ML050140017
| ML050140017 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png |
| Issue date: | 01/26/2005 |
| From: | Dyer J Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Shadis R New England Coalition |
| Ennis R, NRR/DLPM, 415-1420 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML050180430 | List: |
| References | |
| 2.206, G20040831, TAC MC5371 | |
| Download: ML050140017 (36) | |
Text
January 26, 2005 Mr. Raymond Shadis Staff Technical Advisor New England Coalition Post Office Box 98 Edgecomb, ME 04556
Dear Mr. Shadis:
The petition from the New England Coalition (NEC) dated December 7, 2004, and addressed to Mr. Luis A. Reyes, Executive Director for Operations of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) has been referred to me pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 2.206 of the Commissions regulations. Your petition requested that the NRC take immediate and decisive action to address the degraded emergency notification system at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Vermont Yankee).
Specifically, the petition requested the NRC to order cold shutdown of Vermont Yankee, and/or take other such action to restore reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety, until Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
(the licensee) has provided a workable emergency warning or alert system and the NRC has verified its operability. The petition also included several other requests which are briefly summarized as follows:
(1) the NRC should undertake a review of all inspection findings and licensee documents related to emergency response and notification; (2) the licensee should be required to provide for an independent audit of the emergency response plan; and (3) certain improvements should be considered with respect to the emergency notification system related to use of alert radios.
As a basis for your request, your petition cited problems related to the operation and use of alert radios within the Vermont Yankee emergency planning zone.
The NRCs Petition Review Board (PRB) met on December 13, 2004, to discuss the request for immediate action to order cold shutdown of Vermont Yankee based on the status of the emergency notification system. NRC staff responsible for reviewing emergency preparedness issues also participated in this meeting. The PRB determined that based on a recently completed inspection of the Vermont Yankee emergency preparedness program, as documented in an inspection report dated November 12, 2004, the proposed immediate action was not necessary. As discussed in the inspection report, the NRC identified an apparent violation associated with emergency planning standard 10 CFR 50.47(b)(5) because the licensees method of distributing tone alert radios to members of the public outside of siren coverage was not meeting the intent of the design basis for the alert and notification system.
However, the report concluded that this preliminary finding does not present an immediate safety concern because the licensee has informed the towns to be prepared to do route alerting to ensure that those residents outside of siren coverage are notified in the event of an emergency.
R. Shadis Route alerting relies on emergency personnel from the affected towns notifying residents via public address systems on emergency vehicles. On December 13, 2004, following the PRB meeting, the NRC staff notified you that your request for immediate action was denied.
By teleconference on January 6, 2005, you, Mr. Edward Anthes, and Ms. Judy Davidson, provided information to the PRB as further explanation and support for the NEC petition. The transcript of this teleconference is enclosed.
On January 6, 2005, following the teleconference, the PRB reconvened to evaluate whether the NEC petition should be reviewed under the 10 CFR 2.206 process. Based on the PRBs recommendation, I have decided to accept your petition for review pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206.
Your petition is being reviewed by the Division of Licensing Project Management within the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. I have assigned Richard Ennis to be the petition manager for your petition. Mr. Ennis can be reached at 301-415-1420.
As provided by 10 CFR 2.206, we will take action on your request within a reasonable time.
For your information, I have enclosed a copy of the notice that is being filed with the Office of the Federal Register for publication regarding your petition. Additionally, I have enclosed a copy of Management Directive 8.11, Review Process for 10 CFR 2.206 Petitions, and the associated brochure NUREG/BR-0200, Public Petition Process, prepared by the NRC Office of Public Affairs.
Sincerely,
/RA/
J. E. Dyer, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-271
Enclosures:
- 1. Federal Register Notice
- 2. Transcript of January 6, 2005, teleconference
- 4. NUREG/BR-0200 cc w/encls: See next page
R. Shadis Route alerting relies on emergency personnel from the affected towns notifying residents via public address systems on emergency vehicles. On December 13, 2004, following the PRB meeting, the NRC staff notified you that your request for immediate action was denied.
By teleconference on January 6, 2005, you, Mr. Edward Anthes, and Ms. Judy Davidson, provided information to the PRB as further explanation and support for the NEC petition. The transcript of this teleconference is enclosed.
On January 6, 2005, following the teleconference, the PRB reconvened to evaluate whether the NEC petition should be reviewed under the 10 CFR 2.206 process. Based on the PRBs recommendation, I have decided to accept your petition for review pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206.
Your petition is being reviewed by the Division of Licensing Project Management within the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. I have assigned Richard Ennis to be the petition manager for your petition. Mr. Ennis can be reached at 301-415-1420.
As provided by 10 CFR 2.206, we will take action on your request within a reasonable time.
