[Federal Register: January 5, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 3)]
[Notices]
[Page 807-809]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05ja05-77]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
National Nuclear Security Administration
Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement to the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for
Continued Operation of the Los Alamos National Laboratory
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security
Administration.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
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SUMMARY: 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 supplemental
site-wide environmental statement (S-SWEIS) to update the analyses
presented in the Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for
Continued Operation of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (SWEIS) (DOE/
EIS-0238; January 1999). The purpose of this notice is to invite
individuals, organizations, and government agencies and entities to
participate in developing the scope of the S-SWEIS.
In its September 1999 Record of Decision (ROD) based on the SWEIS,
DOE announced its decision to implement the Expanded Operations
Alternative analyzed in the SWEIS, with modifications to weapons
related production work (the Preferred Alternative), at Los Alamos
National Laboratory (LANL). That decision is being implemented at LANL.
Pursuant to 40 CFR 1502.20, the S-SWEIS will rely on and expand on the
analysis in the original SWEIS. The No Action Alternative for the S-
SWEIS is the continued implementation of the SWEIS ROD, together with
other actions described and analyzed in subsequent NEPA reviews. The
Proposed Action in the S-SWEIS will include changes since the SWEIS
1999 ROD.
DATES: NNSA invites comments on the scope of this S-SWEIS through
February 27, 2005. NNSA will hold a public scoping meeting in Pojoaque,
New Mexico, at the Pablo Roybal Elementary School on January 19, 2005,
from 6 to 8 pm. Scoping comments received after February 27, 2005, will
be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: To submit comments on the scope of the S-SWEIS, questions
about the document or scoping meeting, or requests to be placed on the
document distribution list, please write or call: Ms. Elizabeth Withers
(e-mail address: lanl_sweis@doeal.gov; mailing address: NNSA Los
Alamos Site Office, NEPA Compliance Officer, 528 35th Street, Los
Alamos, New Mexico, 87544; (toll free) telephone 1-877-491-4957; or
Facsimile 505-667-9998).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information about the DOE
NEPA process, please contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of
NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000
Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585, 202-586-4600, or leave a
message at 1-800-472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: LANL is located in north-central New Mexico,
60 miles north-northeast of Albuquerque, 25 miles northwest of Santa
Fe, and 20 miles southwest of Espa[ntilde]ola in Los Alamos and Santa
Fe Counties. It is located between the Jemez Mountains to the west and
the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Rio Grande to the east. LANL
occupies about 40 square miles (104 square kilometers) and is operated
for NNSA under contract, by the University of California. (The contract
for LANL's management and operation is undergoing a competitive bid
process; however, the selection of the LANL management and operations
contractor in the future will not affect the nature of the NNSA and DOE
work performed at LANL.)
LANL is a multidisciplinary, multipurpose institution primarily
engaged in theoretical and experimental research and development. LANL
has been assigned science, research and development, and production
mission support activities that are critical to the accomplishment of
the national security objectives (as reflected in the ROD for the
September 1996 Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for
Stockpile Stewardship and Management (DOE/EIS-0236)). Specific LANL
assignments will continue for the foreseeable future include production
of War-Reserve products, assessment and certification of the stockpile,
surveillance of the War-Reserve components and weapon systems, ensuring
safe and secure storage of strategic materials, and management of
excess plutonium inventories. LANL's main role in the fulfillment of
DOE mission objectives includes a wide range of scientific and
technological capabilities that support nuclear materials handling,
processing and fabrication; stockpile management; materials and
manufacturing technologies; nonproliferation programs; and waste
management activities.
The Final LANL SWEIS, issued in January 1999, considered the
operation of LANL at various levels for about a 10-year period of time.
