[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 251 (Friday, December 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82985-82988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-33308]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Revision to the Record of Decision for the Department of Energy's
Waste Management Program: Treatment and Storage of Transuranic Waste
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Revision to record of decision.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE), pursuant to 10 CFR 1021.315,
is revising the Record of Decision for the Department of Energy's Waste
Management Program: Treatment and Storage of Transuranic Waste (63 FR
[[Page 82986]]
3629) issued on January 23, 1998. The Department has now decided to
establish the capability at WIPP to prepare for disposal up to 1,250
cubic meters of contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) waste out of about
7,000 cubic meters expected to be received annually for disposal at
WIPP. In addition, DOE has decided to increase the time that CH-TRU
waste may be stored above ground at WIPP to one year and to increase
the total above-ground storage capacity at WIPP by 25 percent, for a
total of 152 cubic meters. Implementation of these decisions is
contingent on regulatory approval from the New Mexico Environment
Department (NMED). Previously in its Record of Decision (ROD), based on
the analysis in the Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement, DOE/EIS-0200-F, May 1997 (WM PEIS), DOE had decided (with
one exception) that each DOE site would prepare its own TRU waste for
disposal and store it on-site until it could be shipped to WIPP for
disposal.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Copies of the Final Waste Management
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, the first ROD, this
revised ROD, and the Supplement Analysis for the Proposed
Characterization for Disposal of Contact-Handled Transuranic Waste at
the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE/EIS-0200-SA01) are available on
DOE's NEPA Web Site at: http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa/ under DOE NEPA
Analyses. To request copies of any of these documents, please write or
call: The Center for Environmental Management Information, P.O. Box
23769, Washington, DC 20026-3769, Telephone: 1-800-736-3282 (in
Washington, DC: 202-863-5084).
For further information on the disposal of TRU waste at WIPP,
contact: Ms. Lynne Wade, Director, U.S. Department of Energy, WIPP
Office EM-23, Office of Environmental Management, 19901 Germantown
Road, Germantown, MD 20874, Telephone: (301) 903-3124.
For general information on the DOE's National Environmental Policy
Act process, please write or call: Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Director,
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of Environment, Safety and Health, 1000 Independence
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0119, Telephone: (202) 586-4600, or
leave a message at (800) 472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In the WM PEIS ROD, DOE decided to prepare and store TRU waste
designated for disposal at WIPP at the DOE sites where the waste is
currently located or will be generated (i.e., ``the generator sites'')
until it could be transferred to WIPP for disposal. The only exception
to this decision was the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico,
which will ship its waste to the Los Alamos National Laboratory for
disposal preparation and storage before disposal in WIPP. Under the
original ROD, preparation for disposal included activities to
characterize TRU waste for transportation as well as activities to
characterize TRU waste for disposal.
The phrase ``characterize waste for transportation'' means all
activities that are necessary to prepare TRU waste to meet the
transportation requirements for shipment to WIPP. It includes
collecting, organizing, supplementing, and evaluating information about
the process that generated the waste, the materials used in the
process, the radioactive and hazardous constituents in the waste, and
any sampling and analysis of the waste. Characterization for
transportation also may require that the physical or chemical form of
the waste be altered in order to make it suitable for transportation.
This could include treatment activities that alter the form of the
waste, such as solidifying liquids and neutralizing reactive wastes.
Other activities that could be used to make the waste more suitable for
transportation include the removal of items prohibited from being
shipped in containers licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or
repackaging of waste to meet thermal power limitations. Characterizing
waste for transportation to WIPP would continue to be done at the
generator sites under a quality assurance program approved by DOE's
Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO).
The phrase ``characterize waste for disposal'' refers to the
characterization required by WIPP's Hazardous Waste Facility Permit and
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Compliance Certification.
Under the permit, disposal characterization includes radioassay,
radiography, headspace gas sampling of waste containers, and for a
statistically selected number of containers, visual examination to
confirm the results of radiography. Collectively, the activities
involved in characterizing waste for transportation and characterizing
waste for disposal comprise all of the activities necessary to prepare
TRU waste to meet the Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC), as defined in
the WM PEIS ROD for TRU waste. Characterizing waste for disposal would
continue to be performed as part of a program approved by DOE's CBFO,
the NMED, and EPA.
