[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 5, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17346-17349]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8359]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Environmental Management; Proposed Site Treatment Plans
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: Today's notice announces the availability of the Department of
Energy's (DOE) Proposed Site Treatment Plans (Proposed Plans) for
treating its mixed radioactive and hazardous waste (mixed waste). As
required by the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992 (FFCAct or the
Act), DOE prepared Proposed Plans for 40 sites in 20 States where DOE
stores or generates mixed waste. The Proposed Plans identify the
proposed treatment option and related schedule for development of the
option for each type of mixed waste. Each DOE site is submitting its
Proposed Plan to either its State regulators, or as appropriate, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). DOE faces increasingly
tight funding in the near-term, and anticipates that funding will
continue to be constrained in the future. The schedules in the Proposed
Plans reflect those constraints. DOE expects, that for some sites,
further discussion with the State or Federal regulators concerning
priorities will result in modified schedules in the approved Plans. The
Proposed Plans are available at each site for review by the public.
Public comments on the Proposed Plans will be considered by the
appropriate regulatory agency in reviewing the plan. Additional
opportunities for public involvement in the FFCAct process will be
offered at many sites by the DOE and State or Federal regulators.
DATES: Written comments on the Proposed Plans should be sent to the
recipients identified in Table 1 by July 6, 1995. Written comments
received on or before July 6, 1995, will be considered by the State/
Federal regulators in reviewing the Proposed Plans.
ADDRESSES: Table 1 lists the recipient to which written comments should
be sent on each of the Proposed Plans. Section V of Supplementary
Information lists the Reading Rooms where the Proposed Plans may be
reviewed.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain general information on a
site's Proposed Plan or for the address of a Reading Room where
Proposed Plans may be viewed, contact the Center for Environmental
Management Information at 1-800-7EM-DATA (1-800-736-3282).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Section 3021(b) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA), as amended by the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992
(FFCAct or the Act), requires the DOE to prepare Site Treatment Plans
for developing treatment capacities and technologies for mixed waste at
each site where the DOE stores or generates mixed waste. Mixed waste is
defined by the FFCAct as waste containing both hazardous
[[Page 17347]] waste subject to RCRA, and source, special nuclear, or
by-product material subject to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. DOE must
submit the Site Treatment Plans to the State or U.S. EPA, as
appropriate, for approval, disapproval, or approval with modification.
The FFCAct allows for a six month period during which the
regulatory agency reviews the Proposed Plan, makes it available to the
public, and approves, disapproves, or modifies the Proposed Plan. Upon
approval, the regulatory agency is to issue an Order requiring
compliance with the Proposed Plan. Sites that are in compliance with
approved Plans and Orders by October 6, 1995, are not subject to fines
and penalties related to the storage prohibition of section 3004(j) of
RCRA as long as they continue to comply with their Plan and Order.
After consultation with State and Federal regulators, the DOE
published a Federal Register Notice on April 6, 1993 (58 FR 17875),
which announced the DOE's plan to submit the Site Treatment Plans in
three stages. In the first stage, Conceptual Site Treatment Plans
describing a wide range of possible treatment alternatives for each
mixed waste at each site were submitted in October 1993. Draft Site
Treatment Plans (Draft Plans) narrowing the list of options to one or
two identified by each site, with input from the State and Federal
regulators, were submitted and announced in the Federal Register on
August 31, 1994, (59 FR 44979). The DOE planned to submit Proposed Site
Treatment Plans containing the DOE's preferred option for treatment of
each mixed waste to the appropriate regulatory agency in February 1995.
However, after consultation with the States and U.S. EPA, DOE announced
in the Federal Register on February 28, 1995 (60 FR 10840) that the
date for submitting the Proposed Plans was revised to no later than
April 6, 1995, to allow additional time for further discussions on
schedules for developing treatment capacity in light of anticipated
funding limitations.
