National Nuclear Security Administration NEPA (2020 DOE transition)

Book 2 - Issue Papers
Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) must complete appropriate National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews and comply with NEPA requirements for all operational activities. Major activities such as procurements and construction cannot begin until NEPA reviews are complete. The NNSA Office of the General Counsel (NNSA GC) is responsible for ensuring that all programmatic and site-specific NEPA reviews are conducted in full compliance with the law. In addition, NNSA GC assists the Department of Justice when a party challenges NNSA’s NEPA compliance in federal court. Consistent with the new regulations promulgated by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), all new NEPA activities initiated after September of 2020 comply with the new CEQ regulations. NEPA actions which were initiated prior to the new regulations’ effective date are being completed consistent with regulations in place at the time the action began.

Issues

The timing and procedural accuracy of NNSA’s NEPA actions is critical for continued timely NNSA operational activities. In particular, NEPA compliance will be vital in ensuring NNSA meets the statutory requirement to produce at least 80 pits a year by 2030 with at least 30 of these pits produced at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). NNSA plans to produce the remainder of the pits using the facility originally intended for the Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) Fabrication Facility Project at the Savanah River Site. Local and regional groups and politicians are particularly interested in the Pit Production NEPA process and environmental groups have promised litigation, which could delay implementation of the Plutonium Pit Strategy at both LANL and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina (SRS).

Status

NNSA’s NEPA analyses at most sites are proceeding normally. NNSA’s NEPA strategy for plutonium pit production is being executed on schedule, but environmental groups have promised litigation.

Milestones

Completed

• December 2019: Final Supplement Analysis (SA) of the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (CT SPEIS).
• August 2020: Final SA for the Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Continued Operation of LANL.
• September 2020: Amended Record of Decision (AROD) for the CT SPEIS for LANL pit production activities.
• September 2020: AROD for the Site-Wide EIS for the Continued Operation of LANL.September 25, 2020: Final EIS for Plutonium Pit Production at the SRS.

Anticipated

• Expected no earlier than October 25, 2020: AROD for the CT SPEIS for SRS pit production activities as the second selected site.
• Expected no earlier than October 25, 2020: ROD for the Plutonium Pit Production at SRS EIS.

Background

Plutonium pits are critical components of every nuclear weapon, with nearly all current stockpile pits having been produced from 1978–1989. Today, the United States’ capability to produce plutonium pits is limited. To produce pits with enhanced safety features to meet NNSA and Department of Defense (DoD) requirements, mitigate against the risk of plutonium aging, and respond to changes in deterrent requirements driven by growing threats from peer competitors, the DoD requires NNSA to produce no fewer than 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030, and to sustain the capacity for future programs. This mission-need to produce 80 pits per year by 2030 is codified in statute. To achieve the nation’s pit production requirement, NNSA proposed to repurpose a facility at SRS to produce plutonium pits while also maximizing pit production activities at LANL as the best way to manage the cost, schedule, and risk of such a vital undertaking.

In June 2019, NNSA publicly announced its approach to NEPA compliance for the expanded pit production mission. The plan was to first conduct a programmatic review to assist in decisions as to how to execute the pit mission and thereafter to conduct site-specific reviews. NNSA has completed almost all NEPA milestones for pit production, at this time only awaiting an AROD for Complex Transformation and a ROD associated with the Environmental Impact Statement for the Savannah River Site. Upon the completion of NEPA documentation process, environmental groups have promised to bring litigation against the Department, which would allege inadequate NEPA review. Neither project work nor litigation can be started until publication of the respective RODs and ARODs. Typically, construction work subject to the NEPA process is halted pending the outcome of any litigation and a judge may issue an injunction prohibiting execution of the work subject to the NEPA. However, in certain circumstances NNSA may proceed with construction during the litigation, but may have to take corrective actions depending on the outcome. NNSA is prepared to assist the Department of Justice in defending NNSA’s NEPA compliance.

NNSA’s NEPA strategy is to build upon and update previous analysis of the environmental effects of pit production. NNSA has previously evaluated the environmental effects of pit production levels far higher than the ones contemplated by the current program. The fact that pit production has been considered on a larger scale in the past does not excuse NNSA of doing the necessary NEPA analysis of this level of pit production going forward. It does, however, allow NNSA to build upon previous analysis rather than starting from scratch and complete the necessary analysis in a timely and efficient manner.

Previously, NNSA prepared the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic EIS to analyze the potential environmental impacts associated with pit production at different site alternatives: LANL in Los Alamos, New Mexico; SRS near Aiken, South Carolina; Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas; Y–12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and the Nevada National Security Site north of Las Vegas, Nevada. At SRS, the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic EIS also evaluated a pit production facility that would use the MOX facility and pit disassembly and conversion facility infrastructure. Additionally, pit production at LANL has been analyzed in several NEPA documents over the past two decades. RODs have authorized pit production levels of no more than approximately 20 pits per year at LANL. However, higher levels of pit production have been analyzed in: The Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic EIS, which analyzed pit production levels as high as 125 pits per year for the 5 sites listed above; and in the 2008 LANL Sitewide EIS, which analyzed up to 80 pits per year at LANL in the Expanded Operations Alternative.