Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Transformation of Facilities and Infrastructure for the Non-Nuclear Production Activities Conducted at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant at Kansas City, Missouri, 23822-23823 [E7-8207]
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 1, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23822-23823]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-8207]
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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
[PBS-N01]
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the
Transformation of Facilities and Infrastructure for the Non-Nuclear
Production Activities Conducted at the National Nuclear Security
Administration's Kansas City Plant at Kansas City, Missouri
AGENCY: General Services Administration and National Nuclear Security
Administration, Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
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SUMMARY: The General Services Administration (GSA), as the lead agency,
and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), as a
cooperating agency, intend to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA)
to evaluate the potential environmental impacts associated with the
following project: Transformation of Facilities and Infrastructure for
the Non-Nuclear Production Activities Conducted at the NNSA Kansas City
Plant.
The proposed action is for GSA to procure the construction of new
facilities to house NNSA's non-nuclear component procurement and
manufacturing operations. The new facilities would be located
approximately 8 miles south of the existing plant on a currently
undeveloped site at the northwest corner of Missouri Highway 150 and
Botts Road in Kansas City, Missouri. GSA would lease the facilities to
NNSA, which would relocate its non-nuclear operations from the existing
Kansas City Plant in the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City,
Missouri, to the new facilities and conduct future operations in the
new facilities. The relocation would involve moving approximately two-
thirds of the existing capital and process equipment to the new
facilities. Disposition activities of the existing NNSA facilities at
the Kansas City Plant are not part of the current proposed action, and
will be addressed in appropriate future environmental analyses. The
Kansas City Plant is collocated on the Bannister Federal Complex with
GSA and disposition activities will require coordination between both
agencies.
The proposed facilities would cover more than 1 million square feet
and provide over 2,000 surface parking spaces. The current facilities
are approximately 3 million square feet. The proposed facilities would
meet current and future production requirements for NNSA in a modern,
cost effective, and flexible manner through reductions in the current
facility footprint while significantly reducing operational,
maintenance, security, and energy costs.
The EA also will evaluate the potential environmental impacts
associated with alternatives to the proposed action, including:
No Action, i.e., continuing NNSA's non-nuclear operations
in the existing Bannister Federal Complex facilities.
Renovate the existing GSA office and warehouse space at
the Bannister Federal Complex, relocate NNSA's non-nuclear operations
to the renovated facilities, and conduct future operations in the
renovated facilities.
Renovate the existing GSA office space, demolish existing
GSA warehouse space, and construct and operate a new manufacturing
facility on the GSA portion of the Bannister Federal Complex.
Demolish existing GSA office and warehouse space.
Construct and operate new office and manufacturing facilities on GSA's
portion of the Bannister Federal Complex.
Concurrent with the preparation of the Environmental Assessment,
GSA and NNSA will determine the applicability of floodplain management
and wetland protection requirements (10 CFR Part 1022) and will publish
a notice of proposed floodplain and/or wetland action as appropriate.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public Scoping Meetings: The GSA and NNSA
will hold a public scoping meeting for the Environmental Assessment on
the Transformation of Facilities and Infrastructure for the Non-Nuclear
Production Activities Conducted at the National Nuclear Security
Administration's Kansas City Plant. The purpose of this Notice of
Intent is to invite public participation at the scoping meeting and to
request public comments on the scope of the EA, including the potential
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
The public scoping meeting is scheduled as follows:
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Plaza Auditorium
Bannister Federal Complex
1500 East Bannister Road
Kansas City, MO 64131
Enter the Bannister Federal Complex by using Entrance 2, also
marked Lydia Entrance, off Bannister Road. Enter the building through
GSA Lobby 16. Please bring government-issued photo identification for
entry into the building. Oral and written comments will be accepted at
the public scoping meeting. In addition, GSA and NNSA will consider all
written comments postmarked by May 30, 2007. For further information or
to submit written comments please contact:
Carlos Salazar
GSA Regional NEPA Coordinator
1500 East Bannister Road, Room 2191 (6PTA)
Kansas City, MO 64131
(816) 823-2305
carlos.salazar@gsa.gov
Background: NNSA intends to adopt this EA for use as a basis for
decisions regarding the further transformation and downsizing of non-
nuclear production activities performed at its Kansas City Plant. This
EA is being prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (NEPA), and regulations implementing NEPA issued by the Council
on Environmental Quality (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), GSA (ADM 1095.1F),
and to the extent not inconsistent with ADM 1095.1F, DOE (10 CFR Part
1021).
