ML071300371
| ML071300371 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Harris  |
| Issue date: | 04/18/2007 |
| From: | NRC/NRR/ADRO |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-1522 | |
| Download: ML071300371 (113) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 License Renewal Public Meeting - Afternoon Session Docket Number:
(05000400)
Location:
Apex, North Carolina Date:
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Work Order No.:
NRC-1522 Pages 1-76 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
+ + + + +
3 LICENSE RENEWAL AND SCOPING PROCESS 4
SHEARON HARRIS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT UNIT 1 5
PUBLIC MEETING 6
+ + + + +
7 Wednesday, 8
April 18, 2007 9
+ + + + +
10 Apex, North Carolina 11 The Public Meeting was held at 1:30 p.m. in the 12 New Horizons Fellowship, 820 Williams Street, Apex, 13 North Carolina, Lance Rakovan, Facilitator, 14 presiding.
15 APPEARANCES:
16 SAM HERNANDEZ - NRC 17 MAURICE HEATH - NRC 18 RANI FRANOVICH - NRC 19 JOHN RUKAVINA 20 LYNN BAUCHKEY 21 HERMAN JAFFE 22 DAVID MCNELLIS 23 MAYOR JOHN BYRNE 24 ALDERMAN PAUL FISHER 25
2 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 APPEARANCES: (CONT.)
1 COUNCILMAN ROBERT J. AHLERT 2
DAVID FINGER 3
SCOOP GREEN 4
JOHN RUNKLE 5
HARVEY SCHMITT 6
LIZ CULLINGTON 7
MICHAEL LEACH 8
ROBERT DUNCAN 9
KEITH SUTTON 10 TOM OXHOLM 11 CARL WILKINS 12 NELLLE HOTCHKISS 13 KEN ATKINS 14 HILDA PINNIX-RAGLAND 15
3 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 A-G-E-N-D-A 1
WELCOME AND PURPOSE OF MEETING 4
2 OVERVIEW OF LICENSE RENEWAL PROCESS 8
3 OVERVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PROCESS 8
4 PUBLIC COMMENTS 22 5
CLOSING COMMENTS 66 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
4 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 1
1:30 p.m.
2 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Good afternoon. My 3
name is Lance Rakovan. I am a communications 4
assistant at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or 5
NRC.
6 I would like to welcome you to today's 7
meeting. The purpose of today's meeting is to discuss 8
the license renewal process, and environmental scoping 9
for the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant, unit 1, 10 license renewal application review.
11 It is good to be here in North Carolina, 12 and we appreciate the use of the facility for this 13 meeting. Just to define the word scoping, it is a 14 term used in conjunction with preparing an 15 environmental impact statement.
16 Essentially your comments, on the scoping, 17 will help us determine what should be included in the 18 scope of the environmental impact statements we will 19 prepare. In other words, what issues we will address.
20 Just to go over the meeting format, real 21 quick, we are going to start out with a few 22 presentations by NRC staff. At that point, once the 23 presentations are over, we are going to open up the 24 meeting for questions on the presentations, and then 25
5 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 comments, specifically if you were kind enough to fill 1
out one of the yellow cards.
2 Then I should have your name, and we 3
should be able to call your name at some point and let 4
you either get up, and make a formal comment, come to 5
one of the mikes, or I'm also going to have a wireless 6
mike.
7 So there is a number of ways we can do 8
this. I have had a few people ask if they could go 9
early on in the commenting, for various reasons, so 10 I'm going to try to address them first, and then 11 continue on.
12 We would like, if you could, to wait until 13 the presentations are over, if you have any questions, 14 that way it will allow us to get through the 15 presentations completely and turn the meeting, pretty 16 much, over to the public.
17 I'd like to remind you that we are doing 18 a transcription, today, of the meeting. If you could, 19 when you are making comments, or asking questions, 20 make sure that only one person is talking at a time, 21 and make sure that you are speaking into the 22 microphone.
23 This will help us get a clean transcript 24 of the meeting, so we can follow the conversation.
25
6 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 The first time that you ask a question, or make a 1
comment, if you could introduce yourself. And if you 2
are with any group, or affiliation, if you could name 3
that.
