[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 241 (Friday, December 16, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77096-77098]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27152]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration


Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program and Announcement of 
Public Hearings

AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability and public hearings.

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SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-
autonomous agency within the Department of Energy (DOE), announces the 
availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Surplus 
Plutonium Disposition Program (SPDP EIS) (DOE/EIS-0549) in compliance 
with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). NNSA is also 
announcing a 60-day public comment period and four public hearings to 
receive comments on the Draft SPDP EIS. NNSA prepared the Draft SPDP 
EIS to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of dispositioning 
34 metric tons (MT) of surplus plutonium.

DATES: NNSA invites Federal and state agencies, Native American tribes, 
state and local governments, industry, other organizations, and members 
of the public to review and submit comments on the Draft SPDP EIS 
through February 14, 2023. NNSA will hold four public hearings (three 
in-person hearings and one online virtual hearing) to present 
information and receive comments on the Draft SPDP EIS. This 
information will also be published in local New Mexico and South 
Carolina newspapers in advance of the hearings. Any changes to the 
public hearing dates or locations will be announced in the local media 
and posted on the following website at least 15 days before the hearing 
date: https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room.
    The four public hearings on the Draft SPDP EIS will be at the 
following dates, times, and locations:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Date                      Time                Location
------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 19, 2023............  Thursday; 6:00 p.m.   North Augusta
                               to 9:00 p.m.          Municipal Building,
                               Eastern Time.         100 Georgia Avenue,
                                                     North Augusta, SC
                                                     29841.
January 24, 2023............  Tuesday; 6:00 p.m.    Carousel House at
                               to 9:00 p.m.          Pecos River Village
                               Mountain Time.        Conference Center,
                                                     711 Muscatel Drive,
                                                     Carlsbad, NM 88220.
January 26, 2023............  Thursday; 6:00 p.m.   Duane Smith
                               to 9:00 p.m.          Auditorium, Los
                               Mountain Time.        Alamos High School,
                                                     1300 Diamond Drive,
                                                     Los Alamos, NM
                                                     87544.
January 30, 2023............  Monday; 7:00 p.m. to  Online Virtual
                               10:00 p.m. Eastern    Hearing.
                               Time. 6:00 p.m. to   NNSA will post the
                               9:00 p.m. Central     link before the
                               Time. 5:00 p.m. to    hearing at https://
                               8:00 p.m. Mountain    www.energy.gov/nnsa/
                               Time. 4:00 p.m. to    nnsa-nepa-reading-
                               7:00 p.m. Pacific     room.
                               Time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


ADDRESSES: Written and oral comments will be given equal weight and 
NNSA will consider all comments received or postmarked by the end of 
the comment period in preparing the Final SPDP EIS. Comments received 
or postmarked after the comment period will be considered to the extent 
practicable. Written comments on the Draft SPDP EIS or requests for 
information related to the Draft SPDP EIS should be sent by email to 
[email protected] or to Ms. Maxcine Maxted, NEPA Document Manager, 
National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Material Management 
and Minimization, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC 29802. You may also comment by 
phone by leaving a message at (803) 952-7434. Before including your 
address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable 
information in your comment, please be advised that your entire 
comment--including your personally identifiable 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.
    The Draft SPDP EIS is available online at: https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room and https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeeis-0549-surplus-plutonium-disposition-program.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about this 
notice, please contact Ms. Maxcine Maxted, NEPA Document Manager, 
National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of Material Management 
and Minimization, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC 29802; email: [email protected]; or call (803) 952-7434 to leave a message.

