Bombplex 2030

32,000-plus Commentors Provide Input for Complex 2030 Scoping Process

"The majority of comments asked DOE to add an alternative that assumes continued reduction in the size of the U.S. nuclear stockpile."

In response to public comments, DOE is revising the range of alternatives it will analyze in a Supplemental Programmatic EIS on the future configuration of the nuclear weapons complex. About 975 people attended scoping meetings held in 12 locations across the country during November and December 2006. About 350 people provided comments orally at the meetings, and, in addition, DOE received more than 32,000 written comment documents, most via email. The majority of comments asked DOE to add an alternative that assumes continued reduction in the size of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

³We¹re evaluating how best to address these comments in the Supplemental PEIS,² said Ted Wyka, NEPA Document Manager. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) had based its proposed action, the ³Transformation Alternative,² on planned reductions, which, by 2012, would bring the U.S. nuclear stockpile to its lowest levels since the Eisenhower Administration. The Notice of Intent (71 FR 61731; October 19, 2006) also described a ³Reduced Operations and Capability-Based Complex Alternative² that would meet the needs of an even smaller stockpile if national security requirements were to change.

New Consolidation Alternatives
In addition, some commentors asked that DOE analyze an alternative that would implement a 2005 recommendation from the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Task Force on the Nuclear Weapons Complex Infrastructure (contained in the so-called ³Overskei Report²). That recommendation was to consolidate most nuclear weapon activities at a single site ­ a Consolidated Nuclear Production Center (CNPC). After considering these comments, DOE announced in a recent report to Congress that it is ³proposing inclusion of the CNPC concept as an alternative to be evaluated² in the Supplemental PEIS (Report on the Plan for Transformation of the National Nuclear Security Administration Nuclear Weapons Complex, January 31, 2007).

A CNPC Integrated Project Team has been established to assist in the assessment of reasonable alternatives for the CNPC. The CNPC alternative will include enriched uranium and plutonium processing; weapon component production; production/manufacturing research and development; weapons assembly and disassembly; and storage of plutonium and highly enriched uranium. The CNPC alternative will describe the weapon assembly and disassembly function as a severable piece to allow decisionmakers to consider an alternative that locates the nuclear production facilities portion of the CNPC at a different site than the assembly and disassembly mission. (In the Supplemental PEIS, DOE also is evaluating a CPC, or Consolidated Plutonium Center, which would host only plutonium operations
and storage.)

³Changes to the alternatives were the topics most commonly raised in comments, but people addressed many other subjects. Our Integrated Project Teams are reviewing all the comments and developing analytical approaches and compiling data to address them,² concluded Mr. Wyka.

The Report to Congress is available on the NNSA website at www.nnsa.doe.gov/future_of_the_nuclear_weapons_complex.htm. Additional
information on the Complex 2030 Supplemental PEIS is available at www.Complex2030PEIS.com or by contacting Ted Wyka at theodore.wyka@nnsa.doe.gov or 202-586-3519. Significant revisions to the
Complex 2030 planning scenario may result as public comments are received
and as the NEPA process is completed.

­ DOE Report to Congress on Plan for Nuclear Weapons Complex Transformation,
January 2007