Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 224 / Thursday, November 20, 1997 / Notices 62025

implementation from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00

a.m. For the rest of the day, the Council

will meet with representatives from the

State School-to-Work Implementation

Grantees in small groups to discuss and

determine strategies for addressing State

sustainability issues. The meeting will

close with a summary of the day’s

meeting and a discussion of future

actions.

Public Participation: The meeting on

Tuesday, December 2, 1997, from 8:30

a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Renaissance

Mayflower Hotel, will be open to the

public. Seats will be reserved for the

media. Individuals with disabilities in

need of special accommodations should

contact the Designated Federal Official

(DFO), listed below, at least seven (7)

days prior to the meeting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: JD

Hoye, Designated Federal Official

(DFO), Advisory Council for School-toWork Opportunities, Office of Schoolto-Work Opportunities, 400 Virginia

Avenue, S.W., Room 210, Washington,

D.C. (202) 401–6222, (This is not a toll

free number.)

Signed at Washington, D.C. this 17th day

of November 1997.

Jon Weintraub,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Vocational and

Adult Education, Department of Education.

Raymond J. Uhalde,

Acting Assistant Secretary, Employment and

Training Administration, Department of

Labor.

[FR Doc. 97–30492 Filed 11–19–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–30–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Intent To Prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement for

the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment

Project at the Idaho National

Engineering and Environmental

Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement.

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy

(DOE) intends to prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

and conduct a public scoping process

for a proposal to construct and operate

a facility known as the Advanced Mixed

Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at

the Idaho National Engineering and

Environmental Laboratory (INEEL).

Under the terms of a 1995 Court Order/

Settlement Agreement with the State of

Idaho in the case of Public Service Co.

v. Batt, Civil No. 91–0035–S–EJL (D.

Idaho) (Lead case), DOE agreed to

procure a treatment facility for mixed

low-level waste, transuranic waste and

alpha-contaminated mixed low-level

waste, and to treat transuranic waste

that requires treatment so as to permit

disposal outside of the State of Idaho at

the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New

Mexico or other acceptable disposal

facility. DOE also needs to manage DOE

alpha-contaminated mixed low-level

waste, transuranic waste, and mixed

low-level waste in a manner that will

comply with applicable laws and

requirements, and protect the

environment and the health and safety

of the workers and the public in a costeffective manner. The AMWTP EIS will

assist the Department in making the

necessary decisions to comply with the

Settlement Agreement and other

applicable requirements for these

wastes.

DOE’s proposed action is to

implement a proposal from British

Nuclear Fuels Limited, Inc. (BNFL) to

construct and operate the AMWTP at

the INEEL. The AMWTP, as proposed

by BNFL, would retrieve, sort,

characterize, and treat mixed low-level

waste and approximately 65,000 cubic

meters of alpha-contaminated mixed

low-level waste and transuranic waste

currently stored at the INEEL

Radioactive Waste Management

Complex, and package the treated waste

for shipment off site for disposal. The

AMWTP would employ thermal

treatment processes (incineration and

vitrification) and also treat similar

wastes generated by ongoing INEEL

activities and activities at other DOE

sites.

This EIS will make use of previously

developed information and analyses by

‘‘tiering’’ from other environmental

impact statements, including: (1) the

Department of Energy Programmatic

Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and

Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

Environmental Restoration and Waste

Management Programs Final EIS (SNF &

INEL EIS) (DOE/EIS–0203–F), issued

April 1995; (2) the DOE Waste

Management Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement (WM

PEIS) (DOE/EIS–0200–F), issued May

1997; and (3) the Waste Isolation Pilot

Plant Disposal Phase Final

Supplemental Environmental Impact

Statement (SEIS–II) (DOE/EIS–0026–S–

2), issued September 1997. DOE will

conduct two public scoping workshops

and welcomes public comment on the

scope of the proposed EIS.

DATES: The public scoping period begins

with the publication of this Notice in

the Federal Register. DOE invites other

Federal agencies, Native American

tribes, State and local governments and

the general public to comment on the

scope of this EIS. DOE must receive

scoping comments by January 9, 1998,

to ensure consideration, although DOE

will consider comments received after

that date to the extent practicable.

Two public workshops will be held

during this scoping period:

December 4, 1997—Borah High School,

6001 Cassia, Boise, ID; 6:30 pm–9:00

pm

December 9, 1997—Taylorview Junior

High School, 350 Castlerock Lane,

Idaho Falls, ID; 6:30 pm–9:00 pm

These workshops will provide the

public with information about the

proposed project and an opportunity to

comment on the scope of the EIS,

including the reasonable alternatives

and issues that the Department should

consider. Written comments may be

submitted to DOE at these workshops,

sent by facsimile to (208) 526–0598, or

mailed to the EIS Document Manager,

Mr. John E. Medema, at the address

listed below.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on this

EIS should be sent to: Mr. John E.

