[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 47 (Friday, March 8, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9441-9443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-5561]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and Idaho National
Engineering Laboratory Environmental Restoration and Waste Management
Programs
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Amendment to Record of Decision.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued an amendment to the
May 30, 1995 Record of Decision on the Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel
Management and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Environmental
Restoration and Waste Management Programs Final Environmental Impact
Statement (60 FR 28680, June 1, 1995). The May 30, 1995 Record of
Decision includes a decision to regionalize the management of DOE owned
spent nuclear fuel, by fuel type, and also includes decisions
concerning environmental restoration and waste management programs at
the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. This amended Record of
Decision reflects the October 16, 1995 Settlement Agreement among DOE,
the State of Idaho and the Department of the Navy pertaining to spent
nuclear fuel shipments into and out of the State of Idaho. The
Settlement Agreement was entered as a Consent Order by the U.S.
District Court for the District of Idaho on October 17, 1995, which
resolved litigation between the State of Idaho and DOE. See, Public
Service Co. of Colorado v. Batt, No. CV 91-0035-S-EJL (D. Idaho) and
United States v. Batt, No. CV-91-0065-S-EJL (D. Idaho). This amended
Record of Decision does not modify or rescind any of the provisions of
the May 30, 1995 Record of Decision, except as discussed below.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Department of Energy Programmatic Spent
Nuclear Fuel Management and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Programs Final
Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0203-F), and the May 30, 1995
Record of Decision are available in the public reading rooms and
libraries identified in the Federal Register Notice that announced the
availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (60 FR 20979,
April 28, 1995).
For further information on DOE's spent nuclear fuel management
program and environmental restoration and waste management programs at
the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory or to receive a copy of the
Final Environmental Impact Statement, or Settlement Agreement with the
State of Idaho, please contact: U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho
Operations Office, Bradley P. Bugger, Office of Communications, 850
Energy Drive, MS 1214, Idaho Falls, ID 83403-3189, 208-526-0833.
For general information on the Department's National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) process, please contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom,
Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance, EH-42, U.S. Department
of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20585, 202-586-
4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Department of Energy Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management
This amended Record of Decision reduces the number of shipments of
spent nuclear fuel into the State of Idaho. As a result, there are
differences in the number of spent nuclear fuel shipments and
inventories from those listed in Tables 3.1 and 3.2 of the May 30, 1995
Record of Decision. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 of this amendment hereby revise
Tables 3.1 and 3.2, respectively, of the May 30, 1995 Record of
Decision to show those differences. Table 1.1 shows the origin and
interim management destination of specific fuels and the potential
number of shipments. One shipment, whether by truck or rail, consists
of a single shipping container of spent nuclear fuel. Table 1.2 shows
the existing and resulting inventory at DOE's main spent nuclear fuel
management locations. The differences include the Fort St. Vrain fuel
and 512 shipments of the Hanford Site fuel. The change regarding Fort
St. Vrain spent nuclear fuel shipments implements an explicit provision
of the October 17, 1995 Consent Order settling the litigation among the
State of Idaho, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the
Navy. The change regarding spent nuclear fuel at the Hanford site
reflects the Consent Order's general limitation of spent nuclear fuel
shipments to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Both the Fort
St. Vrain and Hanford spent fuels may be safely maintained at their
present locations. (See Volume 1, Appendix A, Section 5.1; Volume 1,
Section 3.1.1.7; and Volume 1, Appendix E, Section 4.1.3.2.) There are
also refinements in the number of spent nuclear fuel shipments to the
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory from Argonne National Laboratory-
East, Sandia National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Reservation, Babcock &
Wilcox, and Foreign Research Reactors. This Amendment to the Record of
Decision is consistent with DOE's mission of managing its spent nuclear
fuel safely and efficiently. The environmental impacts associated with
the decisions contained in this Amendment were analyzed in the DOE
Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and Idaho National
Engineering Laboratory Environmental Restoration and Waste Management
Programs Final Environmental Impact Statement.
[[Page 9442]]
Table 1.1--State-by-State Planned Shipment Destinations and Number of
Shipments.\1\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Destination \2\
-------------------------
Idaho
Generator or current storage National Savannah
Engineering River Site
Laboratory
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aerotest (California)......................... 3 ...........
General Atomics (California).................. 8 ...........
