ML030030808
| ML030030808 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Summer  |
| Issue date: | 12/11/2002 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Suber G, NRR/DRIP/RLEP 301-415-1124 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ml030100477 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML030030808 (86) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station License Renewal Application Public Hearing - Afternoon Session Docket Number:
Location:
Date:
(50-395)
Jenkinsville, South Carolina Wednesday, December 11, 2002 Work Order No.:
NRC-691 Pages 1-85 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 CHIP CAMERON, FACILITATOR JOHN TAPPERT RAJ AULUCK GREGORY SUBER NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION VIRGIL C.
SUMMER NUCLEAR STATION LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING PROCESS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2002 JENKINSVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA The meeting was held at 1:30 p.m. at the White Hall Fellowship at 8594 State Highway 215 South, Jenkinsville, South Carolina, Chip Cameron, Facilitator presiding.
PRESENT:
(202) 234-4433 (202) 234-4433
2 1
A-G-E-N-D-A 2
Page 3
Welcome -
Facilitator Cameron.......
3 4
John Tappert......
8 5
Overview of Safety Evaluation for the 6
License Renewal Process 7
Raj Auluck.............
10 8
Overview of Environmental Review Process 9
Gregory Suber......
21 10 Formal Comments 11 CAROLYN ROBINSON....
45 12 KAMU MARCHARIA......
48 13 ROSE WILDER.....
50 14 COUNCILMAN MURPHY....
53 15 LUNELLE HARMON....
54 16 STEPHEN BYRNE......
58 17 STEPHEN SUMMER....
63 18 ROBIN WHITE......
67 19 BRETT BURSEY.....
70 20 KIM BOWERS......
77 21 TERRIE VICKERS....
78 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o
3 1
P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2
FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Good afternoon, 3
everyone.
My name is Chip Cameron.
I'm the special 4
counsel for the public liaison at the Nuclear Regulatory 5
Commission.
I would just like to welcome all of you to 6
the NRC's meeting today.
7 The topic of today's public meeting is the 8
scope of the NRC's environmental review on the 9
application that South Carolina Electric and Gas 10 submitted to the NRC to renew the operating license at 11 the V.C.
Summer Nuclear Station.
12 It's my pleasure to serve as your facilitator 13 for today's meeting; and in that role, I will try to 14 help all of you to have a productive meeting this 15 afternoon.
16 I just wanted to go over a couple of things 17 about the format for the meeting this afternoon and the 18 agenda before we get started with the substance of 19 today's meeting.
20 In terms of the format, there is basically two 21 parts to the meeting, and they match up with our 22 objectives for the meeting today.
23 The first objective is to give all of you some 24 information on the NRC's license renewal evaluation 25 process, and to answer any questions that you might have NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
4 1
about that process.
So we're going to start with a few 2
brief NRC presentations that are going to give you some 3
information, and then we will go out to you for any 4
questions that you might have about that.
5 The second objective, and the most important 6
one, is to hear from all of you on any comments that you 7
might have on the license renewal application for the 8
Summer Nuclear Station, specifically comments on the 9
scope of the NRC's environmental review.
10 So the second part of the meeting, we're going 11 to ask those of you who want to make a formal statement 12 to us to come up and talk to us, either to come up here 13 to the podium, which may be the most comfortable, or I 14 can bring you this talking stick.
15 We are taking written comments on the scope of 16 the environmental review issue, and the NRC staff will 17 be telling you a little bit more about that in a moment.
18 We did want to talk to you in person, and we're here 19 today to listen to you.
Any comments that you make at 20 this meeting will carry the same weight as a written 21
- comment, any written comments that we receive.
22 In terms of ground rules for the meeting, 23 they're fairly simple.
If you have a question, just 24 give me a signal, and I will bring you this talking 25 stick, and if you could give us your name and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
5 1
affiliation, if appropriate.
2 We are taking a transcript.
Lisa is our 3
stenographer.
She's in the back of the room.
We will 4
have a complete record of everything that's said today, 5
and that will be available for people who want to see 6
it.
7 I would also ask that only one person at a 8
time talk, not only so that we can get a clean 9
transcript, but most importantly so that we can give our 10 full attention to whomever has the floor at the moment.
11 When we get to the formal public comment part 12 of the meeting, if you could just follow a guideline of 13 approximately five minutes and try to contain your 14 comments to five minutes.
That way, we will make sure 15 that we can give everyone who wants to talk an 16 opportunity to speak today.
17 In terms of agenda, I want to also introduce 18 the NRC staff who will be talking to you.
I'm first 19 going to ask John Tappert right here from the NRC to 20 give you a brief welcome and a little bit of an 21 overview.
22 John is the Chief of the environmental section 23 within the license renewal and environmental impact 24 program at the NRC.
And that program is located in our 25 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
6 1
John and his staff, those are the people who 2
do all sort of environmental reviews on anything that 3
involves reactors, whether it's license renewal, a new 4
plant, license amendments, whatever.
So he will be 5
talking to you first.
6 Then, so that you have a complete picture on 7
license renewal, we're going to have Raj Auluck, who is 8
right here, talk to you about the license renewal 9
process overall, and there are several components to 10 that.
11 Raj is the project manager on the safety 12 evaluation that's being done on the license renewal 13 application for the Summer Station.
He will explain 14 what that is all about and how that relates to the 15 environmental review that's being done on that 16 application.
17 Then we're going to go to Gregory Suber, who 18 is right here.
I think many of you already know Greg.
19 Greg is the project manager on the environmental review 20 for the license renewal application.
21 In terms of background on our speakers, 22 John Tappert has been with the agency for approximately 23 11 years.
He's served as a resident --
one of our 24 resident inspectors.
These are the NRC employees who 25 are actually resident at a nuclear power plant and are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
7 1
the NRC's eyes and ears, so to speak, at the plant.
2 That's part of John's background.
3 In terms of education, he has a bachelor's 4
degree in aerospace and oceanographic engineering from 5
Virginia Tech and a master's in environmental 6
engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
7 Raj Auluck has been with the agency for over 8
20 years.
He's not only been involved in licensing of a 9
nuclear power plant, but also involved in rule-making 10 efforts on various nuclear safety issues, and he has a 11 master's and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from 12 the University of Maryland.
13 And Gregory, who is the environmental project 14 manager, has been with the agency for two years now.
15 Before that, he was with Bechtel Power Corporation, and 16 he has a master's from Duke University in environmental 17 sciences, and a bachelor's in mechanical engineering 18 from Howard University.
19 We also have some experts who are assisting us 20 in this review and other NRC staff here, including staff 21 from our Office of General Counsel.
And after the 22 meeting, I would just encourage you to talk to our staff 23 and our experts about any questions that you have.
24 They're here to try to help answer the questions today.
25 I would just thank you for all coming out this NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8
afternoon and thank the church for the use of the cheerful meeting hall that we have today.
With that, I will ask John to start us off.
MR.
TAPPERT:
Thank you, Chip.
Welcome.
As Chip said, my name is John Tappert, Chief of the environmental section in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
On behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, I would like to thank you for coming out today and participating in this process.
There are some things we would like to cover today.
I would like to briefly discuss the purposes of today's meeting.
I first want to provide you with a brief overview of the entire license renewal process.
This includes both the safety review, as well as an environmental review, which is the principal focus of today's meeting.
In the environmental review, we're going to assess the impacts associated with extending the operating licensing for the V.C. Summer Nuclear Power Plant for an additional 20 years.
We're going to give you information about the process we're going to follow, the issues we're going to look at, our schedule, and also the opportunities that you have to participate in that process.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE, N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
9 1
At the conclusion of the staff's presentation, 2
we will be happy to receive any questions or comments 3
that you may have today.
But first let me provide some 4
general context for the License Renewal Program.
5 The Atomic Energy Act gives the NRC the 6
authority to issue an operating license to commercial 7
nuclear power plants for a period of 40 years.
For the 8
V.C. Summer Plant, that operating license will expire in 9
2022.
10 Our regulations also make provisions for 11 extending that operating license for an additional 12 20 years.
As that's part of the license renewal 13 program, SCE&G has requested license renewal for the 14 Summer plant.
15 As part of the NCR's review of that 16 application, we're going to develop an environmental 17 impact statement to look at the effects of extending 18 that operating license.
19 We're in the early phase of that review now, 20 something called the scoping process, and seeking your 21 input on the issues that will require our greatest focus 22 on our review.
That is really the principal purpose of 23 this meeting, to receive your input on that scoping 24 process.
25 With that, I would like to ask Raj Auluck to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
10 1
give us an overview of the safety portion of our review.
2 MR.
AULUCK:
Thank you, John.
Good afternoon.
3 As John mentioned, I'm Raj Auluck.
I'm the 4
project manager for the safety review of the application 5
for license renewal for the V.C.
Summer Nuclear Station.
6 The NRC's requirements for the renewal of 7
operating license are provided in Title 10 of the Code 8
of Federal Register, Part 54.
The license renewal 9
process essentially runs in two parallel paths and is 10 very similar to the original licensing process in that 11 it involves a safety review, an environmental impact 12 evaluation, and plant inspections.
13 The safety review is focused on the review and 14 inspection of aging management programs for passive 15 long-lived system, structures and components.
The 16 reason that the commission felt that these programs 17 should be the focus of the license renewal regulations 18 is because ongoing regulator processes already ensure 19 that the current licensing basis is maintained, and that 20 things like emergency planning and security plans are 21 acceptably implemented.
22 There are components and systems that need to 23 be constantly attended to.
However, those maintenance 24 processes do not explicitly look at the plant's design 25 capability to cope with longterm degradation of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE, N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
11 1
equipment due to aging effects.
2 So the license renewal application focuses on 3
those inspection programs and maintenance practices that 4
are used to maintain the margins of safety in the plant 5
safety equipment.
6 The second review path involves the 7
environmental review, which Gregory Suber will discuss 8
shortly.
9 I also want to mention that there is an 10 independent review by the Advisory Committee on Reactor 11 Safeguards, or ACRS.
The ACRS is a group of scientists 12 and nuclear industry experts who serve as a consulting 13 body to the NRC Commissioners.
The ACRS reviews the 14 renewal application, and the Staff's safety evaluation, 15 and reports its findings and recommendations directly to 16 the Commission.
17 This figure illustrates the entire license 18 renewal process.
The upper path describes the safety 19 review, and the lower path shows the environmental 20 review.
21 The safety review involves the staff's review 22 of the technical information in the application to 23 verify, with reasonable assurance, that the plant can 24 continue to operate safely during the extended period of 25 operation.
The staff's review is documented in a safety NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o
12 1
evaluation report.
2 As I mentioned earlier, the ACRS reviews this 3
report, as well as the application, in order to develop 4
its independent findings.
The ACRS holds public 5
meetings, which are transcribed.
Oral and written 6
statements can be provided during the ACRS meetings in 7
accordance with the instructions described in the notice 8
of their meetings in the Federal Register.
9 In parallel with the safety review, the staff 10 performs its review of the environmental impacts of 11 continued operation.
As Gregory Suber will discuss 12 later, the staff will issue an environmental impact 13 statement on the facility after it completes its review.
14 The NRC's licensing process also includes a 15 formal process for public involvement through hearings 16 conducted by a panel of administrative law judges who 17 are called Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or ASLB.