For your information, I have enclosed a copy of the notice that is being filed with the Office of the Federal Register for publication regarding your petition. Additionally, I have enclosed a copy of Management Directive 8.11, Review Process for 10 CFR 2.206 Petitions, and the associated brochure NUREG/BR-0200, Public Petition Process, prepared by the NRC Office of Public Affairs.
Sincerely,
/RA/
J. E. Dyer, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-271
Enclosures:
- 1. Federal Register Notice
- 2. Transcript of January 6, 2005, teleconference
- 4. NUREG/BR-0200 cc w/encls: See next page DISTRIBUTION: See next page Package: ML050180430 Incoming: ML043490156 Response and Enclosures 1 and 2: ML050140017 : ML041770328 : ML013600445 OFFICE PDI-2/PM PDI-2/LA PDI-2/SC PDI/D DLPM/D NRR/OD NAME REnnis CRaynor DRoberts CHolden TMarsh JDyer DATE 1/19/05 1/19/05 1/19/05 1/19/05 1/21/05 1/25/05 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
DISTRIBUTION: G20040831 PUBLIC PDI-2 R/F RidsEDOMailCenter RidsOgcMailCenter RidsNsirOd RidsRgn1MailCenter RidsNrrOd DSkay KGrimes LCox DRoberts CHolden REnnis CRaynor CAnderson, RI JWhite, RI GSmith, RI APatel, RI SLewis, OGC DDuvigneaud HBerkow JLyons JBoska DSchneck, NSIR RKahler, NSIR SLaVie, NSIR VBucci, OIG BPoole, OGC
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station cc:
Regional Administrator, Region I Ms. Carla A. White, RRPT, CHP U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Radiological Health 475 Allendale Road Vermont Department of Health King of Prussia, PA 19406-1415 P.O. Box 70, Drawer #43 108 Cherry Street Mr. David R. Lewis Burlington, VT 05402-0070 Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge 2300 N Street, N.W. Mr. James M. DeVincentis Washington, DC 20037-1128 Manager, Licensing Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station Ms. Christine S. Salembier, Commissioner P.O. Box 0500 Vermont Department of Public Service 185 Old Ferry Road 112 State Street Brattleboro, VT 05302-0500 Montpelier, VT 05620-2601 Resident Inspector Mr. Michael H. Dworkin, Chairman Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station Public Service Board U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission State of Vermont P.O. Box 176 112 State Street Vernon, VT 05354 Montpelier, VT 05620-2701 Director, Massachusetts Emergency Chairman, Board of Selectmen Management Agency Town of Vernon ATTN: James Muckerheide P.O. Box 116 400 Worcester Rd.
Vernon, VT 05354-0116 Framingham, MA 01702-5399 Operating Experience Coordinator Jonathan M. Block, Esq.
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station Main Street 320 Governor Hunt Road P.O. Box 566 Vernon, VT 05354 Putney, VT 05346-0566 G. Dana Bisbee, Esq. Mr. John F. McCann Deputy Attorney General Director, Nuclear Safety Assurance 33 Capitol Street Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
Concord, NH 03301-6937 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Chief, Safety Unit Office of the Attorney General Mr. Gary J. Taylor One Ashburton Place, 19th Floor Chief Executive Officer Boston, MA 02108 Entergy Operations 1340 Echelon Parkway Ms. Deborah B. Katz Jackson, MS 39213 Box 83 Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station cc:
Mr. John T. Herron Mr. Ronald Toole Sr. VP and Chief Operating Officer 1282 Valley of Lakes Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Box R-10 440 Hamilton Avenue Hazelton, PA 18202 White Plains, NY 10601 Ms. Stacey M. Lousteau Mr. Danny L. Pace Treasury Department Vice President, Engineering Entergy Services, Inc.
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. 639 Loyola Avenue 440 Hamilton Avenue New Orleans, LA 70113 White Plains, NY 10601 Mr. Raymond Shadis Mr. Brian OGrady New England Coalition Vice President, Operations Support Post Office Box 98 Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Edgecomb, ME 04556 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Mr. James P. Matteau Executive Director Mr. Michael J. Colomb Windham Regional Commission Director of Oversight 139 Main Street, Suite 505 Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Brattleboro, VT 05301 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Mr. William K. Sherman Vermont Department of Public Service Mr. John M. Fulton 112 State Street Assistant General Counsel Drawer 20 Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Montpelier, VT 05620-2601 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Mr. Jay K. Thayer Site Vice President Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station P.O. Box 0500 185 Old Ferry Road Brattleboro, VT 05302-0500 Mr. Kenneth L. Graesser 38832 N. Ashley Drive Lake Villa, IL 60046 Mr. James Sniezek 5486 Nithsdale Drive Salisbury, MD 21801
7590-01-P U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION DOCKET NO. 50-271 LICENSE NO. DPR-28 ENTERGY NUCLEAR VERMONT YANKEE, LLC AND ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC.
