[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 95 (Friday, May 16, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26587-26588]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-12280]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Availability of the West Valley Demonstration Project 
Draft Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of 
the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) Draft Waste Management 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for public review and comment. 
This Draft EIS has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 as amended (NEPA)(42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); Council on Environmental Quality regulations 
implementing NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 1500-
1508); and DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures (10 CFR part 1021).
    DOE's proposed action (and preferred alternative) is to ship 
radioactive wastes that are either currently in storage on the WVDP 
site, or that will be generated from WVDP operations over the next ten 
years, to offsite disposal locations, and to continue managing its 
onsite waste storage tanks. The potential environmental consequences of 
the proposed action are evaluated in this Draft EIS, including impacts 
to workers and the public from waste transportation and waste 
management. The Draft EIS also analyzes a No Action Alternative, under 
which most wastes would continue to be stored over the next ten years, 
and an alternative under which certain wastes would be shipped to 
interim offsite storage locations prior to disposal, along with the 
addition of retrievable grout to the waste storage tanks for interim 
stabilization. Indefinite waste storage onsite was considered but not 
analyzed.
    The public is invited to comment on the Draft EIS during a 45-day 
public comment period, which ends on June 30, 2003. All comments 
received during the public comment period will be considered in 
preparing the Final EIS. Comments received after the public comment 
period ends will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Requests for information about this Draft EIS should be 
directed to: Daniel W. Sullivan, EIS Document Manager, DOE West Valley 
Area Office, 10282 Rock Springs Road, WV-49, West Valley, New York 
14171-9799, Telephone: (716) 942-4016.
    Copies of the document can be requested by telephone at (716) 942-
2152 or (800) 633-5280.
    Written comments on the Draft EIS can be mailed to: Daniel W. 
Sullivan, WVDP WM EIS, 10282 Rock Springs Road, WV-49, West Valley, New 
York 14171-9799.
    Written comments may also be submitted by fax to: (716) 942-4199, 
or submitted electronically to [email protected].
    Oral comments on the Draft EIS will be accepted only during the 
public hearing scheduled for the date and location provided in the 
DATES section of this Notice.
    For information regarding the DOE NEPA process, please contact: Ms. 
Carol M. 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 
(800) 472-2756.
    The Draft EIS will be available at http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa/docs.docs.htm or www.wv.doe.gov. Copies of the Draft EIS and supporting 
technical reports also are available for review at the locations listed 
in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this Notice.

DATES: The public is invited to submit written and/or oral comments on 
the Draft EIS. The comment period on the Draft EIS begins on the date 
of this Notice and ends on June 30, 2003. DOE will consider all 
comments postmarked by that date in preparing the Final EIS. Comments 
postmarked after that date will be considered to the extent 
practicable.
    DOE will hold public hearings on June 11, 2003, at: Ashford Office 
Complex, 9030 Route 219, Town of Ashford, Buffalo, New York, 1:30 p.m. 
to 3:30 p.m.,7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
    Requests to speak at the public hearings can be made by calling or 
writing the EIS Document Manager (see ADDRESSES, above). Requests to 
speak that have not been submitted prior to the hearing will be 
accepted in the order in which they are received during the hearing. 
Speakers are encouraged to provide written versions of their oral 
comments for the record. Each speaker will be allowed five minutes to 
present comments unless more time is requested and available. Comments 
will be recorded by a court reporter and will become part of the public 
hearing record.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The WVDP is located on the Western New York 
Nuclear Service Center (also referred to as the Center). The Center 
comprises approximately 13.5 square kilometers (five square miles) in 
West Valley, New York, and is located in the town of Ashford, 
approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Buffalo, New York. 
The Center was the site of the world's first commercial nuclear fuel 
reprocessing plant, which was the only one to have operated in the 
United States. The Center operated under a license issued by the Atomic

[[Page 26588]]

