[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 1, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23822-23823]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-8207]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

[PBS-N01]


Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the 
Transformation of Facilities and Infrastructure for the Non-Nuclear 
Production Activities Conducted at the National Nuclear Security 
Administration's Kansas City Plant at Kansas City, Missouri

AGENCY: General Services Administration and National Nuclear Security 
Administration, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: The General Services Administration (GSA), as the lead agency, 
and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), as a 
cooperating agency, intend to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
to evaluate the potential environmental impacts associated with the 
following project: Transformation of Facilities and Infrastructure for 
the Non-Nuclear Production Activities Conducted at the NNSA Kansas City 
Plant.
    The proposed action is for GSA to procure the construction of new 
facilities to house NNSA's non-nuclear component procurement and 
manufacturing operations. The new facilities would be located 
approximately 8 miles south of the existing plant on a currently 
undeveloped site at the northwest corner of Missouri Highway 150 and 
Botts Road in Kansas City, Missouri. GSA would lease the facilities to 
NNSA, which would relocate its non-nuclear operations from the existing 
Kansas City Plant in the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City, 
Missouri, to the new facilities and conduct future operations in the 
new facilities. The relocation would involve moving approximately two-
thirds of the existing capital and process equipment to the new 
facilities. Disposition activities of the existing NNSA facilities at 
the Kansas City Plant are not part of the current proposed action, and 
will be addressed in appropriate future environmental analyses. The 
Kansas City Plant is collocated on the Bannister Federal Complex with 
GSA and disposition activities will require coordination between both 
agencies.
    The proposed facilities would cover more than 1 million square feet 
and provide over 2,000 surface parking spaces. The current facilities 
are approximately 3 million square feet. The proposed facilities would 
meet current and future production requirements for NNSA in a modern, 
cost effective, and flexible manner through reductions in the current 
facility footprint while significantly reducing operational, 
maintenance, security, and energy costs.
    The EA also will evaluate the potential environmental impacts 
associated with alternatives to the proposed action, including:
     No Action, i.e., continuing NNSA's non-nuclear operations 
in the existing Bannister Federal Complex facilities.
     Renovate the existing GSA office and warehouse space at 
the Bannister Federal Complex, relocate NNSA's non-nuclear operations 
to the renovated facilities, and conduct future operations in the 
renovated facilities.
     Renovate the existing GSA office space, demolish existing 
GSA warehouse space, and construct and operate a new manufacturing 
facility on the GSA portion of the Bannister Federal Complex.
     Demolish existing GSA office and warehouse space. 
Construct and operate new office and manufacturing facilities on GSA's 
portion of the Bannister Federal Complex.
    Concurrent with the preparation of the Environmental Assessment, 
GSA and NNSA will determine the applicability of floodplain management 
and wetland protection requirements (10 CFR Part 1022) and will publish 
a notice of proposed floodplain and/or wetland action as appropriate.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public Scoping Meetings: The GSA and NNSA 
will hold a public scoping meeting for the Environmental Assessment on 
the Transformation of Facilities and Infrastructure for the Non-Nuclear 
Production Activities Conducted at the National Nuclear Security 
Administration's Kansas City Plant. The purpose of this Notice of 
Intent is to invite public participation at the scoping meeting and to 
request public comments on the scope of the EA, including the potential 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
    The public scoping meeting is scheduled as follows:
    Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
    6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
    Plaza Auditorium
    Bannister Federal Complex
    1500 East Bannister Road
    Kansas City, MO 64131
    Enter the Bannister Federal Complex by using Entrance 2, also 
marked Lydia Entrance, off Bannister Road. Enter the building through 
GSA Lobby 16. Please bring government-issued photo identification for 
entry into the building. Oral and written comments will be accepted at 
the public scoping meeting. In addition, GSA and NNSA will consider all 
written comments postmarked by May 30, 2007. For further information or 
to submit written comments please contact:
    Carlos Salazar
    GSA Regional NEPA Coordinator
    1500 East Bannister Road, Room 2191 (6PTA)
    Kansas City, MO 64131
    (816) 823-2305
    [email protected]
    Background: NNSA intends to adopt this EA for use as a basis for 
decisions regarding the further transformation and downsizing of non-
nuclear production activities performed at its Kansas City Plant. This 
EA is being prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (NEPA), and regulations implementing NEPA issued by the Council 
on Environmental Quality (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), GSA (ADM 1095.1F), 
and to the extent not inconsistent with ADM 1095.1F, DOE (10 CFR Part 
1021).
    NNSA's non-nuclear operations include the procurement and 
manufacture of electrical, electronic, electromechanical, plastic, and 
mechanical components for the nuclear weapons program. Hazardous wastes 
are generated through general industrial processes and include acidic 
and

