[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 176 (Thursday, September 11, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53603-53605]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-23167]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Amendment to the Record of Decision for the Department of 
Energy's Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Long-
Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexaflouride

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Amendment to Record of Decision.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to 10 CFR 1021.315, the Department of Energy (DOE) is 
amending the Record of Decision (ROD) for its Final Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement for Alternative Strategies for the Long-
Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexaflouride (DOE/EIS-0269) 
(DUF6 PEIS) issued in August, 1999 (64 FR 43358; August 10, 
1999). The DOE has now decided to transfer up to 1,700 of the 
approximately 4,700 cylinders containing DUF6 from the East 
Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to its 
storage facilities at DOE's enrichment facility at Portsmouth, Ohio, 
between 2003 and 2005.
    The August 1999 ROD was based on the analysis in the 
DUF6 PEIS, and announced that DOE anticipated shipment of 
approximately 4,700 cylinders containing DUF6 from ETTP to a 
conversion facility. The DOE did not identify the specific location for 
shipment of ETTP cylinders at that time, but intended to leave that 
decision until it had concluded site-specific National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) review. However, on August 2, 2002, while site-
specific review was underway, the President signed the 2002 
Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery From and Response 
To Terrorist Attacks on the United States (Pub. L. 107-206). In 
pertinent part, this law required DOE to award a contract within 30 
days of enactment for the design, construction, and operation of a 
DUF6 conversion plant at each of the DOE sites at Paducah, 
Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. In response to Public Law 107-206, on 
August 29, 2002, DOE awarded a contract to Uranium Disposition 
Services, LLC (UDS). Now that a destination has been identified for the 
DUF6 cylinders, DOE is amending its August 1999 ROD to ship 
up to 1,700 DUF6 cylinders at ETTP to Portsmouth beginning 
in 2003 through 2005.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 1021.314c, DOE prepared a Supplement Analysis 
(SA) to discuss the circumstances that are pertinent to deciding 
whether to prepare a new Supplemental EIS. DOE determined that no 
further NEPA documentation is required. DOE intends to transport the 
ETTP cylinders and continue its site-specific NEPA reviews of the 
conversion facilities.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the long-
term management and use of depleted uranium hexafluoride or to receive 
copies of the SA, initial ROD or this Amended ROD contact: Gary S. 
Hartman, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office, Oak 
Ridge, Tennessee 37831, telephone (865) 576-0273, fax (865) 576-0746, 
e-mail: [email protected]. For general information on the DOE NEPA 
process, contact Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy 
and Compliance, EH-42/Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of Energy, 
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0119, telephone 
(202) 586-4600, or leave a message at (800) 472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    DUF6 results from the process of making uranium suitable 
for use as fuel for nuclear power plants or for military applications. 
The use of uranium in these applications requires increasing the 
proportion of the uranium-235 isotope found in natural uranium through 
an isotopic separation process called uranium enrichment. Gaseous 
diffusion is the enrichment process currently used in the United 
States. The DUF6 that is produced as a result of enrichment 
typically contains 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent uranium-235 and is stored 
as solid in large metal cylinders at the gaseous diffusion facilities. 
Large-scale uranium enrichment in the United States began as part of 
atomic bomb development during World War II. Uranium enrichment 
activities were subsequently continued under the U.S. Atomic Energy 
Commission and its successor agencies including DOE. Uranium enrichment 
was carried out at three locations: the K-25 Plant (now called the East 
Tennessee Technology Park or ETTP) at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the Paducah 
Site in Kentucky and the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. DOE maintains 
approximately 700,000 metric tons (1 metric ton or mt = 1,000 
kilograms, or approximately 2,205 pounds) of DUF6 in about 
58,000 cylinders stored at the Paducah, Portsmouth, and ETTP sites. 
DUF6 is stored as a solid at all three sites in steel 
cylinders. Each cylinder holds approximately 9 to 12 metric tons of 
material. The cylinders usually are stacked two layers high in outdoor 
areas called ``yards.'' The Paducah site has approximately 36,200 
DUF6 cylinders, the Portsmouth Site has approximately 16,100 
DUF6 cylinders, and the ETTP has approximately 4,700 DUF6 
cylinders.
    Beginning in 1994, the DOE began work on a Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to select a new long-term 
strategy for managing its