Medema, Document Manager, Advanced

Mixed Waste Treatment Project EIS,

U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho

Operations Office, 850 Energy Drive, MS

1117, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, Facsimile:

(208) 526–0598.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To

request information about this EIS, or to

be placed on the EIS document

distribution list, please call the 24-hour

toll-free information line at 1–800–708–

2680.

For general information about the

DOE National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA) process, please contact: Carol

Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA

Policy and Assistance (EH–42), U.S.

Department of Energy, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, D.C. 20585–0119, Phone:

(202) 586–4600, Messages: (800) 472–

2756, Facsimile: (202) 586–7031.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background and Purpose and Need for

Agency Action

Approximately 25,000 cubic meters of

alpha-contaminated low-level waste and

40,000 cubic meters of transuranic

waste are currently stored at the

Radioactive Waste Management

Complex at INEEL. Approximately 95%

of this waste is contaminated with

Resource Conservation and Recovery

Act (RCRA) hazardous waste, classifying

it as ‘‘mixed waste.’’ INEEL also is

storing mixed low-level waste (which

refers herein to mixed low-level waste

other than alpha-contaminated mixed
62026 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 224 / Thursday, November 20, 1997 / Notices

low-level waste). Additionally, some of

these wastes are in containers that

include asbestos and polychlorinated

biphenyls, which are regulated under

the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Similar wastes are generated as a result

of ongoing environmental restoration,

decontamination and decommissioning,

waste retrieval projects, and other

activities at INEEL and other DOE sites.

Depending on decisions resulting from

the Federal Facilities Compliance Act

process and the Waste Management

Programmatic EIS, up to 120,000 cubic

meters of such wastes from other DOE

sites could be treated at the proposed

AMWTP. To protect the environment

and public health and meet existing

regulatory requirements, including the

RCRA Land Disposal Restrictions, these

wastes must be treated and packaged

appropriately for shipment to a disposal

facility.

In May 1995, the Department issued

its Record of Decision (ROD) (60 FR

28680, June 1, 1995) for the Department

of Energy Programmatic Spent Nuclear

Fuel Management and Idaho National

Engineering Laboratory Environmental

Restoration and Waste Management

Programs Final EIS (SNF & INEL EIS)

(DOE/EIS–0203–F). One of the decisions

announced in that ROD was to manage

transuranic waste by building

‘‘treatment facilities necessary to

comply with the Federal Facility

Compliance Act. Treatment of

transuranic waste at a minimum will be

for the purpose of meeting waste

acceptance criteria for disposal at the

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (near

Carlsbad, New Mexico) and will occur

on a schedule to be negotiated with the

State of Idaho.’’

On October 17, 1995, the State of

Idaho, the Department of the Navy, and

the Department of Energy settled the

case of Public Service Co. of Colorado v.

Batt, Civil No. CV 91–0035–S-EJL (D.

Idaho) (Lead case). Certain conditions of

the Idaho Court Order/Settlement

Agreement obligated the Department to:

• Commence procurement of a

treatment facility at the INEEL for the

treatment of mixed (low-level) waste,

transuranic waste, and alphacontaminated mixed low-level waste;

• Execute a procurement contract for

the treatment facility by June 1, 1997,

complete construction of the facility

by December 31, 2002, and commence

operation by March 31, 2003.

• Treat waste shipped to Idaho for

treatment in the treatment facility

within six months (with the exception

of two cubic meters of mixed lowlevel waste from the Mare Island

Naval Shipyard);

• Ship transuranic waste received from

another DOE site for treatment at the

INEEL outside the State of Idaho for

storage or disposal within six months

of treatment.

In accordance with the Settlement

Agreement, DOE conducted a

procurement for a facility to treat mixed

low-level waste, transuranic waste, and

alpha-contaminated mixed low-level

waste at the INEEL. On December 20,

1996, DOE executed a phased contract

with BNFL to construct and operate the

proposed AMWTP. Phase 1, currently in

progress, involves information-gathering

by BNFL, DOE performing

environmental analysis under the

National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA), RCRA and other permitting

activities by BNFL, and other planning

activities needed to support the project

if DOE decides to implement the

proposed action. Contract phases 2 and

3 would involve the construction and

operation of the AMWTP and would

occur only after the issuance of a Record

of Decision in which the Department

indicated its decision to implement the

proposed action.

