CHAPTER 7. IRREVERSIBLE OR IRRETRIEVABLE RESOURCE COMMITMENTS
Irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources that could occur with the implementation of any of the alternatives to manage nuclear materials currently stored at the Savannah River Site fall into the categories of materials and energy. To a large extent the physical plant and facilities required to implement the alternatives being considered already exist in the F- and H-Areas, so the resources typically required to construct new buildings and establish new engineering processes would be relatively small. The exceptions to this would be modifications to produce the F-Canyon Vitrification Facility and the construction of a new Dry Storage Facility and an Actinide Packaging Facility. If necessary, the construction of such new facilities outside existing industrialized areas would require less than an estimated 0.4 square kilometer (100 acres) of onsite land.
7.1 Materials
The construction of the Actinide Processing Facility would require about 4,620 cubic meters (6,040 cubic yards) of concrete and about 1,775 metric tons (1,960 tons) of steel. The construction of the Dry Storage Facility would require about 17,950 cubic meters (23,520 cubic yards) of concrete and about 6,910 metric tons (7,600 tons) of steel.
Chemicals such as nitric acid and tributyl phosphate would be committed for the various alternative processes. The required chemicals and materials are readily available. Strategic and critical materials (e.g., beryllium, cadmium, cobalt) would not be required in quantities that would seriously reduce the national or world supply.
Existing facilities that DOE would use for management activities would have contaminated areas and equipment that would be unusable for recycling. This would include such materials as masonry, piping, metal structures and objects, flooring, and plastics.
7.2 Energy
All the alternatives would require power to operate the F- and H-Area buildings and the various process activities conducted in them. Steam would be used for applications such as evaporators and off-gas reactors. The fuel used to create electricity for the facilities would be purchased from commercial utilities. Small amounts of diesel fuel would also be used.
Cumulative electric consumption rates have been estimated for the 10-year period from 1995 through 2004. The electric use estimate for the No-Action Scenario would be 1,260,000 million kilowatt-hours, 1,140,000 million kilowatt-hours for the Preferred Alternatives Scenario, and 1,401,000 million kilowatt-hours for the Comparative Alternatives Scenario.
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