFR 1021.312). The 
Implementation Plan will be issued as soon as possible after the close 
of the public scoping process, but in any event before issuing the 
draft SEIS II.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Implementation Plan will be provided to 
interested and affected members of the public upon request and will be 
available for inspection in the public reading room locations indicated 
below:

Public Library Reading Room, Department of Energy, 1000 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 625 Indiana Avenue, NW., Suite 
700, Washington, DC 20004
Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Technical Information 
Center, Department of Energy, P.O. Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37831
WIPP Public Reading Room, National Atomic Museum, Albuquerque 
Operations Office, Department of Energy, P.O. Box 5400, Albuquerque, NM 
87115
Zimmerman Library, Government Publications Department, University of 
New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87138
Carlsbad Public Library, 101 S. Halagueno Street, Carlsbad, NM 88220
Pannell Library, New Mexico Junior College, 5317 Lovington Highway, 
Hobbs, NM 88240
Thomas Brannigan Memorial Library, 200 E. Picacho, Las Cruces, NM 88005
Raton Public Library, 244 Cook Avenue, Raton, NM 87740
New Mexico State Library, 325 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM 87503
Martin Speare Memorial Library, New Mexico Institute of Mining and 
Technology, Campus Station, Socorro, NM 87801
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Boise Office, 816 West Bannock, 
Suite 306, Boise, ID 83706
Shoshone-Bannock Library, Human Resources Center, Bannock and Pima, 
Fort Hall, ID 83203
Public Reading Room, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Technical 
Library, 1776 Science Center Drive, Idaho Falls, ID 83402
University of Idaho Library, Government Document Department, University 
of Idaho Campus, Rayburn Street, Moscow, ID 83403
Moscow Environmental Restoration Information Office, 530 South Ashbury, 
Suite 2, Moscow, ID 83843

[[Page 43781]]

Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Pocatello Office, 1651 Al Ricken 
Drive, Pocatello, ID 83201
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Twin Falls Office, 233 2nd 
Street North, Suite B, Twin Falls, ID 83301
Standley Lake Library, 8485 Kipling Street, Arvada, CO 80005
Information Center, Colorado Department of Public Health and 
Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Building A, Denver, CO 
80222-1530
Superfund Records Center, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 999 
18th Street, 5th Floor, Denver, CO 80220
Rocky Flats Public Reading Room, Department of Energy, Front Range 
Community College Library, 3645 West 112th Avenue, Westminster, CO 
80030
Citizens Advisory Board, 9035 N. Wadsworth Parkway, Suite 2250, 
Westminster, CO 80021

