ML031250557

Transcript of Meeting to Present to the Local Public the Status of the NRCs Oversight Panel Activities for the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station

ML031250557
Person / Time
Site:	Davis Besse
Issue date:	04/15/2003
From:	NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD3, NRC/RGN-III
To:
References
Download: ML031250557 (28)

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2 3 U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION FIRST ENERGY NUCLEAR OPERATING COMPANY 4 PUBLIC MEETING ON DAVIS-BESSE 5

Meeting held on Tuesday, April 15, 2003, at 6 7:00 p.m. at Camp Perry, Clubhouse #600, Port Clinton, Ohio, taken by me, Marlene S. Rogers-Lewis, 7 Stenotype Reporter and Notary Public in and for the State of Ohio.

8 9

10 PANEL MEMBERS PRESENT:

11 U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 12 Jack Grobe, Chairman, for Davis-Besse facility Oversight Panel 13 William Ruland, Vice Chairman, MC 0350 Oversight Panel 14 Anthony Mendiola, Section Chief PDIII-2, NRR 15 Jon Hopkins, Project Manager - Davis-Besse 16 Scott Thomas, Senior Resident Inspector 17 Christine Lipa, Branch Chief, Region III 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

2 1 MS. LIPA: Okay, welcome to 2 everybody, and we decided not to put up our agenda, 3 its in the handout if you were able to get one in 4 the foyer on the way in. This evenings session 5 doesnt have a lot of structure to it. I just 6 wanted to welcome everybody, and Ill make some 7 introductions, and then well give you a summary of 8 what we talked about during the afternoon meeting, 9 and then well open up to public comments and 10 questions, so Im Christine Lipa, and Im a Branch 11 Chief in Region III office. I have responsibility 12 for the Inspection Program at Davis-Besse.

13 Why dont you go ahead and introduce 14 yourself?

15 MR. GROBE: Thank you. Im Jack 16 Grobe. Im the Chairman of the Davis-Besse Oversight 17 Panel for the NRC. Im a Senior Manager in the 18 NRCs Chicago office. Its called Region III.

19 MS. LIPA: And then Ill 20 introduce the rest of the folks here. We have Jon 21 Hopkins. Hes a Project Manager at NRR. Hes 22 responsible for licensing activities at Davis-Besse.

23 MR. HOPKINS: (Indicating).

24 MS. LIPA: And then Tony Mendiola 25 is his Section Chief, and hes also in headquarters.

MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

3 1 MR. MENDIOLA: (Indicating).

2 MS. LIPA: And then Bill Ruland 3 is the Project Director for Director at PDIII for 4 Region III plants.

5 MR. RULAND: (Indicating).

6 MS. LIPA: And Bill Ruland is new 7 to the panel. He replaces Bill Dean, who was 8 promoted and moved on to a different assignment 9 within the NRC, so Bill Ruland is now the new Vice 10 Chairman of the Oversight Panel, and what I would 11 like to do is just go over the purpose -- did I 12 forget somebody? Oh, sorry.

13 MR. GROBE: You forgot Doug.

14 MR. THOMAS: Doug, you forgot Doug.

15 MS. LIPA: Excuse me, Scott 16 Thomas is a Senior Resident Inspector.

17 MR. THOMAS: (Indicating).

18 MS. LIPA: And hes located here 19 at the Davis-Besse plant. Thats his reporting 20 office every day on a daily basis, and also Doug 21 Simpkins is in the audience.

22 MR. SIMPKINS: (Indicating).

23 MS. LIPA: Hes previously been 24 the Resident Inspector at Davis-Besse. Hes now the 25 Senior Resident at Hatch Plant, and we asked him to MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

4 1 come back and help us out for a couple more months on 2 the Davis-Besse project, and then we also have a 3 couple of relatively new employees to the NRC in the 4 last year, Carla Rogue and Frances Ramirez.

5 MS. ROGUE: (Indicating).

6 MS. RAMIREZ: (Indicating).

7 MS. LIPA: And then Nancy Keller 8 was out in the foyer helping with handouts, so --

9 while I mention the foyer, I wanted to point out the 10 various handouts we have out there. We have our 11 monthly newsletter that we have been updating every 12 month to provide an update on what has been going on 13 from the NRC perspective and from the Utility 14 perspective.

