[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 150 (Wednesday, August 5, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41810-41813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-20895]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Record of Decision for the Department of Energy's Waste 
Management Program: Treatment of Non-wastewater Hazardous Waste

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Record of decision.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy's (DOE) Final Waste Management 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (WM PEIS) (May 1997) 
analyzed alternatives for the annual treatment of approximately 3,440 
metric tons of non-wastewater hazardous waste that is currently being 
transported to commercial facilities for treatment. DOE has decided to 
continue to use off-site facilities for the treatment of major portions 
of the non-wastewater hazardous waste generated at DOE sites, based in 
part on analyses in the WM PEIS. The Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in 
Tennessee and the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina will 
treat some of their own non-wastewater hazardous waste on-site, where 
capacity is available in existing facilities and where this is 
economically favorable. This decision does not involve any transfers of 
non-wastewater hazardous waste among DOE sites.
    This decision differs slightly in two respects from the Preferred 
Alternative (the No Action Alternative) identified in the WM PEIS. 
First, in the Preferred Alternative (and all other alternatives 
analyzed), DOE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental 
Laboratory (INEEL) was assumed to treat some of its own non-wastewater 
hazardous waste on site. However, all non-wastewater hazardous waste at 
INEEL is currently treated at off-site facilities, and DOE's decision 
is to continue this practice for the site. Second, the Preferred 
Alternative did not assume any on-site treatment at SRS. However, 
treatment of non-wastewater hazardous waste at SRS was analyzed in the 
Decentralized Alternative (as was on-site treatment of non-wastewater 
hazardous waste at ORR). Since publication of the WM PEIS, the 
Consolidated Incineration Facility has become available at SRS for the 
treatment of some of the site's non-wastewater hazardous wastes. Use of

[[Page 41811]]

this facility is economically favorable for treating some of the site's 
non-wastewater hazardous waste. The potential health and environmental 
impacts of the No Action and Decentralized Alternatives are small, with 
negligible differences between these two alternatives.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the WM PEIS and this Record 
of Decision 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 Record of Decision are 
available can also be accessed on the DOE Office of Environmental 
Management's World Wide Web site at http://www.em.doe.gov/em30/.
    To request copies of the WM PEIS, this Record of Decision, or a 
list of the reading rooms and public libraries, 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 DOE's national Waste Management Program, 
the WM PEIS, or this Record of Decision, please write or call: Mr. Jay 
Rhoderick, Acting Director, Office of Planning and Analysis (EM-35), 
United States Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management, 
20400 Century Boulevard, Germantown, MD 20874. Telephone: (301) 903-
7211.
    For general information on the U.S. Department of Energy National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, please write or call: Ms. 
Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance (EH-
42), United States 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 (800) 472-2756

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The WM PEIS analyzed alternatives for the annual treatment of 
approximately 3,440 metric tons of non-wastewater hazardous waste that 
is currently being transported to commercial facilities for treatment. 
DOE prepared this Record of Decision pursuant to 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). 
This Record of Decision is based in part on analyses contained in the 
WM PEIS, DOE/EIS-0200-F. DOE published a notice of its intent to 
prepare the WM PEIS in the Federal Register on October 25, 1990. DOE 
issued a Draft WM PEIS on September 22, 1995, and hearings were held 
during the public comment period, which closed on February 19, 1996. 
All public comments were addressed in the Final WM PEIS, which DOE 
issued on May 30, 1997.

