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(DOE/EIS-0200-SA02)
1.0 Purpose and Need for Action
As a result of its past and present activities and future plans, the
Department of Energy’s (DOE) Mound Plant in Miamisburg, Ohio, currently has in
inventory or expects to generate about 300 cubic meters of contact-handled (CH)
transuranic (TRU) waste. Under the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Land
Withdrawal Act (Public Law No. 102-579), transport of TRU waste for disposal in
WIPP, near Carlsbad, New Mexico, must be in the Type B containers certified by
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, e.g., the Transuranic Package
Transporter-II (TRUPACT-II).
Most of the Mound Plant TRU waste (such as pipes and waste boxes), however,
is too large to ship in TRUPACT-II containers, and the Mound Plant does not
possess the necessary facilities or equipment to reduce the size of its TRU
waste. Because DOE is closing the Mound Plant and the site is being converted
into a commercial/industrial park, siting, construction, and operation of a new
capability at the Mound Plant to repackage its TRU waste for shipment is not
practical or cost-effective. DOE needs to ship its TRU waste from the Mound
Plant to another site for repackaging into TRUPACT-II containers.
2.0 Proposed Action
DOE proposes to ship the TRU waste from the Mound Plant to the Savannah River
Site (SRS) by OHOX railcars (formerly referred to as ATMX railcars). DOE is
proposing SRS as a repackaging site for Mound TRU waste because SRS is currently
managing and will continue to manage large amounts of TRU waste (about 12,000
cubic meters through 2033) in facilities designed for TRU waste containing
plutonium-238, such as the Mound TRU waste. At SRS, the TRU waste would be
stored, characterized, and then repackaged for shipment to WIPP for disposal.
3.0 Existing National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Analysis
The January 23, 1998, Record of Decision (ROD) (63 Fed. Reg. 3629) for DOE’s
Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (WM PEIS)
(DOE/EIS-0200-F, May 1997) records DOE’s decision to prepare TRU waste for
disposal at WIPP at the sites at which TRU waste was generated and stored. The
WM PEIS, however, identified and analyzed SRS as one DOE site among others that
could receive shipments from other sites where it may be impractical to prepare
the TRU waste for disposal. The WM PEIS analyzed shipments of TRU waste from the
Mound Plant to SRS using TRUPACT-II containers on regular railcars.
4.0 Supplement Analysis – Is a Supplemental EIS Needed?
Under the proposed action, DOE would ship TRU waste, estimated to contain
about 1,000 curies (about 300 cubic meters volume), from the Mound Plant to SRS.
DOE would make up to ten shipments, each with one OHOX railcar loaded with TRU
waste pre-packaged in steel inner containers (Type A containers). The U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT) issued an exemption to DOE to allow the
transport of the Mound TRU waste in OHOX railcars, rather than in Type B
packaging (DOT-E 5948, June 26, 2000). Under the conditions of the exemption and
based on information submitted in support of the exemption application, the
curie content would be limited to 200 curies or less for each railcar load. See Transportation
Risk Assessment for TRU Waste Shipments from Mound, ANL, October 1999
(attached).
The WM PEIS analysis of transportation impacts considered the shipment of CH-TRU
waste from the Mound Plant to SRS in ten shipments of six TRUPACT-II containers
on a railcar, for a total of 1,392 curies. See Supplemental Information
Related to Risk Assessment of the Off-Site Transportation of Transuranic Waste
for the U.S. Department of Energy Waste Management Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)/EAD/TM-27 (December
1996) (Technical Report prepared for the WM PEIS). DOE has estimated that there
would be a lower external exposure rate for the Mound TRU waste and that the
risk of shipping Mound TRU waste in OHOX railcars would be no greater than that
estimated in the WM PEIS under incident-free conditions.
Further, under severe accident scenario conditions (assumed to involve the
breach of all six TRUPACT-II containers on a railcar – a highly unlikely
event), the analysis in the WM PEIS assumed the highest possible curie loading
on a railcar (approximately 2,078 curies), based on the most radioactive TRU
waste in DOE’s complex-wide inventory (assumed to be at Los Alamos National
Laboratory). This analysis assumed that 0.02 percent of the TRU waste in each
TRUPACT-II container (or approximately 0.4 curies) would be released and
respirable if a severe accident were to occur.
In an analysis of a severe accident involving the OHOX railcar (a fire
scenario, which is expected to have the greatest release to the atmosphere) for
the DOT exemption (cited above), DOE assumed that 0.05 percent of the Mound TRU
waste would be released and respirable (see DOE Handbook, Airborne Release
Fractions/Rates and Respirable Fractions for Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities,
DOE-Handbook-3010-94, December 1994). Because the curie content of each OHOX
railcar would be limited to 200 curies or less, DOE estimated that 0.1 curies or
less would be released and respirable if a severe accident were to occur. Thus,
with the 200-curie limit under the DOT exemption, the 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.
5.0 Determination
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 Plant 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. DOE concludes that the proposed
action would not, 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, a supplement to the WM PEIS is
not needed before revising the ROD for TRU waste shipments from the Mound Plant
to SRS in OHOX railcars.
Approved in Washington, D.C., on this 13th day of
July, 2001.
________________________
Carolyn L. Huntoon
Acting Assistant Secretary for
Environmental Management
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