[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 887-888]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00102]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
National Nuclear Security Administration
Notice of Availability of Final 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 (U.S.) Department of Energy
(DOE), announces the availability of a Final Supplement Analysis (SA)
of the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement (SPEIS) (DOE/EIS-0236-SA-02). NNSA prepared the Final
SA to determine whether, prior to implementing a Modified Distributed
Center of Excellence (DCE) Alternative for plutonium operations to
enable producing 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 be prepared, or that
no further National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis is
required. NNSA published the Draft Supplement Analysis of the Complex
Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
on June 28, 2019, and announced a 45-day comment period. After
considering all comments received, NNSA prepared the Final SA and
concluded that no further NEPA documentation at a programmatic level is
required.
DATES: This notice will be published on January 8, 2020.
ADDRESSES: The Final SA, which includes an Appendix which contains
NNSA's responses to comments received on the Draft SA, is available on
the internet at https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room and
https://www.energy.gov/nepa/listings/supplement-analyses-sa.
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].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NNSA prepared the Final SA to determine
whether, prior to implementing a Modified Distributed Center of
Excellence (DCE) Alternative for plutonium operations to enable
producing 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 be prepared, or that no further
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis is required.
Implementing a Modified DCE Alternative would enable NNSA to meet
federal law and national policy by producing a minimum of 50 pits per
year at a repurposed Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at
the Savannah River Site (SRS) and a minimum of 30 pits per year at the
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). An additional surge capacity
would be available at each site, if needed, to meet the requirements of
producing pits at a rate of no fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030 for
the nuclear weapons stockpile. The Final SA includes NNSA's
determination that no further NEPA documentation at a programmatic
level is required. The SA of the Complex Transformation SPEIS 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).
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 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.
Since 2008, the United States has emphasized the need to eventually
produce 80 pits per year. Since 2014, federal law has required the
Secretary of Energy to produce no less than 30 war reserve plutonium
pits by 2026 and thereafter demonstrate the capability to produce war
reserve plutonium pits at a rate sufficient to produce 80 pits per year
(50 U.S.C. 2538a). On January 27, 2017, the President directed the
Department of Defense (DoD) to conduct an updated Nuclear Posture
Review (NPR) to ensure a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent
that protects the homeland, assures allies, and above all, deters
adversaries. The 2018 NPR echoed the need for pit production and
confirmed 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 plutonium
pits at a rate of no fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030. In 2018,
Congress enacted as formal policy of the United States that LANL will
produce a minimum of 30 pits per year for the national production
mission and will implement surge efforts to exceed 30 pits per year to
meet NPR and national policy (Pub. L. 115-232, Section 3120).
To these ends, the DoD Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition
and Sustainment and the NNSA Administrator issued a Joint Statement on
May 10, 2018, identifying their recommended alternative to meet the pit
production requirement based on the
[[Page 888]]
completion of an Analysis of Alternatives, an Engineering Assessment,
and a Workforce Analysis. Implementing a Modified DCE Alternative would
enable NNSA to continue to transform the nuclear weapons complex
(Complex) in a manner that meets federal law and national policy. Under
the Modified DCE Alternative, NNSA would repurpose the MFFF at SRS in
South Carolina to produce plutonium pits while also maximizing pit
production activities at 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 the best way to manage the cost, schedule, and risk of
such a vital undertaking. In addition to improving the resiliency,
flexibility, and redundancy of our Nuclear Security Enterprise by
reducing reliance on a single production site, this approach enables
the capability to allow for enhanced warhead safety and security to
meet DoD and NNSA requirements; deliberate, methodical replacement of
older existing plutonium pits with newly manufactured pits as risk
mitigation against plutonium aging; and response to changes in
deterrent requirements driven by renewed great power competition.
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 Final 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 ROD, 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. NNSA's preferred alternative is now to implement a Modified
DCE Alternative. NNSA has prepared the SA to determine whether, prior
to implementing a Modified DCE Alternative, the existing Complex
Transformation SPEIS should be supplemented, a new EIS be prepared, or
no further NEPA analysis be required.
Although pertinent regulations do not require public review and
comment on an SA, NNSA decided, in its discretion, that public comment
in this instance would be helpful. NNSA issued the Draft Supplement
Analysis of the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement on June 28, 2019 for a 45-day public
review (84 FR 31055). The comments received on the Draft SA generally
centered on the following topic areas: (1) Validity of the Draft SA
determination; (2) the purpose and need for NNSA's proposal; (3)
requests for an extension to the comment period; (4) the two-prong
approach to pit production; (5) new information or changed
circumstances related to NNSA operations and/or environmental
conditions; (6) questions about the technical aspects of the impact
analyses; (7) general opposition to, or support for the proposal; and
(8) comments about nuclear weapon policies or new weapon designs. NNSA
considered all comments during the preparation of the Final SA and
determination and has modified the SA as appropriate. NNSA's responses
to the comments received on the Draft SA are included in Appendix A to
the Final SA.
Signed in Washington, DC, this 19th day of December 2019, for
the United States Department of Energy.
Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty,
Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, Administrator, NNSA.
[FR Doc. 2020-00102 Filed 1-7-20; 8:45 am]
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