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[6450-01-P]
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Revision to the Record of Decision for the Department of Energy's Waste
Management Program: Treatment and Storage of Transuranic Waste
AGENCY: Department of Energy
ACTION: Revision to Record of Decision
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE),
pursuant to 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1021.315, is revising the Record
of Decision (ROD) for the DOE Waste Management Program: Treatment and Storage of
Transuranic (TRU) Waste, issued on January 20, 1998 (63 Federal Register
(FR) 3629) and revised previously on December 29, 2000 (65 FR 82985). The
Department has now decided to transfer approximately 300 cubic meters of
contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) waste from the Mound Plant in Ohio to the
Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina for storage, characterization, and
repackaging prior to sending it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New
Mexico for disposal. The CH-TRU waste will be shipped to SRS in specially
designed railcars under an exemption granted by the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT). The exemption allows for the shipment of 10 railcar loads,
each containing no more than 200 curies of plutonium, and is in effect through
May 2002. Previously in its ROD, based in part on the analysis in the Waste
Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (WM PEIS,
DOE/EIS-0200F, dated May 1997), DOE had decided (with one exception) that each
DOE site would prepare its own TRU waste for disposal and store it onsite until
it is shipped to WIPP. Because DOE is closing the Mound Plant and the site is
being converted into a commercial/industrial park, establishing a new capability
at Mound to repackage its TRU waste to meet the specifications for shipment to
WIPP is not practical or cost-effective.
DOE needs to ship its TRU waste from the Mound Plant to another site for
repackaging into the TRU Package Transporter-II (TRUPACT-II) containers that are
required for shipments to WIPP.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the WM PEIS, the 1998 WM PEIS
ROD for TRU waste, the first revised WM PEIS ROD for TRU waste (issued in 2000),
this revised ROD, and the Supplement Analysis for Transportation of TRU Waste
from the Mound Plant to SRS for Repackaging, Characterization, and Storage
(DOE/EIS-0200-SA02) will be available on DOE's National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) Web at: http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa
under DOE NEPA Analyses. To request copies of any of these documents, please
write or call:
The Center for Environmental Management Information
P.O. Box 23769
Washington, D.C. 20026-3769
Telephone: 1-800-736-3282 (in Washington, D.C. 202-863-5084)
For further information regarding disposal of TRU waste at WIPP, contact:
Ms. Lynne Smith
WIPP Office (EM-23)
Office of Environmental Management
U.S. Department of Energy
19001 Germantown Road
Germantown, Maryland 20874-1290
Telephone: 301-903-3124
For further information on the DOE program for the management of TRU waste at
the Mound Plant or this revision to the ROD, contact:
Mr. Robert S. Rothman
Miamisburg Environmental Management Project
Ohio Field Office
U.S. Department of Energy
1 Mound Road
Miamisburg, Ohio 45342
Telephone: 937-865-3823
For information on DOE's NEPA process, contact:
Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director
Office of NEPA Policy
and Compliance, EH-42
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20585
Telephone: 202-586-4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The WM PEIS, DOE/EIS-0200F, May 1997, evaluated the potential
environmental impacts of treating and storing TRU waste. In the 1998 WM PEIS
ROD for TRU waste, DOE decided that Aeach
of the Department=s sites that
currently has or will generate TRU waste will prepare and store its waste on
site@ prior to shipment to WIPP. (The
only exception to this decision was the Sandia National Laboratory in New
Mexico, which will ship its waste to the Los Alamos National Laboratory for
disposal preparation and storage before disposal in WIPP.) DOE also noted that
"in the future, the Department may decide to ship TRU wastes from sites
where it may be impractical to prepare them for disposal to sites where DOE has
or will have the necessary capability," stating that "transportation
of TRU waste would occur only in situations where the sites at which the waste
is located lack the capability to prepare it for disposal." The WM PEIS ROD
also stated that the sites that could receive TRU waste shipments from other
sites were the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, the SRS, and the Hanford Site, and that such
decisions would be subject to appropriate review under NEPA.
The Miamisburg Environmental Management Project of the DOE Ohio Field Office
is responsible for managing approximately 300 cubic meters of CH-TRU waste
from past and present activities and future plans at the Mound Plant. Most of
this waste (pipes and waste boxes) is too large to ship in the Type B
TRUPACT-II containers that must be used to transport CH-TRU waste to WIPP. The
Mound Plant does not possess the necessary facilities or equipment to reduce the
size of and repackage the TRU waste to meet WIPP's shipping requirements and
therefore would need to establish such a capability at the Mound Plant in order
to place its inventory of TRU waste into TRUPACT-II containers for direct
shipment to WIPP.
