[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 251 (Friday, December 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82985-82988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-33308]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Revision to the Record of Decision for the Department of Energy's 
Waste Management Program: Treatment and Storage of Transuranic Waste

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Revision to record of decision.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE), pursuant to 10 CFR 1021.315, 
is revising the Record of Decision for the Department of Energy's Waste 
Management Program: Treatment and Storage of Transuranic Waste (63 FR

[[Page 82986]]

3629) issued on January 23, 1998. The Department has now decided to 
establish the capability at WIPP to prepare for disposal up to 1,250 
cubic meters of contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) waste out of about 
7,000 cubic meters expected to be received annually for disposal at 
WIPP. In addition, DOE has decided to increase the time that CH-TRU 
waste may be stored above ground at WIPP to one year and to increase 
the total above-ground storage capacity at WIPP by 25 percent, for a 
total of 152 cubic meters. Implementation of these decisions is 
contingent on regulatory approval from the New Mexico Environment 
Department (NMED). Previously in its Record of Decision (ROD), based on 
the analysis in the Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement, DOE/EIS-0200-F, May 1997 (WM PEIS), DOE had decided (with 
one exception) that each DOE site would prepare its own TRU waste for 
disposal and store it on-site until it could be shipped to WIPP for 
disposal.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Copies of the Final Waste Management 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, the first ROD, this 
revised ROD, and the Supplement Analysis for the Proposed 
Characterization for Disposal of Contact-Handled Transuranic Waste at 
the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE/EIS-0200-SA01) are available on 
DOE's NEPA Web Site at: http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa/ under DOE NEPA 
Analyses. To request copies of any of these documents, please write or 
call: The Center for Environmental Management Information, P.O. Box 
23769, Washington, DC 20026-3769, Telephone: 1-800-736-3282 (in 
Washington, DC: 202-863-5084).
    For further information on the disposal of TRU waste at WIPP, 
contact: Ms. Lynne Wade, Director, U.S. Department of Energy, WIPP 
Office EM-23, Office of Environmental Management, 19901 Germantown 
Road, Germantown, MD 20874, Telephone: (301) 903-3124.
    For general information on the DOE's National Environmental Policy 
Act process, please write or call: Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, 
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. Department of 
Energy, Office of Environment, Safety and Health, 1000 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0119, Telephone: (202) 586-4600, or 
leave a message at (800) 472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In the WM PEIS ROD, DOE decided to prepare and store TRU waste 
designated for disposal at WIPP at the DOE sites where the waste is 
currently located or will be generated (i.e., ``the generator sites'') 
until it could be transferred to WIPP for disposal. The only exception 
to this decision was the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico, 
which will ship its waste to the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 
disposal preparation and storage before disposal in WIPP. Under the 
original ROD, preparation for disposal included activities to 
characterize TRU waste for transportation as well as activities to 
characterize TRU waste for disposal.
    The phrase ``characterize waste for transportation'' means all 
activities that are necessary to prepare TRU waste to meet the 
transportation requirements for shipment to WIPP. It includes 
collecting, organizing, supplementing, and evaluating information about 
the process that generated the waste, the materials used in the 
process, the radioactive and hazardous constituents in the waste, and 
any sampling and analysis of the waste. Characterization for 
transportation also may require that the physical or chemical form of 
the waste be altered in order to make it suitable for transportation. 
This could include treatment activities that alter the form of the 
waste, such as solidifying liquids and neutralizing reactive wastes. 
Other activities that could be used to make the waste more suitable for 
transportation include the removal of items prohibited from being 
shipped in containers licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or 
repackaging of waste to meet thermal power limitations. Characterizing 
waste for transportation to WIPP would continue to be done at the 
generator sites under a quality assurance program approved by DOE's 
Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO).
    The phrase ``characterize waste for disposal'' refers to the 
characterization required by WIPP's Hazardous Waste Facility Permit and 
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Compliance Certification. 
Under the permit, disposal characterization includes radioassay, 
radiography, headspace gas sampling of waste containers, and for a 
statistically selected number of containers, visual examination to 
confirm the results of radiography. Collectively, the activities 
involved in characterizing waste for transportation and characterizing 
waste for disposal comprise all of the activities necessary to prepare 
TRU waste to meet the Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC), as defined in 
the WM PEIS ROD for TRU waste. Characterizing waste for disposal would 
continue to be performed as part of a program approved by DOE's CBFO, 
the NMED, and EPA.