RECEIPT OF REQUEST FOR ACTION UNDER 10 CFR 2.206 Notice is hereby given that by petition dated December 7, 2004, the New England Coalition (NEC or the petitioner) has requested that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) take action with regard to the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Vermont Yankee). The NEC petition requested that the NRC take immediate and decisive action to address the degraded emergency notification system. Specifically, the petition requested the NRC to order cold shutdown of Vermont Yankee, and/or take other such action to restore reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety, until the licensee has provided a workable emergency warning or alert system and the NRC has verified its operability. The petition also included several other requests which are briefly summarized as follows: (1) the NRC should undertake a review of all inspection findings and licensee documents related to emergency response and notification; (2) the licensee should be required to provide for an independent audit of the emergency response plan; and (3) certain improvements should be considered with respect to the emergency notification system related to use of alert radios.
As a basis for this request, the petitioner cited problems related to the operation and use of alert radios within the Vermont Yankee emergency planning zone.
Enclosure 1
The request is being treated pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 2.206 of the Commissions regulations. The request has been referred to the Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. As provided by 10 CFR 2.206, appropriate action will be taken on this petition within a reasonable time. Mr. Raymond Shadis, in his capacity as the petitioners Staff Technical Advisor, participated in a telephone conference call with the NRCs Petition Review Board (PRB) on January 6, 2005, to discuss the petition. Mr. Edward Anthes and Ms. Judy Davidson assisted Mr. Shadis during this call. The results of that discussion were considered in the PRBs determination regarding the petitioners request for action and in establishing the schedule for the review of the petition.
A copy of the petition and the transcript of the telephone conference call is available for inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland and from the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML043490156 and ML050140017). Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
R. William Borchardt, Acting Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Dated at Rockville, Maryland This 25th day of January 2005.
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
2.206 Petition Review Board Conference Call Docket Number: 50-271 Location: (telephone conference)
Date: Thursday, January 6, 2005 Work Order No.: NRC-187 Pages 1-27 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433 Enclosure 2
1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +
4 PETITION REVIEW BOARD (PRB) 5 CONFERENCE CALL 6 + + + + +
7 THURSDAY, 8 JANUARY 6, 2005 9 + + + + +
10 The conference call was held, Jim Lyons 11 presiding.
12 NEW ENGLAND COALITION:
13 RAYMOND SHADIS 14 PETER ALEXANDER 15 NUCLEAR FREE VERMONT:
16 JUDY DAVIDSON 17 ED ANTHES 18 ENTERGY:
19 CHARLENE FAISON 20 MICHAEL SLOBIDIEN 21 JIM DEVICENTIS 22 MARY ANN WILSON 23 BOB WANCZYK 24 RHONDA DAFLUCAS 25 ROB WILLIAMS NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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2 1 NRC:
2 JOHN WHITE 3 GREG SMITH 4 AMAR PATEL 5 RICK ENNIS 6 STEVE LEWIS 7 DONNA SKAY 8 DYLANNE DUVIGNEAUD 9 CORNELIUS HOLDEN 10 HERB BERKOW 11 JIM LYONS 12 DARRELL ROBERTS 13 ALLEN HOWE 14 JOHN BOSKA 15 DEBRA SCHNECK 16 BOB KAHLER 17 STEVE LAVIE 18 STATE OF VERMONT:
19 DUNCAN HIGGINS 20 LEWIS STOWELL 21 STATE OF NEW JERSEY:
22 DENNIS ZANNONI 23 FEMA:
24 CRAIG CONKLIN 25 DANIEL WILCOX NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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3 1 FEMA: (cont.)
2 MIKE TAKACS 3 DIANE DONLEY 4 CRAIG FIORE 5 DEBORAH BELL 6 LAUREN DEMARCO 7 DAN McELHINNEY 8 BOB POOLE 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 (Time not given.)
3 MR. ENNIS: (Tape begins mid-sentence) --
4 headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. I think we'll 5 get started now. I'm going to go around and have 6 everybody introduce themselves and we'll start out 7 with the New England Coalition and their 8 representatives.
9 MR. SHADIS: Good morning, everyone. This 10 is Raymond Shadis for the New England Coalition.
11 MR. ALEXANDER: Peter Alexander, Executive 12 Director of the New England Coalition.
13 MS. DAVIDSON: Judy Davidson from Nuclear 14 Free Vermont.
15 MR. ENNIS: That's everybody that you have 16 this morning, Ray?
17 MR. SHADIS: That's everyone that we have 18 at this office. Also, Ed Anthes who called in a 19 little while ago will identify himself.
20 MR. ENNIS: Okay.
21 MR. SHADIS: But he is also providing 22 information with respect to this 2206.
23 MR. ENNIS: Okay.
24 MR. ANTHES: I'm Ed Anthes from Nuclear 25 Free Vermont by 2012 at another location.
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5 1 MR. ENNIS: Okay. Entergy, White Plains?