Decision
DOE is revising its earlier ROD in order to create a centralized
capability at WIPP to characterize for disposal up to 1,250 cubic
meters of CH-TRU out of about 7,000 cubic meters expected to be
received annually at WIPP for disposal. In addition, the time that CH-
TRU waste may be stored above ground will be increased from 60 days to
one year and the total above-ground storage capacity will be increased
by 25 percent, for a maximum storage capacity of 152 cubic meters. The
storage capacity in the Waste Handling Building could increase from 77
cubic meters to 107 cubic meters. This would allow DOE to accumulate
the necessary amount of waste to demonstrate the disposal
characterization program in order to obtain approval of the program
from the EPA and NMED. This increase also would allow DOE, if needed,
to store wastes during any delay in disposal operations, or in the
unlikely event a prohibited item were received, to store it until it
can be shipped offsite or otherwise disposed of.
Once TRU waste that has been characterized for transportation
arrives at WIPP, the CBFO will perform the remaining activities needed
to ensure the CH-TRU waste meets all regulatory requirements for
disposal (disposal characterization). These activities may include the
radioassay of waste containers to determine their radionuclide content;
radiography to confirm the form of the waste and to verify the absence
of prohibited items; and headspace gas sampling and analysis to
quantify the concentrations of volatile organic compounds and to
confirm the knowledge used to characterize the waste stream. The
activities also will include visual examination or computed tomography
of the contents of a selected number of waste containers to confirm the
results of radiography.
DOE considers it highly unlikely that waste forms or items
prohibited from disposal at WIPP would be shipped to WIPP because the
generator sites' quality assurance programs for characterizing waste
for transportation are designed to ensure that prohibited items are not
shipped to WIPP. DOE's Office of General Counsel is working with CBFO
to revise the standard Memorandum of Agreement between CBFO and
generator sites in order to clarify the obligations of the generator
[[Page 82987]]
sites regarding the management of prohibited items. If a prohibited
item were found in waste shipped to WIPP for disposal characterization,
it would be removed from the waste container (removal would be done
inside of a glovebox), and DOE would then: (1) Return it to the
generator site; (2) transport it to an approved waste management
facility; or (3) treat the prohibited item in order to render it
acceptable for disposal.
DOE's ability to implement its decision to perform disposal
characterization on some CH-TRU waste at WIPP is contingent upon NMED
approving a modification of WIPP's Hazardous Waste Facility Permit. The
modification DOE plans to propose will specify the activities that DOE
would perform at WIPP to characterize waste for disposal. NMED may
approve, deny, or modify DOE's proposal. Accordingly, DOE cannot
specify at this time the exact set of waste characterization activities
it may be required to perform at WIPP; however, any characterization
activities that NMED may require would necessarily fall within the
broad array of activities and impacts that DOE already has analyzed
under its prior NEPA reviews.
The equipment that CBFO will use to characterize waste for disposal
will be located inside existing buildings at WIPP. Non-intrusive
disposal characterization activities, such as radiography and
radioassay, will be located inside the TRUPACT Maintenance Facility
adjacent to the Waste Handling Building. The offices currently located
in that building will be removed. Equipment used for intrusive
characterization activities, such as the apparatus to sample headspace
gas and gloveboxes, will be located in the Waste Handling Building at
WIPP. Mobile glovebox facilities could be used until permanent
gloveboxes can be procured and installed inside separate containment
structures erected inside the Waste Handling Building. Emissions from
the separate containment structures that will house the equipment used
for intrusive sampling will be filtered through High Efficiency
Particulate Air (HEPA) filters at least once and then fed into the
Waste Handling Building's exhaust system, where they will be HEPA
filtered again before being released to the atmosphere.
The disposal characterization capability at WIPP would have the
ability to characterize approximately 4,000 to 6,000 drum volume
equivalents (830 to 1,250 cubic meters) of waste annually. This would
equate to about two or three shipments to WIPP per week that would be
characterized there for disposal. Overall, DOE expects to begin
receiving up to 17 shipments per week within the next two years. Most
of this waste will have been fully characterized by the sites where it
came from and would be ready for disposal. It is anticipated that an
annual throughput of up to 1,250 cubic meters would not be maintained
through the 35-year period of WIPP operation. This level of disposal
characterization capacity would be used in the earlier years to assist
sites in meeting compliance deadlines and closure schedules.