15 We also have feedback forms so you can give 16 us comments on how the meeting goes.

17 We also have our slides that the NRC used 18 during their afternoon meeting, and there also were 19 some, I believe, leftover Utility slides from their 20 afternoon presentation today.

21 So the purpose of todays evening session is 22 just to inform everybody whos interested in the 23 status of the NRCs ongoing activities here at 24 Davis-Besse, and the goals are to brief you with the 25 results of this afternoons meeting and then also to MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

5 1 receive your comments and answer your questions if we 2 can, and so well go ahead and start with Scott 3 Thomas who will give a summary of this afternoons 4 meeting.

5 MR. THOMAS: Ill start off with a 6 brief summary of the NRC activities since the March 7 11th public meeting. We held a public meeting with 8 the licensee to discuss normal operating pressure 9 simulation results on April 4th. The NRC began a 10 safety culture, safety conscious work environment 11 inspection on April 7th. NRC inspectors completed 12 an inspection of the Containment Sump Mod on April 13 11th. NRC inspectors completed an Integrated Leak 14 Rate test inspection of the recently performed 15 Integrated Leak Rate test on Davis-Besse containment.

16 We have also closed several Restart Checklist 17 items which will be documented in Inspection Report 18 2003-04.

19 Continuing NRC activities include system 20 health reviews, safety sig -- excuse me, safety 21 significant program effectiveness reviews, corrective 22 action team inspection and resident routine 23 inspections.

24 Upcoming NRC activities include preparations 25 for upcoming NRC inspections to evaluate the -- the MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

6 1 under vessel head. This will be done following the 2 NOP test that the licensee is planning to do, a fire 3 protection inspection and a restart assessment team 4 inspection.

5 A summary of the 2:00 meeting that we had 6 that was conducted between the NRC and Davis-Besse 7 management, it was divided into the following major 8 topics. The first was operations restart readiness 9 assessment. This included -- this documented 10 approximately 1,100 Mode 4 restraints that are --

11 still need to be completed prior to transitioning to 12 Mode 4. Discussed upcoming Mode 4 and Mode 3 13 pressure tests that are planned by the licensee and 14 discussed operation staffing and focus on operation 15 leadership roles going forward.

16 The next area was design issue resolution.

17 Specifically discussed the repair or replacement 18 options for the two high pressure injection pumps at 19 Davis-Besse, the overall evaluation at the plant, 20 electrical distribution system, resolution of several 21 required air operated valve, operator modifications 22 or adjustments that are ongoing or have been 23 completed, and the completion of the evaluation of 24 the emergency diesel generated load table and 25 starting voltage and frequency response issues.

MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

7 1 The next area is in containment health. The 2 licensee updated the panel on the status of a number 3 of ongoing efforts in the area of containment health.

4 These included emergency sump screen mods, 5 containment coating issues, the KE decay heat valve tank --

6 excuse me, the KE decay heat valve tank mod, containment air 7 cooler refurbishment efforts, evaluation of 8 environmentally qualified equipment in containment, 9 the evaluation of the effects of past refueling canal 10 leakage of containment structures, overall 11 containment integrity, containment health 12 inspections, placing and tensioning the reactor 13 vessel head, which has been completed, and the 14 insulation installation of the flus containment leakage detection 15 system.

16 The next area was the -- in the area of 17 Integrated Leak Rate test and preliminary results of 18 our inspection indicate that this was completed in a 19 successful manner.

20 The next area is Mode 5, safety cultural 21 assessment and independent safety culture survey.

22 The Mode 5 licensee safety culture assessment results 23 were given in three broad assessment categories.

24 These categories were policy or corporate commitment, 25 plant management commitment and individual MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

8 1 commitment. All of which were rated yellow by the 2 licensee. The grading scale consists of green which 3 is the best rating; white, yellow and red being the 4 worst.

5 The licensee also discussed recent safety 6 conscious work environment employee survey results.

7 They noted improvements in 24 to 26 areas. They 8 noted also that work was still needed in the areas of 9 demonstrating management commitment to safety 10 conscious work environment, improving confidence in 11 corrective action program, and the improving 12 confidence in the employee concerns program.

