As part of its ongoing West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), and in accordance with the West Valley Demonstration Project Act and previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) decisions, DOE proposes to: (1) Continue onsite management of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) until it can be shipped for disposal to a geologic repository (assumed for the purposes of analysis to be the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository near Las Vegas, Nevada), (2) Ship low-level radioactive waste (LLW) and mixed (radioactive and hazardous) LLW offsite for disposal at DOE or other disposal sites, (3) Ship transuranic (TRU) radioactive waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), and (4) Actively manage the waste storage tanks. The waste volumes that are the subject of evaluation in this EIS include only those wastes that are either currently in storage or that would be generated over the next 10 years from ongoing operations and decontamination activities. This EIS analyzes activities that would occur during a 10-year period.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the completion of the West Valley Demonstration Project and closure and/or long-term management of facilities at the Western New York Nuclear Service Center divided the site into Waste Management Areas (WMAs), and for each WMA, presented the impacts associated with five potential closure alternatives. This report focuses on WMA 3 (the High-Level Waste (HLW) Storage Area (Tanks 8D-1 and 8D-2), the Vitrification Facility and other facilities) and closure Alternative I (the complete removal of all structures, systems and components and the release of the area for unrestricted use), and reestimates the impacts associated with the complete removal of the HLW tanks, and surrounding facilities. A 32-step approach was developed for the complete removal of Tanks 8D-1 and 8D-2, the Supernatant Treatment System Support Building, and the Transfer Trench. First, a shielded Confinement Structure would be constructed to reduce the shine dose rate and to control radioactivity releases. Similarly, the tank heels would be stabilized to reduce potential radiation exposures. Next, the tank removal methodology would include: 1) excavation of the vault cover soil, 2) removal of the vault roof, 3) cutting off the tank's top, 4) removal of the stabilized heel remaining inside the tank, 5) cutting up the tank's walls and floor, 6) removal of the vault's walls, the perlite blocks, and vault floor, and 7) radiation surveying and backfilling the resulting hole. After the tanks are removed, the Confinement Structure would be decontaminated and dismantled, and the site backfilled and landscaped. The impacts (including waste disposal quantities, emissions, work-effort, radiation exposures, injuries and fatalities, consumable materials used, and costs) were estimated based on this 32 step removal methodology, and added to the previously estimated impacts for closure of the other facilities within WMA 3 to obtain the total impacts from implementing Alternative I at WMA 3.