ML23331A788

Transcript of November 14, 2023 Environmental Scoping Meeting Related to the V.C. Summer Subsequent License Renewal Application, Pages 1-25

ML23331A788
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Issue date:	11/14/2023
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NRC-2601
Download: ML23331A788 (25)

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Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

Environmental Scoping Meeting Related to the V.C. Summer Subsequent License Renewal Application Docket Number:

(n/a)

Location:

Blair, South Carolina Date:

Tuesday, November 14, 2023 Work Order No.:

NRC-2601 Pages 1-22 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1716 14th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 234-4433

1 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING MEETING RELATED TO THE V.C. SUMMER SUBSEQUENT LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023

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The meeting convened in the gymnasium at McCrorey-Liston School of Technology, 1978 State Highway 215 South in Blair, South Carolina, at 6:00 p.m., Kim Conway, Environmental Project Manager, presiding.

NRC STAFF PRESENT:

MARIELIZ JOHNSON, NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), Safety Review Lead KIM CONWAY, NRC Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS), Environmental Review Lead JOHN MOSES, NMSS, Deputy Director, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support

2 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 6:00 p.m.

MS. CONWAY: Good evening, everyone, my name is Kim Conway. I'm the environmental project manager for the V.C.

Summer Nuclear Station Subsequent License Renewal application, and I would like to welcome you to this meeting hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

My colleague, Marieliz Johnson, is a safety project manager for the project, and will be presenting to you today, as well.

Our goals today are to provide you with an overview of the subsequent license renewable process for safety and environmental for the V.C.

Summer review, and to solicit your input on the environmental issues that the NRC should consider as part of its review. A term you're going to hear a

lot today is

scoping, which simply means determining the scope of the environmental review.

In this case, for the continued operation of the V.C. Summer plant. Today's meeting is just one way that you can participate in the process, and we'll be going more into detail on that later. Next slide.

This is our agenda today. We'll be

3 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com providing an overview of the license renewal process. After this presentation, you will have some time to ask clarifying questions about the information that we present to you. After that comes the final and most important part of this meeting, where we will open the floor to receive your scoping comments. This is where you provide your input on what the NRC should consider to be in scope of the NRC's environmental review for V.C.

Summer's Subsequent License Renewal. Next slide.

As I already mentioned, Marieliz and I are the primary points of contact for this review.

Marieliz is the project manager for the safety review, and I'm the project manager for the environmental review. We'll be giving you some short overview presentations, but before we begin I would like to turn the presentation over to my Deputy Division Director, John Moses, to share some thoughts.

MR. MOSES: Thank you, Kim. Good evening, everyone. As Kim mentioned, I'm the Deputy Director of the Rulemaking, Environmental and Financial Services Division at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Welcome to today's second environmental

4 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com scoping meeting for the V.C.

Summer Nuclear Station. The purpose of this meeting, as Kim mentioned, is to inform you about our review

process, and to seek your input on the environmental issues the Agency should assess and consider when conducting an environmental review of the additional license application. Last Thursday, we held a virtual public meeting and received several comments from individuals, we hope to have a similarly productive meeting this evening. And the public comment period is open for 30 days, until December 4, 2023.

We are here tonight to gather information to prepare an environmental impact statement to evaluate the environmental impacts for the potential license renewal of the operating license for V. C. Summer Unit 1. Given the breadth of NRC's licensing and oversight functions, we have many different actions handled by specialists throughout the Agency, at any given time. On Monday, our Region II office in Atlanta hosted a regulatory conference to discuss a finding with an associated apparent violation at the V.C. Summer site.

This regulatory conference was open to

5 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com public observation, and some of you may have attended. If you're looking for more information about this issue, we can assist you by directing your inquiries to the appropriate experts outside of this meeting. This evening, we look forward to hearing your comments related to the areas covered by the environmental review.

The NRC's process encourages public participation and transparency.

Public participation, openness, and transparency are key to all of the NRC's activities, including the licensing of nuclear facilities.

After the presenters describe the Agency's process to conduct safety and environmental reviews, we'll pause and ask if there are any questions or comments about the NRC's license renewable process. So we'll pause, and if you have questions about the process or want to hear more. Then we'll turn and ask for any comments on, or questions

about, the environmental information submitted by the Applicant.

I'm looking forward to your feedback on significant issues that you feel are important for the staff to consider in their detailed analysis.

Our goal is to hear from you and collect any

6 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com comments you might have, so that we may fully consider them during our review. Thank you in advance for your participation. And with that, I'll turn back to, Kim.

MS. CONWAY: Thanks, John. So here are the overall logistics for our meeting today. This is a comment gathering meeting by the NRC's definition, so we are actively seeking your input.

Please note that we are transcribing today's meeting, so the NRC staff can be sure to get a full accounting of the comments you provide. Next slide, please.

