[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 242 (Friday, December 18, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67189-67190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-30173]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Modifications to the Preferred Alternatives for Tank 
Waste Treatment and Disposal of Off Site Waste in the Draft Tank 
Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement for the 
Hanford Site, Richland, WA

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Modification of Preferred Alternatives.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is modifying its preferred 
alternatives for tank waste treatment and also for disposal of off-site 
waste in the Draft Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental 
Impact Statement for the Hanford Site, Richland, Washington (Draft EIS, 
DOE/EIS-00391), made available for public comment on October 30, 2009 
(74 FR 56194). This Draft EIS has been prepared in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its implementing 
regulations. The public comment period for the Draft EIS extends to 
March 19, 2010.
    In this Draft EIS, DOE analyzed, as a reasonable alternative, 
treating and sending waste from specific tanks to the Waste Isolation 
Pilot Plant (WIPP), in Carlsbad, New Mexico, as mixed transuranic (TRU) 
waste. DOE is now expressing its preference that no Hanford tank wastes 
would be shipped to WIPP. These wastes would be retrieved and treated 
in the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) being constructed at Hanford. The 
State of Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), a cooperating 
agency on the EIS, has revised its Foreword to the Draft EIS in 
response to this modification to the preferred alternative for tank 
waste. That revision can be found under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    In addition, consistent with DOE's preference regarding receipt at 
Hanford of off-site low-level radioactive waste (LLW) and low-level 
mixed waste (MLLW), DOE would not ship Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) LLW 
to Hanford at least until the WTP is operational (DOE is analyzing 
disposal of GTCC LLW in a separate EIS).

ADDRESSES: The Draft EIS is available electronically through, and 
written comments can be submitted at, [email protected], or by faxing 
to (1-888) 785-2865. Paper copies may be obtained by request to the EIS 
website or by contacting: Mary Beth Burandt, Document Manager, TC & WM 
EIS comments, Office of River Protection, P.O. Box 1178, Richland, 
Washington 99352.
    The Draft EIS is also available at DOE's NEPA Web site at http://www.gc.energy.gov/nepa.
    Written comments may be mailed to the document manager at the 
address above. Further, DOE will accept oral as well as written 
comments on the Draft EIS during public hearings to be announced soon 
in the Federal Register and local media.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the Draft 
EIS, contact Ms. Burandt at the address above or by telephone, at (1-
888) 829-6347. For further information on DOE's NEPA process, contact: 
Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance, 
Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC 
20585-0103, Telephone: (202) 586-4600, or leave a message at (800) 472-
2756.
    Further information on the Draft EIS is also available through the 
Hanford Web site at: http://www.hanford.gov/orp.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft Tank Closure and Waste Management 
Environmental Impact Statement has been prepared in accordance with 
NEPA and its implementing regulations. The Draft EIS analyzes 
alternatives for proposed actions in three major areas related to the 
cleanup of the Hanford Site. These are: (1) Retrieving and treating 
radioactive waste from 177 underground storage tanks at Hanford and 
closure of the 149 single-shell tanks; (2) decommissioning of the Fast 
Flux Test Facility, a nuclear test reactor, and its auxiliary 
facilities; and (3) continued and expanded solid waste management 
operations on site, including the disposal of Hanford's LLW and MLLW, 
and limited volumes of LLW and MLLW from other DOE sites. The Draft EIS 
also analyzes no action alternatives for each of the three types of 
proposed actions as required under NEPA for use as a basis for 
comparison of the alternatives.
    In the Draft EIS, DOE narrowed its range of preferred alternatives 
to five (Section S.7.1 of the Summary and Section 2.12 of the main 
volume). Three of these alternatives contain options for treating the 
waste from specific tanks as mixed TRU waste (approximately 3 million 
gallons) that would be prepared as necessary and shipped to WIPP for 
disposal. Based on further consideration, DOE has concluded that its 
preference is to manage the waste from these tanks by treating it 
through the WTP currently under construction as either high-level waste 
or low-activity

[[Page 67190]]

waste as would be the case with the other waste to be treated in each 
alternative; it would thus not be shipped to WIPP for disposal. 
Ecology, a cooperating agency on this EIS, has requested the following 
modification to its Foreword in response to that change:
    Ecology acknowledges that subsequent to publishing the draft EIS, 
DOE has revised its preferred alternative to propose that waste from 
specific Hanford tanks containing what DOE believes might be mixed TRU 
waste be treated at Hanford through the WTP. This change does not alter 
Ecology's expectations concerning this waste. Because Ecology has had, 
and continues to have, legal and technical concerns with any Hanford 
tank waste being classified as mixed TRU waste, Ecology has always 
assumed that the waste would be treated at Hanford through the WTP. 
Ecology expects that the end date for completing treatment of Hanford's 
tank waste will not be altered by treating the waste from these 
specific tanks through the WTP.
    Regarding DOE's preferred alternative for waste management, 
(Section S.7.3 of the Summary and Section 2.12 of the main volume) DOE 
would not send LLW and MLLW from other DOE sites to Hanford for 
disposal (with some limited specific exceptions) at least until the WTP 
is operational, consistent with DOE's proposed settlement agreement 
with the State of Washington. Off-site waste would be addressed after 
the WTP is operational subject to appropriate NEPA review. Although the 
Draft EIS considers the cumulative impacts of the potential receipt of 
GTCC LLW at Hanford, DOE is preparing a separate EIS on GTCC LLW 
disposition. However, similar to its preference regarding the 
importation of LLW and MLLW, DOE announces that it does not prefer to 
import GTCC LLW to Hanford at least until the WTP is operational.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on December 10, 2009.
In[eacute]s R. Triay,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. E9-30173 Filed 12-17-09; 8:45 am]
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