Purpose and Need for Agency Action

    DOE needs to manage (i.e., treat, store, and dispose of) its wastes 
in ways that will maintain safe, efficient, and cost-effective control 
of these wastes; comply with applicable Federal and state laws; and 
protect public health and the environment. The WM PEIS evaluates the 
potential environmental impacts of managing five types of waste 
generated by defense and research activities at DOE sites around the 
United States. The five waste types are: mixed low-level radioactive 
waste, low-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, high-level 
radioactive waste, and non-wastewater hazardous waste. The WM PEIS 
examines, from a nation-wide perspective, the potential impacts of 
managing these waste types and the cumulative impacts of waste 
management, transportation and other ongoing and reasonably foreseeable 
activities.
    This Record of Decision applies only to the treatment of non-
wastewater hazardous waste as analyzed in the WM PEIS, and addresses 
the extent to which the Department will continue to rely on off-site 
treatment of non-wastewater hazardous waste. More specifically, the WM 
PEIS analyzed alternatives for whether to thermally <SUP>1</SUP> treat 
non-wastewater hazardous waste on DOE sites or to continue to use off-
site treatment. The Appendix to this Record of Decision identifies the 
DOE sites evaluated in the WM PEIS as potential locations for waste 
management operations, and the sites analyzed that have hazardous 
waste.
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    \1\ For purposes of this discussion, ``thermal treatment'' means 
incineration.
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    On January 23, 1998, the Department published (63 FR 3629) a Record 
of Decision for the treatment and storage of its transuranic waste 
based in part on analyses in the WM PEIS. Records of Decision for the 
three other waste types analyzed in the WM PEIS will be issued in due 
course.

Hazardous Waste Treatment

    Hazardous waste, regulated under the Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA), is non-radioactive waste exhibiting the 
characteristics of ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity 
as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulations 
implementing RCRA, or waste that EPA has listed under RCRA as hazardous 
waste. In addition, DOE manages some state-regulated hazardous wastes 
and hazardous wastes regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act, 
which, for the purposes of this decision, are considered hazardous 
wastes. The hazardous waste covered by this decision is generated as a 
result of research and development activities and nuclear weapons 
production.
    According to the WM PEIS analyses, most of DOE's hazardous waste is 
wastewater containing less than a 1% concentration of organic hazardous 
waste. The Department currently treats its wastewater hazardous waste 
on-site, and will continue to do so in the future. This waste is not 
difficult to treat and is not cost-effective to transport off-site for 
treatment.
    DOE's non-wastewater hazardous waste consists primarily of sludges, 
solids and organic liquids (water containing higher concentrations of 
organic hazardous waste than wastewater). DOE currently ships a large 
portion of its non-wastewater hazardous waste to off-site commercial 
facilities for treatment as well as disposal (commercial facilities 
take title to the waste and, after treatment, dispose of it in a manner 
consistent with applicable state and federal laws and regulations). In 
addition, some DOE sites use on-site non-thermal treatment capability 
for non-wastewater hazardous waste to meet applicable regulatory 
requirements.

Alternatives Considered for Treatment of Non-wastewater Hazardous 
Waste

    In the WM PEIS, the term ``alternative'' refers to a nationwide 
configuration of sites for treating, storing, or disposing of a waste 
type. The WM PEIS analyzed a No Action alternative, a Decentralized and 
two Regionalized alternatives under which DOE would, to varying 
extents, seek permits for, construct, and use facilities at DOE sites 
for treating non-wastewater hazardous wastes generated at DOE sites. 
The potential environmental impacts associated with the use of off-site 
commercial facilities were also analyzed in the WM PEIS. The 
alternatives analyzed were as follows.
    No Action Alternative--treatment of 3% of non-wastewater hazardous 
waste at 2 DOE sites (INEEL and ORR); 97% at commercial facilities. The 
analysis of a ``no action'' alternative, required by Council on 
Environmental Quality regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500-
1508) and DOE NEPA

