[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 104 (Friday, May 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29332-29335]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14168]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement; Sandia National 
Laboratories/New Mexico

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intent to prepare 
a Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for its Sandia 
National Laboratories/New Mexico (SNL/NM), a DOE research and 
development laboratory located on Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB) in 
Albuquerque, New Mexico. The SWEIS will address operations and 
activities that DOE foresees at SNL/NM for approximately the next 10 
years. The U.S. Air Force will participate as a cooperating agency. The 
purpose of this Notice is to invite public participation in the process 
and to encourage public dialogue on alternatives that should be 
considered.

DATES: The DOE invites other Federal agencies, Native American tribes, 
State and local governments, and the general public to comment on the 
scope of this SWEIS. The public scoping period starts with the 
publication of this Notice in the Federal Register and will continue 
until July 14, 1997. DOE will consider all comments received or 
postmarked by that date in defining the scope of this SWEIS. Comments 
received or postmarked after that date will be considered to the extent 
practicable. Public scoping meetings are scheduled to be held as 
follows:
June 23, 1997, 1:00 p.m.-4:00pm and 6:00 p.m.-9:00pm, UNM Continuing 
Education Conference Center, 1634 University Blvd. NE; Albuquerque, NM
    The purpose of these meetings is to receive oral and written 
comments from the public. The meetings will use a format to facilitate 
dialogue between DOE and the public and will provide an opportunity for 
individuals to provide written or oral statements. The DOE will publish 
additional notices on the date, times, and location of the scoping 
meetings in local newspapers in advance of the scheduled meetings. Any 
necessary changes will be announced in the local media.
    In addition to providing oral comments at the public scoping 
meetings, all interested parties are invited to record their comments, 
ask questions concerning the SNL/NM SWEIS, or request to be placed on 
the SNL/NM SWEIS mailing or document distribution list by leaving a 
message on the SNL/NM SWEIS Hotline at (toll free)

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1-888-635-7305. The Hotline will have instructions on how to record 
your comments and requests.

ADDRESSES: Written comments or suggestions concerning the scope of the 
SNL/NM SWEIS should be directed to: Ms. Donna A. Bergman, U.S. 
Department of Energy, Albuquerque Operations Office, P.O. Box 5400, 
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87185-5444, or by facsimile at (505) 845-6392. 
For express delivery services, the appropriate address is Pennsylvania 
and H Streets, Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM 87116.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the SWEIS 
and the public scoping process, contact Donna Bergman at the address 
and facsimile number listed above.
    For information on DOE's NEPA process, please contact: Carol 
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance (EH-42), U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 
20585. Ms. Borgstrom can be reached at (202) 586-4600, by facsimile at 
(202) 586-7031, or by leaving a message at 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Invitation to Comment

    The public is invited to participate in the scoping process and is 
encouraged to comment on the preliminary alternatives and issues 
identified for the SNL/NM SWEIS.

Availability of Scoping Documents

    Copies of all written comments and transcripts of all oral comments 
will be available at the following location: Albuquerque Technical-
Vocational Institute (TVI), Montoya Campus Library, 4700 Morris NE, 
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87111.

SNL/NM's Mission

    DOE is responsible for the Federal Government's nuclear weapons 
program, research and development of energy technologies, and basic 
science research. SNL/NM is one of DOE's primary research, development, 
and test laboratories. It was established in 1947 to support the U.S. 
weapons development program. Its purpose was to organize and perform 
engineering activities for development of nuclear and nonnuclear 
weapons; testing of new designs; and surveillance tests. Today, it 
remains one of the three national laboratories in DOE's nuclear weapons 
complex. Responsibilities in support of nuclear weapons activities 
include design, certification, and assessment of non-nuclear subsystems 
of nuclear weapons; systems integration; safety, security, reliability, 
and use control; direction and support to production plants regarding 
issues associated with production and dismantlement of nuclear weapons; 
production and/or acquisition of weapons components; surveillance and 
support of weapons in the stockpile; and work in nuclear intelligence, 
nonproliferation, and treaty verification technologies. Nonweapons 
research and science services are provided in areas including waste 
management, environmental restoration, hazardous and radioactive 
material transportation, energy efficiency and renewable energy, 
nuclear energy, fossil energy, magnetic fusion, basic energy sciences, 
and biological and environmental research. Additional activities 
include energy and environment technologies; other engineering 
research; and work-for-others.
    SNL/NM operations are located primarily in five technical areas 
(TA) and the Coyote Test Facility, all of which are surrounded by KAFB. 
Activities/operations in specific areas are as follows:
    TA I--Manufacturing/production activities, such as the 
microelectronics development laboratory and the neutron generator 
facility; environmental testing; facilities engineering; laboratory 
space; office space.
    TA II--Light laboratory activities; environmental restoration.
    TA III--Field test facilities; explosives testing operations; 
destructive testing operations; high energy testing operations.
    TA IV--Radiation effects experimentation; accelerator operations 
[high-energy radiation megavolt electron source (HERMES), x-ray source 
(Saturn)]; electromagnetic analysis.
    TA V--Nuclear safety and system analysis; Annular Core Research 
Reactor; Gamma Irradiation Facility; radioisotope production 
(molybdenum-99).
    Coyote Test Facility--Explosives testing; thermal testing; shock/
blast testing; and large scale impact testing.
    SNL/NM has an annual budget of approximately $1 billion and employs 
approximately 8,700 people. SNL/NM is surrounded by KAFB, and occupies 
2,842 acres owned by the DOE and an additional 15,003 acres that have 
been made available through a series of land use agreements or permits.

