Environmental Assessment for Device Assembly Facility Operations, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada. Final Report

Book excerpt: The U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV), has prepared an environmental assessment (EA), (DOE/EA-0971), to evaluate the impacts of consolidating all nuclear explosive operations at the newly constructed Device Assembly Facility (DAF) in Area 6 of the Nevada Test Site. These operations generally include assembly, disassembly or modification, staging, transportation, testing, maintenance, repair, retrofit, and surveillance. Such operations have previously been conducted at the Nevada Test Site in older facilities located in Area 27. The DAF will provide enhanced capabilities in a state-of-the-art facility for the safe, secure, and efficient handling of high explosives in combination with special nuclear materials (plutonium and highly enriched uranium). Based on the information and analyses in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). Therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required, and DOE is issuing this finding of no significant impact.