To support the contractor selection

process for the AMWTP, DOE undertook

the following actions in accordance

with DOE NEPA regulations (10 CFR

Part 1021.216): (1) Required that offerors

submit environmental data and analyses

as part of their proposals; and (2)

independently verified the accuracy of

the environmental data and analyses,

and prepared a confidential

environmental critique of each offeror’s

proposal. (The critique included a

discussion of the purpose of the

procurement, the salient characteristics

of each offeror’s proposal, permits,

licenses and approvals needed, and a

comparative evaluation of the potential

environmental impacts of the offers.)

DOE is preparing an environmental

synopsis, based on the environmental

critique, to document the consideration

given to environmental factors and to

record that the relevant environmental

consequences of reasonable alternatives

have been evaluated in the selection

process. The environmental synopsis

will be made publicly available and

incorporated into this EIS.

The proposed action to be analyzed in

the AMWTP EIS is consistent with the

ROD for the SNF & INEL EIS and meets

the requirements of the Court Order/

Settlement Agreement. The Department

of Energy must decide if it will

implement Phases 2 and 3 of DOE’s

contract with BNFL to construct the

facility and treat mixed low-level waste,

transuranic waste, and alphacontaminated mixed low-level waste at

the INEEL.

The EIS Schedule

The Settlement Agreement requires

DOE to ship alpha-contaminated mixed

low-level waste and transuranic waste

now located at the INEEL, currently

estimated at 65,000 cubic meters in

volume, to the Waste Isolation Pilot

Plant or other disposal facility

designated by DOE by a target date of

December 31, 2015. If the target date

cannot be met, the waste will be

shipped no later than December 31,

2018. To comply with the Settlement

Agreement, construction of the

proposed AMWTP must begin in 1999.

Therefore, DOE is planning to complete

the EIS and issue a Record of Decision

by November 1998.

Alternatives

Proposed Action

Under the proposed action, DOE

would implement Phases 2 and 3 of the

contract with BNFL to construct and

operate a facility for thermally treating

mixed low-level waste, transuranic

waste, and alpha-contaminated mixed

low-level waste according to the

treatments required under the RCRA

Land Disposal Restrictions, as

necessary. The proposed waste

treatment process consists of: retrieving

wastes from above-ground storage,

characterizing and separating wastes,

thermally treating up to 25% of the

waste using incineration and

vitrification, and treating the remaining

waste using the physical waste form

modification processes of supercompaction and macro-encapsulation.

Under the proposed action, the AMWTP

may treat up to 120,000 cubic meters of

DOE waste from other DOE sites.

Other Action Alternatives

During the procurement process, all of

the qualified offerors proposed a similar

combination of thermal and physical

treatment processes. Nevertheless, DOE

intends to consider in the EIS other

treatment alternatives, including but not

necessarily limited to non-thermal (e.g.,

chemical treatment), other thermal

technologies (e.g., vitrification), and

physical treatment processes (e.g.,

repackaging), and will analyze a range

of those treatment processes (or

combinations of processes) that DOE

determines are reasonable alternatives

to the proposed action. DOE invites

comments on these treatment options

and suggestions for other alternatives

that DOE should consider in the EIS.

No Action

The Council on Environmental

Quality NEPA Regulations (40 CFR parts

1500–1508) and the DOE NEPA
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 224 / Thursday, November 20, 1997 / Notices 62027

Regulations (10 CFR part 1021) require

the analysis of a no action alternative.

Under the no action alternative, DOE

would continue storing mixed low-level

waste, alpha-contaminated mixed lowlevel waste and transuranic waste in the

existing RCRA Type II storage modules

and the earthen covered berm at the

Radioactive Waste Management

Complex. The waste stored in the

earthen berm of the Transuranic Storage

Area Retrieval Enclosure would not be

retrieved. Under the no action

alternative, all INEEL activities

supporting the Waste Isolation Pilot

Plant would cease once the current

inventory of waste that is now ready for

transport to the Waste Isolation Pilot

Plant has been shipped. Waste currently

stored in the RCRA Type II storage

modules at the Radioactive Waste

Management Complex that could not be

shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot

Plant would remain in storage

indefinitely. If DOE selects the no action

alternative, the contract with BNFL

would be terminated for convenience.

Related NEPA Decisions and Reviews

This tiered EIS will use, and

supplement as necessary, the

information and analyses contained in:

(1) the SNF & INEL EIS, (DOE/EIS–

0203–F); (2) the WM PEIS, (DOE/EIS–

200–F) and (3) SEIS–II (DOE/EIS–0026–

S–2).

Volume 2 of the SNF & INEL EIS,

issued in April 1995, is a site-wide EIS

for environmental restoration and waste

management activites at the INEEL.

Volume 2 includes analysis of the

potential environmental impacts

associated with treating alphacontaminated and transuranic mixed

wastes and packaging the waste for

shipment to a DOE approved repository.