II. Decision
DOE has decided to transfer approximately 300 cubic meters of CH-TRU waste
(having a total of approximately 1,000 curies) from the Mound Plant to SRS for
storage, characterization, and repackaging for disposal at WIPP. DOE will ship
this Mound CH-TRU waste to SRS in OHOX railcars (formerly known as ATMX
railcars), in accordance with a DOT exemption from the requirement for shipping
this waste in a Type B container. DOE will make up to ten shipments, each with
one OHOX railcar loaded with no more than 200 curies of TRU waste.
III. Basis for the Decision
DOE is closing the Mound Plant and the site is being converted into a
commercial/industrial park. Given DOE's plan to close the Mound Plant,
establishing a new treatment capability at Mound to repackage its TRU waste, as
would be necessary to meet the specifications for shipment to WIPP, is not
practical or cost-effective. Moreover, the operation and eventual
decontamination and decommissioning of such a waste treatment capability at
Mound would delay closure of the site and generate additional waste that would
require disposal. Thus, DOE needs to ship its TRU waste from the Mound Plant to
another site for repackaging for shipment to WIPP.
At SRS, the TRU waste will be managed with TRU waste from SRS; that is, the
Mound waste will be stored, characterized, and then repackaged for shipment to
WIPP for disposal. SRS is currently managing and will continue to manage large
amounts of TRU waste (approximately 12,000 cubic meters through 2033). SRS TRU
waste is stored on pads in E-area. DOE has decided to construct and operate the
TRU Waste Characterization/Certification Facility at the SRS, in which it will
characterize, repackage (including size-reduce), and certify TRU waste for
shipment for disposal at WIPP (SRS WM EIS, DOE/EIS-0217F, July 1995, and
Supplemental ROD SRS WM, 62 FR 27241, May 1997). Before implementing DOE's plans
to construct and operate such a facility (in about 2012), however, DOE will
determine what, if any, additional NEPA review is needed.
DOE believes that use of the OHOX railcar will be a safe alternative to use
of a Type B container for shipping the Mound TRU waste to SRS because of the
terms of the DOT exemption, the design of the OHOX railcar, and the previous
safe use record of the OHOX railcar. Under the DOT exemption (DOT-E 5948, June
26, 2000 and in effect through May 2002), the curie content per railcar
can be no greater than 200 curies, and there can be no more than ten
shipments. With these limitations, DOE has calculated that the risks and
consequences of shipping Mound TRU waste in OHOX railcars would be no greater
than those estimated in the WM PEIS, even under severe accident conditions.
The design criteria for the OHOX railcar included structural and fire
resistant qualities for preventing or mitigating damage to the contents in the
event of an accident. The car was originally designed and built for use in
transporting nuclear weapons. It can withstand major impacts through its heavy
cast-steel underframe and strong superstructure, including cross-bracing of the
sides. The cars have been enhanced over the years by structural and insulation
modifications and refurbished and certified to meet current railroad and DOT
standards.
IV. Mitigation
DOE believes that all practicable means to avoid and minimize
environmental harm from implementing this revised decision have already been
adopted in the 1998 WM PEIS ROD for TRU waste referenced above. Of particular
note is DOE's commitment for assistance to States, tribal and local governments,
and other public entities concerning human health and environmental and economic
impacts, including transportation planning and emergency response assistance.
V. Prior NEPA Analyses
The WM PEIS evaluated the shipment of approximately 1,390 curies of CH-TRU
waste (in ten shipments) in TRUPACT-II containers from Mound to SRS for storage
and preparation for disposal as part of the analysis of several Regionalized
Alternatives for managing TRU waste. DOE recently prepared a Supplement
Analysis for Transportation of TRU Waste from the Mound Plant to the SRS for
Repackaging, Characterization, and Storage to determine whether the
activities and impacts of transporting Mound TRU waste to SRS in OHOX railcars
would present a substantial change in the proposed action relevant to
environmental concerns or significant new circumstances or information relevant
to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts and,
consequently, whether a supplemental EIS or a new EIS would be needed.
Under the proposed transportation action compared to that analyzed for the WM
PEIS, there would be a reduced total number of curies being shipped from the
Mound Site to SRS, a lower external exposure rate, and the same or lower number
of shipments. Under even severe accident scenarios, the releases of plutonium
would be similar to those previously analyzed. The transportation risk analysis
DOE prepared to support the DOT exemption for the proposed transportation action
is summarized in and attached to the Supplement Analysis. DOE has concluded that
the proposed action would not, either under incident-free or accident
conditions, present a substantial change relevant to environmental concerns or
significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns
and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts. Therefore, DOE concluded that
a supplemental EIS or a new EIS is not required under 40 CFR 1502.9(c) or 10 CFR
1021.314(c) to implement this proposal.
Issued in Washington, D.C., this 13 day of July, 2001.
________________________
Carolyn L. Huntoon
Acting Assistant Secretary for
Environmental Management
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