[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 17 (Wednesday, January 26, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-1610]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: January 26, 1994]
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Finding of No Significant Impact: Interim Storage of Plutonium
Components at the Pantex Plant, Amarillo, TX
AGENCY: United States Department of Energy.
ACTION: Finding of No Significant Impact for the Interim Storage of
Plutonium Components at the Pantex Plant.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, 42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq., the Council on Environmental Quality regulations
implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, 40 CFR 1500 et
seq., and the United States Department of Energy's implementing
procedures, 10 CFR 1021, the Department of Energy has prepared an
Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-0812, January 1994) to evaluate the
potential environmental impacts of increased interim storage of
plutonium components (pits) at the Pantex Plant located in Carson
County about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas.
The Environmental Assessment analyzed the potential environmental
impacts of interim storage of up to 20,000 pits at the Pantex Plant
until decisions can be implemented on the long-term storage of
plutonium required for national security purposes and on the
disposition of surplus plutonium. In response to comments received from
State and local officials and other stakeholders, the Department has
decided to store no more than 12,000 pits at Pantex until it completes
a site-wide environmental impact statement covering all current and
proposed facilities and activities at Pantex. A Record of Decision for
this environmental impact statement will be issued by November 15,
1996. The Department's interim storage decision will enable
approximately three more years of nuclear weapons dismantlement
activities at Pantex. The Department now envisions that the Pantex
Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement will address all storage
requirements, including alternative locations, for all plutonium,
highly enriched uranium, tritium, and classified weapons components
that result from Pantex dismantlement activities. Scoping meetings for
this Environmental Impact Statement will be held in Amarillo, Texas,
and at other sites that might be affected by the activities at Pantex
by June 30, 1994. In addition, the Reconfiguration Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled to be completed in 1995. It
will analyze all reasonable long-term pit storage alternatives and
discuss the disposition options the Department is considering, and the
Record of Decision will include decisions on pit storage locations. The
Pantex Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement will take into account
any decisions resulting from the Reconfiguration Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement.
The Department of Energy provided a pre-approval review copy of the
Environmental Assessment to the State of Texas in December 1992.
Subsequently, the State provided the pre-approval Environmental
Assessment to interested and affected members of the public. State and
public comments were submitted to the Department for consideration
during February and March, 1993. In response to these comments, the
Department reviewed and revised the Environmental Assessment and added
a Comment Response Document. This revised pre-approval Environmental
Assessment was issued on November 11, 1993, for public review and
comment.
The Department then held a public meeting on December 6, 1993, in
Amarillo, Texas, to discuss the revised Environmental Assessment and
Comment Response Document and to respond to comments from State and
local officials and the public. Subsequent to the public meeting, the
Department accepted written comments on the revised pre-approval
Environmental Assessment until December 20, 1993. The Environmental
Assessment was expanded to include the Department's response to the
comments received on the revised Environmental Assessment.
Based upon the analyses in the Environmental Assessment and after
careful consideration of all comments from State and local officials
and members of the public, the Department of Energy has determined that
storage of no more than 12,000 pits at Pantex does not constitute a
major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human
environment, within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy
Act. Therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required and
the Department issues this Finding of No Significant Impact.
ADDRESSES AND FURTHER INFORMATION: Persons requesting additional
information regarding this action or desiring a copy of the
Environmental Assessment should contact: Mr. Thomas Walton, Public
Affairs Officer, Amarillo Area Office, P.O. Box 30030, Amarillo, Texas
79120, (806) 477-3120.
Copies of the Environmental Assessment are available for public
review at the following Department of Energy reading rooms:
U.S. Department of Energy, Freedom of Information Reading Room,
Forrestal Building, room 1E-190, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-6020.
U.S. Department of Energy, Reading Room, Amarillo College, Lynn
Library/Learning Center, P.O. Box 447, Amarillo, Texas 79178, (806)
371-5400.
U.S. Department of Energy, Reading Room, Carson County Library, P.O.
Box 339, Panhandle, Texas 79068, (806) 537-3742.
For general information regarding the Department of Energy National
Environmental Policy Act process, please contact: Ms. Carol M.
Borgstrom, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of National Environmental
Policy Act Oversight, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20585, (202) 586-4600 or (800) 472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Pantex Plant is located in Carson
County, about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Texas, and central to the
panhandle of Texas. As a component of the national nuclear weapons
research, development, and production complex administered by the
Department of Energy, the primary mission of Pantex is the assembly,
disassembly, and surveillance of nuclear weapons. Within the
disassembly portion of the Department of Energy mission, weapons are
returned to Pantex from the Department of Defense, disassembled and the
plutonium pits stored at Pantex.