Now, to provide you with some background information on the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station and its request. V.C. Summer Unit 1 was first licensed in November of 1982, it was granted an initial renewed license in 2004. The current renewed license expires in August of 2042, if license renewal is granted it would be for an additional 20 years. Next slide.

Dominion Energy South Carolina filed an application for subsequent license renewal for V.C.

Summer Unit 1. A license renewal application is required to contain general information, such as the applicant's name and address, business and

7 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com administrative information, technical information -

which pertains to aging management.

The technical information is the focus of the safety review.

The application also includes an environmental report, which is the applicant's assessment of the environmental impacts of continued operation. This information serves as a starting point for the staff to review the environmental aspects of the subsequent license renewal for V.C. Summer.

I would now like to turn the presentation over to Marieliz Johnson to provide a short overview of our safety review process for the application.

MS. JOHNSON: Thank you, Kim. Once again, my name is Marieliz Johnson, I am the Safety Project Manager for the V.C. Summer Subsequent License Renewal review. I will now walk us through the NRC's subsequent license renewal review process, as shown in this slide.

Starting from the left, the process begins once a

subsequent license renewal application, or SLRA, has been accepted for review.

Then, the process breaks out into two parallel

8 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com reviews, the safety review and the environmental review in the middle. These two reviews evaluate separate aspects of the license renewal application. On the safety side, following the staff review of the application, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, or ACRS, completes an independent review of the application to make recommendations to the Commission.

At the bottom of the flow chart, dotted lines lead to hearings. The dotted lines represent the opportunity for a hearing in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act, which establishes a process for members of the public to request involvement in hearings on a

variety of civilian

matters, including subsequent license renewal.

The Commission considers the outcome of the hearing process in its decision on whether or not to issue a renewal license.

Finally, with the inputs of the environmental review, the ACRS recommendation on the safety review, as well as the staff finding on the safety review, a final decision is made by the NRC.

The Atomic Energy Act authorizes NRC to issue license for commercial power reactors to

9 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com operate for up to 40 years, this license can be renewed for an additional 20 years at a time. This period following the initial license term is known as the period of extended operation.

Now, subsequent license renewal will allow plans to operate beyond this 60 years. Subsequent license renewal will also be for 20 years.

The purpose of the safety review is to identify aging effects that could impair the ability of systems, structures, and components within the scope of license renewal to perform the intended function. And to demonstrate that these aging effects will be adequately managed during the period of extended operation. This scope has not changed for the initial license renewal to subsequent license renewal.

As previously mentioned, in August of 2023 Dominion Energy South Carolina submitted the subsequent license renewal application for V.C.

Summer Unit 1. After receiving the application, the NRC conducted an acceptance review, the first step of our review. The NRC determined that the application was sufficient and acceptable for docketing on October 11 of 2023.

Then, we move into our technical

10 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com review, which includes the aging management audit.

The aging management audit consists in three parts, the In-Office Technical Review Audit, the On-Site Audit, and the Breakout Audit. During all phases of the audit, the NRC staff review the application documents and reference in greater details. As part of the safety review, the staff also reviews the applicant's operating experience for information applicable to aging management.

Following the audit, an audit report is issued. At the very end, the staff will document the review in a safety evaluation. Next slide, please.

The NRC ensures the adequate protection of public health and safety, and the environment, through the regulatory process, which is shown in this slide. The regulatory process consists in five major components. We develop regulation and guidance for applicant and licensees, we license or certify applicants to either use nuclear material, operate nuclear facility, or decommission.

We oversee licensee's operation and facilities, to ensure that license complies with safety requirements.

We evaluate operational experience at licensed facilities, or involving licensed activities. And in support of our

11 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com regulatory decision, we conduct research, hold hearings to address the concern of parties affected by the Agency and obtain independent review. With license

renewal, the regulatory process now considers aging management, and represents by the red block.

Now, I will turn it back to Kim, who will discuss the environmental review.

MS. CONWAY: Thanks, Marieliz. I would now like to share a bit about our environmental review process. You may be familiar with the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. NEPA obligates federal agencies to consider environmental impacts in federal actions. The NRC-specific environmental regulations are contained in 10 CFR Part 51. The objective of our environmental review is to determine if the environmental impacts of subsequent license renewal are so great that subsequent license renewal would not be a

reasonable option, or more plainly, if subsequent license renewal is unacceptable from an environmental standpoint. Next slide.

Our environmental review considers the impacts of continuing to operate the plant for an additional 20 years, and any proposed mitigation of

12 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com those impacts, as warranted. We also consider the impacts of reasonable alternatives to the proposed action of subsequent license renewal, including the impacts of not issuing a

subsequent renewed license.

