ML12095A400
| ML12095A400 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Callaway  |
| Issue date: | 03/14/2012 |
| From: | Fells C License Renewal Projects Branch 2 |
| To: | David Wrona License Renewal Projects Branch 2 |
| Fells C, 415-6337 | |
| References | |
| NRC-1502 | |
| Download: ML12095A400 (39) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Callaway Plant License Renewal Public Meeting: Afternoon Session Docket Number: (n/a)
Location:
Fulton, Missouri Date:
March 14, 2012 Work Order No.:
NRC-1502 Pages 1-38 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 CALLAWAY PLANT, UNIT 1 (CALLAWAY) 4 LICENSE RENEWAL PROCESS 5
and 6
ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING MEETING 7
+ + + + +
8 Fulton, Missouri 9
March 14, 2012 10 Afternoon Session 11 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
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.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2
NRC REPRESENTATIVES IN ATTENDANCE 1
SUSAN SALTER, Facilitator 2
BRIAN HARRIS, Safety Project Manager 3
DAVE DUMBACHER, Callaway Plant, NRC Senior Resident 4
Inspector 5
DENNIS MOREY, Chief of the License Renewal Projects 6
Branch 7
CARMEN FELLS, Environmental Project Manager.
8 BILL FORD, Geologist, Hydrologist, Technical Reviewer 9
for the NRC 10 DAWN YANCEY, Secretary for the NRC at the Callaway 11 Plant 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.
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CONTENTS 1
Welcome and Purpose of Meeting..................... 3 2
Overview of Safety Review Process.................. 7 3
Overview of Environmental Review Process.......... 17 4
Public Comments................................... 27 5
Closing/Availability of Transcript................ 37 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
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P R O C E E D I N G S 1
(2:01 p.m.)
2 MS. SALTER: Welcome, this afternoon. My 3
name is Susan Salter and I'm going to be the 4
Facilitator for this afternoon's meeting. My role as 5
Facilitator is really to keep the meeting moving, to 6
keep us on time, and to keep us on track, to make sure 7
that everyone who came out this afternoon has an 8
opportunity to make their comments.
9 Before we get started, I would like to let 10 you know that we are transcribing this meeting.
11 Stephen is our transcriber. And to help him get an 12 accurate transcription, we ask that we keep all side 13 conversations and background noise down to a minimum.
14 I would ask that you put all of your 15 electronic devices on vibrate or silent mode. And if 16 you need to take a call, I certainly understand that.
17 We just ask that you step outside of the room to do 18 that so you don't interrupt both our recording and 19 other individuals' opportunity to hear the 20 presentation and the comments.
21 Restrooms, if you just go straight out 22 this door, you'll see men's and women's rooms. And 23 exits in the event that we have to evacuate for some 24 reason, there's an exit right here to my right. And 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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if you go straight out this room and make a right, 1
there's also an exit to the outside.
2 The purpose of tonight's meeting is to 3
discuss the license renewal process for the Callaway 4
Unit -- Callaway Plant, Unit 1. And the agenda for 5
the meeting includes a presentation by NRC staff on 6
the license renewal process. And following that we'll 7
have a brief Q&A opportunity to ask any questions or 8
get clarifications on the presentations that you've 9
heard on the license renewal process.
10 And then moving to the public comment 11 period. During the public comment period, that's the 12 NRC's opportunity to listen, so they're in listening 13 mode. And that's your opportunity to make your 14 comments. That's why we have the Q&A session before 15 that to provide any clarifications on the 16 presentations that you're going to hear. We want to 17 give you an opportunity to do that before we move into 18 the comment period.
19 The process for the comment period I'll go 20 over when we get there, but I would remind you as I've 21 already done a couple of times -- you're probably 22 tired of hearing this. But I do need the yellow card 23 if you wish to make a comment during the public 24 comment period. So make sure you do that in the next 25
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couple of minutes if you want to make a comment.
1 We do have a few NRC staff here, so I'm 2
going to give them an opportunity to introduce 3
themselves before we begin the presentation. I'll 4
start with Brian.
5 MR. HARRIS: Hello, Brian Harris, Safety 6
Project Manager.
7 MR. DUMBACHER: Hello, I'm Dave Dumbacher.
8 I work at the Callaway Plant for the NRC as the Senior 9
Resident Inspector.
10 MR. MOREY: Hello, I'm Dennis Morey. I'm 11 the Chief of the License Renewal Projects Branch and 12 also the Safety Evaluation Regulation. And so I have 13 two -- I have responsibility of overseeing the license 14 renewal projects at the NRC.
