[PDF] National Ignition Facility Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement To The Stockpile Stewardship And Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement eBook

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Release : 2001
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This Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) was prepared pursuant to a Joint Stipulation and Order approved and entered as an order of the court on October 27, 1997, in partial settlement of the lawsuit Civ. No. 97-936 (SS) (D.D.C.), ''Natural Resources Defense Council [NRDC] et al. v. Richardson et al.'' The Joint Stipulation and Order is reproduced at the end of this document as Attachment 1. In the Joint Stipulation and Order, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) agreed to prepare an SEIS to the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management (SSM PEIS) (DOE/EIS-0236, DOE 1996a) to evaluate the reasonably foreseeable significant adverse environmental impacts of continuing to construct and of operating the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California, with respect to any potential or confirmed contamination in the area by hazardous, toxic, and/or radioactive materials. On September 25, 1998, DOE announced in the ''Federal Register'' the agency's intent to prepare this SEIS for the NIF portion (Volume III, Appendix I) of the SSM PEIS. DOE's need for preparation of this SEIS, consistent with the previously established need for NIF (DOE 1996a, Appendix I), is to determine how the results of characterization studies completed pursuant to the Joint Stipulation and Order should affect the manner in which DOE proceeds with the construction and operation of NIF. On August 5, 1999, DOE issued an amended Notice of Intent to prepare this SEIS, which incorporated changes in schedule resulting from new relevant information. The SSM PEIS addressed alternative plans for DOE's defense program activities related to nuclear weapons stockpile issues at several DOE laboratories, including LLNL. The environmental consequences of construction and operation of NIF were addressed in detail in SSM PEIS Volume III, Appendix I, entitled ''National Ignition Facility Project Specific Analysis'' (NIF PSA). The Record of Decision (ROD) for the SSM PEIS was published in the ''Federal Register'' on December 26, 1996 (61 FR 68014). In the ROD, DOE announced its decision to construct and operate NIF at LLNL. The NIF is an experimental facility that would use laser light to initiate a fusion reaction in very small quantities of hydrogen by a process known as inertial confinement fusion. The start of physical construction of NIF was authorized on March 7, 1997, and groundbreaking for the NIF occurred on May 29, 1997. Construction of the NIF is ongoing; the conventional facilities are over 94% complete and are expected to be completed in late 2001.

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Release : 1999
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The US Department of Energy (DOE) is constructing the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) at Livermore, California. In 1997, the buried capacitors containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were discovered during site excavation for the NIF. The capacitors and contaminated soil were cleaned up to levels protective of human health and the environment in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and its implementing regulations and in consultation with state and federal regulators. In october 1997, DOE entered into a Joint Stipulation and Order approved and entered as an order of the court on October 27, 1997, in partial settlement of the lawsuit Civ. No. 97-936 (SS) (D.D.C.), ''Natural Resources Defense Council et al. v Richardson et al.''. Paragraph 7 of the Joint Stipulation and Order provides that a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) shall evaluate ''the reasonably foreseeable significant adverse environmental impacts of continuing to construct and of operating NIF at LLNL with respect to any potential or confirmed contamination in the area by hazardous, toxic, and/or radioactive materials''. On September 25, 1998, DOE announced in the Federal Register the agency's intent to prepare an SEIS for the NIF portion (Volume 3, Appendix 1) of the ''Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Stockpile Stewardship and Management'' (SSM PEIS) (DOE/EIS-0236, September 1996). The Joint Stipulation and Order required further investigations of potential buried wastes and of soil and groundwater contamination in seven site areas. The results of these investigations are as follows. Interview and searches of historical information indicated a low probability of finding additional buried sources of contamination. Magnetometer, electromagnetic induction, and ground-penetrating radar surveys identified no additional potential areas of concern. In December 1998, soil sampling during routine maintenance operations identified residual PCBs in soils in the East Traffic Circle Area from a previous landfill closure. The area is outside the NIF construction Area. The cleanup of the buried capacitors; contaminated soils; and other, nonhazardous, items found in 1997 and 1998 resulted in dust emissions. However, the risks of cancer and noncancer health effects due to PCBs on inhaled dust from the cleanups are estimated to have been orders of magnitude below levels of concern established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Information from LLNL's extensive groundwater monitoring program and new information in this SEIS regarding present and potential future groundwater concentrations of PCBs in the study areas indicate that PCB contamination levels are well below concentrations that would impact human health and the environment. Concentrations of PCBs reaching the groundwater are conservatively estimated to be less than 0.5% of EPA's current drinking water guidelines for PCBs. No impacts on human health or the environment would result from this low level of potential contamination.

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Release : 2003
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The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is responsible for the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, including production readiness required to maintain that stockpile. Since 1989, DOE has been without the capability to produce stockpile certified plutonium pits, which are an essential component of nuclear weapons. NNSA, the Department of Defense (DOD), and Congress have highlighted the lack of long-term pit production capability as a national security issue requiring timely resolution. While a small interim capacity is currently being established at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), classified analyses indicate projected capacity requirements (number of pits to be produced over a period of time), and agility (ability to rapidly change from production of one pit type to another, ability to simultaneously produce multiple pit types, or the flexibility to produce pits of a new design in a timely manner) necessary for long-term support of the stockpile will require a long-term pit production capability. In particular, identification of a systemic problem associated with an existing pit type, class of pits, or aging phenomenon cannot be adequately responded to today, nor could it be with the small capability being established at LANL (see Section S.2 for a more detailed discussion regarding the purpose and need for a Modern Pit Facility [MPF]).