Alternatives considered in that document were: No Action Alternative,
the Expanded Operations Alternative, the Reduced Operations
Alternative, and the Greener Alternative. In addition to providing an
overview of the LANL site and its activities and operations, the SWEIS
identified 15 LANL ``Key Facilities'' for the purposes of NEPA
analysis. ``Key
[[Page 808]]
Facilities'' are those facilities that house operations with the
potential to cause significant environmental impacts; are of most
interest or concern to the public based on scoping comments; or are
facilities that would be the most subject to change due to potential
programmatic decisions. The operations of these ``Key Facilities'' were
described in the SWEIS and, together with other non-key facility
functions, formed the basis of the description of LANL facilities and
operations analyzed for their potential impacts. The Preferred
Alternative was the Expanded Operations Alternative with certain
reductions in weapons-related manufacturing capabilities. This
alternative was chosen for implementation in the ROD issued in
September 1999.
In mid-2004, NNSA undertook the preparation of a Supplement
Analysis for the SWEIS pursuant to DOE's regulatory requirement to
evaluate site-wide NEPA documents at least every 5 years (10 CFR
1021.330) and determine whether the existing EIS remains adequate, to
prepare a new site-wide EIS, or prepare a supplement to the existing
EIS. During the development of this Supplement Analysis, NNSA decided
to proceed immediately with a supplement to the existing SWIES in order
to expedite the NEPA process and to save time and money. DOE NEPA
regulations (10 CFR 1021.314) require the preparation of a Supplemental
EIS if there are substantial changes to a proposal or significant new
circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns.
Substantial changes to the level of LANL operations may result from
proposed, modified or enhanced activities and operations within LANL
facilities (discussed later in subsequent paragraphs of this Notice),
and new circumstances and information with regard to effects from the
Cerro Grande Fire (which burned a part of LANL), a reduction in the
size of the LANL reservation due to recent land conveyance and
transfers, and contaminant migration have come to light over the past
five years that could be deemed significant under 10 CFR 1021.314.
Since the issuance of the Final SWEIS in 1999, DOE and NNSA have
finalized several environmental impact statements, environmental
assessments (EA), and a special environmental analysis dealing with
LANL operations and actions taken immediately after the 2000 Cerro
Grande Fire. The activities analyzed in these NEPA documents and
developing changes to the LANL environmental setting led NNSA to
conclude it would be prudent and efficient to begin updating the SWEIS
now by preparing a supplemental SWEIS. NNSA will use the S-SWEIS to
consider the potential impacts of proposed modifications to LANL
activities, as well as the cumulative impacts associated with on-going
activities at LANL, on the changed LANL environment.
The S-SWEIS will provide a review of the impacts resulting from
implementing the SWEIS ROD over the past 5 years at LANL and compare
these impacts to the impacts projected in the SWEIS analyses for that
alternative to provide an understanding of the SWEIS's ability to
identify potential impacts. The S-SWEIS analyses will focus primarily
on aspects of the existing environment that could be impacted by newly
proposed changes to LANL operations at certain facilities and by
environmental cleanup actions that could occur over the next 5 to 6
years in response to a consent order from the State of New Mexico. The
S-SWEIS Proposed Action will analyze projected impacts anticipated from
operating LANL at the 1999 ROD level for at least the next 5 years,
with some modified work now being proposed at certain facilities. NNSA
is considering proposed operational changes within at least two new
``Key Facilities'' at LANL:
The Nicholas C. Metropolis Center for Modeling and
Simulation (formerly called the Strategic Computing Complex), and
The Nonproliferation and International Security Center
(NISC).
The construction and operation of the Nicholas C. Metropolis Center
for Modeling and Simulation were analyzed in a December 1998 EA and a
finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for that proposed action was
issued based on the impact analyses for operating the computational
facility up to a 50-TeraOp platform (a TeraOp is a trillion floating
point operations per second). The Center has been constructed and is
currently operating below the operations level analyzed in the 1998 EA;
however, NNSA proposes to increase the facility's operational capacity
up to 100 TeraOps before 2009 with corresponding increases to the
facility's consumption of water and electrical power resources. This
proposed increase in the operating platform from 50 TeraOps up to 100
TeraOps will be analyzed in the S-SWEIS.
