[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 151 (Thursday, August 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42012-42013]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-21040]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Availability; Draft DOE Order and Manual on Radioactive 
Waste Management

AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of a 
revised draft DOE Order and Manual on radioactive waste management. 
These draft documents set forth the requirements that DOE programs and 
contractors would follow in managing DOE radioactive waste to provide 
for radiological protection from DOE facilities, operations, and 
activities in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 
2011 et seq.) and other authorities. As part of its mission, DOE 
generates, stores, treats, and disposes of high-level waste, 
transuranic waste, low-level waste, and mixed low-level radioactive 
waste.

DATES: Any comments on the draft Order or Manual (designated draft DOE 
O 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management, and draft DOE M 435.1, 
Radioactive Waste Management Manual, respectively) must be received by 
September 8, 1998 to ensure consideration. Comments received after this 
date will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Any written comments should be directed to: Martin 
Letourneau, Office of Waste Management, EM-35, U.S. Department of 
Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290.
    Persons wanting to provide oral comments should call 1-800-356-
7954. Electronic copies of the draft Order and Manual are available on 
the Internet at: <http://www.explorer.doe.gov:1776/htmls/draft.html> 
under the title ``Series 400 Work Process.'' Paper copies also may be 
obtained from the Center for Environmental Management Information, 955 
L'Enfant Plaza, North, SW, Suite 8200, Washington, DC, 20024, 1-800-
736-3282, in DC 202-863-5084; and DOE Reading Rooms. For locations of 
the DOE Reading Rooms or other public information repositories 
containing these documents, please contact the Center for Environmental 
Management Information at the above address and telephone.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on draft DOE O 435.1, 
Radioactive Waste Management, and draft DOE M 435.1, Radioactive Waste 
Management Manual, or the Order revision process, please contact: 
Martin Letourneau, at the above address, by telephone at 301-903-7656, 
or by e-mail at: [email protected].
    For general information on the DOE Directives System process, 
please contact: Howard Landon, United States Department of Energy, 
Office of Human Resources and Administration, 1000 Independence Ave., 
SW, Washington, DC 20585-0701, or call 202-586-4716.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The draft Order and Manual on radioactive 
waste management would revise the existing DOE Order on radioactive 
waste management, DOE 5820.2A. DOE is revising the existing DOE Order 
to reflect advances in radioactive waste management practices, and 
changes within DOE since the existing DOE Order was issued in 1988.
    The draft Order and Manual would revise the procedural and 
managerial requirements for the management of radioactive waste in the 
existing DOE Order. The scope of the draft Order and Manual include:
    (1) High-level waste management, including closure of high-level 
waste tank systems and management of associated incidental wastes;
    (2) Transuranic waste management, including safe treatment, 
storage, and characterization/certification to support disposal at the 
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant;
    (3) Low-level waste management, with attention to disposal and 
assessment of potential long-term impacts of the disposal on projected 
public dose; and
    (4) The management of the radioactive component of mixed wastes to 
comply with external regulatory requirements, including the Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act, which regulates the management of the 
hazardous component of mixed wastes.
    DOE is also preparing an Implementation Guide, which will accompany 
the final Order and Manual.
    The current radioactive waste management Order, DOE 5820.2A, 
provides that low-level and mixed low-level waste shall be disposed of 
at a DOE facility, but authorizes the granting of exemptions to allow 
disposal at a non-DOE facility when such disposal meets certain 
criteria. DOE is currently conducting a policy analysis of the use of 
non-DOE facilities for the disposal of DOE's low-level and mixed low-
level waste to determine, among other things, whether this practice 
should be expanded or further restricted. DOE issued a notice of intent 
and request for public comment regarding this policy analysis on March 
19, 1998 (63 FR 13396). Pending completion of that analysis, the 
section of the draft Manual

[[Page 42013]]

pertaining to the use of non-DOE facilities for disposal of low-level 
and mixed low-level waste is reserved.