18 That process requires a petition to be submitted to hold 19 hearings on particular issues, which would be litigated 20 by the board.
However, there were no petitions filed to 21 intervene on the Summer proceedings.
22 At the end of the process, the final safety 23 evaluation report, the final environmental impact 24 statement, the ACRS recommendation and staff inspections 25 will be used by the agency in making the final license NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
13 1
renewal decision.
2 Throughout this process, interested members of 3
the public who are concerned about nuclear safety issues 4
can raise those issues during the various public 5
meetings that the NRC will hold to discuss the 6
V.C.
Summer application.
7 Meetings on particular technical issues are 8
usually held at the NRC headquarters in Rockville, 9
However, some technical meetings and meetings 10 to summarize the results of the NRC's inspection 11 findings will be held near the plant site in a place 12 that is accessible to the public.
13 In addition, the staff holds four public 14 meetings on the environmental aspects of the review, two 15 on the scope of the review, and two on the results of 16 the review during which the public can provide comments.
17 This is a brief overview of the license 18 renewal process.
I will now take questions regarding 19 the renewal process before we proceed to the 20 environmental review process presentation.
21 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you, Raj.
Are 22 there questions about the review process or about the 23 Nuclear Regulatory Commission generally for those of you 24 who aren't perhaps familiar with what we do?
Yes, sir.
25 Can you give us your name?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE, N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
14 1
MR.
BURSEY:
Yes.
I'm Brett Bursey, and I 2
have a couple of questions about the process.
3 I understand that November 10th was the cutoff 4
for filing for interventions.
If no one has filed for 5
interventions, does that preclude the citizens being 6
able to have a hearing on the final supplement?
7 MR.
AULUCK:
On November 4th, there was a 8
30-day comment period of notice, which was published on 9
the -
10 MR.
BURSEY:
I failed to read my Federal 11 Register that month.
12 MR.
AULUCK:
The regulations recognized late 13 filing petitions in CFR 2.1 --
2.817.
14 MR.
BURSEY:
- Well, I know about late filing 15 specifically.
Absent an intervener, will there be full 16 public hearings?
No?
I see people shaking their head 17 no.
18 MR.
AULUCK:
No.
19 MR.
BURSEY:
So today, you can tell us that 20 you do not anticipate there will be public hearings on 21 the final -
22 MR.
AULUCK:
Right.
23 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
And Brett, if you need 24 to know more about the filing process --
I know you know 25 a lot about it already.
Pam Hodgkins is over here from NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
15 1
our Office of General Counsel, who can give you more 2
information or answer any questions on that.
3 But I think just to emphasize what your 4
question brought up is that, Raj went through the 5
process, the meetings that are going to happen on the 6
license renewal evaluation for Summer.
And there will 7
be another public meeting on the draft environmental 8
impact statement here in the community.
9 There also are meetings between the NRC staff 10 and the licensee on technical issues, aging issues, some 11 of which are down here and open to the public, some of 12 which are in Washington and open to the public.
13
- Raj, can you tell people if they want to find 14 out if we're going to hold a meeting down here, how do 15 they find out about that?
16 MR.
AULUCK:
I would like to emphasize that, 17 all of our meetings are public meetings and noticed at 18 least ten days in advance.
But if you have a specific 19 interest, we will be happy to put you on the 20 distribution and let you know of the upcoming meetings.
21 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
So you can get on a 22 distribution list.
And also, do we announce these 23 meetings on our website?
24 MR.
AULUCK:
Yes, we do.
As I mentioned, that 25 we will be happy to put somebody on the distribution.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
16 1
FACILITATOR CAMERON:
I think that's important 2
for people to know that.
3 Are there other questions about the process at 4
all at this point?
Okay.
Let's just get you on the 5
transcript here.
Tell us who you are.
6 MS.
PEARSON:
I'm Ms. Pearson.
I'm just 7
wondering, because I just found out about it the day 8
before yesterday, why was it I'm disappointed at the 9
crowd, because I'm sure they don't know more than I did.
10 That's the reason they're not here.
Evidently, there 11 was something wrong with the way you published this 12 meeting.
To me it is.
I don't know.
But I know I 13 didn't know, and I've been here 76 years.
Thank you.
14 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
We can always --
I think 15 that we put some notices in local papers.
But we can 16 always improve on our notice.
If there are maybe some 17 suggestions about community groups that we can contact, 18 if anybody has suggestions like that, then we will talk 19 to you after the meeting.
We will do everything that we 20 can to get the word out there to people.
Thank you for 21 that comment.
22 Does anybody else have a question or a 23 comment?
And if you want to come back to this subject 24 later on in the meeting and ask questions, you can do 25 that, too.
For now, I guess we'll go on to Greg, who is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., NW.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
17 1
going to talk about the environmental review part of the 2
process.
3 One more question.
4 MR.
MARCHARIA:
Good afternoon.
I'm Council 5
Member Kamau Marcharia for this particular district.
I 6
want to welcome you to Fairfield County and all of those 7
who are participating in this particular matter.
8 I'm going to be brief.
I have the flu and I 9
got up this morning to come.
I have been asked to come.
10 Just commenting on what Ms. Pearson said.
I guess I 11 would ask the question, how many folks are here from 12 Jenkinsville.
Three?
Four?
13 MR.
BURSEY:
How many citizens?
14 MR.
MARCHARIA:
How many citizens?
15 MR.
BURSEY:
You ask it.
You have the 16 microphone.
17 MR.
MARCHARIA:
How many citizens are here 18 that work for the department?
19 MR.
BURSEY:
How many people are here that 20 don't work for the power company --
(inaudible).
21 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Let's get you on the 22 record after 23 MR.
BURSEY:
Well, you can ask the question 24 and put it on the record.
25 MR.
MARCHARIA:
As a citizen, if you want to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
18 1
ask that, that's okay.
2 My only concern is that we are in a county 3
that we have a 47-percent illiteracy rate, and I think 4
getting this information out to the public, as 5
Ms.
Pearson has just indicated, is crucial.
We're 6
living in crucial times, with a plant here and a threat 7
of terrorism and all of that.
8 I think just to share with some of you who 9
might not be aware.
I'm speaking for the concerns that 10 I have heard from my constituency, not necessarily where 11 I'm at.
But recently within the latter few weeks, 12 there's been a proposed bill of a coal power plant in 13 this community.
When that announcement came, it just 14 sent --
there was never any conversation about the 15 nuclear power plant.
But that really spurred a lot of 16 conversation in this particular district, which might 17 not impact other districts.
18 I've been asked a million questions that I 19 don't have answers for.
When you're elected and foiks 20 ask you a question, you can't be saying I don't know, 21 hunching your shoulders.
So I'm trying to gather as 22 much information as I possibly can.
23 I would suggest on a Wednesday, most folks are 24 probably working.
If it was on a Saturday, more at a 25 public facility, you might have more participation.
So NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C 20005-3701 19 I would encourage that.
There needs to be some more input from the citizens in this community, in this serious, serious decision that you are making.
I wanted to make that clear.
FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much.
Any other questions before we go on?
MR.
COLEMAN:
I'm Creighton Coleman.
FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Representative Coleman?
MR.
COLEMAN:
- Yes, sir.
FACILITATOR CAMERON:
If I could get you to come to the microphone.
MR.
COLEMAN:
At some point in time, the plant will be closed down, I realize, whether or not it's 2002 or whenever it is.
Who will monitor the plant environmentally, safely after it's closed down?
Will you all continue to monitor the plant?
MR.
AULUCK:
Yes, there are obligations that we have to follow, and we have someone in the audience to speak to that.
Michael Masnik :
There is a rather detailed procedure once the plant permanently shuts down, and it is a requirement of the regulations that the plant be cleaned up.
We provide oversight during that clean-up period.
It's a lengthy process.
The number of reactors in this country has undergone that (202) 234-4433 (202) 234-4433
20 1
process or is undergoing that process.
So yes, we would 2
provide oversight during the actual decommissioning of 3
the facility.
4 MR.
COLEMAN:
But after it's decommissioned, 5
is anybody riding herd over it during that time period 6
to ensure the public that it's safe?
7 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Representative, we need 8
to get you on the transcript.
I hated to bother you 9
with this microphone.
If you could talk into it.
10 MR.
COLEMAN:
I mean, after it's 11 decommissioned, are there people that come periodically 12 to ensure the safety?
I'm sure it will be, but to 13 assure the public that everything is okay at the 14 facility?
I understand y'all will decommission it and 15 that's it, but is someone continuing to monitor the 16 plant?
17 Michael Masnik:
The process of 18 decommissioning will remove the radiological hazard of 19 the facility.
When the license is terminated for that 20 facility, it would be terminated under the conditions 21 that it would be safe for unrestricted use.
In other 22
- words, if you wanted to build another power facility 23 there or a school or whatever, the levels of residual 24 radiation would be low enough so that it would pose no 25 hazard to the public.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
21 1
So once the license is terminated, it also 2
terminates our oversight of the facility, but we 3
wouldn't allow that until the plant was cleaned up to a 4
point where it would not present any residual hazard to 5
the public.
6 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you, Mike.
7 Mr. Bursey is going to ask his question he was going to 8
ask during his comments at the later part of the 9
meeting.
10 Anybody else before we go to the environmental 11 review part of the process?
12 Okay.
Thank you, Raj.
13 MR.
SUBER:
Thank you, Chip.
First of all, I 14 would like to thank everyone for coming out.
Public 15 participation is important to the NRC, and I'm glad to 16 see that some of you took time out of your busy 17 schedules to come here and tell us how you feel about 18 this process, and also to help us develop and evolve the 19 process.
20 My name is Gregory Suber.
I am the 21 environmental project manager for the V.C. Summer 22 licensing renewal.
Right now I'm going to take a few 23 minutes to discuss the environmental review process and 24 how you, the public, can participate in that process.
25 The National Environmental Policy Act, also NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
22 1
known as NEPA, was enacted in 1969 and signed into law 2
in January of 1970.
NEPA requires all federal agencies 3
to use a systematic approach to consider environmental 4
impacts during certain decisionmaking proceedings.
It 5
is what we call a disclosure tool that involves the 6
public.
That means that we at the NRC use this process 7
to, number one, let the public know what information we 8
are using in our regulatory decisions.
9 We disclose and demonstrate to the public what 10 issues we are considering in our review, and then we 11 invite the public to come to us and evaluate the process 12 and the information.
That's why we're here today, to 13 initiate this process.
14 The product of the NEPA process for license 15 renewal is an environmental impact statement, also known 16 as an EIS.
An EIS describes the results of the detailed 17 review that we conduct to evaluate the environmental 18 impacts of a proposed action that may significantly 19 affect the quality of the human environment.
20 As a part of our review, we also consider the 21 environmental impacts of alternatives to the proposed 22 action.
These alternatives include replacement power 23 sources, whether it be windmills or hydroelectric power, 24 conservation measures, and the no-action alternative, 25 which means simply not approving the license renewal for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
23 1
V.C. Summer.
2 In the generic environmental impact statement 3
for license renewal of nuclear plants, also known as 4
NUREG-1437 or, as we commonly call it, the GEIS, the NRC 5
considered the environmental impacts of renewing nuclear 6
power plant operating licenses for up to 20 years.
7 In the GEIS, the NRC staff identified and 8
assessed 92 environmental issues related to license 9
renewal.
