Biological Assessment of the Effects of Construction and Operation of a Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Facility at the Portsmouth, Ohio, Site.

Technical Information Center Oak Ridge Tennessee

关键词: Environmental impacts;    Depleted uranium;    Inventories;    Environmental protection;    Endagered species;   

RP-ID  :  DE2006861611

学科分类：工程和技术（综合）

美国|英语

来源: National Technical Reports Library

【 摘 要 】

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF(sub 6)) Management Program evaluated alternatives for managing its inventory of DUF(sub 6) and issued the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Alternative Strategies for the Long-Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF(sub 6) PEIS) in April 1999 (DOE 1999). The DUF(sub 6) inventory is stored in cylinders at three DOE sites: Paducah, Kentucky; Portsmouth, Ohio; and East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In the Record of Decision for the DUF(sub 6) PEIS, DOE stated its decision to promptly convert the DUF(sub 6) inventory to a more stable chemical form. Subsequently, the U.S. Congress passed, and the President signed, the 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States (Public Law No. 107-206). This law stipulated in part that, within 30 days of enactment, DOE must award a contract for the design, construction, and operation of a DUF(sub 6) conversion plant at the Department's Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio, sites, and for the shipment of DUF(sub 6) cylinders stored at ETTP to the Portsmouth site for conversion. This biological assessment (BA) has been prepared by DOE, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the Endangered Species Act of 1974, to evaluate potential impacts to federally listed species from the construction and operation of a conversion facility at the DOE Portsmouth site. The Indiana bat is known to occur in the area of the Portsmouth site and may potentially occur on the site during spring or summer. Evaluations of the Portsmouth site indicated that most of the site was found to have poor summer habitat for the Indiana bat because of the small size, isolation, and insufficient maturity of the few woodlands on the site. Potential summer habitat for the Indiana bat was identified outside the developed area bounded by Perimeter Road, within the corridors along Little Beaver Creek, the Northwest Tributary stream, and a wooded area east of the X-100 facility.