2 MS. FAISON: Charlene Faison and Michael 3 Slobodeien.
4 MR. ENNIS: At the plant?
5 MR. DEVINCENTIS: Jim DeVincentis, Mary 6 Ann Wilson and Bob Wanczyk.
7 MR. ENNIS: And the Brattleboro office?
8 MS. DAFLUCAS: Rhonda Daflucas and Rob 9 Williams.
10 MR. ENNIS: Okay, NRC Region I?
11 MR. WHITE: John White, Greg Smith, Amar 12 Patel.
13 MR. ENNIS: Okay, we'll go around the room 14 here at NRC Headquarters. I'm Rick Ennis. I'm the 15 Project Manager for Vermont Yankee as well as the 16 Manager for this Petition.
17 MR. LEWIS: Steve Lewis, Office of General 18 Counsel.
19 MS. SKAY: Donna Skay, Agency 2.206 20 Coordinator.
21 MS. DUVIGNEAUD: Dylanne Duvigneaud, DLPM.
22 MR. HOLDEN: Cornelius Holden, Reactor 23 Projects.
24 MR. BERKOW: Herb Berkow, Reactor 25 Projects.
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6 1 MR. LYONS: Jim Lyons, Reactor Projects.
2 MR. ROBERTS: Darrell Roberts, Reactor 3 Projects.
4 MR. HOWE: Allen Howe, Reactor Projects.
5 MR. BOSKA: John Boska, Reactor Projects.
6 MS. SCHNECK: Debra Schneck, Emergency 7 Preparedness.
8 MR. KAHLER: Bob Kahler, Emergency 9 Preparedness.
10 MR. LAVIE: Steve LaVie, Emergency 11 Preparedness.
12 MR. ENNIS: That's everybody at NRC 13 Headquarters.
14 State of Vermont?
15 MR. HIGGINS: Duncan Higgins, Vermont 16 Emergency Management.
17 MR. STOWELL: Lewis Stowell, Vermont 18 Emergency Management.
19 MR. ENNIS: Anyone from the State of New 20 Hampshire? Massachusetts? New York? New Jersey?
21 MR. ZANONNI: This is Dennis Zannoni, 22 everybody, how are you.
23 MR. ENNIS: Okay, any other States? Okay, 24 FEMA.
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7 1 MR. CONKLIN: FEMA Headquarters, this is 2 Craig Conklin.
3 MR. WILCOX: FEMA Headquarters, Dan 4 Wilcox.
5 MR. TAKACS: FEMA Headquarters, Mike 6 Takacs.
7 MS. DONLEY: FEMA Headquarters, Diane 8 Donley, Office of Counsel.
9 MS. BELL: FEMA Region 1, Deborah Bell.
10 MS. DEMARCO: Good morning, FEMA Region 1, 11 Lauren DeMarco, Dan McElhinney.
12 MR. POOLE: Region 1, Bob Poole.
13 MR. FIORE: FEMA Headquarters, Craig 14 Fiore.
15 MR. ENNIS: Any others from FEMA? Okay, 16 are there any other people on the line that haven't 17 identified themselves yet?
18 Hearing none, we'll get started here.
19 MR. SHADIS: Mr. Ennis, this is Ray Shadis 20 and I could hear most of NRC Staff introducing 21 themselves, but just barely, so if people are sitting 22 around a large table, I'd ask that they speak loudly 23 directly to your speaker phone or whatever arrangement 24 you have.
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8 1 MR. ENNIS: Okay, whoever is going to 2 speak during the call, we'll have them come closer to 3 the phone.
4 MR. SHADIS: Thank you.
5 MR. ENNIS: Thank you. And at this point 6 I'd like to introduce Jim Lyons who is the Petition 7 Review Board Chairman.
8 MR. LYONS: Thank you, Rick. I'm going to 9 go through the standard discussion here at the 10 beginning of this call so we can set the ground rules 11 for everybody.
12 The subject of this teleconference is a 10 13 CFR 2.206 Petition submitted by Mr. Raymond Shadis for 14 the New England Coalition, dated December 7, 2004.
15 The Petition pertains to the Emergency 16 Notification System at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear 17 Power Station.
18 The Petitioner has requested that the NRC 19 take enforcement action against Entergy, the licensee 20 for Vermont Yankee. Specifically, the Petitioner has 21 requested that the NRC order a cold shutdown of 22 Vermont Yankee and/or take other such action as is 23 within NRC's discretion to restore reasonable 24 assurance of adequate protection of public health and 25 safety until such time as the licensee has provided a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 1 workable emergency warning or alert system and the NRC 2 has verified its operability.
3 The petition also included several other 4 request which are briefly summarized as follows:
5 The Petitioner requested that the NRC 6 undertake a review of all inspection findings and 7 licensing documents related to emergency response and 8 notification. Petitioner requested that the licensee 9 be required to provide for an independent audit of the 10 emergency response plan and the Petitioner requested 11 that certain improvements be considered with respect 12 to the emergency notification system related to the 13 use of the alert radios.