15 MS.
FELLS:
Hi, I'm Carmen
- Fells, 16 Environmental Project Manager.
17 MR. FORD: Hi, I'm Bill Ford. I'm a 18 geologist, hydrologist, technical reviewer for the 19 NRC.
20 MS. YANCEY: And my name is Dawn Yancey.
21 I'm a secretary at the Callaway Plant for the Nuclear 22 Regulatory Commission.
23 MS. SALTER: Thank you very much. So with 24 that I think we have covered all the housekeeping and 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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process related issues. I'm going to turn it over to 1
Brian to begin the presentation.
2 There were copies out front of the 3
presentation. If you didn't get one, you can still 4
get one of those.
5 MR. HARRIS: So good afternoon. My name 6
is Brian Harris. I'm the Safety Project Manager 7
within the Division of License Renewal and I am 8
coordinating the staff's review associated with the 9
Callaway Plant, Unit 1, License Renewal Application.
10 So thank you all for taking time to come out to 11 today's public meeting.
12 So today we will provide an overview of 13 the license renewal process, which includes both the 14 safety and environmental reviews. We will describe 15 ways in which the public can participate in the 16 Callaway license renewal process. I'd like to 17 reiterate that the most important part of today's 18 meeting is to receive any comments that you have on 19 the scope of the environmental review. We will also 20 give you some information about how you can submit 21 comments if you prefer not to speak at this meeting 22 today.
23 I hope the information we provide you will 24 help you to understand the license renewal review 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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process and the roles you all have in the process.
1 So before I get into the discussion of the 2
license renewal process, I'd like to take a minute to 3
talk about the NRC in terms of what we do and what our 4
mission is.
5 So the NRC is a Federal agency that 6
regulates the civilian use of nuclear material. The 7
Atomic Energy Act authorized the NRC to grant a 40-8 year operating license for nuclear power plants. I'd 9
like to highlight that this 40-year term was based 10 primarily on economic considerations and antitrust 11 factors, not on safety or technical limitations. The 12 Atomic Energy Act also allows for license renewal.
13 The National Environmental Policy Act of 14 1969, or NEPA, established the national policy for 15 considering the impact of Federal decision-making on 16 the human environment. Carmen will discuss the NEPA 17 in greater detail.
18 The NRC's mission is threefold: to ensure 19 adequate protection of public health and safety, to 20 promote the common defense and security, and to 21 protect the environment.
22 The NRC accomplishes its mission through a 23 combination of regulatory programs and processes, such 24 as establishing rules and regulations, conducting 25
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inspections, issuing enforcement actions, assessing 1
licensee performance. We also evaluate operating 2
experience from nuclear plants across the country and 3
internationally as well. The NRC has resident 4
inspectors at all of the nuclear power plants.
5 Dave Dumbacher and Zachary Holcroft, Dave 6
is here right now; Zachary will be at this evening's 7
meeting. So these inspectors are considered the eyes 8
and ears of the NRC. And they carry out the safety 9
mission on a daily basis and are our front lines for 10 ensuring acceptable safety performance and compliance 11 with the NRC regulatory requirements.
12 So I'd like to mention a few very 13 important areas of the NRC oversight that routinely 14 come up during our interactions with members of the 15 public. The NRC staff addresses these areas of 16 performance every day as part of the ongoing 17 regulatory oversight provided for all currently 18 operating power reactors. They include current safety 19 performance (as defined by NRC inspection findings, 20 violations, and general assessments of plant 21 performance), emergency planning, and security.
22 For specific information on the current 23 performance of Callaway, you can use the link provided 24 on this slide here. And it's also in your handouts as 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 well.
1 The NRC monitors and provides regulatory 2
oversight of activities in these areas on an ongoing 3
basis under the current operating license. Therefore, 4
we do not re-evaluate this in license renewal. So 5
that's not to say that they're not important. We just 6
don't duplicate this regulatory process in these areas 7
for license renewal.
8 Well, since the accident at Fukushima, the 9
NRC has taken multiple steps to ensure the safe 10 operation of nuclear power plants, both now and into 11 the future. As part of its initial response to the 12 accident, the NRC issued temporary instructions to our 13 inspectors directing specific inspections of nuclear 14 power plants in order to assess disaster readiness and 15 compliance with current regulations.
16 The next step in the NRC's response was 17 the report of the NRC's Near-Term Task Force. The 18 purpose of the Near-Term Task Force was to develop 19 near-term recommendations and suggest a framework for 20 us to move forward within the longer term. The Near-21 Term Task Force issued its report on July 12th, 2012 22 (sic) and recommended 12 overarching recommendations 23 for improvement. These recommendations are applicable 24 to operating reactors regardless of the license 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 renewal status.
