ML032450532
| ML032450532 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Davis Besse  |
| Issue date: | 08/12/2003 |
| From: | NRC/RGN-III |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Download: ML032450532 (29) | |
Text
1 1
2 PUBLIC MEETING 3 Between U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 0350 Panel and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company 4
5 Meeting held on Tuesday, August 12, 2003, at 6 7:00 p.m. at Oak Harbor High School, Oak Harbor, Ohio, taken by me, Marlene S. Lewis, Stenotype 7 Reporter and Notary Public in and for the State of Ohio.
8 9
10 PANEL MEMBERS PRESENT:
11 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 12 John (Jack) Grobe, Chairman for 0350 Panel Davis-Besse facility 13 Christine Lipa, Branch Chief, NRC 14 William Ruland, Vice Chairman, MC 0350 Panel 15 Scott Thomas, Senior Resident Inspector 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
2 1 MS. LIPA: Okay, were just about 2 ready to get started. Okay, well, good evening, 3 everyone. This is the public meeting for the NRC 4 Davis-Besse Oversight Panel, and what we want to do 5 is recap what we discussed today during the business 6 meeting that we held from two until about six, I 7 think, summarize that meeting for you, and then open 8 it up for public comments and questions from 9 everybody, so -- there was a handout, and I 10 understand we ran out of the handout, but really the 11 agenda, if I can find it here, is simply to discuss 12 what we discovered in the afternoon session and 13 really just to inform anybody whos interested in the 14 NRC activities and answer any questions that you 15 have, so well go ahead and introduce some folks up 16 here first, and then well go into a summary. Scott 17 Thomas is the Senior Resident at the Davis-Besse 18 facility.
19 MR. THOMAS: (Indicating).
20 MS. LIPA: Bill Ruland is from 21 the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. Hes the 22 Vice Chairman of the panel.
23 Jack Grobe is the Chairman of the Panel.
24 MR. GROBE: (Indicating).
25 MS. LIPA: Hes the Senior MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
3 1 Manager in the Region III office.
2 I forgot to introduce myself. Im Christine 3 Lipa. Im a Branch Chief in the Region.
4 We also have Jack Rutkowski, the Resident 5 Inspector at the Davis-Besse facility.
6 MR. RUTKOWSKI: (Indicating).
7 MS. LIPA: Jon Hopkins --
8 MR. HOPKINS: (Indicating).
9 MS. LIPA: -- the NRR Project 10 Manager. Hes located out of headquarters.
11 We have Roland Lickus. Hes our State and 12 Government Affairs person.
13 MR. LICKUS: (Indicating).
14 MS. LIPA: And then Jan 15 Strasma --
16 MR. STRASMA: (Indicating).
17 MS. LIPA: -- is Public Affairs.
18 Nancy Keller was in the foyer handing out the 19 handouts, and shes the site secretary at the 20 Davis-Besse resident office. I think thats about it 21 for NRC, so Ill go ahead and turn it over to Scott 22 Thomas and hell summarize what we covered in the 23 2:00 meeting.
24 MR. THOMAS: Okay, briefly the 25 licensee updated their progress toward resolution of MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
4 1 the high pressure injection pump design issue.
2 These actions included the completion of the testing 3 for the internal spring and bearing design, the 4 replacement of the existing hydrostatic bearing with 5 a bearing of a more robust design and hard face vital 6 internal components to improve the pump performance 7 and their adverse conditions.
8 The licensees also updated the status of 9 their ETAP, which stands for Electrical Transient 10 Analysis Program. This evaluation is basically an 11 evaluation of how their electrical distribution 12 system is operating.
13 They talked about plant readiness for Modes 3 14 and 4 and the operation start-up plan. This 15 discussion focused on how they will successfully 16 conduct required post-maintenance and modifications 17 testing and how they will conduct the plant start-up 18 safely and event-free.