General Electric (California)................. ........... 4
McClellan Air Force Base (California)......... 3 ...........
U.S. Geological Survey (Colorado)............. 6 ...........
Fort St Vrain (Colorado) \3\.................. 0 ...........
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (Idaho). ........... 114
Argonne National Laboratory--East (Illinois).. 6 ...........
Armed Forces Research Institute (Maryland).... 3 ...........
National Institute of Science and Technology
(Maryland)................................... ........... 185
DOW Corp. (Michigan).......................... 3 ...........
Veterans Medical Center (Nebraska)............ 2 ...........
Los Alamos National Laboratory (New Mexico)... ........... 17
Sandia National Laboratory (New Mexico) \4\... 11 15
Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York)..... ........... 71
West Valley Demonstration Project (New York).. \5\ 83
Savannah River Site (South Carolina).......... 121 ...........
Oak Ridge Reservation (Tennessee) \4\......... 14 68
Babcock & Wilcox, Lynchburg (Virginia)........ 5 ...........
Hanford Site (Washington)..................... \6\ 12 ...........
Foreign Research Reactors (various) \4\,\7\... 162 838
Navy.......................................... 575 ...........
Universities (various) \4\.................... 116 403
-------------------------
Total................................... 1,133 1,715
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The number of shipments analyzed in the Final Environmental Impact
Statement, including either truck or rail shipments.
\2\ The Hanford Site would not receive any additional fuel.
\3\ No shipments for storage, but shipments may be needed for treatment
for disposal.
\4\ The specific distribution would be based upon the fuel type (i.e.,
cladding material).
\5\ For West Valley Demonstration Project spent fuel, 7 rail shipments
would be equal to 83 truck shipments.
\6\ This represents the sodium-bonded Fast Flux Test Facility fuel.
\7\ A policy decision on acceptance of foreign research reactor spent
nuclear fuel will be made after completion of a separate environmental
impact statement.
Table 1.2--Approximate spent nuclear fuel inventory in metric tons of
heavy metal.\1\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Existing
Existing spent fuel redistributed and
inventory (as of newly generated
Sites 1995) (percent of inventory (by year
total) 2035) (percent of
total)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hanford Site................... 2133 (80.6%) 2132 \3\(77.8%)
(non-sodium-
bonded Fast Flux
Test Facility
fuel,
miscellaneous and
production
reactor spent
nuclear fuel).
Idaho National Engineering 261 (9.9%) 381 (13.9%) (non-
Laboratory. aluminum-clad
spent nuclear
fuel).
Savannah River Site............ 206 (7.8%) 213 (7.8%)
(aluminum-clad
spent nuclear
fuel)
Other (Oak Ridge, other 46 (1.7%) 16 \4\ (.5%)
Department of Energy
facilities, universities,
special case commercial) \3\.
----------------------------------------
Total.................... 2646 (100%) 2742 (100%).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ A ``metric ton of heavy metal'' is a common unit of measure for
spent nuclear fuel, which is 1000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of heavy
metal (uranium, plutonium, thorium) contained in the spent fuel.
\2\ Inventory shown assumes no final disposition (repository disposal or
processing).
\3\ The Hanford and Oak Ridge sites would ship some or all of their
existing inventory to the Savannah River Site and Idaho National
Engineering Laboratory, depending on fuel type.
\4\ DOE spent fuel stored at the Fort St. Vrain reactor in Colorado.
Decision and Approval.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) and the
Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.)
establish the Department's responsibility for the management of its
spent nuclear fuel. The decision process reflected in this document
complies with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (42
U.S.C 4321 et seq.) and its implementing
[[Page 9443]]
regulations at 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 and 10 CFR Part 1021. These
decisions affect activities under the authority of the U.S. Department
of the Navy, and the Navy was a cooperating agency in the preparation
of the Environmental Impact Statement. Pursuant to 10 CFR
Sec. 1021.315, the Department of Energy may revise the Record of
Decision at any time, so long as the revised decision is adequately
supported by an existing environmental impact statement. Implementation
of the Record of Decision as amended is subject to compliance with all
applicable federal statutes, regulations and orders, including the
Anti-Deficiency Act.
Issued in Washington, DC, this 28th day of February 1996.
Hazel R. O'Leary,
Secretary of Energy.
[FR Doc. 96-5561 Filed 3-7-96; 8:45 am]
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