Background

    Under the Atomic Energy Act, DOE is responsible for research, 
development, and defense production involving nuclear materials, and 
for managing nuclear materials in a manner that protects the public 
health and safety. DOE employs service contractors to carry out these 
responsibilities at various sites in the United States. DOE has broad 
authority under the Atomic Energy Act to establish policies to carry 
out its responsibilities and to standardize its approach to using 
service contractors (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2201). Issuance of a final version 
of today's draft Order and Manual will be an exercise of that 
authority.
    Orders and Manuals are part of the DOE Directives System. The 
Directives System is the means by which DOE policies, requirements, and 
responsibilities are developed and communicated throughout DOE. Orders 
establish management objectives and requirements, and assign 
responsibilities. Compliance with Orders is mandatory for contractors 
to the extent specified in their contract. Manuals, also part of the 
DOE Directives System, establish requirements that supplement DOE 
Orders and provide more instruction about how the provisions of the 
Orders shall be carried out.
    It is DOE's policy to use a consistent management system for the 
development, communication, implementation, and periodic review of its 
Orders. Most DOE Orders are scheduled for review every two years to 
determine whether they should be continued, revised, or canceled. 
Objectives to be achieved when revising a DOE Order include providing 
more effective program direction, accountability, and performance 
assurance.
    As early as 1990, DOE began analyzing, assessing, and reviewing the 
existing Order on radioactive waste management, DOE 5820.2A, which was 
issued in September 1988. In 1991, DOE initiated efforts to revise DOE 
5820.2A. During this initial revision effort, the Defense Nuclear 
Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), an independent organization with 
oversight of DOE, began to examine low-level waste management at DOE's 
defense nuclear facilities in terms of DOE's past, present, and future 
operations. In September 1994, the DNFSB issued its Recommendation 94-
2, Conformance with Safety Standards at DOE Low-Level Nuclear Waste and 
Disposal Sites, which found that:
     DOE had not kept pace with the evolution of commercial 
practices for waste disposal;
     Six years after DOE 5820.2A was issued, the performance 
assessment process prescribed by the Order had not been completed for 
any of DOE's low-level waste disposal facilities;
     The performance assessments excluded waste buried prior to 
September 1988; and
     There was considerable uncertainty in DOE's projections of 
future low-level waste volumes.
    In May 1995, a draft revision to DOE 5820.2A (draft DOE 5820.2B) 
was reviewed by DOE and the DNFSB staff. Based on the DNFSB's comments 
and other comments resulting from the internal DOE review, DOE's Office 
of Environmental Management committed in 1996 to a new approach for 
revising the existing Order. This new approach involves a five-step 
process. First, DOE used a systems engineering approach to identify all 
functions and activities necessary for managing DOE radioactive waste. 
Second, the hazards that would be posed by performing these functions 
and activities were assessed, and actions that would mitigate the 
hazards were identified. Third, existing requirements (e.g., other DOE 
directives, Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations, and 
Environmental Protection Agency standards) were reviewed and assessed 
to determine if existing requirements adequately addressed the 
identified hazards. Fourth, DOE developed proposed revisions to the 
procedural and managerial aspects of its requirements to address the 
identified hazards consistent with existing directives or regulations, 
and the technical basis for each requirement was documented. Finally, 
DOE is making the draft Order and Manual available today for public 
review. Following consideration of any public comments, a final DOE 
Order and Manual on radioactive waste management, to be designated DOE 
O 435.1 and DOE M 435.1, will be developed and issued.
    In DOE's implementation plan in response to DNFSB Recommendation 
94-2, DOE stated that it would issue a final Order and Manual on 
radioactive waste management by September 30, 1998. DOE also agreed to 
requests from state regulators, the public, and the National Governors 
Association that the draft Order and Manual be made available for 
public review prior to issuance of the final Order and Manual. Any 
comments on the draft Order and Manual are needed by the date stated at 
the beginning of this Notice to allow DOE sufficient time to consider 
them consistent with DOE's commitment to the DNFSB to issue the final 
Order and Manual. The provisions of DOE 5820.2A would remain in effect 
until the effective date of DOE O 435.1 and DOE M 435.1.

Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act

    The draft Order and Manual would not change the substantive 
requirements of the current Order, DOE 5820.2A. The revisions reflected 
in the Order and Manual include such procedural measures as: requiring 
more headquarters involvement in reviewing and approving low-level 
waste disposal facility performance assessments; delegating other 
authorities to field-level managers; requiring maintenance of operating 
basis procedures; and greater emphasis on performance-based 
requirements rather than prescriptive requirements. Because the draft 
Order and Manual amend or revise the existing Order but do not change 
its environmental effect, DOE has determined that this revision fits 
within the class of actions eligible for categorical exclusion found at 
paragraph A5 of Appendix A to subpart D, 10 CFR Part 1021. DOE has 
determined that there are no extraordinary circumstances related to the 
proposed Order and Manual that may affect the significance of the 
environmental impacts of the proposed Order and Manual, and that the 
proposed Order and Manual are not ``connected'' to other actions with 
potentially significant impacts or to other proposed actions with 
cumulatively significant impacts. Accordingly, neither an environmental 
impact statement nor an environmental assessment is required.

    Issued in Washington, DC July 31, 1998.
James M. Owendoff,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 98-21040 Filed 8-5-98; 8:45 am]
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