NNSA's non-nuclear operations include the procurement and
manufacture of electrical, electronic, electromechanical, plastic, and
mechanical components for the nuclear weapons program. Hazardous wastes
are generated through general industrial processes and include acidic
and
[[Page 23823]]
alkaline liquids, solvents, oils and coolants. The Kansas City Plant is
a non-nuclear site and does not have special nuclear materials, but
operations do generate small quantities of low-level radioactive waste.
GSA and NNSA believe that the relocation of the non-nuclear
production mission to another location outside of the Kansas City
Metropolitan Area is not a reasonable alternative and do not intend to
analyze it as an alternative in the present EA.
DOE completed a Nuclear Weapons Complex Reconfiguration (Complex-
21) Study in January 1991, which identified significant cost savings
that could be achieved by downsizing the nuclear weapons complex. On
January 27, 1992, the Department issued an NOI (57 FR 3046) to prepare
an environmental assessment (DOE/EA-0792) for the consolidation of non-
nuclear production activities within the nuclear weapons complex. On
September 14, 1993, DOE published a Finding of No Significant Impact
(FONSI) regarding its proposal (58 FR 48043) to terminate non-nuclear
production missions at the Mound Plant in Ohio, the Pinellas Plant in
Florida, and the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado, and consolidate the
electrical and mechanical manufacturing functions at the Kansas City
Plant.
DOE issued an NOI on June 6, 1995 (60 FR 31291), a final Stockpile
Stewardship and Management PEIS on November 19, 1996 (61 FR 58871), and
a ROD on December 26, 1996 (61 FR 68014) announcing its decision to
transform the weapons production complex by further downsizing of the
nuclear weapons complex. This decision included reducing non-nuclear
component fabrication capacity at the Kansas City Plant. In these
documents DOE evaluated alternatives for consolidation of non-nuclear
manufacturing, storage and surveillance functions of the Nuclear
Weapons Complex to the Kansas City Plant and reducing the capacity for
non-nuclear component fabrication.
The proposed action would continue the consolidation and downsizing
of non-nuclear activities at the Kansas City Plant begun in the early
1990s. The alternatives are constructed around the mission need to
maintain the Kansas City Plant while downsizing for cost efficiency.
Keeping these activities in the Kansas City area is consistent with
NNSA's broader proposed transformation of the U.S. nuclear weapons
complex and is based on the previous NEPA analyses and decisions
described above, and on an economic analysis that will be included in
the Environmental Assessment. GSA and NNSA invite and will consider
comments on this issue during the scoping process.
Separately, NNSA is preparing a Supplement to the Stockpile
Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement--Complex 2030 (DOE/EIS-0236-S4) that evaluates alternatives
for the continued transformation of the nuclear weapons complex. As
explained in the NOI for that Supplemental PEIS (71 FR 61731; October
19, 2006), ``NNSA believes that it is appropriate to separate the
analyses of the transformation of non-nuclear production from the
Supplemental PEIS because decisions regarding non-nuclear activities
would neither significantly affect nor be affected by decisions
regarding the transformation of nuclear production activities.''
Dated: April 23, 2007.
Carlos A Salazar,
Regional NEPA Coordinator,Portfolio Management Division (6PTA),GSA
Public Buildings Service, Heartland Region.
[FR Doc. E7-8207 Filed 4-30-07; 8:45 am]
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