DOE/EIS-0542: Final Environmental Impact Statement

Versatile Test Reactor; Idaho National Laboratory or Oak Ridge National Laboratory

This final Versatile Test Reactor Environmental Impact Statement (VTR EIS; DOE/EIS-0542) evaluates the potential environmental impacts of proposed alternatives for the construction and operation of a new test reactor, as well as associated facilities. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) VTR Alternative would include the construction of the VTR adjacent to the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) at the INL Site. Existing MFC facilities, some requiring new equipment, would be used for post-irradiation examination and conditioning SNF. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) VTR Alternative would include the construction of a VTR and a hot cell building at ORNL. The hot cell building would provide post-irradiation examination and SNF conditioning capabilities. Both alternatives would require construction of a concrete pad for dry storage of SNF pending shipment to an offsite storage or disposal facility. DOE does not intend to separate, purify, or recover fissile material from VTR driver fuel. DOE also evaluates options for preparing the feedstock for use in the reactor driver fuel (fuel needed to run the reactor) and for fabricating the uranium/plutonium/zirconium fuel. Feedstock preparation would be performed using new capabilities installed in an existing building at the INL Site or the Savannah River Site (SRS). Fuel fabrication would be performed using existing or newly installed equipment in existing buildings at the INL Site or SRS.

For more information, see Versatile Test Reactor.