[Federal Register: May 15, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 94)]
[Notices]
[Page 26296-26297]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15my03-51]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
National Nuclear Security Administration
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Proposed Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building
Replacement Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security
Administration.
ACTION: Notice of availability and public hearings.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of
1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and the DOE Regulations
Implementing NEPA (10 CFR part 1021), the National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE), announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building
Replacement Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New
Mexico (the Draft CMRR EIS), and the dates and locations for the public
hearings to receive comments on the Draft CMRR EIS. The present
Chemistry and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Building at Los Alamos National
Laboratory (LANL) houses mission critical analytical chemistry,
material characterization and actinide (actinides are any of a series
of elements with atomic numbers ranging from actinium-89 through
lawrencium-103) research and development capabilities. The Draft CMRR
EIS considers the potential environmental impacts that could result due
to the consolidation and relocation of these CMR capabilities from the
existing aged CMR Building to a new facility such that these
capabilities would be available on a long-term basis to successfully
accomplish LANL mission support activities or programs. The Draft CMRR
EIS also considers the no-action alternative of maintaining the CMR
capabilities at the CMR Building.
DATES: The NNSA invites members of Congress, American Indian Tribal
Governments, state and local governments, other Federal agencies, and
the general public to provide comments on the Draft CMRR EIS. The
comment period runs through June 30, 2003; the NNSA will consider all
comments received or postmarked by that date. Comments postmarked after
June 30, 2003, will be considered to the extent practicable. As part of
the public comment period for the Draft CMRR EIS, pubic hearings will
be held on June 3rd and 4th, 2003, to provide the public and
stakeholders with an opportunity to present comments on the draft
document, ask questions, and discuss concerns with DOE and NNSA
officials regarding the Draft CMRR EIS. The dates, times, and locations
for these public hearings are as follows:
June 3, 2003, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m., Fuller Lodge, 2132 Central Avenue,
Los Alamos, NM.
June 4, 2003, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m., Cities of Gold Hotel, Highway 84/
285, Pojoaque, NM.
ADDRESSES: A copy of the Draft CMRR EIS or its Summary may be obtained
upon request by writing to: U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear
Security Administration, Los Alamos Site Office, Attn: Ms. Elizabeth
Withers, Office of Facility Operations, 528 35th Street, Los Alamos,
New Mexico, 87544; by facsimile ((505) 667-9998); or by E-mail (CMRR
EIS@doeal.gov). Please mark all envelopes, faxes and e-mail: ``Draft
CMRR EIS Comments''. Copies of the Draft CMRR EIS are also available
for review at: the Los Alamos Outreach Center, 1619 Central Avenue, Los
Alamos, New Mexico, 87544; and the Zimmerman Library, University of New
Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131.
Specific information regarding the public hearings can also be
obtained by the means described above. Comments concerning the Draft
CMRR EIS can be submitted by the means described above or by leaving a
message on the EIS Hotline at (toll free) 1-877-491-4957. The Hotline
will have instructions on how to record comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information on NNSA NEPA
process, please contact: Mr. James Mangeno (NA-3.6), NEPA Compliance
Officer for the National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S.
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC
20585, (202) 586-8395. For general information about the DOE NEPA
process, please contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA
Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-4600, or leave
a message at 1-800-472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Mission critical CMR capabilities at LANL
support NNSA's stockpile stewardship and management strategic
objectives. CMR's analytical chemistry, materials characterization, and
actinide research and development capabilities are necessary to support
the current and future directed stockpile work and campaign activities
conducted at LANL. The CMR Building is over 50 years old and
approaching end of life. Studies conducted in the late 1990s identified
a seismic fault trace located beneath the CMR Building, which greatly
increases the level of structural upgrades needed for the building to
meet current structural seismic code requirements for a Hazard Category
2 nuclear facility. The CMR Building has been upgraded such that
operations can continue, on a restricted basis, in support of national
security missions. The CMR Upgrades project was designed to extend the
life of the CMR Building through approximately 2010. It would be cost
prohibitive to perform the needed repairs, upgrades, and systems
retrofitting for long-term (beyond 2010), unrestricted use of the CMR
Building.
NNSA cannot perform the assigned LANL mission critical CMR
capabilities in the existing CMR Building at an acceptable level of
risk to public and worker health and safety without operational
restrictions. These operational restrictions preclude the full
implementation of the level of operation DOE decided upon through its
Record of Decision for the 1999 LANL Site-wide Environmental Impact
Statement for the Continued Operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory
(DOE/EIS-0238). CMR capabilities are necessary to support the current
and directed stockpile work and campaign activities at LANL. By 2010,
operations will have been conducted in the existing CMR Building for 60
years; this is the estimated operational life span for nuclear
operations at the existing CMR Building. Given that the CMR Building is
near the end of its useful life, action is now required by NNSA to
assess alternatives for continuing these activities for the succeeding
50 years.
The CMRR EIS evaluates the environmental impacts associated with
relocating the CMR capabilities at LANL to new buildings sited at the
following alternative locations: (1) Next to the Plutonium Facility at
Technical Area 55 (TA-55) at LANL (the Proposed Action), and (2) a
``greenfield'' site near TA-55 within TA-6. The NNSA also evaluated
performing minimal necessary structural and systems upgrades and
repairs to portions of the existing CMR Building and continuing the use
of these upgraded portions of the structure for administrative offices
and support function purposes, as well as evaluating the potential
decontamination and
[[Page 26297]]
demolition of the entire existing CMR Building as disposition options
coupled with the alternatives for construction and operation of new
nuclear laboratory facilities at the two previously identified
locations. The EIS considers the performance of minimal necessary
structural and systems upgrades and repairs to the existing CMR
Building as a no-action alternative with continued maintenance of
limited mission critical CMR capabilities at the CMR Building. NNSA
expects to complete the Final CMRR EIS by November 2003. A Record of
Decision would be completed no sooner than 30 days after the Final CMRR
EIS is issued.
Signed in Washington, DC this 28th day of April, 2003.
Everet H. Beckner,
Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear Security
Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-12164 Filed 5-14-03; 8:45 am]
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