1 The NRC has prioritized the 2
recommendations from the Near-Term Task Force and has 3
identified additional recommendations.
4 The Commission has directed the staff to 5
move forward on those that can be pursued without 6
delay. And the NRC staff actually issued the related 7
orders and request for additional information in March 8
of this year. I think it was actually this morning or 9
yesterday.
10 To date the NRC has not identified any 11 issues as part of these activities that call into 12 question the safety of any nuclear facility.
13 Additionally, this review process is going on 14 independent of the license renewal process. Any 15 changes that are identified as necessary will be 16 implemented for all licensees, regardless of license 17 renewal status.
18 And the most information on the NRC's 19 post-Fukushima activities, including the paper 20 containing the draft orders and requests for 21 additional information, can be found on the NRC's 22 website. And we have a link here on this slide here.
23 So the NRC received Callaway's application 24 for license renewal on December 19th, 2011, requesting 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 an additional 20 years of operation. The current 1
operating license for Callaway expires in 2024.
2 Licensees can submit an application for 3
license renewal after it has operated 20 years. The 4
NRC has determined that 20 years of operation provides 5
enough information for the staff to make an informed 6
decision on license renewal.
7 So the first step of the license renewal 8
process is to perform an acceptance review --
9 acceptance and sufficiency review of the application.
10 The purpose of this review is to determine that the 11 applicant has provided the required information.
12 Required information includes:
13 Technical information about the plant 14 structures and components and the applicant proposes 15 to manage the aging of these structures and 16 components.
17 Technical specifications defining the 18 operating parameters of the plant. The application 19 indicates if any changes or additions to technical 20 specifications are necessary to manage the effects of 21 aging during the period of extended operation.
22 And the application also includes an 23 Environmental
- Report, which is the applicant's 24 assessment of the environmental impacts of continued 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 operation.
1 If the application has the required 2
information, then it is considered acceptable and it 3
is put on the NRC's formal docket and the staff begins 4
its review.
5 So this flow chart that highlights license 6
renewal involves two parallel reviews: the safety 7
review and the environmental review. These two 8
reviews evaluate separate aspects of the license 9
renewal application.
It also features other 10 considerations in the Commission's decision of whether 11 or not to renew an operating license.
12 One of these considerations is the 13 independent review performed by the Advisory Committee 14 on Reactor Safeguards, or ACRS. Statutorily mandated 15 by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the ACRS is a group 16 of scientists and nuclear experts who serve as a 17 consulting body to the Commission. The ACRS reviews 18 the license renewal application, the NRC staff's 19 safety evaluation, and inspection findings. The ACRS 20 reports their findings and recommendations directly to 21 the Commission.
22 So the dotted lines show that the hearings 23 may also be conducted if interested stakeholders 24 submit concerns or contentions and their request for a 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 hearing is granted. The Atomic Safety and Licensing 1
Board -- it's a adjudicatory panel -- will conduct 2
these hearings. The Commission considers the outcome 3
of the hearing process in its decision on whether or 4
not to issue a renewed operating license.
5 And as part of the environmental review, 6
the staff consults with local, state, and federal, and 7
tribal officials, such as the EPA. And the staff 8
holds public meetings to receive comments on the Draft 9
EIS.
10 And so now I'm going to describe license 11 renewal review process in a little more detail here.
12 So in order to better understand the license renewal 13 process, it is good to know the safety principles that 14 guide license renewal.
15 And the first principle is that the 16 current regulatory process is adequate to ensure that 17 the licensing basis of all operating plants provides 18 and maintains an acceptable level of safety.
19 The second principle is that the current 20 plant-specific licensing basis must be maintained 21 during the renewal term in the same manner, and to the 22 same extent, as during the original licensing term.
23 In other words, the same rules that apply under the 24 current license will apply in the renewal term.
25
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- addition, a
renewed license will 1
include conditions that must be met to ensure the 2
aging of the structures and components important to 3
safety is adequately managed so that the plant's 4
current licensing basis is maintained during the 5
period of extended operation.
6 So the safety review process focuses on 7
the aging of passive and long-lived structures and 8
components in systems that NRC deems important to 9
plant safety. We consider:
10 Safety related systems, structures, and 11 components, for example, the reactor containment; 12 Non-safety related systems, structures, and 13 components which, if they failed, could affect safety-14 related SSC function, for example, a piece of 15 equipment directly above the safety-related component; 16 and 17 Systems, structures, and components relied 18 upon for compliance with federal regulations for fire 19 protection or environmental qualification, or 20 pressurized thermal shock.
