Summary
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), prepared a supplemental environmental assessment (EA) and issued a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the Construction to Support Initial Production of the High-Purity Depleted Uranium Project (DOE/EA-2252-S1). This supplemental EA assesses the potential environmental impacts of constructing four supporting structures and associated infrastructure that were not specifically part of the original contract or design concepts evaluated in the EA for Off-site Depleted Uranium Manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252).
In November 2024, NNSA published the EA for Off-site Depleted Uranium Manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI), relative to High-Purity Depleted Uranium (HPDU) contracting services. That assessment analyzed the potential environmental effects associated with depleted uranium (DU) manufacturing in existing commercial facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Jonesborough, Tennessee. The analysis included expanding HPDU production at the Aerojet Ordnance Tennessee facility, now known as BWXT Nuclear Operations Group–Jonesborough (NOG-J) site in Jonesborough, Tennessee following BWXT's January 2025 acquisition of the site.
Design of the expanded HPDU production at BWXT NOG-J has progressed since DOE/EA-2252 was published. Due to design changes and associated consideration of worker health and safety, this supplemental EA was prepared for the Construction to Support Initial Production of the High-Purity Depleted Uranium Project (DOE/EA-2252-S1).
For more information, see Off-Site Depleted Uranium Manufacturing.
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August 18, 2026