13 They also talked about major milestones that 14 are upcoming. They noted that theyre making 15 progress in a number of areas including restoring 16 containment air coolers, two and three, which they 17 have completed. Theyve completed the scheduled 18 reactor coolant pump maintenance, completed emergency 19 sump installation, filled the reactor coolant system, 20 completed the flus leak detection system 21 installation, completed the containment Integrated 22 Leak Rate test, and the licensee summarized by saying 23 that they were making progress towards restart and 24 indicated that their present schedule supported the 25 reactor coolant system NOP test mid to late May with MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

9 1 start-up approximately one month later, so thats 2 pretty much the recap.

3 MS. LIPA: Okay, thanks, Scott.

4 Okay, so thats the summary of what we talked about 5 today and some recent activities, so we would like to 6 go ahead and open up for public comments and 7 questions, and wed like to start with local members 8 of the public first, please, and limit your time to 9 five minutes. Thats one of our rules that were 10 trying to enforce.

11 MR. ARNDT: My name is Steve 12 Arndt, Ottawa County Commissioner. First off, I 13 want to extend a very strong and well felt feeling 14 that I have had with the NRC watching this entire 15 process for quite a number of months. The conduct 16 in how you conduct yourself has been extremely 17 professional. I also want to compliment especially 18 Mr. Grobe because as the Commissioners, or Mr. Witt, 19 who has served on the Restart Oversight Panel has 20 asked questions, Jack has always been there to help 21 us see from the NRCs perspective, so from that 22 standpoint we certainly are pretty much appreciative 23 of the NRCs professionalism and their accessibility.

24 A couple months ago I mentioned that from the 25 Commissioners standpoint the health, safety and MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

10 1 welfare of the general public was first and foremost 2 in our minds and concerns, and I was very happy that 3 the industry has allowed Mr. Witt to sit on the 4 Restart Oversight Panel, and I also made a request 5 several months ago, as well as Mr. Witt has, on 6 behalf of the County that wed like to be able to 7 make sure that ongoing, once restart has been 8 accomplished and certainly if you were here today, 9 this afternoon, as well as the past several months 10 there has been significant progress made both on the 11 physical plant as well as the safety culture change 12 in the industry. Our concern was, is how do we 13 monitor the progress and make sure that these 14 programs remain intact long-term, and one of the 15 requests we had for the NRC was, what kind of 16 opportunities do we have for a dialogue hereafter 17 restart. The same request is made of the industry 18 is there an opportunity for the County to have 19 representation to make sure that were also having 20 the ability to have some input and some close 21 observations, and I think for the general public Im 22 very happy to be able to announce that both the NRC 23 and the industry has sought to -- and found, I 24 believe, a solution for, to have the local 25 involvement from the County. The NRC has indicated MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

11 1 that there will be some ongoing opportunities for us 2 to have dialogue and questions and monitoring, making 3 sure that those programs that they worked very hard 4 and well spent many dollars to incorporate are 5 ongoing.

6 Im also happy that Im in receipt of a 7 letter from FirstEnergy. You know, they created 8 this new oversight from the FENOC for the nuclear 9 regulatory or from their nuclear power plants with 10 Mr. Bill Pearce, and we have the invitation now to 11 have an ongoing representation on that Nuclear 12 Oversight Board. We welcome that from both the NRC 13 and FirstEnergy. I think thats the kind of spirit 14 and cooperation that well be able to make sure they 15 continue to operate safely as well as making sure 16 that all the programs are adhered to in the future, 17 so from the public standpoint, I know they probably 18 have not seen those communicates, those were requests 19 that were made several months ago, and Im happy to 20 be able to announce that those are being honored and 21 look forward to that continued dialogue we have had 22 with the NRC as well as with FENOC and FirstEnergy.