Decision

    DOE is revising its earlier ROD in order to create a centralized 
capability at WIPP to characterize for disposal up to 1,250 cubic 
meters of CH-TRU out of about 7,000 cubic meters expected to be 
received annually at WIPP for disposal. In addition, the time that CH-
TRU waste may be stored above ground will be increased from 60 days to 
one year and the total above-ground storage capacity will be increased 
by 25 percent, for a maximum storage capacity of 152 cubic meters. The 
storage capacity in the Waste Handling Building could increase from 77 
cubic meters to 107 cubic meters. This would allow DOE to accumulate 
the necessary amount of waste to demonstrate the disposal 
characterization program in order to obtain approval of the program 
from the EPA and NMED. This increase also would allow DOE, if needed, 
to store wastes during any delay in disposal operations, or in the 
unlikely event a prohibited item were received, to store it until it 
can be shipped offsite or otherwise disposed of.
    Once TRU waste that has been characterized for transportation 
arrives at WIPP, the CBFO will perform the remaining activities needed 
to ensure the CH-TRU waste meets all regulatory requirements for 
disposal (disposal characterization). These activities may include the 
radioassay of waste containers to determine their radionuclide content; 
radiography to confirm the form of the waste and to verify the absence 
of prohibited items; and headspace gas sampling and analysis to 
quantify the concentrations of volatile organic compounds and to 
confirm the knowledge used to characterize the waste stream. The 
activities also will include visual examination or computed tomography 
of the contents of a selected number of waste containers to confirm the 
results of radiography.
    DOE considers it highly unlikely that waste forms or items 
prohibited from disposal at WIPP would be shipped to WIPP because the 
generator sites' quality assurance programs for characterizing waste 
for transportation are designed to ensure that prohibited items are not 
shipped to WIPP. DOE's Office of General Counsel is working with CBFO 
to revise the standard Memorandum of Agreement between CBFO and 
generator sites in order to clarify the obligations of the generator

[[Page 82987]]

sites regarding the management of prohibited items. If a prohibited 
item were found in waste shipped to WIPP for disposal characterization, 
it would be removed from the waste container (removal would be done 
inside of a glovebox), and DOE would then: (1) Return it to the 
generator site; (2) transport it to an approved waste management 
facility; or (3) treat the prohibited item in order to render it 
acceptable for disposal.
    DOE's ability to implement its decision to perform disposal 
characterization on some CH-TRU waste at WIPP is contingent upon NMED 
approving a modification of WIPP's Hazardous Waste Facility Permit. The 
modification DOE plans to propose will specify the activities that DOE 
would perform at WIPP to characterize waste for disposal. NMED may 
approve, deny, or modify DOE's proposal. Accordingly, DOE cannot 
specify at this time the exact set of waste characterization activities 
it may be required to perform at WIPP; however, any characterization 
activities that NMED may require would necessarily fall within the 
broad array of activities and impacts that DOE already has analyzed 
under its prior NEPA reviews.
    The equipment that CBFO will use to characterize waste for disposal 
will be located inside existing buildings at WIPP. Non-intrusive 
disposal characterization activities, such as radiography and 
radioassay, will be located inside the TRUPACT Maintenance Facility 
adjacent to the Waste Handling Building. The offices currently located 
in that building will be removed. Equipment used for intrusive 
characterization activities, such as the apparatus to sample headspace 
gas and gloveboxes, will be located in the Waste Handling Building at 
WIPP. Mobile glovebox facilities could be used until permanent 
gloveboxes can be procured and installed inside separate containment 
structures erected inside the Waste Handling Building. Emissions from 
the separate containment structures that will house the equipment used 
for intrusive sampling will be filtered through High Efficiency 
Particulate Air (HEPA) filters at least once and then fed into the 
Waste Handling Building's exhaust system, where they will be HEPA 
filtered again before being released to the atmosphere.
    The disposal characterization capability at WIPP would have the 
ability to characterize approximately 4,000 to 6,000 drum volume 
equivalents (830 to 1,250 cubic meters) of waste annually. This would 
equate to about two or three shipments to WIPP per week that would be 
characterized there for disposal. Overall, DOE expects to begin 
receiving up to 17 shipments per week within the next two years. Most 
of this waste will have been fully characterized by the sites where it 
came from and would be ready for disposal. It is anticipated that an 
annual throughput of up to 1,250 cubic meters would not be maintained 
through the 35-year period of WIPP operation. This level of disposal 
characterization capacity would be used in the earlier years to assist 
sites in meeting compliance deadlines and closure schedules.
    The primary purpose of centralized characterization at WIPP is to 
expedite the removal of waste from, and minimize expenditures at, sites 
with smaller inventories of CH-TRU waste, where setting up separate 
characterization programs would not be practical or cost effective. The 
characterization capability at WIPP also may be used to characterize 
for disposal some CH-TRU waste from sites with larger inventories, 
thereby accelerating removal of wastes from the Rocky Flats 
Environmental Technology Site in Colorado, the Idaho National 
Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, the Los Alamos National 
Laboratory in New Mexico, the Hanford Site in Washington, and the 
Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This approach would assist these 
sites in meeting compliance agreements, closure schedules, or other 
waste management needs. Disposal characterization at WIPP, however, 
would not eliminate the need for these sites to characterize most of 
their own wastes.
    The WIPP Hazardous Waste Facility Permit requires that certain 
types of homogeneous wastes (e.g., solidified sludges and soils) must 
be sampled representatively and the samples chemically analyzed. These 
types of homogeneous wastes have not been identified at the sites with 
smaller inventories of CH-TRU waste. DOE is not proposing to conduct 
core sampling and chemical analysis of sludges and soils at WIPP; 
therefore, these types of wastes would not be sent to WIPP for 
characterization. Also, no remote-handled TRU waste will be 
characterized at WIPP.