Two factors combine to create the need for increased interim
storage of pits. First, decisions to reduce the size of the nuclear
weapons stockpile have accelerated the accumulation of pits. These pits
need to be stored on an interim basis until decisions can be
implemented on the long-term storage of plutonium required for national
security purposes and on the disposition of surplus plutonium.
Second, pits are no longer being shipped from Pantex to the Rocky
Flats Plant, near Golden, Colorado, to be recycled. This function was
temporarily halted at the Rocky Flats Plant in 1989 to make
improvements in the operations and facilities. In January 1992, pit
recycle operations were suspended indefinitely. Subsequently, the
Department has decided to no longer maintain a nuclear component
production capability at the Rocky Flats Plant.
Proposed Action Described in the Environmental Assessment and
Decision: The proposed action as described in the Environmental
Assessment was to provide additional storage beyond the present pit
storage capacity (6,800 pits) for up to 20,000 pits for an interim time
period. In response to comments received from State and local officials
and other stakeholders, the Department has decided to increase the
interim storage of pits at Pantex under this Finding of No Significant
Impact to no more than 12,000 pits. There would not be a need to
construct or demolish any additional facilities; nor would there be any
increased generation or management of wastes, uncontained plutonium
handling, or plutonium processing as a result of this decision. The
Department will implement this decision in the same manner as described
in the proposed action for storage of 20,000 pits with one exception,
the number of magazines that will be utilized. Approximately 31
magazines will be used instead of 49. The operations will remain the
same in that inspections and inventories of pits will be carried out in
the same manner, the method of storage will remain as described in the
proposed action, and the number of pits stored in each magazine will
remain the same.
Two types of magazines exist at Pantex. There are 18 Modified-
Richmond magazines, and 42 Steel Arch Construction magazines.
Currently, Steel Arch Construction magazines are not utilized for pit
storage. Dismantlement activities at Pantex will continue and pit
storage will be expanded to include the Zone 4 Steel Arch Construction
magazines consistent with the Environmental Assessment and the Final
Safety Analysis Report for Zone 4 and all magazines will use the
preferred interim storage configurations in the Environmental
Assessment. The preferred interim storage configurations are either
multiple stacking of containers placed horizontally on pallets or a
single layer of containers placed vertically on the floor with aisles
to facilitate access for inventory and surveillance activities. Because
of its overall advantages, storage eventually will be accomplished
using the multiple stacked configuration. After successful completion
of the Department's Operational Readiness Review for horizontal
stacking, scheduled for mid-February 1994, storage using this
configuration will begin. Until then, storage will be undertaken using
the vertical configuration previously described. The number of pits
that could be held within each of the 18 Modified-Richmond magazines
will increase from 378 pits to a maximum of 440 as accomplished by
using a horizontal palletized multiple stacking configuration. In
addition, each Steel Arch Construction magazine will hold up to 384 or
392 pits, in the vertical single-layer or horizontal palletized
multiple stacking configurations, respectively.
These two configurations represent the limiting cases for the
numbers of pits held in a single Modified-Richmond or Steel Arch
Construction magazine. In the vertical configuration, individual pit
containers may rest on casters rather than on the concrete floor of
magazines. This will facilitate inventory operations and worker safety,
and accommodate operational needs. In addition, some Steel Arch
Construction magazines will be reserved for assembled weapons and
component staging activities that have taken place in the past, and
will continue in these facilities.
Each pit is clamped in a holding fixture and inserted in a storage
container comprised of a carbon or stainless steel drum lined with a
nominal three inches of insulating and cushioning material. The pallets
for the horizontal multiple stacking configuration are designed to
ensure structural integrity and stability. An electric forklift with
shielding for radiation protection will be used for storage, retrieval,
and inventory operations for the horizontal palletized stacking
configuration. The shielded forklift has a passive guidance system
(e.g., rail guides, wire guides, etc.,), which prevents the forklift
from veering from the aisle, and is equipped with a lateral motion,
turret-type fork assembly, which allows palletized pit containers to be
stacked and retrieved.
Alternatives: The Environmental Assessment considers the
alternatives of No Action, Combination of the Proposed Action Storage
at Pantex with Storage at Other Department of Energy Sites (Savannah
River Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Hanford Site),
Supplement No-Action Alternative Storage Capacity with Storage at Other
Department of Energy Sites, and Interim Storage at a Department of
Defense Facility. Based on the analysis in the Environmental
Assessment, none of the alternatives would provide sufficient increased
interim storage capacity for pits while continuing disassembly
operations at the anticipated rate, and none would meet other
programmatic objectives, i.e., to provide an approach that is timely
and cost effective and utilizes to the maximum extent practicable
existing facilities and infrastructures.