    Comments on the scope of the SEIS II, questions concerning the 
Department's proposal to begin the WIPP disposal phase, and requests 
for copies of the Implementation Plan and/or the Draft SEIS II should 
be directed to the designated Carlsbad Area Office contact below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Written questions and comments should 
be directed to: Harold Johnson, NEPA Compliance Officer, Attn: Scoping 
Comments, Mail Stop 535, Carlsbad Area Office, U.S. Department of 
Energy, Post Office Box 3090, Carlsbad, NM 88221.
    Oral and faxed questions and comments should be directed to the 
SEIS II Project at the numbers below: Telephone: 1-800-336-9477, 
Facsimile: 1-505-224-8030.
    For information on the Department's NEPA process, contact: Carol M. 
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance (EH-42), U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, D.C. 
20585, Telephone: 202-586-4600 or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The ``National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy 
Act of 1980'' (Pub.L. 96-164) authorized the Department to develop a 
research and development facility to demonstrate the safe disposal of 
radioactive waste generated by national defense activities. WIPP is 
intended to meet the statutory requirements of Pub.L. 96-164. Initially 
the WIPP mission was to include experimentation with high-level 
radioactive wastes, but subsequent legislation has limited the 
radioactive component of waste the Department proposes to place in WIPP 
to TRU waste.
    TRU waste is waste that contains alpha particle-emitting 
radionuclides with an atomic number greater than that of uranium (92), 
half-lives greater than 20 years, and concentrations greater than 100 
nanocuries per gram of waste. TRU waste is classified according to the 
radiation dose rate at a package surface. Contact-handled TRU waste has 
a radiation dose rate at a package surface of 200 millirem per hour or 
less; this waste can be safely handled directly by personnel. Remote-
handled TRU waste has a radiation dose rate at a package surface 
greater than 200 millirem per hour; this waste must be handled remotely 
(e.g., with machinery designed to shield the handler from radiation). 
Alpha radiation is the primary factor in the radiation health hazard 
associated with TRU waste. Alpha radiation is not energetic enough to 
penetrate human skin but poses a health hazard if it is taken into the 
body (e.g., inhaled or ingested). Remote-handled TRU waste also emits 
gamma and/or beta radiation, which can penetrate the human body and 
requires shielding during transport and handling.
    The Department's TRU waste inventory has resulted primarily from 
research and development, nuclear weapons production, and fuel 
reprocessing activities at Departmental sites. [Idaho National 
Engineering Laboratory; Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site; the 
Hanford, Savannah River, Mound and Nevada Test Sites: and Los Alamos, 
Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore and Argonne (Chicago) National 
Laboratories have historically generated over 90 percent of the 
Department's TRU waste, with smaller sites generating the remainder.] 
Currently, about 2.6 million cubic feet of contact-handled TRU waste 
and about 42,000 cubic feet of remote-handled TRU waste are in 
retrievable storage at Departmental sites around the country. The 
Department projects that approximately 1.8 million additional cubic 
feet of contact-handled TRU waste and 127,000 cubic feet of remote-
handled TRU waste will be generated through the year 2022 from 
continuing site activities and decontamination and decommissioning. 
Additional TRU waste would be generated by environmental restoration 
activities at Departmental sites, but the volume and characteristics of 
this waste that might be disposed of at WIPP are uncertain. (Decisions 
on the disposition of waste and contaminated media from environmental 
restoration activities are made on a cleanup-by-cleanup basis, and such 
decisions have not yet been made for many of the Department's 
environmental restoration activities. The Department has also not yet 
sufficiently characterized all of the contaminated sites to be certain 
as to the specific wastestreams from those cleanups.) The potential for 
disposal at WIPP of TRU waste from environmental restoration activities 
will be analyzed in the cumulative impacts section of the SEIS II as a 
reasonably foreseeable future action.
    Before 1970, material that is now classified as contact-handled TRU 
waste was not segregated from low-level waste and was buried along with 
low-level waste. At the time of burial, the Department did not intend 
to retrieve that waste. Since the Atomic Energy Commission (one of the 
Department's predecessor agencies) adopted a policy requiring 
retrievable storage of certain waste containing transuranic 
radionuclides in 1970, Departmental TRU waste has been stored in 
containers so that it could be easily retrieved when future decisions 
were made regarding the management or disposition of this waste.
    About 55 percent of the Department's current TRU waste inventory 
contains hazardous substances regulated under the Resource Conservation 
and Recovery Act and is referred to as TRU mixed waste. The fraction of 
TRU waste streams that is mixed waste is expected to decrease in the 
future due to Departmental pollution prevention activities. Under the 
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, land disposal of waste 
containing certain listed hazardous constituents is prohibited, unless 
the waste is treated to substantially diminish the waste's toxicity or 
substantially reduce the likelihood of migration of hazardous 
constituents from the waste so that short-term and long-term threats to 
human health and the environment are minimized. (This prohibition, and 
the required treatment level, are referred to as the ``land disposal 
restrictions.'') The Environmental Protection Agency can grant an 
exemption from the land disposal restrictions if it finds that there 
will be no migration of hazardous constituents from the disposal unit 
for as long as the wastes remain hazardous (a ``no-migration 
exemption''). (The Department received such an exemption for the WIPP 
test phase.) The Department plans to submit a petition for a no-
migration exemption for the WIPP disposal phase to the Environmental 
Protection Agency in 

