Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 14/11/1997

Interim Management of Nuclear Materials at the Savannah River Site

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) prepared a final environmental impact statement (EIS), ``Interim Management of Nuclear Materials'' (DOE/EIS-0220, October 20, 1995), to assess the potential environmental impacts of actions necessary to manage certain nuclear materials at the Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, South Carolina, until decisions on their future use or ultimate disposition are made and implemented. Some of the particular materials considered in the EIS could present environment, safety and health vulnerabilities in their current storage condition. On December 12, 1995, DOE issued a Record of Decision (ROD) and Notice of Preferred Alternatives, 60 FR 65300 (December 19, 1995), on the interim management of several categories of nuclear materials at the SRS. That ROD announced DOE's decision to stabilize plutonium and uranium stored in vaults using a combination of four methods that were fully analyzed in the Final EIS: (1) Improving Storage, (2) Processing to Metal, (3) Processing to Oxide, and (4) Vitrification (F-Canyon). DOE also announced a narrowing of alternatives under consideration for the stabilization of plutonium-239 and neptunium-237 solutions in H- Canyon, a