Final Environmental Impact Statement For The Cassini Mission

This Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) to the 1995 Cassini mission Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) focuses on information recently made available from updated mission safety analyses. This information is pertinent to the consequence and risk analyses of potential accidents during the launch and cruise phases of the mission that were addressed in the EIS. The type of accidents evaluated are those which could potentially result in a release of plutonium dioxide from the three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGS) and the up to 129 Radioisotope Heater Units (RHUS) onboard the Cassini spacecraft. The RTGs use the heat of decay of plutonium dioxide to generate electric power for the spacecraft and instruments. The RHUs, each of which contains a small amount of plutonium dioxide, provide heat for controlling the thermal environment of the spacecraft and several of its instruments. The planned Cassini mission is an international cooperative effort of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to conduct a 4-year scientific exploration of the planet Saturn, its atmosphere, moons, rings, and magnetosphere. Unspecified Center NASA/TM-1997-111474/SUPPL1, NAS 1.15:111474/SUPPL1 ...

The purpose of this environmental impact statement (EIS) is to provide information on potential environmental impacts that could result from a Proposed Action to construct, operate and monitor, and eventually close a geologic repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at the Yucca Mountain site in Nye County, Nevada. The EIS also provides information on potential environmental impacts from an alternative referred to as the No-Action Alternative, under which there would be no development of a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain.

This Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) addresses the proposed action of completing the preparation and operation of the Galileo spacecraft, including its planned launch on the Space Transportation System (STS) Shuttle in October 1989, and the alternative of canceling further work on the mission. The only expected environmental effects of the proposed action are associated with normal launch vehicle operation, and are treated in published National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents on the Shuttle (NASA 1978) and the Kennedy Space Center (NASA 1979), and in the KSC Environmental Resources Document (NASA 1986) and the Galileo Tier 1 EIS (NASA 1988a). The environmental impacts of a normal launch were deemed insufficient to preclude Shuttle operations. Environmental impacts may also result from launch or mission accidents that could release plutonium fuel used in the Galileo power system. Intensive analysis of the possible accidents associated with the proposed action reveal small health or environmental risks. There are no environmental impacts in the no-action alternative. The remote possibility of environmental impacts of the proposed action must be weighed against the large adverse fiscal and programmatic impacts inherent in the no-action alternative. Unspecified Center NASA-TM-102925, NAS 1.15:102925 ...