II. Proposed Site Treatment Plans
After submission of the Draft Plans in August 1994, the DOE, with
input from the State and Federal regulators, evaluated the treatment
options listed in the Draft Plans for the mixed waste at each site. The
goal of this evaluation was to gain a better understanding of the
appropriate configuration of treatment systems across the DOE complex,
and to eliminate redundancies and inefficiencies among the Draft Plans.
Discussions with the regulators led to further refinement of the
treatment configuration. The Proposed Plans reflect the results of this
evaluation and present the DOE's proposed option for treating each
site's mixed waste. The Proposed Plans follow a common format,
consisting of a Background Volume and a Compliance Plan Volume. The
Background Volume describes the site's treatment options, including the
associated technical uncertainties and funding constraints, to the
extent they are known. The Compliance Plan Volume identifies the
preferred treatment option(s) and associated schedules, and broadly
describes provisions for implementing and updating the Proposed Plan
once it is approved. The Compliance Plan Volume is intended to contain
requirements that will ultimately be enforced through a Consent or
Compliance Order. In addition to identifying treatment options, DOE is
also evaluating options for disposal of treatment residuals at the
request of the States. The Background Volume of each Proposed Plan
contains a description of the process for evaluating disposal options.
DOE will prepare a National Summary of the Proposed Site Treatment
Plans that compiles the information contained in the individual site
Proposed Plans and discusses the complex-wide treatment configuration.
The National Summary Report will describe the process used to develop
the Proposed Plans, the treatment options for each mixed waste,
technology development activities, and other related topics. The
National Summary Report is expected to be available to the public by
the end of June 1995.
III. Activities Occurring Between Submission of the Draft Plans and
Preparation of the Proposed Plans
In February 1995, between submission of the Draft Plans and
preparation of the Proposed Plans, the DOE, the State and Federal
regulators, and Tribal representatives met to discuss future funding of
DOE's Environmental Management Program, its Site Treatment Plans, and
strategies for working cooperatively to address anticipated funding
limitations.
Because of recent changes in funding projections, the schedules in
the Proposed Plans have not yet been fully integrated with those of
other DOE sites from a complex-wide perspective. Based on discussions
concerning its Fiscal Year 1997 Budget, the DOE anticipates that
funding will continue to be constrained. Accordingly, DOE anticipates
that after submission of the Proposed Plans and before Proposed Plans
and schedules are approved discussions will continue with regulatory
agencies and the public concerning the priority of mixed waste
treatment and other activities.
IV. Sites No Longer Preparing Proposed Site Treatment Plans
DOE has prepared Proposed Plans for 40 sites in 20 States. However,
because two of the Proposed Plans each address more than one site, only
37 Proposed Plans have been submitted for approval. The Idaho National
Engineering Laboratory and the Argonne Laboratory-West are located on a
single federally-owned reservation near Idaho Falls, Idaho, and both
are addressed within the Proposed Plan submitted by the U.S. DOE Idaho
Operations Office. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, K-25 Site, and Y-
12 Plant are all located within the federally-owned Oak Ridge
Reservation near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and are addressed within the
Proposed Plan submitted by the U.S. DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office.
Additionally, eight sites that initially developed Conceptual or Draft
Site Treatment Plans have not submitted Proposed Plans for approval.
These sites are: (1) General Electric, Vallecitos Nuclear Center,
Vallecitos, California; (2) Sandia National Laboratory, Livermore,
California; (3) Pinellas Plant, Largo, Florida; (4) Site A/Plot M Palos
Forest Preserve, Cook County, Illinois; (5) Kansas City Plant, Kansas
City, Missouri; (6) Middlesex Sampling Plant, Middlesex, New Jersey;
(7) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey; and (8)
the Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
These sites are not submitting Proposed Plans for one or more of the
following reasons: (1) The site is not generating or storing mixed
waste at this time; (2) the site no longer has mixed waste because the
waste has been consolidated at another site or has been treated; (3)
the site can already treat the waste it generates on a routine basis in
compliance with RCRA; or (4) it has not yet been determined through the
environmental restoration process whether mixed waste subject to RCRA
land disposal restrictions will be generated.
