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The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the Record of Decision for the Long-Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride. The Record of Decision documents the department's decision on what it plans to do with approximately 700,000 metric tons of depleted uranium hexafluoride currently stored at the gaseous diffusion plant sites in Paducah, Ky; Portsmouth, Ohio; and the East Tennessee Technology Park (formerly known as the K-25 site) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The department also announced the availability of an initial draft Request for Proposal to procure services from the private sector to convert the inventory of depleted uranium hexafluoride to a more stable form.

"This Record of Decision will allow the department to proceed with the project-specific environmental analyses that are needed to locate and build facilities converting the inventory of depleted uranium hexafluoride into an environmentally safer form," said Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. "Meeting this milestone, as well as issuing the draft Request for Proposal, is an important step forward toward accelerating conversion of this legacy material to a safer form."

DOE has decided to convert the depleted uranium hexafluoride inventory to depleted uranium oxide, depleted uranium metal or a combination of both. The depleted uranium oxide products would be used as much as possible, and the remaining depleted uranium oxide would be stored for potential future uses or disposal, as necessary. The department currently expects that conversion to depleted uranium metal would be performed as uses become available. At this time, DOE does not believe that long-term storage and disposal as depleted uranium metal are feasible alternatives, but remains open to exploring these options further.

The department's decision is based on analyses conducted and in public comments on the department's Final Programmatic Impact Statement (PEIS) for Alternative Strategies for the Long-Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride. DOE published the Final PEIS on April 16, 1999.

In a related action, the department has issued the acquisition approach and an initial draft Request for Proposal, for the acquisition of conversion services for the inventory of depleted uranium hexafluoride and seeking comments no later than August 20, 1999. The department is seeking stakeholder input early in the acquisition process to ensure the concerns and issues of the surrounding communities, community reuse organizations, local and state governments, Congress, interested citizens, and the private sector are considered. The final Request for Proposal is expected to be issued this fall.

The Record of Decision and procurement-related information are available on our Web site or at DOE public reading rooms in the vicinity of Paducah, Portsmouth, Oak Ridge and Washington, DC.