ML101241002
| ML101241002 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Columbia  |
| Issue date: | 04/06/2010 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
| To: | |
| Doyle D, NRR/DLR, 415-3748 | |
| References | |
| NRC-146, TAC ME3121 | |
| Download: ML101241002 (40) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Columbia Generating Station License Renewal Public Hearing Afternoon Session Docket Number:
50-397 Location:
Richland, Washington Date:
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 Work Order No.:
NRC-146 Pages 1-39 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
+ + + + +
3 COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION 4
LICENSE RENEWAL PROCESS AND 5
ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING MEETING 6
+ + + + +
7 1:30 P.M. SESSION 8
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2010 9
+ + + + +
10 RICHLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY 11 RICHLAND, WASHINGTON 12
+ + + + +
13 NRC PERSONNEL:
14 LANCE J. RAKOVAN, Presiding 15 RONALD B. COHEN 16 PAULA E. COOPER 17 DANIEL I. DOYLE 18 EVELYN H. GETTYS 19 A. LOUISE LUND 20 JEFFREY J. RIKHOFF 21 PRESENT FOR WASHINGTON STATE REPRESENTATIVE DOC 22 HASTINGS:
23 BARB LISK, District Director 24 25
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T-A-B-L-E O-F C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S 1
Opening Comment 2
Lance Rakovan...................................... 3 3
Louise Lund, Deputy Division Director Division for 4
License Renewal.............................. 8 5
License Renewal Process and Environmental Scoping 6
Meeting 7
Evelyn Gettys, Safety Project Manager Division 8
of License Renewal........................... 9 9
Dan Doyle, Environmental Project Manager.......... 17 10 Public Questions.................................. 24 11 Public Comment 12 Ed Revell, Mayor Pro Tem City of Richland......... 30 13 Steve Lee, Pasco Chamber of Commerce.............. 32 14 Robert Link, Manager of Environmental Health, 15 Safety & Licensing for AREVA 16 and TRIDEC.................................. 33 17 Lori Sanders, Commissioner Benton PUD, 18 Member Board of Directors for 19 Energy Northwest............................ 36 20 Closing........................................... 38 21 22 23 24 25
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1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2
1:30 p.m.
3 MR. RAKOVAN: Good afternoon everyone. My 4
name is Lance Rakovan. I am a communications 5
specialist at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 6
or NRC as you'll hear it referred to quite a bit this 7
afternoon. Today I'm here to help facilitate the 8
meeting and just make sure things go smoothly.
9 The purpose of our meeting today is to 10 discuss the license renewal and environmental scoping 11 process for review of the license renewal application 12 for renewal of the operating license for the Columbia 13 Generating Station. And of course to provide members 14 of the public an opportunity to provide comments 15 regarding the environmental scoping issues that should 16 be taken into account.
17 The term you'll probably hear a lot today, 18 "scoping," it simply means determining, in this case, 19 what we should take into the scope of the 20 environmental review for relicensing of Columbia 21 Station. And of course we'll be talking about that a 22 lot more once we move into the presentations we have 23 today.
24 Just to give you an idea of what to expect 25
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today, we're going to start out with some short 1
opening presentations by a
couple NRC
- staff, 2
information that we think is important for you to have 3
a general understanding of. Then we're going to allow 4
some clarifying questions on the presentations. And 5
then effectively opening the meeting up to you so you 6
can give us your environmental scoping comments.
7 Now we asked if you knew that you wanted 8
to speak, to fill out one of these yellow cards when 9
you came in. Obviously if you did not fill out a 10 card, that's fine. You certainly will have more than 11 enough opportunities to either come up and have a turn 12 at the microphone to give a comment or to ask a 13 question. The reason that we wanted you to fill out 14 the yellow card is: (1) That gives us an idea of how 15 many people we know are going to want to make a 16 statement. But also it makes sure that we have your 17 name correctly spelled in terms of our transcript 18 today.
19 And we are transcribing today's meeting.
20 That's one of the reasons that I'm standing here using 21 a microphone even though I'm certainly loud enough 22 that you could all hear me in such a small room. So 23 we want to make sure that if you do make a comment or 24 ask a question, we have your name properly documented 25
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on a transcript.
1 We also want to make sure that if you are 2
going to say something, that you are using a 3
microphone to make sure that we can pick you up. This 4
also helps make sure that we keep one main 5
conversation focused and going at the same time.
6 So a couple things you can do to help us 7
make sure that we get a clean transcript.
8 (1) Is to make sure that we don't have a 9
lot of side conversations; 10 The other is that if you have any 11 electronic devices with you, that you put those on 12 vibrate, turn them off, or whatever you need to do at 13 this point so that they don't go off during the 14 meeting and kind of disrupt things.
15 I just wanted to make sure that we are 16 clear that this is an NRC public meeting and that the 17 NRC is not part of the Department of Energy or DOE.