19 The licensee also outlined their restart 20 milestones through the normal operating pressure 21 test. These included transitioning from the Return 22 to Service Plan to normal -- a normal type operating 23 status, install high pressure injection pumps, 24 complete the remaining work required to support 25 transitioning to Mode 3 and 4, and to perform the MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
5 1 seven day Full Pressure Test and evaluate the 2 results.
3 The licensee discussed the results of their 4 recent safety culture assessment and readiness 5 evaluation and focus for Modes 3 and 4. The results 6 in the three major areas were white in the Individual 7 Commitment Area; yellow for Plant Management 8 Commitment Area; and white for the Policy or 9 Corporate Level Area -- excuse me, Commitment area.
10 Lastly, the quality assessment organization 11 updated their efforts in the following areas of 12 station readiness, quality assessment, organizational 13 readiness and plant oversight activities.
14 And the meeting conclude with a brief video 15 of things that the licensee has accomplished to date, 16 so --
17 MS. LIPA: Okay, thanks, Scott.
18 I wanted to cover that there is a few handouts that 19 were in the foyer when you came in. The thickest 20 packet was the Davis-Besse licensee handout that they 21 used, so that will give you a sense of some more 22 detail of some of the things we covered.
23 Also we have this thing called NRC Update, 24 and thats a monthly newsletter that the NRC has been 25 putting out for about a year now, and in this packet MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
6 1 it has background information, current information.
2 It also has a way you can reach our Public Affairs 3 folks, phone number, web site information, E-mail 4 information, and then on Page 4 is the Restart 5 Checklist, and we spent a lot of time at the public 6 meeting at 2:00 today going over the Restart 7 Checklist, the status of the items that are open and 8 what the NRC has planned to review those areas before 9 we make a decision on closing these Restart Checklist 10 items.
11 Also in the foyer was a public meeting 12 feedback form that you can use to provide information 13 to us on how this meeting went. Of course, you can 14 always provide your comments to us at the podium or 15 come up and talk to us after if anybody has any 16 comments or questions, so thats it for a summary of 17 what we did during the afternoon meeting, and what 18 Id like to do now is open it up for public comments 19 and questions. What we like to do is have people 20 come up to the podium, sign your name on the sheet, 21 speak your name for the transcriber and ask your 22 question. Id like to point out this meeting is 23 being transcribed by Marlene, and all these meetings 24 have been transcribed and those transcriptions are 25 available on our web site, so what wed like to do is MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
7 1 start with local members of the public first or 2 public officials and -- comments or questions, limit 3 your time to five minutes, please, and does anybody 4 have a comment or question for us?
5 MR. ATWATER: See if this works --
6 okay, my name is Alan Atwater, and Im not part of 7 any organization, Im just a local resident. I am 8 24 years young. I work as a machine operator and a 9 part-time farmer in Oak Harbor. I have been a 10 resident since 1979. I would like to thank the NRC 11 for getting involved with the corrosion of 12 Davis-Besses reactor vessel head.
13 Also, I want to thank and commend the 14 workers, staff and contractors at the Davis-Besse 15 facility by discovering this problem and correcting 16 it. By no means was this an expectable condition; 17 however, I am aware that this was within the safety 18 perimeters of the facility.
19 I hope that the Ohio Citizen Group will 20 totally understand that nuclear power is the greatest 21 thing to come forth.
22 I hope everyone that is against my backyard 23 monument had a cold burner, fuel burner, wood burner, 24 refinery or lack of electricity in their backyard.
25 I thank FirstEnergy for the use of the 0%
MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
8 1 emissions fuel and for the largest area of marshland 2 in Ottawa County that you preserve.
3 I also wanted to state that Amy Ryder only 4 received 450 letters from Northern Ohio residents 5 while asking for the plant to be permanently shut 6 down. How many of these 450 people are my neighbors 7 living within 10 miles of the plant? Who sponsors 8 the Ohio Citizens Group? Do my taxes pay for anyone 9 working for this committee or organization? I 10 believe that 800 people work at Davis-Besse. Do we 11 want to lose 800 more jobs in Ottawa County? This 12 committee should support the NRC and FirstEnergy on 13 being confident that Davis-Besse will continue to 14 operate like it did since 1979 -- or 76. Thank 15 you.