The staff documents its environmental review in an environmental impact statement -- it's also called an EIS. The staff has developed a generic environmental impact statement that addresses a number of issues common to all nuclear power plants. The staff is supplementing that generic EIS with a site-specific EIS, in which we will address issues that are specific to the V.C.

Summer Nuclear Station. The staff also re-examines the conclusion reached in that generic EIS to determine if there is any new and significant information that would change those conclusions.

Next slide, please.

For the subsequent license renewal review, a team of NRC subject matter experts will be reviewing a wide range of environmental resource areas. This slide gives you an idea of the areas evaluated. Some of the areas covered in the review are terrestrial and aquatic ecology, environmental

justice, water resources, air

quality, human

13 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com health, and historic and cultural resources. Next slide, please.

This slide is a good illustration of the different areas the staff reviews and considers as part of preparing its EIS, as well as some of the interrelationships between those areas. Next slide, please.

In conducting our environmental review, we coordinate and consult with various local, state, federal, and tribal officials and gather pertinent information from these sources to ensure it is considered in our analysis. As illustrated on this slide about consulting agencies, examples include the US Fish and Wildlife Service, EPA, State Historic Preservation Officer, and so on. As part of the environmental review, the staff may hold public meetings to receive comments on the draft EIS. But right now, we're at the very beginning of the process, which is the scoping period. So, I'll now discuss the environmental scoping process in more detail. Next slide, please.

The environmental review begins with the scoping process, which is why we're here today.

The purpose of the scoping process is to identify

14 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com significant issues that should be considered in our environmental review.

We are now gathering information that we'll use to prepare an EIS for the subsequent license renewal. As part of that process, today we would like to collect your comments on the scope of the environmental review.

That is, the environmental impacts that the staff should consider in the areas on previous slides.

The scoping period started on November 3 when a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS and conduct scoping was published in the Federal Register. The NRC will be accepting comments on the scope of the environmental review until December 4, 2023. In general, we are looking for information about environmental impacts from continued operation of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station during the period of extended operations.

So you can assist us by telling us, for example, what aspects of your local community we should focus on. What local environment, social, and economic issues the NRC staff should examine during the environmental review. As well as what reasonable alternatives are most appropriate for this area. These are just some of the examples of the input that we're looking

for, and they

15 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com represent the types of information we're seeking through the environmental scoping period. Your comments today would be helpful in providing insight of this nature for our analysis. Next slide, please.

This slide shows the important milestones throughout the NRC's environmental review process. So, if you have environmental scoping comments you would like to submit outside of today's meeting, you have until December 4 to do so. Based on our current schedule, we plan to issue a draft EIS for public comment by next November. This is another way you can be involved in the process. Members of the public will have an opportunity to provide comments on the draft EIS.

While this slide lists milestones for the environmental review and opportunities for public involvement, the safety review will be performed on a separate schedule in parallel with our environmental review to support the ultimate license renewal decision date. Next slide, please.

This slide identifies the primary contacts for the subsequent license renewal application for V.C. Summer. Marieliz, myself --

Ed Miller is the Senior Project Manager who is the

16 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com Operating Reactor Project Manager for V.C. Summer.

Next slide.

For those of you who may be located in this area, the Fairfield County Library has agreed to make the license renewal application available for public inspection. The draft EIS, when that's available and published for comment, will be available at the library, as well. In addition, these documents are available on the NRCs website

-- there's a link there. And if any of you picked up the cards at the table when you entered, it's the same link to -- it's got a lot of information on the review. So, if you're looking for the status of the review, milestones, documents, I would recommend that as a place to go. Next slide, please.

As mentioned

earlier, the most important piece of today's meeting is to receive any comments that you may have on the scope of the environmental review. Here various ways you can submit your comment for our review. You can provide written comments by mail to the NRC at the address provided on the slide, you can provide comments via email to SummerEnvironmental@nrc.gov, you can also send your comments electronically by

17 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com going to regulations.gov. There are a number of options. You can also, you know, give us comments here tonight -- it all goes to the same place and it'll be put into the same scoping report. So, they all count the same.

Comments should be submitted by December 4, as I mentioned before.

(Off mic comment.)

MS. CONWAY: Oh, no -- oh, yeah, that one. So on this slide, there is a typo on the comment period. The slide says December 3, it's actually December 4. I went through and updated some of the -- the milestone slide, earlier, but forgot to update this. So, thanks, John, for pointing that out. December 4 is the date, I promise.

And at this point, I would like to open it up. As John mentioned earlier, if there are any clarifying questions on the presentation that we just gave you, as far as the review process itself

-- after we finish with clarifying, like, process questions, then we'll open it up for scoping comments. So, does anyone have any clarifying questions on what you just heard? Since we only have one microphone, you can raise your hand and

18 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com I'll come out to you with the microphone.