The SNF & INEL EIS evaluated two

proposed generic treatment facilities:

the Private Sector Alpha Low-Level

Waste Treatment Facility, and the Idaho

Waste Processing Facility. The SNF &

INEL EIS envisioned that these projects

would be identical (except for how they

would be funded and operated) and

would involve thermal (incineration)

and non-thermal treatment processes.

The SNF & INEL EIS also envisioned

that only one of these projects would

ultimately be implemented, and that

appropriate further NEPA review would

be conducted before DOE would decide

to implement one of the projects. In the

SNF & INEL EIS, the potential

environmental impacts of these facilities

were analyzed sufficiently to assess

their incremental contribution to the

cumulative impacts of past, present and

reasonably foreseeable future activities

at the INEEL.

The WM PEIS, issued in May 1997, is

a DOE complex-wide study examining

the potential environmental impacts

associated with managing five types of

radioactive and hazardous wastes

generated by past, present, and

reasonably foreseeable future activities

at 24 major sites located around the

United States. The five types of waste

examined by the WM PEIS are mixed

low-level radioactive waste (including

alpha-contaminated mixed low-level

waste), low-level radioactive waste,

transuranic waste, hazardous waste, and

high-level radioactive waste. The WM

PEIS preferred treatment alternative for

mixed low-level waste is treatment at

DOE facilities (including INEEL). The

WM PEIS preferred alternative for

transuranic waste involves treatment at

DOE facilities that have significant

quantities of transuranic waste, such as

the INEEL. Based on the preferred

alternative, treated transuranic waste

would be stored where it is treated

pending decisions on a final repository

(see below). A WM PEIS Record of

Decision has not yet been issued for any

waste types.

The SEIS–II assesses whether to

dispose of transuranic waste at the

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, and

reasonable options for transportation

and other activities associated with

disposal, as well as reasonable

alternatives concerning quantities,

sources, and treatment of transuranic

waste for disposal. The Department’s

preferred alternative in SEIS–II is to

dispose of post-1970 defense

transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation

Pilot Plant, and to transport the waste to

the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant by truck

(although DOE would continue to

explore the availability of safe and costeffective commercial rail

transportation). The preferred

alternative is consistent with the

proposed action that will be analyzed in

the AMWTP EIS.

In addition to the programmatic EISs

described above, the High-Level Waste

and Facilities Disposition (HLWFD) EIS

is an ongoing NEPA analysis that is

potentially related to the AMWTP EIS.

The HLWFD EIS will analyze the

potential environmental impacts of

treating INEEL’s high-level waste and

associated radioactive waste. The

HLWFD EIS is potentially relevant to

the proposed Advanced Mixed Waste

Treatment Project EIS because a small

portion of the radioactive waste (not

high-level waste) considered in the

former EIS is a candidate for treatment

at the proposed AMWTP. A Notice of

Intent to prepare the HLWFD EIS was

issued on September 19, 1997 (62 FR

49209).

Preliminary Identification of EIS Issues

• Potential effects on the Snake River

Plain Aquifer;

• Effects of emissions and discharges

from the thermal treatment of mixed

low-level waste, alpha-contaminated

mixed low-level waste, and

transuranic waste;

• Potential effects on the public and

workers from exposure to radiological

and hazardous materials, during

normal operations and from

reasonably foreseeable accidents;

• Potential effects on air, soil, and water

quality, from normal operations and

reasonably foreseeable accidents;

• Potential effects on members of the

public, including minority and low

income populations, from normal

operations and reasonably foreseeable

accidents;

• Pollution prevention, waste

minimization, and energy and water

use reduction technologies to

eliminate or reduce use of energy,

water, and hazardous substances, and

to minimize environmental impacts;

• Potential socioeconomic impacts,

including potential impacts

associated with the number of

workers needed for operations;

• Potential impacts on cultural and

historic resources;

• Regulation of commercial operations

on a DOE site;

• Compliance with applicable Federal,

State, and local requirements and the

Court Order/Settlement Agreement;

• Potential cumulative environmental

impacts of all past, present, and

reasonably foreseeable future

operations at the INEEL;

• Potential irreversible and irretrievable

commitment of resources and the

ultimate use of INEEL land;

• Potential environmental impacts,

including long term risks to humans,

associated with constructing,

operating, and decommissioning the

AMWTP.

Issued in Washington, D.C. on November

17, 1997.

Peter N. Brush,

Acting Assistant Secretary Environment,

Safety and Health.

[FR Doc. 97–30536 Filed 11–19–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Environmental Management SiteSpecific Advisory Board, Savannah

River Site

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of open meeting.