14 The Petitioner requested that the NRC take 15 immediate and decisive action, specifically, the 16 petition stated that if in the NRC's opinion that 17 prompt action cannot be taken to the 10 CFR 2.206 18 process, then the New England Coalition urges the NRC 19 to exercise the statutory discretion to halt power 20 operation if emergency warning system operability 21 cannot be assured prior to screening the request for 22 the acceptance of the 2.206 petition.
23 The NRC's Petition Review Board met on 24 December 13, 2004 to discuss the request for immediate 25 action. The NRC Staff responsible for reviewing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 1 emergency preparedness issues also participated in 2 this meeting. The PRB determined that based upon a 3 recently completed inspection of the Vermont Yankee 4 Emergency Preparedness Program, as documented in an 5 inspection report dated November 12, 2004, the 6 proposed immediate action was not necessary.
7 Specifically, the inspection included a finding that 8 the licensee has failed to maintain the Vermont Yankee 9 primary emergency preparedness alert notification 10 system. It was determined that Entergy did not 11 properly assure the distribution and maintenance of 12 tone alert radios which are relied on to alert the 13 populace outside of siren coverage within the 14 emergency planning zone. However, as discussed in the 15 Inspection Report, the finding related to the tone 16 alert radios does not present an immediate safety 17 concern because the license has informed the affected 18 town to be prepared to do route alerting to ensure 19 that those residents outside of siren coverage are 20 notified in the event of an emergency.
21 On December 13, 2004, the Petition 22 Manager, Rick Ennis, called Mr. Shadis and informed 23 him that the PRB had determined that immediate action 24 is not necessary, since there is no immediate safety NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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11 1 concern based on the conclusion of the November 12 2 Inspection Report.
3 The purpose of this teleconference is to 4 allow the Petitioners to address the Petition Review 5 Board which is an opportunity for the Petitioners to 6 provide additional explanations or support for this 7 petition.
8 This is also an opportunity for the Staff 9 and licensee to ask any clarifying questions. The 10 purpose of the teleconference is not to debate the 11 merits of the petition.
12 Following this call, the PRB will meet to 13 determine whether the NRC accepts the petition under 14 the 2.206 process or whether it will be dealt with 15 under another mechanism.
16 The PRB meeting today will not determine 17 whether we agree or disagree with the contents of the 18 petition.
19 The teleconference is being transcribed, 20 so it will help if anyone making a statement first 21 state their name clearly. The transcript will become 22 a supplement to the petition and will be made publicly 23 available.
24 We request that the Petitioners keep their 25 remarks to about 30 minutes. If the PRB decides that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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12 1 the petition will be considered under 2.206, they will 2 issue an acknowledgment letter to the Petitioner.
3 The Petition Manager will keep the 4 Petitioners and licensee periodically informed of the 5 progress of the Staff's review.
6 We understand that Mr. Shadis has 7 requested to have representatives from the Nuclear 8 Free Vermont Association or organization assist him 9 in addressing the PRB today. The NRC has no objection 10 to this request.
11 At this point I'd like to turn it over to 12 Mr. Shadis.
13 MR. SHADIS: Thank you and good morning 14 again to you all. The first point that I would like 15 to address is the reliance on route notification and 16 my understanding that NRC issued their findings in the 17 Inspection Report based on Vermont Yankee's assurance 18 that they had notified the towns that they would now 19 be switching to route notification or adding route 20 notification.
21 And we had looked at that under 10 CFR 50 22 Appendix E, part D, where it states that the design 23 objective is notification from the time that public 24 officials receive notice to the time that the public 25 itself, members of the public receive notice at about NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 1 15 minutes. And we had asked in telephone conference 2 with Mr. Ennis if the PRB Members and the Emergency 3 Notification staff or the Emergency Response staff at 4 NRC that reviewed this petition could provide 5 regulatory and material justification for allowing as 6 it is the situation, allowing up to 45 minutes for 7 notification and not the "about 15 minutes" which we 8 can't logically follow that transition. It appears 9 that this amounts to some sort of exemption from the 10 "about 15 minutes" standard. So what we would like 11 from the Petition Review Board is some explanation on 12 how they arrived at that decision.
13 Now I would like to just tell you just by 14 way of example that today in the region we are 15 experiencing extended freezing rain and snow, most of 16 the secondary roads are quickly becoming impassable.
17 It is not uncommon in weather situations like this to 18 lose power locally, to have downed tree limbs and 19 trees themselves and the notification, route 20 notification today is from our point of view not 21 practical. So without radio notification, without a 22 siren alert system, without a practical route 23 notification, Vermont Yankee is operating today 24 without an operable emergency system. And this 25 situation for this area that is the geographic area NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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14 1 around Vermont Yankee, it's not untypical for winter 2 time. So we need to hear from NRC with respect to how 3 they view enforcement under these conditions.
