Responses to comments on the remedial investigation/feasibility study-environmental impact statement for remedial action at the Chemical Plant area of the Weldon Spring site (November 1992)

摘要

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for cleanup activities at the Weldon Spring site in St. Charles County, Missouri. The site consists of a chemical plant area and a noncontiguous limestone quarry; both areas are radioactively and chemically contaminated as a result of past processing and disposal activities. Explosives were produced by the US Army at the chemical plant in the 1940s, and uranium and thorium materials were processed by DOE's predecessor agency in the 1950s and 1960s. During that time, various wastes were disposed of at both areas of the site. The DOE is conducting cleanup activities at the site under its Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program. The integrated remedial investigation/feasibility study-environmental impact statement (RI/FS-EIS) documents for the chemical plant area were issued to the public in November 1992 as the draft RI/FS-EIS. (The CERCLA RI/FS is considered final when issued to the public, whereas per the NEPA process, an EIS is initially issued as a draft and is finalized after substantive public comments have been addressed.) Four documents made up the draft RI/FS-EIS, which is hereafter referred to as the RI/FS-EIS: (1) the RI (DOE 1992d), which presents general information on the site environment and the nature and extent of contamination; (2) the baseline assessment (BA) (DOE 1992a), which evaluates human health and environmental effects that might occur if no cleanup actions were taken; (3) the FS (DOE 1992b), which develops and evaluates alternatives for site cleanup; and (4) the proposed plan (PP) (DOE 1992c), which summarizes key information from the RI, BA, and FS reports and identifies DOE's preferred alternative for remedial action. This comment response document combined with those four documents constitutes the final RI/FS-EIS for the chemical plant area.