18 The mission of the NRC is to regulate the 19 nation's civilian use of byproduct, source, and 20 special nuclear materials to ensure adequate 21 protection of public health and safety, to promote the 22 common defense and security and to protect the 23 environment.
24 The Department of Energy's overarching 25
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mission is to advance the national economic and energy 1
security of the Unites States, to promote scientific 2
and technological innovation in support of that 3
mission and to ensure the environmental cleanup of the 4
National Nuclear Weapons Complex.
5 Similar missions in some
- ways, very 6
different in others. But just wanted to make sure 7
that you're all clear, the NRC is not part of the 8
Department of Energy.
9 We did have a number of materials on the 10 table outside. Copies of the presentation, if you 11 didn't get a copy just raise your hand once I'm done 12 with my opening comments and I'll be glad to go grab 13 one for you.
14 We also had the agenda for today and a 15 public meeting feedback form. If you could take a 16 moment to fill that out and either leave it here today 17 or drop it in the mail, postage is free. It's a way 18 that you can let us know how you thought the meeting 19 went today.
If you thought something went 20 particularly well, if there's some suggestions you 21 have on how we could do these better in the future.
22 And this really does give us a chance to get an 23 understanding of how things went today and improve 24 upon our future meetings. So we'd really appreciate 25
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it if you could take a moment to fill that out.
1 In terms of any questions you might have 2
today, we will do our best to answer those questions 3
especially if they're about the license renewal or 4
environmental scoping process. If you ask questions 5
outside of that, we may try to take a shot at giving 6
you a good answer for that but we do have a limited 7
number of NRC staff here. So if we don't have the 8
right person to address your question, we'll get your 9
information and try to get you the information soon.
10 So I just wanted to let you know about that.
11 If you didn't know that the restrooms are 12 out, take a right as if you're entering the library 13 and then they'll be on your right, just in case you 14 need those.
15 And personally I think it's pretty cool 16 that we're having our meeting right down from a 17 library that has a little coffee stand there. So 18 obviously if you need some refreshment, that's very 19 convenient there.
20 I wanted to take a moment to introduce 21 just a few of the NRC staff that are here in 22 attendance today.
23 Evelyn Gettys is the Safety Project 24 Manager for this review and she'll be speaking in a 25
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moment.
1 As
- well, Dan Doyle who is the 2
Environmental Project Manager.
3 Definitely wanted to point out Ron Cohen, 4
who is our Senior Resident Inspector at the Columbia 5
Plant. He is one of two NRC staff that are local, 6
live in the area, and report to the plant everyday to 7
keep an eye on things. So very important when it 8
comes to Columbia.
9 With that, I think I will hand things over 10 to Evelyn. If you could please hold your questions 11 until both Dan and Evelyn have had a chance to speak.
12 And then again we'll open it up for questions once 13 we're done.
14 Louise, do you want to approach?
15 Okay. If you could introduce yourself 16 first?
17 MS. LUND: I'm Louise Lund. I'm the 18 Deputy Division Director for the Division of License 19 Renewal at Headquarters. And I want to add my welcome 20 to the group here today and thank you for coming out.
21 And it's great to be back in the Northwest. I 22 actually used to live in Richland.
23 So in addition to this, I've been asked 24 also -- we have a representative, Barb Lisk, from Doc 25
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Hastings Office, member of Congress, they're in the 1
back as well. So I wanted to mention that as well so.
2 And also I also wanted to mention some of 3
the other staff that we have, Paula Cooper, here who's 4
going to be running the equipment.
5 And also you may have met Jeff coming in.
6 Do you want to wave Jeff?
7 Okay. Who is one our senior environmental 8
staff so if you have any environmental questions, he's 9
the right person to talk to as well.
10 So, thank you.
11 MS. GETTYS: Good afternoon. My name is 12 Evelyn Gettys. I am the Safety Project Manager for 13 the Division of License Renewal. And I'm coordinating 14 the safety review with the Columbia Generating 15 Station.
16 PARTICIPANT: Can't hear you.
17 MS. GETTYS: Okay. I was wondering.
18 Is this better?
19 Okay.
20 Thank you all for taking the time to come 21 out today. We want to provide an overview of the 22 license renewal process which includes a safety review 23 and environmental review that we will discuss with you 24 the numerous ways and opportunities the public can 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 10 participate in the Columbia license renewal process 1
through either the safety or environmental component, 2
or both.
3 We also will describe in more detail the 4
environmental review process associated with license 5
renewal. But the most important part of today's 6
meeting is to receive any comments that you might have 7
on the scoping environmental review.
8 I hope that the information we will 9
provide will help you understand the license renewal 10 process and the roles that you can play within helping 11 us to ensure that our environmental review concerns 12 relevant information.
13 Next please.
14 Before I get into the discussion of the 15 license renewal process, I'd like to take a minute to 16 talk about the NRC in terms of what we do and what our 17 mission is. The NRC is a federal agency And was 18 established under the Energy Reorganization Act of 19 1974, that regulates the civilian use of nuclear 20 material.