4 MR. LYONS: This is Jim Lyons from the 5 NRC. We're not -- at this call, we're here to hear 6 your comments and not discuss the merits.
7 MR. SHADIS: Thank you, Mr. Lyons. I'm 8 presuming that after the Petition Review Board 9 determines the different criteria for acceptance as a 10 2.206 that we'll be hearing from NRC on this following 11 that.
12 The other thing I wanted to point out and 13 really wasn't emphasized in your summary of our issues 14 is that we also pointed out in its petition and I 15 guess we didn't drive it home the way we should have.
16 We pointed out that this particular operability 17 question is part of what we see as a series of 18 failures in the area of emergency notification and 19 emergency response preparedness and that underlies our 20 asking NRC to go back and take a review of 21 documentation to determine. I guess what we're 22 looking for is for NRC to determine when these 23 repeated failures indicate some systemic or management 24 failure and so I wanted to just emphasize that and 25 make that clear, if I could.
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15 1 If they're prepared to do it, I will ask 2 that Mr. Anthes -- if no one has any questions on 3 this, first off. Does anyone have any questions on 4 what I've just said or on the petition itself?
5 MR. ENNIS: No, we don't.
6 MR. SHADIS: Thank you. I'll now ask Mr.
7 Anthes to speak to the question of notification. His 8 organization, he himself and Judy Davidson have 9 communicated extensively with local officials.
10 They've attended many of the emergency response plan 11 meetings in the area and I think they are really 12 intimately familiar with local conditions, but I will 13 ask Mr. Anthes now to take the floor, if he will.
14 MR. ANTHES: Thank you. Good morning. My 15 name is Ed Anthes, A-N-T-H-E-S.
16 As people who live in the Emergency 17 Planning Zone, we've been interested in the evacuation 18 plan for a long time. And beginning in late fall 19 2001, we began attending meetings sponsored by the 20 Select Boards, Vermont Emergency Management, Entergy 21 and others on the plan.
22 In the early, late summer, early fall of 23 2004, we circulated a list to the local governing 24 boards, the Select Boards of things that Vermont 25 Emergency Management and Entergy should do now to make NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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16 1 the evacuation plan better. Several of those 2 concerned notification.
3 We're in a very rural area and we only 4 have siren coverage in part of Brattleboro and part of 5 Vernon. So the first thing that the Select Boards 6 asked and this was agreed to by the Select Boards of 7 the towns of Dummerston, Brattleboro, Guilford, 8 Halifax and Marlboro and it was presented to the Town 9 of Vernon, but to my knowledge they didn't take any 10 action on it.
11 The first item was that remote controlled 12 sirens be put -- be installed throughout the EPZ.
13 It's our understanding that Vermont Yankee's plan is 14 to do testing at least in some areas on silent 15 coverage when the leaves on the trees in May or June.
16 The Select Boards have been on record for some time 17 saying that they need siren coverage and so we need 18 some enforcement action so that the licensee worked on 19 this so that these sirens are in place this year in 20 2005.
21 The second item was the implementation of 22 the dial up system of an emergency notification. It 23 had been tested in one town with some success, some 24 problems, but all of the Select Boards that I 25 mentioned agreed that this should be implemented.
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17 1 The third item is on the emergency radio 2 alert system. What all of the towns saw when they 3 looked through these items is that we need redundancy 4 in notification. None of the items are going to work 5 for every person and all of them have great failures.
6 As I said, the sirens are only heard in about one and 7 a half of the towns, one and a third of the towns.
8 The radio systems, when we first started 9 working on this, in the town of Dummerston, we have 10 about 2,000 people, roughly 800 residents and 11 businesses. When we started working on this there 12 were fewer than 300 radios that had been distributed 13 in the town. Through a lot of work we've probably 14 raised that to half or perhaps even more than that of 15 people who have the radios, but we still have a very 16 large segment of people who don't have the radios and 17 it appears that the licensee has lost control of the 18 information of just who has radios, who has gotten 19 them over the years, even though I know that in our 20 town we have to fill out paperwork in order to get a 21 radio.
22 The radios themselves are a great problem.
23 AS you probably know, they're based on the National 24 Weather Service and so they warn people of every 25 weather event that's coming for 100 miles around. In NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 1 the summer time when thunder storms are predicted, you 2 can listen to where the thunderstorms are going to be 3 coming from, the central New York State to the 4 seacoast of New Hampshire. People get so tired of the 5 alarm going off every hour through the night that 6 they'll turn off their alarm. And then they have to 7 remember to turn them on again.
8 People who have pets, who have babies, are 9 turning these off because of the disturbance caused by 10 the weather alert.
11 So a number of the towns asked that the 12 radios be preprogrammed for the correction station.
13 The other problem they talked about was that the 14 battery backup is very bad on the radios. This seems 15 to have been a problem all through the years, the 16 batteries just don't hold the charge and so when the 17 power goes down as it has now, as it is likely to do 18 now with the ice storm, people don't have usable 19 radios.