21 The staff's main objective is to determine 22 if the aging effects of the aging will be adequately 23 managed by the applicant. The results of the safety 24 review are documented in a safety evaluation report, 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 So now that you understand what is the 2
subject of the review, I'll talk about how the NRC 3
looks at all of this information.
4 So the safety review comprises of numerous 5
rigorous aspects. The technical staff reviews the 6
applicant's license renewal application and supporting 7
documentation:
8 To determine the applicant's methodology 9
to identify SSCs within the scope of license renewal 10 and subject to an aging management review, 11 To determine if the methodology has been 12 properly implemented, 13 And to determine, with reasonable 14 assurance, that the effects of aging for certain SSCs 15 will be adequately managed or monitored by new and 16 existing programs and surveillance activities.
17 The staff uses site audits or visits to 18 verify technical basis of the license renewal 19 application and to confirm that the applicant's aging 20 management programs and activities conforms with how 21 they are described in the license renewal application.
22 The staff documents the basis and conclusions of its 23 review in a safety evaluation report which is made 24 publicly available.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 17 In
- addition, a
team of specialized 1
inspectors travel to the reactor site to verify the 2
aging management programs are being implemented, 3
modified, or planned consistent with the license 4
renewal application.
5 So finally, as I have mentioned, the ACRS 6
performs an independent review of the license renewal 7
application, the staff's
- SER, safety evaluation 8
- report, and inspections
- findings, and makes a
9 recommendation to the Commission regarding the 10 proposed action to the renewal of the operating 11 license.
12 So this slide shows important milestones 13 for the safety review process. It is important to 14 note that these dates are tentative. Schedule changes 15 may result from a host of reasons. If significant 16 issues are identified during the license renewal 17 review, the review may be suspended indefinitely or 18 terminated.
19 So that concludes the description of the 20 safety review.
And Carmen will present the 21 environmental portion.
22 MS. FELLS: Thank you, Brian. Good 23 afternoon, my name is Carmen Fells. And I will go 24 over the environmental review process.
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 18 This review is performed in accordance 1
with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 2
commonly referred to as NEPA. NEPA established a 3
national policy for considering environmental impacts 4
and provides the basic architecture for Federal 5
environmental reviews. All federal agencies must 6
follow a systematic approach in evaluating potential 7
impacts and also to assess alternatives to those 8
actions.
The NEPA process involves public 9
participation and public disclosure.
10 The NRC's environmental regulations 11 implementing the requirement of NEPA are contained in 12 10 CRF 51.
13 Our environmental review considers the 14 impact of license renewal and any mitigation for those 15 impacts considered significant. We also consider the 16 impacts of alternatives to the license renewal, 17 including the impacts of not issuing a renewed 18 license. We document the review in an environmental 19 impact statement which is made publicly available.
20 Ultimately, the purpose of the 21 environmental review is to determine whether the 22 environmental impacts of license renewal are 23 reasonable and, in combination with other reviews, to 24 make a recommendation to the Commission whether to 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 For a license renewal review, the NRC 2
environmental staff looks at a wide range of potential 3
impacts. Additionally, we consult with various 4
Federal, State, and local officials, as well as 5
leaders of Indian Nations. Examples include:
6 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 7
Environmental Protection Agency 8
Missouri Department of Natural Resources 9
Missouri Department of Health and Senior 10 Services 11 Missouri Department of Conservation 12 Missouri State Historic Preservation Offices 13 And Tribal Nations with historic ties to the area 14 around the plant.
15 We gather pertinent information from these 16 sources and ensure it is considered in our analysis.
17 The environmental review begins with a 18 scoping process which is an assessment of the specific 19 impacts and significant issues that the staff should 20 consider in preparing the Callaway Environmental 21 Impact Statement. Currently, this is where we are 22 within the process. Information that we gather from 23 you today and in the next few weeks will be considered 24 and included in the Environmental Impact Statement.
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 We've recognized that some impacts are 1
similar, if not identical, to all nuclear power 2
plants. So to improve efficiency, we developed a 3
Generic Environmental Impact Statement that addresses 4
a number of impacts common to all nuclear power 5
plants. The staff supplements that Generic EIS with a 6
site specific EIS in which we will address issues that 7
are specific to Callaway. The staff also re-examines 8
the conclusions reached in the Generic EIS to 9
determine if there is any new and significant 10 information that could change those conclusions.
11 The scoping period started on February 12 24th, 2012, when the Notice of Intent to prepare an 13 EIS and conduct Scoping was published in the Federal 14 Register. The NRC will accept comments on the scope 15 of the environmental review until April 24th, 2012.