21 The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, authorized 22 the NRC to grant 40 years operating for nuclear power 23 reactors. This 40 year term was based primarily on 24 economic considerations and antitrust factors and not 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 11 on safety or technical information.
1 The NRC regulates, governs nuclear safety, 2
security and environmental protection and are 3
contained in Title 10 of the Code of Federal 4
Regulation, which is commonly referred to as 10 CFR. 5 In exercising the regulatory authority, 6
the NRC's mission is three-fold: To ensure adequate 7
protection of public health and safety; to promote 8
common defense of security, and; to protect the 9
environment.
10 NRC accomplishes its mission through a 11 combination of the regulatory programs and processes 12 and has established rules and regulations: Conducting 13 inspections; issuing enforcement action; assessing 14 license performances, and; evaluating operating 15 experience from nuclear plants across the country and 16 internationally.
17 The NRC has resident inspectors at all 18 nuclear power plants. Those inspectors are considered 19 the eyes and ears of the NRC. They carry out our 20 safety mission on a daily basis and are on the front 21 lines of ensuring acceptable safety performances in 22 compliance with regulatory requirements.
23 Next.
24 I would like to mention a few very 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 12 important areas in the NRC oversight that routinely 1
come up during the interactions with members of the 2
public. The NRC staff addresses these areas of 3
components everyday as part of the ongoing regulatory 4
oversight provided for all current operating power 5
reactors. They include current safety performances, 6
emergency planning and security. For information on 7
the current performance of Columbia, use the link 8
provided on the slide, this is also in your handout.
9 The NRC monitors and provides regulatory 10 oversight of activities in these areas on an ongoing 11 basis under the current operating license. That's not 12 to say that they are not important, we just don't 13 duplicate the regulatory process in the areas of 14 license renewal.
15 Next.
16 NRC received an application for Columbia 17 on January the 20th, 2010. The current operating 18 license of Columbia expires in 2023. A licensee can 19 submit an application for license renewal after 20 20 years of operation. The length of a license cannot 21 exceed 40 years.
22 The first step of the license renewal 23 process is our performance of acceptance in 24 sufficiency on the application. When the NRC receives 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 13 a license renewal application, the NRC staff examines 1
it to determine whether the applicant contained 2
sufficient information to justify the staff's review.
3 The staff looks to see whether the application has 4
provided enough information in terms of technical 5
information, technical specifications and the 6
environmental report.
7 If the application has enough in it to 8
warrant the staff's review, then the application is 9
considered acceptable and sufficient and is put on the 10 NRC's formal docket. The Columbia application was 11 found to be acceptable and placed on the docket on May 12 11th of this year.
13 Next.
14 This is a simplified diagram of the 15 license review process. The license review involves 16 two parallel reviews: The safety review and the 17 environmental review. These two reviews evaluate 18 separate aspects of the license renewal application.
19 There are other considerations in the Commission's 20 decision of whether or not to renew a operating 21 license.
One of these considerations is an 22 independent review performed by the Advisory Committee 23 on Safety Reactor Safeguards.
24 Statutorily mandated dated by the Atomic 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 14 Energy Act of 1954, the ACRS is a group of scientists 1
and nuclear safety experts who serve as a consulting 2
body to the Commission. The ACRS reviews the license 3
renewal application, the NRC staff safety evaluation 4
and inspection report. The ACRS reports their 5
findings and recommendations directly to the 6
Commission.
7 Hearings may also be conducted if 8
interested stakeholders submit concerns or contentions 9
and their request for a hearing is granted. The 10 Atomic Safety and License
- Board, which is an 11 adjudicative panel, will conduct the hearing. The 12 Commission considers the outcome of the hearing 13 process and its decision of whether or not to issue a 14 renewed operating license.
15 As part of the environmental review the 16 staff consults with the local, state, federal, and 17 other officials. The staff holds public meetings to 18 receive comments on the draft Environmental Impact 19 Statement.
20 Next.
21 The license renewal process is designed to 22 take 22 months and that leaves 30 if there's a 23 hearing. Next.
24 To better understand a license renewal 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 15 process it is good to know the safety principles that 1
guide license renewal.
2 The first principle is the current 3
regulatory process is adequate to ensure that the 4
license basis of all operating plants provide and 5
maintain an acceptable level of safety.
6 The second principle is that the current 7
plant licensing basis must be maintained during the 8
renewal term in the same manner and to the same extent 9
as during the original license. In other words the 10 same rules that apply under the current license will 11 apply in the new term.