Missions of Other DOE-funded Operations on KAFB

    In addition to SNL/NM, there are several other DOE-funded 
facilities located on KAFB. There are no planned changes in the level 
or type of activities at these facilities. The environmental impacts of 
these operations will be included in the discussion of cumulative 
impacts in the EIS. DOE welcomes comments on this approach. A summary 
of each facility follows.
    Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, formerly the Inhalation 
Toxicology Research Institute, began in the 1960s as a research team 
for determining the long-term health impacts of inhaling radioactive 
particles, and has since become a recognized center for inhalation 
toxicology and related fields.
    Central Training Academy ensures the efficient and effective 
training of safeguards and security personnel from throughout the DOE 
who are, or may become, involved in the protection of materials and 
facilities vital to the nation's defense.
    Transportation Safeguards Division (TSD) coordinates, implements, 
and operates the DOE Safeguards Program for strategic quantities of 
government-owned special nuclear material. TSD coordinates and plans 
weapons distribution with the Department of Defense and coordinates 
special nuclear material shipments for all DOE field offices.
    Allied-Signal Kirtland Operations is an applied science and 
engineering organization engaged in research, analysis, testing, and 
field operations. A major portion of this work is in the design, 
fabrication, and testing of electro-optic and recording systems for 
capturing fast transient signals.
    Ross Aviation is the DOE's support contractor providing air cargo 
and passenger service. Ross transports cargo between production plants, 
national laboratories, test sites, and military facilities and provides 
special passenger and cargo flights on request.
    The DOE/Albuquerque complex is a series of office buildings with 
approximately 1,200 Federal and contractor employees.
    The Energy Training Center is a small office complex that includes 
classrooms for DOE training.

The Role of the SWEIS in the DOE NEPA Compliance Strategy

    The SWEIS will be prepared pursuant to the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on 
Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) and 
the DOE NEPA regulations (10 CFR Part 1021). The DOE has a policy (10 
CFR 1021.330) to prepare SWEISs for certain large, multiple-facility 
sites, such as SNL/NM. The purpose of a SWEIS is to provide

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DOE and its stakeholders with an analysis of the environmental impacts 
caused by ongoing and reasonably foreseeable new operations and 
facilities and reasonable alternatives at a DOE site, to provide a 
basis for site-wide decision making, and to improve and coordinate 
agency plans, functions, programs, and resource utilization. The SWEIS 
provides an overall NEPA baseline so that the environmental effects of 
proposed future changes in programs and activities can be compared with 
the baseline. A SWEIS also enables DOE to ``tier'' its NEPA documents 
at a site so as to eliminate repetitive discussion of the same issues 
in future project-specific NEPA studies, and to focus on the actual 
issues ready for decisions at each level of environmental review. The 
NEPA process allows for Federal, Native American, state and local 
government, and public participation in the environmental review 
process. The Environmental Impact Assessment, Sandia Laboratories, 
Albuquerque, New Mexico [EIA/MA 77-1], May 1977, is the existing site-
wide environmental document for SNL/NM. Since that time, several 
additional NEPA documents have been prepared for specific projects, 
including one EIS, and various environment assessments.

Related NEPA Reviews

    The following is a list of recent NEPA documentation that affects 
the scope of this SWEIS. The summaries below are intended to 
familiarize the reader with the purpose of these other NEPA reviews and 
how SNL/NM is considered in them.

Programmatic NEPA Reviews

    The Draft Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (PEIS) (DOE/EIS-0200) analyzes the DOE plan to formulate and 
implement a national integrated waste management program. SNL/NM is 
being considered as a possible regional site for the disposal of low-
level waste and low-level mixed waste. The Final PEIS is expected to be 
available to the public in June.
    Nonnuclear Consolidation Environmental Assessment [DOE/EA-0792]. A 
Finding of No Significant Impact on the Consolidation of the Nonnuclear 
Component within the Nuclear Weapons Complex was signed on September 8, 
1993. The following decisions regarding SNL/NM were made at that time 
and have since been implemented:

--Neutron Generators and Thermal Batteries: The existing technology 
base for neutron generators will be maintained at SNL/NM. Existing 
research, development and technology and prototyping capability at SNL/
NM will be augmented to provide a limited manufacturing capability for 
future advanced design neutron generators. The technology base for the 
manufacture of thermal batteries will be transferred to existing 
facilities at SNL/NM.
--Detonators: The existing research, development, and technology base 
for low-power explosives components will be maintained at SNL/NM.