16 In general, we are looking for information 17 about the environmental impacts from the continued 18 operation of Callaway. You can assist this process by 19 telling us, for example, what aspects of your local 20 community we should focus on; what local 21 environmental, social, and economic issues the NRC 22 should examine during our review; what other major 23 projects are in progress or planned in the area; and 24 what reasonable alternatives are most appropriate for 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 21 this region.
1 These are just some examples of the input 2
we seek through the environmental scoping process. We 3
are not as familiar with your community as you are, so 4
your comments today help to facilitate a thorough 5
review.
6 Public comments are an important part of 7
the environmental review process. So how do we use 8
your comments?
9 All of your comments to us, whether 10 provided verbally during this meeting or in a written 11 letter, fax, or email, are considered and addressed.
12 We respond to each comment as part of our 13 environmental review. The EIS is one of the factors, 14 as well as the several others shown here, that 15 influence the Commission's decision to renew the 16 license or not.
17 You can provide written comments by mail 18 to the Chief of Rules, Announcements, and Directives 19 Branch at the addresses provided on this slide.
20 Finally, if you happen to be traveling to 21 the D.C. area, you can provide written comments in 22 person during business hours.
23 This slide shows important milestones for 24 the environmental review process. As Brian stated, 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 these dates are subject to change based on the 1
progress of the review.
2 The opportunity to submit contentions for 3
a hearing closes on April 24th, 2012. The opportunity 4
to submit environmental comments also closes on April 5
24th, 2012.
6 Please note that a draft Supplemental 7
Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled to be 8
issued for public comment in February of 2013 with 9
associated public meetings to receive your comments on 10 this preliminary document.
11 Brian and I are the primary points of 12 contact at the NRC for license renewal issues for 13 Callaway. Our contact information is provided on this 14 slide and also in the handout.
15 Hardcopies of the license renewal 16 application and environmental report may be found at 17 the Callaway County Public Library.
18 The draft Supplemental Environmental 19 Impact Statement will also be available at this 20 library when it is published for comment.
21 These documents will also be on the NRC's 22 website at the web address shown at the bottom of the 23 slide.
24 As you came in, you were asked to fill out 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 a registration card at our reception table. If you've 1
included your address on that card, we will mail you a 2
CD copy of the draft and final EIS.
3 This concludes my presentation.
4 MS. SALTER: Thank you, Carmen.
5 As I stated before, when we go into the 6
public comment period, that's the listening mode for 7
NRC. So before we go there, we wanted to give you all 8
an opportunity to ask the NRC staff any questions on 9
the license renewal process or the presentations that 10 you just heard. Lots of information, so wanted to 11 make sure that you didn't need any clarification on 12 anything that you've heard or have any other 13 questions.
14 So if you do, raise your hand and I'll 15 bring you the microphone and we can go from there.
16 Please introduce yourself by stating your 17 name and if you're affiliated with an organization.
18 MR. KEEBLE: Yes, easy question. My name 19 is Jeff Keeble. I'm with the Missouri Public Service 20 Commission. I'm just curious about your process. On 21 the slide No. 8 that Brian had says License Renewal 22 Process. And I think Carmen's slides also said this, 23 that the hearing is only held after a request for a 24 hearing is granted.
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 24 I was wondering who had requested that and 1
what the standard for grant is and is the time for 2
requesting that passed now or when is the time what 3
for requesting that?
4 MS. SALTER: Brian, you want to go to the 5
podium and talk a little bit about the hearing 6
process?
7 MR. HARRIS: Yes, the hearing process is 8
April the 24th, the deadline for that. So any members 9
of the public that have some sort of a standing within 10 this regulatory action. And that's pretty much -- if 11 you have some standing with the license renewal 12 regulatory action. If you have standing, then you can 13 petition that will be -- the petition will go to the 14 hearing process.
15 MS. SALTER: Can you elaborate on who 16 would have standing? Is that defined by the NRC?
17 MR. HARRIS: Yeah, if you have some 18 members that live close to the plant where you have 19 some sort of a financial standing and have property 20 near the plant, or if you live near the plant, things 21 of that nature.
22 MS. SALTER: And is there a place on the 23 NRC website where people can get more information on 24 how to do that 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 25 MR. HARRIS: We have some of that 1
information in the FAQs. It really guides you through 2
that process and gives you more detailed information 3
on the hearing process and things of that nature.
4 MS. SALTER: And the date to do that was 5
April 24th?
6 MR. HARRIS: The date on that is April 7
24th.