12 Next.
13 The safety review focus on the aging of 14 passive and long lived structures and components in 15 the system that NRC deems important to safety. They 16 are:
17 Safety-related system structures and 18 components; 19 The nonsafety-related systems structures 20 and components that would effect safety; 21 System structures and components relied on 22 safety analysis to perform a
function that 23 demonstrates compliance with the regulation, so fire 24 protection and environmental quality, pressurized 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 16 thermal shock, anticipated transit without scrams and 1
station blackout.
2 The staff's main objective in this review 3
is to determine if in fact the aging will be 4
adequately managed by the applicant.
5 Next.
6 The safety review comprises numerous 7
vigorous aspects. The technical staff reviews the 8
applicant's license renewal application and supporting 9
documents. The staff uses the spike audit to verify 10 the technical basis of the license renewal application 11 and to confirm that the applicant's aging management 12 programs and actives conform with how they are 13 described in the application. The staff documents the 14 basis and conclusions of the review in a safety 15 evaluation, or an SER.
16 In addition to the team of specialized 17 inspectors traveling to the reactor site to verify 18 that the aging management programs are being 19 implemented, modified or planned consistent with the 20 license renewal application.
21 Next.
22 The public will have several opportunities 23 to participate and be heard during the license renewal 24 process. This slide lists the three opportunities for 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 17 involvement through the safety track and the process, 1
and the fourth is this meeting today.
2 I would like to introduce Dan Doyle, the 3
Environmental PM.
4 MR. DOYLE: Thanks Evelyn.
5 My name is Dan Doyle.
I'm the 6
Environmental Project Manager for the review of this 7
project. I'm going to take a few minutes to describe 8
the environmental review process and how the scoping 9
meeting today fits into the review.
10 The review is performed in accordance with 11 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1959 or NEPA.
12 NEPA established basic national environmental 13 policies for the United States that require that 14 federal agencies prepare an Environmental Impact 15 Statement or EIS, to assess both the impact and 16 reasonable alternatives to any major federal action 17 that may significantly effect the quality of the human 18 environment. NEPA requires that all federal agencies 19 file an objective interdisciplinary and systematic 20 approach in preparing an EIS.
21 The Columbia EIS will contain strong 22 disclosure provisions which informs decision makers 23 and the public of the impact and the reasonable 24 alternatives to the proposal. This EIS will assess 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 18 the impact of both license renewal and reasonable 1
alternatives to license renewal including the 2
alternative of taking no action which in this case 3
would be to deny license renewal.
4 The NRC has issued it's own agency 5
specific regulations for implementing NEPA, which are 6
contained in 10 CFR Part 51.
7 This slide shows the major milestones in 8
the environmental review process. The yellow boxes 9
represent opportunities for public participation.
10 The NRC issued a Public Notice of Intent 11 to prepare an EIS on March 11, 2010. This meeting 12 today is the second milestone, the public scoping 13 meeting to solicit comment.
14 Next the NRC staff will prepare a draft 15 Environmental Impact Statement, which will then be 16 issued for public comment including a meeting similar 17 to today's. We're expecting that to be issued in 18 December of this year and the public meeting would be 19 in January of next year. All comments received will 20 be consider in the preparation of a final document, 21 which will then be issued for public review. This 22 final document will be an important part of the 23 decision making process to whether or not to renew the 24 operating license for Columbia Generating Station.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 19 You all can play an important role in helping us to 1
ensure that the final environmental impact statement 2
is accurate and complete.
3 The purpose of today's meeting is to 4
solicit your input and comments regarding the scope of 5
impact alternatives and issues that the environmental 6
impact statement should evaluate. We are not here to 7
make a decision regarding Columbia's license renewal 8
application. The scoping process is specifically 9
intended to solicit comments regarding the scope of 10 the action, the impact, and the alternatives.
11 For a license renewal review, the NRC 12 environmental staff looks at a wide range of impacts.
13 Additionally, we consult with various federal, state, 14 and local officials as well as leaders Indian Nations.
15 We gather pertinent information from these sources 16 and ensure it's considered in our analysis.
17 For example, we consult with the U.S. Fish 18 and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection 19 Agency, and the State Historic Preservation Office, 20 among others.
21 This slide illustrates the NRC's various 22 considerations for deciding if a renewed operating 23 license will be issued. It is a rigorous review 24 involving a safety evaluation report that Evelyn 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 20 discussed, regional inspections, and so on.
1 Also, as indicated on the slide, public 2
comments are an important part of the environmental 3
review process. We consider all of the comments that 4
we receive during the scoping process as part of 5
preparing the Environmental impact Statement. So that 6
is how today's meeting fits into the process.
7 In general we are looking for information 8
about the environmental impact from the continued 9
operation of Columbia. You can assist us in that 10 process by telling us for example:
11 What aspects of your local community we 12 should focus on; 13 What local environmental, social and 14 economic issues the NRC should examine during our 15 environmental review, and; 16 What reasonable alternatives are most 17 appropriate for this region.
18 These are just some examples of the input 19 we're looking for and they represent the kinds of 20 information we seek through the environmental scoping 21 process. We don't know your community like you do, so 22 your comments today provide insight and ensure a 23 thorough review.