CH-TRU Waste Volumes

    The impacts of preparing (including characterizing) waste for 
disposal depend on the volume of waste to be characterized and treated. 
The WM PEIS analyzed the volume of CH-TRU waste projected to be 
generated over 20 years, a total of 113,592 cubic meters. The CH-TRU 
waste inventory currently projected to be disposed of in WIPP is 
106,387 cubic meters.\1\ DOE's recent projection of the total complex-
wide CH-TRU waste volume that will be sent to WIPP is less than the 
Department's prior projections. This is due in part to DOE's redefined 
mission and accelerated closure schedules at many of its sites 
(resulting in less CH-TRU waste being produced than anticipated), and 
also recategorization of waste streams due to refined waste knowledge 
and data collection.
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    \1\ National TRU Waste Management Plan (Draft), DOE/NTP-96-1204, 
December 2000.
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Modification of WIPP's Hazardous Waste Facility Permit

    As noted above, NMED must approve a modification of WIPP's 
Hazardous Waste Facility Permit (issued by NMED in October 1999) before 
DOE could perform disposal characterization there. In support of its 
proposal to establish centralized disposal characterization capability 
at WIPP, DOE submitted a permit modification request to NMED on July 
21, 2000. DOE withdrew its request on September 29, 2000, however, 
shortly after the close of the public comment period on the 
modification and after discussions with NMED staff.
    DOE will submit a revised permit modification request soon that 
will address issues raised by NMED and the public concerning DOE's 
earlier proposed modification. NMED received about 600 preprinted 
postcards and 27 other submissions from the public that raised the 
following concerns about DOE's proposed modification to the permit:
    (1) In contrast to existing practice, the modification would allow 
DOE to open some drums of waste at WIPP in order to perform visual 
examination of their contents as a quality control check on the results 
of radiography.
    (2) Shipment of waste to WIPP before it was completely 
characterized (i.e., for both transportation and disposal) could result 
in the discovery of prohibited items or wastes that could not be placed 
in the repository and would therefore remain in the above-ground 
facilities at WIPP indefinitely.
    (3) The modification would continue NMED's ongoing inspection 
authority at WIPP instead of providing for NMED to approve the waste 
disposal characterization program at WIPP.
    (4) The modification requested did not provide adequate 
justification for a 25 percent increase of WIPP's above-ground storage 
capacity.

[[Page 82988]]

    (5) DOE should not be allowed to store waste indefinitely on the 
surface.
    DOE will revise its request for a permit modification to address 
these and other issues raised by NMED and the public. DOE plans to 
propose that:
    (1) Computed tomography be substituted for visual examination of 
waste drums so that they need not be opened at WIPP except in the 
unlikely event that a prohibited item is discovered.
    (2) Any prohibited item be returned to the generator site; 
transported to an approved waste management facility; or treated in 
order to render the item acceptable for disposal in WIPP.
    (3) All waste disposal characterization activities performed at 
WIPP and generator sites under the Hazardous Waste Facility Permit be 
approved by NMED.
    (4) Above-ground storage capacity be increased by 25 percent. This 
increase is supported by a time and motion study prepared by the Sandia 
National Laboratory.
    (5) The time limit on above-ground waste storage will not be 
indefinite; instead it will be increased from 60 days to one year.
    DOE would not begin to characterize waste at WIPP unless and until 
NMED approves the permit modification request. Prior to NMED's decision 
on the revised modification request, DOE will begin to accelerate some 
physical changes needed in the TRUPACT Maintenance Facility that do not 
require regulatory approval, such as installation of an air lock, an 
additional fire wall, additional radiation monitors, and a spill 
coating on the concrete floor. In addition, DOE may begin procuring 
characterization equipment and contracting with providers of mobile 
characterization equipment so that DOE can begin training equipment 
operators and writing procedures for the proposed characterization 
operations at WIPP or at other sites. As stated previously, the 
decision on what, if any, particular waste characterization procedures 
will occur at WIPP depends on NMED's decision concerning the revised 
permit modification request.

