NNSA published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Plutonium Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to meet vital stockpile stewardship requirements.
National Nuclear Security Administration
January 13, 2025
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SEIS will analyze environmental impacts of enhanced plutonium facility research and development at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
WASHINGTON – The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) published a Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register Jan. 13 to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Plutonium Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to meet vital stockpile stewardship requirements.
The SEIS will meet NNSA’s obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and is tiered from the 2023 LLNL Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS). The proposed action will evaluate the environmental impacts of upgrading the lab’s Plutonium Facility from Security Category III to Security Category II, along with other reasonable alternatives that may be identified during the public process.
The Plutonium Facility was originally built and operated as a Security Category I facility and is the only immediately available facility with the capacity and capability to conduct Security Category II work.
Following the publication of the NOI in the Federal Register, NNSA will host a virtual public scoping meeting to invite other federal agencies, Native American Tribes, state and local governments, and members of the public to provide scoping comments, which may include reasonable alternatives, key issues, and important environmental resource areas that should be analyzed in the SEIS.