These eight sites have submitted and will update information on
their mixed waste compliance to the regulatory agencies as needed. In
the future, if any of these sites generate mixed waste that cannot be
treated in compliance with RCRA, the site will propose a Plan for
approval that meets the requirements of the Act. In addition, the
Hanford Site in Richland, Washington, has signed an agreement with the
State of Washington that addresses mixed waste treatment as
[[Page 17348]] specified in the FFCAct. Therefore, the Hanford site is
not required to prepare a Site Treatment Plan; however, the Hanford
Site and its State regulators are actively participating in the FFCAct
discussions.
V. Availability of Proposed Site Treatment Plans and Opportunity for
Comment
The Proposed Site Treatment Plans for all DOE sites subject to the
FFCAct will be available for review at the site's public reading room
or at nearby locations by mid-April 1995. To review or request
information on a specific Proposed Plan, contact the Center for
Environmental Management Information at 1-800-7EM-DATA (1-800-736-
3282). Full sets of the Proposed Plans from the 40 sites will also be
available for review by mid-April 1995 at the following locations:
U.S. Department of Energy Headquarters Reading Room, Room 1E-190,
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, D.C. 20585, 202/586-6025
Center for Environmental Management Information, 470 L'Enfant Plaza
East, SW., Suite 7110, Washington, D.C. 20024, 800/736-3282
Albuquerque Operations Office, National Atomic Museum, P.O. Box
5400, Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM 87185-5400, 505/845-
6670
Hanford Site, U.S. DOE Reading Room, Washington State University,
Tri-Cities, 100 Sprout Road, Room 130, Richland, WA 99352, 509/376-
8583
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, INEL Technical Library, 1776
Science Center Drive, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2300,
208/526-1185
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, DOE Reading Room, 1301 Clay
Street, Oakland, CA 94612, 510/637-1762
Mound Plant, Miamisburg Senior Adult Center Public Reading Room, 305
Central Ave., Miamisburg, OH 45343, 513/866-8999
Nevada Test Site, Nevada Test Site Reading Room, 3084 South Highland
Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89109, 702/295-3521
Oak Ridge Reservation, DOE Public Reading Room, 55 Jefferson Circle,
Oak Ridge, TN 37831, 615/576-1216
Rocky Flats Plant, Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site Reading
Room, Front Range Community College Library, 3645 West 112th Ave.,
Westminster, CO 80030, 303/469-4453
Savannah River Site, Gregg-Graniteville Library, University of South
Carolina-Aiken, 171 University Parkway, Aiken, SC 29801, 803/641-
3465
Opportunities for public involvement in the FFCAct process will be
offered at many sites. To obtain information about these opportunities
contact the Center for Environmental Management Information at 1-800-
7EM-DATA (1-800-736-3282). Persons interested in receiving the National
Summary of the Proposed Site Treatment Plans when available, or other
information on the development of the Site Treatment Plans and related
activities, should contact the Center for Environmental Management
Information. Information about the FFCAct may also be obtained
electronically through the FFCAct Bulletin Board on the Internet at
http://eagle.haz.ornl.gov/ffcabb/ffcamain.html.
Issued in Washington, DC on March 30, 1995.
Stephen Cowan,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management, Environmental
Management.
Table 1.--Sites Preparing Site Treatment Plans and Comment Recipients
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State Facility/location Reviewing agency recipient of comments
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California.......... Energy Technology Engineering Chet Kawashige, California Department of Toxic
Center; Canoga Park. Substances Control, P.O. Box 806, Mail Code HQ-10,
General Atomics; San Diego........ Sacramento, CA 95812-0806.
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory; Livermore.
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory;
Berkeley.
Laboratory for Energy-Related
Health Research; Davis.
Mare Island Naval Shipyard;
Vallejo.
Colorado............ Grand Junction Project Office; Jacqueline Hernandez-Berardini, Director,
Grand Junction. Environmental Integration Group. Colorado Department
Rocky Flats Environmental of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek
Technology Site; Golden. Drive South, OE-EIG-B2, Denver, CO 80222-1530.