The staff reached generic conclusions on 69 of 10 these issues referred to in the GEIS as Category 1 11 issues.
By generic, we mean that the conclusions of 12 these environmental impacts are common for all operating 13 plants.
14 The remaining 23 issues require plant-specific 15 review, in addition to any Category 1 issue for which 16 new and significant information is identified.
New and 17 significant information can be identified by a variety 18 of sources.
Number one is the applicant, SCE&G, the 19 NRC, other agencies, or through public comments, as in 20 the forum that we have today.
These plant-specific 21 reviews are included in the supplement to the GEIS.
22 At this point in our process, we are gathering 23 information that we need to prepare the supplement to 24 the GEIS.
Specifically, we are performing what we call 25 scoping.
We are having this meeting today as part of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
24 1
our scoping process for the purpose of providing you, 2
the public, and other government agencies the 3
opportunity to provide us with information that you 4
believe may have some bearing on our environmental 5
evaluation.
6 In particular, we are looking for information 7
that may not be readily available or concerns that you, 8
especially people here in Jenkinsville, may have that 9
are not addressed in the licensing application.
10 As stated in the slide, the objective of our 11 environmental review is to determine whether the 12 adverse impacts of license renewal for V.C.
Summer are 13 so great, that preserving the option of license renewal 14 for energy-planning decisionmakers would be 15 unreasonable.
16 That's the way it's written in our 17 regulations.
So to paraphrase, we are trying to 18 determine whether renewing the V.C.
Summer license for 19 an additional 20 years is acceptable from an 20 environmental standpoint.
21 I want to emphasize that if we, in our 22 process, determine that license renewal is acceptable 23 from an environmental standpoint, all that means is that 24 SCE&G has the option to operate the plant for an 25 additional 20 years.
The NRC does not determine whether NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o
25 1
the plant will actually operate.
That's a decision that 2
will be made by SCE&G and the state regulators, which in 3
this case would be the South Carolina Public Service 4
Commission.
5 It is possible that, after receiving a renewed 6
license from the NRC, that the utility could determine 7
that it is not economically feasible to continue plant 8
operation, and the utility could decide not to operate 9
that plant.
10 On this slide, we present a more detailed 11 timeline of our environmental review process.
The 12 licensee's application was received on August the 6th of 13 2002.
On October the 25th, we issued a notice of intent 14 to prepare an environmental impact statement and conduct 15 a scoping process, which is what we're doing right now.
16 The scoping process, which you all are an 17 instrumental part of, is a data-gathering phase.
The 18 information that we collect is used to develop a draft 19 of the environmental impact statement, which we expect 20 to issue for public comment in July of next year.
21 We will come back to Jenkinsville in September 22 of 2003 for another public meeting to talk with you 23 about the results of our review, and to give you another 24 opportunity to provide us with any comments or any 25 information that you may have.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
26 1
After receiving and evaluating the comments, 2
we will develop the final environmental impact 3
statement, which we expect to issue in February of 2004.
4 Yesterday, we went to the site to get familiar 5
with the lay of the land, to examine features of 6
particular interests, and to observe firsthand how the 7
site interacts with the environment.
8 This week we are gathering information for our 9
evaluation from a number of different sources, including 10 the documents sent to us from the licensee.
We are also 11 compiling information from federal, state, tribal and 12 local government officials and interested people from 13 the local community who may have input that will help us 14 in our environmental evaluation.
15 We will consider all comments received during 16 the comment period, which expires on January 6th.
So if 17 you get up and have a comment and then go home and think 18 of something brilliant that you forgot to say, we will 19 still accept those comments up until January 6th.
20 Our team focuses on many environmental issues.
21 This slide shows the range of areas included in our 22 review.
Impacts considered include everything from 23 radiological effects to air quality, from water use and 24 quality, to effects on plant and wildlife.
25 We also look at what we call socioeconomics.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
27 1
We ask the question, what type of economic effect does 2
the plant have on the lives of people here in Fairfield 3
County and in the surrounding counties.
4 We also consider environmental justice.
5 Environmental justice focuses our attention on the 6
question of whether there are minority or low-income 7
populations that may be disproportionally affected by 8
the proposed action in which it gets its license 9
renewal.
10 To prepare for our review, we have assembled a 11 team of NRC staff with backgrounds in the specific 12 technical and scientific disciplines required to perform 13 our environmental evaluations.
14 In addition, to supplement our technical 15 expertise of our staff, we have engaged the assistance 16 of National Laboratories to ensure that we have a 17 well-rounded knowledge base to perform our review.
We 18 put together a team of about 15 people, many of whom are 19 here today to listen to what you have to say.
20 Let's summarize a few key points of an earlier 21 slide.
Our schedule is to complete the scoping process 22 by the end of the public comment period, which is 23 January the 6th of 2003.
After that, we will issue a 24 draft environmental impact statement in July of 2003.
25 And we expect to issue the final environmental impact NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
28 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 statement in February of 2004.
If you would like a copy of these documents sent to you, we will need your name and your mailing address.
And in order to do that, all you have to do is fill out one of the blue cards on the desk in the hallway here, and that will facilitate that process.
Here we provide some contact information for you.
In case you have additional questions when you leave today, my telephone number is provided in this slide.
I am the designated point of contact within the NRC for the environmental portion of the review.
Mr. Raj, who spoke earlier, is the project manager for the engineering management program.
Although my telephone number is on this slide, I still need your specific comments in some form that we could document.
Documentation is very important.
So you could either submit your comments in writing or, as Chip has indicated, you can get up and have your comments transcribed through the oral comments that you give today.
Oral comments are important because this meeting is being transcribed and the transcript will become the written record of your comments.
Arrangements have been made for documents associated with this review to be available to you I
(202) 234-4433 (202) 234-4433
29 1
locally at the Fairfield County Library, located at 300 2
Washington Street in Winnsboro, South Carolina, and the 3
Thomas Cooper Library located at 1322 Greene Street in 4
Columbia, South Carolina on the USC campus.
5 Also, documents are available through our 6
documents management system known as ADAMS, which you 7
can reach on our internet web page at www.nrc.gov.
8 As I had spoken earlier, after this meeting, 9
you can still submit comments.
You can submit them by 10 mail, in person or by email.
You can mail specific 11 written comments to the address shown here, which is 12 also included on one of the handouts that we have in the 13 hallway, so you don't have to write it down right now.
14 You can also stop by our Rockville office and speak to 15 speak to any of us and submit comments that way, or you 16 can submit comments by email to the address shown on the 17 slide, and that same address is also shown on the 18 handout that is on the table there.
19 This concludes the formal part of our 20 presentation.
Once again, I would like to thank all of 21 you for coming out.
We are genuinely interested in 22 hearing what you have to say, and I thank you for your 23 time.
24 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much.
25 You just heard Greg talk about the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
30 1
environmental review.
Raj Auluck talked about the -
2 what I call the safety review.
It's the aging 3
management part of this.
Both of those evaluations come 4
together as the basis for an NRC decision on whether to 5
renew the license.
6 Before we go on to you, I just wondered, Greg, 7
can you just clarify one thing?
You told us when the 8
final environmental impact statement would be available.
9 What is the time frame for when that document 10 and the aging --
the safety review will come together 11 for an NRC decision, so that people know when a decision 12 would be made?
13 MR.
SUBER:
The decision now is at the level 14 of the Nuclear --
at the NRR director, and I believe 15 that's about a year after the final has been issued; is 16 that correct?
17 MR.
AULUCK:
Twenty-two months or 25 months.
18 The current schedule calls for 25 months.
We're 19 changing -- arising to a final decision in 22 months.
20 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Can you do the math for 21 us?
22 MR.
AULUCK:
Yes.
June of 2004.
23 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
June of 2004 is the 24 projected date.
25 Questions on the environmental review or going NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
31 1
back to the safety review?
Any questions from anybody?
2 MR.
BURSEY:
What you're doing in this process 3
is a site-specific supplement to a generic environmental 4
impact statement; is that correct?
5 MR.
SUBER:
Yes.
6 MR.
BURSEY:
The only thing that will be 7
considered that's site-specific will be in this portion 8
of the process?
9 MR.
SUBER:
Say that again.
10 MR.
BURSEY:
The only site-specific 11 considerations will be in this portion of the process?
12 MR.
SUBER:
Are you asking whether this 13 portion of the process, just consideration of 14 site-specific information?
15 MR.
BURSEY:
Well, I believe you answered that 16 to the affirmative.
17 Are there other parts of the process reviewing 18 the licensing that will be site-specific?
19 MR.
SUBER:
Other parts of the environmental 20 process or are you talking about the safety process?
21 I'm trying to understand.
22 MR.
BURSEY:
That's a two-part question.
23 Other parts of the environmental review, yes or no, 24 other than this initial supplement?
25 MR.
SUBER:
You're talking about the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
32 1
supplement for V.C.
Summer?
2 MR.
BURSEY:
Right.
3 MR.
SUBER:
The entire supplement for 4
V.C. Summer is site-specific.
5 MR.
BURSEY:
And will the aging issues be 6
site-specific?
7 MR.
SUBER:
Okay.
The aging issues, 8
Mr. Auluck will be able to address that.
9 MR.
BURSEY:
Does environmental review 10 consider aging?
11 MR.
SUBER:
No, it does not -
12 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
The aging 13 considerations, as I understand it from Raj, are 14 considered in the safety evaluation.
Of course, and 15 that is a site-specific evaluation.
Although, for those 16 of you who are interested, there is a generic document 17 to look at aging issues.
And Raj or John, do you want 18 to tell people a little bit about that?
19 MR.
TAPPERT:
I'd like to go back to what 20 Gregory was saying about the site-specific environmental 21 impact statement.
We did a generic environmental impact 22 statement, and it basically had about 69 issues in 23 there.
24 We also looked at them site-specifically to 25 the extent we look for new and significant information NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
°
33 1
that might challenge (inaudible, door closes.)
2 So we deal with specific in-depth analysis for 3
the balance of the issues, but we also go back to what 4
we call! Category 1, generic issues to see if there is 5
any new information.
6 Regarding the aging management, principally 7
the safety review, can you give more on that?
8 MR.
AULUCK:
Yes.
We also have generic aging 9
issued lessons learned on the many issues, and applicant 10 can refer those issues that staff has already done that.
11 But staff still does review whether those staff reviews 12 is applicable to this particular case on site-specific 13 cases.
14 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Let's see if there is 15 any further questions.
Thank you, John.
Thanks, Raj.
16 Does anybody else have any questions at this 17 point?
Councilman?
18 MR.
MARCHARIA:
Just a question.
I don't know 19 how well you can assure the community, but I have been 20 on the council now about six years, somewhere in the 21 proximity of that.
22 I've had constituencies ask me over the last 23 15 years --
there appears to be a substantial increase 24 in different types of cancer, particularly with our 25 senior citizens.
There is a perception of this, even if NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
34 1
it's not true, there is certainly a perception.
I know 2
I get asked this question quite often.
What can you say 3
to assure the community that this plant has no direct 4
impact in regards to these questions?
5 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Great.
Thank you, 6
Councilman.
We're going to go to Mr. Richard Emch to 7
answer that.
8 MR.
EMCH:
My name is Rich Emch.
I'm a health 9
physicist.
I work for the Nuclear Regulatory 10 Commission.
