Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Relocation of Technical Area 18 Capabilities and Materials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory

Technical Report · Thu Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/823309· OSTI ID:823309

The National Nuclear Security Administration, a separately organized agency within DOE, is responsible for providing the Nation with nuclear weapons, ensuring the safety and reliability of those nuclear weapons, and supporting programs that reduce global nuclear proliferation. These missions are accomplished with a core team of highly trained nuclear experts. One of the major training facilities for these personnel is located at Technical Area 18 (TA-18), within the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, New Mexico. Principal TA-18 operational activities involve research in and the design, development, construction, and application of experiments on nuclear criticality. Though TA-18 is judged to be secure by DOE's independent inspection office, its buildings and infrastructure are from 30 to more than 50 years old and are increasingly expensive to maintain and operate. Additionally, the TA-18 operations are located in a relatively isolated area, resulting in increasingly high costs to maintain a security Category I infrastructure. NNSA wishes to maintain the important capabilities currently provided at TA-18 in a manner that reduces the long-term costs for safeguards and security. NNSA proposes to accomplish this by relocating the TA-18 security Category I/II capabilities and materials to new locations. The TA-18 Relocation EIS evaluates the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts associated with this proposed action at the following DOE sites: (1) a different site at LANL at Los Alamos, New Mexico; (2) the Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico at Albuquerque, New Mexico; (3) the Nevada Test Site near Las Vegas, Nevada (the Preferred Alternative); and (4) the Argonne National Laboratory-West near Idaho Falls, Idaho. The EIS also analyzes the alternatives of upgrading the existing TA-18 facilities and the No Action Alternative of maintaining the operations at the current TA-18 location.

• Research Organization: US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• OSTI ID: 823309
• Report Number(s): DOE/EIS-0319
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CONSTRUCTION
CRITICALITY
Construction
Criticality
DESIGN
EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
EIS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Education
Final Report
Los Alamos National Laboratory
NEVADA TEST SITE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
PERSONNEL
PROLIFERATION
Proposal
RELIABILITY
Report
SAFEGUARDS
SAFETY
SECURITY
TA-18 Relocation
Technical Area 18