23 Thank you.

24 MS. LIPA: Okay, thank you.

25 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

12 1 MR. GROBE: Thanks, Steve. Just 2 so everybody is aware, when FirstEnergy gets to point 3 that they believe the plant is ready to restart, the 4 panel evaluates that recommendation. That doesnt 5 mean that the panels work is done. The standard 6 that the panel has for making a decision whether or 7 not Davis-Besse is ready to restart is really 8 two-fold. The first is whether or not the panel 9 believes that the plant can be safely restarted, but 10 the second standard is that the panel believes the 11 plant can be operated safely in the future. To that 12 end, the panel will stay in existence for a 13 significant period of time after restart to continue 14 monitoring the plant and performance at the plant and 15 make sure that, in fact, a decision that was reached 16 by the panel was a correct one and the plant is not 17 only restarted safely, but continues to operate 18 safely, and we will continue to have periodic public 19 meetings, as we are today, continuing through restart 20 and well after restart.

21 MS. LIPA: Okay. Does anybody 22 else have any questions or comments for us?

23 MR. KING: My name is John King, 24 and Im a retiree from Davis-Besse -- well, 25 FirstEnergy, and I took the buy-out program a few MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

13 1 years back, and I got enough money I could go 2 anywhere in this world and live, and I choose to live 3 here because this is one of the safest places I can 4 ever think of. I work in many industries, and there 5 is nothing -- no place I have ever been thats safer 6 than that place right over there, and I commend all 7 of the people who work there because they have looked 8 out after me, and all these other individuals to make 9 sure I did a safe job, always coming forward, saying, 10 hey, look what youre doing here, and the same for 11 me, I look after everybody else. That was the 12 culture that I have grown up with, with these people, 13 and now, Im retired, I still believe that everybody 14 does their best, and -- or I wouldnt live here. My 15 wife wouldnt live here either, so -- and I still --

16 Im working right now as a contractor, and theres 17 many opportunities to go other places, but I choose 18 to be here because I know this place is safe. Thank 19 you.

20 MS. LIPA: Okay.

21 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

22 MS. LIPA: Thank you for your 23 comments, John. Ready?

24 MS. PARK: Yes. Gentlemen, my 25 name is Virginia Park. Im the Ottawa County MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

14 1 Recorder. Im a Trustee in Bay Township, and Im a 2 freelance writer. In my spare time, I spend a lot 3 of my energies working on job creation, and, more 4 specifically, in marketing endeavors that surround 5 job creation.

6 Ive been reading, as nearly everybody in our 7 community has, about this pressure vessel head and 8 its deterioration, the repairs that have been made to 9 it, the status of the plant, the hearings, the 10 innumerable it seems, hearings, and, finally, I just 11 told myself that it was time for me to take a public 12 stance, and that stance is that its time to restart 13 the plant, get it back on-line, start producing 14 energy and put this whole incident where it 15 belongs -- firmly in the annuls of history.

16 Im a lifelong resident of Ottawa County, 17 which means that Ive spent all of my adult life 18 here. Im aware of whats happening in the 19 community, perhaps better than some, and I know 20 whats good in the community and whats not so good.

21 Davis-Besse weighs in loud and clear on the good 22 side. Theyve been a good neighbor. Theyve been a 23 good employer. Theyve operated safely and 24 efficiently. Over the years, theyve employed 25 thousands of people, and, even today, they remain our MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

15 1 largest employer and our largest taxpayer.

2 As County Recorder, I see firsthand all that 3 takes place in Ottawa County in the way of 4 development. When subdivisions are developed, when 5 houses are built, when houses are transferred, that 6 means that people here are working and making enough 7 money to afford those nice homes, and they certainly 8 have them. Ive heard it said that for every 9 industrial job, seven or parts of seven other jobs 10 are created, and if that is true, then we must 11 certainly thank Davis-Besse for at least a portion of 12 nearly 6,000 jobs in Ottawa County and the 13 surrounding areas.

14 For me and for many others like me, this is a 15 question of economics, and the bottom line is, 16 frankly, this is a no-brainer. Lets put the plant 17 back on-line. Lets get on with the business of 18 doing good business in Ottawa County. Thank you.

19 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

20 MS. LIPA: Thank you for your 21 comments.

22 MR. GROBE: Just an observation or 23 two. Our business is safety, and just to make sure 24 its clear, the plant wont be permitted to restart 25 until were confident that it can restart safely, and MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

16 1 as you can see on those charts on the wall over 2 there, those depict work completed and work yet to be 3 done, and there still is yet a significant amount of 4 work thats yet to be done before restart of the 5 plant would be appropriate, and Davis-Besse continues 6 to make good progress in all areas of the plant and 7 our inspections continue to show that the work that 8 theyre doing is in good shape. Well continue to 9 inspect as they complete work, and as they get ready 10 for restart, but the plant wont be restarted until 11 were convinced it can be done safely.

