[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 18 (Monday, January 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 424-425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-00230]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Amended Record of Decision for the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste 
Approach at the Hanford Site, Washington

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Amended record of decision.

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[[Page 425]]

SUMMARY: This is an amendment to the U.S. Department of Energy'(DOE) 
2013 Record of Decision (ROD) for the Final Tank Closure and Waste 
Management Environmental Impact Statement for the Hanford Site, 
Richland, Washington (DOE/EIS-0391, December 2012) (TC&WM EIS) 
published in the Federal Register on December 13, 2013. In the TC&WM 
EIS, DOE analyzed 11 alternatives for the retrieval, treatment, 
storage, and disposal of tank wastes, followed by the closure of the 
single-shell waste storage tanks (SSTs) at the Hanford Site. The six 
other alternatives analyzed in the TC&WM EIS concerned waste management 
and Fast Flux Test Facility decommissioning, which are not the subject 
of this ROD. DOE prepared a supplement analysis (DOE/EIS-0391-SA-02; 
SA) which evaluated the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) approach 
to operations of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), 
which would pre-treat and send low-activity waste (LAW) from the tank 
farms to the LAW Facility. This amended ROD addresses those portions of 
the DFLAW functions and facilities that were not addressed by the 2013 
TC&WM EIS ROD.

ADDRESSES: For copies of this amended ROD, the original 2013 ROD, SAs 
(DOE/EIS-0391-SA-01 and -02), the TC&WM EIS, or any related NEPA 
documents, please contact Ms. Mary Beth Burandt, NEPA Document Manager, 
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of River Protection, P.O. Box 1178, 
Richland, Washington 99352; telephone: (509) 372-8828; or email, 
mary_e[email protected]. This amended ROD, the original ROD, the SA, 
and the TC&WM EIS are also available on DOE's NEPA website at http://www.energy.gov/nepa and the Hanford website at http://www.hanford.gov/index.cfm?page=1117&.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about the 
TC&WM EIS, contact Ms. Burandt, as listed in ADDRESSES. For general 
information on the DOE Office of Environmental Management's NEPA 
process, contact Mr. Bill Ostrum, Office of Environmental Management, 
U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585-0103; telephone: (202) 
586-2513, or leave a message at (800) 472-2756; or email, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In the 2013 TC&WM EIS ROD, DOE selected Tank Closure Alternative 2B 
(Expanded WTP Vitrification; Landfill Closure) and announced that it 
would: (1) Retrieve 99 percent of the waste from the SSTs; (2) treat 
tank waste, including pretreatment of tank waste with separation into 
LAW and high-level radioactive waste (HLW); and (3) dispose of the 
vitrified LAW and secondary waste and construct immobilized HLW (IHLW) 
interim storage modules to store the IHLW prior to disposal. (See 78 FR 
75913, December 13, 2013, for a complete list of the activities covered 
in the 2013 ROD.) The WTP, as analyzed in the TC&WM EIS, was assumed to 
have all primary and supporting facilities available at startup. The 
tank waste was designed to be sent to the WTP Pretreatment Facility, 
where it would be separated into HLW and LAW. The process would then 
send each of these waste streams to the HLW Facility and the LAW 
Facility, respectively, for further treatment.
    Due to technical issues with the WTP Pretreatment Facility and HLW 
Facility, only the LAW Facility, analytical laboratory and balance of 
facilities are near completion. The three facilities that are near 
completion could begin treating tank waste no later than 2023. DOE has 
developed a sequenced approach to utilize the available facilities to 
treat LAW before treating HLW. This is referred to as DFLAW. The 
sequenced approach involves using ion exchange (IX) columns to remove 
the cesium from the LAW tank waste stream prior to sending the waste to 
the LAW Facility for immobilization. The cesium-loaded IX columns would 
be placed on an IX Column Storage Pad until final disposition.

Supplement Analysis for DFLAW and the IX Column Storage Pad

    DFLAW will operate in a different sequence than that analyzed in 
TC&WM EIS Alternative 2B, which was the alternative selected in the 
2013 ROD. DOE prepared an SA (DOE/EIS-0391-SA-02) to determine whether 
supplemental or new NEPA documentation was required to address the 
DFLAW approach. The SA provides an analysis of the DFLAW approach 
relative to the analysis in the TC&WM EIS to determine if there are 
substantial changes to the proposal or if there are significant new 
circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns. The SA 
was prepared in accordance with DOE's NEPA implementing procedures at 
10 CFR 1021.314(c) and concluded that the DFLAW Proposed Action did not 
represent a substantial change to the proposal evaluated in the TC&WM 
EIS or significant new circumstances or information relevant to 
environmental concerns that would require preparation of a supplemental 
EIS. DOE determined that no further NEPA analysis was required.
    The 2013 TC&WM EIS ROD addressed the functions necessary to 
implement DFLAW (effluent management, solids and cesium removal and 
waste transfers between facilities) with the exception of the 
construction and operations of the IX Column Storage Pad. The SA 
provides a comparative evaluation of the potential impacts associated 
with the IX Column Storage Pad for each of the environmental resource 
areas analyzed in the TC&WM EIS. Because the footprint of the IX Column 
Storage Pad would be within the previously disturbed Industrial-
Exclusive Zone that includes the tank farms and WTP complex, impacts to 
land use, visual resources, noise, air quality, geology and soils, and 
water and ecological resources were determined to be bounded by or 
represent a negligible increase to those evaluated in the TC&WM EIS. 
The SA identified three key areas related to the IX Column Storage Pad 
for further evaluation: (1) Public and Occupational Health and Safety 
(Normal Operations), (2) Public and Occupational Health and Safety 
(Facility Accidents), and (3) Waste Management. In each of these key 
areas, the SA concluded that the potential impacts associated with the 
construction and operation of the IX Column Storage Pad would be within 
the estimated impacts presented in the TC&WM EIS.

Decision

    DOE/EIS-0391-SA-02 concluded that the DFLAW facilities and 
functions, except for the IX Column Storage Pad, were addressed in the 
TC&WM 2013 ROD. The SA also concluded that the IX Column Storage Pad 
does not represent a substantial change to DOE's proposal or 
significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental 
concerns. There are no additional mitigation measures required beyond 
those commitments in the 2013 TC&WM EIS ROD. The 2013 TC&WM EIS ROD 
addressed the functions necessary to implement DFLAW, with the 
exception of those related to the IX Column Storage Pad. DOE's decision 
is to amend the TC&WM EIS ROD to include construction and operation of 
the IX Column Storage Pad to support implementation of DFLAW.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on January 17, 2019.
Anne Marie White,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 2019-00230 Filed 1-25-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P