4 Again, that helps us identify who is 5
making the comment, in the transcript. Given the 6
number of comments that we made, I'm going to ask that 7
we limit questions, or comments, to about five minutes 8
or so.
9 If we have additional time, at the end of 10 the meeting, then we can always open up the floor, 11 again, and if you want to come back, ask more 12 questions, give more comments, etcetera, then that 13 will be fine.
14 But I just want to make sure that we can 15 get through everybody in the time that we have 16 allotted at least once.
17 Just regular meeting type things. If you 18 could silence your cell phones, or put them on 19 vibrate, so that they don't interrupt the meeting. As 20 part of the table outside, that hopefully all of you 21 signed up when you entered, there were copies of the 22 presentations that are going to be given.
23 There are also meeting feedback forms.
24 Those really come in handy if you could take a moment 25
7 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 to fill those out, and either leave them on the table 1
when you leave, hand them to one of the NRC, here, or 2
go ahead and drop them in the mail, it is free to do 3
that.
4 We do keep track of what comments are 5
given, and those do have a bearing on how we run our 6
future public meetings. So that really helps us out 7
if you could take a moment to do that.
8 I'd like to take a moment to introduce our 9
speakers this afternoon. First of all, Sam Hernandez.
10 Sam is an environmental project manager. He has been 11 with the NRC for about four years, working on 12 environmental reviews.
13 He has a bachelor's degree, in chemical 14 engineering, from the University of Puerto Rico and 15 is, currently, pursuing a
master's degree in 16 environmental engineering from the University of 17 Maryland.
18 The other speaker is Maurice Heath.
19 Maurice is a project manager for license renewal at 20 the NRC. He has also been with the NRC for about four 21 years. He has a bachelor's of science in mechanical 22 engineering, from North Carolina A&T.
23 One other comment that I wanted to make.
24 I was given a copy of something that was in the News 25
8 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 and Observer, I believe, on Sunday. It made the 1
statement, "if opponents claim deficiencies in 2
Progress Energy's application, or problems at the 3
nuclear plant, then they can ask the NRC for an 4
evidentiary hearing. Such a hearing would extend 5
proceedings by at least half a year."
6 That is not entirely true. We have a 7
number of different processes, at the
- NRC, 8
specifically involving if you believe that there is a 9
problem, if you will, at the nuclear plant.
10 And I believe Sam and Maurice are going 11 to address more specifically what we are looking for, 12 in terms of comments, in the process that we will be 13 discussing today. So I just wanted to make that 14 clarification.
15 As long as there are no other questions 16 I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to our 17 speakers. And, again, if you could hold your 18 questions for the end, we will go ahead and open up 19 the floor for questions and comments once they are 20 done.
21 Gentlemen?
22 MR. HEATH: Good afternoon. My name is 23 Maurice Heath, as Lance said, and I'm the project 24 manager responsible for the review of Shearon Harris 25
9 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 nuclear power plant license renewal application.
1 As Lance mentioned, the purpose of today's 2
meeting is to provide an overview of the NRC's license 3
renewal review processes, and to receive your comments 4
on the scope of the environmental review.
5 I would like to reiterate that we will be 6
answering your questions at the end of today's 7
presentation. So please hold your comments until the 8
appropriate period during the meeting.
9 Before I get into a discussion of the 10 license renewal process, I would like to take a minute 11 to talk about the NRC in terms of what we do, and what 12 our mission is.
13 The two principal NRC governing statutes 14 are the Atomic Energy Act, and the National 15 Environmental Policy Act of 1969, better known as 16 NEPA.
17 The Atomic Energy Act authorizes the NRC 18 to regulate the civilian use of nuclear material. The 19 specific regulations that the NRC enforces are 20 contained in Title 10 of the Code of Federal 21 Regulations, commonly known as 10CFR. 22 The Atomic Energy Act also authorizes the 23 NRC to grant a 40 year operating license for nuclear 24 power reactors, and allowing the renewal of this 25
10 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 license.
1 It is important to note that the 40 year 2
term was based on, primarily, economic considerations, 3
and anti-trust factors, and not on safety or technical 4
limitations.