Energy Commission (now the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC]) 
in 1966 to Nuclear Fuel Services, Incorporated, and the New York State 
Atomic and Space Development Authority, now known as the New York State 
Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
    During reprocessing, spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear 
power plants and DOE sites was chopped, dissolved, and processed by a 
solvent extraction system to recover uranium and plutonium. Fuel 
reprocessing ended in 1972 when the plant was shut down for 
modifications to increase its capacity, reduce occupational radiation 
exposure, and reduce radioactive effluents.
    In 1976, Nuclear Fuel Services estimated that over $600 million 
would be required to modify the facility to increase its capacity and 
to comply with changes in regulatory standards. As a result, the 
company decided to withdraw from the nuclear fuel reprocessing business 
and exercise its contractual right to yield responsibility for the 
Center to NYSERDA. Nuclear Fuel Services withdrew from the Center 
without removing any of the in-process nuclear wastes. NYSERDA now 
holds title to and manages the Center on behalf of the people of the 
State of New York.
    In 1980, Congress passed the WVDP Act (Pub. L. 96-368). This Act 
requires DOE to demonstrate that the liquid high-level radioactive 
waste (HLW) from reprocessing can be safely managed by solidifying it 
at the Center and transporting it to a geologic repository for 
permanent disposal. In addition to HLW, the WVDP also manages low-level 
radioactive waste (LLW), transuranic (TRU) waste, and mixed waste 
(radioactive and hazardous) generated as a result of Project 
activities.
    The Project Facilities and areas storing the waste are: the Process 
Building, which includes approximately 70 rooms and cells that 
comprised the NRC-licensed spent nuclear fuel reprocessing operations 
(one of the cells--the Chemical Process Cell--now serves as the storage 
facility for the vitrified HLW canisters); the Tank Farm, which 
includes the underground HLW storage tanks; Waste Storage Areas, which 
include several facilities such as Lag Storage Areas and the Chemical 
Process Cell Waste Storage Area; and the Radwaste Treatment System Drum 
Cell (Drum Cell), which stores cement-filled drums of stabilized LLW.
    The scope of this Draft EIS departs from that which was announced 
in a March 2001 Notice of Intent (NOI) (66 FR 16447, March 26, 2001). 
The scope is now limited to onsite waste management and offsite waste 
transportation activities, and no longer includes decontamination 
activities as proposed in the NOI. DOE modified the scope of this EIS 
as a result of public comments received during scoping and the 
Department's further evaluation of activities that might be required 
independently of final decisions on decommissioning and/or long-term 
stewardship (LTS) at the WVDP. DOE published an Advance NOI (66 FR 
56090, November 6, 2001) inviting preliminary public comment on a 
proposed scope for a decommissioning and/or LTS EIS and recently 
published an NOI (68 FR 12004, March 13, 2003).

Description of Alternatives

    DOE analyzed three alternatives in the Draft EIS. Under the No 
Action Alternative, Continuation of Ongoing Waste Management 
Activities, waste management would include continued storage of most of 
the existing LLW, the TRU waste, and the HLW, and limited shipments of 
some LLW to offsite disposal. The emptied HLW storage tanks and their 
surrounding vaults would continue to be ventilated to manage moisture 
levels as a corrosion prevention measure.
    Under Alternative A, Offsite Shipment of HLW, LLW, Mixed LLW, and 
TRU Wastes to Disposal and Ongoing Management of the Waste Storage 
Tanks (DOE's preferred alternative), DOE would ship the LLW and mixed 
LLW to one of two DOE potential disposal sites (in Washington or 
Nevada) or to a commercial disposal site (such as the Envirocare 
facility in Utah), ship TRU waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant 
(WIPP) in New Mexico, and ship the HLW to the proposed Yucca Mountain 
HLW Repository in Nevada. LLW and mixed LLW would be shipped over the 
next ten years. TRU waste shipments to WIPP could occur within the next 
ten years if the TRU waste is determined to meet all the requirements 
for disposal in this repository; however, if some or all of WVDP's TRU 
waste does not meet these requirements, the Department would need to 
explore other alternatives for disposal of this waste. Offsite disposal 
of HLW would occur at the proposed Yucca Mountain HLW Repository 
sometime after 2025, assuming a license to operate is granted by NRC 
and a disposal contract between DOE and the State of New York is in 
place. The HLW storage tanks would continue to be managed as described 
under the No Action Alternative.
    Under Alternative B, Offsite Shipment of LLW and Mixed LLW to 
Disposal, Shipment of HLW and TRU Waste to Interim Storage, and Interim 
Stabilization of the Waste Storage Tanks, the LLW and mixed LLW would 
be shipped offsite for disposal at the same locations as Alternative A. 
TRU wastes would be shipped for interim storage at one of five DOE 
sites: Hanford Site in Washington; Idaho National Engineering and 
Environmental Laboratory; Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee; 
Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina; or WIPP in New Mexico. TRU 
wastes would subsequently be shipped to WIPP (or would remain at WIPP) 
for disposal. The HLW would be shipped to SRS or Hanford for interim 
storage with subsequent shipment toYucca Mountain for disposal. The HLW 
storage tanks and their surrounding vaults would be partially filled 
with a retrievable grout to provide for interim stabilization of the 
tanks.

Availability of the Draft EIS

    Copies of this Draft EIS have been distributed to Federal, State, 
and local officials, Members of Congress, and agencies, organizations, 
and individuals who may be interested or affected. This Draft EIS will 
be available on the Internet at: http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa/docs.docs.htm or http://www.wv.doe.gov. Additional copies can also be 
requested by telephone at (716) 942-2152 or (800) 633-5280.
    Copies of the Draft EIS and supporting technical reports are also 
available for public review at the locations listed below.

Hulbert Library of the Town of Concord, 18 Chapel Street, Springville, 
New York 14141
Central Library of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System, 
Science and Technology Department, Lafayette Square, Buffalo, New York 
14203
West Valley Central School Library, 5359 School Street, West Valley, 
New York 14171
The Olean Public Library, 134 North 2nd Street, Olean, New York 14760
Ashford Office Complex, 9030 Route 219, West Valley, New York 14171

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 2, 2003.
Jessie Hill Roberson,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 03-12280 Filed 5-15-03; 8:45 am]
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