    Stockpile Stewardship and Management PEIS [DOE/EIS-0236]. A Record 
of Decision was signed by the Secretary of Energy on December 19, 1996. 
Inherent in the many decisions made in the ROD was to continue the 
operations of the three national weapons laboratories, SNL/NM being one 
of the three. The Record of Decision emphasized that stockpile 
stewardship is an essential program to maintain the safety and 
reliability of the stockpile in the absence of underground nuclear 
testing, therefore requiring enhanced experimental capabilities in the 
future.

Project NEPA Reviews

    Medical Isotopes Production Project: Molybdenum-99 and Related 
Isotopes Environmental Impact Statement [DOE/EIS-0249F]. The Record of 
Decision for this EIS was signed on September 11, 1996. The decision 
made was to produce Mo-99 and related isotopes at the Annular Core 
Research Reactor and Hot Cell Facility at SNL/NM.
    Environmental Assessment of the Environmental Restoration Project 
at Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico [DOE/EA-1140]. A Finding of 
No Significant Impact was signed on March 25, 1996. This EA analyzed 
the environmental restoration site characterization and waste cleanup 
activities for an estimated 157 solid waste management units or SWMUs 
at SNL/NM.

Preliminary Alternatives

    The scoping process is an opportunity for the public to assist the 
DOE in determining the alternatives and issues for analysis. DOE 
welcomes specific comments or suggestions on the content of these 
alternatives, or on other alternatives that could be considered.
    DOE is proposing to continue current operations at SNL/NM. Two 
preliminary alternatives were identified during internal scoping: the 
No Action alternative and the Expanded Operations alternative. DOE also 
considered a Reduced Operations alternative. However, current 
activities at SNL/NM are at the minimum level of operations needed to 
protect the technical capability and competency to support the site's 
assigned missions. Therefore, the Department plans to include the 
Reduced Operations alternative in the EIS as an alternative considered 
but eliminated from further analysis.
    No Action. NEPA regulations require analysis of the No Action 
alternative to provide a benchmark for comparison with environmental 
effects of the other alternatives. The No Action alternative would 
continue current facility operations throughout SNL/NM in support of 
assigned missions, and for this SWEIS, it is also the proposed action. 
With respect to the Defense Programs mission, the future role of SNL/NM 
was defined at the programmatic level by the Stockpile Stewardship and 
Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) 
Record of Decision (ROD) (61 FR 68014) (December 26, 1996). In the SSM 
PEIS, SNL/NM had been considered as an alternative location for the 
National Ignition Facility (NIF) and for relocation of non-nuclear 
fabrication functions from the Department's Kansas City Plant. 
Additionally, the SSM PEIS noted that a pre-decisional facility, the 
Advanced Radiation Source (X-1), might, at some time in the future, be 
considered for location at SNL/NM or other sites. The ROD located 
neither the NIF nor the Kansas City Plant functions at SNL/NM, and 
stated that if DOE were to propose to construct and operate such next-
generation facilities as the X-1 in the future, appropriate NEPA review 
would be performed. Therefore, the programmatic mission defined by the 
SSM ROD for SNL/NM is continued operation with the current mission and 
functions. There are no planned programmatic mission changes in the 
non-Defense Programs mission areas.
    Expanded Operations. This alternative would reflect an increase in 
facility operations to the highest levels that can be supported by 
current facilities. This could require construction projects to address 
safety, security and environmental compliance as well as to support 
reconfiguration of facility equipment and operations to optimize use of 
current facilities' capabilities. This alternative will set the 
bounding conditions for assessing the environmental impacts.

Preliminary Issues Identified by Internal Scoping

    The issues listed below have been identified for analysis in this 
SWEIS as being applicable to the operation of SNL/NM. The list is 
tentative and is

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intended to facilitate public comment on the scope of this SWEIS. It is 
not intended to be all-inclusive, nor does it imply any 
predetermination of potential impacts. The SWEIS will describe the 
potential environmental impacts of the alternatives, using available 
data where possible and obtaining additional data where necessary. In 
accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 
CFR 1500.4 and 1502.21), other documents, as appropriate, may be 
incorporated into the impacts analyses by reference, in whole or in 
part. DOE specifically welcomes suggestions and comments for the 
addition or deletion of items on this list.

--Potential effects on the public and workers from exposures to 
radiological and hazardous materials during normal operations and from 
reasonably postulated accidents, including aircraft crashes;
--Potential effect on air and groundwater quality from normal 
operations and potential accidents;
--Potential cumulative effects of past, present, and future operations 
at SNL/NM (this SWEIS will include effects of current and reasonably 
foreseeable federal actions on KAFB).
--Effects on waste management practices and activities, including 
pollution prevention, waste minimization, and waste stream 
characterization
--Potential impacts of noise levels to the ambient environment and 
sensitive receptors; and
--Potential impacts on land use plans, policies, and controls.

Classified Material

    DOE will review classified material while preparing this SWEIS. 
Within the limits of classification, DOE will provide to the public as 
much information as possible. Any classified material DOE needs to use 
to explain the purpose and need for action, or the uses, materials, or 
impacts analyzed in this SWEIS, will be segregated into a classified 
appendix or supplement.

    Issued in Washington, D.C., this 23 day of May 1997, for the 
United States Department of Energy.
Peter N. Brush,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 97-14168 Filed 5-29-97; 8:45 am]
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