Record of Decision for the Department of Energy's Waste Management Program: Storage
of High-Level Radioactive Waste
AGENCY: Department of Energy
ACTION: Record of Decision
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) has decided to store immobilized
high-level radioactive waste (HLW), at three DOE-owned sites (the Hanford Site in
the State of Washington, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory,
and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina) and one DOE-managed site (the West
Valley Demonstration Project in New York, a project that is managed by DOE under
the West Valley Demonstration Project Act, at a site owned by the State of New York).
Immobilized HLW is a final waste form that will remain in storage until accepted
for disposal at a geologic repository. This decision is based on the Final Waste
Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (WM PEIS).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Copies of the WM PEIS and this Record of Decision
(ROD) are available in DOE public reading rooms and selected libraries located across
the United States. A list of the public reading rooms at which the WM PEIS and this
ROD are available can also be accessed on the DOE Office of Environmental Management's
World Wide Web site at http://www.em.doe.gov/. To request copies of the WM PEIS,
this ROD, or a list of the reading rooms and public libraries, please write or call:
Center for Environmental Management Information, P.O. Box 23769, Washington, DC
20026-3769, telephone: 1-800-736-3282 (in Washington, D.C.: 202-863-5084).
For further information on the WM PEIS or this ROD, please write or call: Ms. Karen
Guevara, WM PEIS Program Manager, Office of Planning and Analysis (EM-35), U.S.
Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, 19901 Germantown Road,
Germantown, MD 20874, telephone: 301-903-4981.
For general information on the DOE National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process,
please write or call: Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and
Assistance (EH-42), U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environment, Safety, and
Health, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20585-0119, telephone: 202-586-4600,
or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (WM PEIS),
DOE/EIS-0200F, issued in May 1997, studied the potential nation-wide impacts of
managing four types of radioactive waste (low-level waste, mixed low-level waste,
transuranic waste, high-level waste (HLW)) and hazardous waste generated by defense
and research activities at 54 sites around the United States. Two Records of Decision
(RODs) have been issued, based in part on the analyses in the WM PEIS. These are
the transuranic waste treatment and storage ROD (63 FR 3629, January 23, 1998) and
the non-wastewater hazardous waste treatment ROD (63 FR 41810, August 5, 1998).
The ROD for low-level and mixed low-level waste treatment and disposal is expected
to be issued shortly.
The WM PEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of broad alternatives for
DOE's waste management program, and was designed to provide part of the basis for
DOE to decide upon a programmatic configuration of sites for waste management activities.
In addition, DOE will perform site-wide or project-specific NEPA reviews, as needed,
to more specifically analyze site-specific waste management activities, consistent
with the selected programmatic approach. Those reviews provide more focused analysis,
including specific storage facility capacities and design parameters. DOE will not
decide the specific location of any new facilities at sites selected to store HLW,
or specific facility capacities and designs, until the completion of these follow-on
NEPA reviews.
This ROD applies only to the storage of immobilized HLW as analyzed in the WM PEIS.
DOE prepared this ROD in accordance with NEPA (42 U.S.C. §4321 et seq.),
the Council on Environmental Quality's regulations for implementing NEPA (40 CFR
Parts 1500-1508) and DOE's NEPA Implementing Procedures (10 CFR Part 1021).
High-Level Waste Storage
HLW is the highly radioactive waste resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear
fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material
derived from the liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentrations,
and other highly radioactive material that is determined, consistent with existing
law, to require permanent isolation (DOE Order 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management,
July 1999). In Chapter 9 of the WM PEIS, DOE analyzed alternatives for the storage
of HLW, immobilized to a final form, that has been or will be generated at three
DOE-owned sites: the Hanford Site in Washington, the Idaho National Environmental
Engineering Laboratory (INEEL), and the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina,
as well as at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) in New York. The State
of New York retains title to the WVDP site and the stored HLW, but the waste has
been treated by DOE pursuant to the West Valley Demonstration Project Act. Discussion
and agreement with the State of New York would be necessary if DOE were to move
the HLW canisters to another site.
For all four sites, DOE needs to decide where to store the immobilized HLW until
its acceptance for disposal at a geologic repository managed by DOE's Office of
Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. The Department is preparing an EIS on a proposal
to construct, operate and monitor, and eventually close a geologic repository at
Yucca Mountain in Nevada for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive
waste. The Department plans to distribute the draft Yucca Mountain EIS in August
of 1999 for public comment, and issue the Final EIS in the Fall of 2000. If Yucca
Mountain were eventually approved as the site of the nation's first geologic repository,
DOE intends to dispose high-level radioactive waste there. For the HLW at Hanford,
WVDP, and SRS, DOE has already selected borosilicate glass poured into stainless
steel canisters as the final waste form. No decision on a final immobilized waste
form has yet been made for the HLW at INEEL but DOE is currently preparing the
Idaho High-Level Waste and Facilities Disposition at the INEEL EIS (DOE/EIS-02870)
which will evaluate the environmental impacts associated with alternative strategies
for treatment, storage, and disposal (including the waste form) of high-level and
associated radioactive wastes at the site, including offsite treatment options.
Alternatives Considered for Storage of Immobilized High-Level Waste
In the WM PEIS, the term "alternative" generally refers to a nationwide configuration
of sites for treating, storing, or disposing of a waste type. In the case of HLW,
however, the analysis did not include the impacts of storing non-immobilized HLW,
treating HLW, or disposing of HLW. The following summarizes the alternatives DOE
analyzed for immobilized HLW storage.