[[Page 53604]]

inventory of DUF6. After it selected its long-term strategy 
in the PEIS, the DOE intended to conduct site-specific environmental 
review in accordance with NEPA to identify specific sites and 
technologies necessary to carry out the strategy.
    In the DUF6 PEIS, the DOE analyzed a wide spectrum of 
alternatives for the conversion of DUF6 into products as 
well as alternatives for storage and disposal of the DUF6 
and the products made from it. The Final DUF6 PEIS (DOE/EIS-
0269) can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium. As part of the analysis, DOE estimated the potential 
transportation impacts for each of the alternatives by rail and truck. 
Because the sites for the conversion facilities had not yet been 
selected, transportation impacts were evaluated for distances ranging 
from 155 to 3,100 miles, a range that anticipated shipments to Paducah 
or Portsmouth or a new conversion facility.
    In the 1999 ROD, the DOE decided, among other things, that it would 
take the necessary steps to promptly convert its DUF6 
inventory, that it would select the location of the actual conversion 
facilities in a project-specific EIS, and that it anticipated shipping 
approximately 4,700 cylinders from ETTP to the conversion facilities. 
On the issue of transportation, the ROD recognized that the primary 
impacts from transportation are related to accidents. If shipments were 
predominantly by truck, it was estimated that zero fatalities would be 
expected for the no-action alternative, approximately two fatalities 
for the long-term storage as DUF6 alternative, and up to 
four fatalities for each of the other alternatives. Shipment by rail 
would result in similar, but slightly smaller, impacts. Severe 
transportation accidents could also cause a release of radioactive 
material or chemicals from a shipment that could have adverse health 
effects. All alternatives, other than no action and long-term storage 
as UF6, could involve the transportation of relatively large 
quantities of chemicals such as ammonia and anhydrous hydrogen fluoride 
(HF) because their use would be required in the conversion process. 
Severe accidents involving these materials could result in releases 
that caused fatalities with HF posing the largest potential hazard. 
However, because of the low probability of such accidents, the maximum 
calculated risk for these accidents would be zero fatalities. If HF 
were to be neutralized to calcium fluoride (CaF2) at the 
conversion facility, the risks associated with its transportation would 
be eliminated. There would be risks associated with transportation of 
CaF2; however, these risks would be much less than those 
associated with transportation of HF.
    Public Law 105-204, signed into law in July 1998, while the 
DUF6 PEIS was being prepared, directed the Secretary of 
Energy to submit to Congress a plan for the construction of plants at 
Paducah and Portsmouth to convert the DUF6 inventory. In the 
ROD, the DOE noted that it had submitted the plan as required and that 
it planned to review these proposed activities in subsequent NEPA 
review. DOE initiated its Conversion Plan on July 30, 1999, by 
announcing the availability of a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) for 
a contractor to design, construct, and operate DUF6 
conversion facilities at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites.
    On October 31, 2000, DOE issued a final RFP to procure a contractor 
to design, construct, and operate DUF6 conversion facilities 
at the Paducah and Portsmouth sites. The RFP stated that any conversion 
plants that would be built would have to convert the DUF6 to 
a more stable chemical form that would be suitable for either 
beneficial use or disposal. On September 18, 2001, the DOE published a 
Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register (66 FR 48123), 
announcing its intention to prepare a site-specific EIS for the 
proposed action to construct, operate, maintain, and decontaminate and 
decommission two DUF6 conversion facilities at Portsmouth, 
Ohio, and Paducah, Kentucky. As noted above, DOE originally planned to 
wait until it finished its site-specific EIS review before transporting 
any of the cylinders. That plan has changed with the advent of Public 
Law 107-206.
    Public Law 107-206, the 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for 
Further Recovery From and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United 
States, was signed by the President on August 2, 2002. This law 
required, in pertinent part, that within 30 days of its enactment DOE 
was required to award a contract for the scope of work described in the 
October 2000 RFP, including design, construction, and operation of a 
DUF6 conversion plant at each of the Department's sites at 
Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio. In compliance with the law, on 
August 29, 2002, the DOE awarded a contract to Uranium Disposition 
Services, LLC (hereafter referred to as UDS), for construction and 
operation of the two mandated conversion facilities. The DOE also 
reevaluated the appropriate scope of its site-specific NEPA review and 
decided to prepare two separate EISs, one for the plant proposed for 
the Paducah site and a second for the Portsmouth site. This change in 
approach was announced in the Federal Register on April 28, 2003 (68 FR 
22368).
    Now that Congress has determined the locations for the conversion 
plants, DOE intends to begin shipping a portion of its DUF6 
inventory, up to 1,700 DUF6 cylinders, from ETTP to 
Portsmouth beginning in 2003. Portsmouth was chosen based on the 
availability of storage capacity and the desire to balance cylinder 
inventory. It is important that DOE begin to ship DUF6 from 
ETTP in order to satisfy the terms of a Consent Order with the 
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation with respect to 
the management of DUF6 at the ETTP site. DOE has agreed to 
remove all known DUF6 cylinders from ETTP by 2009, in 
accordance with applicable regulatory requirements.
    At the same time, DOE will continue with its site-specific NEPA 
review to determine the exact locations at the Portsmouth and Paducah 
sites for the conversion facilities and to analyze the impacts of 
shipping cylinders to these sites.