20 The system all moves to the individual 21 citizen, that it's their responsibility to find out 22 what's going on. The individual citizen is required 23 to request a radio. The citizen is expected to keep 24 that maintained and the citizen is expected to get NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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19 1 batteries from the local emergency management people 2 when the batteries go out.
3 This system doesn't work. People don't do 4 it that way. We know that the number of people with 5 radios is a very small portion of the people who would 6 need to be notified.
7 MS. DAVIDSON: Can I add something here?
8 MR. ANTHES: Please, Judy.
9 MS. DAVIDSON: Judy Davidson from Nuclear 10 Free Vermont. The other thing I would like to add 11 about these weather alert radios is that the manual of 12 instructions that goes with this radio is 31 pages 13 long and the first time I tried to figure out to 14 program the radio it took me about half an hour and I 15 got so frustrated I put it away and came back to it 16 later. An ordinary citizen has an incredibly 17 difficult time first learning how to program it and 18 then when it goes off, it malfunctions and instead of 19 being on the right channel, channel 2, it says E-OFF.
20 Then you have to get out that manual and re-learn how 21 to reprogram it again so that for the ordinary 22 consumer this particular radio is totally ineffective.
23 Thank you.
24 MR. ANTHES: In towns like Guilford, 25 people there estimate that they lose their electricity NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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20 1 half a dozen times a year, sometimes as much as once 2 a month, they'll lose electricity. And when that 3 happens the radio loses its programming if the battery 4 is not sufficiently charged.
5 So the towns, their emphasis is that there 6 needs to be redundancy. Would you like me to move to 7 route alerting now?
8 MR. SHADIS: Fine, Ed, you go ahead. We 9 do have some time limits so.
10 MR. ANTHES: Yes, okay. Keep me abreast 11 of that Ray, if I'm going over.
12 MR. SHADIS: I'll depend on NRC to keep 13 time and maybe they can tell you when we're pushing 14 the limit.
15 MR. ANTHES: The route alerting has been 16 in place since I've started looking at the plan years 17 ago. But it was never thought that it would actually 18 have to be used. And so in the town of Dummerston 19 when the Select Boards looked at that and spoke with 20 the Fire Chief about that it was clear very quickly 21 that they couldn't be done in 45 minutes. And they're 22 operating under the assumption that it would take 45 23 minutes to drive the route, not that they will be able 24 to notify people 45 minutes from when they get the 25 word, but rather that once someone is in the vehicle NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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21 1 and moving and gets to the beginning of their location 2 where the route starts, that's when their 45 minutes 3 starts. So clearly, that 45 minutes could easily be 4 twice that time by the time somebody receives word, 5 gets to the Fire Station and gets out on the route.
6 Now the number of routes pretty nearly 7 double. I think they went from 5 to 9 in Dummerston 8 once they saw that they had to be able to do this in 9 45 minutes and make that a real plan.
10 The plan there, as spelled out in the 11 instructions in the evacuation plan, is that people 12 will drive on the roads, they'll slow down to a 13 specified speed as they go by houses and they will 14 inform people of a specific message that they should 15 tune in to the radio to find out what's going on.
16 There's no provision for driving up driveways or going 17 on private roads. There's no provision for getting to 18 farmers who are out in the field. There's no 19 provision for getting the people who are out in the 20 woods, who are hiking, who are operating chain saws.
21 This is a rural community and that's what people do.
22 That's where people are when it's daytime. People are 23 not in their homes sitting by their radios. And the 24 route alerting isn't expected to get to them.
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22 1 Moreover, it hasn't been demonstrated that 2 the route alerting will work when people's windows are 3 closes in the winter, when they're watching TV, when 4 the stereo is on. To my knowledge, it hasn't been 5 demonstrated that people can hear the route alerting 6 at all.
7 All of the towns rely on volunteers, all 8 of the smaller towns rely on volunteers for their 9 route alerting and the Town of Dummerston for years 10 has written to Vermont Emergency Management to say 11 that they don't have enough people to cover all of the 12 tasks that they're tasked with in the evacuation plan.
13 And Judy has some more information on how two of the 14 towns expect to cover that gap in the lack of 15 personnel to handle the routing.
16 MS. DAVISON: This is Judy Davidson. And 17 as Ed points out the towns do not have enough 18 volunteers and one of the reasons is that we recognize 19 that in a radiological emergency some of the volunteer 20 firemen who have young families or other volunteers 21 will feel a role conflict and will need to take care 22 of their own families. Therefore, there are not 23 enough volunteers in a radiological emergency to 24 really address who is alerting and the other issues.