The NISC's construction and operation were analyzed in a July 1999
EA and a FONSI was issued for that proposed action based on the impact
analyses for consolidating activities and operating the facility as it
was envisioned at that time. The facility is currently operating as
evaluated in the 1999 EA; however, NNSA is now proposing to move
certain operations from the Technical Area 18 (TA-18) Pajarito Site
(another of LANL's ``Key Facilities,'' which is also discussed in the
following paragraph) into the NISC. This would change the amount of
nuclear material stored in the facility, with corresponding potential
increases to worker exposures in the case of a site accident. The
proposed changes to operations and material stored in NISC will be
analyzed in the S-SWEIS.
NNSA will also eliminate one former LANL ``Key Facility''
identified in the 1999 SWEIS--the TA-18 Pajarito Site. In its 2002 EIS
(the TA-18 Relocation Final EIS (DOE/EIS-319)) and ROD, the NNSA
decided to relocate TA-18 security category I and II operations and
associated nuclear material to the Nevada Test Site. Implementation of
the relocation decision began in 2004 and will continue over the next 5
years. After relocation of operations and materials, this facility will
no longer be a LANL ``Key Facility'' within the meaning of the SWEIS,
and therefore will not be listed as such a facility. There are certain
proposals related to the relocation of the TA-18 security category III
and IV operations and the disposition of the TA-18 facilities that were
not analyzed in the 2002 EIS; these proposed actions and their
projected impacts will be evaluated in the S-SWEIS impact analyses.
Certain aspects of operational changes, construction and activities
that have occurred or are being proposed for LANL over the next 5 years
that were not analyzed in the 1999 SWEIS will also be considered and
analyzed in the S-SWEIS. Changes that have been made to existing LANL
operations that will also be considered further in the S-SWEIS include
some permanent modifications to on-going operations that have recently
been made as a result of decreases in specific work and projects
performed at some LANL facilities, and changes to the locations of
various types of materials at risk (MAR) at LANL facilities or off-site
locations. Examples of newly proposed actions at LANL include the
remediation of 10 major material disposal areas (MDAs) at LANL; the
operation of a Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) Facility (this facility will
become part of an existing ``Key Facility'' at LANL, the former Health
Research Laboratory (HRL) now known as the Bioscience Facilities); the
construction and operation of a new solid waste transfer station, an
office and light laboratory complex, a consolidated warehouse and truck
inspection station, and a new
[[Page 809]]
radiography facility; and recently proposed increases in the types and
quantities of sealed sources accepted for waste management at LANL.
Some of these newly proposed actions may be analyzed explicitly in the
S-SWEIS in project specific analyses, while others may be analyzed in
separate EAs to be prepared over the next several months, such as the
new BSL-3 Facility EA. The potential impacts of the BSL-3 Facility will
be included in the S-SWEIS evaluation of cumulative impacts, as will
the impacts of all of the newly proposed actions. A comparison of the
newly projected operational impacts will also be made to the projected
impacts identified in the SWEIS.
The NEPA compliance process for the BSL-3 Facility at LANL has
spanned several years. In early 2002, the NNSA issued an EA and FONSI
for the construction and operation of the facility at LANL. Due to the
need to consider new circumstances and information relevant to the
actual construction of the BSL-3 Facility and its future operation, the
NNSA withdrew the 2002 FONSI for operating this facility and determined
that a new EA should be prepared that re-evaluates the proposed
operations of the facility as it has been constructed. The new EA is
currently being prepared and a draft EA will be issued for public
review and comment in early 2005. The EA will be used by NNSA in making
a decision about whether to issue a FONSI for operation of the BSL-3
Facility. If a FONSI cannot be issued, the analyses for the operation
of the BSL-3 Facility will be included in the S-SWEIS Proposed Action.
