[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 46 (Friday, March 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12401-12403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4541]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Amendment to the Record of Decision for the Department of 
Energy's Waste Management Program: Treatment and Storage of Transuranic 
Waste

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Amendment to Record of Decision.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE), pursuant to DOE National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Regulations (10 CFR 1021.315), is 
amending the Record of Decision for the Waste Management Program: 
Treatment and Storage of Transuranic Waste issued on January 20, 1998 
(63 FR 3629), and amended previously including on December 29, 2000 (65 
FR 82985), and June 30, 2004 (69 FR 39446).
    Under this amendment to its Record of Decision (ROD), DOE intends 
to send both contact-handled (CH) and remote-handled (RH) transuranic 
(TRU) waste from certain generator sites as needed to the Idaho 
National Laboratory (INL) to be treated and characterized prior to the 
shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for disposal. These 
sites are: the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) (Argonne, IL); Bettis 
Atomic Power Laboratory (BAPL) (West Mifflin, PA); General Electric 
Vallecitos Nuclear Center (GE) (Sunol, CA); the Hanford Site, (Hanford) 
(Richland, WA); Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (Nuclear Fuel Services) 
(KAPL-NFS) (Erwin, TN); Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) 
(Schenectady, NY); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) 
(Berkeley, CA); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) 
(Livermore, CA); the Nevada Test Site (NTS); Separations Process 
Research Unit (SPRU) (Schenectady, NY); Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant 
(PGDP) (Paducah, KY); and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) 
(Albuquerque, NM).
    DOE expects that most of the waste from these generator sites will 
be sent to INL for treatment and characterization. However, DOE may, 
when feasible, characterize some waste at these generator sites under 
the provisions of the modified WIPP Hazardous Waste Facility Permit 
that allow characterization based solely on process knowledge and ship 
that waste directly to WIPP or, in the case of SNL, send TRU waste to 
Los Alamos National Laboratory to be characterized, in accordance with 
the original (1998) ROD. In addition, TRU waste from Babcock and Wilcox 
(BW) (Lynchburg, VA), and NRD L,L,C, (NRD) (Grand Island, NY), will 
also be moved to INL to be treated and characterized prior to shipment 
to WIPP for disposal, only if that waste meets waste acceptance 
criteria for treatment at INL and is determined to be defense waste as 
required by the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act for waste to be eligible for 
disposal at WIPP.
    TRU waste would be accepted for treatment and characterization at 
INL only in accordance with the provisions of the settlement agreement 
in Public Service Company of Colorado v. Batt entered into between DOE 
and the State of Idaho in 1995 (the Idaho Settlement Agreement) and the 
Site Treatment Plan. The Idaho Settlement Agreement allows TRU waste 
from other DOE sites to be treated at INL if it is treated within 6 
months of receipt and shipped out of Idaho within 6 months of 
treatment. DOE would also continue to remove TRU waste currently stored 
at INL in accordance with the terms of the Idaho Settlement Agreement.
    In accordance with DOE NEPA regulations (10 CFR 1021.314), DOE 
prepared a supplement analysis (SA), Supplement Analysis for the 
Treatment of Transuranic Waste at the Idaho National Laboratory (DOE/
EIS-0200-SA-03), to determine whether the proposed treatment and 
characterization of waste at INL prior to disposal at WIPP is a 
substantial change to the proposed action analyzed in DOE's Waste 
Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0200) 
(WM-PEIS) or whether there are significant new circumstances or 
information relevant to environmental concerns such that a supplement 
to the WM-PEIS or a new EIS is needed. Based on the SA, DOE has 
determined that a supplement to the WM-PEIS or a new EIS is not needed.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    Copies of the documents referenced herein are available from the: 
Center for Environmental Management Information, P.O. Box 23769, 
Washington, DC 20026-3769, Telephone: 1-800-736-3282 (in Washington, 
DC: 202-863-5084).
    For further information on the treatment, characterization of TRU 
waste and disposal of TRU waste at WIPP, contact: Casey Gadbury (CBFO), 
U.S. Department of Energy, Carlsbad Field Office, P.O. Box 3093, 
Carlsbad, NM 88221. Telephone: 575-234-7372.
    For further information on the DOE program for the management of 
TRU waste or this amendment to the ROD, contact: Ms. Christine Gelles 
(EM-12), Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy, 
19001 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874. Telephone: 301-903-1669.
    For information on DOE's NEPA process, contact: Ms. Carol 
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (GC-20), U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 
20585. Telephone: 202-586-4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    TRU waste is waste that contains alpha particle-emitting 
radionuclides with atomic numbers greater than that of uranium (92) and 
half-lives greater than 20 years in concentrations greater than 100 
nanocuries per gram. TRU waste is classified according to the radiation 
dose at a package surface. CH-TRU waste has a radiation dose rate at a 
package surface of 200 millirem per hour or less; this waste can safely 
be handled directly by personnel. RH-TRU waste has a radiation dose 
rate at a package surface greater than 200 millirem per hour and must 
be handled remotely (e.g., with machinery designed to shield workers 
from radiation). Mixed TRU waste contains both radioactive and 
hazardous components.

