Test Area North Pool Stabilization Project: Environmental assessment

The Test Area North (TAN) Pool is located within the fenced TAN facility boundaries on the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The TAN pool stores 344 canisters of core debris from the March, 1979, Three Mile Island (TMI) Unit 2 reactor accident; fuel assemblies from Loss-of-Fluid Tests (LOFT); and Government-owned commercial fuel rods and assemblies. The LOFT and government owned commercial fuel rods and assemblies are hereafter referred to collectively as {open_quotes}commercial fuels{close_quotes} except where distinction between the two is important to the analysis. DOE proposes to remove the canisters of TMI core debris and commercial fuels from the TAN Pool and transfer them to the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) for interim dry storage until an alternate storage location other than at the INEL, or a permanent federal spent nuclear fuel (SNF) repository is available. The TAN Pool would be drained and placed in an industrially and radiologically safe condition for refurbishment or eventual decommissioning. This environmental assessment (EA) identifies and evaluates environmental impacts associated with (1) constructing an Interim Storage System (ISS) at ICPP; (2) removing the TMI and commercial fuels from the pool and transporting them to ICPP for placement in an ISS, and (3) draining and stabilizing the TAN Pool. Miscellaneous hardware would be removed and decontaminated or disposed of in the INEL Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC). This EA also describes the environmental consequences of the no action alternative