In accordance with applicable DOE and CEQ NEPA regulations, the No
Action Alternative will also be analyzed in the S-SWEIS. In this case,
the No Action Alternative will be the continued implementation of the
1999 ROD at LANL over the next 5 years as this alternative was
originally analyzed in the SWEIS, and will also include the
implementation of other actions selected in DOE and NNSA RODs supported
by separate NEPA reviews (specifically, actions analyzed since the
issuance of the final SWEIS in the Final Environmental Impact Statement
for the Conveyance and Transfer of Certain Land Tracts Administered by
the U.S. Department of Energy and Located at Los Alamos National
Laboratory, Los Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, New Mexico (DOE/EIS-293),
the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Relocation of
Technical Area 18 Capabilities and Materials at Los Alamos National
Laboratory (DOE/EIS-319), the 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),
and in about 20 various EAs and their associated FONSIs, as well as
actions categorically excluded from the need for preparation of either
an EA or an EIS). The Los Alamos Site Office has posted a list of EAs
and their associated FONSIs that pertain to LANL operations dating from
the completion of the 1999 SWEIS on their Web site at: http://www.doeal.gov/LASO/nepa.
The full text of most of these EAs is also
available through links provided at that Web site; copies of all of the
documents may be obtained by contacting Ms. Withers at any of the
addresses provided previously in this Notice.
Changes or new information have also surfaced regarding the
environmental setting at LANL over the past 5 years that may affect
future LANL operations, such as changes to LANL watersheds as the
result of the Cerro Grande Fire, new information and changes resulting
from thinning the forests around LANL, and the long-term effects from
the regional drought. Additionally, there have been changes to both the
number of LANL workers and to the surrounding population that have
occurred or are being projected that are different from those on which
the SWEIS socioeconomic and other impact analyses were based. To the
extent that changes to or new information about the existing LANL
environment may significantly affect natural and cultural resource
areas originally considered in the 1999 SWEIS, projected impacts
associated with implementing the Proposed Action over the next 5 years
at LANL will be analyzed in the S-SWEIS.
Direct, indirect, and unavoidable impacts to the various natural
and cultural resources present at LANL, together with irreversible and
irretrievable commitments and mitigations, will also be analyzed in the
S-SWEIS. Further, operational and site differences require a re-
evaluation of LANL operational accident analyses and a new assessment
and understanding of cumulative impacts of LANL operations will also be
addressed.
Public Scoping Process: The scoping process is an opportunity for
the public to assist the NNSA in determining the issues for impact
analysis, and at least one public scoping meeting is held. The purpose
of the scoping meeting is to provide attendees an opportunity to
present oral and written comments, ask questions, and discuss concerns
regarding the S-SWEIS with NNSA officials. Comments and recommendations
can also be mailed to Elizabeth Withers at any of the identified
addresses noted in the previous paragraphs of this Notice. The S-SWEIS
meeting will use a format to facilitate dialogue between NNSA and the
public and will be an opportunity for individuals to provide written or
oral statements. NNSA welcomes specific comments or suggestions on the
content of the document that could be considered. The potential scope
of the S-SWEIS discussed in the previous portions of this Notice is
tentative and is intended to facilitate public comment on the scope of
this S-SWEIS. It is not intended to be all-inclusive, nor does it imply
any predetermination of potential impacts. The S-SWEIS will describe
the potential environmental impacts of the alternatives by using
available data where possible and obtaining additional data where
necessary. Copies of written comments and transcripts of oral comments
provided to NNSA during the scoping period will be available at the
following locations: Los Alamos Outreach Center, 1350 Central Avenue,
Suite 101, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87544; and the Zimmerman Library,
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131.
S-SWEIS Preparation Process: The S-SWEIS preparation process begins
with the publication of this Notice of Intent in the Federal Register.
After the close of the public scoping period, NNSA will begin
developing the draft S-SWEIS. NNSA expects to issue the Draft S-SWEIS
for public review in the fall of 2005. Public comments on the Draft S-
SWEIS will be received during a comment period of at least 45 days
following publication of the Notice of Availability. The Notice of
Availability, also published in the Federal Register, along with
notices placed in local newspapers, will provide dates and locations
for public hearings on the Draft S-SWEIS and the deadline for comments
on the draft document. Issuance of the Final S-SWEIS is scheduled for
early 2006.
Issued in Washington, DC, this 29th day of December, 2004.
Everet H. Beckner,
Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear Security
Administration.
[FR Doc. 05-210 Filed 1-4-05; 8:45 am]
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