8 MS. SALTER: Does that answer your 9
question?
10 MR. KEEBLE: Yes, thank you.
11 MR. SMITH: Hi, my name is Ed Smith. I'm 12 the State Energy Director for the Missouri Coalition 13 for the Environment. And this is for either of the 14 two presenters. Our Missouri Union Electric Company 15 has had a significant amount of time to put together 16 their 1,200 page license extension application and 400 17 page environmental report. And the NRC itself is a 18 highly technical institution that solely focuses --
19 not solely focuses, but focuses particularly on these 20 license extension applications.
21 My question is, is it reasonable for the 22 NRC to think that the public in our understanding of 23 these highly technical, highly dense documents -- is 24 it reasonable for the NRC to think that 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 26 have an adequate amount of time in 60 days to turn 1
around our possible contentions about the license 2
application and the environmental impact statement?
3 MS. SALTER: So the amount of time the 4
public has, is there any information that you all can 5
share on how that's determined?
6 MS. FELLS: We base our opportunity to 7
submit comments on past license renewal processes.
8 And in the past this is the amount of time that has 9
been reasonable for the public to submit comments.
10 But that is a comment that you can also submit on the 11 process. We will accept and address that comment on 12 the 60-day period allowed for the scoping comment 13 period.
14 MS. SALTER: Okay, any other questions on 15 the license renewing process?
16 MR. BARDEN: My name is Jeff Barden and 17 I'm just a resident of the county. But I was curious.
18 If the extension is granted, does this go for an 19 additional 40 years? Is that want I saw? An 20 additional 40 after it's granted.
21 MR. HARRIS: It's an additional 20 years.
22 MR. BARDEN: An additional 20 years.
23 MR. HARRIS: On top of the current license.
24 MR. BARDEN: 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 MS. SALTER: And another question over 1
here. And please introduce yourself.
2 MS. SHAEFER: My name is Ruth Shaefer.
3 I'm a Callaway County resident out in Bloomfield. I 4
just want to clarify for my own benefit. This is 5
regarding the continuing operation of the present 6
Callaway plant, not for any other project, correct?
7 MR. HARRIS: Yes, the specific regulatory 8
action is for a license renewal of the current 9
Callaway Plant, Unit 1.
10 MS. SHAEFER: Okay, thank you.
11 MS. SALTER: Thank you. Any other 12 questions?
13 Okay, NRC's staff will be here after the 14 meeting if you do have another question that you think 15 of. We'll also have another meeting this evening.
16 So now we're going to move into the public 17 comment period. And I have a few people who have 18 signed up. Again you need to sign up if you want to 19 make a comment.
20 And once again we're transcribing the 21 meeting. So I would ask when I call your name to come 22 up to the podium and start by introducing yourself 23 and, if you're affiliated with an organization, 24 provide that information as well. And go ahead and 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 make your comment.
1 I would ask people in the audience to 2
refrain from sidebar conversations or making comments 3
from the audience because you'd be surprised how much 4
that interferes with our ability to get an accurate 5
recording. And we want to make sure we have 6
everyone's comments the way that you ask them so that 7
the NRC staff can respond to them.
8 So with that, we are going to go ahead and 9
get started. We do have some time and we don't have 10 too many speakers. But I would ask folks to be as 11 succinct as they can and maybe 10 minutes or so should 12 be enough time for everyone to make their comment and 13 still leave a little bit of extra time for folks to 14 ask the NRC questions before they need to go get some 15 dinner so that they can be back here by 5:30 to 16 prepare for this evening's meeting. So with that, I'm 17 going to get started.
18 And I'm going to ask Mr. Ed Smith to come 19 up and make his comments. Again please introduce 20 yourself by stating your name and any organization 21 affiliation you have.
22 MR. SMITH: Hello, everyone. My name is 23 Ed Smith. I'm the State Energy Director with the 24 Missouri Coalition for the Environment. I just wanted 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 to thank the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for having 1
this public meeting today.
2 So the Missouri Coalition -- I should have 3
started reading my document first. The Missouri 4
Coalition for the Environment appreciates the 5
opportunity to submit comments to the Nuclear 6
Regulatory Commission regarding the scope of the 7
Supplement to the Generic Environmental Impact 8
Statement of the license renewal for the Callaway 9
Nuclear Reactor.
10 The Missouri Coalition for the Environment 11 is a 42-year old independent statewide environmental 12 non-profit. It includes members living near the 13 Callaway Nuclear Reactor. The Coalition has a long 14 history of legal intervention with the Callaway 15 Reactor that goes back four decades. Our long-16 standing concern has been one of public safety and 17 protection of our environment.
