Supplement Analysis for the Idaho High-Level Waste and Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement PDF Download

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Book Description
In October 2002, DOE issued the Idaho High-Level Waste and Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) (DOE 2002) that provided an analysis of the potential environmental consequences of alternatives/options for the management and disposition of Sodium Bearing Waste (SBW), High-Level Waste (HL W) calcine, and HLW facilities at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) located at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), now known as the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and referred to hereafter as the Idaho Site. Subsequent to the issuance of the Final EIS, DOE included the requirement for treatment of SBW in the Request for Proposals for Environmental Management activities on the Idaho Site. The new Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) Contractor identified Steam Reforming as their proposed method to treat SBW; a method analyzed in the Final EIS as an option to treat SBW. The proposed Steam Reforming process for SBW is the same as in the Final EIS for retrieval, treatment process, waste form and transportation for disposal. In addition, DOE has updated the characterization data for both the HLW Calcine (BBWI 2005a) and SBW (BBWI 2004 and BBWI 2005b) and identified two areas where new calculation methods are being used to determine health and safety impacts. Because of those changes, DOE has prepared this supplement analysis to determine whether there are ''substantial changes in the proposed action that are relevant to environmental concerns'' or ''significant new circumstances or information'' within the meaning of the Council of Environmental Quality and DOE National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Regulations (40 CFR 1502.9 (c) and 10 CFR 1021.314) that would require preparation of a Supplemental EIS. Specifically, this analysis is intended to determine if: (1) the Steam Reforming Option identified in the Final EIS adequately bounds impacts from the Steam Reforming Process proposed by the new ICP Contractor using the new characterization data, (2) the new characterization data is significantly different than the data presented in the Final EIS, (3) the new calculation methods present a significant change to the impacts described in the Final EIS, and (4) would the updated characterization data cause significant changes in the environmental impacts for the action alternatives/options presented in the Final EIS. There are no other aspects of the Final EIS that require additional review because DOE has not identified any additional new significant circumstances or information that would warrant such a review.