11 First, cancer is a concern to all of us.
You 12 hardly go a day or a week or so around the world today 13 without hearing about some new cause of cancer or 14 something like how you cook your beef or whatever.
So 15 it's a valid concern.
It's one we all share about 16 making sure that ourselves and our families are as safe 17 as possible from cancer.
18 Let's start with some general information, and 19 then I will kind of come back to the specific 20 information about this area and about the Summer plant.
21 The issue of radiation risk, risk from 22 radiation, is a very well studied challenge to health.
23 There literally has been thousands of studies done over 24 the years.
Amongst those studies, amongst the credible 25 studies, there has never been any information to show NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
35 1
health risk from radiation at doses below --
I'm going 2
to use terms here, I'm going to try to explain them to 3
you --
below about 10,000, 10,000 millirem.
I'm using 4
that particular unit of measure because I want to talk 5
about other comparisons to it in a moment.
6 So of those studies, there has never been 7
anything shown from those studies of health effects 8
below those rates.
9 Now, in comparison, the average dose to you 10 and me, citizens of the world, citizens in the United 11 States, shall we say, the average dosage is over 12 300 millirem.
That's why I used that particular unit 13 before.
So we're talking 300 to 10,000.
And so this is 14 the dose that you and I receive every day from various 15 sources, national radioactivity, x-rays, dental x-rays, 16 whatever.
17 From the Summer plant in particular --
we were 18 just at the plant yesterday, examining effluent reports 19 and environmental reports.
This is where they go out 20 and make measurements of possible radioactive material 21 and fish, water, air samples, that sort of thing.
From 22 that data, it's clear that the maximum --
the maximum 23 dose that anybody living in the environment in the 24 Summer would be receiving something much less than 1 25 millirem per year.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202)234-4433
36 1
So I'm just trying to throw out to you that 2
one out of 300 that you would normally get or more, and 3
then the comparison to anything below 10,000.
So the 4
beef is, no, that whatever cancers are being experienced 5
and whatever, no, it's not due to the plant.
6 Now, having said that, again, we are here to 7
look for new and significant information.
And 8
certainly, if anybody has data that they would like for 9
us to look at and see, we would be happy to do that.
We 10 would like to do that.
Does that answer your question, 11 sir?
12 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
One thing while I'm 13 limping back here to the councilman is, one thing you 14 might want to say is that our NRC regulations limit the 15 radioactive emissions from a nuclear power plant; isn't 16 that correct?
17 MR.
EMCH:
Yes, they do.
18 MR.
MARCHARIA:
I guess in answer partially, 19 given to the environmental regulations, does your agency 20 also check environmentally any of the medical records to 21 see whether or not these perceptions of increase of 22 different types of cancers, do you monitor --
if you 23 monitor air and the environment and you do that, do you 24 also check whether or not there is an increase of health 25 risk to citizens in the area?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
37 1
MR.
EMCH:
Specifically, I'm not aware around 2
the Summer plant of anything that --
any methods that 3
are used to do that.
Although, there have been --
as I 4
mentioned earlier, there have been many studies, 5
including studies specific to areas around nuclear power 6
plants in the United States, where there was -- where 7
they looked into that.
8 Again, there was no health impacts shown at 9
the scene at the plant from radiation from the plant.
10 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
And usually, that type 11 of study is undertaken by the state departments of 12 health or by a federal agency called Agency for Toxic 13 Substances and Disease Registry, the Center for Disease 14 Control in Atlanta.
I think --
and we will get you 15 specific information.
16 But I think that the Department of Health in 17 South Carolina did a study of cancer incidents by 18 county, and that just was released a few months ago.
19 But we will see if we can get you that.
20 Virgil, do you know anything about a recent 21 study at all that you could share with us?
22 MR.
AUTRY:
None that I'm aware of -
23 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Unfortunately, I have to 24 get you on the transcript.
Just tell us who you are, 25 please.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
38 1
MR.
AUTRY:
I'm Virgil Autrey, consultant for 2
- DHEC, the radiological division.
DHEC for years has 3
done environmental studies of this particular facility.
4 Because of the loss of federal funds to do that, we no 5
longer,' but there are some information we shared with 6
the plant to look at this.
7 I know we have the cancer registry, the 8
Medical University of South Carolina has information on 9
these particular areas and clusters that may show some 10 problems there.
But we have not identified for DHEC or 11 done any specific studies, but have --
(inaudible) -
12 other new facilities and the Savannah River Site.
But I 13 don't think DHEC has done any technical things at this 14 point.
15 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much, 16 Virgil.
We will see if we can get you more specifics on 17 that.
18 MR.
BURSEY:
I wanted some confirmation from 19 him.
If I'm right, I wanted to share my knowledge, if 20 I'm right, and you correct me if I'm wrong, that the 21 methodology that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission uses 22 to determine those limits is based on a calculation as 23 referred to as low as reasonably achievable OR.
And the 24 OR limits are not based on what is good and healthy for 25 you, because there are scientists that say that no NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
°
39 1
additional radiation is actually healthy.
2 Unfortunately, none of us in this room are 3
going to live long enough to determine what the 4
cumulative effects of what we're doing to our 5
environment are, but the limits set by the Nuclear 6
Regulatory Commission as low as reasonably achievable is 7
based on the financial expenditure of the industry to 8
reduce the millirem exposure to limits that the Nuclear 9
Regulatory Commission considers acceptable.
So if you 10 will confirm that that OR is based on a cost-benefit 11 unless by the industry.
12 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
That's an important 13 question to clarify, because that's not exactly the way 14 it is.
15 MR.
EMCH:
Whereas, you're right, in the 16 regulations you will find the words as low as reasonably 17 achievable.
That's correct.
The actual limits, though, 18 that have been set are very low limits.
And actually, 19 they were set and said, Okay, we believe that these 20 limits would be safe, and they correlate to the limits 21 that were --
the standards set by the Environmental 22 Protection Agency and their regulations.
And that's -
23 these limits, without getting into specific numbers, 24 which you will remember, I mentioned a little while ago, 25 various numbers of millirem.
The millirem limits for a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o
40 1
year for a nuclear power plant are in the range of five 2
to ten millirems.
And as I said, the data from the 3
Summeriplant indicates that they are actually --
all of 4
the numbers I saw were 100 to 1,000 times lower than one 5
millirem.
So they are well within the limits, the 6
safetyilimits, the limits below which we do not believe 7
that there is any risk.
8
- Now, let's come back to a couple of your other 9
thoughts.
One of them you mentioned what we referred to 10 as the linear non-threshold theory.
That's a technical 11 concept for --
there is the concept that there is some 12 possible damage from any amount of radioactive dose.
13 That's what you're talking about.
While we follow that 14 concept as a conservatism --
in other words, we follow 15 that concept to say, we don't want to allow any dose 16 unless there is some benefit from it.
So you don't want 17 to take any dose that you don't have to take unless 18 there is some benefit from it.
So that's that concept.
19 And from that and also related to that, you 20 talked about a cost benefit-study, actually, the 21 regulations do call for that if when plants were 22 originally licensed, they still had these limits of a 23 few millirem, but they also did studies to look at the 24 RAD waste handling system, the RAD waste clean-up system 25 of the plant.
And they did cost benefit studies there NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
41 1
where they said there's an additional level of clean-up 2
that could be added to the plant, and they looked at 3
cost benefit in that respect.
So that was as low as 4
reasonably achievable.
But remember, that was in 5
addition to saying, no, you have to say within these 6
limits.'
7 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Just so that it's
- clear, 8
and I think John is going to say something here, the 9
NRC's limits on how much radiation can go on from a 10 particular activity are set on the basis of safety.
11 There's no cost considerations in there at all.
But 12 once that safety level is set, then the NRC requires a 13 licensee to go below that, to control their emissions 14 even lower than that, and that is based, just to be 15 conservative --
and that is based on the ALARA concept, 16 which is a cost-beneficial concept.
17 MR.
TAPPERT:
That's exactly what I wanted to 18 be sure that they're clear about that, that our 19 radiation limits are based on safety requirements.
20 They're with considerable margin to make sure exposure 21 to that level does not endanger the health and public.
22 What the as low as reasonably achievable, or ALARA, 23 concept is used for is that we're not --
we don't even 24 think that going up against those very conservative 25 limits is really appropriate to operate the facility.
NEAL R, GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
1 42 1
The operation should maintain those levels as low as 2
possible below the already very safe limits.
3 So it's not that they don't mitigate measures 4
down to a safe level.
They start at the safe level, and 5
they continue to go down as low as reasonably 6
achievable.
7 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you.
Thank you, 8
Rich, for that.
9 Do we have any other questions before we go on 10 to hear from those of you who came to give us comments?
11 MR.
BURSEY:
The South Carolina Department of 12 Health-and Environmental Control founded the renewal of 13 the licensing?
14 MR.
AUTRY:
We are participating agencies, 15 since we are the State of South Carolina, and we are 16 reviewing the relicensing of this facility and supply 17 all information, providing a technical review of it, not 18 only radiological, but other areas, as well.
19 MR.
BURSEY:
As an intervenor?
20 MR.
AUTRY:
We're a participating state.
You 21 don't have to file intervenor status.
You have to 22 provide input.
23 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
So to clarify that, the 24 state did not file a petition to intervene in the 25 adjudicatory hearing.
They are a cooperating, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
43 1
participating agency in the preparation of the 2
environmental review.
3 MR.
BURSEY:
And absent DHEC's standing as a 4
formal intervenor, there will be no public hearings on 5
the final EIS; correct?
6 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Unless someone comes in 7
with a late-filed petition and they open the hearing up.
8 So people are not confused about this, Raj 9
mentioned, as part of his overall process, that besides 10 the public meetings and comments that we do on the draft 11 environmental impact statement, there is an adjudicatory 12 hearing before a panel of judges that can be requested 13 on a license renewal application, as well as many other 14 types of applications.
And that is a --
that's a formal 15 trial-type proceeding, where evidence is presented, and 16 there is cross-examination.
17 No one requested to what's called intervene 18 and basically participate in an adjudicatory proceeding.
19 So right now, there is not going to be an adjudicatory 20 proceeding, unless someone comes in and gets standing 21 through a late-filed petition.
22 Well, thank you for all of those questions, 23 and also the suggestions from Ms. Pearson and Councilman 24 Marcharia on how we can improve the notice process.
We 25 take those seriously and will explore those with you.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
44 1
I was going to start the formal comment part 2
of the meeting, but we may have one more question.
3 MR.
MARCHARIA:
I must ask this of the Nuclear 4
Regulatory Commission.
I asked a question earlier, how 5
many people were from Jenkinsville, and only three hands 6
went up in this entire community.
I would ask the 7
Regulatory Commission if you could find it to be 8
possible to hold another committee meeting to give the 9
constituency an opportunity to ask questions, to 10 participate, and I will go out in the community and make 11 sure that the churches and other constituencies is 12 informed that you're having this hearing, if you would.
13 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you, Councilman.
14 Okay.
We have a formal request from the 15 councilman, which will be so noted for the NRC to 16 consider.
But at a minimum, the next time we're out 17 here for the draft, anytime we come out here again for a 18 public meeting, I think it's a great idea to contact you 19 and make sure that we get the word out to everybody.
20 But there's you made a request for an additional 21 meeting.
I just want to make sure the staff knows that.