Basis for DOE's Decision

    The high costs of fully characterizing waste at all its sites were 
not apparent when DOE decided that each generator site would be 
responsible for preparing its waste for disposal in the WIPP 
repository. At the time DOE made its earlier decision, NMED had not 
issued the WIPP Hazardous Waste Facility Permit and EPA had not 
certified that the repository met EPA's requirements for disposal of 
TRU waste. The permit and the certification imposed additional 
requirements on WIPP concerning the characterization of waste for 
disposal. In particular, both EPA and NMED concluded that they needed 
to approve aspects of the waste characterization process at each site 
that intended to dispose of waste in WIPP. The costs of modifying 
programs and procedures to conform to these waste characterization 
requirements, especially those related to audits and approvals, were 
much greater than DOE had anticipated. These requirements increased the 
time and resources needed to establish waste disposal characterization 
programs at each site with TRU waste.
    In light of the increased costs and potential for delays in 
shipping waste to WIPP, particularly from sites with small inventories 
of CH-TRU waste, DOE began to look for ways to reduce the number of 
approved waste characterization programs it would need. One way to 
reduce the number of programs would be to establish a centralized 
disposal characterization capability at WIPP while keeping 
transportation characterization programs at the small quantity sites. 
This approach would reduce the costs of preparing CH-TRU waste for 
disposal as well as reduce the number of waste disposal 
characterization programs that DOE would need to create and that DOE, 
NMED and EPA would need to approve. Establishing a centralized 
characterization program at WIPP would enable EPA and NMED to use their 
staff resources more efficiently because they would have fewer waste 
characterization programs to approve than would be the case if DOE had 
to establish separate disposal characterization programs at all of the 
sites that have or would generate TRU waste.
    DOE has estimated the costs of characterizing waste for disposal at 
each generator site and the cost of creating a waste characterization 
capability at WIPP. The Department estimates that the latter approach 
could save as much as $100 million as compared to its former approach. 
Given the potentially large cost savings, DOE has decided to seek 
approval from NMED of a centralized waste characterization capability 
at WIPP.

Prior NEPA Analyses

    DOE prepared a Supplement Analysis for the Proposed 
Characterization for Disposal of Contact-Handled Transuranic Waste at 
the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE/EIS-0200-SA01). This analysis was 
done to determine whether the activities and impacts of characterizing 
for disposal some CH-TRU waste at WIPP are encompassed within prior 
NEPA reviews.
    The Supplement Analysis concluded that the activities and impacts 
of performing disposal characterization on some CH-TRU at WIPP are 
encompassed within the activities and impacts of the Centralized 
Alternative analyzed in the WM PEIS. However, the impacts of the 
activities that will result from DOE's revised decision will be much 
smaller than the impacts of the Centralized Alternative evaluated in 
the WM PEIS for two reasons. First, the Centralized Alternative assumed 
that virtually all of DOE's CH-TRU would be treated at WIPP. The 
characterization equipment that DOE has decided to locate at WIPP will 
characterize only a small portion of DOE's projected inventory of CH-
TRU waste. Second, the Centralized Alternative analyzed in the WM PEIS 
assumed that the centralized facility at WIPP would treat CH-TRU waste 
by incineration. The characterization equipment DOE will install in 
existing buildings at WIPP pursuant to this revised decision would only 
characterize and, as needed, repackage CH-TRU waste; it would not 
incinerate or thermally treat any TRU waste. These two differences have 
the effect of making the potential environmental impacts of disposal 
characterization at WIPP significantly less than the impacts of the 
Centralized Alternative analyzed in the WM PEIS and well below 
applicable standards.
    Based on the Supplement Analysis, DOE determined that 
characterizing some of DOE's CH-TRU waste at WIPP would not involve 
actions that are substantially different from those analyzed in prior 
NEPA analyses or have impacts beyond those already evaluated. 
Therefore, DOE concluded that it did not need to prepare additional 
NEPA analysis before deciding whether to locate a centralized disposal 
characterization facility at WIPP. Implementation of DOE's decision is 
contingent upon approval by NMED of a modification to WIPP's Hazardous 
Waste Facility Permit and WIPP's waste characterization program.

    Issued in Washington, DC, December 19, 2000.
Carolyn L. Huntoon,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 00-33308 Filed 12-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P