No? Hearing none, we can move to the environmental scoping comments. So, if any of you have scoping comments you would like to provide, as far as areas that we should consider as part of the environmental review, likewise just raise your hand and I'll come out to you.

(Off mic comment.)

MS. CONWAY: It's okay. If you don't have any, I can also give you guys a few minutes just to make sure you don't have any questions.

But as I mentioned, even if you don't want to give comments here today, there are other methods of providing comments electronically or via mail to us. The comment period just opened up, you know, less than a couple weeks ago, so we're just in the middle of it now -- there's still plenty of time if you come up with something.

MS. SWEARINGEN: I would like to throw something out there.

MS. CONWAY: Sure. For the sake of our court reporter here, if you could give your name before you give your comments, so that we can get an accounting.

MS. SWEARINGEN: Peggy Swearingen, and

19 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com I'm on the county

council, Fairfield County Council. And I'm not sure the exact millions of dollars that we get from -- have gotten from y'all each year, and for how many years it's been gotten, but Fairfield County will be in a sad shape if y'all's contract is not renewed.

And I don't know how many of y'all are in Fairfield County, how many of y'all are living in Fairfield County, but this has been phenomenal -

- the amount that y'all have given us, and are still giving us. And then, y'all are going to add the two new gas-powered thingies, and that's a

$180,000,000 thing that's coming in, also. Of course, it won't be $180,000,000 worth of the taxes

-- but I think it's a good thing. How many years have y'all been -- has it been? Has it been 50 years, 45 years, 48 years that y'all have been --

MS. CONWAY: Forty-two.

MS. SWEARINGEN: Well that's something.

You know, when you get past 40 it doesn't much matter. And y'all have been -- y'all haven't blown us away yet, so I'm hoping you got 40 more years and you won't blow us away, okay? That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

MS. CONWAY: Thank you very much, we

20 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com appreciate your comment. Anyone else?

MS. SWEARINGEN: Oh, y'all, come on and say something.

(Laughter.)

MS.

SWEARINGEN:

It's all right.

Nobody wants to talk.

MS. CONWAY: We have one brave person.

Okay, I'll give it another say, 30 seconds or so, and then I'll hand it back over to John for some closing comments.

MR. MOSES: Comments, questions?

There we go, thank you.

MS. CONWAY: Can you repeat your question?

MR. STOVER: Does any one of you three live in this community, or close?

MS. CONWAY: So, the three of us are from our headquarters office in Rockville, Maryland. But our Resident Inspector does live nearby, and he's at the site, quite frequently, since it's his job to be there. But he has, you know, family here, and I think he likes it here.

We'll be back here a few more times, though, throughout the course of this review, so if you have any good recommendations on restaurants

21 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com I'll accept those afterwards.

MR. MOSES: Thoughts or questions?

MS.

CONWAY:

Anyone?

Thoughts, questions, comments?

MR. MOSES: We can -- oh, thank you.

This is John Moses, so he can get the transcript.

So, we can conclude the meeting in a few minutes, but we'll stay around until 7:00 in case you would like to speak with us on a more individual or private basis, if you have other questions or comments, or you want to share anything with us.

So with that, I will express my thanks to everyone for taking the time to come out here, and for your interest. And thank you for the comments and questions you've shared with us. And also encourage your neighbors and friends -- if they have any questions or comments, they can please submit them to us either via postal mail, via email, or via regulations.gov at the little link on those little comment cards or on the notes.

So I'll summarize some of our next steps. So, since we're in the midst of the scoping process which, as you've heard, will last another three or so weeks, until December 4, for the

22 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com comment period.

Scoping process will still continue a little bit while our team looks at the comments that are submitted, and questions. They will kind of organize those materials into a common place based on categories, whether they're within scope, whether they're outside of scope, things like that. Then, they'll prepare a summary report and issue that.

Those materials will go into the analyses that our team is preparing on the environmental side -- and if you have questions on the safety side, we have a person here who can answer those. And we anticipated issuing our draft environmental impact statement about a year from now, next November or so. So, our team will come out for another public listening session, public meeting, for you to have questions or comments on that document.

Once again, you can submit comments via postal mail on the slides that are identified, via email, or via the link on the comment cards to the online system. From that, if you have any other questions or comments -- I realize you may want to think about things. We appreciate your time this evening and your interest in this licensing action.

23 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com We know it's important to understand how it affect your community, and your thoughts about it.

So with that, I will conclude this portion of the meeting. But like I said, we'll stay around till about 7:00 o'clock, in case other people -- if you have questions or would like to come up to us. Thank you.

MS. CONWAY: That's it. Thank you. We really appreciate you guys coming out, though, thank you.

(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record at 6:26 p.m.)

24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com