The purpose of the ''Final West Valley Demonstration Project Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement'' is to provide information on the environmental impacts of the Department of Energy's proposed action to ship radioactive wastes that are either currently in storage, or that will be generated from operations over the next 10 years, to offsite disposal locations, and to continue its ongoing onsite waste management activities. Decommissioning or long-term stewardship decisions will be reached based on a separate EIS that is being prepared for that decisionmaking. This EIS evaluates the environmental consequences that may result from actions to implement the proposed action, including the impacts to the onsite workers and the offsite public from waste transportation and onsite waste management. The EIS analyzes a no action alternative, under which most wastes would continue to be stored onsite over the next 10 years. It also analyzes an alternative under which certain wastes would be shipped to interim offsite storage locations prior to disposal. The Department's preferred alternative is to ship wastes to offsite disposal locations.

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.