[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 94 (Thursday, May 15, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26296-26297]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-12164]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Proposed Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building 
Replacement Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security 
Administration.

ACTION: Notice of availability and public hearings.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 
1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and the DOE Regulations 
Implementing NEPA (10 CFR part 1021), the National Nuclear Security 
Administration (NNSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy 
(DOE), announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building 
Replacement Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New 
Mexico (the Draft CMRR EIS), and the dates and locations for the public 
hearings to receive comments on the Draft CMRR EIS. The present 
Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Building at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory (LANL) houses mission critical analytical chemistry, 
material characterization and actinide (actinides are any of a series 
of elements with atomic numbers ranging from actinium-89 through 
lawrencium-103) research and development capabilities. The Draft CMRR 
EIS considers the potential environmental impacts that could result due 
to the consolidation and relocation of these CMR capabilities from the 
existing aged CMR Building to a new facility such that these 
capabilities would be available on a long-term basis to successfully 
accomplish LANL mission support activities or programs. The Draft CMRR 
EIS also considers the no-action alternative of maintaining the CMR 
capabilities at the CMR Building.

DATES: The NNSA invites members of Congress, American Indian Tribal 
Governments, state and local governments, other Federal agencies, and 
the general public to provide comments on the Draft CMRR EIS. The 
comment period runs through June 30, 2003; the NNSA will consider all 
comments received or postmarked by that date. Comments postmarked after 
June 30, 2003, will be considered to the extent practicable. As part of 
the public comment period for the Draft CMRR EIS, pubic hearings will 
be held on June 3rd and 4th, 2003, to provide the public and 
stakeholders with an opportunity to present comments on the draft 
document, ask questions, and discuss concerns with DOE and NNSA 
officials regarding the Draft CMRR EIS. The dates, times, and locations 
for these public hearings are as follows:

    June 3, 2003, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m., Fuller Lodge, 2132 Central Avenue, 
Los Alamos, NM.

    June 4, 2003, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m., Cities of Gold Hotel, Highway 84/
285, Pojoaque, NM.

ADDRESSES: A copy of the Draft CMRR EIS or its Summary may be obtained 
upon request by writing to: U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear 
Security Administration, Los Alamos Site Office, Attn: Ms. Elizabeth 
Withers, Office of Facility Operations, 528 35th Street, Los Alamos, 
New Mexico, 87544; by facsimile ((505) 667-9998); or by E-mail (CMRR 
[email protected]). Please mark all envelopes, faxes and e-mail: ``Draft 
CMRR EIS Comments''. Copies of the Draft CMRR EIS are also available 
for review at: the Los Alamos Outreach Center, 1619 Central Avenue, Los 
Alamos, New Mexico, 87544; and the Zimmerman Library, University of New 
Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131.
    Specific information regarding the public hearings can also be 
obtained by the means described above. Comments concerning the Draft 
CMRR EIS can be submitted by the means described above or by leaving a 
message on the EIS Hotline at (toll free) 1-877-491-4957. The Hotline 
will have instructions on how to record comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information on NNSA NEPA 
process, please contact: Mr. James Mangeno (NA-3.6), NEPA Compliance 
Officer for the National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 
20585, (202) 586-8395. For general information about the DOE NEPA 
process, please 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, (202) 586-4600, or leave 
a message at 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Mission critical CMR capabilities at LANL 
support NNSA's stockpile stewardship and management strategic 
objectives. CMR's analytical chemistry, materials characterization, and 
actinide research and development capabilities are necessary to support 
the current and future directed stockpile work and campaign activities 
conducted at LANL. The CMR Building is over 50 years old and 
approaching end of life. Studies conducted in the late 1990s identified 
a seismic fault trace located beneath the CMR Building, which greatly 
increases the level of structural upgrades needed for the building to 
meet current structural seismic code requirements for a Hazard Category 
2 nuclear facility. The CMR Building has been upgraded such that 
operations can continue, on a restricted basis, in support of national 
security missions. The CMR Upgrades project was designed to extend the 
life of the CMR Building through approximately 2010. It would be cost 
prohibitive to perform the needed repairs, upgrades, and systems 
retrofitting for long-term (beyond 2010), unrestricted use of the CMR 
Building.
    NNSA cannot perform the assigned LANL mission critical CMR 
capabilities in the existing CMR Building at an acceptable level of 
risk to public and worker health and safety without operational 
restrictions. These operational restrictions preclude the full 
implementation of the level of operation DOE decided upon through its 
Record of Decision for the 1999 LANL Site-wide Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Continued Operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory 
(DOE/EIS-0238). CMR capabilities are necessary to support the current 
and directed stockpile work and campaign activities at LANL. By 2010, 
operations will have been conducted in the existing CMR Building for 60 
years; this is the estimated operational life span for nuclear 
operations at the existing CMR Building. Given that the CMR Building is 
near the end of its useful life, action is now required by NNSA to 
assess alternatives for continuing these activities for the succeeding 
50 years.
    The CMRR EIS evaluates the environmental impacts associated with 
relocating the CMR capabilities at LANL to new buildings sited at the 
following alternative locations: (1) Next to the Plutonium Facility at 
Technical Area 55 (TA-55) at LANL (the Proposed Action), and (2) a 
``greenfield'' site near TA-55 within TA-6. The NNSA also evaluated 
performing minimal necessary structural and systems upgrades and 
repairs to portions of the existing CMR Building and continuing the use 
of these upgraded portions of the structure for administrative offices 
and support function purposes, as well as evaluating the potential 
decontamination and

[[Page 26297]]

demolition of the entire existing CMR Building as disposition options 
coupled with the alternatives for construction and operation of new 
nuclear laboratory facilities at the two previously identified 
locations. The EIS considers the performance of minimal necessary 
structural and systems upgrades and repairs to the existing CMR 
Building as a no-action alternative with continued maintenance of 
limited mission critical CMR capabilities at the CMR Building. NNSA 
expects to complete the Final CMRR EIS by November 2003. A Record of 
Decision would be completed no sooner than 30 days after the Final CMRR 
EIS is issued.

    Signed in Washington, DC this 28th day of April, 2003.
Everet H. Beckner,
Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-12164 Filed 5-14-03; 8:45 am]
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