No Action Alternative. A no action or "status quo" alternative may not comply
with applicable laws and regulations; however, analysis of such an alternative is
required under NEPA regulations, and provides an environmental baseline against
which the impacts of other alternatives can be compared. Selection of the No Action
Alternative, in this case, would involve using only currently existing or approved
HLW storage facilities at DOE sites. Immobilized HLW canisters would be stored at
Hanford, SRS, and WVDP until transfer to a geologic repository managed by DOE's
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. HLW at INEEL would be stored as
a solidified calcine material (a dry noncorrosive granular solid) or as liquids,
until its final disposition is determined. Because sufficient storage capacity for
the projected number of HLW canisters is not already existing or approved at Hanford
and SRS, immobilization activities would have to be interrupted or delayed, based
on the rate at which a repository could accept the immobilized HLW.
Decentralized Alternative. Selection of this alternative would result in
storing HLW, immobilized to a final form, where it was generated or will be generated
in the future. The activities that differentiate the Decentralized Alternative from
the No Action Alternative would be the siting, construction and operation of new
storage facilities or the modification of existing storage facilities at some sites.
Hanford , SRS, and WVDP would store immobilized HLW canisters, and INEEL would store
HLW in a final immobilized form, yet to be determined, until transfer to a geologic
repository. This was designated as the preferred alternative in the WM PEIS.
Regionalized Alternatives. Two alternatives were considered for regionalized
storage of immobilized HLW. Under Regionalized Alternative 1, immobilized HLW canisters
would be stored at Hanford and SRS, immobilized HLW canisters from WVDP would be
transported to SRS, and HLW at INEEL would be stored there after immobilization
until the HLW is accepted at a geologic repository. Under Regionalized Alternative
2, HLW canisters would be stored at Hanford and SRS, HLW canisters from WVDP would
be transported to Hanford, and immobilized INEEL HLW would be stored there until
transfer to a geologic repository.
Centralized Alternative. Immobilized HLW from INEEL, and HLW canisters from
WVDP and SRS would be transported to Hanford where all of the HLW would be stored
with Hanford HLW canisters until transfer to a geologic repository.
Environmentally Preferable Alternative
Table 9.16-1 in the Final WM PEIS summarizes the key impacts that may be associated
with storage of immobilized HLW. This table quantifies potential worker health risks,
transportation risks, and costs for the various HLW alternatives analyzed in the
WM PEIS. Chapter 9 details additional HLW impact areas analyzed in the WM PEIS,
including cultural resource and environmental justice concerns. All of these impacts
were considered in identifying environmentally preferable alternatives and in making
this waste storage decision.
The potential health and environmental impacts for all immobilized HLW storage alternatives
are generally low. Differences among the alternatives are small, but the No Action,
Decentralized (the preferred option), and Regionalized 1 Alternatives have 1-2 fewer
estimated potential fatalities, over twenty years, than the Regionalized 2 and Centralized
Alternatives (total fatalities are estimated to range from 8 to 10 among each of
the five alternatives.) Under the No Action Alternative, however, immobilization
of large quantities of HLW to a stable, durable form would be delayed or interrupted,
posing an environmentally undesirable condition. Environmental impacts of the Decentralized
and Regionalized 1 Alternatives are essentially comparable; however, the need for
additional construction of a larger facility under the Regionalized 1 Alternative
makes the Decentralized Alternative marginally more environmentally preferable.
Additionally, under the Decentralized Alternative, immobilized HLW would need to
be loaded and unloaded for transportation purposes less often, compared to the other
action alternatives, thereby reducing worker radiological exposure. None of the
alternatives would pose environmental justice concerns.
Decision: Storage of High-Level Waste
The Department has selected the Decentralized Alternative, to store immobilized
HLW in a final form at the site of generation -- Hanford, INEEL, SRS, or WVDP --
until transfer to a geologic repository.
This decision is the same as the WM PEIS preferred alternative. The decision allows
use of existing immobilized HLW storage capacity at SRS and WVDP, and use of the
previously decided, almost complete Canister Storage Building at Hanford, which
will provide partial storage for its immobilized HLW. This approach also reduces
environmental impacts that would result from constructing larger storage facilities
that would be needed under the Regionalized and Centralized Alternatives.
Although transportation-related fatalities are essentially the same for all the
alternatives, the Decentralized Alternative results in reduced immobilized HLW loading
and unloading operations for transportation purposes, as compared to the other action
alternatives. Additionally, transportation-related administrative considerations
involving the need for notification and emergency preparedness training, and public
concerns in transportation corridor states, weighed in favor of the Decentralized
Alternative when compared to the Regionalized and Centralized Alternatives.
DOE also considered uncertainties about the timing of accepting HLW at a geologic
repository. Stakeholders and local governments have expressed concerns that sites
may store immobilized HLW for much longer periods than the Department's plans currently
indicate. The Department's selection of the Decentralized Alternative apportions
the amount of such HLW to be stored according to the quantity of HLW generated at
each site.
Mitigation
Although a mitigation action plan is not required because no non-routine mitigation
commitments are being made, Chapter 12 of the WM PEIS describes measures that DOE
takes in order to minimize the impacts of its waste management activities. Mitigation
measures are an integral part of the Department's operations, so as to avoid, reduce,
or eliminate potentially adverse environmental impacts. Some of the more important
routine mitigation measures that DOE will continue to use in its management of radioactive
waste are:
- Modifying engineering facility designs to reduce or eliminate risk or impacts;
- Implementing strict and mandatory safety programs for all facility workers;
- Using safety analyses to establish safety limits within which facilities can operate,
while limiting risks and adequately protecting the environment; and
- Reviewing and modifying, as appropriate, existing emergency action plans at DOE
sites to ensure appropriate response to accidents or other emergencies.
Site-specific, non-routine mitigation measures may also be identified and implemented
in the course of further decision-making under site-specific NEPA reviews.
Issued in Washington, D.C. this 12th day of August, 1999.
Carolyn L. Huntoon
Assistant Secretary
for Environmental Management
