[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 111 (Monday, June 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26849-26851]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-12003]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for 
Plutonium Pit Production at the Savannah River Site

AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security 
Administration (NNSA) hereby announces its intent, consistent with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), to prepare an environmental 
impact statement (EIS) for plutonium pit production at the Savannah 
River Site (SRS) in South Carolina (the SRS EIS). The 2018 Nuclear 
Posture Review announced that the United States will pursue initiatives 
to ensure the necessary capability, capacity, and responsiveness of the 
nuclear weapons infrastructure and the needed skill of the workforce, 
including providing the enduring capability and capacity to produce no 
fewer than 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030. To achieve the 
Department of Defense (DoD) requirement, NNSA is proposing to repurpose 
the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at SRS to produce 
plutonium pits while also maximizing pit production activities at Los 
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. NNSA also hereby 
provides information regarding its overall NEPA strategy related to 
fulfilling national requirements for pit production. NNSA will first 
conduct a programmatic review to assist in decisions and second conduct 
site-specific reviews. NNSA anticipates that it will prepare at least 
three documents including: A supplement analysis (SA) to the Final 
Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic EIS (Complex 
Transformation SPEIS); a site-specific EIS for the proposal to produce 
pits at SRS; and site-specific documentation for the proposal to 
authorize expanding pit production at LANL.

DATES: NNSA invites Federal and state agencies, state and local 
governments, Native American tribes, industry, other organizations, and 
members of the public to submit comments to assist in identifying 
environmental issues and in determining the appropriate scope of the 
SRS EIS until July 25, 2019. Comments received after this date will be 
considered to the extent practicable. NNSA will hold one public scoping 
meeting for the proposed EIS as follows:
     June 27, 2019 (5:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. EST) at the North 
Augusta Community Center, 495 Brookside Ave. North Augusta, SC 29841.
    Doors will open at 5:00 p.m. on June 27, 2019 at the community 
center for the public to view posters on display. NNSA will provide a 
brief presentation on the EIS beginning at 6:00 p.m. and then NNSA will 
accept public comments on the scope of the EIS.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the scope of the EIS, requests to be 
placed on the EIS distribution list, and comments or questions on the 
scoping process should be sent to: Ms. Jennifer Nelson, NEPA Document 
Manager, National Nuclear Security Administration Savannah River Field 
Office, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC 29802 or email to [email protected]. If 
you would like to pre-register to comment during the public scoping 
meeting, send an email to [email protected]. Before including your 
address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying 
information in your comment, please be advised that your entire 
comment--including your personal identifying information--may be made 
publicly available. If you wish for NNSA to withhold your name and/or 
other personally identifiable information, please state this 
prominently at the beginning of your comment. You may also submit 
comments anonymously. Also, NNSA requests Federal, State, and local 
agencies that desire to be designated as cooperating agencies on the 
EIS to contact the NEPA Document Manager at the address listed in this 
section by the end of the scoping period.