The primary purpose of centralized characterization at WIPP is to
expedite the removal of waste from, and minimize expenditures at, sites
with smaller inventories of CH-TRU waste, where setting up separate
characterization programs would not be practical or cost effective. The
characterization capability at WIPP also may be used to characterize
for disposal some CH-TRU waste from sites with larger inventories,
thereby accelerating removal of wastes from the Rocky Flats
Environmental Technology Site in Colorado, the Idaho National
Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, the Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico, the Hanford Site in Washington, and the
Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This approach would assist these
sites in meeting compliance agreements, closure schedules, or other
waste management needs. Disposal characterization at WIPP, however,
would not eliminate the need for these sites to characterize most of
their own wastes.
The WIPP Hazardous Waste Facility Permit requires that certain
types of homogeneous wastes (e.g., solidified sludges and soils) must
be sampled representatively and the samples chemically analyzed. These
types of homogeneous wastes have not been identified at the sites with
smaller inventories of CH-TRU waste. DOE is not proposing to conduct
core sampling and chemical analysis of sludges and soils at WIPP;
therefore, these types of wastes would not be sent to WIPP for
characterization. Also, no remote-handled TRU waste will be
characterized at WIPP.
CH-TRU Waste Volumes
The impacts of preparing (including characterizing) waste for
disposal depend on the volume of waste to be characterized and treated.
The WM PEIS analyzed the volume of CH-TRU waste projected to be
generated over 20 years, a total of 113,592 cubic meters. The CH-TRU
waste inventory currently projected to be disposed of in WIPP is
106,387 cubic meters.\1\ DOE's recent projection of the total complex-
wide CH-TRU waste volume that will be sent to WIPP is less than the
Department's prior projections. This is due in part to DOE's redefined
mission and accelerated closure schedules at many of its sites
(resulting in less CH-TRU waste being produced than anticipated), and
also recategorization of waste streams due to refined waste knowledge
and data collection.
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\1\ National TRU Waste Management Plan (Draft), DOE/NTP-96-1204,
December 2000.
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Modification of WIPP's Hazardous Waste Facility Permit
As noted above, NMED must approve a modification of WIPP's
Hazardous Waste Facility Permit (issued by NMED in October 1999) before
DOE could perform disposal characterization there. In support of its
proposal to establish centralized disposal characterization capability
at WIPP, DOE submitted a permit modification request to NMED on July
21, 2000. DOE withdrew its request on September 29, 2000, however,
shortly after the close of the public comment period on the
modification and after discussions with NMED staff.
DOE will submit a revised permit modification request soon that
will address issues raised by NMED and the public concerning DOE's
earlier proposed modification. NMED received about 600 preprinted
postcards and 27 other submissions from the public that raised the
following concerns about DOE's proposed modification to the permit:
(1) In contrast to existing practice, the modification would allow
DOE to open some drums of waste at WIPP in order to perform visual
examination of their contents as a quality control check on the results
of radiography.
(2) Shipment of waste to WIPP before it was completely
characterized (i.e., for both transportation and disposal) could result
in the discovery of prohibited items or wastes that could not be placed
in the repository and would therefore remain in the above-ground
facilities at WIPP indefinitely.
(3) The modification would continue NMED's ongoing inspection
authority at WIPP instead of providing for NMED to approve the waste
disposal characterization program at WIPP.
(4) The modification requested did not provide adequate
justification for a 25 percent increase of WIPP's above-ground storage
capacity.
[[Page 82988]]
(5) DOE should not be allowed to store waste indefinitely on the
surface.
DOE will revise its request for a permit modification to address
these and other issues raised by NMED and the public. DOE plans to
propose that:
(1) Computed tomography be substituted for visual examination of
waste drums so that they need not be opened at WIPP except in the
unlikely event that a prohibited item is discovered.
(2) Any prohibited item be returned to the generator site;
transported to an approved waste management facility; or treated in
order to render the item acceptable for disposal in WIPP.
(3) All waste disposal characterization activities performed at
WIPP and generator sites under the Hazardous Waste Facility Permit be
approved by NMED.
(4) Above-ground storage capacity be increased by 25 percent. This
increase is supported by a time and motion study prepared by the Sandia
National Laboratory.
(5) The time limit on above-ground waste storage will not be
indefinite; instead it will be increased from 60 days to one year.
DOE would not begin to characterize waste at WIPP unless and until
NMED approves the permit modification request. Prior to NMED's decision
on the revised modification request, DOE will begin to accelerate some
physical changes needed in the TRUPACT Maintenance Facility that do not
require regulatory approval, such as installation of an air lock, an
additional fire wall, additional radiation monitors, and a spill
coating on the concrete floor. In addition, DOE may begin procuring
characterization equipment and contracting with providers of mobile
characterization equipment so that DOE can begin training equipment
operators and writing procedures for the proposed characterization
operations at WIPP or at other sites. As stated previously, the
decision on what, if any, particular waste characterization procedures
will occur at WIPP depends on NMED's decision concerning the revised
permit modification request.
