National Nuclear Security Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the availability of the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Nuclear Facility Portion of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (Draft CMRR-NF SEIS) (DOE/EIS-0350- S1), and the dates and locations for public hearings to receive comments on the Draft CMRR-NF SEIS. The Draft CMRR-NF SEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for constructing and operating the nuclear facility (NF) portion of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement (CMRR) Project. The CMRR Project was first analyzed in the 2003 Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (the CMRR EIS) (DOE/EIS-0350), and NNSA issued a Record of Decision for the CMRR Project in February 2004 (68 FR 6420) announcing its decision to construct and operate a two building CMRR facility within Technical Area-55 (TA-55) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in order to meet its need to sustain mission-critical specialized nuclear chemistry and metallurgy capabilities at LANL in a safe, secure and environmentally sound manner. Since that time, NNSA has constructed one of the two buildings for the CMRR Project (the Radiological Laboratory/ Utility/Office Building, also called the RLUOB), and has engaged in project planning and design processes for the second building, the CMRR-NF. The planning and design processes for the CMRR-NF have identified the need for various changes to the original design for the structure and additional project elements not envisioned in the 2003 NEPA analyses. These proposed changes, identified subsequent to the ROD, are the subject of the CMRR-NF SEIS analyses. The Draft CMRR-NF SEIS considers a No Action Alternative (the 2004 CMRR-NF), and two action alternatives (the Modified CMRR-NF Alternative, and the Continued Use of CMR Building Alternative). Under the No Action Alternative, NNSA analyzes construction and operation of the CMRR-NF as it was originally envisioned in 2004, although it has been determined that the structural design in this alternative would not meet current nuclear facility design safety requirements. Thus, this alternative no longer meets NNSA's purpose and need. The Modified CMRR-NF Alternative incorporates currently identified construction and operational requirements for the CMRR-NF, and meets NNSA's purpose and need. The Continued Use of CMR Building Alternative analyzes continued use of the CMR Building for as long as it may be safe to do so, together with the RLUOB, although this alternative would not fully meet NNSA's purpose and need. The Modified CMRR Alternative is NNSA's preferred alternative.

The Council on Environmental Quality's implementing regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (40 CFR 1502.9[c][1] and [2]) and DOE's NEPA implementing regulations (10 CFR 1021.314) require the preparation of a supplement to an environmental impact statement (EIS) when there are substantial changes to a proposal or when there are significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns. DOE may also prepare a supplemental EIS at any time to further the purposes of NEPA. Pursuant to these provisions, the NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within the DOE, intends to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) to assess the potential environmental impacts of the construction and operation of the nuclear facility portion of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement Project (CMRR-NF) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, New Mexico. The CMRR Project, including the CMRR-NF, was the subject of NNSA's Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (DOE/EIS-0350; the CMRR EIS) issued in November 2003, and a February 2004 Record of Decision (ROD) (69 FR 6967). Over time, due in large part to detailed site geotechnical investigations, some aspects of the CMRR-NF Project have changed from what was foreseen when the CMRR EIS was prepared. The potential environmental impacts of these proposed changes will be analyzed in the CMRR-NF SEIS.

On October 30, 2009, NNSA published a Notice of Availability and Public Hearings (74 FR 56189) for the Draft Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex (Draft Y-12 SWEIS, DOE/EIS-0387). That notice invited public comment on the Draft Y-12 SWEIS through January 4, 2010, and provided the schedule for 2 public hearings to receive comments on the Draft Y-12 SWEIS. NNSA has extended the public comment period through January 29, 2010.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 and 10 CFR Part 1021, respectively), the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within DOE, announces its intention to prepare a site-wide environmental impact statement (SWEIS) (DOE/EIS-0426) for the continued operation of DOE/NNSA activities at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and certain off-site locations (the Remote Sensing Laboratory at Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, Nevada, the DOE/NNSA campus in North Las Vegas, and the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) including activities at the Tonopah Test Range (TTR)) in the State of Nevada. The purpose of this notice is to invite individuals, organizations, and government agencies and entities to participate in developing the scope of the SWEIS.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is amending the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Environmental Impact Statement (SPD EIS) (DOE/EIS-0283, November 1999). In the SPD EIS ROD (65 FR 1608; January 11, 2000), DOE announced decisions for implementing the U.S. Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program, including affirming its January 1997 decision (62 FR 3014) to pursue a hybrid approach for the safe and secure disposition of up to 50 metric tons of surplus weapons-usable plutonium using both immobilization and mixed oxide (MOX) fuel technologies as evaluated in the Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Storage and Disposition PEIS) (DOE/EIS-0229, November 1996). Decisions announced in the SPD EIS ROD included construction and operation of three new facilities at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina, to disposition approximately 17 tons of surplus plutonium using the immobilization approach and the use of up to 33 metric tons as MOX fuel that would be irradiated in commercial reactors. The three new facilities were identified as a pit disassembly and conversion facility (PDCF), an immobilization facility,\1\ and a MOX fuel fabrication facility (MFFF). These facilities as analyzed in the SPD EIS were to be constructed in F-Area at SRS and included capabilities for management of wastes generated as part of the processing activities in each of the facilities. DOE/NNSA is today announcing its decision to construct and operate a standalone building, the waste solidification building (WSB), for treating and solidifying liquid transuranic waste and certain liquid low-level radioactive wastes from MFFF and PDCF, specifically a high-activity (high-alpha) waste stream from MFFF, a low-activity stripped-uranium waste stream from MFFF, and a low-activity laboratory waste stream from PDCF.\2\ This decision is based on the Supplement Analysis for Construction and Operation of a Waste Solidification Building at the Savannah River Site (WSB SA) (DOE/EIS-0283-SA-2) prepared pursuant to DOE procedures implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (10 CFR 1021.314). The WSB SA demonstrates that construction and operation of a standalone WSB represent neither substantial changes relevant to environmental concerns nor significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns from those evaluated in previous NEPA documents.