[[Page 43782]]
June 1996. As discussed further below, the SEIS II will analyze three 
levels of TRU waste treatment to provide for any decision the 
Environmental Protection Agency may make on that petition.
    The Department has been proceeding with the phased development of 
WIPP since 1981. In the Final Environmental Impact Statement, Waste 
Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE/EIS-0026, 1980), the Department examined the 
environmental impacts of the WIPP and alternatives and in the 1981 
Record of Decision (46 FR 9162, January 23, 1981) decided to begin 
construction of the WIPP facility to demonstrate the safe disposal of 
TRU waste in salt formations. In the following nine years, construction 
of WIPP surface facilities and shafts necessary for waste and salt 
handling and ventilation were completed, and the experimental area and 
a portion of the underground disposal area were excavated.
    In 1990, the Department prepared the Final Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE/EIS-
0026FS, 1990), which reexamined the environmental impacts of WIPP in 
light of new information and changed circumstances (including a 
reduction in the expected volume of TRU waste, inclusion of high-curie 
and high-neutron waste in the TRU waste inventory, a decision not to 
emplace high-level waste in WIPP for experimental purposes, and changes 
from a vented to a non-vented TRU waste transportation package). In the 
1990 Record of Decision (55 FR 25689, June 22, 1990), the Department 
decided to continue phased development of WIPP by conducting test phase 
activities to reduce uncertainties associated with performance 
assessment predictions that are necessary to determine whether WIPP 
would comply with applicable disposal regulations. Test phase 
activities were to have included tests with TRU waste in the 
underground area of WIPP. On October 21, 1993, in response to comments 
from the Environmental Protection Agency, the scientific community, and 
the public, the Department decided to conduct tests using radioactive 
wastes in above-ground laboratories rather than underground at WIPP. 
Performance assessment models based on these tests are being used to 
demonstrate compliance with applicable disposal regulations.
    In the 1990 Record of Decision, the Department announced it would 
prepare this SEIS II before proceeding with the proposed waste disposal 
phase at the WIPP. The Department is proposing to begin the disposal 
phase of WIPP operations in June 1998. (The Department is aware that a 
bill, H.R. 1663, has been introduced in Congress that, if enacted, 
could accelerate disposal to March 1997.) The Department is preparing 
the SEIS II to provide updated information about the environmental 
impacts of the proposed action and alternatives.
    The 1990 Record of Decision stated that the scope of the SEIS II 
would include an analysis of the long-term performance of WIPP in light 
of the information obtained during the test phase activities and a more 
detailed analysis of the processing and handling of TRU waste at the 
generator facilities. In 1992, Congress passed the ``Waste Isolation 
Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act'' (Pub.L. 102-579) (Land Withdrawal 
Act), which imposed additional requirements on the Department's phased 
development of the WIPP site. As explained more fully below, the SEIS 
II will also discuss these statutory changes and other changed 
circumstances to the extent that they could affect the environmental 
impacts of WIPP.
    Additional changes to the Land Withdrawal Act proposed in H.R. 
1663, if enacted, could further affect the scope of the SEIS II 
analysis.

Changed Circumstances and New Information:

    Several changed circumstances since 1990 that could affect the 
environmental impacts of the WIPP disposal phase will be examined in 
the SEIS II, as part of the analysis of the proposed action or of 
alternatives or subalternatives to the proposed action, including the 
following:
     Waste Management Programmatic EIS. The Department is 
examining various options for waste management across the Departmental 
complex in the Waste Management Programmatic EIS (DOE/EIS-0200) (PEIS). 
The Notice of Intent was published on October 22, 1990 and an 
Implementation Plan was issued on December 23, 1993. The Department 
proposed to modify the scope of the PEIS in January 1995 (60 FR 4607, 
January 24, 1995). The Draft PEIS is scheduled for issuance in 
September 1995. The PEIS is examining alternatives for treatment, 
storage, and disposal of specified waste types complex-wide, including 
post-1970 generated TRU waste. Because the SEIS II will examine impacts 
of TRU waste disposal at WIPP, the PEIS does not examine those impacts. 
Under all of the PEIS TRU waste alternatives, disposal at WIPP of all 
post-1970 Department-generated retrievably-stored TRU waste is assumed 
for purposes of analysis.
    The PEIS examines the potential environmental impacts of treating 
the waste to three levels: treatment to meet the planning-basis WIPP 
waste acceptance criteria (primarily designed to decrease waste 
mobility), intermediate treatment to also reduce the gas generation 
potential of the waste, and enhanced treatment of TRU mixed waste to 
also meet Resource Conservation and Recovery Act land disposal 
restrictions at various Departmental sites that generate TRU waste. 
WIPP is the only Departmental site not currently generating TRU waste 
that would be considered as an alternative treatment site (for contact-
handled TRU waste only).
    To fulfill the commitments made in the 1990 Record of Decision to 
examine the impacts of waste processing and handling at the generator 
sites, the SEIS II will summarize and incorporate by reference the PEIS 
analysis of the alternatives for TRU waste treatment locations that are 
being considered in the PEIS. The SEIS II will also include an analysis 
of the impacts of disposal of waste treated to meet the three treatment 
levels being considered in the PEIS. The information from the PEIS 
concerning impacts of various treatment levels at the treatment sites 
and the SEIS II analysis of disposal impacts at WIPP from various 
treatment levels will inform the Department's decision on final WIPP 
waste acceptance criteria.
    The Department proposes to use WIPP to dispose of post-1970 
retrievably-stored and newly-generated TRU waste generated by defense-
related activities. For completeness, however, the SEIS II also will 
assess the impacts of disposing of a relatively small volume (when 
compared to defense-related waste) of non-defense TRU waste at WIPP, 
consistent with the PEIS action alternatives. The SEIS II will 
incorporate the PEIS analysis by reference and supplement it as 
appropriate. Statutory changes would be required before WIPP could 
dispose of non-defense generated TRU waste.
    The scope of the analysis in the SEIS II will differ from that of 
the PEIS in several major aspects resulting from the documents' 
different purposes. Specifically, the SEIS II, but not the PEIS, will 
analyze the impacts of TRU waste disposal at WIPP. In addition, because 
the PEIS assumes for analytic purposes that WIPP will operate, the 
long-term environmental impacts of indefinite storage of TRU waste at 
generator sites are not included in the PEIS analysis. The PEIS no-
action alternative analyzes the impacts of continued storage of TRU 
waste at generator sites until disposal at WIPP, 