24 So how do you submit comments? In 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 21 addition to the opportunity to provide verbal and 1
written comments at the meeting today, there are 2
several other ways that you can submit comments for 3
our environmental review process.
4 You can provide written comments by mail 5
to the Chief of our Rulemaking and Directive Branch at 6
the address provided on the slide, which is also in 7
your handout.
8 You may also submit comments via the 9
federal rulemaking website, regulations.gov. And to 10 find the appropriate page you would go to that website 11 and search for the docket ID shown here or you could 12 also type in Columbia Generating Station and it would 13 be on the left.
14 You can also send comments to me directly 15 using my work email provided at the end of this 16 presentation. But the preferred method is via mail 17 for regulations.gov.
18 As I mentioned the deadline for comments 19 is May 14, 2010.
20 This slide shows an important milestone, 21 it's for the environmental review process. These are 22 the primary opportunities for you, the public, to 23 participate in the Columbia license renewal review.
24 The opportunity to submit comments for our hearing 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 22 closes on May 14, 2010. For environmental scoping 1
comments, as I said, you have until May 14th, if you 2
chose not to comment today.
3 Please note that a draft Environmental 4
Impact Statement is scheduled to be issued for public 5
comment in December of 2010 with an associated public 6
meeting to receive your comments on this preliminary 7
document in January of 2011.
8 This here are the primary points of 9
contact with the NRC, Evelyn who just spoke and 10 myself, our phone numbers and email addresses.
11 The Richland Public Library where we are 12 today and the Kennewick branch of the Mid-Columbia 13 library have both agreed to make many license renewal 14 documents available for public review. The draft 15 Environmental Impact Statement, when it is published 16 for comment, will also be available at both of these 17 libraries.
18 These documents will also be available on 19 the NRC's public website at the address shown on the 20 bottom of the page and in your handout.
21 As you came in you were asked to fill out 22 a registration card at our reception table. If you 23 included your email address on that card, we will send 24 you an electronic copy of the draft and final EIS when 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 23 they're issued.
1 This concludes my prepared remarks and I 2
will now turn the meeting back over to Lance Rakovan.
3 Thank you.
4 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. What we'd like to do 5
now is go ahead and open it up to see if we have any 6
clarifying questions specifically on the material that 7
Dan and Evelyn covered before we go ahead and open 8
things up for the commenting part of the meeting.
9 So just quick, if you've got a question 10 just raise your hand and you can either come up to the 11 microphone here or I have a handheld that I can bring 12 you.
13 Any clarifying questions on the license 14 renewal or environmental scoping processes?
15 Okay. Seeing no hands and of course if 16 you have any questions after the meeting, we do have a 17 number of NRC staff that are going to be kind of 18 milling around. If you would prefer to have a one-on-19 one conversation or if you have a conversation that's 20 kind of a little bit outside of the scope of what 21 we're talking about here, but still pertains to the 22 Columbia Station, we'd be more than happy to converse 23 about those topics after the meeting.
24 Yes. I've got a hand so if you'll hold on 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 Okay. If you could introduce yourself 2
first?
3 MR. REVELL: I'm Ed Revell. Mayor Pro Tem 4
for the City of Richland.
5 And these are just more curiosity 6
questions. What was the design life of the Columbia 7
Generating Station and will you all be doing any 8
special materials testing so you can evaluate certain 9
kinds of equipment before you decide to go forward?
10 MR. RAKOVAN: Who wants to take care of 11 this, Louise?
12 MS. LUND: I can do that.
13 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay.
14 MS. LUND: As far as the 40 years, and we 15 get asked this a lot, that really was established 16 because of antitrust regulations. So it's not a 17 design life specific to 40 years. And there's 18 analyses that are done for the equipment. Okay. And 19 some of them are the analyses that were done for 40 20 years and have to be extended past the 40 year time 21 frame, they're called time limited aging analyses. So 22 that's what part of the work that we do is looking at 23 the analyses and the reviews that have been done.
24 In essence, on the safety side it's about 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 25 making sure aging management programs that we feel are 1
sufficiently robust are put into place.
2 Do we have the GALL document back there, 3
does anybody know? Okay.
4 We have what we call a lessons learned 5
document through many years of looking at license 6
renewal applications and also doing a lot of research 7
and looking at a lot of the information that's 8
available about the performance of the components that 9
are in the plant. We have put together a document 10 that says for certain components and certain 11 environments we feel that these are good aging 12 management programs. If the plant chooses not to use 13 those programs, they have to show that the program 14 that they're going to put into place is comparable.
15 That's a lot of what we evaluate in the safety review.
16 Now the programs have components like how 17 often they have to inspect, what the acceptance 18 criteria is, you know, and a lot these programs are in 19 place even before the period of extended operation.
