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Scoping Meetings for Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Relocation Environmental Assessment (EA)

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 
[Federal Register: May 31, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 105)]
[Notices]
[Page 38083-38084]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr31my02-57]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
 
Scoping Meetings for Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator 
Relocation Environmental Assessment (EA)

AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 
Department of Energy (DOE, the Department) is announcing its intent to 
prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) to assess the environmental 
impacts related to determining the future location of the Department's 
Heat Source/Radioisotope Power System (HS/RPS) assembly and test 
operations. The HS/RPS operations include those identified as HS/
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (HS/RTG) operations in prior NEPA 
documents. These activities are currently conducted at the Mound site 
near Miamisburg, Ohio. The EA will evaluate continuation of the HS/RPS 
operations in the currently used facilities (the No Action alternative) 
or alternative facilities at the Mound site. Alternative sites to be 
evaluated in the EA include the Pantex Plant (Pantex), near Amarillo, 
Texas, and the Argonne National Laboratory-West located on the Idaho 
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory site, near Idaho 
Falls, Idaho. Any other reasonable site(s) identified during the 
scoping will also be evaluated in the EA. This EA will be prepared in 
accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA 
Implementing Regulations at 40 CFR parts 1500, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1504, 
1505, 1506, 1507, and 1508, and the Department's NEPA Implementing 
Procedures at 10 CFR part 1021.
    The potential relocation of the HS/RTG assembly and test operations 
was previously evaluated in 1998. The Department issued a Notice of 
Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the 
Federal Register on October 2, 1998. While the draft EIS was under 
preparation, the Department determined that no benefit would result 
from relocation of the HS/RPS mission and consolidated operations in an 
optimum configuration at the Mound site. The potential environmental 
impacts of these consolidation activities at the Mound site were 
assessed in the Environmental Assessment for the Consolidation of Heat 
Source/Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (HS/RTG) Assembly and 
Testing Operations at Mound (DOE/EA-1343, April 2000). As explained in 
the supplementary information below, in consideration of the events of 
September 11, 2001, the Department now considers it appropriate to 
review the location of the HS/RPS operations in the context of new 
requirements. The information gathered during preparation of the 
aforementioned EA revealed the absence of any significant impacts due 
to the HS/RPS activities. Therefore, the Department believes that 
initially an EA should be prepared to evaluate future location for the 
HS/RPS operations. Based on the analysis of potential environmental 
impacts in the EA, the Department will issue either a Finding of No 
Significant Impact or a NOI to prepare an EIS. The Department is 
inviting comments from the public and the Federal, State, Tribal, and 
local agencies on the consideration of future locations for these 
operations and scope of the EA. A preferred alternative would be 
identified in the draft EA after analysis of alternatives and 
consideration of the comments received during the scoping period.

DATES: The public scoping period begins with the publication of this 
Notice and will continue for 21 days. Comments received or postmarked 
by that date will be considered in the preparation of the EA. Comments 
postmarked after that date will be considered to the extent 
practicable.

ADDRESSES: The Department will conduct public meetings to solicit 
comments on the consideration of future locations for these operations 
and the scope of the EA as follows:

[[Page 38084]]

June 18, 2002--Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, 7:00pm to 9:00pm, 
Monroe/Arlington Rooms, Days Inn Crystal City, 2000 Jefferson Davis 
Highway, Arlington, VA.

June 20, 2002--Miamisburg, OH, 7:00pm to 9:00pm, Carnegie Center, 
Lower Level Room, 426 East Central Avenue, Miamisburg, OH.

June 24, 2002--Amarillo, TX, 7:00pm to 9:00pm, Oak Room, College 
Union Building, Washington Street Campus, Amarillo College, 24th 
and Jackson Streets, Amarillo, TX.

June 26, 2002-Idaho Falls, ID, 7:00pm to 9:00pm, Grand Teton Room, 
Shilo Inn, 780 Lindsay Boulevard, Idaho Falls, ID.

