[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 125 (Friday, June 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31055-31056]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-13842]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration


Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplement Analysis of the 
Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement

AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-
autonomous agency within the United States Department of Energy (DOE), 
announces the availability of the Draft Supplement Analysis (SA) of the 
Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (SPEIS). NNSA is preparing the SA to determine whether, prior 
to proceeding with the action to produce plutonium pits at a rate of no 
fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030, the existing Complex 
Transformation SPEIS should be supplemented, a new environmental impact 
statement prepared, or no further National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) analysis is required. The Draft SA preliminarily concludes that 
further NEPA documentation at a programmatic level is not required; 
however, NNSA will consider comments on the Draft SA and publish a 
Final SA with a final determination. The Draft SA is an important 
element of the overall NEPA strategy related to fulfilling national 
requirements for pit production. DOE announced this NEPA strategy on 
June 10, 2019 (84 FR 26849).

DATES: NNSA invites the public to review and submit comments on the 
Draft SA through August 12, 2019. Comments received after this date 
will be considered to the extent practicable.

[[Page 31056]]


ADDRESSES: Written comments on the Draft SA or requests for information 
related to the SA 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 sent by 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.

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; phone: 202-586-1402; email to: [email protected]. This Notice and the Draft SA are available on the internet 
at https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: National security policies require DOE, 
through NNSA, to maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, as well 
as the nation's core competencies in nuclear weapons. NNSA 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 
Department of Defense (DoD) requirements, mitigate against the risk of 
plutonium aging, and respond to changes in deterrent requirements 
driven by growing threats from peer competitors, the 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 E. 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 
Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site 
(SRS) in South Carolina to produce plutonium pits while also maximizing 
pit production activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). 
This two-prong approach--with no fewer than 50 pits per year produced 
at SRS and no fewer than 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.
    On June 10, 2019, DOE announced the overall NEPA strategy related 
to fulfilling national requirements for pit production (84 FR 26849). 
DOE announced that it would prepare at least three documents including 
this SA, a site-specific EIS for the proposal to produce pits at SRS 
(also announced in that notice), and site-specific documentation for 
the proposal to authorize expanding pit production beyond 20 pits per 
year at LANL.
    In 2008, NNSA prepared the Complex Transformation SPEIS, which 
evaluated, among other things, alternatives for producing 10-200 
plutonium pits per year at different sites including LANL and SRS. In 
the Complex Transformation SPEIS Records of Decision, NNSA did not make 
any new decisions related to pit production capacity and did not 
foresee an imminent need to produce more than 20 pits per year to meet 
national security requirements.
    NNSA now foresees an imminent need to provide the enduring 
capability and capacity to produce plutonium pits at a rate of no fewer 
than 80 pits per year by 2030 for the nuclear weapons stockpile as 
identified in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. NNSA has prepared the SA 
to determine whether, prior to proceeding with the action to produce 
plutonium pits at a rate of no fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030, the 
existing Complex Transformation SPEIS should be supplemented, a new 
environmental impact statement prepared, or no further NEPA analysis is 
required. Although pertinent regulations do not require public comment 
on an SA, NNSA has decided, in its discretion, that public comment in 
this instance would be helpful and has issued the Draft SA for public 
review and comment.

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 21st day of June 2019, for the 
United States Department of Energy.
Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty,
Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, National Nuclear Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-13842 Filed 6-27-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P