[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 193 (Friday, October 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53133-53134]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-21660]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration


Amended Record of Decision for the Continued Interim Operation of 
the Y-12 National Security Complex

AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Amended record of decision.

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SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a 
separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 
is amending its July 2011 Record of Decision for the Continued 
Operation of the Y-12 National Security Complex (2011 ROD) to reflect 
its decision to continue to implement on an interim basis a revised 
approach for meeting enriched uranium requirements (while addressing 
issues related to seismic analysis), by upgrading existing enriched 
uranium (EU) processing buildings and constructing a new Uranium 
Processing Facility (UPF). Additionally, NNSA has decided to separate 
the single-structure UPF design concept into a new design consisting of 
multiple buildings, with each constructed to safety and security 
requirements appropriate to the building's function. This revised 
approach is combining elements of the two alternatives previously 
analyzed in the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for the 
Y-12 National Security Complex, DOE/EIS-0387 (Y-12 SWEIS).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on this 
Amended Record of Decision (ROD), contact: Ms. Terri Slack, Field 
Counsel, U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security 
Administration, NNSA Production Office, P.O. Box 2050, Oak Ridge, TN 
37831, (865) 576-1722. For information on the DOE National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, contact: Mr. Brian Costner, 
Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (GC-54), U.S. Department 
of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585, (202) 
586-4600, or leave a message at (800) 472-2756. This Amended ROD and 
related NEPA documents are available on the DOE NEPA website at 
www.nepa.energy.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Y-12 is NNSA's primary site for uranium operations, including EU 
processing and storage, and is one of the primary manufacturing 
facilities for maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Y-12 is 
unique in that it is the only source of secondaries, cases, and other 
nuclear weapons components for the NNSA nuclear security mission.
    In the Y-12 SWEIS, NNSA analyzed the potential environmental 
impacts of ongoing and future operations and activities at Y-12. Five 
alternatives were analyzed in the Y-12 SWEIS: (1) No Action Alternative 
(maintain the status quo), (2) UPF Alternative, (3) Upgrade in-Place 
Alternative (4) Capability-sized UPF Alternative, and (5) No Net 
Production/Capability-sized UPF Alternative. In the 2011 ROD (July 20, 
2011, 76 FR 43319), NNSA decided to implement the Capability-sized UPF 
Alternative and to construct and operate a single-structure Capability-
sized UPF at Y-12 as a replacement for certain existing buildings. 
Subsequent to the publication of the 2011 ROD, concerns about UPF cost 
and schedule growth prompted NNSA to reevaluate its strategy for 
meeting EU requirements, including the UPF design approach.
    Under the updated strategy, previously approved in a July 12, 2016, 
Amended Record of Decision (2016 AROD), NNSA would meet enriched 
uranium requirements using a revised approach of upgrading existing 
enriched uranium processing buildings and constructing a smaller-scale 
UPF facility implementing a new multiple building design approach. The 
updated strategy is consistent with recommendations from a project peer 
review of the UPF [``Final Report of the Committee to Recommend 
Alternatives to the Uranium Processing Facility Plan in Meeting the 
Nation's Enriched Uranium Strategy''] conducted in 2014. In the new UPF 
design approach, the single-structure UPF concept would be separated 
into multiple buildings, each being constructed to safety and security 
requirements appropriate to the building's function.

NEPA Process for Amending the ROD and Subsequent Litigation

    The Y-12 SWEIS evaluated the potential impacts of the reasonable 
range of alternatives for continuing enriched uranium processing 
operations at Y-12 and provided a basis for the 2011 ROD. As discussed 
above, NNSA's new strategy of upgrading existing enriched uranium 
buildings and constructing UPF with multiple buildings, previously 
approved in the 2016 AROD, is different from the Capability-sized UPF 
that NNSA selected in the 2011 ROD. Instead it is a hybrid approach 
that combines elements of the Capability-sized UPF Alternative and 
certain elements of the Upgrade in Place Alternative. Consequently, 
NNSA prepared a Supplement Analysis (DOE/EIS-0387-SA-01) in accordance 
with CEQ and DOE regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR 1502.9(c) and 10 
CFR 1021.314(c)) to determine (1) if there are potential environmental 
impacts that differ from those analyzed in the Y-12 SWEIS that would be 
expected to result from NNSA's new strategy and (2), if so, if the 
impacts would be considered significant in the context of NEPA (40 CFR 
1508.27), which would require preparation of a new or Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). On July 12, 2016, NNSA issued the 
2016 AROD, determining that because the action was a hybrid of two 
alternatives reviewed in the 2011 SWEIS and its environmental impacts 
would not be significantly different or significantly greater than 
those reviewed in the prior analysis, it need not prepare a new or 
supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS). NNSA again updated 
this environmental analysis under

