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FOREWORD

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is a major Department of Energy (DOE) installation. The past mission of the SRS was to produce nuclear materials that supported the defense, research, and medical programs of the United States.

In 1992 the Secretary of Energy directed the SRS to phase out defense-related chemical separations activities. As a result of shutdowns and reduced demand for nuclear materials, the SRS presently has a large inventory of in-process solutions, reactor fuel assemblies, and reactor targets. These materials, due to their form or to the condition in which they are maintained, could represent a concern for the public, worker health and safety, and the environment.

DOE published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare this environmental impact statement (EIS) on March 17, 1994 (59 FR 12588). The purposes of DOE actions related to the inventory of nuclear materials at the SRS are to stabilize those materials that represent a health and safety concern for the public, workers, and the environment in the short term and to convert those materials required to support DOE programs to the desired products. DOE considers these actions to be necessary intermediate steps before it can make and implement long-term decisions on the disposition of these nuclear materials.

On June 21, 1994, DOE issued an NOI to prepare a "Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Storage and Disposition of Weapons-Usable Fissile Materials" (59 FR 31985). DOE anticipates that it will need as long as 10 years to begin the implementation of the decisions it makes as a result of that programmatic EIS. In the meantime, some of the materials at the SRS require continuing vigilance because of unstable configurations and uncertainties related to continued storage.

ThI for this EIS requested public comments and suggestions for DOE to consider in its determination of the scope of the EIS, and announced a public scoping period that ended on May 31, 1994. During the scoping period, individuals, organizations, and government agencies submitted 80 comments that DOE considered applicable to the interim management of nuclear materials. In addition, DOE held scoping meetings in Savannah, Georgia; North Augusta, South Carolina; and Columbia, South Carolina, on May 12, 17, and 19, respectively.

Transcripts of public testimony, copies of scoping letters, scoping comments and DOE responses, and reference materials cited in this EIS are available for review in the DOE Public Reading Room at the University of South Carolina-Aiken Campus, Gregg-Graniteville Library, 2nd Floor, University Parkway, Aiken, South Carolina, (803) 648-6851, and at the Freedom of Information Reading Room, Room 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C., (202) 586-6020.

DOE has prepared this EIS in accordance with the NEPA regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) and DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures

(10 CFR Part 1021). This EIS identifies the methods used and the scientific and other sources of information consulted. In addition, it incorporates, physically or by reference, available results of ongoing studies. The organization of the EIS is as follows:

• Chapter 1 describes the purpose and need for interim nuclear material management activities. This chapter also identifies and categorizes the nuclear materials that this EIS addresses.

• Chapter 2 identifies the alternatives that DOE would use for the management of the nuclear material at the SRS.

• Chapter 3 describes the SRS environment as it relates to the alternatives discussed in Chapter 2.

• Chapter 4 assesses the environmental impacts of the alternatives under normal operation and accident conditions.

• Chapter 5 discusses the cumulative impacts of interim management actions in relation to impacts of past, present, and foreseeable future activities at the SRS.

• Chapter 6 assesses the short-term versus long-term resource commitments associated with reinstituting activities in the F- and H-Canyons and support facilities.

• Chapter 7 identifies irreversible or irretrievable resource commitments.

• Chapter 8 discusses regulatory requirements, including applicable statutes and DOE Orders, and compliance with state and Federal regulations.

• Appendix A lists SRS nuclear materials in three categories: (1) Stable (material that DOE does not need for programmatic purposes and can safely store as it currently exists), (2) Programmatic (material that requires conversion due to programmatic need), and (3) Candidates for Stabilization (material that could require short-term stabilization).

• Appendix B is a summary of programmatic need for and use of plutonium-242. Because this information is classified under the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, it is not included here; however, the DOE decisionmaker will have access to this information for use as a basis for decisions on the interim management of these nuclear materials.

• Appendix C describes facilities and processes that would be involved in the interim management of nuclear materials.

• Appendix D provides environmental impact data for normal operations related to the interim management of nuclear materials.

• Appendix E discusses accidents that could occur at SRS facilities during the interim management of nuclear materials.