[[Page 43783]]
assuming that existing waste management facilities would be used. The 
impacts of storage for an indefinite time will be analyzed as part of 
the no-action alternative in the SEIS II.
     More Generator Sites. Ten generator sites for the majority 
of the Department's TRU waste were identified in the 1990 Supplemental 
EIS (listed under Background, above), but the Department since then has 
identified additional sites that generate small quantities of TRU waste 
that would be disposed of at WIPP. Options for managing this waste are 
being addressed in the PEIS (and will be incorporated by reference in 
the SEIS II), including treatment at the small generator sites to meet 
the planning-basis WIPP waste acceptance criteria and direct shipment 
from these sites to WIPP for disposal (which would require activities 
such as certification, treatment, storage, and loading for 
transportation to be done at each small generator site) and using one 
or more of the main generator sites to perform such waste management 
activities.
     Less Waste. The volumes of contact-handled and remote-
handled TRU waste in retrievable storage and estimated to be generated 
at the generator/storage sites from continuing operations have greatly 
decreased since 1990, primarily because of the Department's reduced 
nuclear weapons production activities.
     Land Withdrawal Act. The Land Withdrawal Act contains 
provisions that could affect the environmental impacts of various WIPP 
alternatives. One section of the Act sets an upper limit on the volume 
of TRU waste (6.2 million cubic feet) and the radioactivity (5.1 
million curies) of remote-handled waste that can be disposed of at 
WIPP. The SEIS II would examine whether these limitations would affect 
the previous analysis of the impacts and whether the Department may 
need to dispose of more waste than the Act would allow to be disposed 
of at WIPP. Also, the Land Withdrawal Act requires the Department to 
perform certain studies, including one on rail and truck transportation 
alternatives, one on remote-handled TRU waste, and one on waste 
processing and volume reduction technologies. Any new information 
contained in studies required by the Land Withdrawal Act will be used, 
as appropriate, in preparing the SEIS II.
     WIPP Experimental Program. The WIPP experimental program 
has provided additional information regarding the site, the waste, and 
potential interactions between the waste and the WIPP environment that 
are relevant to the performance of the WIPP site. To date, experimental 
results appear to confirm previous expectations regarding the 
suitability of WIPP as a TRU waste repository. Performance assessment 
models based on these tests are being used to demonstrate compliance 
with applicable disposal regulations, and will be used to provide 
information on waste disposal impacts in the SEIS II.
     Waste Acceptance Criteria. DOE has revised the planning-
basis WIPP waste acceptance criteria since 1990. The revision that 
could potentially affect environmental impacts the most is the addition 
of a requirement to treat waste to eliminate corrosive characteristics. 
The planning-basis WIPP waste acceptance criteria could potentially 
change again to conform with decisions made regarding TRU waste 
treatment based on the analysis of treatment subalternatives in the 
SEIS II.
     Transportation Routes. The Department has made minor 
changes to the local portions of some of the truck transportation 
routes that were presented in the 1990 Supplemental EIS.