22 All right.
Let's go to the part of the 23 meeting where we hear from all of you a little bit more 24 formally.
I was going to start with local officials, 25 and then I wanted to ask the companies, South Carolina NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
45 1
Electric & Gas, to give us a little bit of what their 2
vision is behind this, and then we will go to the rest 3
of you who wanted to comment.
4 Representative Coleman was here, but I don't 5
think he's here right now.
So what I would like to do 6
is to go to the two members of the Fairfield County 7
Council and go to Carolyn Robinson first, and then we 8
will go to Councilman Marcharia that we heard from 9
already, too, but we will go back to him for a comment 10 time.
'Wherever you're comfortable.
You can use this or 11 use this or whatever.
12 MS.
ROBINSON:
We also have another council 13 member who has arrived.
14 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Oh, okay.
15 MS.
ROBINSON:
I don't know exactly everything 16 that I should say.
But in thinking about the 17 environment, used to, the only thing I thought about 18 Broad River was it was a big river with a little bridge 19 that crossed over so I could go visit my aunt.
Now that 20 I'm an adult, now that I sit on the county council, the 21 lake and the river means a lot of other aspects of 22 things to me.
23 Fairfield County is a special situation in 24 that we're surrounded by a lake and a river on either 25 side of our county.
And by sitting on the environmental NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
46 1
committee for several years on council, it's just very 2
important for me to know that we're protecting those lakes, ibecause at some point, that may be the only 4
sourceof drinking water we're going to have.
So water 5
is just a very important element to each of our lives.
6 In the early seventies, I started working for 7
the attorney who was assisting in the acquisition of the 8
property to build Lake Monticello.
And I remember 9
asking him at that time, Why is this so important that 10 we acquire this land, that we have a nuclear power 11 plant?
And he said, You should be fortunate that you 12 have a company who has a vision out there, who will look 13 and be prepared for the growth that is coming down.
14
- Well, in the mid seventies, I was visiting in 15 Washington D.C.,
and I will always remember that was the 16 night of the big brownout in New York.
And at that 17 time, I thought, oh, the senator was so right.
Maybe 18 with the vision of SCE&G, we will not have to live 19 through a brownout, because that was not a good night.
20 And I just think about all of the power 21 equipment that we have now.
If we have a brownout, 22 what's it going to do with all of that electric 23 equipment that we have in our homes?
24 SCE&G is a wonderful partner for our county.
25 Because they came online, we now have some of the finest NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
47 1
school facilities in the state.
We also are able to 2
offer, because of their tax dollars, services to the 3
people of this county that otherwise we could not afford 4
because our people cannot pay taxes to provide those 5
services.
6 They are a very good partner for us.
Anytime 7
we work toward an economic development project or just 8
any event, they're always there.
And their employees 9
have gone out and formed a partnership, I think, with 10 the local schools, so that they can do teaching and 11 mentoring and assistance to these children in the 12 afternoons, to help them have a better education, so 13 that they are not in the percentage of illiterates in 14 this county.
15 As far as an economic development impact on 16 this county, this to me is a very clean lake that they 17 have provided.
We then have people who are able to fish 18 in this lake, and we now have people who are selling 19 property around this lake, which to us is an economic 20 development tool.
And these people are coming in and 21 building homes, which add to our tax base.
22 But in the process, SCE&G has very stringent 23 guidelines of what they can and can't do on this lake.
24 For instance, you can't ski.
They're doing various 25 things to try to make this is a very environmental NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
48 1
impact upon the community.
And I just appreciate the 2
fact that they're here.
I appreciate the fact that they 3
live within the guidelines to protect us, because I 4
know, even though I may live 15 miles from here, should 5
something happen, that's the end of me.
I don't have to 6
worry about an evacuation route.
It's going to be gone.
7 So I am very concerned about the fact that 8
they are meeting the guidelines that need to be to 9
protected because of nuclear power.
10 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much, 11 Council woman.
12 Councilman Marcharia, do you want to use this 13 or come up to the podium?
14 MR.
MARCHARIA:
I'll just stand.
15 Once again, I've been accused of massively 16 running off at the mouth, so to speak, saying what's on 17 my mind.
I hope that the messenger don't get killed in 18 the process.
But I'm only expressing what constituency 19 has asked me to say.
Otherwise, I would have stayed 20 home in bed, with this cold.
21 I did get asked the question about the 22 perception of cancer.
Fairfield County leads the state 23 in terms of diabetes, and particularly in this area, 24 it's not uncommon to go to households to find that 25 people's legs are amputated, and people are on dialysis NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
49 1
machines, and the perception that the environment might 2
complicate these conditions.
3 So I'm just raising this because we do need an 4
independent study.
That's why I asked for a medical 5
explanation.
Have DHEC or other folks, the agency for 6
this area, and just for the public safety to make sure 7
that these conditions and perceptions, that they are not 8
found, they're not authentic, and I think that will go a 9
long ways to some uncertainties.
10 Other than that, those are some of the things 11 that I was asked to bring to you today and ask those 12 questions and, of course, to ask for another public 13 hearing, where folks can actually participate.
14 Certainly, if the plant wasn't here, we 15 certainly wouldn't have the support with our school 16 system.
We wouldn't be where we are today.
But you 17 wouldn't be here if your health is not good, either.
18 That's the primary concern, and that's where I speak 19 from that.
Thank you very much for giving me an 20 opportunity.
21 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Great.
Thank you very 22 much for those comments.
23 We're going to go to some school officials 24 now.
First of all, Dr. Wilder.
This is Dr. Rose 25 Wilder, Superintendent of Lhe Fairfield County Schools.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
50 1
DR. WILDER:
Good afternoon.
Thank you.
I 2
would like to say that this morning I met with Dan 3
Palmer and another gentleman.
And the first question 4
that was asked of me when they came to my office, I told 5
them, I said I'm trying to clean this table off 6
because --
my secretary wants to know why you're 7
cleaning this office up.
I said, Two persons will be 8
here, and those persons contribute over $11 million to 9
our school systems, so I wanted them to know that money 10 is being very well taken care of.
11 So I want to say that I, too, want to make 12 certain that SCE&G continue to follow guidelines to 13 ensure that we are subjected to clean air and a safe 14 environment, et cetera, et cetera.
15 But I'm pleased to say, too, that the plant 16 has been a very vital part of the tax base in our 17 county.
I made a point to check with Ricky Douglas, the 18 accounting person, to find out what is the total amount.
19 I want you to know that I'm not just all about money for 20 the school system, because as the councilman says, if 21 we're not healthy, we can't enjoy it.
But when I'm 22 asked the question what impact would it have on the 23 school system if the plant were to close or not be 24 relicensed after 2022, and my response to my secretary 25
- was, I would be retired, but that would be --
you know, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
51 1
we have other people to go on.
2 So if the plant were not to be licensed and, 3
in my personal opinion, the industry was not here to 4
replace the plant that not relicensed, it would be 5
devastating on the county.
6 And for the county to have a $16 million 7
impact from one plant, that's a big impact into our 8
economic base on the county level.
9 Back to the school situation.
The school 10 district is fortunate that the V.C. Nuclear Summer Plant 11 is the largest tax base in the county.
We get in excess 12 11 million dollars per year in taxes from the plant.
13 On the other side, we want them to do what 14 they need to do to make sure the environment is clean 15 and healthy for everyone.
16 So with those comments said, I also want to 17 reiterate that the persons at the plant, some of the 18 employees have been very instrumental in our school 19 system.
McCorey School in the district, actually, last 20 school term, there was a tutorial program in the 21 afternoons, and employees from the plant actually went 22 into the school system, worked with the students, and 23 served as mentors or lunch buddies.
It was a wonderful 24 situation.
25 We also had occasion to have some persons come NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE, N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
52 1
in we have our career fairs.
We've had persons come 2
in and serve as coaches or mentors to the students, 3
answering various questions.
I'm pleased to say 4
Mr. Jeff Archie has been very active in the program -
5 the program targets low-income students.
It's an 6
afterschool program.
Jeff Archie, an employee of the 7
company, has actually served as, I think, as board chair 8
for that board.
He's been a wonderful resource.
9 He heard me complaining one day that we need 10 to have some health with our website.
He actually 11 volunteered some of the persons from the plant to help 12 us develop our website.
And Mr. Greg, I think it's 13 Halnon has been familiar with the chamber.
When I came 14 to the county a year ago, there was some strife between 15 chamber members and school board members, and Mr. Greg 16 from the plant came on that body, and he was actually 17 very instrumental in soothing some of the --
between the 18 school board the chamber members.
19 So in a nutshell, I can say that the persons 20 at the plant actually have been good neighbors.
They 21 will be good for the economy.
I have been blessed to 22 have met some of the people I have met, and we're 23 looking forward to more?
24 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you, Dr. Wilder.
25 Before we go to Lunelle Harmon, let's hear from NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE, N.W.
(202) 234-433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
53 1
Councilman Murphy.
2 MR.
MURPHY:
Thank you.
I've been on the 3
council for 18 years.
I was educated in the high school 4
public school system.
I live in Ridgeway.
I've looked 5
at the V.C.
Summer plant before it was the V.C. Summer 6
plant.
I've been in education for 34 years.
I remember 7
when the total budgets for the school was around 8
93 percent for the total funding for the Fairfield 9
County Federal government.
I remember when the millage 10 was below three or four thousand dollars.
Then you put 11 on the station out here at Parr, and that's $12,500 and 12 on up, just to give you a little history there, a lot of 13 things.
14 I remember when we were trying to get this 15 licensing, people with all of this anxiety in this 16 community and around the county on what they're going to 17 bring into the county, they're going to have blind fish 18 and everything else out here.
I remember all of those 19 things.
That was rumors.
I remember a lot of those 20 different things that were there, and I think that there 21 needs to be a consciousness, always a level of 22 consciousness for the responsibility of all of the 23 regulatory agencies need to be there, because we need to 24 protect people from what they don't know is happening to 25 them.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
54 1
As far as health issues, we have a lot of 2
health issues in Fairfield County, and a lot of 3
contributory things that have been done.
We're unique 4
in different things.
We have a fault line that runs 5
right through here.
We also have a great deposit of 6
granite in the county that lets off rayon gas and all 7
these other things that's not attributed to the Summer 8
plant.
9 But through it
- all, I think V.C.
Summer 10 Nuclear Plant has been a safe partner, a good neighbor, 11 one that Fairfield County has to look at and say thank 12 you for coming here, thank you for managing it.
It's 13 rated in the top five safest nuclear plants in America.
14 The benefits of the taxes that's been bought in, over 15
$17 million to the county.
Where would we be if it 16 wasn't for V.C. Summer?
17 But through that, too, all of the 18 responsibilities and guidelines and things that we need 19 to go through need to be at the utmost importance to 20 make sure everyone is doing what they should do.
21 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much, 22 Councilman Murphy.
23 Lunelle Harmon, who is the principal of 24 Pomaria-Garmany Elementary School.
25 MS.
HARMON:
Thank you, Mr. Cameron, and good NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
55 1
afternoon to all of you.
My name is Lunelle Harmon, and 2
I'm the principal of Pomaria-Garmany Elementary School 3
in Pomaria, in Newberry County, right next to here.
I'm 4
located about ten miles from here.
And I'm here today 5
to tell you of the support that my school has received 6
from SCE&G.
