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A wide-ranging environmental review of projects and facilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will be conducted, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced last week.
Known formally as a site-wide environmental impact statement, or SWEIS, the study fulfills a requirement by the federal government “to re-evaluate the validity of a SWEIS every five years,” officials from NNSA told the Weekly.
“If after such a review the NNSA concludes the existing SWEIS and resulting decisions remain valid, there is no need for a new SWEIS,” officials said.
They concluded after the most recent re-evaluation, however, that “a new SWEIS was warranted because changes and updates” are expected for the laboratory over the next 15 years.
Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Department of Energy under secretary and NNSA administrator, said in a statement that the agency “is committed to being a good steward of the environment while carrying out our national security missions.”
“The continued operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is critical for NNSA’s Stockpile Stewardship Program and reducing global nuclear threats,” Gordon-Hagerty said.
The potential environmental impacts of at least two reasonable alternatives for continuing LLNL activities during the next decade and a half will be analyzed for the study.
The No Action Alternative “provides a benchmark for comparison with the environmental effects of the other alternatives,” and would see current operations continue “in support of assigned missions, without foreseeable new operations and facilities for the next 15 years.”
The Proposed Action Alternative would “address aging infrastructure concerns.” Everything described for the No Action Alternative is also included in Proposed Action, as well as building new facilities and modifying existing ones, making operational changes, and “decontamination and decommissioning of excess facilities.”
NNSA said the study “will support the continued long-term safe operation of LLNL, benefitting NNSA, the national security mission and the local community.”
Members of other federal agencies, state and local governments, American Indian tribes, and the general public are invited to comment on the scope and alternatives of the study. A virtual scoping meeting will be held in lieu of in-person meetings. Information will be posted on the NNSA NEPA Reading Room web page about how to participate in the virtual meeting and submit comments, and announced in local newspapers at least 15 days before the meeting.
The LLNL draft SWEIS will be prepared following the scoping period; NNSA expects it will be published by early next year.