20 But as the plant gets older, as you can imagine, you 21 would want to inspect more. You know, there's a lot 22 of things that you put into place, much like you would 23 with your car as far as the aging management you would 24 do for your vehicle or for your house or for anything 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 26 else. You now, the older it gets the more often you 1
look.
2 Now when a plant is planning to go into 3
license renewal a lot of times they replace a lot of 4
the components in the plant and there's certain ones 5
that get replaced on a regular basis anyway. So 6
anyway this is all the things that they take into 7
account when they're putting together their 8
application.
9 I hope that answers your question. And 10 did I get the second one, I couldn't remember what the 11 second one was?
12 MR. REVELL: Materials testing?
13 MS. LUND: Right.
14 MR. REVELL: But I think you kind of 15 covered it.
16 MS. LUND: Right. Right. It's basically 17 through the inspection and also we have a lot of 18 information that we do. We do confirmatory work 19 through our Office of Research too, and the sorts of 20 materials and environments that have all played into 21 the guidance documents that we have produced. This is 22 one of the areas where we have a lot of guidance out 23 there to the plants in what we consider acceptable.
24 MR. REVELL: Thank You.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 27 MR. RAKOVAN: Thanks Louise.
1 Any other questions on the environmental 2
scoping process or the license renewal process at this 3
time?
4 Okay. We've got a hand in the back.
5 If you could introduce yourself please?
6 MR. PECK: Brad Peck, Franklin County 7
Commissioner.
8 Will the EIS process take into 9
consideration the negative consequences for the 10 region's power supply if the plant is not relicensed?
11 MR. RAKOVAN: Jeff, can you take the front 12 mic if you would?
13 MR. RIKHOFF: My name is Jeff Rikhoff.
14 The need for power is not addressed in 15 license renewal. Our regulations prevent us from 16 addressing those issues. Primarily because these 17 decisions are made by state and local agencies as well 18 as the applicant licensee as to whether they want to 19 operate or not. Whether it's economically feasible to 20 operate or not.
21 I
don't know if that answers your 22 question.
23 MR. PECK: I think it answers the question 24 that the basis of it was that the EIS process is to 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 28 consider the environmental impacts on humans of the 1
proposed action. And I'm surprised to hear that the 2
no action alternative, which is required under NEPA, 3
would have a negative consequence for the region but 4
that wouldn't be considered. But you have answered 5
the question. Thank you.
6 MR. RIKHOFF: Well in alternative centered 7
no action we address not licensing or not extending 8
the license to the plant, but the issue of the impact 9
on the power base we don't address directly.
10 MR. DRICK: I think you're asking does the 11 EIS --
12 MR.
RAKOVAN:
Could you introduce 13 yourself, Victor?
14 MR. DRICK: I'm the Public Affairs Officer 15 for the NRC in Region IV.
16 I think you're asking does the EIS address 17 the economic impact to the area if the license is not 18 extended? Was that what your question was, what the 19 economic impact on the area would be?
20 MR. PECK: That would be one slice of the 21 broader question.
22 MR. DRICK: They do look at that.
23 MR. PECK: Okay. So again, that's just 24 one slice. There are other various negative, I 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 29 believe, impacts on local communities --
1 MR. DRICK: That's looked at.
2 MR. PECK: -- if it's not relicensed.
3 MR. DRICK: Yes. Those things are looked 4
at as part of the review.
5 MR. PECK: Okay. So that I would have 6
expected. That would be included in the EIS?
7 MR. DRICK. Yes. What he was saying was 8
we don't look at what the community would do to 9
replace the power if the plant is not relicensed. But 10 we look at the issues that you're concerned about, 11 certainly.
12 MR. PECK: Okay. Thanks.
13 MR. RAKOVAN: Thanks Victor. That's 14 Victor Drick from our Region IV Office near Dallas.
15 Any other questions at this time?
16 Okay. What I'm going to do then is to go 17 ahead and go with the yellow cards that I have of 18 people who have signed up to speak. I'm going to go 19 ahead and just let you know the order, I've only got 20 four cards at this point. So once I call you up, if 21 you could come up, I will basically hand the floor 22 over to you. Again, if you could introduce yourself 23 just to make sure we have the right person.
24 I'm going to start with Ed Revell from the 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 30 city of Richland. Then I'm going to go to Steve Lee.
1 And third to Robert Link.
2 MR. REVELL: I'm Ed Revell from the city 3
of Richland. I'm Mayor Pro Tem on the City Council.
4 I have just a couple of comments, it won't 5
take much more than a minute or two.
6 During the initial start up period in the 7
mid to late 1980s there was a few community concerns 8
regarding the long term viability of the Columbia 9
Generating Station. They had mostly to do with 10 reliability, I don't think there was every really a 11 safety concern. But within a few years of those 12 issues, those issues were resolved and the Columbia 13 Generating Station has demonstrated for the past 15 or 14 so years, maybe 18 I'm not sure what the timeline is, 15 but I know for quite a while now they've had a very 16 good performance rating. And have been very reliable 17 as well.