18 The Coalition plans to intervene in the 19 upcoming license proceedings regarding the Union 20 Electric Company's license for renewal application.
21 As a preliminary matter, we request that the NRC 22 extend the deadline for submitting written scoping 23 comments until 30 days after the deadline for 24 submitting hearing requests and contentions. That 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 date is April 24th.
1 So while we believe it is appropriate for 2
the NRC to hold public meetings now in order to 3
explain a license renewal process to the public, it is 4
unreasonable and unfair to require the public to 5
comment on the scope of the Supplemental GEIS at this 6
stage of the proceeding. When the Missouri Coalition 7
for the Environment and other members of the public 8
are reviewing the license renewal application that's 9
four hundred and -- excuse me -- the 1,200 page highly 10 technical license renewal application and the 400 page 11 highly technical environmental report.
12 With respect to the scope of the 13 Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, 14 the Missouri Coalition for the Environment has two 15 overarching concerns. First, we believe it is 16 unacceptable for the NRC to rely on the 1996 GEIS for 17 the renewal of the Callaway license because it's 18 severely out of date. The NRC should postpone 19 preparation of the Supplemental GEIS for the Callaway 20 Unit until it is finalized and revised GEIS that it 21 issued for comment in July of 2009. In the 22 alternative it should prepare an EIS, Environmental 23 Impact Statement, for Callaway that addresses all 24 environmental issues and does not rely at all on a 16-25
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 year-old document.
1 Given that the draft version of the 2
revised GEIS was issued fully two and a half years 3
ago, continued reliance on this old document is 4
utterly unjustified.
5 Second the Coalition demands that the 6
Supplemental GEIS address the environmental 7
applications of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactor 8
accident, including the environmental risks posed by 9
the NRC's apparent decision to postpone implementation 10 of a
number of the Fukushima Task Force 11 recommendations for safety and environmental 12 protection upgrades until some undetermined future 13 time.
14 The Supplemental GEIS should -- excuse me 15
-- the Supplemental GEIS should recommendations --
16 excuse me -- I'll just start over.
17 The Supplemental GEIS should address all 18 the Fukushima -- should address all the Fukushima Task 19 Force recommendations that are relevant to Callaway.
20 By (A) identifying which recommendations 21 have been implemented and explaining how they have 22 been implemented.
23 And (B) identifying all recommendations 24 whose implementation has been postponed or explaining 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 how that postponement will affect the safety and 1
environmental risks posed by the reactor.
2 Thank you for your time.
3 MS. SALTER: Thank you, Mr. Smith.
4 I would now invite Pamela Murray to come 5
up to the podium. Ms. Murray is an Alderman with the 6
city of Holts Summit.
7 MS.
MURRAY:
Thank you for this 8
opportunity to address everyone. I am a local elected 9
official. I'm not an environmentalist. But I do have 10 some experience being a Callaway County resident. And 11 that is that Ameren Missouri has had a history of 12 being very responsive whenever an issue has been 13 raised. And I'm sure that when the final regulations 14 are implemented that that will continue. I certainly 15 hope it will. And certainly I feel that past behavior 16 and this case responsiveness is a good predictor of 17 future behavior. So I do not have any specific 18 concerns regarding that.
19 Being active in my community, I have been 20 involved with Ameren Missouri and found them to be a 21 good corporate citizen. I'd like to speak briefly 22 about two projects Ameren Missouri has been involved 23 with. One of those is a tree planting in Holts 24 Summit. And they were a financial contributor. They 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 also provided a great deal of labor when it came time 1
to plant hundreds of trees and shrubs in Holts Summit.
2 They provided expertise for our environmental project.
3 They also throughout the state of Missouri are 4
involved in the Missouri Relief Program. They are a 5
major benefactor for this program which provides free 6
trees to cities and non-profit corporations. And I 7
just think that that demonstration for the respect for 8
the environment should also be taken into 9
consideration. And I'd like to thank the NRC and the 10 City of Fulton for providing this facility.
11 Thank you.
12 MS. SALTER: Thank you, Ms. Murray.
13 I'd like to invite Kay Drey up to the 14 podium. Ms. Drey is with Beyond Nuclear.
15 MS. DREY: Hi, thank you for this, having 16 this meeting today. My name is Kay Drey. I live in 17 St. Louis. And I've been a member of the Missouri 18 Coalition for the Environment since its creation. And 19 I'm also a member of the Board of Directors at Beyond 20 Nuclear, an organization located in Tacoma Park, 21 Maryland.