    These meetings will also be advertised in the local media.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please direct comments on the proposed 
relocation and scope of the EA, requests for copies of the EA, and 
questions concerning the project to: Mr. Timothy A. Frazier, U.S. 
Department of Energy, P.O. Box 66, Miamisburg, OH 45343-0066, 
Telephone: (937) 865-3748, Facsimile (937) 865-4489, Electronic mail: 
Tim.Frazier@hq.doe.gov. For general information on DOE's NEPA process, 
please contact Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Office of NEPA Policy and 
Compliance, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW. 
Washington, DC 20585, telephone (202) 586-4600 or leave message at 1-
(800) 472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    DOE and its predecessor agencies have been developing HS/RPSs and 
supplying them to user agencies for more than 35 years. The 
radioisotope used in these systems is plutonium-238 (Pu-238), a non-
fissile, non-weapons-usable form. A HS/RPS converts thermal energy that 
is generated by the spontaneous radioactive decay of Pu-238 to 
electrical energy. These systems have demonstrated their value as key 
technologies in various harsh, remote, and inaccessible environments, 
such as space, where it is impractical to provide the fuel and 
maintenance that conventional electrical power sources would need. The 
HS/RPS assembly and test operations have been conducted at the 
Department's Mound site for over 15 years. The HS/RPS assembly and test 
operations are contained in one building at the Mound site. The HSs are 
assembled in glove boxes (large enclosures that separate workers from 
equipment used to process hazardous and nuclear materials while 
allowing the workers to be in physical contact with the equipment) 
using parts manufactured or procured by the Mound site and encapsulated 
Pu-238 shipped from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. 
The RPSs are assembled in a large inert atmosphere chamber and then 
tested.
    The Mound site was established in 1946 as the first permanent 
installation associated with the Atomic Energy Commission. Until the 
early 1990s, the Mound site manufactured critical nuclear weapons 
components. The site is currently being environmentally restored under 
a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act 
Section 120 agreement. DOE plans to complete the environmental 
restoration and release the site for public use by February 2006. It is 
anticipated that the future use of the site will involve establishment 
of an industrial park.

Purpose and Need

    It is DOE's responsibility to maintain the availability of HS/RPS 
for other Federal agencies, as needed. The radioisotope Pu-238 used in 
the assembly of HS/RPS is a special nuclear material requiring security 
and safeguards. As long as other programs requiring security and 
safeguards were also conducted the security costs at the site were 
spread among all such programs. However, once the site is cleaned up 
and released for public use, HS/RPS operations would be the only such 
DOE program remaining at the site, and all of the security costs would 
then have to be borne by that program. In 1999, the Department 
consolidated HS/RPS operations in a single building to minimize the 
security and safeguards costs. However, due to additional security 
measures for the special nuclear materials necessitated by the 
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, those costs have increased 
considerably. These security costs could render continuation of the 
program, as currently configured at the Mound site, impractical. Hence 
the Department proposes to evaluate modifications to its HS/RPS 
operations at the Mound site as well as alternative DOE sites which 
already have the added security/safeguards infrastructure in place for 
other ongoing programs and which would also have facilities suitable 
for the transfer of assembly and test operations for HS/RPSs.
    The EA will analyze the potential environmental impacts associated 
with the HS/RPS operations at Mound and each of the alternative sites, 
including any other reasonable site(s) identified during scoping, as 
well as the transportation routes associated with alternative sites. 
The following issues have been tentatively identified for analysis in 
the EA: health and safety, waste management, pollution prevention, 
hazardous materials, radiation materials, water resources, air quality, 
earth resources, land use, infrastructure, transportation, noise, 
ecological resources, cultural resources, socioeconomics, and 
environmental justice. This list is neither intended to be all-
inclusive nor is it a predetermination of potential environmental 
impacts. The list is presented to facilitate comment on the scope of 
the EA.
    The purpose of this Notice is to encourage public involvement in 
the NEPA process and to solicit comments on the proposed scope of the 
EA and the potential environmental impacts of the alternatives. 
Comments will be considered in preparation of the EA, which is expected 
to be issued for public and agency comments in July 2002. The 
Department will finalize the EA and decide whether to issue a Finding 
of No Significant Impact or prepare an EIS.

    Issued in Washington, DC, May 24, 2002.
William D. Magwood, IV,
Director, Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 02-13648 Filed 5-30-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
 

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