NNSA announces the availability of the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (Final SWEIS) (DOE/EIS- 0380). The Final SWEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of continuing to operate Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and addresses public comments received on the Draft SWEIS. NNSA's Preferred Alternative for LANL, as identified in the Draft and Final SWEIS, is the Expanded Operations Alternative. The Final SWEIS also evaluates a No Action Alternative and a Reduced Operations Alternative.

On January 11, 2008, NNSA published a Notice of Availability and Public Hearings for the Draft Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft Complex Transformation SPEIS, DOE/EIS-0236-S4; 73 FR 2023). That notice provided the schedule for 19 public hearings to receive comments on the Draft Complex Transformation SPEIS. Today, NNSA announces an additional public hearing to be held in Espa[ntilde]ola, New Mexico. Date and Location: NNSA will hold the additional public hearing on March 27, 2008 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at: San Gabriel Mision y Convento, Plaza de Espa[ntilde]ola, 1 Calle de las Espa[ntilde]olas, Espa[ntilde]ola, New Mexico (NW corner of the intersection of NM Rt 30 and Paseo de Onate in the City of Espa[ntilde]ola).

On July 7, 2006, NNSA published a Notice of Availability for the Draft Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (LANL Draft SWEIS) (DOE/EIS-0380) (71 FR 38638) and announced a 60-day public comment period ending September 5, 2006. Subsequently, in response to requests for additional time to review and comment on the document, NNSA is extending the public comment period until September 20, 2006.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is extending the scoping period for the Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12), located at the junction of Bear Creek Road and Scarboro Road in Anderson County, Tennessee, near the City of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), is issuing this Record of Decision (ROD) regarding its plan for continued operation of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory located approximately 40 miles east of San Francisco in Alameda and San Joaquin Counties; and for use of plutonium, other fissile materials, fissionable materials and lithium hydride in experiments to be conducted at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In making its decisions NNSA considered the ``Final Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE/EIS-0348) and Supplemental Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0236-S3) (LLNL SW/SPEIS)'' and other information, including programmatic mission needs and cost. NNSA has decided to implement the Proposed Action Alternative as described in the LLNL SW/ SPEIS with the exception of the Energetic Materials Processing Center Replacement and High Explosives Development Center Project. This alternative includes the continued operation of LLNL; an increase in administrative and material-at-risk limits for plutonium and tritium; and the use of plutonium, other fissile materials, fissionable materials, and lithium hydride in experiments conducted at the NIF. NNSA's implementation of the individual components of the Proposed Action Alternative during the next decade is subject to its continuing assessment of its mission needs and of LLNL's role in meeting those needs.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 and 10 CFR Part 1021, respectively), the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), an agency within the DOE, announces its intent to prepare a Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) located at the junction of Bear Creek Road and Scarboro Road in Anderson County, Tennessee, near the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. NNSA has determined that one or more of the proposals to be evaluated would be a major federal action that could significantly affect the quality of the human environment; therefore, in accordance with the DOE regulations implementing NEPA, preparation of a new SWEIS is appropriate. The new SWEIS will evaluate new proposals as well as update the analyses presented in the original SWEIS (DOE/EIS-0309) issued in November 2001 (66 FR 56663, November 9, 2001). In its 2002 Record of Decision (ROD) (67 FR 11296, March 13, 2002), DOE announced its decision to continue operations at Y-12 and to construct and operate two new facilities: (1) The Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (HEUMF) and (2) the Special Materials Complex (SMC). The HEUMF is currently under construction. The SMC was subsequently cancelled due to changing mission requirements and replaced by a smaller facility that pertains to purification only (Supplement Analysis for Purification Facility, Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for the Y-12 National Security Complex, DOE/EIS-0309/SA-1, August 2002), and the installation of two new pieces of equipment to allow reuse of parts rather than construction of a facility to manufacture new parts. The No Action Alternative for the new SWEIS is the continued implementation of the 2002 ROD, as modified by actions analyzed in subsequent NEPA reviews. Three action alternatives are proposed for consideration in the new SWEIS in addition to the No Action Alternative. Each alternative includes the No Action Alternative as a baseline. The three alternatives differ in that one includes a new fully modernized manufacturing facility optimized for safety, security and efficiency; another consists of upgrading the existing facilities to attain the highest level of safety, security and efficiency possible without construction of new facilities; and the third consists of operating the current facilities until they are no longer viable followed by deactivation of those facilities and cessation of the associated operations.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing regulations to codify minimum requirements governing access to information on Department of Energy computers.