12 MS. LIPA: Anybody else have 13 comments or questions for us?

14 MR. CUFF: My name is Jeff Cuff.

15 Im an Operations Senior Reactor Operator at the 16 plant and was asked on the way out -- or on the way 17 in as a news anchor or a news person was on their way 18 out why I was coming here, and Im coming here 19 because I want people to understand that employees of 20 this plant, many of them not here today because 21 theyre taking a well needed weeks vacation in 22 preparation for the final pull to restart, but I want 23 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that as 24 representative of operations, I also support the safe 25 restart of our plant, and I am working as I can as a MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

17 1 manager to promote to my people the safety culture 2 that they can without fear of any reprisals 3 whatsoever bring issues up to myself and to our 4 senior management team and to have those issues 5 adequately addressed and resolved, and if I dont 6 stand up at this microphone and tell you that Im 7 here to support the safe restart of this plant and 8 nothing else, but that, youll never know that, and 9 thats why Im here today, and thats why Im here 10 every month. Thank you.

11 MS. LIPA: Thank you.

12 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

13 MR. HIRT: Dave Hirt, Danbury 14 Township Trustee. Id like to applaud the progress 15 thats been made so far and note that weve come a 16 long way from way back when this first occurred, and 17 its interesting to note a lot of the changes that 18 have been made, positive changes, safe changes, 19 changes in safety culture, changes in machinery.

20 Theres been a lot of good things done for the plant, 21 for the community, and for the structure of the 22 people here. Theres been a lot of hard work and 23 effort put into this by people from all around, on 24 the public sector, on the Governmental sector.

25 Theres been a lot from the State level, from the --

MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

18 1 both from State, federal and local levels of 2 Government all have been involved with the Restart 3 Committees and things to get things restarted for 4 Davis-Besse. Theres been a lot of hard work put 5 forth. I would like to thank all of the people --

6 all of you people today who have been instrumental 7 and well involved in that, but I would like to 8 applaud the progress that has been made and the 9 changes that have been noted, changes in safety 10 culture, changes in the hardware, changes in people.

11 All of it has been positive -- all of it has been 12 positive. Please continue with the order of your 13 progress for the restart of Davis-Besse. Youve 14 been very diligent and bearing much public comment on 15 all sides of this. Just, please continue, but were 16 geared for the restart of the plant, and we support 17 towards that direction. Thank you.

18 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

19 MS. LIPA: Thanks for your comments.

20 I did want to just clarify a little bit. I think 21 Jack went into this a little bit earlier, that the 22 Utility continues to correct things that need to be 23 corrected, and then the NRC is ready. We have our 24 Restart Checklist. We have numerous things that 25 were waiting for, a certain amount of completion on MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

19 1 the Utilitys part before we go in and make our 2 independent inspection and make a determination on 3 whether that Restart Checklist item is ready to be 4 closed, so were not actually doing anything to speed 5 along restart or anything like you might have 6 thought. I wanted to make sure you understood that 7 were the regulator, and were when the Utility is 8 ready for us to come in and inspect. Well be there, 9 and well make our assessment.

10 Anybody else have any comments or questions 11 for us?

12 MR. WARREN: Good evening. My name 13 is Richard Warren. Im a business owner here in the 14 County, a property owner, and, again, I want to 15 commend the NRC for everything thats being done. I 16 feel that safety is very important.

17 I want to just reiterate what Virginia said.

18 There are six to seven people that are not working in 19 the plant that are affected by every employee out 20 there, and as a financial advisor in the area, I feel 21 that, you know, everything that is done is for the 22 positive of all the communities in the area -- three, 23 four, five counties around. I feel that people 24 would not work here or live here if they didnt feel 25 it was safe. I heard a gentleman say he feels its MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

20 1 one of the safest places around. I agree with him, 2 and I want to reiterate, I have been looking forward 3 to the plant being opened, running safely and 4 efficiently like it was in the past and have many 5 more years of good operation. Thank you.