Basis for DOE's Decision
The high costs of fully characterizing waste at all its sites were
not apparent when DOE decided that each generator site would be
responsible for preparing its waste for disposal in the WIPP
repository. At the time DOE made its earlier decision, NMED had not
issued the WIPP Hazardous Waste Facility Permit and EPA had not
certified that the repository met EPA's requirements for disposal of
TRU waste. The permit and the certification imposed additional
requirements on WIPP concerning the characterization of waste for
disposal. In particular, both EPA and NMED concluded that they needed
to approve aspects of the waste characterization process at each site
that intended to dispose of waste in WIPP. The costs of modifying
programs and procedures to conform to these waste characterization
requirements, especially those related to audits and approvals, were
much greater than DOE had anticipated. These requirements increased the
time and resources needed to establish waste disposal characterization
programs at each site with TRU waste.
In light of the increased costs and potential for delays in
shipping waste to WIPP, particularly from sites with small inventories
of CH-TRU waste, DOE began to look for ways to reduce the number of
approved waste characterization programs it would need. One way to
reduce the number of programs would be to establish a centralized
disposal characterization capability at WIPP while keeping
transportation characterization programs at the small quantity sites.
This approach would reduce the costs of preparing CH-TRU waste for
disposal as well as reduce the number of waste disposal
characterization programs that DOE would need to create and that DOE,
NMED and EPA would need to approve. Establishing a centralized
characterization program at WIPP would enable EPA and NMED to use their
staff resources more efficiently because they would have fewer waste
characterization programs to approve than would be the case if DOE had
to establish separate disposal characterization programs at all of the
sites that have or would generate TRU waste.
DOE has estimated the costs of characterizing waste for disposal at
each generator site and the cost of creating a waste characterization
capability at WIPP. The Department estimates that the latter approach
could save as much as $100 million as compared to its former approach.
Given the potentially large cost savings, DOE has decided to seek
approval from NMED of a centralized waste characterization capability
at WIPP.
Prior NEPA Analyses
DOE prepared a Supplement Analysis for the Proposed
Characterization for Disposal of Contact-Handled Transuranic Waste at
the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE/EIS-0200-SA01). This analysis was
done to determine whether the activities and impacts of characterizing
for disposal some CH-TRU waste at WIPP are encompassed within prior
NEPA reviews.
The Supplement Analysis concluded that the activities and impacts
of performing disposal characterization on some CH-TRU at WIPP are
encompassed within the activities and impacts of the Centralized
Alternative analyzed in the WM PEIS. However, the impacts of the
activities that will result from DOE's revised decision will be much
smaller than the impacts of the Centralized Alternative evaluated in
the WM PEIS for two reasons. First, the Centralized Alternative assumed
that virtually all of DOE's CH-TRU would be treated at WIPP. The
characterization equipment that DOE has decided to locate at WIPP will
characterize only a small portion of DOE's projected inventory of CH-
TRU waste. Second, the Centralized Alternative analyzed in the WM PEIS
assumed that the centralized facility at WIPP would treat CH-TRU waste
by incineration. The characterization equipment DOE will install in
existing buildings at WIPP pursuant to this revised decision would only
characterize and, as needed, repackage CH-TRU waste; it would not
incinerate or thermally treat any TRU waste. These two differences have
the effect of making the potential environmental impacts of disposal
characterization at WIPP significantly less than the impacts of the
Centralized Alternative analyzed in the WM PEIS and well below
applicable standards.
Based on the Supplement Analysis, DOE determined that
characterizing some of DOE's CH-TRU waste at WIPP would not involve
actions that are substantially different from those analyzed in prior
NEPA analyses or have impacts beyond those already evaluated.
Therefore, DOE concluded that it did not need to prepare additional
NEPA analysis before deciding whether to locate a centralized disposal
characterization facility at WIPP. Implementation of DOE's decision is
contingent upon approval by NMED of a modification to WIPP's Hazardous
Waste Facility Permit and WIPP's waste characterization program.
Issued in Washington, DC, December 19, 2000.
Carolyn L. Huntoon,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 00-33308 Filed 12-28-00; 8:45 am]
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