16 MS. LIPA: Thank you for your 17 comments, Alan.
18 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.
19 MS. LIPA: I think you asked a 20 couple questions about Ohio Citizens Action Network.
21 I dont really know too much about them as far as tax 22 dollars and whatnot, but we have received a lot of 23 letters, more than the 400, we received even more and 24 we do plan to respond to those letters.
25 Does anybody else have any comments or MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
9 1 questions for us?
2 MR. GATTER: Hi, my name is Shane 3 Gatter. Im a resident of Oak Harbor and an 4 employee of Davis-Besse. I work in the Corrective 5 Action Program.
6 As a Davis-Besse employee and a resident of 7 Oak Harbor, I have attended many of these meetings 8 and last month I realize my neighbors do not know 9 whats happening at Davis-Besse; therefore, they must 10 rely on the media and which from the perspective of 11 someone who does know whats happening on the inside 12 is less than desirable.
13 Davis-Besse tries to inform the public whats 14 happened once a month at these meetings, but is 15 usually taken as defensive and not informative. Im 16 also to blame. I have not approached my neighbors 17 to relay information and to thank them for their 18 support. Also what my neighbors dont understand 19 and what was apparent in last months questions and 20 comments is the safety culture work environment at 21 Davis-Besse. I only have been at Davis-Besse for 22 the past 11 months, so I cannot speak to what it was 23 like prior to the extended outage, but I have seen a 24 changing of environment since my stay here.
25 I would also like to take this time to be MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
10 1 informative and be the eyes for my neighbors. When 2 I look at safety conscious work environment, I first 3 see the definition -- an environment in which 4 personnel are encouraged to identify, are confident 5 that problems will be effectively evaluated and 6 corrected, and are protected from any form of 7 retaliation as a result of having raised issues, a 8 safety culture goes hand in hand. The assembly of 9 characteristics and attributes in organizations and 10 individuals which established an overriding priority 11 to nuclear safety activities and ensures the issues 12 receive the attention warranted by their 13 significance.
14 Now, that -- that can be a mouthful and when 15 I first seen this, I thought, why are they telling me 16 this, shouldnt it -- doesnt everyone already live 17 by these definitions? If they did, we probably 18 wouldnt be here today talking about it. This is 19 not a test and we need -- we do not need to remember 20 this verbatim, this is the lifestyle we should all 21 live by. I have seen progress with the 22 establishment of a safety conscious work environment 23 colors and the four Cs meetings and just by the 24 employees who live by that definition is above.
25 Again, this is something that has to be witnessed and MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
11 1 not read in the paper. From what I could gather 2 there were two ways of reporting issues prior to the 3 13th, the refueling outage. One was through the 4 corrective -- condition report process and the other 5 was directly reporting to the NRC. Now, we have the 6 four pillars and graphics are hanging around the 7 plant as a constant reminder to employees.
8 The four pillars are report the issue to 9 management without fear of retaliation; the condition 10 report process; the employee concerns program; and 11 the safety conscious work environment review team.
12 As an employee, an employee is allowed -- Im sorry, 13 encouraged using any and all of these at any time.
14 The employee concerns program even loves 15 confidentiality. To re-enforce the use of the 16 condition report process, employees are recognized 17 for addressing issues through a good catch program.
18 This program is currently evolving to include 19 employee of the month and many other related programs 20 that identify issues around the plant. This process 21 will be influenced by all levels of management and 22 all stages of the condition report process. Along 23 with the safety conscious work environment, Mr. Myers 24 and -- Mr. Myers has established the four Cs 25 meetings, compliments, communications, concerns and MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
12 1 changes. Two meetings with a small group of 2 employees are held, the first meeting allowing the 3 small group of employees to establish questions they 4 would like to ask Mr. Myers or Mr. Bezilla, and the 5 second meeting allowing Mr. Myers or Mr. Bezilla to 6 address those questions and allow the employees to 7 meet with them face-to-face. I think this -- the 8 four Cs meeting was a wonderful idea because I like 9 to talk to my COO or my VP face-to-face, and I know 10 that my issues and questions are directly -- are 11 directly getting to him. Thank you.