Environmental Impacts: Routine Operating Conditions: Under normal
operating conditions, the storage of up to 12,000 pits would result in
only minor releases of air pollutants associated with equipment engines
and a minor increase in particulates (dust) associated with forklift
operations in moving security blocks and pit containers to the
magazines. There would be no impact to water resources, flood plains,
wetlands, cultural resources, or other site features. No new facilities
are required to increase storage capacity. Consequently, there would be
no environmental impact due to the need for construction or significant
modification of facilities.
The primary impact of routine operations is occupational radiation
exposure to workers involved in placement of pits into storage and
periodic inspections and inventories of pits stored on an interim
basis. Increasing the number of pits from 6,000 to 12,000 will increase
the estimated cumulative personnel exposure by approximately 14 percent
(from 67.8 person-rem per year as reflected in Appendix F of the
Environmental Assessment to approximately 80.4 person-rem per year).
For all operations at the Pantex Plant, worker radiation doses are
maintained below the annually established Pantex operating limit of 1
rem per year. This limit is well below the federally mandated limit of
5 rem per year. Limiting the number of pits stored at Pantex on an
interim basis to a maximum of 12,000 pits would reduce the cumulative
Personnel Exposure (person-rem/yr) estimated to occur from the proposed
action in Appendix F of the Environmental Assessment from 92.4 person-
rem per year to 80.4 person-rem per year. The reduction would result
from reducing the total number of magazines inventoried on an annual
basis from 40 magazines per year to 24 magazines per year. The handling
procedures and rate of fill of the magazines described in the
Environmental Assessment remain unchanged. Individual exposures would
be maintained well within Federal and Department guidelines. Emphasis
will be placed on ensuring that doses to workers will be minimized
through implementation of ``As Low As Reasonably Achievable''
practices.
Additionally, the level of penetrating radiation expected to result
from storage of up to 12,000 pits would result in no measurable effect
on exposure to an individual occupying a position for an entire year at
the nearest Pantex site boundary. Such a level would be
indistinguishable from natural background radiation. No adverse health
effects would be expected among the general public as a result of
routine operations from this action.
Abnormal Events/Accidents: The Department of Energy analyzed a
series of potential accidents in the Environmental Assessment. By using
conservative assumptions (i.e., those that tend to overestimate
potential impacts), the Department of Energy attempted to bound all
reasonably foreseeable adverse impacts. The Department of Energy
analyzed impacts from abnormal events having a probability of
occurrence of greater than one in a million (1 x 10-6).
Potential accident-initiating events considered in the Safety
Analysis Report of the Zone 4 magazines were reviewed for potential
impact. Included were earthquakes, external explosions, forklift
accidents, missiles, tornados, and aircraft crashes. The potential for
consequences for an abnormal event/accident range from negligible to
marginal. No consequences to the public or the environment would be
anticipated. The workers in the immediate vicinity of the accident site
could receive a marginal radiation dose. An analysis performed of the
likelihood of an aircraft crash into a Modified-Richmond or Steel Arch
Construction magazine in Zone 4 indicated an annual probability of less
than 1 x 10-6 per year.
Because the Ogallala Aquifer is the primary water source for most
of the Texas Panhandle, and in response to the expressed interest of
State and local officials and the public regarding possible
contamination of the aquifer, the Department of Energy performed
additional analyses on potential impacts to the aquifer. The analyses
describe the potential for aquifer contamination should plutonium be
released to the environment within an 80-km radius of the Pantex Plant.
No accident or routine operating condition with a probability greater
than 1 x 10-6 was identified that could result in a plutonium
release having an impact on the Ogallala Aquifer. In the unlikely event
of an accident that resulted in a release of plutonium, it is expected
that the majority of the radioactivity (90 percent) deposited on the
soil surface would remain in that top layer of soil. Because plutonium
is relatively immobile in soils similar to those found at and near the
Pantex site, no effects to the Ogallala Aquifer would be expected.
Determination: Based upon the analyses in the Environmental
Assessment, and after careful consideration of comments received, the
Department of Energy has determined that the storage of no more than
12,000 pits at Pantex does not constitute a major Federal action
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.
Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement is not required and the
Department issues this Finding of No Significant Impact.
Any new Finding of No Significant Impact, if that should prove
necessary, that relies on the Environmental Assessment for Interim
Storage of Plutonium Components at the Pantex Plant will be issued only
after consultation with State and affected stakeholders regarding DOE's
views of the need for a revised Finding of No Significant Impact and
after a public meeting in Amarillo to consider the proposed Finding of
No Significant Impact. If a new Finding of No Significant Impact is
issued, it will respond to comments received during the consultation
and public meeting process.
Issued at Washington, DC, this January 19, 1994.
Tara O'Toole,
Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 94-1610 Filed 1-25-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