I am an advocate of the statement, It takes 7
a village to raise a child.
8 In March of 2001, I received word that our 9
school playground had been found unsafe for children to 10 play on.
Almost all of our playground equipment would 11 have to be torn down before school opened the following 12 school year.
13 I can't tell you what a dilemma I felt myself 14 in.
The district told us that each school could receive 15 5,500 toward the purchase of playground equipment.
16 You're talking in terms of millions; I'm talking in 17 terms of $5,500.
18 Well, since I didn't have any concept of the 19 prices for playground equipment at that time, I thought 20 that that might be a fair amount.
Well, in case you 21 don't know, $5,500 will buy about one nice slide for 22 children to play on.
23 So I went to my PTA, which is my backbone of 24 my school, and I asked them what we could possibly do to 25 help raise funding for our children to have playground NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS
-1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
56 1
equipment, and I was told that we could begin with 2
having a country-fried steak supper.
And we did, and we 3
raised funding through that.
4 I also went to speak to people at local areas, 5
like our Pomaria Town Council, and I told them I was not 6
beneath begging because it was for our children.
And I 7
do have about 400 children in my school at the present 8
time, pre-K through five.
9 The supper that we had, I can't remember the 10 exact amount that was raised, but it was spearheaded by 11 my PTA office, and our vice-president, A.P. Smith, an 12 employee of SCE&G, and he has stuck by me.
That's why 13 I'm here today.
14 We raised money from that supper, and we had 15 money donated by the Town of Pomaria, and it totaled 16 enough that we could purchase the playground equipment.
17 The only problem was, we were faced with an expensive 18 installation charge that we didn't have the money for.
19 After questioning prices, I was told that we 20 could pay a much smaller charge and have one person come 21 out as a consultant for one day if I could have people 22 on-site to actually do the work that was supposed to 23 meet safety standards.
24
- Well, SCE&G employees came to our rescue.
25 They worked two very steaming June days.
It was NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE, N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
57 1
horrible those days, I do recall.
At the close of the 2
second day, we had our brand new insurance-approved 3
playground equipment installed, enough playground 4
equipment to occupy the time of approximately 5
80 students at one time.
Of course, we have a ballfield 6
and stuff such as that that don't cost a lot of money.
7 But I do want to name these young men and 8
women who gave those two days to us:
Ronnie Banister, 9
Mark Balkman, Frank Derrick, Richard Derrick, Cynthia 10 Hair, Barry Mather, Paul Hickman, Eric Rumfelt and my 11 faithful, A.P. Smith.
12 Now, the wonderful part of that fact that 13 these SCE&G employees came to my rescue is that only one 14 of them had children in my school.
I did know two of 15 the others, but I had never met any of the others, and 16 they came through for me.
17 So by the time school started that year, we 18 were prepared for school to start.
Even right before I 19 came today, we had a call from Mr.
Thomas Fritter, 20 employed by SCE&G, and he was talking about a class 21 presentation that he will be making to my fourth-graders 22 next week.
23 So you see, during this holiday season, we're 24 very thankful for all of our blessings.
I can honestly 25 say that Pomaria-Garmany is being supported by our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
58 1
entire community, or a village, which is made up of our 2
parents, the Town of Pomaria, and people, such as SCE&G 3
employees.
- Yes, I am truly thankful that our entire 4
village raises our children and supports our schools.
5 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much, 6
Principal Harmon.
What a great story.
7 Let's go to South Carolina Electric & Gas to 8
hear a little bit more about what their vision is in 9
I would like to ask Steve Byrne, 10 senior vice president at the V.C.
Summer Nuclear Station 11 to come up.
12 MR.
BYRNE:
Good afternoon.
I'm Steve A.
13 Byrne.
I am the vice president for Nuclear Operations 14 for SCE&G.
I'm located here at the V.C. Summer Station.
15 V.C. Summer, as many of you are probably 16
- aware, is owned two-thirds by South Carolina Electric &
17 Gas, and one-third by the State of South Carolina 18 through the Public Service Authority.
You're going to 19 hear a little bit more about that relationship when 20 Robin White comes up to speak a little bit later.
21 Together, we have operated V.C.
Summer safely 22 for 20 years, and we look forward to operating the plant 23 safety in this community for another 40 years.
And 24 obviously, we can only do that with a license renewal 25 for plant extension that we've been talking about today.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202)2344433
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 59 South Carolina is a state that derives much benefit from nuclear.
There are seven operating reactors in this state, six in addition to the V.C.
Summer Station.
And while the United States derives 21 percent of electrical needs from nuclear, South Carolina is almost 60 percent power from nuclear.
This company, South Carolina Electric & Gas, opened its first generating facility in this county in 1914.
That was the Parr Generating Plant.
That is a
facility that generates about 15 megawatts, relatively small, but it's still operating today.
We also operate this man-made lake that you've heard so much about, the Monticello Reservoir, is also a pumped storage lake.
We will pump it out in the evenings and let it down during the day.
We can generate about 525 megawatts of electricity from hydropower units in this county.
So when you combine all of the facilities currently, we're in excess of 1,550 megawatts of generated power right here in Fairfield County.
The largest, obviously, is V.C. Summer.
We're just over 1,000 megawatts.
We also provide jobs for about 625 SCE&G employees and in excess of 100 long-term contract employees.
When we have a feeling or a job scare, our contract workforce will swell, usually for a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
60 1
month or two at a time.
2 We're also the largest taxpayer in the county.
3 You've heard a lot about that.
We pay about 17-1/2 4
million dollars in taxes and represent about 67 percent 5
of the tax base.
Unfortunately, with the Mack Truck 6
closing, we may be the larger portion of the tax base.
7
- Mack, I believe, was the second higher 8
taxpayer, and they pay just under a million dollars a 9
year, compared to our 17-1/2 million dollars a year.
10 In addition to energy, jobs and taxes, which 11 are very, very tangible, there are a lot of intangible 12 benefits.
You've heard about some of them here today.
13 Our support of schools, not only in Fairfield 14 County, but also Newberry County.
We do also support 15 science fairs as judges in Newberry County for their 16 high schools.
But we also have a shadowing program 17 Fairfield County Schools we support.
We have a 18 friendship program for vocational welding, who we 19 support through Fairfield County Schools.
20 We participate in the strategic planning.
The 21 career days are very valuable with McCorey-Liston 22 School.
We also donated a couple years ago in excess of 23 100 PC's to the local school district.
24 We're a haven for wildlife.
The NRC team here 25 got to see that firsthand yesterday.
They almost hit a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
°
61 1
couple of deer.
Went by a couple of flocks of wild 2
turkeys.
Obviously, the aquatic life, and we are home 3
to at least one pair of nesting bald eagles.
Saw three 4
of them out there the other day.
5 Recreational activities.
In addition to the 6
fishing on the lake, the recreational lake was put in by 7
SCE&G, which is at the northern part of Lake Monticello.
8 We have a nature trail on site that has been used for 9
our schools.
We also facilitate the land for the county 10 park that is on this side of the county, Western 11 Fairfield County.
As you are well aware, there is not a 12 lot in Western Fairfield County to hang your hat on.
13 Community service, you heard a little bit 14 about the chamber.
Right now, one of our employees is 15 the vice president of the chamber, next year will be the 16 president of the chamber.
I've been the president of 17 the chamber in the past.
18 United Way Campaign, we have long been 19 associated with the United Way campaign.
This is a very 20 difficult county to raise funds in.
It is a thankless 21 task.
We have also --
some of the local United Way 22 Fairfield County campaign, and we have an employee from 23 our plant that has chaired that campaign three out of 24 the last five years.
25 The communities and schools board, you heard NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
62 1
some favorable comments about Jeff Archie.
I don't know 2
if he is he was this year, but he's going to be the 3
chair of the County Communities and School Board.
4 Also, we are very interested in the Fairfield 5
Behavioral Health Services, and their capital campaign 6
committee to build a new facility, and I'm the chair of 7
that steering committee, and SCE&G just announced 8
$30,000 towards that building campaign.
9 In closing, I would like to say that SCE&G, 10 V.C. Summer and our employees have appreciated being a 11 part of this community for the last 20 years.
We think 12 we have been a good neighbor of this community.
We have 13 operated the plant safety, within the confines of 14 regulation, and we would like to be a part of this 15 community for the next 40 years.
16 One point of clarification, the fossil plant 17 that Mr. Marcharia was talking about is not an SCE&G 18 fossil plant.
19 (Laughter.)
20 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Ms.
Pearson?
21 MS.
PEARSON:
I've got to go.
I want to 22 welcome you to the community.
23 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Let me get you on here.
24 MS.
PEARSON:
I want to welcome you all to our 25 community and hope you come back again.
You've heard a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 63 lot about what SCE&G is doing for the schools.
You've read a lot about how the schools is not doing.
We integrated Winnsboro High with 18 students, and every one of those students excelled and went to college with 25 units.
Now they can't get out of high school, but SCE&G is pouring money in it.
We need to get together, put this money together.
We could get a college in Fairfield County for all SCE&G is doing for them.
Don't get me wrong.
I just say that about me because my son works for SCE&G.
I ain't going to tell you what his name is.
But anyway, y'all come back to see us.
We need to get together.
If we get a government in this county, we'll have a wonderful county, but we've got to get it together.
Thank you for coming.
I didn't have anything to do with it, because I didn't know we were going to be here until today.
That's why we're asking for you all to give the community a little bit of input in what SCE&G is doing for us.
When my lights go out, I'm going to call you.
FACILITATOR-CAMERON:
Thank you, Ms.
Pearson.
Let's go to Steve Summer, who is the environmental coordinator on the license renewal application, and perhaps -
MR.
SUMMER:
My name is Steve Summer, and I'm (202) 234-4433 (202) 234-4433
64 1
the environmental lead for the license renewal project 2
at the Summer station.
I'm actually an employee of 3
SCANA Services.
SCANA, the parent company of SCE&G, 4
took a lot of the functions, including some of the 5
environmental groups, and put them in a service company.
6 So earlier this year, I moved from SCE&G to SCANA 7
Services, but it really hasn't changed my job.
8 Nearly 25 years ago, I came to work at the 9
Summer station in the environmental surveillance 10 laboratory.
The plant was still under construction.
11 Monticello Reservoir had just been filled.
Over the 12 ensuing years, my career has been closely tied to Summer 13 Station.
I spent 14 years in the plant's environmental 14 section, conducting radiological environmental 15 monitoring, and overseeing the nonradiological 16 environmental monitoring program.
17 The past 10-1/2 years have been spent in the 18 company's corporate environmental services department, 19 where I have continued to provide environmental support 20 to the plant.
When the opportunity arose, I was happy 21 to become involved in the license renewal process.
22 Summer Station's environmental performance has 23 been very good, as evidenced by the lack of news 24 coverage for environmental problems at the plant for the 25 first 20 years of the operating license.
The creation NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
65 1
of Summer Station and its companion generating plant, 2
Fairfield Pumped Storage Facility, have provided an 3
environment which has been conducive to the expansion of 4
the bald eagle population.
It was a rare event in the 5
early years of the plant's operation to see a bald 6
eagle.
Today it's commonplace, with eagles raising 7
their young in the Parr Reservoir and the Monticello 8
Reservoir area.
