NNSA Preparing ‘Supplement Analysis’ of Uranium Processing Facility

The National Nuclear Security Administration has confirmed it is “in the process” of preparing a Supplement Analysis to determine if the agency needs to revise Y-12’s site-wide environmental impact statement at because of changing plans for the Uranium Processing Facility. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman at the NNSA’s Production Office, responded to questions about compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act after two activist groups—the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance and Nuclear Watch New Mexico—announced they were jointly filing a Freedom Of Information Act request to force the release of more information on the plans for the multibillion-dollar UPF. “The Supplement Analysis will provide the information and analysis to determine whether a supplement to an EIS is necessary to meet NEPA requirements for the UPF project,” Wyatt said in an email statement. “As stated previously, NNSA has not made a decision regarding the Site Wide EIS. Once the UPF project has finalized the new conceptual design and develops sufficient engineering information, we should have enough information to make decisions on what is required to ensure that we are in compliance with NEPA on this project.”

 

After the analysis is completed, the results will be posted on the DOE NEPA website, Wyatt said. The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance and Nuclear Watch applauded NNSA’s decision to validate the NEPA compliance. The groups said they’d been told earlier that the NNSA would proceed forward with UPF plans without re-doing the environmental analyses.