[[Page 77097]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    NNSA prepared the Draft SPDP EIS pursuant to NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 
et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations (40 
CFR parts 1500-1508) and the DOE NEPA implementing procedures (10 CFR 
part 1021). NNSA's previous NEPA reviews and decisions regarding the 
disposition of surplus plutonium are summarized in section 1.1 of the 
SPDP EIS. The following paragraphs describe recent developments 
relevant to the scope of the SPDP EIS.
    In 2015, NNSA completed the Surplus Plutonium Disposition 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SPD Supplemental EIS) 
(DOE/EIS-0283-S2). In the SPD Supplemental EIS, NNSA evaluated the 
environmental impacts of alternatives for dispositioning 13.1 MT of 
surplus plutonium (7.1 MT of pit and 6 MT of non-pit) for which a 
disposition path had not been assigned. The alternatives evaluated in 
the 2015 SPD Supplemental EIS included the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel 
Alternative, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Alternative, and 
two variations of waste immobilization. In addition, NNSA evaluated 
four options for pit disassembly and conversion (pit disassembly and 
conversion is equivalent to pit disassembly and processing [PDP] as 
used in this Notice and the Draft SPDP EIS) using facilities at the 
Savannah River Site (SRS) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In 
2015, NNSA announced its preferred alternative for the 6 MT of non-pit 
surplus plutonium evaluated in the SPD Supplemental EIS was to prepare 
this plutonium for eventual disposal at the WIPP facility in Carlsbad, 
New Mexico (80 FR 80348, December 24, 2015). In a 2016 Record of 
Decision (ROD), NNSA announced a decision to disposition the 6 MT of 
non-pit surplus plutonium by downblending it with an adulterant 
(downblending is a process equivalent to dilution in the dilute and 
dispose strategy in the Draft SPDP EIS), packaging it as contact-
handled transuranic (CH-TRU) waste, and shipping it to the WIPP 
facility for disposal (81 FR 19588). In the 2016 ROD, NNSA did not make 
a decision about the disposition of the 7.1 MT of pit plutonium or 
about the various options for pit disassembly and conversion that were 
analyzed in the 2015 SPD Supplemental EIS.
    In 2016, NNSA, partnering with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
developed an independent cost estimate for the MOX Fuel Fabrication 
Facility (MFFF) project, and concluded that the cost of the project, 
upon completion of construction, would be approximately $17 billion, 
and construction would not be complete until 2048. Congress directed 
NNSA to prepare a lifecycle cost estimate for disposal of surplus 
plutonium using the same approach announced for the 6 MT, now referred 
to as the dilute and dispose strategy. The completed cost estimate 
indicated that the estimate-to-complete lifecycle cost of the dilute 
and dispose strategy would be substantially lower than the cost to 
complete the MOX project. In response, the Secretary of Energy halted 
construction of the MOX fuel project in May 2018 by waiving the 
requirement to use funds for construction and support activities for 
the MFFF per the National Defense Authorization Act. In a letter dated 
May 10, 2018, the Secretary of Energy certified that ``the remaining 
lifecycle cost for the dilute and dispose approach will be less than 
approximately half of the estimated remaining lifecycle cost of the MOX 
fuel program.'' On October 10, 2018, NNSA issued a notice of 
terminating the contract for construction of MFFF. On February 8, 2019, 
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) terminated the 
construction license for MFFF (NRC 2019). NNSA is preparing this SPDP 
EIS to evaluate alternatives for disposition of the 34 MT of surplus 
plutonium previously designated for disposition using the MOX fuel 
program that no longer has a disposition path.
    In 2020 NNSA prepared a Supplement Analysis (SA) based on the 
analysis presented in the 2015 SPD Supplemental EIS. NNSA determined 
that disposition of 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium was not a 
substantial change in the action analyzed in the 2015 SPD Supplemental 
EIS to disposition 7.1 MT of pit plutonium via the WIPP Alternative, 
and that the environmental impacts had been sufficiently analyzed. NNSA 
subsequently issued an Amended ROD (AROD) to include preparation of an 
additional 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium for disposal as CH-TRU 
waste at the WIPP facility (85 FR 53350, August 28, 2020). The SA and 
AROD are available online at https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room.
    The 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium to be sent to the WIPP 
facility as CH-TRU waste is part of the 34 MT of surplus plutonium that 
NNSA had decided to disposition by fabricating it into MOX fuel for use 
in commercial reactors. In the same 2020 AROD, NNSA also decided that 
non-pit metal processing (NPMP) may be performed at either LANL or SRS.

Purpose and Need for Agency Action

    Since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s and the 
Presidential declarations of surplus fissile materials, DOE has been 
charged with the disposition of surplus plutonium.
    NNSA's purpose in taking action is to support safe and secure 
disposition of 34 MT of plutonium that is surplus to the Nation's 
defense needs, in a reasonable time frame and at a reasonable cost, so 
that it is not readily usable in nuclear weapons. To achieve this, NNSA 
must use mature methods and proven technologies that are based on 
processes requiring minimal research and engineering development.

Proposed Action and Alternatives

    Both the Preferred Alternative and the No Action Alternative in the 
Draft SPDP EIS use the dilute and dispose strategy and both address up 
to 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium that NNSA previously decided to 
dispose of using the dilute and dispose strategy (85 FR 53350). The 
dilute and dispose strategy includes processing surplus plutonium to 
plutonium oxide, diluting it with an adulterant to inhibit plutonium 
recovery, and disposing the resulting CH-TRU waste at the WIPP 
facility.

Preferred Alternative

    NNSA's Preferred Alternative is to use the dilute and dispose 
strategy for 34 MT of surplus plutonium comprised of both surplus pit 
and non-pit surplus plutonium. The exact amounts of pit and non-pit 
forms of plutonium that compose the 34 MT are safeguarded, so they 
cannot be delineated further. Therefore, to bound the impacts, the 
analysis in the SPDP EIS evaluates the impacts of dispositioning 34 MT 
of surplus plutonium in pit form and the impacts of dispositioning 7.1 
MT of non-pit surplus plutonium. However, the SPDP mission involves 
only 34 MT of surplus plutonium. The activities that are part of the 
Preferred Alternative would occur at five DOE sites--Pantex in Texas, 
LANL in New Mexico, SRS in South Carolina, the Y-12 National Security 
Complex (Y-12) in Tennessee, and the WIPP facility in New Mexico. NNSA 
has developed four sub-alternatives for the Preferred Alternative based 
on the location of activities.