9 The SCE&G, the operator of the Summer Station, 10 has made positive environmental strides in recent years.
11 Some steps are small, such as the installation of perch 12 guards on distribution poles where bird electrocution is 13 a problem.
Some steps are major, such as the 14 installation of additional pollution control equipment 15 on coal-fired plants, the conversion of two coal-fired 16 units to natural gas at Urquhart Station on Savannah 17 River, and the set-aside of river bottom wetlands in a 18 conservation easement at Cope Station.
19 SCE&G has funded scientific research into 20 striped bass population dynamics in the Santee River 21 drainage and will fund a study of avian vacuolar 22 myelinopathy, a disease that affects bald eagles, on 23 Lake Murray.
24 SCE&G is a member of the Robust Redhorse 25 Conservation Committee, a rare fish that's found only in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
66 1
Georgia and South Carolina --
South and North Carolina, 2
and that organization is dedicated to the recovery of 3
that species.
4 SCE&G hired a consulting firm, Tetra Tech NUS, 5
to work with us in preparing the environmental report 6
and to guide us through the environmental review 7
process.
Tetra Tech NUS has been involved in the 8
preparation of several license environmental reports and 9
is a leader in this area.
10 Development of the report required 11 interviewing numerous employees, contact with county, 12 state and federal agencies and review of applicable 13 regulations.
14 In conjunction with the environmental report, 15 a threatened and endangered species survey was conducted 16 for the plant site and associated transmission line 17 corridors.
This survey found no evidence of threatened 18 or endangered species on the plant site or the 19 transmission corridors.
With the exception to that 20 being the eagles that are not nesting on the plant site 21 now, but do come visit.
22 I have been involved with monitoring Summer 23 Station's environmental impacts, evaluating its 24 environmental performance, and providing environmental 25 support since the facility began operation and have now NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS S1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
67 1
been directly involved in the environmental assessment 2
for license renewal.
3 I believe that Summer Station will continue to 4
provide electricity in an environmentally sound manner 5
for many years to come.
I also believe that the Nuclear 6
Regulatory Commission, when their review is complete, 7
will find that the environmental impacts from the 8
operation of the Summer Station are not significant, and 9
that extension of the operating license by 20 years is 10 prudent.
I believe that nuclear power, and Summer 11 Station in particular, has a place in our society and 12 this community today and in the future.
Thank you.
13 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
I'm going to go to 14 Mr. Robin White now from the South Carolina Public 15 Service Authority.
16 MR.
WHITE:
Thank you, Mr. Cameron.
17 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
My name 18 is Robin White.
I'm the nuclear coordinator for the 19 South Carolina Public Service Authority.
Most 20 recognized by its corporate name Santee Cooper.
21 Santee Cooper, as Steve indicated, has a 22 one-third non-operating interest in the Summer Nuclear 23 Station.
We pay one-third of the expenses and receive 24 one-third of the electric production.
SCE&G operates 25 the plant on Santee Cooper's behalf.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
68 1
I have been employed by Santee Cooper for 12 2
years, and I've worked at Summer Station the entire 3
12 years.
My job is to conduct oversight of all aspects 4
of stations operation to ensure that Santee Cooper's 5
interests are protected.
6 Prior to my joining Santee Cooper, I spent 22 7
of my 30 years in the Navy directly involved with the 8
Navy Nuclear Power Program.
I commanded two submarines, 9
inspected more than 80 nuclear-powered vessels, and 10 directed operational material control to a group of 11 nuclear-powered submarines.
12 I believe my background qualifies me to 13 ascertain safe operation of a nuclear facility.
As my 14 office is at the station, I have unfettered access to 15 all areas of the station, as well as the ability to talk 16 to all employees and review documentation on a continual 17 basis.
18 Another prime method of oversight is my 19 membership in the Nuclear Safety Review Committee, a 20 body established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 21 technical specifications.
This committee reviews, on a 22 regular basis, all aspects of nuclear safety.
Thus from 23 both daily observation and the Nuclear Safety Review 24 Committee review audits, I have found the operation of 25 Summer Station to be found in a strong safety culture.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
69 1
On several occasions in the last 12 years, 2
management of the station has elected to shut down the 3
plant when there was a question of proper operation of 4
critical equipment.
This selection was done at 5
management's discretion, not by any requirement.
The 6
last time was in 1998.
One of the emergency diesel 7
generator governors exhibited abnormal characteristics.
8 Even though the other diesel engine was operating 9
normally, management elected to shut down the plant to 10 investigate and repair the abnormal operating governor, 11 and to verify that the other diesel would not be subject 12 to the same conditions.
13 As stewards of the environment, management of 14 Summer Station has reduced the tri-annual cycle volume 15 of low-level radioactive waste by 90 percent over the 16 last six cycles for 18 years, recycling items previously 17 disposed of and training the workforce to exercise 18 prudent utilization and materials have accomplished the 19 significant reduction.
20 Santee Cooper is pleased with the safe 21 operations with the Summer Station and wholly supports 22 license extension.
The continued operation of Summer 23 Station is in the best interest of Santee Cooper's 24 customers, the people of South Carolina.
Reliable 25 operation of Summer Station, a non-greenhouse gas NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
70 1
emitter, precludes the requirement to use greenhouse gas 2
from any generation and is economical for our customers.
3 Thank you for the opportunity to present these 4
remarks.
5 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much, 6
Mr. White.
Our next three speakers are going to go to 7
Brett Bursey first, and then Kim Bowers, and then to 8
Perry -
9 MR.
BURSEY:
I'm Brett Bursey, and 25 years 10 ago I lived -- well, for 25 years, I've lived about 11 4 miles from here.
When I found out that they were 12 going to build a nuclear power plant, I filed a petition 13 to intervene.
What that means is that there were 14 hearings that I could call witnesses, I could 15 cross-examine people.
It went on for five years.
I 16 learned more than any civilian person needs to learn 17 about nuclear power.
18 Oh, I forgot to ask.
I want to know how many 19 people are here that aren't paid to be here today.
Five 20 out of 54, let the record reflect.
21 One of the things that I learned during this 22 five years of intensive work --
I mean, it was me and 23 the South Carolina Electric & Gas would show up, 20 men 24 in suits and me and my cardboard box.
The process made 25 a safer plant.
Jack Stoles, one of the managers at V.C.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
71 1
Summer Plant, told me, Thank you, Brett, because the 2
people that owned this investment, eight of the top ten 3
stockholders in New York banks, are more concerned with 4
making money than the good people that are running this 5
plant.
And when the good people running this plant go 6
to the management that has to relate to the corporate 7
owners that are looking out for the bottom line and say, 8
We've got to do this more safely, they say, Well, you 9
know, we may not have to do it more safely.
Let's just 10 do it safe enough to get by.
11 I'm very upset that there will be no 12 intervenor in the relicensing process.
What that will 13 probably mean is that this will be the only nuclear 14 reactor in the United States ever to go through a 15 licensing process without an adjudicatory hearing.
So 16 what you will have, you will have a trial, and you won't 17 have anybody prosecuting.
Everybody will be defending 18 the industry.
DHEC will be there defending the 19 industry.
They didn't do a darn thing during that 20 hearing that we had that lasted five years, and it was 21 the first state health agency that didn't intervene in 22 the 73 nuclear licensing proceedings that preceded that.
23 So I am upset.
24 I do want to say that I don't think --
I do 25 not question the integrity of the people that work for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o
72 1
SCE&G or the nuclear regulatory commission.
They're 2
just doing their jobs.
But SCE&G is constrained by the 3
profit made from the corporation, and the Nuclear 4
Regulatory Commission is constrained by being a 5
political operation.
The rules of practice and 6
procedure that this relicensing is going to take place 7
under are so restricted that we're not going to bring 8
out the fact --
we're not going to be able to bring up 9
the fact that a major crack in what they call the hot 10 leg, which is the main big pipe that cools reactors, 11 which caught the attention of nuclear informed people 12 all over the world, will not be able to be brought up in 13 hearings, because it's not going to be in the generic 14 aging lessons learned protocol.
And if it's not in the 15 generic aging lessons learned protocol, we can't bring 16 it up.
So the NRC's stated goal is to make relicensing 17 more predictable and streamlined.
To whose interest is 18 that?
19 You may be wondering why on earth are we here 20 talking about relicensing a plant 20 years before the 21 license runs out.
How do we know what shape that plant 22 is going to be in in 20 years?
How do we know what the 23 need for power is going to be?
Maybe Councilman 24 Marcharia will get some people together in Fairfield 25 County, and they'll build some facility that uses NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
73 1
renewable energy and could compete with SCE&G.
2 We don't know what condition or the need for 3
power is going to be in 20 years.
So why are we here?
4 Because if the plant gets relicensed now, it adds 5
20 years onto the life of it, and they can amortize that 6
value, it makes their investment more profitable.
It's 7
all about money for the company.
It increases the value 8
of the plant.
It has nothing to do with safety.
It's 9
got nothing to do with generating electricity.
The one 10 fine hurdle here is, the Public Service Commission 11 asking if they would approve them --
the operation of 12 the reactor beyond this 40-year-life span.
When they 13 built that plant, the question of aging wasn't an issue.
14 Now, 20 years later, the question of aging is an issue.
15 They found embrittlement to be an issue.
16 They're finding nuclear reactors that have been running 17 for as long as the V.C. Summer plant, the pipes are 18 getting brittle.
But there are so many issues that 19 aren't going to be considered in the relicensing 20 hearing, that it's a pretty futile gesture, but that we 21 need to make an attempt to try and get the State of 22 South Carolina involved.
23 I would encourage all of the citizens here to 24 talk to their councilmen and to talk to DHEC and to try 25 and get them to file a petition to intervene, so that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
74 1
there will be a hearing that brings out all of the 2
issues, and not just the ones that are put on the table 3
by the power company or the NRC.
4 The generic approach to age-related 5
degradation solely benefits the nuclear industry.
6 They're relicensing nuclear reactors as if they're all 7
the same is contrary to public interest.
David Wise, a
8 nuclear official, told the publication Inside NRC, a
9 Nuclear Regulatory Commission insider magazine, 10 October 9th, 2000, in fact, nuclear power plants are 11 like snow flakes, each one is different.
And in this 12 relicensing proceeding, the way it's designed, is 13 they're going to do --
(Inaudible, Door opens) --
like 14 they're all the same.
We have very limited opportunity 15 to raise site-specific concerns.
16 In the past years, eight nuclear power plants 17 have been forced to shut down because of age-related 18 deficiencies.
According to the Union for Concerned 19 Scientists, age-related failures occur approximately 20 every 60 days.
There is what's referred to as aging 21 management programs underway.
They're not preventing 22 failures.
23 In my estimation, aging management programs 24 fix things before they break.
We're 20 years from the 25 end of the license of this reactor.
Reactors this old NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
75 1
are having problems.
This reactor is having aging 2
problems.
They're finding them after they happen.
3 They didn't find a big crack in that hot leg 4
until after they shut down for a normal refueling 5
outage.
If that pipe had broken, you would have what 6
the nuclear industry calls a loss of coolant accident, 7
and it would happen so rapidly, that we would have very 8
little time to evacuate our homes.
9 It's very high-tech --
a high-tech operation 10 that needs to have preventive measures proven that can 11 stay off the effects of aging before they fail, as 12 opposed to finding and fixing them after they fail.