22 And all I'm here today is just to submit 23 for the record of today's scoping meeting three 24 documents. One is a brand new copy of the Economist.
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 And its cover is called, "Nuclear Energy, the Dream 1
That Failed." And I really like the cover. And there 2
are some long reports in here. So I think this is 3
something that may be of interest to some of you.
4 And then two pamphlets that I helped 5
write. One is called, "Dirty, Dangerous, and 6
Expensive: The Verdict Is in on Nuclear Power."
7 These are not in favor of nuclear power. And the 8
other one is called "The Lethal Legacy of the Atomic 9
Age: 1942 to the Year 2012," which is now to 10 infinity. And it says, "A mountain of waste 70 years 11 high, it's time to stop making it."
12 And I have more copies if anyone would 13 like a copy.
14 And so again, I do thank you for the 15 opportunity to have this meeting here.
16 MS. SALTER: With that, I'd like to invite 17 Ruth Schaefer.
18 MS. SCHAEFER: I'd like to defer my 19 comments. I think the gentleman from the Coalition 20 has said it.
21 MS. SALTER: Okay, you are our last 22 speaker.
23 Oh, we have another card. All right. I 24 invite Bill Johnson to the podium. Please introduce 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 yourself
- and, if you're affiliated with an 1
organization, you can mention that too.
2 MR. JOHNSON: Good afternoon. My name is 3
Bill Johnson. I'm the City Administrator of Fulton, 4
Missouri, and I have been for the past 16 and a half, 5
17 years. I'm here actually speaking as a citizen 6
because the City Council has not of yet taken an 7
official position on this. But I am 100 percent 8
confident the City Council would be behind every word 9
that I am about to say.
10 The citizens of Fulton like the Ameren 11 plant where it is. We like the operation. We like 12 the staffing. We like the safety levels. We are 13 incredibly involved in the safety review of the 14 facilities out there. If anyone is concerned about 15 the safety record, our records are available online if 16 you want to take the time to look. The inspections 17 are online. You can even ask for the NRC to mail you 18
-- email you, put you on a list and get an email to 19 you if you'd like.
20 We've had a great positive relationship 21 with the nuclear plant for the 27 years it's been in 22 operation and for the 10 years or so before that when 23 it was under construction. We hope to be able to 24 maintain that strong relationship for a long time.
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 What's good for Fulton, what's good for 1
Callaway County, what's good for the State of 2
Missouri, is good for the Callaway Plant and vice 3
versa. What is good for us is good for them. It's a 4
great working relationship.
5 As I kind of said, having been here for 17 6
years, I have been involved in dozens and dozens of 7
drills associated with the safety performance of the 8
plant. The city is actively involved when it comes to 9
the drills. The City Administrator, myself, is there.
10 The Mayor is there, the Police Chief, Fire Chief, 11 planning officials, city engineers, city utilities.
12 We through our actions support and endorse the Ameren 13 plant.
14 And many times throughout the year, Ameren 15 comes to us and says, "Is there anything we can do for 16 you?" Sometimes we take them up on it; sometimes we 17 don't. But they are an incredible corporate citizen 18 to the community of Fulton.
19 And like I said, we would like to 20 encourage the NRC to agree with this extension.
21 Thank you.
22 MS. SALTER: Thank you, very much. I do 23 believe unless there's another yellow card back there 24 that we don't have anyone else signed up to make a 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 comment.
1 So I just have a couple of things to 2
remind you of. These public meetings are very 3
important to the NRC and your feedback helps us 4
improve them. It's also important and there are 5
feedback forms back on the registration table. Dawn 6
has them in her hand. And we really ask that you take 7
one and fill it out. You can leave it here or you can 8
drop it in the mail. It's postage paid and we would 9
really appreciate you doing that.
10 Also NRC staff will be here after the 11 meeting. You've met them. If you have a question 12 that you didn't want to address to the whole group but 13 you'd like to talk to them, please feel free to do 14 that. We also have a table in the back with a lot of 15 information. I invite you to take a look at that and 16 to ask any other questions of NRC staff you have once 17 we close the meeting.
18 And to close the meeting, I'm going to 19 turn it over to Dennis Morey.
20 MR. MOREY: I'd like to thank you for 21 coming here today. And we appreciate your comments.
22 Your comments are a very important part of the 23 process. And we hold these meetings in fulfillment of 24 the Commission's commitment to openness. And so we 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 thank you and I guess we are going to adjourn now and 1
prepare for -- go have dinner. Otherwise we're here 2
for the evening meeting.
3 Thank you.
4 (Whereupon, the afternoon session was 5
concluded at 2:51 p.m.)
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