Base Approach Sub-Alternative

    Under the Base Approach Sub-Alternative, NNSA analyzes the impacts 
of shipping 34 MT of surplus pit plutonium from Pantex to LANL and 
disassembling and processing (i.e., PDP) the 34 MT of surplus pit 
plutonium at LANL with subsequent shipment of the decontaminated and 
oxidized highly

[[Page 77098]]

enriched uranium (HEU) to Y-12. NNSA also analyzes the impacts of 
processing 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium at LANL, using some of 
the same capabilities as PDP. This sub-alternative would rely on 
expanding existing capabilities at LANL in the Plutonium Facility (PF-
4) for PDP and modifying or building additional support facilities. The 
resulting plutonium oxide from the surplus pit and non-pit surplus 
plutonium would be shipped to K-Area at SRS, where it would be diluted, 
characterized, and packaged for shipment to and disposal at the WIPP 
facility.

SRS NPMP Sub-Alternative

    The SRS NPMP Sub-Alternative is similar to the Base Approach Sub-
Alternative. NNSA analyzes the impacts of shipping 34 MT of surplus pit 
plutonium from Pantex to LANL and PDP of the 34 MT of surplus pit 
plutonium at LANL. The decontaminated and oxidized HEU would then be 
shipped to Y-12. This sub-alternative would rely on NNSA expanding 
existing capabilities at LANL in PF-4 for PDP and modifying or building 
additional support facilities. Plutonium oxide resulting from PDP would 
be shipped to SRS (K-Area). Unlike the Base Approach Sub-Alternative, 
under this sub-alternative, NNSA does not analyze NPMP at LANL. 
Instead, processing of 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium would occur 
in the SRS K-Area either in Building 105-K or in a modular system 
adjacent to the building. Under this sub-alternative, NNSA considers 
the impacts of dilution and characterization and packaging (C&P) of the 
diluted plutonium oxide CH-TRU waste in SRS's K-Area for shipment to 
and disposal at the WIPP facility.

All LANL Sub-Alternative

    Under the All LANL Sub-Alternative NNSA would use only capabilities 
at LANL for the entire disposition pathway prior to shipment to the 
WIPP facility. Under this sub-alternative, NNSA analyzes the impacts of 
shipping 34 MT of surplus pit plutonium from Pantex to LANL, PDP at 
LANL, and shipment of the decontaminated and oxidized HEU to Y-12. NNSA 
would rely on expanding existing capabilities at LANL in PF-4 for PDP 
and modifying or building additional support facilities. NNSA also 
analyzes the impacts of processing 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium 
at LANL in PF-4. Under this sub-alternative, NNSA considers the impacts 
of dilution in PF-4 and C&P of the diluted plutonium oxide CH-TRU waste 
for shipment to and disposal at the WIPP facility.

All SRS Sub-Alternative

    Under the All SRS Sub-Alternative NNSA would use only capabilities 
at SRS for the entire disposition pathway prior to shipment to the WIPP 
facility. Under this sub-alternative, NNSA analyzes the impacts of 
shipping 34 MT of surplus pit plutonium from Pantex to SRS and the 
disassembly and processing of the 34 MT of surplus pit plutonium and 
processing 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium in a new capability 
installed at SRS in either K-Area or F-Area. NNSA analyzes the 
subsequent shipment of the decontaminated and oxidized HEU to Y-12 and 
the shipment of by-product material to LANL. Under this sub-
alternative, NNSA considers the impacts of dilution and C&P of the 
diluted plutonium oxide CH-TRU waste in SRS's K-Area for shipment to 
and disposal at the WIPP facility.

No Action Alternative

    The No Action Alternative is the continued management of 34 MT of 
surplus plutonium. This includes (1) continued storage of surplus pits 
at Pantex, (2) continuing the plutonium mission at LANL to process up 
to 400 kg of actinides (including surplus plutonium) per year, and (3) 
disposition of up to 7.1 MT of non-pit surplus plutonium for which the 
decision to use the dilute and dispose strategy was announced in NNSA's 
2020 AROD (85 FR 53350).

Final SPDP EIS

    Following this public comment period on the Draft SPDP EIS, and 
after consideration of comments received, NNSA will prepare a Final 
SPDP EIS. NNSA will announce the availability of the Final SPDP EIS in 
the Federal Register and local media outlets. If warranted, NNSA will 
issue a ROD no sooner than 30 days after publication by the 
Environmental Protection Agency of a Notice of Availability of the 
Final SPDP EIS.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Department of Energy was signed on December 8, 
2022, by Jill Hruby, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and 
Administrator, NNSA, pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary 
of Energy. That document with the original signature and date is 
maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in compliance 
with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the 
undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to 
sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as 
an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative 
process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon 
publication in the Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on December 9, 2022.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2022-27152 Filed 12-15-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P