13 They need to prove that to us before they relicense this 14 plant to operate 20 years from now.
15 The security at the V.C. Summer plant, when it 16 went into effect when I was the intervenor, they had to 17 be able to withstand the --
to repulse the assault of 18 12 dedicated terrorists, and they were tested by the 19 Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Well, they were 20 failing --
not just them, but across the board, nuclear 21 reactors were not measuring up to the security limits 22 that were imposed by the NRC.
23 So in 1998, they did away with the test.
- Now, 24 SCE&G tests themselves.
It's kind of like an open-book 25 test, and they report to the NRC, We did a great job, we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
76 1
can handle it.
2 September 11th changed a lot of things, but it 3
didn't change security at the nuclear power plants.
I 4
don't know if you've been through an airport lately 5
where they have federal screeners that make you take off 6
your shoes.
We have Wackenhut being tested by the power 7
company, and we know that one of Al Queda's targets they 8
talked about was a nuclear reactor.
9 I hope Al Queda is not listening.
They 10 probably know this anyway.
If they were going to do 11 something with a reactor, they wouldn't mess with 6 feet 12 of concrete.
You've got the storage facility for its 13 spent fuel pool.
The power company just got permission 14 to put more spent fuel rods in than it was designed for, 15 and it's in a metal building, and you can blow that up, 16 and you can take out, oh, a huge --
we're talking 17 hundreds and hundreds of miles and hundreds of thousands 18 of people, and it's not even an impregnable building.
19 And it's not even protected by people who passed any 20 type of objective security test.
21 I have some problems with the procedure that 22 is being utilized by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 23 to consider relicensing the V.C. Summer Plant, and will 24 be working with citizens in this neighborhood and 25 hopefully bring pressure down on the Department of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
77 1
Health and Environmental Control to the basis 2
responsibility that they have to ensure that this plant 3
operates in the safest fashion.
4 I respect the people that work there, and I 5
think they do a good job.
I know that they're 6
constrained by the people that pay their checks.
Thank 7
you.
8 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you, Brett.
9 Let's go to Kim Bowers.
10 MR.
BOWERS:
My name is Kim Bowers.
I'm the 11 coordinator for the Irmo/Chapin Recreation Commission 12 Senior Services Program at Crooked Creek in Chapin.
The 13 V.C. Summer stations has supported our programs by their 14 involvement in our home delivery meals program.
15 Irmo/Chapin Recreation Commission provides hot 16 nutritional meals for homebound, frail, older adults in 17 our community.
18 Without the help of volunteers, we would be 19 limited in the number of meals we could serve to 20 seniors.
For over ten years, with over 25 volunteers, 21 V.C. Summer has provided hundreds of hours, of volunteer 22 hours2.546296e-4 days <br />0.00611 hours <br />3.637566e-5 weeks <br />8.371e-6 months <br /> to our program.
23 When our program increased and we needed 24 additional volunteers, V.C. Summer --
Mayor Hartley 25 immediately found us volunteers to increase our program.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005.3701 (202) 234-4433
°
78 1
As our program decreased, again, they graciously decided 2
to limit their delivery route, even though we had many 3
volunteers who wanted to continue.
4 Through the years, many volunteers of 5
V.C. Summer have become our friends and partners.
The 6
volunteers at V.C.
Summer are a reliable, steady and 7
long-lasting group.
We look forward to having 8
V.C. Summer Station volunteer for home delivery programs 9
for years to come.
10 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much, 11 Mr. Bowers.
12 Let's go to Terrie Hickory from the Fairfield 13 County Chamber of Commerce.
14 MS.
VICKERS:
Good afternoon.
It's a pleasure 15 to be here.
Thank you for the invitation.
16 I'm Terrie Vickers with the Fairfield County 17 Chamber of Commerce.
I've been with the Chamber since 18 1997, and I've had the distinct pleasure to work very 19 closely with the staff and management of the V.C.
Summer 20 Station during my tenure.
21 Since 1997, and I'm sure long before that 22 time, there has been a representative from V.C. Summer 23 Station on the Chamber Board of Directors.
Steve Byrne 24 served, as he stated earlier, as president in 2000, and 25 Greg Halnon is our current vice president, and he will NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
79 1
be stepping into the president's chair in January of 2
2003.
3 V.C. Summer has just been invaluable to the 4
chamber as far as our technology.
We don't have a lot 5
of funds for technology.
And when the plant was 6
upgrading their computer system, V.C. Summer donated 7
two computers to the chamber and the technical support 8
people to come in and pull us into the 21st century, and 9
for that we're very grateful.
10 They have supported the chamber, sponsorships 11 for events and functions, such as the annual 12 legislative (Inaudible, door opens) our Rock 13 Around the Clock Festival, which is an annual festival 14 downtown, our Christmas drop-in, business after hours, 15 and our annual membership banquet, just to name a few.
16 Steve Byrne, during his tenure as president, 17 also sat in the dunking booth at the annual festival.
18 That was great fun for the board to come around to see 19 if we could dunk him.
20 Steve is currently serving as the capital 21 campaign director for our Fairfield behavioral health 22 services, formerly known as Fairfield Substance Abuse 23 Commission.
This is a major endeavor for a critically 24 needed new facility in a new and more convenient 25 location in the county.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
I,.-
80 1
V.C.
Summer and staff has also adopted 2
McCorey-Liston Elementary School in Jenkinsville, 3
working as mentors in other areas; and I'm sure that 4
that helped McCorey-Liston receive a grade of average, 5
one of the best in our county in the recent school 6
report cards.
7 V.C.
Summer folks have taken a very strong 8
leadership role in the United Way campaign in Fairfield 9
County.
Steve Byrne has served as head of that campaign 10 in 2000.
Jeff Archie is heading that campaign this 11 year.
These endeavors have been successful campaigns, 12 and bring money back to the agencies in Fairfield 13 County, so that they can continue to support their 14 clients and improve services to our community.
15 The Fairfield County Communities and Schools 16 Program, an afterschool tutorial program for at-risk 17 youth, combines school and social service resources to 18 give the chance at successful, productive lives.
19 SCANA Corporation played a strong leadership 20 role in forming this program.
And their financial 21 support and employee participation in governing boards, 22 tutoring and mentoring these use is an investment the 23 company can be proud of.
Currently, Mr. Jeff Archie of 24 V.C. Summer Station is serving as our local chair of the 25 Communities and School Program.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o
81 1
The State of South Carolina has committed to 2
preparing its children to enter the first grade ready to 3
read.
SCANA shares that commitment.
The First Steps 4
program combines the efforts of public and private 5
organizations to provide various services to help 6
parents ready their young children for school.
7 SCANA is a proud supporter of the First Steps 8
program and has contributed $500,000 to this critically 9
important cause.
After the 2002 annual meeting, First 10 Steps presented Jeff Archie of SCE&G, V.C.
Summer Plant 11 with the Community Service Award, in recognition of the 12 company's donation of land on which to build a new 13 childcare center in Western Fairfield County, as well as 14 their continued commitment and dedication to the future 15 of our children.
16 The Downtown as Classroom Program began in 17 1994 as a collaborative effort between SCANA, the 18 Department of Education, and the South Carolina Downtown 19 Development Association.
This program exposes children 20 to all of the rewarding ways they can contribute to the 21 community in which they live.
22 Thanks to this support, Winnsboro has had 23 three successful Downtown as Classroom projects.
My 24 favorite is "What Time Is It?" This is an abbreviated 25 walking tour of the downtown area of Winnsboro and its NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
82 1
historic buildings.
This was done by an eighth-grade 2
class.
It was researched, written and produced by those 3
students.
It is currently being used in the chamber as 4
an information piece.
It is put out by the South 5
Carolina Railroad Museum for the children that visit 6
there.
But most importantly, it's being used by the 7
Literacy Counsel to help residents learn to read.
8 As good stewards of our environment, the staff 9
of V.C.
Summer developed a 1-1/2 mile nature trail on 10 the shores of Lake Monticello.
Finches, wood duck 11 boxes, bluebird boxes and plant identification markers 12 make this a delightful place for residents and visitors 13 to enjoy.
This trail, along with the Lake Monticello 14 recreation area, is featured in our tourism booklet, 15 things to see and do in the old English district.
16 This is in all of the welcome centers across 17 the State of South Carolina, and it's also included in 18 every packet of information that we send out from the 19 chamber of commerce, and it is also placed in all 20 information brochure racks throughout the county.
21 I'm sure this is a small part of the many 22 other activities in which the staff of V.C. Summer is 23 involved.
I enjoy working with the folks from 24 V.C. Summer, SCANA and SCE&G.
They are dedicated 25 employees.
They're very personable.
They're concerned.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
83 1
Most of all, they are very professional in everything.
2 that they do, and you always go the extra mile, and for 3
that, I say thank you.
4 I know you've heard a lot about the tax 5
dollars that V.C.
Summer pays.
If you look at the way 6
those tax dollars are allocated, the largest portion 7
does go to our school district, and that's very 8
beneficial.
But I also need --
we need to think about 9
the allocation to our library, the hospital, the fire 10 board, the recreation areas, the general operation of 11 the county and, of course, the school district.
All of 12 these are very viable to life in our community.
13 We're grateful to V.C. Summer to your 14 tremendous contribution, and to the effort that you're 15 making to improve the quality of life in our community.
16 Thank you.
17 FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you very much.
18 Mr. Bursey brought up a concern that we hear a 19 lot after the events of September 11th, a security 20 concern.
And I thought that it might be useful to just 21 have John Tappert talk a little bit about what the 22 commission has done since then in terms of security 23 considerations.
24 John?
25 MR.
TAPPERT:
Just real briefly.
Even before NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE, N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
84 1
September 11th of last year, the commission took 2
security of facilities very seriously and have very 3
stringent requirements in place.
We have highly-trained 4
guard forces and multiple barriers to facilities, motion 5
sensors, armored defensive positions, and a whole bunch 6
of other defenses, and that was before 911.
They are 7
the most secured civilian installations in this country.
8 Of course, after those terrorists attacks, the 9
commission took additional actions to make it even more 10 secure.
We issued orders to each of the 103 nuclear 11 power plants.
(Inaudible, coughing).
They have 12 additional vehicle bottom barriers and guards and things 13 of that nature.
14 The commission is also doing a number of 15 additional studies and reviews to determine what 16 additional precautions will be appropriate with the 17 current world situation and analyzing the threats -
18 (Inaudible, coughing).
19 So you're not going to see any of that 20 discussion in our environmental impact statement or in 21 the other safety review.
We don't consider that in the 22 scope of license renewal, per se, because it applies to 23 all 103 plants.
It's not necessarily restricted to just 24 license renewal.
So it's being taken care of on a 25 generic basis, but you're not necessarily going to see NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o
85 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 it as part of this review.
I just wanted to make that point.
FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you.
MR.
TAPPERT:
If you have a number of other issues that you raised, you can have a number of other people discuss that with you, as well.
FACILITATOR CAMERON:
Thank you.
I don't think we have anybody else that wants to talk this afternoon.
We are going to be back at 7:00 for another meeting, 6:00 open house.
Before we close, though, are there any other questions that we can answer for anybody?
The staff is going to be here.
Our consultants will be here to talk to you after the meeting, also.
Well, thank you very much for coming out, and we will adjourn.
(Proceedings concluded at 3:30 p.m.)
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433