Basis for Decision

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 1021.314(c), the Department has prepared a 
Supplement Analysis to determine whether or not a new or supplemental 
EIS is required for the proposed action. Specifically, the Supplement 
Analysis was prepared to determine whether the DUF6 PEIS 
sufficiently analyzed the transportation of up to 1,700 full 
DUF6 cylinders. On the basis of the Supplement Analysis, the 
estimated impacts from the proposed transportation campaign are less 
than or equal to those described in the PEIS for shipment of the entire 
ETTP cylinder inventory. Therefore, no new or supplemental EIS is 
necessary, and no further NEPA documentation is required.
    As part of the DUF6 PEIS, the DOE analyzed the potential 
environmental impacts of transporting 4,683 full DUF6 
cylinders from ETTP to an unspecified location within the continental 
United States at three different distances: 250 km (155 mi), 1,000 km 
(620 mi), and 5,000 km (3,100 mi). Transportation by both truck and 
rail was considered. The assessment considered risks during both 
routine (incident-free) transportation conditions as well as from 
accidents. Because destination sites for the cylinders were not known 
at the time, the impacts were estimated on the basis of representative 
national average route statistics. National average accident

[[Page 53605]]

occurrence rates (accidents per million miles) and fatality rates 
(accident fatalities per million miles) were used for accident 
calculations for truck and rail shipments. Transportation of both 
Department of Transportation compliant and noncompliant cylinders was 
analyzed. The noncompliant cylinders were assumed to be transported in 
overpacks or have their contents transferred into compliant cylinders 
at ETTP before being transported off-site.
    The potential receptors of exposure resulting from DUF6 
transport considered in the PEIS analyses included workers who load and 
unload the cylinders, transportation crews, and members of the general 
public who live along the transportation routes, as well as members of 
the public who share the roads or rest stops with the DUF6 
cylinder transport vehicles. The assessment also considered impacts to 
maximally exposed individuals for several very specific exposure 
scenarios, such as vehicle inspectors, persons in vehicles stopped next 
to a shipment, and a resident living along a site entrance or exit 
road. Both radiological and nonradiological, including chemical and 
vehicle related, impacts were estimated.
    Similar to the assessment of DUF6 cylinders at ETTP, the 
DOE also analyzed the potential impacts from transporting the 
approximately 53,000 DUF6 cylinders under its management 
responsibility at its Portsmouth and Paducah sites to an unspecified 
location in the continental United States over similar distances.
    The Supplement Analysis analyzes the health and environmental 
impacts of shipments of up to 1,700 DUF6 cylinders from ETTP 
to the Portsmouth site in 2003 through 2005. The result of this 
analysis and a separate report on transportation of DUF6 
cylinders to Portsmouth and Paducah prepared by B. M. Biwer, et al.; 
Transportation Impact for Shipment of Uranium Hexafluoride 
(UF6) Cylinders From the East Tennessee Technology Park to 
the Portsmouth and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plants ANL EAD/TM-112, 
Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL. October 2001 subsequent to 
the PEIS were then compared to the results in the DUF6 PEIS. 