18 There's every reason for us to believe 19 that with the extended life of the Columbia Generating 20 Station that it will continue to be a safe and 21 reliable base load resource for the Pacific Northwest.
22 We have an excellent community for Energy Northwest 23 and a nuclear power presence. This is a pronuclear 24 community because most of our people are scientific 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 31 people. A lot of research is done here and a lot of 1
people understand the risks involved and the 2
technology involved in and are actually very 3
comfortable with it.
4 And just recently, and this is kind of 5
encouraging, just recently our Governor has made 6
public statements in favor of looking at the nuclear 7
option here for the state. So I would say the state 8
is opening up a little and will be a little more 9
receptive as we look into the future.
10 I think Energy Northwest and Columbia 11 Generating Station has been a good corporate citizen 12 in our community and is a very welcomed neighbor.
13 The only concern that I have that's worth 14 mentioning is where it involves the ultimate disposal 15 of spent nuclear fuel. The community has got concerns 16 on how long storage of spent nuclear fuel will be 17 handled by the Department of Energy. I know that's 18 outside the control of NRC and Columbia Generating 19 Station or Energy Northwest. But it is an issue that 20 needs to be addressed
- because, you
- know, the 21 administration's trying to shutdown Yucca Mountain.
22 However, this community is very used to working with 23 nuclear materials. I know the storage containers that 24 the fuel is in really would allow that fuel to be 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 32 stored for a long time on-site but that's not really 1
the contract so to speak, that the utilities had with 2
the Federal Government. And I don't know if you'll be 3
addressing that or not in your review. And I don't 4
see it as a show stopper for us here because we are, 5
as I said, a nuclear community. And we have the 6
capability to do long term storage here but it's not 7
something we're really looking forward to.
8 And so in summary I'll say the City of 9
Richland does support this relicensing effort to 10 extend the operating life of the Columbia Generating 11 Station by 20 years.
12 Thank you.
13 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you, sir.
14 Let's go ahead and go to Steve Lee 15 followed by Bob Link and then Lori Sanders.
16 MR. LEE: Good afternoon. I'm Steve Lee 17 and I'm with the Pasco Chamber of Commerce. The Pasco 18 Chamber represents some 400 local businesses in our 19 area. And I know we joined the other chambers and 20 collective business in the Tri-City's area in saying 21 it's absolutely essential that Columbia Generating 22 Station continue providing safe, clean and low cost 23 power for our community and our surrounding area which 24 drives the strong economy.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 33 I'm with that on behalf of Pasco 1
businesses that Columbia Generating Station has given 2
our community much more than just electricity.
3 Columbia offers full time employment for many of our 4
residents, not to mention significant tax revenues to 5
local and state governments. Relicensing this plant 6
will also capture extended benefits in terms of a 7
regional invest, which we measure in both direct and 8
indirect economic impact which extends well beyond the 9
Pasco city limits.
10 We also live in an environmentally 11 conscious time and Columbia Generating Station's 12 benign impact on the environment through safe and 13 clean carbon-free power generation speaks to the 14 plants leading role as a steward of our natural 15 resources.
16 The Pasco Chamber of Congress is confident 17 that the Columbia Generating Station with the Nuclear 18 Regulatory Commission's approval will continue to be a 19 safe and reliable source of economic strength for our 20 community for many years to come.
21 Thank you.
22 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Let's go to Bob Link 23 and then Lori Sanders.
24 MR. LINK: Good afternoon and thank you 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 34 for the opportunity. I'm Bob Link. I'm manager of 1
Environmental Health Safety and Licensing for Areva, a 2
nuclear fuel fabrication facility located on the north 3
side of Richland, Washington. I'm also a member of 4
the Board of Directors for the Tri-City Development 5
- Council, called
- TRIDEC, the regional economic 6
development of our organization. And I also am a 7
resident of Franklin County and I reside literally on 8
the river just south of the plant about 12 miles. So 9
I have a variety of different perspectives to look at 10 this action by the NRC.
11 The Columbia Generating Station represents 12 an important environmental asset to the Northwest 13 region of the United States as it generates critical 14 electrical energy for our economy without any CO2 15 emissions. If the license is not renewed, I can 16 guarantee you the replacement source, even if it is 17 not CO2 emitting, would consume precious resources in 18 its construction and add to the global environmental 19 footprint. These impacts on the environment will be 20 deferred by allowing this well operated offset to 21 continue to serve the community well into the future.
22 Having just completed a renewal of the 23 AREVA's NRC license to operate, I'm familiar with the 24 dedication and scrutiny that the NRC and other 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 35 stakeholders perform in such a process. I'm confident 1
that your findings will conclude that from an 2
environmental perspective, Energy Northwest 3
application in balance is a responsible means to 4
economically continue to serve the Northwest region 5
while having minimal impact on the environment.
