94-3096. Availability of a Revised Draft Environmental Assessment of the Urgent-Relief Acceptance of Foreign Research Reactor Spent Fuel

[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 9, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-3096]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: February 9, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

 

Availability of a Revised Draft Environmental Assessment of the 
Urgent-Relief Acceptance of Foreign Research Reactor Spent Fuel

AGENCY: United States Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice.

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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 part 1021, the Department of Energy has prepared a 
revised draft Environmental Assessment (DOE/EA-0912) to evaluate the 
potential environmental impacts of the proposed urgent-relief 
acceptance of foreign research reactor spent fuel containing uranium 
enriched in the United States.

DATES: The revised draft Environmental Assessment is available to the 
general public, and has been distributed to individuals known to be 
interested in the proposal. Written comments received on or before 
March 7, 1994, will be considered in the decisionmaking process and, if 
appropriate, in preparing the final Environmental Assessment. Written 
comments received after March 7, 1994, will be considered to the extent 
practicable. Written comments should be sent to Mr. Charles Head at the 
address listed below.

ADDRESSES AND FURTHER INFORMATION: Persons requesting additional 
information regarding this proposed action or desiring a copy of the 
revised draft Environmental Assessment should contact:

Mr. Charles Head, Office of Spent Fuel Management, Office of 
Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, U.S. Department of 
Energy (Mail Stop EM-37), 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, 
DC 20585, [phone].

    Copies of the revised draft 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.
U.S. Department of Energy, Public Reading Room, Gregg Graniteville 
Library, 171 University Parkway, Aiken, SC 29801.

    For general information regarding the Department of Energy National 
Environmental Policy Act process, please contact:

Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Office of National Environmental Policy Act 
Oversight, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585, [phone] or [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In October 1993, the Department of Energy 
distributed for comment a draft Environmental Assessment which 
evaluated the proposed urgent-relief acceptance of up to 700 elements 
of foreign research reactor spent fuel containing uranium enriched in 
the United States. The Department proposed to transport that spent fuel 
to the United States as part of an effort to minimize the use of highly 
enriched uranium in civil programs worldwide. This reduces the risk of 
theft or diversion of this material for use in developing nuclear 
weapons. The urgency of that proposed action arose from the need to 
ensure that countries currently possessing this spent fuel continue to 
support the nonproliferation initiatives of the United States embodied 
in the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program until 
an Environmental Impact Statement could be completed on the proposed 
policy to accept up to 15,000 spent fuel elements from foreign research 
reactors for up to fifteen years.
    It was apparent from the comments that the Department received in 
response to the October 1993 draft Environmental Assessment that many 
people did not agree that there is a need for the United States to 
accept this spent fuel. Others expressed concerns regarding DOE's plans 
for implementing the proposed action.
    Recently completed visits by teams of experts from the United 
States to foreign research reactors in Europe and Australia, while 
altering some details of the Department's proposal for urgent-relief 
acceptance, have confirmed the near-term need for the acceptance of a 
limited number of foreign research reactor spent fuel elements until 
the Environmental Impact Statement has been completed. A Notice of 
Intent announcing the Department's plans for preparation of this 
Environmental Impact Statement was published in the Federal Register on 
October 21, 1993, and nine public scoping meetings were held during 
November and December 1993.
    A revised draft Environmental Assessment, which includes revisions 
made in response to comments received on the October 1993 draft, has 
now been prepared and is available for public review and comment. The 
proposed action is to accept a limited number of highly enriched 
uranium spent fuel elements which would be shipped by sea to any one of 
seven ports (Newport News, Norfolk, or Portsmouth, Virginia; 
Charleston, South Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina; Savannah, 
Georgia; and Jacksonville, Florida) and then by truck to the 
Department's Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina, for 
interim storage.
    The revised draft Environmental Assessment notes that failure to 
accept any spent fuel would have serious negative impacts on the 
Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program and the 
attendant United States policy to minimize the civil use of highly 
enriched uranium. The Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors 
Program, initiated in 1978 and still ongoing, is aimed at reducing the 
demand for highly enriched uranium by developing high density, low 
enriched uranium fuels which are not directly usable in nuclear 
weapons, to replace the highly enriched uranium fuels used in both 
domestic and foreign research reactors. Although the countries from 
which the Department is considering accepting spent fuel are not 
themselves countries of nuclear proliferation concern, these countries 
export research reactors and fuel to developing countries and have 
participated in the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors 
program. This program has been responsible for gaining worldwide 
acceptance of low enriched uranium fuels for research reactors, thus 
promoting important nonproliferation interests.
    The Department of Energy invites those interested in the proposed 
urgent-relief acceptance of a limited number of spent fuel elements 
from foreign research reactors to review the revised draft 
Environmental Assessment and to provide comments. Comments postmarked 
by March 7, 1994, will receive full consideration in the decisionmaking 
process. Comments postmarked after that date will be considered to the 
extent practicable.

    Issued at Washington, DC, this February 4, 1994.
Tara O'Toole,
Assistant Secretary, Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 94-3096 Filed 2-8-94; 8:45 am]
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