6 MS. LIPA: Thank you.

7 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

8 MR. REUTER: Im Jack Reuter. I 9 live in Toledo. I have worked out at Davis-Besse 10 since 86, end of 86. Ive seen a lot of changes 11 out there over the many years I have worked. I have 12 seen it go from an F86 to the last big shutdown to 13 No. 1 plant in the country -- well, very high to 14 down, again, to where it wasnt getting ample one 15 ratings. A lot of the reason was because they went 16 from an attitude that we can be the best to just 17 within the regulation boundaries is good enough, and 18 now Im seeing that change back to just inside the 19 regulations is not good enough. I have seen a 20 safety culture change in the last half a year or so.

21 Its gone from that to start. I work in radiation 22 protection. We have been short of manpower for a 23 long time, and its not because they havent been 24 trying to get manpower, its just the whole industry 25 as a whole is short of radiation protection MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

21 1 technologist. Im in the Union, and I am a tech and 2 that, so I feel a lot of the struggle to try, but at 3 the start of the outage, we were short of techs then, 4 but yet work was pushed on to continue. Now, I see 5 were short of techs. We have worked with the work 6 support center and see which jobs we can work, which 7 ones are most important and the rest stop.

8 Just recently, there was a condition that we 9 thought needed to be stopped, the work stopped, and 10 the work stopped. There is no questions other than 11 why. We explained the reasons, they agreed, and the 12 work stopped. We corrected what we found, and the 13 work then continued. There is a lot more control, 14 and the thing I guess I really want to add is the 15 workers have a lot more input. Start -- at the very 16 start of the outage, there was a schedule thats what 17 we worked to. Now, the workers have input, and we 18 tell them what we can do, what we cant do. They 19 listen. Now, thus being controlling where they were 20 before. They are in oversight mode, and, yeah, they 21 prod us along and encourage us to do a little more, 22 but thats what any good oversight would do or vice 23 versa, if they see thats not correct, they counsel 24 us and let us know that there is a safer way to do 25 it, and we do it that way.

MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

22 1 One of the big things I have seen is this 2 nuclear operating procedure on decision making, which 3 hadnt been there before. Its kind of like Randy 4 Fast says, we have to go slow to go slow to go fast 5 because out of that procedure we usually find the 6 right decision that is definitely safe, and in the 7 long run we only have to do it once and thats very 8 important to me because rework means more dose 9 because its more time in the area. I dont like 10 getting extra doses. Weve got way too much already 11 and that. Ive always thought the plant was safe.

12 Now, I say that because there was additional 13 protection. Was the head bad? Yes, the head was 14 bad, but yet I think the plant was safe, and the 15 question comes up, will we ever get back, will we 16 ever go back to just saying as long as were inside 17 the regulations, thats good enough. I dont see 18 that. I see managements different commitment and 19 understanding of what can happen if you just stay 20 within the regulations and not stay as good as you 21 reasonably can, like a LARS ALARA -- you have to be as good 22 as you reasonably can. Thank you.

23 MS. LIPA: Thank you for your 24 comments.

25 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

23 1 MR. KOEBEL: My name is Carl Koebel, 2 Ottawa County Commissioner. Thanks to Rush 3 Limbaugh, the words ditto cover up a lot of what I 4 want to say, but there is one thing that has struck 5 me as I sat back here tonight. As I remember the 6 first meeting at the Oak Harbor High School, we were 7 talking about the replacement of the reactor head at 8 Davis-Besse and a good power plant, and it seemed at 9 that time that that was the goal, and if we look at 10 whats happened since then, as we heard today weve 11 seen an overhaul of a nuclear side of the power 12 plant. But, more importantly, weve seen the 13 development of a safety conscious work force that 14 came from the top down that allows the bottom to 15 speak up, and I think thats very important, and it 16 says a lot about both sides, the management and the 17 employees, and encourage NRC to continue working with 18 them and with us to see that Davis-Besse is started 19 as soon as possible. Thank you.

