[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 222 (Monday, November 18, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69512-69513]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-29161]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Disposal Phase Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.

ACTION: Amendment to a Record of Decision.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has decided to revise its 
approach for managing approximately 0.97 metric tons (MT) of plutonium-
bearing materials (containing about 0.18 MT of surplus plutonium) that 
are currently located at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site 
(RFETS). The Department has decided to repackage and transport these 
materials for direct disposal as transuranic waste (TRUW) at the Waste 
Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico instead of 
shipping them to the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina for 
storage pending possible disposition. These materials will be 
repackaged to meet the WIPP waste acceptance criteria (WAC) for TRUW 
and safeguards termination requirements. DOE has prepared a supplement 
analysis for this action pursuant to 10 CFR 1021.314, entitled 
Supplement Analysis for the Disposal of Certain Rocky Flats Plutonium-
Bearing Materials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP SA) (DOE/
EIS-0026-SA-3, November 2002). On the basis of that document, DOE has 
concluded this action would not result in significant environmental 
impacts or in impacts significantly different from those analyzed in 
the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Disposal Phase Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS-II) (DOE-EIS-0026-FS2, September 
1997).

ADDRESSES: Copies of the SEIS-II, the WIPP SA, this Amended Record of 
Decision, and other documents referenced herein, can be obtained by 
contacting 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 CONTACT: For information concerning the 
management of plutonium-bearing materials currently stored at Rocky 
Flats, contact: Dr. W. Eric Huang, Program Manager, Rocky Flats Office 
(EM-33), Office of Site Closure, Environmental Management, U.S. 
Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874, 
Telephone: 301-903-4630.
    For information concerning DOE's National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) process, contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA 
Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, Telephone (202) 586-
4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Historically, Rocky Flats has used a material identification system 
that segregated plutonium-bearing materials by process origin and/or to 
designate the subsequent process steps for plutonium recovery and 
recycle. The categorization is known as Item Description Codes (IDCs). 
In January 1993, these IDCs were grouped into two major categories, 
Product and Residue, in order to plan and manage the future disposition 
of the Site's plutonium-bearing materials. The characterization of 
plutonium-bearing materials as Product or Residue was based on the 
average plutonium concentration of each IDC, the relative ease or 
difficulty of recovery, and/or whether an IDC was traditionally 
considered Product or Residue. In general, the Product category was 
comprised of IDCs with average plutonium concentrations greater than 50 
percent by weight. However, an IDC could be designated as residue 
material although some individual items within this IDC exceed 50 
percent by weight. Similarly, an IDC could be designated as Product 
material although some individual items within this IDC are less than 
50 percent by weight.
    DOE has already decided to dispose of the Residue materials at WIPP 
as transuranic waste (TRUW).\1\ See ``Record of Decision on the 
Management of Certain Plutonium Residues and Scrub Alloy Stored at the 
Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site,'' 63 FR 66136 (December 1, 
1998) and ``Amended Record of Decision on Management of Certain 
Plutonium Residues and Scrub Alloy Stored at the Rocky Flats 
Environmental Technology Site,'' 66 FR 4803 (January 18, 2001). The 
Product materials were originally part of a set of materials destined 
to be repackaged and sent to the Savannah River Site (SRS) for storage 
and possible subsequent disposition. See ``Record of Decision on the 
Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials,'' 62 FR 
3014 (January 21, 1997) and ``Amended Record of Decision on the

[[Page 69513]]

Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program,'' 67 FR 19432 (April 19, 2002). 
However, as the Rocky Flats closure plans matured, a more detailed 
review has been undertaken of the items within the Product oxide IDCs. 
This evaluation revealed that a significant quantity of the materials 
in the Product oxide IDCs contained plutonium concentrations comparable 
to the Residue materials. Additionally, these items contained the same 
plutonium compounds and many of the same impurities and physical 
characteristics as the materials in the Residue IDCs. In fact, these 
low assay oxides from the Product IDCs:
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    \1\ For waste classification, DOE specifically defines TRUW as 
waste containing more than 100 nanocuries of alpha emitting 
transuranic isotopes per gram of waste with half-lives greater than 
20 years except as noted in Chapter III of DOE Guide 435.1-1.
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    [sbull] Originated from the same aqueous recovery processes and/or 
contain impurities similar to the Wet Residue category; or
    [sbull] Originated from the same pyrochemical processes and/or 
contained impurities similar to the Salt Residue category; or
    [sbull] Originated from the same process lines and/or contained 
impurities comparable to the Ash Residue category.
    DOE has therefore concluded that by reason of their similarity to 
the materials already slated for disposal at WIPP, an additional 
approximately 0.97 MT of low assay oxides (containing about 0.18 MT of 
surplus plutonium) from the Product IDCs should be disposed of in the 
same fashion after being repackaged to meet the requirements for 
safeguards termination and the WIPP waste acceptance criteria (WAC).