Purpose and Need For Agency Action

    As discussed under Background, above, since the mid-1940s, the 
Department's research and development, nuclear weapons production, and 
fuel reprocessing activities have produced TRU waste. Continued 
operation of Departmental facilities, decontamination and 
decommissioning of defense production facilities, and environmental 
restoration activities (including remediation of sites where pre-1970 
wastes were buried) at Departmental sites are expected to generate 
additional TRU waste. The Department needs to safely dispose of the 
accumulated TRU waste and provide for the disposal of the additional 
TRU waste to be generated. TRU waste emits alpha radiation for a long 
period of time and must be isolated from means of environmental 
transport (primarily air and water). Similarly, the hazardous 
constituents of the TRU mixed waste also pose a hazard if they are 
taken into the body and need to be isolated or treated to reduce 
exposure and its consequences. As noted above, Congress authorized the 
Department in Pub.L. 96-164 to develop a research and development 
facility to meet the Department's need for disposal. The Department 
also needs to examine reasonable alternatives for treatment of the TRU 
waste to ensure that the disposal of the waste is protective of human 
health and the environment.
Proposed Action

    The Department's proposed action is to continue phased development 
of WIPP by beginning the disposal phase of TRU waste operations at the 
facility. Any unfinished compliance activities would continue until the 
Department obtains regulatory approvals needed to begin receiving 
waste. (Compliance activities are ongoing now, and are scheduled for 
completion before a decision on the WIPP disposal phase.) The remainder 
of the planned waste disposal area at WIPP would be excavated to 
accommodate the waste, as needed. (Approximately one-eighth of the 
planned disposal area has already been excavated.)
    Under the proposed action, retrievably-stored defense-generated 
waste would be characterized, packaged, and certified at the generator 
sites to meet WIPP waste acceptance criteria (to be determined based on 
the analysis in the SEIS II) and then loaded into approved reusable 
shipping containers for transportation to WIPP by truck. When the waste 
arrives at WIPP, the shipping container would be unloaded and the waste 
containers would be inspected before being emplaced underground at 
WIPP.
    Under the proposed action, the SEIS II will analyze the impacts of 
waste storage, characterization, certification, treatment, and loading 
at the generator sites, and of transporting TRU waste from the 
generator sites to WIPP. The SEIS II will also discuss mitigation and 
accident prevention measures and emergency response procedures to 
protect the safety and health of workers and the public at the 
generator sites and along transportation routes, and tracking of waste 
shipments to WIPP. Much of this analysis will have already been done in 
the context of the PEIS and the previous WIPP Supplemental EIS, and 
will be summarized and incorporated by reference, and supplemented or 
updated as necessary.
    The impacts of waste disposal operations at WIPP also will be 
analyzed under this alternative in the SEIS II, including the impacts 
of waste receipt and waste package inspection, monitoring, emplacement, 
and subsequent activities associated with eventual closure, 
decommissioning and institutional control of the WIPP after waste 
disposal operations have been completed. Loss of institutional controls 
will also be considered.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    The SEIS II will consider a no-action alternative that consists of 
continued management of TRU waste at the 

[[Page 43784]]
generator facilities and decommissioning or other disposition of the 
WIPP facility. This alternative will be analyzed to provide a baseline 
of environmental impacts if the waste were not disposed of at WIPP. 
Analysis of the no-action alternative would compare the impacts of 
continued storage of TRU waste (including an assumed loss of 
institutional controls after 100 years) with the expected post-closure 
impacts of WIPP under the proposed-action alternative.

Subalternatives

    Subalternatives of the proposed action would also be considered. 
The effects on the performance of WIPP as a disposal site of several 
TRU waste treatment subalternatives would be considered in the SEIS II 
to help the Department establish final WIPP waste acceptance criteria. 
Another set of subalternatives would address the disposal of non-
defense generated TRU waste. Transportation subalternatives, including 
rail common carrier service and dedicated rail service, particularly 
for remote-handled waste, would also be reexamined in the SEIS II.