Prior NEPA Review

    In the WM-PEIS TRU Waste ROD (63 FR 3629, January 20, 1998), DOE 
selected the Decentralized Alternative, stating that ``each of the 
Department's sites that currently has or will generate TRU waste will 
prepare and store its waste on site'' prior to shipment to

[[Page 12402]]

WIPP.\1\ The WM-PEIS TRU Waste ROD also noted that ``in the future, the 
Department may decide to ship transuranic wastes from sites where it 
may be impractical to prepare them for disposal to sites where DOE has 
or will have the necessary capability.'' The WM-PEIS TRU Waste ROD 
stated that the sites that could receive TRU waste shipments from other 
sites were the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory 
(now referred to as the Idaho National Laboratory or INL), the Oak 
Ridge Reservation, the Savannah River Site, and the Hanford Site, and 
that such decisions would be subject to appropriate review under NEPA. 
In DOE/EIS-0290, Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (1999), DOE examined the impacts of 
treating up to 120,000 cubic meters of TRU from INL and other DOE sites 
at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility (AMWTF).
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    \1\ The only exception to this decision was the Sandia National 
Laboratories in New Mexico, which would have shipped its TRU waste 
to Los Alamos for storage and processing before disposal at WIPP.
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II. Change in the Proposed Action

    DOE has identified up to 8,764 cubic meters of CH-TRU waste and up 
to 255 cubic meters of RH-TRU waste, that could be moved from various 
TRU waste generator sites to INL for treatment and characterization 
prior to shipment to WIPP. At INL, the CH-TRU waste would be treated at 
the AMWTF to reduce the volume of the waste and characterized for 
shipment to WIPP. The RH-TRU waste would be treated during repackaging 
to remove prohibited items and characterized for shipment to WIPP at 
the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC), which is 
located on the INL site. Four sites (Hanford Site, INL, Oak Ridge 
Reservation, and the Savannah River Site) were identified in the 1998 
ROD to potentially receive waste from other sites. INL has the 
capabilities to process this TRU waste.
    Approximately 2,067 shipments of CH-TRU waste and 188 shipments of 
RH-TRU waste could move to INL for treatment and characterization. 
Shipment of TRU wastes to INL for treatment and characterization would 
increase the efficiency of TRU waste treatment and characterization 
operations.
    Once treated and characterized, the off-site TRU wastes would be 
shipped from INL to WIPP for disposal. Approximately 795 shipments 
would be required to transport the treated CH-TRU waste to WIPP and 
approximately 621 \2\ shipments would be required to transport the 
treated RH-TRU waste to WIPP.
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    \2\ The number of outbound RH-TRU shipments to WIPP would be 
larger than the number of inbound RH-TRU shipments to INL because 
waste is assumed to move to WIPP in RH 72-B casks, which hold a 
smaller volume of waste than the 10-160B transportation containers 
that would be used primarily for transportation to INL. The WIPP RH 
waste handling process is designed to handle waste packaged in an RH 
72-B without using the hot cell. Limitations on the amount of waste 
that can be handled in the hot cell in the WIPP hazardous waste 
facility RH waste permit will limit the use of the 10-160B for 
shipments to WIPP, since waste shipped in the 10-160B must be 
repackaged into a facility canister in the hot cell prior to 
disposal.
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III. Supplement Analysis