12 MS. LIPA: Thank you, Shane.
13 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.
14 MS. LIPA: I appreciate your 15 comments and, you know, one of the reasons that we 16 have the public meetings every month is to try to 17 reach as many people that are interested in 18 understanding the NRCs role in regulating the 19 Davis-Besse plant, so were trying to reach out to 20 folks, too, and I think the news coverage, theres 21 been a lot of it and its been pretty good, it might 22 be hard for somebody to understand the whole story, 23 though, just by reading whats in the paper, thats 24 why the newsletters we put out try to explain more 25 about what were doing, and hopefully everybody can MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
13 1 understand. Thank you. Hi.
2 MR. HOOK: Hi. Good evening. My 3 name is John Hook, and Im the Supervisor in Design 4 Engineering Structural Mechanics Unit. I have 5 worked at Davis-Besse in Design Engineering for over 6 16 years.
7 In my capacity, I have reviewed hundreds of 8 condition reports, but tonight I would like to share 9 with you a recent example that occurred in my unit.
10 Last week one of my engineers had a question from the 11 field concerning the installation of a water tight 12 seal used in the containment.
13 Upon further investigation of this issue, it 14 was identified that the documentation for the water 15 tight seal did not support the application, and a 16 condition report was identified and written. There 17 were several items associated with this condition 18 report and is typical of many other condition reports 19 that I have reviewed that I would like to share with 20 you tonight. It represents a strong safety culture, 21 which is our primary responsibility. It displays a 22 strong questioning attitude which is a need to 23 understand our design basis. It is very 24 self-critical of our work. It has the potential to 25 adversely affect the Mode 4 restart schedule.
MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
14 1 Schedule pressures do not deter the individual from 2 identifying this condition. There is a focus on 3 resolving this issue and not on the messenger. We 4 are working together to resolve this issue in a 5 timely fashion.
6 I would like for you to know that the 7 condition report process is working and that it is 8 being used by the employees to identify and resolve 9 issues at Davis-Besse. I am particularly proud of 10 the fact that even though we have been in a long 11 outage, we are not afraid to raise questions even 12 though they could impact the restart at the very end.
13 This is another example of the strong safety culture 14 at Davis-Besse and why our plant will be a lot safer 15 when we start up. Thank you.
16 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.
17 MS. LIPA: Thank you for your 18 comments, John.
19 Anybody else have any questions or comments 20 for us?
21 MR. WITT: Im Jere Witt, Im 22 County Administrator, also a member of the Restart 23 Overview Panel and also a member of the Company 24 Nuclear Review Board. I just want everyone to 25 understand that this process, as my boss, Mr. Arndt, MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
15 1 explained in the afternoon meeting, is what I believe 2 to be a good one. I have watched it for the past 3 almost year and a half now. I think that the NRC is 4 doing the right things and asking the right 5 questions, and I believe that the utility is giving 6 honest answers.
7 I think theres a lot of processes that have 8 been put in place through this that will be the 9 industry standard in the future, and I truly believe 10 that when we reach that point, which we arent at 11 today, but when we reach that point of recommending 12 the restart of the plant, that I can say I did that 13 knowing that it would be safe, which is our foremost 14 concern and foremost concern of the County residents, 15 and we will not only feel that way at that point in 16 time, but the County will stay involved as part of 17 that Company Nuclear Review Board and also stay 18 involved with some requests that we have made of the 19 NRC to make sure were informed and this type of 20 thing never happens again. Thank you.
21 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.
22 MS. LIPA: Thank you, Jere.
23 Anybody else?
24 MR. OPFER: My name is Darrell 25 Opfer. I live within the 10 mile EPZ of the plant, MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
16 1 former County Commissioner and former State 2 Representative, currently Director of the Ottawa 3 County Improvement Corporation.
