Record of Decision for Construction and Operation of a Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Facility at the Portsmouth, OH, Site

The Department of Energy (DOE) prepared a Final Environmental Impact Statement for Construction and Operation of a Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Facility at the Portsmouth, Ohio, Site (FEIS) (DOE/EIS-0360). The FEIS Notice of Availability was published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Federal Register (69 FR 34161) on June 18, 2004. In the FEIS, DOE considered the potential environmental impacts from the construction, operation, maintenance, and decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of the proposed depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion facility at three alternative locations within the Portsmouth site, including transportation of cylinders (DUF6, normal and enriched UF6, and empty) currently stored at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to Portsmouth; construction of a new cylinder storage yard at Portsmouth (if required) for the ETTP cylinders; transportation of depleted uranium conversion products and waste materials to a disposal facility; transportation and sale of the aqueous hydrogen fluoride (HF) produced as a conversion co- product; and neutralization of aqueous HF to calcium fluoride (CaF2) and its sale or disposal in the event that the aqueous HF product is not sold. An option of shipping the ETTP cylinders to the Paducah, Kentucky, site has also been considered, as has an option of expanding operations by increasing throughput (through efficiency improvements or by adding a fourth conversion line) or by extending the period of operation. A similar EIS was issued concurrently for construction and operation of a DUF6 conversion facility at DOE's Paducah site (DOE/EIS-0359).