    To determine whether the proposed action would warrant a supplement 
to the WM-PEIS, DOE prepared the SA referred to above. The SA compared 
the impacts of the proposed action to impacts of alternatives involving 
shipment of waste to INL for treatment that were examined in the WM-
PEIS or in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Disposal Phase Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0026-S-2) (SEIS-II).\3\
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    \3\ The SEIS-II was used as a basis for comparison of 
transportation impacts because the WM-PEIS did not examine the 
impacts of shipping waste to WIPP for disposal. The SEIS-II was also 
used as a basis for comparison of WIPP site accident impacts because 
the WM-PEIS did not examine those impacts.
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    The SA examined the impacts of transporting TRU waste to INL for 
treatment and characterization and the impacts of transporting waste 
from INL to WIPP for disposal. It also examined potential 
transportation accident impacts for waste proposed to be moved in the 
TRUPACT-III container, which is currently undergoing certification by 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, because some waste would be moved 
from Hanford to INL in the TRUPACT-III once it is certified. The 
transportation impacts of the proposed shipments of waste to INL and 
subsequent shipments of treated waste to WIPP, including accident 
impacts, were smaller than the impacts predicted in the SEIS-II for 
similar movements of waste to and from INL except for the latent cancer 
fatalities among workers.
    Site impacts from packaging and loading waste at the generator 
sites, unloading waste at INL, and treating waste at INL, including the 
impacts of waste treatment accidents, were smaller than the impacts 
predicted in the WM-PEIS (Alternative 3) for similar activities.
    WIPP site impacts, including the impact of potential accidents 
involving the standard large waste box (that would be transported in 
the TRUPACT-III once approved), would be equal to or smaller than the 
impacts predicted in the SEIS-II (Alternative 2B) for similar 
activities at WIPP.
    The SA also considered the potential impacts of intentional 
destructive acts (i.e., acts of sabotage or terrorism) and estimated 
the impacts would be no greater than the impacts of an accident 
analyzed in the SA.
    All of the impacts of the proposed action are within the boundaries 
of the impacts previously predicted in the Regionalized Alternative 3 
of the WM-PEIS and the Action Alternative 2B of the SEIS-II, except for 
the worker transportation impacts. The increase in worker 
transportation impacts is small and is not expected to increase worker 
mortality if the proposed action were implemented. Based on the impact 
analysis in the SA, DOE has determined that the proposed action would 
not present a substantial change relevant to environmental concerns nor 
are there significant new circumstances or information relevant to 
environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its 
impacts. Therefore, DOE has determined that a supplement to the WM-PEIS 
or a new EIS is not required under 40 CFR 1502.9(c) or 10 CFR 1021.314 
for this proposal. Both the WM-PEIS and the WIPP SEIS-II analyzed the 
impacts associated with shipment, treatment, and characterization of 
CH-TRU and RH-TRU wastes at INL. The WIPP SEIS-II examined the impacts 
of shipping these wastes from INL to the WIPP for disposal. In 
addition, the impacts of treatment of CH-TRU at the AMTWF and RH-waste 
at the INTEC were evaluated using the same approach as used for the 
AMTWF EIS.

IV. Decision

    DOE has decided to ship up to 8,764 cubic meters of CH-TRU waste 
and up to 255 cubic meters of RH-TRU waste as needed from ANL, BAPL, 
BW, GE, Hanford, KAPL-NFS, KAPL, LBL, LLNL, NRD, PGDP, NTS, SPRU and 
SNL, to INL for treatment and characterization prior to shipment to 
WIPP for disposal. After treatment and characterization at INL, all of 
the waste will be shipped to WIPP for disposal. The BW and NRD waste 
will be shipped to INL only if that waste is determined to meet waste 
acceptance criteria for treatment at INL and be defense waste eligible 
for disposal at WIPP, as required by the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act.
    DOE may, where feasible, characterize some of this waste at the 
generator sites under the provisions of the WIPP permit allowing 
characterization based on process knowledge and ship that waste

[[Page 12403]]

directly to WIPP or, in the case of SNL, ship the waste to Los Alamos 
National Laboratory for characterization, in accordance with the 1998 
TRU Record of Decision.
    Waste will be accepted for treatment and characterization at INL 
only if this can be done in accordance with the provisions of the Idaho 
Settlement Agreement and the Site Treatment Plan. The Idaho Settlement 
Agreement allows TRU waste from other DOE sites to be treated at INL if 
it is treated within 6 months of receipt and shipped out of Idaho 
within 6 months of treatment. DOE will also continue to remove TRU 
waste currently stored at INL in accordance with the terms of the Idaho 
Settlement Agreement.

V. Basis for the Decision

    Using the existing INL CH- and RH-TRU waste program and facilities 
at INL will avoid the time and expense of establishing capability at 
sites that do not currently have an existing program or facilities. 
Also, the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility at INL will reduce 
the volume of some CH-TRU waste (e.g., waste which consists primarily 
of waste containers overpacked in larger containers that hold a 
relatively small volume of waste when compared with the container 
volume), thus reducing the volume of this waste that would be disposed 
of at WIPP.

    Issued in Washington, DC this 27th day of February 2008.
Ines R. Triay,
(Acting) Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. E8-4541 Filed 3-6-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P