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23 1 One of the towns, Dummerston has looked 2 into perhaps using the Putney Volunteer Fire 3 Department to help with route alerting, however, this 4 clearly increases the amount of time that it would 5 take to do the route alerting because you have to 6 notify those people. They have to drive to 7 Brattleboro to Dummerston, so the time limit is 8 enormous.
9 Guilford has not enough -- they have eight 10 routes. They don't have enough volunteers or vehicles 11 to drive the eight routes. And one of the real 12 concerns that we have, that we just learned is that --
13 I want to repeat this, the Dummerston Select Board has 14 written to Vermont Emergency Management on March 30 of 15 2004 saying we have concluded that route alerts, while 16 helpful, will not be sufficient to reach many of our 17 citizens. They have taken a strong stance and have 18 not approved the evaluation plans partly because of 19 the problem with route alerting and with notification 20 of the public.
21 One of the concerns that we have is that 22 even FEMA doesn't seem to be taking seriously that 23 route alerting is an essential part of this plan. At 24 the last FEMA alert in 2003, both Guilford and 25 Dummerston were told that they only needed to complete NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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24 1 one of the routes in order to pass the drill. Now if 2 route alerting is considered a compensatory measure 3 and therefore means that there's not -- it's a very 4 low safety concern, not an immediate safety concern, 5 how can it be that FEMA in a drill would pass towns 6 that are only doing one out of six or eight routes?
7 That seems to be totally absurd. So we are really 8 concerned about route alerting not being effective and 9 certainly not an adequate substitute and it seems 10 absurd to me that Entergy gets credit for taking 11 compensatory measures in this way when it is the 12 volunteers in the town who are doing the route 13 alerting. It doesn't seem (Inaudible) I don't 14 understand how Entergy can get credit for something 15 that the town is taking on.
16 Thank you.
17 MR. ANTHES: On days like today route 18 alerting would be completely ineffective. I live on 19 one of the major routes in Dummerston so it's up and 20 down very steep hills and people just don't drive that 21 road today. In a meeting that was held in Guilford in 22 the winter time to discuss the emergency planning, a 23 woman brought photos of what we call mud season here.
24 Roads that were almost literally swallowing cars 25 because of the depth of the mud.
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25 1 The route alert may be fine during some of 2 the year, but it's not fine during several months of 3 the year.
4 Thank you. Ray?
5 MR. SHADIS: Thank you, Ed, and I believe 6 that completes the comments added by Nuclear Free 7 Vermont.
8 I would like to make a point now, whether 9 it's adding on to this or not, that if NRC has not 10 received a similar description of (Inaudible) for this 11 system from the licensee, then we question whether the 12 licensee is in conformance with NRC reporting 13 requirements and standards for truthfulness and 14 completeness of licensee communication to NRC. If the 15 licensee assured the NRC inspection staff that they 16 had taken compensatory measures, but did not describe 17 to them the limitations on those compensatory 18 measures, in other words, the limitations on the route 19 notification, then they didn't, in essence, tell the 20 whole truth to NRC. And we would like NRC and in 21 response to our petition to also determine if they got 22 the whole story and if the licensee is in compliance 23 with NRC regulation on that count.
24 And I think that completes our statement 25 and we are open to any questions that NRC might have.
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26 1 MR. ANTHES: Ray, if I might just add one 2 more thing. This is Ed Anthes. The reliance on route 3 alerting does not address the need of -- the so-called 4 special needs population. It's another limitation of 5 the plan that too few people who don't have 6 transportation and have special needs report in using 7 the self-reporting system and there's no provision in 8 the route alerting to alert people who may not hear 9 or see an operator driving by making an announcement 10 with a bullhorn.
11 MR. ENNIS: This is Rick Ennis. Ray, does 12 that conclude your remarks?
13 MR. SHADIS: It does and we're open to 14 questions of NRC Staff.
15 MR. ENNIS: Does anyone from Entergy have 16 any comments or questions?
17 MR. DEVINCENTIS: No, Rick. This is Jim 18 DeVincentis. We have no comments or questions.
19 MR. ENNIS: NRC Region I, do you have any 20 comments or questions?
21 MR. WHITE: Not at this time.
22 MR. ENNIS: No questions or comments from 23 NRC Headquarters either.
24 MR. LYONS: This is Jim Lyons again. I 25 want to thank you for this information. It was a very NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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27 1 good presentation, putting together the thoughts and 2 easy to follow and able for us to take this 3 information and we will at the Petition Review Board 4 review it and the petition that we got to determine 5 whether or not we're going to accept this in the 2.206 6 petition. But I'd like to reemphasize that whether or 7 not we accept it as a 2.206 petition we will be 8 responding to the petition either through the 2.206 9 process or through regular correspondence.
10 With that, I'd like to again thank 11 everybody for participating and we'll now go off the 12 line.
13 Thank you very much.
14 MR. SHADIS: Thank you. Good morning, 15 everyone. Thank you.
16 (Whereupon, the teleconference was 17 concluded.)
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