[[Page 23823]]

alkaline liquids, solvents, oils and coolants. The Kansas City Plant is 
a non-nuclear site and does not have special nuclear materials, but 
operations do generate small quantities of low-level radioactive waste.
    GSA and NNSA believe that the relocation of the non-nuclear 
production mission to another location outside of the Kansas City 
Metropolitan Area is not a reasonable alternative and do not intend to 
analyze it as an alternative in the present EA.
    DOE completed a Nuclear Weapons Complex Reconfiguration (Complex-
21) Study in January 1991, which identified significant cost savings 
that could be achieved by downsizing the nuclear weapons complex. On 
January 27, 1992, the Department issued an NOI (57 FR 3046) to prepare 
an environmental assessment (DOE/EA-0792) for the consolidation of non-
nuclear production activities within the nuclear weapons complex. On 
September 14, 1993, DOE published a Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FONSI) regarding its proposal (58 FR 48043) to terminate non-nuclear 
production missions at the Mound Plant in Ohio, the Pinellas Plant in 
Florida, and the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado, and consolidate the 
electrical and mechanical manufacturing functions at the Kansas City 
Plant.
    DOE issued an NOI on June 6, 1995 (60 FR 31291), a final Stockpile 
Stewardship and Management PEIS on November 19, 1996 (61 FR 58871), and 
a ROD on December 26, 1996 (61 FR 68014) announcing its decision to 
transform the weapons production complex by further downsizing of the 
nuclear weapons complex. This decision included reducing non-nuclear 
component fabrication capacity at the Kansas City Plant. In these 
documents DOE evaluated alternatives for consolidation of non-nuclear 
manufacturing, storage and surveillance functions of the Nuclear 
Weapons Complex to the Kansas City Plant and reducing the capacity for 
non-nuclear component fabrication.
    The proposed action would continue the consolidation and downsizing 
of non-nuclear activities at the Kansas City Plant begun in the early 
1990s. The alternatives are constructed around the mission need to 
maintain the Kansas City Plant while downsizing for cost efficiency. 
Keeping these activities in the Kansas City area is consistent with 
NNSA's broader proposed transformation of the U.S. nuclear weapons 
complex and is based on the previous NEPA analyses and decisions 
described above, and on an economic analysis that will be included in 
the Environmental Assessment. GSA and NNSA invite and will consider 
comments on this issue during the scoping process.
    Separately, NNSA is preparing a Supplement to the Stockpile 
Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement--Complex 2030 (DOE/EIS-0236-S4) that evaluates alternatives 
for the continued transformation of the nuclear weapons complex. As 
explained in the NOI for that Supplemental PEIS (71 FR 61731; October 
19, 2006), ``NNSA believes that it is appropriate to separate the 
analyses of the transformation of non-nuclear production from the 
Supplemental PEIS because decisions regarding non-nuclear activities 
would neither significantly affect nor be affected by decisions 
regarding the transformation of nuclear production activities.''

    Dated: April 23, 2007.
Carlos A Salazar,
Regional NEPA Coordinator,Portfolio Management Division (6PTA),GSA 
Public Buildings Service, Heartland Region.
[FR Doc. E7-8207 Filed 4-30-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-CG-S