4 I was mailed a message this past Saturday, 5 which I would like to enter into the record. The 6 letter indicates it is from Ken Benjamin.
7 Hello, Darrell, 8 Please add our name to the list of local 9 people and companies who approve the start-up of 10 Davis-Besse as soon as possible.
11 We believe the commitment made to not only 12 correct past unknown problems, but also upgrade to 13 the latest technology safety standards will serve 14 this area for years to come.
15 No one wants the nuclear industry to fail, 16 except those without vision of future long-term 17 electrical requirements.
18 Power Generation, like so many modern 19 inventions, are a work in progress and not without 20 risk.
21 On the 100th Anniversary of Flight, many 22 prominent people of that period tried to convince 23 both the Wright brothers and the general public 24 powered manned flight was both unsafe, impractical, 25 and, frankly, impossible, and that was just 100 years MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
17 1 ago.
2 Do I need to remind anyone that since 1903 we 3 have a manned space station circling earth and have 4 been to the moon?
5 We vote in the strongest terms to get on with 6 the start-up program at the nearby Davis-Besse Power 7 Generation Plant.
8 Respectfully submitted, Ken Benjamin, 9 President, the Benjamin Company located in 10 Put-in-Bay, Ohio and currently President of the 11 Erie/Ottawa Airport Authority.
12 Thank you very much for having the 13 opportunity to have this read into the record.
14 MS. LIPA: Thank you.
15 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.
16 MS. LIPA: Anybody else have any 17 comments or questions for us?
18 MR. DUSSEL: Hi, my name is Tim 19 Dussel, Im a local resident, and I would like to 20 know if the NRC has said anything to the local public 21 on this valve in the hydrogen detection equipment, 22 why there hasnt been anymore said what was going on, 23 what its purpose is?
24 MS. LIPA: Okay. Scott, do you 25 want to answer that? There was an LER on that topic.
MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
18 1 MR. THOMAS: Okay, these valves 2 were, it appears that these valves were part of 3 original construction, they have been -- these valves 4 isolate cooling water through a heat exchanger in the 5 gas analyzer. Apparently they have been shut since 6 original construction. What that does is it renders 7 the -- the heat exchanger obviously inoperable. What 8 the function of a heat exchanger is, its function is 9 it cools air coming from -- or air that has a high 10 vapor content coming from containment in the 11 post-accident condition. It cools it so the gas 12 analyzer can perform its function, so the impact of 13 not having the heat exchanger would be that the 14 analyzer wouldnt provide an accurate reading.
15 Did that answer your question?
16 MR. DUSSEL: Yes, somewhat, but I 17 dont understand why, you know, the news media kind 18 of gets beat up because they say that information is 19 given -- I dont understand why the NRC or 20 FirstEnergy hasnt let the public know a little more 21 on whats going on with this. They knew about it at 22 the last meeting and nothing was ever brought up 23 about it.
24 MS. LIPA: Okay, well, what -- I 25 guess what I would like to say about that is we have MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
19 1 a regulation in 10CFR50.73 that requires for certain 2 conditions that the utility finds, they need to 3 submit these written reports, and this is one of 4 those, and its a 60 day report, so they sent that 5 report in, and there have been others. They are 6 called Licensee Event Reports. This particular one 7 came in and like all the Licensee Event Reports that 8 we get in, we do an assessment of the current 9 condition and we do -- this system is not needed for 10 the mode that the plant is in now, so then we know 11 that before they restart, they have to come up with a 12 plan to resolve the problem -- they are going to 13 solve the problem going forward, and also we do an 14 assessment of the risk significance in the as found 15 condition for how significant that was looking back, 16 and so we do have plans like we do with all Licensee 17 Event Reports to do an inspection of it, to do an 18 assessment of the as found risk significance and to 19 check what corrective actions the utility is planning 20 to correct the condition, so we dont necessarily 21 talk about every single one. Its not that we, you 22 know, if we knew that it was of interest, we would.
23 I mean, thats what we try to do in preparing for 24 each of our monthly meetings. Its whats happened 25 recently that might be important to folks, so this MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
20 1 one was of interest to you, and we just didnt have 2 -- discuss that.