The Supplement Analysis concluded as follows:

    The estimated collective population risks for the proposed 
shipment of up to 1,700 DUF6 cylinders from ETTP to 
Portsmouth by truck are compared with the results from the Argonne 
report and the DUF6 PEIS in Table 6. In general, the 
collective risks for the proposed campaign are less than the 
projected risks presented in the PEIS for the shipment of ETTP 
DUF6 cylinders over 1,000 km and much less than the PEIS 
results for shipment over 5,000 km. The one exception is the risk 
estimate for vehicle emissions (i.e., exhaust emissions and fugitive 
dust), which is somewhat greater for the proposed shipment campaign 
than the estimates in the PEIS because of the use of a revised 
method of estimating such risks. However, the total number of 
estimated fatalities from all causes for the campaign is much less 
than one and well within the bounds of the PEIS analysis.
    With respect to potential exposures of individual members of the 
public, the estimated doses and risks to maximally exposed 
individuals for the proposed shipments would be the same as the per-
event results presented in the PEIS. The probability of being 
exposed to multiple shipments during the proposed campaign would be 
less than would be estimated for the PEIS because of the fewer 
number of shipments considered.
    The maximum estimated consequences for severe accidents for the 
proposed shipments would also be the same as those reported in the 
PEIS. Because the number of shipments and the cumulative shipment 
distances would be considerably less than those in the PEIS, the 
probability of such an accident's occurring also would be less. 
Thus, the overall risk posed by such a severe accident, which is 
defined as the product of the accident consequence and the estimated 
probability, for the proposed campaign would be less than for the 
shipments considered in the PEIS.
    Potential impacts at ETTP from the preparation of the cylinders 
for shipment for the proposed campaign would also be less than those 
reported in the PEIS. The PEIS considered preparation of up to 2,342 
compliant cylinders for shipment, compared with 1,700 cylinders 
being considered in this SA.

Decision

    Based on the Supplement Analysis, the DOE has concluded that the 
estimated impacts for the proposed transport of up to 1,700 ETTP 
DUF6 cylinders are less than or equal to those analyzed in 
the PEIS for shipment of the entire ETTP cylinder inventory. Therefore, 
no supplemental EIS is necessary, and no further NEPA documentation is 
required. The DOE hereby amends the ROD for the Final Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement for Alternative Strategies for the Long-
Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexaflouride issued in 
August 1999 (64 FR 43358; August 10, 1999). The DOE has now decided to 
transfer up to 1,700 of the approximately 4,700 cylinders containing 
DUF6 from the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak 
Ridge, Tennessee, to its storage facilities at DOE's enrichment 
facility at Portsmouth, Ohio, between fiscal years 2003 and 2005. 
Portsmouth was selected based on the availability of storage capacity 
and the desire to balance cylinder inventory. The DOE's site-specific 
NEPA review will continue as before.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 28th day of August, 2003.
Jessie Hill Roberson,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 03-23167 Filed 9-10-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P