[[Page 41812]]

implementing procedures (10 CFR Part 1021), provides an environmental 
baseline against which the impacts of other alternatives can be 
compared. Under this alternative, all non-wastewater hazardous waste 
would continue to be treated off-site at commercial facilities, except 
at INEEL and ORR, where a small proportion of those sites non-
wastewater hazardous waste would be treated in existing on-site 
facilities.
    Decentralized Alternative--treatment of 9% of non-wastewater 
hazardous waste at 3 DOE sites (INEEL, ORR and SRS); 91% at commercial 
facilities. Under this alternative, DOE would utilize thermal treatment 
technology at the INEEL, ORR, and SRS, to treat organic non-wastewater 
hazardous wastes from these 3 sites and continue the use of commercial 
treatment facilities to treat all other non-wastewater hazardous waste.
    Regionalized Alternative 1--treatment of 50% of non-wastewater 
hazardous waste at 5 DOE sites (INEEL, ORR, SRS, Hanford, and the Los 
Alamos National Laboratory); 50% at commercial facilities. Under this 
alternative, 5 DOE sites would use thermal treatment and organic 
removal/recovery technologies to treat 50% of the non-wastewater 
hazardous waste from all sites analyzed in the WM PEIS. These 5 sites 
are: the Hanford Site, INEEL, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, ORR, 
and SRS. DOE would use commercial facilities for the remaining 50% of 
its non-wastewater hazardous treatment needs.
    Regionalized Alternative 2--treatment of 90% of non-wastewater 
hazardous waste at 2 DOE sites (INEEL and ORR); 10% at commercial 
facilities. Under this alternative, facilities at INEEL and ORR would 
use organic treatment and deactivation/neutralization for the treatment 
of 90% of the non-wastewater hazardous waste from all sites analyzed in 
the WM PEIS. DOE would continue to use commercial facilities for metal 
recovery and recycling, battery recycling, and stabilization of the 
remaining 10% of DOE's non-wastewater hazardous waste.

Environmentally Preferable Alternative

    The WM PEIS analyzed a number of potential impacts, including those 
on human health, air and water resources, ecological resources, land 
use, and site infrastructures for each of the major sites at which 
waste management facilities might be located. All potential impacts 
identified in the WM PEIS were considered in DOE's selection of the 
preferred alternative and its decision regarding treatment of non-
wastewater hazardous waste.
    Potential health and environmental impacts for all alternatives are 
generally low. The No Action and Decentralized Alternatives have 
slightly lower transportation and air quality impacts than the 
regionalized alternatives and are therefore considered to be 
environmentally preferable.

Decision: Treatment of Non-wastewater Hazardous Waste

    The Department has decided to continue to use off-site facilities 
for the treatment of major portions of the non-wastewater hazardous 
waste generated at DOE sites. ORR and SRS will treat some of their own 
non-wastewater hazardous waste on-site, where capacity is available in 
existing facilities and where this is economically favorable. This 
decision does not involve any transfers of non-wastewater hazardous 
waste among DOE sites. The potential health and environmental impacts 
of this decision are identified in the Decentralized Alternative 
analyzed in the WM PEIS.

Basis for the Decision

    The potential health, environmental, and cost impacts of continued 
use of off-site commercial facilities for treating DOE's non-wastewater 
hazardous waste are low, and this decision fully meets DOE's regulatory 
responsibilities for the safe management of its non-wastewater 
hazardous wastes. The additional potential costs of expanding existing 
or constructing new on-site capabilities are not justified in view of 
the current availability of DOE and commercial facilities to treat this 
waste. Commercial facilities used for treating non-wastewater hazardous 
waste from DOE sites are required to meet all applicable regulatory 
requirements.

Differences From the Preferred Alternative in the WM PEIS

    This decision differs slightly in two respects from the Preferred 
Alternative (the No Action Alternative) identified in the WM PEIS. 
First, in the Preferred Alternative (and all other alternatives 
analyzed), INEEL was assumed to treat some of its own non-wastewater 
hazardous waste on site. In the Preferred Alternative, the amount of 
waste assumed for on-site treatment at INEEL was less than 3% of the 
total annual volume of non-wastewater hazardous waste from the 11 DOE 
sites that generated over 90% of the annual total volume analyzed in 
the WM PEIS. However, all non-wastewater hazardous waste at INEEL is 
currently treated at off-site facilities, and DOE's decision is to 
continue this practice for the site. Second, the No Action alternative 
did not assume any on-site treatment at SRS. However, treatment of non-
wastewater hazardous waste at SRS was analyzed in the Decentralized 
Alternative. Since publication of the WM PEIS, the Consolidated 
Incineration Facility has become available at SRS for the thermal 
treatment of some of the site's non-wastewater hazardous wastes. Use of 
this facility is economically favorable for treating some of the site's 
non-wastewater hazardous waste.