[[Page 26850]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about this 
Notice, please contact Mr. James R. Sanderson, Office of NEPA Policy 
and Compliance, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 
Washington, DC 20585-0119, email to: [email protected].
    This Notice will be available on the internet at: https://www.energy.gov/nepa/listings/notices-intent-noi.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    National security policies require DOE, through NNSA, to maintain 
the United States' nuclear weapons stockpile, as well as the nation's 
core competencies in nuclear weapons. NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency 
within the DOE, has the mission to maintain and enhance the safety, 
security, and effectiveness of the nuclear weapons stockpile.
    Plutonium pits are critical components of every nuclear weapon, 
with nearly all current stockpile pits having been produced from 1978-
1989. Today, the United States' capability to produce plutonium pits is 
limited. To produce pits with enhanced safety features to meet NNSA and 
DoD requirements, mitigate against the risk of plutonium aging, and 
respond to changes in deterrent requirements driven by growing threats 
from peer competitors, the Department of Defense (DoD) requires NNSA to 
produce no fewer than 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030, and to 
sustain the capacity for future (Life Extension Programs and follow-on) 
programs.
    NNSA's pit production mission was emphasized as a national security 
imperative by the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, issued in February 2018 
by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and subsequent Congressional 
statements of the policy of the United States. The 2018 Nuclear Posture 
Review announced that the United States will pursue initiatives to 
ensure the necessary capability, capacity, and responsiveness of the 
nuclear weapons infrastructure and the needed skill of the workforce, 
including providing the enduring capability and capacity to produce no 
fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030. The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review 
concludes that the United States must have sufficient research, design, 
development, and production capacity to support the sustainment of its 
nuclear forces.
    To that end, DoD Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and 
Sustainment Ellen M. Lord and Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and 
Administrator of the NNSA Lisa Gordon-Hagerty issued a Joint Statement 
on May 10, 2018, identifying their recommended alternative to meet the 
pit production requirement based on the completion of an Analysis of 
Alternatives, an Engineering Assessment and a Workforce Analysis. To 
achieve the nation's requirement of producing no fewer than 80 pits per 
year by 2030, NNSA is proposing to repurpose the MFFF at SRS to produce 
plutonium pits while also maximizing pit production activities at LANL. 
This two-pronged approach--with a minimum of 50 pits per year produced 
at SRS and a minimum of 30 pits per year at LANL--is proposed as the 
best way to manage the cost, schedule, and risk of such a vital 
undertaking. This approach improves the resiliency, flexibility, and 
redundancy of our Nuclear Security Enterprise by reducing reliance on a 
single production site.

Purpose and Need for Agency Action

    The security policies of the United States require the maintenance 
of a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear weapons stockpile and the 
maintenance of core competencies to design, manufacture, and maintain 
nuclear weapons. NNSA will pursue initiatives to meet national security 
requirements and ensure the necessary capability, capacity, and 
responsiveness of the nuclear weapons infrastructure and the needed 
skill of the workforce, including providing the enduring capability and 
capacity to produce no fewer than 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030. 
This need follows the requirements identified by the 2018 Nuclear 
Posture Review and Congressional statement of the policy of the United 
States (Pub. L. 115-232).

Alternatives Considered

    NNSA proposes to prepare an EIS for the proposed action to 
repurpose the MFFF to produce a minimum of 50 pits per year at SRS. 
NNSA intends to evaluate the following alternatives in the EIS: (1) 
Proposed action to repurpose MFFF to produce a minimum of 50 pits per 
year; and (2) No Action Alternative. If any other reasonable 
alternatives are identified during the scoping period, NNSA will also 
evaluate those alternatives in the EIS. The EIS will include an 
analysis of potential impacts to the environment and human health from 
the proposed action, and an evaluation of potential impacts of the No 
Action Alternative.
    The proposed action to repurpose the MFFF to produce a minimum of 
50 pits per year would include, but not be limited to: Reconfiguration 
(including disassembly and removal of equipment and utility 
commodities) of the MFFF; installation of equipment necessary for 
activities associated with pit production (disassembly/metal 
preparation, pit assembly, machining, aqueous processing, foundry 
operations, material characterization and analytical chemistry 
operations for certification); constructing and repurposing other 
facilities surrounding the MFFF for support activities (e.g., waste 
handling, training, office space, roads, storage, and parking); 
security and nuclear safety upgrades to support pit production; 
providing reliable utilities and infrastructure required for pit 
production; and hiring and training necessary workforce to ensure the 
safe, secure, reliable, and responsive capability for pit production at 
SRS.

Site-Specific SRS EIS Process

    The scoping process is intended to involve all interested agencies 
(Federal, State, county, and local), public interest groups, Native 
American Tribes, businesses, and members of the public. Interested 
parties are invited to participate in the EIS process, both to refine 
the preliminary alternatives and environmental issues to be analyzed in 
depth and to eliminate from detailed study those alternatives and 
environmental issues that are not reasonable or pertinent. Input from 
the scoping meeting will assist NNSA in formulating the proposed 
action, refining the alternatives, and defining the scope of EIS 
analyses.
    Following the scoping period announced in this Notice, and after 
consideration of comments received during scoping, NNSA will prepare a 
draft EIS for the production of plutonium pits at SRS. NNSA will 
announce the availability of the draft EIS in the Federal Register and 
local media outlets. Comments received on the draft EIS will be 
considered and addressed in the Final EIS. NNSA will issue a record of 
decision (ROD) no sooner than 30 days after publication by the 
Environmental Protection Agency of a Notice of Availability of the 
Final EIS.