6 In fact, it's renewal and continued use of 7
critical installed infrastructures such as 8
transmission lines and minimal water use consumption 9
for its benefit represents an environmental asset to 10 the region.
11 Energy Northwest has demonstrated 12 themselves to be good stewards of their mission and 13 assets with the sensitivity to the environment as a 14 high level of performance. They have continued to 15 seek input from a wide variety of interested parties 16 and are dedicated to sustainable development in their 17 operations. Their continued safety record and 18 operation of the Columbia Generating Station speaks to 19 their commitment to assure the workers, public, and 20 environment will not be harmed by the renewal of this 21 license.
22 I strongly urge the renewal of the 23 operating license by the NRC as in the best overall 24 interest of the environment and the economy of the 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 36 region.
1 Thank you.
2 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. The last card that I 3
have is Lori Sanders.
4 MS. SANDERS: I'm Lori Sanders. I'm a 5
Commissioner for Benton PUD and also on the Board of 6
Directors for Energy Northwest.
7 And I
would just like to
- note, I
8 understand Mr. Peck's comment on environmental issues 9
not being concerned and I really think what he's 10 trying to capture is just to point out that we are a 11 unique community. We're probably the envy of most 12 communities across the United States because we 13 already have 97 percent of our power is carbon-free.
14 And the majority of that is coming from Bonneville 15 Power System and Columbia Generating Station is 10 16 percent of that system. So it's really an important 17 part of keeping our resources, not necessarily 18 renewable maybe, but as carbon-free as possible.
19 And we're all going to see a lot of 20 additional wind power being put up and already it just 21 amazes me how much we have and it's becoming more and 22 more difficult to balance that. It's unreliable, you 23 can't make the wind blow, and we use our hydro system 24 to balance it. And although the nuclear plant doesn't 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 37 balance the wind in itself, it allows more flexibility 1
of the hydro system to do so. And those items ought 2
to be considered when you're looking at the 3
environmental impact of this plant. It isn't just the 4
long term storage. It isn't just the construction of 5
a plant.
6 It's what do you do if you don't have it?
7 And I think that's really what Mr. Peck was trying to 8
say and I really think it ought to be considered.
9 But Columbia Generating Station has been a 10 good neighbor. I believe Mr. Revell also stated it 11 very well, "We are friendly to the plant as far as the 12 community is concerned, supportive of the plant." And 13 really we'd like to see it continue on for another 14 additional 20 years or even 40.
15 Thank you very much.
16 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. That's the end of the 17 cards that I had of people who signed up before the 18 meeting to speak. I wanted to just see before we go 19 ahead and close to see if there's anyone who wishes to 20 have a chance at the microphone to provide us with 21 some environmental scoping comments?
22 Now again, don't forget you'll have time 23 after today's meeting. Of course you can come back 24 for tonight's meeting or you can send in your 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 38 environmental scoping comments the ways that Dan 1
detailed during his presentation and which are in the 2
presentation that you should have a copy of. Again, 3
if not, you can grab one on your way out, they're on 4
the table.
5 I'm going to go ahead and turn things over 6
to Louise Lund, who's going to close this afternoon's 7
meeting for us. Louise?
8 MS. LUND: I'd just like to thank 9
everybody once again for coming out. And you know 10 this is the beginning of a fairly long process for us 11 because if a hearing is not requested, it's at least 12 22 months and then with a hearing it's 30 months.
13 It's a very intensive time for us as far as having 14 folks on-site. We have audit teams that come out, we 15 have inspection teams that come out. You know, we do 16 a lot of technical review there at headquarters as 17 well. So either you'll see a lot activity and all 18 that information will be publicly available on our 19 website. So if you would like to understand how to 20 access that information both Evelyn and Dan are 21 excellent resources to get that information.
22 Any questions that we ask about the 23 information they provided will also will be put out 24 formally and their responses will be sent in formally 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 39 to us as well. So you get a chance to see throughout 1
the process what's being asked and what's being looked 2
at. And then we put out the documents, we've a 3
safety evaluation from another plant and also an 4
environmental impact statement from another plant so 5
you can see what they look like when they come out and 6
these will be generated for this application as well.
7 So that you all understand the work that we did and 8
the conclusions that we came to.
9 So having said that, I invite you to 10 contact both Evelyn and Dan if you have any questions 11 and we'll be out here doing a lot of work in the near 12 term. And this is just the beginning of the process 13 for us.
14 And so if you have any questions and you 15 want to talk to somebody after this meeting, if you 16 want to talk again about any plant issues, ongoing 17 plant issues, we've got Ron here. And also about the 18 environmental process, certainly we have Jeff Rikhoff 19 and we also have Dan and any of the safety review, 20 Evelyn or myself. So thank you for coming.
21 (Whereupon, the meeting was concluded at 22 2:15 p.m.)
23 24