Connecticut......... Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory; Fred Scheuritzel, Air Monitoring and Radiation,
Windsor. Department of Environmental Protection, 79 Elm
Street, 6th Floor, Hartford, CT 06106-5127.
Hawaii.............. Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard; Tony Terrell, U.S. EPA (H41), Region 9, 75 Hawthorne
Honolulu. Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.
Idaho............... Argonne National Laboratory-West; Brian Monson, Bureau Chief, DEQ, 1410 North Hilton
Idaho Falls. Street, Boise, ID 83706-1290.
Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory; Idaho Falls.
Illinois............ Argonne National Laboratory-East; Richard Allen, Manager, Office of Environmental
Argonne. Safety, Department of Nuclear Safety, 1034 Outer Park
Drive, 5th floor, Springfield, IL 62704.
Iowa................ Ames Laboratory; Ames............. Ken Herstowki, U.S. EPA (Iowa Section), Region 7, 726
Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66101.
Kentucky............ Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; Caroline P. Haight, Director of Division of Waste
Paducah. Management, 14 Rally Road--OMEGA Bldg., Frankfort, KY
40601.
Maine............... Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; Kittery Joan Serra, U.S. EPA (HRR-CNN3), Region 1, JFK Federal
Building, Boston, MA 02203.
Missouri............ Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Dan Tschirgi, Missouri Department of Natural
Project; St. Charles County. Resources, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-
University of Missouri; Columbia.. 0176.
Nevada.............. Nevada Test Site; Mercury......... Paul Liebendorfer, Bureau Chief, Bureau of Federal
Facilities, Division of Environmental Protection, 123
W. Nye Lane, Carson City, NV 89710.
New Mexico.......... Los Alamos National Laboratory; Jim Seubert, Environmental Specialist 525 Camino, De
Los Alamos. Los Marquez, Santa Fe, NM 87502.
Sandia National Laboratory--New
Mexico; Albuquerque.
[[Page 17349]]
New York............ Brookhaven National Laboratory; Norm Drapeau, Environmental Engineer III, 50 Wolf
Upton. Road, Albany, NY 12233.
Colonie Interim Storage Site;
Colonie.
Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory--
Kesselring; West Milton.
Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory--
Schenectady; Niskayuna.
West Valley Demonstration Project;
West Valley.
Ohio................ Battelle Columbus Laboratories Thomas Crepeau, Manager, Data Management Section,
Decommissioning Project; Columbus. Division of Hazardous Waste Management, Ohio EPA,
Fernald Environmental Management P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049.
Project; Fernald.
Mound Plant; Miamisburg...........
Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion
Plant; Portsmouth.
RMI Titanium Inc.; Ashtabula......
Pennsylvania........ Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory; David Friedman, U.S. EPA, Region 3, 841 Chestnut
West Mifflin. Building, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
South Carolina...... Charleston Naval Shipyard; David Wilson, Jr., Assistant Bureau Chief, 8901 Farrow
Charleston. Road, Columbia, SC 29223.
Savannah River Site; Aiken........
Tennessee........... K-25 Site, Y-12 Plant and Oak Earl Leming, Tennessee Department of Environment and
Ridge National Laboratory; Oak Conservation, DOE Oversight Office, 761 Emory Road,
Ridge Reservation; Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge, TN 37830.
Texas............... Pantex Plant; Amarillo............ Dan Pearson, Executive Director, Natural Resource
Conservation Commission, P.O. Box 13087, Austin,
Texas 78711-3087.
Virginia............ Norfolk Naval Shipyard; Norfolk... David Friedman, U.S. EPA, Region 3, 841 Chestnut
Building, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
Washington.......... Puget Sound Naval Shipyard; Jeff Breckel, Washington-Oregon Interstate Liaison,
Bremerton. Nuclear and Mixed Waste Management Program,
Washington Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, 300
Desmond Drive SE, Lacey, WA 98503.
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[FR Doc. 95-8359 Filed 4-4-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