Mitigation

    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 mitigation measures 
that DOE will continue to utilize in its management of hazardous waste 
are:
    <bullet> Pollution prevention plans;
    <bullet> Reuse of existing facilities wherever feasible rather than 
construction of new facilities;
    <bullet> Occupational safety and health training to ensure that 
workers understand operational safety procedures.
    Site-specific, non-routine mitigation measures may also be 
identified and implemented in the course of further decision making 
under site-specific NEPA reviews.
    As provided by 10 CFR Sec. 1021.315, the Department may revise this 
Record of Decision in the future as long as the potential environmental 
impacts associated with the revised decision have been adequately 
analyzed by existing NEPA documents. Revision of this Record of 
Decision could occur, for example, as new technologies or additional 
cost information becomes available.
    This Record of Decision will be implemented in compliance with all 
applicable Federal, State, and local requirements.

    Issued in Washington, DC this 30th day of July, 1998.
James M. Owendoff,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.

[[Page 41813]]



                                    Appendix.--Sites Evaluated in the WM PEIS                                   
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                                                                                                 Hazardous waste
          Abbreviation                    Full name               State        Major site \1\       site \2\    
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ANL-E...........................  Argonne National          IL                Yes.............  Yes.            
                                   Laboratory--East.                                                            
BNL.............................  Brookhaven National       NY                Yes.............  No.             
                                   Laboratory.                                                                  
FEMP............................  Fernald Environmental     OH                Yes.............  No.             
                                   Management Project.                                                          
Fermi...........................  Fermi National            IL                No..............  Yes.            
                                   Accelerator Laboratory.                                                      
Hanford.........................  Hanford Site............  WA                Yes.............  Yes.            
INEEL...........................  Idaho National            ID                Yes.............  Yes.            
                                   Engineering and                                                              
                                   Environmental                                                                
                                   Laboratory.                                                                  
KCP.............................  Kansas City Plant.......  KS                No..............  Yes.            
LLNL............................  Lawrence Livermore        CA                Yes.............  Yes.            
                                   National Laboratory.                                                         
LANL............................  Los Alamos National       NM                Yes.............  Yes.            
                                   Laboratory.                                                                  
NTS.............................  Nevada Test Site........  NV                Yes.............  No.             
ORR.............................  Oak Ridge Reservation...  TN                Yes.............  Yes.            
PGDP............................  Paducah Gaseous           KY                Yes.............  No.             
                                   Diffusion Plant.                                                             
Pantex..........................  Pantex Plant............  TX                Yes.............  Yes.            
PORTS...........................  Portsmouth Gaseous        OH                Yes.............  No.             
                                   Diffusion Plant.                                                             
RFETS...........................  Rocky Flats               CO                Yes.............  No.             
                                   Environmental                                                                
                                   Technology Site.                                                             
SNL/NM..........................  Sandia National           NM                Yes.............  Yes.            
                                   Laboratories--New                                                            
                                   Mexico.                                                                      
SRS.............................  Savannah River Site.....  SC                Yes.............  Yes.            
WIPP............................  Waste Isolation Pilot     NM                Yes.............  No.             
                                   Plant.                                                                       
WVDP............................  West Valley               NY                Yes.............  No.             
                                   Demonstration Project.                                                       
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\1\ Sites analyzed in the WM PEIS as potential locations for waste management facilities for one or more types  
  of waste.                                                                                                     
\2\ Sites analyzed in the WM PEIS alternatives for the treatment of non-wastewater hazardous waste. These sites 
  generated over 90% of the annual total volume analyzed in the WM PEIS.                                        

[FR Doc. 98-20895 Filed 8-4-98; 8:45 am]
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