[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 47 (Friday, March 8, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9441-9443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-5561]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and Idaho National 
Engineering Laboratory Environmental Restoration and Waste Management 
Programs

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Amendment to Record of Decision.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued an amendment to the 
May 30, 1995 Record of Decision on the Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel 
Management and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Environmental 
Restoration and Waste Management Programs Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (60 FR 28680, June 1, 1995). The May 30, 1995 Record of 
Decision includes a decision to regionalize the management of DOE owned 
spent nuclear fuel, by fuel type, and also includes decisions 
concerning environmental restoration and waste management programs at 
the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. This amended Record of 
Decision reflects the October 16, 1995 Settlement Agreement among DOE, 
the State of Idaho and the Department of the Navy pertaining to spent 
nuclear fuel shipments into and out of the State of Idaho. The 
Settlement Agreement was entered as a Consent Order by the U.S. 
District Court for the District of Idaho on October 17, 1995, which 
resolved litigation between the State of Idaho and DOE. See, Public 
Service Co. of Colorado v. Batt, No. CV 91-0035-S-EJL (D. Idaho) and 
United States v. Batt, No. CV-91-0065-S-EJL (D. Idaho). This amended 
Record of Decision does not modify or rescind any of the provisions of 
the May 30, 1995 Record of Decision, except as discussed below.

ADDRESSES: Copies of 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), and the May 30, 1995 
Record of Decision are available in the public reading rooms and 
libraries identified in the Federal Register Notice that announced the 
availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (60 FR 20979, 
April 28, 1995).

    For further information on DOE's spent nuclear fuel management 
program and environmental restoration and waste management programs at 
the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory or to receive a copy of the 
Final Environmental Impact Statement, or Settlement Agreement with the 
State of Idaho, please contact: U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho 
Operations Office, Bradley P. Bugger, Office of Communications, 850 
Energy Drive, MS 1214, Idaho Falls, ID 83403-3189, 208-526-0833.
    For general information on the Department's National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) process, please contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom, 
Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance, EH-42, U.S. Department 
of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20585, 202-586-
4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Department of Energy Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management

    This amended Record of Decision reduces the number of shipments of 
spent nuclear fuel into the State of Idaho. As a result, there are 
differences in the number of spent nuclear fuel shipments and 
inventories from those listed in Tables 3.1 and 3.2 of the May 30, 1995 
Record of Decision. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 of this amendment hereby revise 
Tables 3.1 and 3.2, respectively, of the May 30, 1995 Record of 
Decision to show those differences. Table 1.1 shows the origin and 
interim management destination of specific fuels and the potential 
number of shipments. One shipment, whether by truck or rail, consists 
of a single shipping container of spent nuclear fuel. Table 1.2 shows 
the existing and resulting inventory at DOE's main spent nuclear fuel 
management locations. The differences include the Fort St. Vrain fuel 
and 512 shipments of the Hanford Site fuel. The change regarding Fort 
St. Vrain spent nuclear fuel shipments implements an explicit provision 
of the October 17, 1995 Consent Order settling the litigation among the 
State of Idaho, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the 
Navy. The change regarding spent nuclear fuel at the Hanford site 
reflects the Consent Order's general limitation of spent nuclear fuel 
shipments to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Both the Fort 
St. Vrain and Hanford spent fuels may be safely maintained at their 
present locations. (See Volume 1, Appendix A, Section 5.1; Volume 1, 
Section 3.1.1.7; and Volume 1, Appendix E, Section 4.1.3.2.) There are 
also refinements in the number of spent nuclear fuel shipments to the 
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory from Argonne National Laboratory-
East, Sandia National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Reservation, Babcock & 
Wilcox, and Foreign Research Reactors. This Amendment to the Record of 
Decision is consistent with DOE's mission of managing its spent nuclear 
fuel safely and efficiently. The environmental impacts associated with 
the decisions contained in this Amendment were analyzed in the DOE 
Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and Idaho National 
Engineering Laboratory Environmental Restoration and Waste Management 
Programs Final Environmental Impact Statement.

