[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 220 (Friday, November 14, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64620-64621]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-28508]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration


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

AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security 
Administration (NNSA) announces the availability of the Final 
Environmental Impact Statement for the Chemistry and Metallurgy 
Research Building Replacement Project at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (the Final CMRR EIS). The present 
Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Building at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory (LANL) houses mission critical analytical chemistry, 
material characterization and research and development capabilities 
involving actinides (actinides are any of a series of elements with 
atomic numbers ranging from actinium-89 through lawrencium-103). The 
Final 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. 
Two locations at LANL were evaluated for locating a new CMRR Facility: 
A location within Technical Area (TA) -55 and a location within TA-6. 
The Final CMRR EIS also considers the no-action alternative of 
maintaining the CMR capabilities at the existing CMR Building.

DATES: The NNSA intends to issue a Record of Decision on the CMRR EIS 
no sooner than 30 days after the Environmental Protection Agency 
publishes a notice of filing of the Final CMRR EIS in the Federal 
Register.

ADDRESSES: A copy of the Final CMRR EIS and 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]). Copies of the Final 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information on NNSA NEPA 
process, please contact: Mr. James Mangeno (NA 1), NEPA Compliance 
Officer for Defense Programs, U.S. Department of Energy, National 
Nuclear Security Administration, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 
20874-1290, or telephone 1-800-832-0885. 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.

[[Page 64621]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Mission critical CMR capabilities at LANL 
support NNSA's stockpile stewardship and management strategic 
objectives. The CMR Building'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 design life. Studies conducted in the 
late 1990s identified a seismic fault trace located beneath the CMR 
Building, which greatly enhances 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 a long-term (beyond 
2010), unrestricted use of the CMR Building.
    NNSA cannot continue to 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 would 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 Final 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 TA-55 at LANL (the Proposed Action), and (2) a ``greenfield'' site 
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 demolition of the 
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 Final CMRR 
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.
    In the Final CMRR EIS, the Administrator of the NNSA designated 
Alternative 1, the Proposed Action of constructing and operating a new 
CMRR Facility at TA-55, as its preferred alternative. Additionally, the 
designated preferred construction option is the construction of a 
single consolidated SNM-capable Hazard Category laboratory above ground 
with a separate administrative offices support functions building 
(Option 3); NNSA's preferred option for the disposition of the CMR 
Building is to decontaminate, decommission, and demolish that entire 
structure (Option 3).

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 21 day of October, 2003.
Everet H. Beckner,
Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-28508 Filed 11-13-03; 8:45 am]
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