PRESS RELEASES

Department of Energy Plans Next Step To Address
Nation's Civilian Nuclear Research and Technology Development
First of Several Nationwide Meetings to Be Held This Week
October 12, 1999

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The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that public scoping meetings will begin this week for the programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) on ways to enhance the nuclear research and technology infrastructure. This is in support of expanded civilian nuclear research and development and isotope production needs for the next 35 years.

The department is encouraging the public to comment on the proposed scope of the PEIS and will accept comments through October 31, 1999. Public meetings to discuss issues and receive comments on the scope of the PEIS will be held in the following locations:

Oak Ridge, Tennessee: 6 to 9 p.m., Oct. 13, at the American Museum of Science and Energy, 300 South Tulane Ave.;

Idaho Falls, Idaho: 6 to 9 p.m., Oct. 15, the Shilo Inn, 780 Lindsay Blvd.;

Seattle, Washington: 6 to 9 p.m., Oct. 18, Seattle Center, 305 Harrison St.;

Portland, Oregon: 6 to 9 p.m., Oct. 19, Marriott Hotel-Downtown, 1401 SW Front Ave.;

Hood River, Oregon: 6 to 9 p.m., Oct. 20, Hood River Inn, 1108 East Marina Way;

Richland, Washington: 6 to 9 p.m., Oct. 21, Best Western Tower Inn and Conference Center, 1515 George Washington Way; and

Washington, DC: 2 to 5 p.m., Oct. 27, Marriott at Metro Center, 775 12th St., NW

A Federal Register Notice of Intent, which details more specifically the background and plans for the PEIS, was published September 15, 1999. With Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson's August 1999 announcement to prepare a PEIS which includes consideration of the possible restart of the Fast Flux Test Facility, DOE has canceled the Plutonium-238 Production EIS, announced in the Federal Register on October 5, 1998 (63 FR 53398). The department will now integrate the plutonium-238 production analyses into the new PEIS.

The new PEIS will analyze the potential environmental impacts of several alternatives designed to meet future needs for civilian nuclear research and development and isotope production by enhancing the existing infrastructure as follows:

  • Restart operation of the Fast Flux Test Facility, the department's largest operable reactor located at the Hanford Site, near Richland, Washington;
  • Use existing operational facilities to the extent possible;
  • Construct and operate one or more new accelerators at a generic DOE site; and
  • Construct and operate a new research reactor at a generic DOE site.
A "No Action" alternative of maintaining the status quo also will be evaluated. Under this alternative, the department would continue to rely on its existing infrastructure for production of isotopes and nuclear research and development. No domestic capability to produce plutonium-238 for future space missions would be established.

The PEIS will include project-specific analyses of the Fast Flux Test Facility sufficient to enable the department to support a restart decision, if that alternative were selected for implementation. The PEIS will also consider the environmental impacts of deactivating this facility should a decision be made not to restart the Fast Flux Test Facility.

For more information on the PEIS, call toll-free 1-877-562-4593.

- DOE -

R-99-278

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