The Department of the Navy has prepared a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) on the Disposal of Decommissioned, Defueled, Naval Reactor Plants from the USS Enterprise.  The world's first nuclear-powered naval aircraft carrier, Enterprise, is scheduled for decommissioning in 2013, following 51 consecutive years of service. Because the preferred alternative is to dispose of the Enterprise reactor plants at Hanford*, the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site is a cooperating agency for this EA.  A public comment period for the draft EA runs October 30, 2011 through November 30, 2011.

The Navy plans to begin decommissioning of Enterprise starting in mid-2013.  It will be defueled at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia before being sent to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), located in Bremerton, WA.  Currently, PSNS & IMF anticipate receiving Enterprise in 2018 or 2019.

The preferred alternative is to dispose of the Enterprise reactor plants via the existing program at PSNS & IMF, which includes removing defueled reactor compartments from inactivated nuclear powered ships, transporting these reactor compartments to Trench 94 at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, and recycling the remainder of the ships.

The eight defueled reactor compartments from Enterprise would be similar to those evaluated in the Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Disposal of Decommissioned, Defueled Cruiser, Ohio Class, and Los Angeles Class Naval Reactor Plants of April 1996.  Placing the eight defueled reactor compartments from Enterprise at Trench 94 would not exceed the total number of reactor compartments considered at Trench 94 under the Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Disposal of Decommissioned, Defueled Cruiser, Ohio Class, and Los Angeles Class Naval Reactor Plants, Navy, April 1996 (EIS-0259-FEIS-01-1996.pdf).  The EIS is available at http://energy.gov/nepa/downloads/eis-0259-final-environmental-impact-statement-disposal-decommissioned-defueled-0 .  Appendixes A through F of the EIS are available at http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/nepapub/nepa_documents/RedDont/EIS-0259-FEIS-02-1996.pdf

The public comment period runs October 30, 2011 through November 30, 2011.  Comments should be sent to Public Affairs Office (Code 1160) Bldg. 850, 5th floor, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, 1400 Farragut Ave., Bremerton, WA, 98314 during the public comment period noted above. For additional information on the Draft Enterprise EA, please contact Mary Mascianica at (360) 476-7111.

The draft EA is available at:
http://www-test.hanford.gov/page.cfm/EnvironmentalAssessments< http://www.navsea.navy.mil/shipyards/puget/default.aspx > 

*Naval reactor compartments, reactor core barrels, reactor closure heads, and pumps from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard or Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard that may contain Low-Level Waste or Mixed-Low-Level Waste are allowed for importation to the Hanford Site as per the Settlement Agreement re: Washington v. Bodman, Civil No. 2:03-cv-05018-AAM, January 6, 2006.