3 MR. DUSSEL: It seems to me that 4 valves thats been left closed since the plant has 5 been opened, I just wonder what kind of inspections 6 and other valves have been left closed and have not 7 been opened? Theres got to be thousands and 8 thousands and thousands of valves and to go since 77 9 and not know they dont work is pretty frightening.
10 Thank you.
11 MR. GROBE: I would just like to 12 add a comment or two to what Christine said and the 13 questions youve asked are very good ones, and they 14 are questions that the utility is asking themselves 15 and we will be looking at in following up on in this 16 Licensee Event Report. Two things to add.
17 This issue is not uniquely significant, and 18 one of the reasons for that is the lack of cooling, 19 this cooling that Scott described for the gas thats 20 going into the hydrogen analyzer. The loss of 21 cooling would cause the instrument to over respond, 22 so the operators, while it wouldnt be an accurate 23 response, the operators would have information that 24 would cause them to go check something out if, in 25 fact, the situation existed in an accident condition, MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
21 1 so it would not be a situation where a function was 2 lost and the operators wouldnt have the information 3 they needed. It would be a situation where the 4 instrument would over respond and indicate that there 5 was hydrogen present in greater concentrations than 6 actually may have existed inside containment. In 7 that kind of a situation, the operators have other 8 means to sample the containment atmosphere which they 9 would have pursued.
10 MR. THOMAS: Just one other thing 11 is that this issue didnt impact the actual 12 mitigation equipment. It just impacted their 13 ability to analyze the functionality of the hydrogen 14 analyzer, so they still have the mitigation equipment 15 available, it was just the loss of the analyzer that 16 this impacted.
17 MS. LIPA: Okay. Thank you.
18 Anybody else have any questions for us?
19 MR. RODER: My name is Mike Roder, 20 Im the Operations Manager at Davis-Besse. I have 21 been a lifelong resident of Ottawa County. I also 22 became Operations Manager a little over a year ago in 23 June of 2002. I genuinely care about the local 24 community. Im also raising my family here as I was 25 raised here. I assure you the Operations Department MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
22 1 and the rest at Davis-Besse have taken the lessons 2 learned from a reactor vessel head event and 3 internalized that event. We have worked hard to 4 make sure our standards and expectations are the best 5 practices in the industry. The Operations 6 Department and myself, and the rest of Davis-Besse, 7 recognize and fully accept the responsibility we have 8 not only to the company, to the NRC, but also to our 9 community.
10 I ask that the NRC and the community take 11 into consideration what Davis-Besse has done, and 12 what we are now doing and the positive changes we 13 have made and use that as they consider our decision 14 on restart. Thank you.
15 MS. LIPA: Thank you, Mike.
16 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.
17 MS. LIPA: Anybody else have any 18 comments or questions for us?
19 MRS. RODER: Im Peggy Roder, 20 neither of us knew the other one was going to talk 21 tonight, but I have a few comments coming from the 22 perspective of somebody thats been on the inside and 23 the outside sort of for the last 20 years married to 24 an operator.
25 I have been sitting -- I have been coming to MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
23 1 all of these meetings and listening to all the 2 comments that everybody has for and against, and one 3 of the things that isnt brought up very often is the 4 environmental impact. You know, the people that 5 dont want this plant to open up, I would think would 6 be the same ones that would be worried about the 7 environmental impact of the other forms of 8 electricity we have out there. As soon as 9 Davis-Besse opened, Toledo Edison was able to cut 10 back or even close some coal plants. Coal, of 11 course, that, you know, meant it was, they could --
12 the amount of pollutants is drastically reduced. I 13 have a perfect example of that because I live 14 straight across from the plant, so we get to see work 15 every day, and on certain days -- on a clear day you 16 look across and you see the plant putting out this 17 water vapor, white and pretty, just pure water vapor, 18 and over the top up in the air, the jet stream will 19 carry a band of yellow, ugly, horrible looking smoke 20 that comes from Monroe, Michigan that I can see going 21 right over the top of the water vapor, and I always 22 wondered why the environmentalists arent more 23 concerned about that than they are nuclear power.
