Environmental Assessment of the Shipment of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Contact-Handled Transuranic Waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

摘要

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a strategy to end interim storage of transuranic (TRU) waste generated in defense activities and to permanently dispose of TRU waste in an effective manner. The strategy requires that retrievable stored and newly generated TRU waste be shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located near Carlsbad, New Mexico. This environmental assessment (EA) is prepared to satisfy requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. It shall be used by DOE to determine whether preparation of an environmental impact statement for this action will be necessary or whether a finding of no significant impact will result. The principal environmental benefit that will result from the proposed action is the permanent disposal of retrievable stored and newly generated ORNL CH-TRU waste in a deep-mined geologic repository. In conclusion, the radiological impact to the population from transporting CH-TRU waste from ORNL to WIPP is considered insignificant. 28 refs., 11 figs., 11 tabs. (ERA citation 13:032303)