Additional NEPA Review

    DOE has prepared a supplement analysis for this proposed action, 
entitled Supplement Analysis for the Disposal of Certain Rocky Flats 
Plutonium-Bearing Materials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE/
EIS-0026-SA-3, November 2002). This supplement analysis was prepared to 
determine whether the activities associated with repackaging 
approximately 0.97 MT of plutonium-bearing materials (containing about 
0.18 MT of surplus plutonium) at RFETS, shipping the materials to WIPP, 
and disposal at WIPP would present any significant new information or 
circumstances relevant to environmental concerns. The supplement 
analysis indicated that the potential impacts of the proposed action 
were small and not significantly different from the impacts evaluated 
in the SEIS-II.
    With respect to repackaging, the impacts of ordinary operations 
would be bounded by the analysis in the SEIS-II, even when adding the 
very small impacts from repackaging the proposed action material to 
those of repackaging the other Rocky Flats material currently slated 
for disposal at WIPP. This is due to the fact that the SEIS-II 
contemplated the repackaging of considerably more plutonium than the 
total amount of plutonium that will actually be repackaged at RFETS. 
The SEIS-II analyzed repackaging and sending to WIPP 17,000 cubic 
meters of TRUW, but DOE projects that no more than approximately 12,500 
cubic meters will eventually be sent. With regard to the most severe 
accident scenario, an earthquake, the impacts would be greater than 
predicted in the SEIS-II because the proportion of plutonium in the 
containers being repackaged is larger than in the containers analyzed 
in the SEIS-II. But the difference is not significant because the 
impacts are still small, and because the earthquake scenario has a 
predicted frequency of less than once over 100,000 years.
    The impacts from transporting and disposing of the proposed action 
materials are small and bounded by those predicted in the SEIS-II. With 
respect to transportation, the impacts are bounded by the analysis 
contained in the SEIS-II for two reasons. First, once the material has 
been repackaged for shipment, the shipments containing those packages 
will be in all applicable respects similar to the shipments analyzed in 
the SEIS-II. Second, the actual number of shipments from RFETS to WIPP 
will be fewer than the number of shipments analyzed in the SEIS-II, 
even when the shipments of the proposed action materials are included. 
The SEIS-II assumed that approximately 2,100 shipments would be sent 
from RFETS to WIPP, but DOE projects that no more than 1,700 shipments, 
including the 45 shipments for the proposed action, will be sent. With 
respect to disposal, once the material at issue has been repackaged, it 
will meet the WIPP waste acceptance criteria, the relevant 
consideration used in analyzing the impacts of disposing of the 
material analyzed in the SEIS II. Furthermore, the volume (and impacts) 
of material slated for disposal from all sites, including the proposed 
action material, will remain well below the total analyzed in the SEIS-
II.

Other Considerations

    This proposed action will reduce the technical uncertainty 
associated with removing these materials from RFETS and thus will 
enhance DOE's ability to meet the RFETS site closure schedule. In order 
to send these materials to SRS as originally planned, they would need 
to be stabilized and repackaged to meet DOE-STD-3013 requirements. 
Because of their low density, it would be difficult to efficiently 
repackage these materials to meet these requirements. The 3013 
containers are relatively small and were developed for high density 
plutonium metal and oxides. Also, these materials contain impurities 
which present a significant technical challenge to maintaining the 
moisture specifications of the DOE-STD-3013 requirements. Sending these 
materials to WIPP as TRUW eliminates this technical risk.

Conclusion

    DOE has determined that repackaging and transporting approximately 
0.97 MT of RFETS plutonium-bearing materials (containing about 0.18 MT 
of surplus plutonium) for direct disposal at the WIPP would not 
constitute a substantial change in actions previously analyzed. 
Furthermore, this proposed action would not constitute significant new 
circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and 
bearing on the previously analyzed action or its impacts. The potential 
impacts associated with the new action are encompassed within the 
activities and impacts analyzed under Action Alternative 1 of the SEIS-
II. Therefore, DOE does not need to undertake additional NEPA analysis 
before issuing this amendment.

Decision

    After consideration of the potential environmental impacts 
identified in the SEIS-II and the WIPP SA, DOE has decided to dispose 
of at WIPP approximately 0.97 MT of the plutonium-bearing materials 
(containing about 0.18 MT of surplus plutonium) currently located at 
RFETS. These materials would be repackaged to meet the WIPP WAC and 
safeguards termination requirements.
    This Amended Record of Decision is effective upon being made 
public, in accordance with DOE's NEPA implementation regulations (10 
CFR 1021.315).

    Issued in Washington, DC, on November 8, 2002.
Jessie Hill Roberson,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 02-29161 Filed 11-15-02; 8:45 am]
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