24 Over the last several years -- 10 years ago 25 maybe when the economy was such that everyone was MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
24 1 cutting back, everyone was cutting back on 2 expenditures, cutting back, you know, laying off 3 people, there was fewer -- there was less capital 4 improvements and so forth and the whole theme was cut 5 back, cut back, and middle management was starting to 6 get very frustrated. They had to just prioritize 7 their work, do only what was totally necessary, and 8 cut back all the other stuff, and the staff -- they 9 were frustrated, too, because they were working with 10 inferior equipment, they became somewhat complacent 11 maybe in their work, that feeling of camaraderie and 12 almost a family feeling that was there at Davis-Besse 13 was no longer there, and that led us to February of 14 2002, then came in the new management team, and they 15 started to shift focus of what they do. It used to 16 be more like, okay, just push it along, and its 17 okay, we can get by with that, just keep going, and 18 that led us to where we got.
19 Now, its more of everything has to be right 20 the first time, if its not done right the first 21 time, you do it right the second time, and its got 22 to be done safely. Its a totally different 23 atmosphere. Its coming back to that. There was a 24 poor group -- a group of middle management, and so 25 forth that has been there all along that cares about MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
25 1 the plant that has been there forever. The families 2 live there. They work there, my goodness, they 3 wouldnt want to do anything thats going to impact 4 their own lives, by, you know, letting things go that 5 shouldnt be let go. I think that now theyre 6 starting to get excited because they see they can 7 talk to their management, they can -- theres money 8 being put in where it needs to be put in. Theyre 9 excited here -- its just a different feeling, and I 10 get this feedback on a nightly basis. I hear whats 11 going on. Even though I dont work there, I get 12 quite a bit of feedback, so I know the whole -- just 13 talking to several people, the whole atmosphere is 14 beginning to change.
15 I get a lot of people asking me, oh, gosh, 16 arent you worried living right across from 17 Davis-Besse like that? Im 12 miles as the crow 18 flies from it, just straight across east, so 19 prevailing winds would come right by my house, and I 20 just simply say, no, Im not worried. Thats what 21 the safety systems are for and they have always 22 worked. If one doesnt work, theres a back-up to 23 that and theres a back-up to that, and I know all 24 the different generators and all these things to back 25 it up, and because I know about it, Im not worried MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
26 1 about it, and, no, I dont have Potassium Iodine 2 pills, I just dont worry about it, so I think 3 everybody has learned a lot of lessons, the 4 management team and hopefully the NRC, too, 5 oversight, seeing this whole thing happened while 6 there were NRC inspectors on site why there werent 7 questions about the filter changes and all that 8 before, I dont know. I think everybody has learned 9 their lessons, and Im convinced its going to be a 10 safety long run now for Davis-Besse, and Im anxious 11 to get things moving. Thank you.
12 MS. LIPA: Thank you for your 13 comments.
14 THEREUPON, the audience applauded.
15 MS. LIPA: Anybody else have any 16 comments for us or questions? When we started, we 17 opened it up to local residents, but well open it up 18 to anybody who has a comment or a question for us.
19 (NO AUDIBLE RESPONSE).
20 MS. LIPA: Id like to point out 21 that next month our meeting will be on Wednesday for 22 a change. We had to do that for schedule reasons.
23 It will be September 10th back here at the same 24 facility, 2:00 business meeting and 7:00 meeting with 25 the public.
MARLENE S. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900
27 1 Anybody else have any comments or questions?
2 (NO AUDIBLE RESPONSE).
3 MS. LIPA: Okay, well, then, 4 thank you for coming. Good night.
5 6 THEREUPON, the meeting was adjourned.
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MARLENE S. 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. Lewis, Stenotype Reporter and 5 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 12th day of August, 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. 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. LEWIS & ASSOC. REPORTERS (419) 929-0505 (888) 799-3900