[[Page 53134]]

NEPA in its Supplement Analysis issued in August 2018. This Supplement 
Analysis reviewed new information post-dating the 2011 SWEIS, and again 
determined that NNSA need not prepare a new or supplemental EIS because 
this new information did not result in environmental impacts 
significantly different or significantly greater than those reviewed in 
the prior analysis.
    As the result of a lawsuit filed against DOE and NNSA, the federal 
district court issued several rulings related to NNSA's NEPA documents 
for Y-12. While the judge vacated the AROD, the 2016 Supplement 
Analysis, and the 2018 Supplement Analysis based on its determination 
that additional NEPA analysis of new information pertaining to seismic 
risks at Y-12 was needed, the court held that the NNSA's new strategy 
of upgrading existing enriched uranium buildings pursuant to the 
Extended Life Program and constructing UPF with multiple buildings was 
adequately considered as part of the 2011 SWEIS. The court further held 
that NNSA is not required to prepare a Supplemental EIS for the UPF 
Project or the Extended Life Program. See Memorandum Opinion and Order 
in Case 3:18-cv-00150-PLR-DCP.

Summary of Impacts Associated With Continued Interim Operation of the 
Y-12 National Security Complex

    With respect to the environmental impacts associated with the 
revised UPF strategy and the Extended Life Program, the court 
determined that ``[b]ecause the environmental effects in the 2011 SWEIS 
were evaluated along a spectrum--from `no action' at one end, to a 
brand-new UPF at the other, and with an `Upgrade-in-Place' program 
occupying the middle,'' NNSA's new strategy is adequately supported by 
theY-12 SWEIS, and the court did not vacate the 2011 ROD or Y-12 SWEIS 
or enjoin any activities at Y-12. The court also found the NEPA 
analysis in the 2016 Supplement Analysis and the 2018 Supplement 
Analysis deficient only as to their analysis of new information 
pertaining to seismic risks. Thus, consistent with 10 CFR 1021.315(e), 
the existing 2011 ROD for the Y-12 SWEIS can be amended. However, in 
accordance with the court's determination that additional NEPA analysis 
of new information pertaining to seismic risks at Y-12 is needed, 
further NEPA documentation will be developed on an expedited basis that 
includes an unbounded accident analysis of earthquake consequences at 
Y-12, using updated seismic hazard analyses that incorporate the 2014 
United States Geological Survey maps.

Amended Decision

    NNSA has decided to continue to operate Y-12 to meet the stockpile 
stewardship mission critical activities assigned to the site on an 
interim basis, pending further review of seismic risks at Y-12. NNSA 
will also meet EU requirements using a hybrid approach of upgrading 
existing EU buildings under its Extended Life Program and separating 
the single-structure UPF into multiple buildings, with each constructed 
to safety and security requirements appropriate to the building's 
function;
    This amended decision will enable NNSA to maintain the required 
expertise and capabilities to deliver uranium products while 
modernizing production facilities. This amended decision to continue 
operations on an interim basis will avoid many of the safety risks of 
operating aged buildings and equipment by relocating processes that 
cannot be sustained in existing, enduring buildings or through process 
improvements. Through an Extended Life Program, mission-critical 
existing and enduring buildings and infrastructure will be maintained 
and/or upgraded, which will enhance safety and security at the Y-12 
site, pending further review of seismic risks at Y-12. Such continued 
operations are consistent with the court's ruling and will continue to 
implement safety improvements under previously approved contracts, 
pending the completion of additional NEPA documentation on an expedited 
basis. Once further seismic analysis has been performed, NNSA will 
issue a new ROD describing, what, if any, changes it has decided to 
make in light of that analysis.

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 27th day of September 2019, for 
the United States Department of Energy.
Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty,
Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, National Nuclear Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-21660 Filed 10-3-19; 8:45 am]
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