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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 43 / Monday, March 8, 2021 / Notices DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
National Nuclear Security Administration Disposition of Fast Critical Assembly Plutonium National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy.
ACTION: Amended record of decision.
AGENCY:

The National Nuclear Security Administration NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy DOE, is amending its prior decision to disposition up to 350 kilograms kg of foreign Gap Material Plutonium from preparation for emplacement in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant WIPP to disposition using an electrolytic dissolver in H-Canyon, vitrification with high level radioactive waste HLW at the Defense Waste Processing Facility DWPF, and storage at Savannah River Site SRS until a geologic repository is available. NNSA has determined through feasibility and process technology studies that this disposition path could be performed at a substantially lower cost than preparation for disposal at WIPP. NNSA
has prepared a Supplement Analysis SA to inform this amended decision and has determined that no additional National Environmental Policy Act NEPA review is necessary.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on this Amended Record of Decision ROD or the Fast Critical Assembly FCA SA, or to receive related NEPA documents, please contact: Ms. Amy Miller, NEPA
Compliance Officer, National Nuclear Security Administration, Office of General Counsel, 505 8455090; or by email to amy.miller@nnsa.doe.gov. This Amended ROD and the FCA SA DOE/
EIS0283S2SA02, Supplement Analysis for the Disposition of Fast Critical Assembly Plutonium, January 2021 will be available on the internet at http energy.gov/nepa. For further information on FCA disposition, contact Ms. Lisa McGuire, Office of Material Management and Minimization, National Nuclear Security Administration, 803 9526921 or email at lisa.mcguire@nnsa.srs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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SUMMARY:

Background In the Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement SPD Supplemental EIS
DOE/EIS0283S2, April 2015, NNSA
evaluated disposition options for 13.1
metric tons MT of surplus plutonium
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consisting of 6 MT of non-pit material and 7.1 MT of pit material. The 6 MT
of surplus non-pit plutonium included 0.9 MT 900 kg of excess capacity to allow for the possibility that the NNSA
might identify additional quantities of surplus plutonium that could be processed for disposition using the facilities and capabilities analyzed in the SPD Supplemental EIS.
NNSA assessed the impacts of shipment, receipt, treatment, storage, and disposition of up to 900 kilograms kg of foreign Gap Material Plutonium, of which the FCA fuel is a subset, in an Environmental Assessment EA for Gap Material PlutoniumTransport, Receipt, and Processing DOE/EA2024, December 2015, with a subsequent Finding of No Significant Impact FONSI. In the 2015 EA, NNSA noted that up to 375 kg of the Gap Material Plutonium may require stabilization prior to disposition. NNSA further stated that interim storage and disposition of the Gap Material Plutonium would be in accordance with decisions made for disposition of U.S.
surplus plutonium in the SPD
Supplemental EIS.
In a 2016 ROD 81 FR 19588, April 5, 2016, NNSA announced its decision to implement the preferred alternative, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant WIPP
Dilute and Dispose Alternative, for disposition of 6 MT of surplus, weapons-usable, non-pit plutonium. In the 2016 ROD, NNSA refers specifically to the 2015 Gap Material Plutonium EA.
In the SPD Supplemental EIS, NNSA
evaluated five alternatives for disposition of 6 MT of plutonium, which includes the 900 kg of Gap Material Plutonium, including the HCanyon/HB-Line to DWPF Alternative and WIPP Dilute and Dispose Alternative.
Based on an international agreement, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency JAEA
is providing funding to NNSA to disposition the FCA plutonium FCA
fuel, a subset of the Gap Material Plutonium. The United States received the FCA fuel from Japan for nonproliferation purposes to disposition it safely and securely, and it is currently stored at SRS awaiting further processing for final disposition.
The FCA fuel is different from the rest of the 6 MT because it is clad in stainless steel, whereas the majority of the 6 MT is not clad in stainless steel.
The stainless-steel cladding must be removed prior to processing the plutonium. As described in the 2015
Gap Material Plutonium EA, NNSA
intended to separate the FCA fuel from its stainless-steel cladding and convert
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it to an oxide form 1 for dilution at SRS
to meet the waste acceptance criteria for disposal at WIPP near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Because of the high cost to install and operate a decladding and oxide conversion process, NNSA
initiated an evaluation of alternative processing technologies. Based on these feasibility and process technology studies, NNSA determined that electrolytic dissolution could be performed at SRS at a substantially lower cost than the mechanical decladding and oxidation process.
Based on results of studies and experiments conducted by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions in 2017 and 2018, NNSA is changing the disposition path for up to 350 kg of FCA fuel.
Instead of using the WIPP Alternative, NNSA will employ the H-Canyon/HBLine Alternative, using a dissolver in H-Canyon, vitrification with HLW at the Defense Waste Processing Facility DWPF, and storage at SRS until a geologic repository is available, as described in the SPD Supplemental EIS.
However, NNSA will use an electrolytic dissolver rather than a chemical dissolver in H-Canyon to dissolve the FCA fuel to prepare it for transfer to DWPF.
Disposition Process The material will be dissolved using an electrolytic dissolver in H-Canyon.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management DOE/EM categorically excluded replacement of a failed electrolytic dissolution unit in HCanyon with a spare electrolytic dissolution unit. OBUH20190006, January 14, 2019, available at https
www.energy.gov/nepa/downloads/cx019585-electrolytic-dissolution-fastcritical-assembly-material.
The FCA fuel will be transported to H-Canyon where containers of the FCA
fuel will be removed from the shipping packages and placed in or attached to a charging device for transport to the dissolver. After preparing the electrolytic dissolver with a cold chemical solution of nitric acid, the cans will be charged to placed in the dissolver. Electrical power will be applied to the dissolver resulting in the dissolution of the FCA cladding and fuel. The only difference between the HCanyon process used to dissolve the FCA fuel with an electrolytic dissolver rather than a chemical dissolver is the 1 The majority of FCA fuel is stainless-steel clad alloy and requires conversion to an oxide prior to dilution. A small portion of the FCA fuel is stainless-steel clad oxide and, therefore, would not require conversion prior to dilution. This AROD
applies to both the stainless-steel clad alloy and the stainless-steel clad oxide.

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