20 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

21 MS. LIPA: Thank you, Carl.

22 Anybody else have comments or questions for 23 us?

24 MR. OPFER: Members of the panel, 25 my name is Darrell Opfer. Im Director of the Ottawa MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

24 1 County Improvement Corporation. I was waiting for 2 our President who is coming tonight to present a 3 resolution in support of the restart of the 4 Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant. In his absence, 5 Ill read just a couple of the items that we passed 6 at our last Board meeting.

7 Whereas the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station 8 has operated safely since opening on August 12th, 9 1977 with no member of the public or plant employee 10 having received a radiation related injury and with 11 no increase in background radiation, and whereas 12 Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station employees have 13 worked more than 7.6 million hours without a lost 14 time industrial accident and the Davis-Besse plant 15 has consistently been rated in the top 25% of U. S.

16 Plants for nuclear safety, and whereas the 17 Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station has cooperated 18 fully with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 19 reporting, investigating, and developing a root cause 20 report on the nuclear pressure vessel head 21 degradation found in March of 2002, and whereas the 22 management of the FirstEnergy Company and the workers 23 at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station have 24 cooperated fully with the NRC, Davis-Besse Oversight 25 Panel, and demonstrated their restart readiness by MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

25 1 developing a unique safety culture assessment, 2 establishing a safety conscious work environment, 3 creating and implementing a corrective action 4 program, improving leadership competencies, problem 5 solving and decision making and instituting a 6 technically competent management team, and whereas 7 plant workers, operators and managers have worked 8 extremely hard to develop and then learn from a root 9 cause report to determine the proper solution and --

10 and determine replacement of the vessel head and have 11 modified the containment sump and strainer system, 12 have inspected and repaired plant safety systems 13 inside and outside containment. They have also 14 demonstrated their dedication in bringing the plant 15 back on-line through continued hard work fostering a 16 more safety conscious environment, resolving all 17 licensing issues with the NRC and readiness to 18 restart the plant.

19 Now, therefore, the Board of Trustees of the 20 Ottawa County Improvement Corporation supports the 21 hard work, diligence and the dedication of 22 Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station workers and company 23 managers to understand the problems which led to the 24 degradation of the reactor vessel head to address all 25 technical issues involving the vessel head MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

26 1 replacement and other reactor components, to 2 demonstrate appropriate safety focus and readiness to 3 restart the plant and operate it safely during the 4 remaining years under the current license and even in 5 years beyond. This resolution was adopted by the 6 Board of Trustees, 25 members of the Ottawa County 7 community, leaders and business owners, as well as a 8 number of associates or folks that are interested in 9 the economic development of Ottawa County.

10 As other folks have said, we appreciate your 11 willingness to serve on this panel, and, 12 particularly, to reiterate the interest of the County 13 in continuing to be involved in working with the 14 management of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station 15 to assure the continued safe operation of the plant, 16 and we thank you very much for the opportunity.

17 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.

18 MS. LIPA: Okay, thank you very 19 much.

20 Do we have any other comments or questions?

21 Its open to anybody. It doesnt have just to be 22 local public.

23 (NO RESPONSE).

24 MS. LIPA: Okay, well, if youre 25 sure.

MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

27 1 Okay, well, well be available if anybody has 2 any questions, they want to come talk to us after the 3 meeting. Thanks a lot for coming.

4 MR. GROBE: Thank you.

5 MS. LIPA: The next meeting is 6 May 6th.

7 8

9 THEREUPON, the hearing was adjourned.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900

28 1 CERTIFICATE 2 STATE OF OHIO )

) ss.

3 COUNTY OF HURON )

4 I, Marlene S. Rogers-Lewis, Stenotype Reporter 5 and Notary Public within and for the State aforesaid, duly commissioned and qualified, do hereby certify 6 that the foregoing, consisting of 27 pages, was taken by me in stenotype and was reduced to writing by me 7 by means of Computer-Aided Transcription; that the foregoing is a true and complete transcript of the 8 proceedings held in that room on the 15th day of April, 2003 before the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory 9 Commission.

I also further certify that I was present in 10 the room during all of the proceedings.

11 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand 12 and seal of office at Wakeman, Ohio this day of

, 2003.

13 14 15 Marlene S. Rogers-Lewis Notary Public 16 3922 Court Road Wakeman, OH 44889 17 My commission expires 4/29/04 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MARLENE S. ROGERS-LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900