[[Page 9442]]


  Table 1.1--State-by-State Planned Shipment Destinations and Number of 
                              Shipments.\1\                             
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Destination \2\    
                                               -------------------------
                                                   Idaho                
         Generator or current storage             National     Savannah 
                                                Engineering   River Site
                                                 Laboratory             
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aerotest (California).........................            3  ...........
General Atomics (California)..................            8  ...........
General Electric (California).................  ...........            4
McClellan Air Force Base (California).........            3  ...........
U.S. Geological Survey (Colorado).............            6  ...........
Fort St Vrain (Colorado) \3\..................            0  ...........
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (Idaho).  ...........          114
Argonne National Laboratory--East (Illinois)..            6  ...........
Armed Forces Research Institute (Maryland)....            3  ...........
National Institute of Science and Technology                            
 (Maryland)...................................  ...........          185
DOW Corp. (Michigan)..........................            3  ...........
Veterans Medical Center (Nebraska)............            2  ...........
Los Alamos National Laboratory (New Mexico)...  ...........           17
Sandia National Laboratory (New Mexico) \4\...           11           15
Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York).....  ...........           71
West Valley Demonstration Project (New York)..       \5\ 83             
Savannah River Site (South Carolina)..........          121  ...........
Oak Ridge Reservation (Tennessee) \4\.........           14           68
Babcock & Wilcox, Lynchburg (Virginia)........            5  ...........
Hanford Site (Washington).....................       \6\ 12  ...........
Foreign Research Reactors (various) \4\,\7\...          162          838
Navy..........................................          575  ...........
Universities (various) \4\....................          116          403
                                               -------------------------
      Total...................................        1,133        1,715
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The number of shipments analyzed in the Final Environmental Impact  
  Statement, including either truck or rail shipments.                  
\2\ The Hanford Site would not receive any additional fuel.             
\3\ No shipments for storage, but shipments may be needed for treatment 
  for disposal.                                                         
\4\ The specific distribution would be based upon the fuel type (i.e.,  
  cladding material).                                                   
\5\ For West Valley Demonstration Project spent fuel, 7 rail shipments  
  would be equal to 83 truck shipments.                                 
\6\ This represents the sodium-bonded Fast Flux Test Facility fuel.     
\7\ A policy decision on acceptance of foreign research reactor spent   
  nuclear fuel will be made after completion of a separate environmental
  impact statement.                                                     


  Table 1.2--Approximate spent nuclear fuel inventory in metric tons of 
                             heavy metal.\1\                            
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Existing     
                                 Existing spent fuel   redistributed and
                                   inventory (as of     newly generated 
             Sites                1995) (percent of   inventory (by year
                                        total)         2035) (percent of
                                                            total)      
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hanford Site...................  2133 (80.6%)         2132 \3\(77.8%)   
                                                       (non-sodium-     
                                                       bonded Fast Flux 
                                                       Test Facility    
                                                       fuel,            
                                                       miscellaneous and
                                                       production       
                                                       reactor spent    
                                                       nuclear fuel).   
Idaho National Engineering       261 (9.9%)           381 (13.9%) (non- 
 Laboratory.                                           aluminum-clad    
                                                       spent nuclear    
                                                       fuel).           
Savannah River Site............  206 (7.8%)           213 (7.8%)        
                                                       (aluminum-clad   
                                                       spent nuclear    
                                                       fuel)            
Other (Oak Ridge, other          46 (1.7%)            16 \4\ (.5%)      
 Department of Energy                                                   
 facilities, universities,                                              
 special case commercial) \3\.                                          
                                ----------------------------------------
      Total....................  2646 (100%)          2742 (100%).      
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ A ``metric ton of heavy metal'' is a common unit of measure for     
  spent nuclear fuel, which is 1000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of heavy   
  metal (uranium, plutonium, thorium) contained in the spent fuel.      
\2\ Inventory shown assumes no final disposition (repository disposal or
  processing).                                                          
\3\ The Hanford and Oak Ridge sites would ship some or all of their     
  existing inventory to the Savannah River Site and Idaho National      
  Engineering Laboratory, depending on fuel type.                       
\4\ DOE spent fuel stored at the Fort St. Vrain reactor in Colorado.    

Decision and Approval.

    The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) and the 
Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) 
establish the Department's responsibility for the management of its 
spent nuclear fuel. The decision process reflected in this document 
complies with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (42 
U.S.C 4321 et seq.) and its implementing 

[[Page 9443]]
regulations at 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 and 10 CFR Part 1021. These 
decisions affect activities under the authority of the U.S. Department 
of the Navy, and the Navy was a cooperating agency in the preparation 
of the Environmental Impact Statement. Pursuant to 10 CFR 
Sec. 1021.315, the Department of Energy may revise the Record of 
Decision at any time, so long as the revised decision is adequately 
supported by an existing environmental impact statement. Implementation 
of the Record of Decision as amended is subject to compliance with all 
applicable federal statutes, regulations and orders, including the 
Anti-Deficiency Act.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 28th day of February 1996.
Hazel R. O'Leary,
Secretary of Energy.
[FR Doc. 96-5561 Filed 3-7-96; 8:45 am]
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