Relationship to Existing and Other NEPA Analyses

    NNSA is responsible for management and implementation of the 
requirements of NEPA and the regulations and policies promulgated 
thereunder, including but not limited to the Council of Environmental 
Quality NEPA regulations (40 CFR parts1500-1508), the DOE NEPA 
implementing procedures (10 CFR part 1021), and NNSA Policy (NAP) 
451.1.
    Previously, NNSA prepared the Complex Transformation SPEIS to 
analyze the potential environmental

[[Page 26851]]

impacts associated with pit production at different site alternatives: 
LANL in Los Alamos, New Mexico; SRS near Aiken, South Carolina; Pantex 
Plant near Amarillo, Texas; Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak 
Ridge, Tennessee; and the Nevada National Security Site north of Las 
Vegas, Nevada. At SRS, the Complex Transformation SPEIS also evaluated 
a pit production facility that would use the MFFF and pit disassembly 
and conversion facility infrastructure [73 FR 63470, October 24, 2008]. 
Additionally, pit production at LANL has been analyzed in several NEPA 
documents over the past two decades. Federal decisions (RODs) have 
authorized pit production levels of no more than approximately 20 pits 
per year at LANL [64 FR 50797, September 20, 1999]. However, higher 
levels of pit production have been analyzed in: The Complex 
Transformation SPEIS, which analyzed pit production levels as high as 
125 pits per year for the 5 sites listed above [73 FR 77644, December 
19, 2008]; and in the 2008 LANL Sitewide Environmental Impact 
Statement, which analyzed up to 80 pits per year at LANL in the 
Expanded Operations Alternative (DOE/EIS-0380, May 2008). Prior to 
making any decisions on producing a minimum of 30 pits per year at LANL 
and a minimum of 50 pits per year at SRS, NNSA will conduct further 
NEPA analyses as discussed below.
    NNSA anticipates that it will prepare at least three documents 
including: A SA to the Final Complex Transformation Supplemental 
Programmatic EIS (Complex Transformation SPEIS); the site-specific EIS 
for the proposal to produce pits at SRS announced in this Notice; and 
site-specific documentation for the proposal to authorize expanding pit 
production beyond 20 pits per year at LANL.
    NNSA is preparing a SA to the Complex Transformation SPEIS related 
to the proposed action for pit production. NNSA will use the SA to 
determine if there are significant changes in the proposed action which 
are substantial and relevant to environmental concerns or whether new 
circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and 
bearing on the proposed action or its impacts are significant. The SA 
would inform the site-specific documentation for the proposed pit 
production activities at both SRS and LANL. Although pertinent 
regulations do not require public comment on a SA, NNSA has decided, in 
its discretion, that public comment in this instance would be helpful 
and will issue a draft SA.
    If the SA identifies no new significant circumstances or 
information relevant to environmental concerns that effect NNSA's 
decisions concerning pit production at a programmatic level, NNSA would 
announce the determination from the SA to the Complex Transformation 
SPEIS at the same time it would announce an amended ROD. If NNSA 
determines that a supplement to the Complex Transformation SPEIS or a 
new EIS is required, NNSA will announce those decisions as appropriate.
    NNSA also intends to conduct site-specific NEPA analysis for 
expanded pit production activities at LANL to determine if there are 
significant changes in the proposed action which are substantial and 
relevant to environmental concerns or whether new circumstances or 
information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the 
proposed action or its impacts are significant. The type of site-
specific analysis for producing a minimum of 30 pits per year at LANL 
will include a SA to the 2008 LANL Sitewide Environmental Impact 
Statement.
    Depending on the results of the site-specific review at LANL, NNSA 
may announce an amended ROD or prepare additional NEPA documentation 
for the proposed action.

EIS Preparation and Schedule

    NNSA expects to issue the draft EIS in 2020.

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 31st day of May 2019, for the 
United States Department of Energy.
Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty,
Under Secretary for Nuclear Security Administration, National Nuclear 
Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-12003 Filed 6-7-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P