Preliminary Identification of Environmental Issues

    The issues listed below have been tentatively identified for 
analysis in the SEIS II. This list is presented to facilitate public 
comment on the scope of the SEIS II. It is not intended to be all-
inclusive or to predetermine the potential impacts of any of the 
alternatives.
    (1) Potential effects on the public and on-site workers from 
releases of radiological and non-radiological materials during normal 
operations and from reasonably foreseeable accidents;
    (2) Pollution prevention and waste minimization;
    (3) Potential effects on air and water quality and soils, and other 
environmental consequences of normal operations and reasonably 
foreseeable accidents;
    (4) Potential cumulative effects of operations at the WIPP site, 
including relevant impacts from other past, present, and reasonably 
foreseeable activities at the site;
    (5) Potential effects on endangered or threatened species, other 
species of concern, floodplain/wetlands, and archaeological/historical 
sites;
    (6) Effects from normal transportation and reasonably foreseeable 
transportation accidents;
    (7) Potential socioeconomic impacts on communities surrounding WIPP 
and the generator sites;
    (8) Environmental justice considerations;
    (9) Unavoidable adverse environmental effects;
    (10) Short-term uses of the environment versus long-term 
productivity; and
    (11) Potential irretrievable and irreversible commitments of 
resources.

Related NEPA Documentation

    NEPA documents that have been or are being prepared for activities 
related to WIPP include, but are not limited to, the following:
    (1) Final Environmental Impact Statement, Waste Isolation Pilot 
Plant (DOE/EIS-0026, October 1980), and the January 23, 1981, Record of 
Decision (46 FR 9162) and Final Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE/EIS-0026-FS, January 1990), 
and the June 13, 1990, Record of Decision (55 FR 25689). These 
documents provide environmental analysis and the decision rationale for 
earlier phases of the WIPP project.
    (2) Waste Management PEIS. The Waste Management PEIS will analyze 
complex-wide waste management alternatives. The Department published 
the Notice of Intent to prepare the PEIS on October 22, 1990 (55 FR 
42633) and issued the Implementation Plan on December 23, 1993. The 
Department proposed to modify the scope of the PEIS in January 1995 (60 
FR 4607), and the Draft PEIS is now scheduled for issuance in September 
1995. As noted above, the SEIS II will incorporate the PEIS analysis of 
treatment alternatives to ensure that the decision whether to proceed 
with the WIPP disposal phase is consistent with the programmatic 
decisions on locations of waste treatment facilities that may be made 
based on the PEIS.
    (3) Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Actinide Source-Term 
Test Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOE/EA-0977). This 
Environmental Assessment examined the site specific impacts of 
conducting in-laboratory waste testing at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory as part of the WIPP test phase activities. A Finding of No 
Significant Impact was issued on January 23, 1995.
    (4) Environmental Assessment for the Construction and Operation of 
the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center (DOE/EA-1081) 
(in preparation). The proposed action is for the Department to continue 
funding operation of the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research 
Center by the University of New Mexico. The Center's laboratories and 
offices would be constructed in Carlsbad, New Mexico, adjacent to the 
existing New Mexico State University campus. The Center would 
independently monitor and analyze biological and ecological impacts 
from ongoing and future WIPP operations as part of its work to improve 
environmental monitoring techniques.
    (5) Environmental Assessment for the Construction and Operation of 
the Sand Dunes to Ochoa Powerline Project (DOE/EA-1109). The Department 
adopted this Bureau of Land Management Environmental Assessment and 
Finding of No Significant Impact on May 19, 1995. This Environmental 
Assessment examined the impacts of constructing a Department-funded 
backup powerline to WIPP so that commercial electric power would not be 
interrupted if the single existing powerline is damaged. As part of the 
project, a new substation also will be constructed within the WIPP 
secure area to increase the electrical supply available at WIPP.
    (6) The Department of Energy Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel 
Management and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Environmental 
Restoration and Waste Management Programs Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (DOE/EIS-0203-F, April 1995) and Record of Decision, (60 FR 
2680, June 1, 1995); Tritium Supply and Recycling Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0161) (in preparation); Long-
Term Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0229) (in 
preparation); Environmental Impact Statement for the Continued 
Operation of the Pantex Plant and Associated Storage of Nuclear Weapon 
Components (DOE/EIS-0225) (in preparation); Site-wide Environmental 
Impact Statement for Continued Operation of the Los Alamos National 
Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (DOE/EIS-0238) (in preparation); 
Nevada Test Site and Other Off-Site Locations within the State of 
Nevada Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0239) (in 
preparation); and Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site-wide 
Environmental Impact Statement, Rocky Flats Site, Golden, Colorado (no 
number yet assigned) (in preparation) are among several recently 
completed and ongoing documents that analyze or have the potential to 
analyze proposals or alternatives that could generate additional 
transuranic waste for disposal at WIPP.

 
[[Page 43785]]

    Issued in Washington, D.C., this 18th day of August, 1995.
Peter Brush,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 95-20878 Filed 8-22-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P