Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplement Analysis of the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
| Published date | 28 June 2019 |
| Citation | 84 FR 31055 |
| Record Number | 2019-13842 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Energy Department,National Nuclear Security Administration |
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 125 (Friday, June 28, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 125 (Friday, June 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31055-31056]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-13842]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
National Nuclear Security Administration
Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplement Analysis of the
Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement
AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-
autonomous agency within the United States Department of Energy (DOE),
announces the availability of the Draft Supplement Analysis (SA) of the
Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (SPEIS). NNSA is preparing the SA to determine whether, prior
to proceeding with the action to produce plutonium pits at a rate of no
fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030, the existing Complex
Transformation SPEIS should be supplemented, a new environmental impact
statement prepared, or no further National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) analysis is required. The Draft SA preliminarily concludes that
further NEPA documentation at a programmatic level is not required;
however, NNSA will consider comments on the Draft SA and publish a
Final SA with a final determination. The Draft SA is an important
element of the overall NEPA strategy related to fulfilling national
requirements for pit production. DOE announced this NEPA strategy on
June 10, 2019 (84 FR 26849).
DATES: NNSA invites the public to review and submit comments on the
Draft SA through August 12, 2019. Comments received after this date
will be considered to the extent practicable.
[[Page 31056]]
ADDRESSES: Written comments on the Draft SA or requests for information
related to the SA should be sent to Ms. Jennifer Nelson, NEPA Document
Manager, National Nuclear Security Administration Savannah River Field
Office, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC 29802; or sent by email to [email protected]. Before including your address, phone number, email
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment,
please be advised that your entire comment--including your personal
identifying information--may be made publicly available. If you wish
for NNSA to withhold your name and/or other personally identifiable
information, please state this prominently at the beginning of your
comment. You may also submit comments anonymously.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about this
Notice, please contact Mr. James R. Sanderson, Office of NEPA Policy
and Compliance, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW,
Washington, DC 20585-0119; phone: 202-586-1402; email to: [email protected]. This Notice and the Draft SA are available on the internet
at https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: National security policies require DOE,
through NNSA, to maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, as well
as the nation's core competencies in nuclear weapons. NNSA has the
mission to maintain and enhance the safety, security, and effectiveness
of the nuclear weapons stockpile. Plutonium pits are critical
components of every nuclear weapon, with nearly all current stockpile
pits having been produced from 1978-1989. Today, the United States'
capability to produce plutonium pits is limited.
To produce pits with enhanced safety features to meet NNSA and
Department of Defense (DoD) requirements, mitigate against the risk of
plutonium aging, and respond to changes in deterrent requirements
driven by growing threats from peer competitors, the DoD requires NNSA
to produce no fewer than 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030, and to
sustain the capacity for future (Life Extension Programs and follow-on)
programs. NNSA's pit production mission was emphasized as a national
security imperative by the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, issued in
February 2018 by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and subsequent
congressional statements of the policy of the United States. The 2018
Nuclear Posture Review announced that the United States will pursue
initiatives to ensure the necessary capability, capacity, and
responsiveness of the nuclear weapons infrastructure and the needed
skill of the workforce, including providing the enduring capability and
capacity to produce no fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030. The 2018
Nuclear Posture Review concludes that the United States must have
sufficient research, design, development, and production capacity to
support the sustainment of its nuclear forces.
To that end, DoD Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and
Sustainment Ellen M. Lord and Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, and
Administrator of the NNSA, Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty issued a Joint
Statement on May 10, 2018, identifying their recommended alternative to
meet the pit production requirement based on the completion of an
Analysis of Alternatives, an Engineering Assessment and a Workforce
Analysis. To achieve the nation's requirement of producing no fewer
than 80 pits per year by 2030, NNSA is proposing to repurpose the
Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) at the Savannah River Site
(SRS) in South Carolina to produce plutonium pits while also maximizing
pit production activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
This two-prong approach--with no fewer than 50 pits per year produced
at SRS and no fewer than 30 pits per year at LANL--is proposed as the
best way to manage the cost, schedule, and risk of such a vital
undertaking. This approach improves the resiliency, flexibility, and
redundancy of our Nuclear Security Enterprise by reducing reliance on a
single production site.
On June 10, 2019, DOE announced the overall NEPA strategy related
to fulfilling national requirements for pit production (84 FR 26849).
DOE announced that it would prepare at least three documents including
this SA, a site-specific EIS for the proposal to produce pits at SRS
(also announced in that notice), and site-specific documentation for
the proposal to authorize expanding pit production beyond 20 pits per
year at LANL.
In 2008, NNSA prepared the Complex Transformation SPEIS, which
evaluated, among other things, alternatives for producing 10-200
plutonium pits per year at different sites including LANL and SRS. In
the Complex Transformation SPEIS Records of Decision, NNSA did not make
any new decisions related to pit production capacity and did not
foresee an imminent need to produce more than 20 pits per year to meet
national security requirements.
NNSA now foresees an imminent need to provide the enduring
capability and capacity to produce plutonium pits at a rate of no fewer
than 80 pits per year by 2030 for the nuclear weapons stockpile as
identified in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. NNSA has prepared the SA
to determine whether, prior to proceeding with the action to produce
plutonium pits at a rate of no fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030, the
existing Complex Transformation SPEIS should be supplemented, a new
environmental impact statement prepared, or no further NEPA analysis is
required. Although pertinent regulations do not require public comment
on an SA, NNSA has decided, in its discretion, that public comment in
this instance would be helpful and has issued the Draft SA for public
review and comment.
Signed in Washington, DC, this 21st day of June 2019, for the
United States Department of Energy.
Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty,
Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, National Nuclear Security
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-13842 Filed 6-27-19; 8:45 am]
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