5 The second governing statute is NEPA of 6
- 1969, that established a
national policy for 7
considering the impact of federal decisionmaking on 8
the environment.
9 In exercising its authority the NRC's 10 mission is three-fold, to ensure adequate protection 11 of public health and safety, to promote the common 12 defense and security, and to protect the environment.
13 The NRC accomplishes its mission through 14 a combination of regulatory programs and processes, 15 such as conducting inspections, issuing enforcement 16
- actions, assessing licensee performance, and 17 evaluating operating experience from nuclear plants 18 across the country, and internationally.
19 One important element of our inspection 20 program is the resident inspector. The NRC has 21 resident inspectors at all operating nuclear power 22 plants. Their job is to carry out our safety mission 23 on a daily basis by ensuring that these plants have 24 acceptable safety performances, in compliance with the 25
11 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 regulatory requirements.
1 They are considered the eyes and ears of 2
the NRC. And today our senior resident inspector, Mr.
3 Phil OBryan is here, and he is stationed, full time, 4
at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant.
5 The current operating license for Shearon 6
Harris will expire on October 24th, 2026. On November 7
14th, 2006, CP&L, doing business as Progress Energy, 8
owner of the plant, submitted an application for 9
renewal of the Sharon Harris operating license for an 10 additional 20 years.
11 Copies of the Sharon Harris license 12 renewal application are available for review at Eva H.
13 Perry library, in Apex, North Carolina, and the West 14 Regional Library in Cary, North Carolina. For today's 15 meeting we have copies, outside, on disk, if you would 16 like to take one.
17 The regulations governing license renewal 18 are based on two guiding principles. To effectively 19 communicate these principles I need to describe a 20 concept, or term, used by the NRC. That concept is 21 licensing basis.
22 Licensing basis is a wide range of design 23 and operational requirements, and conditions, that 24 must be met for the plant to comply with its operating 25
12 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 license. It serves as a basis upon which the NRC 1
originally licensed that plant, and allows that plant 2
to continue to operate.
3 Now, as I mentioned, the regulations 4
governing license renewal are based on two principles.
5 The first is that the current regulatory process is 6
adequate to ensure that the licensing basis of all 7
currently operating plants provide and maintain an 8
acceptable level of safety.
9 The second principle is that the current 10 plant's specific licensing basis must be maintained 11 during the renewal term in the same manner, and to the 12 same extent, as during the original license term.
13 To ensure that the plant's current 14 licensing basis is maintained during an extended 15 period of operation, the effects of aging must be 16 understood and addressed.
17 The Staff conducts a rigorous review of 18 new and existing
- programs, and surveillance 19 activities, to determine, with reasonable assurance, 20 that the effects of aging, for certain plant 21 structures,
- systems, and components, will be 22 adequately managed, or monitored.
23 This slide is a list of the content of the 24 license renewal application submitted by Progress 25
13 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Energy. The Staff reviews this information to verify 1
that all aging will be managed effectively and 2
environmental impacts are characterized and disclosed.
3 This diagram represents the license 4
renewal process. The top portion of the diagram shows 5
the safety process, and the bottom portion shows the 6
environmental process.
7 These two reviews are conducted in 8
parallel to evaluate two separate aspects of the 9
10 The yellow starburst figures represent 11 opportunities for public involvement. Today's meeting 12 we are in the first yellow figure, which is to solicit 13 your comments on the scope of the environmental 14 review.
15 During the safety review the Staff 16 conducts an audit to evaluate adequacy of the 17 technical information in the license renewal 18 application. The NRC's qualified inspectors perform 19 on-site inspections to verify that the plant aging 20 management programs, and activities, are implemented, 21 or have been planned for implementation.
22 Then the results of the safety review are 23 documented in a
safety evaluation report and 24 inspection report. The safety evaluation report, or 25
14 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 SER, is forwarded to the Advisory Committee on Reactor 1
Safeguards, otherwise known as ACRS, who will perform 2
an independent review of both license renewal 3
application, and the NRC's staff evaluation.
4 The ACRS is a group of scientists, and 5
nuclear experts, who serve as a consulting body to the 6
Commission. The ACRS reports their findings, and 7
recommendations, directly to the Commission.
8 To perform an environmental review the 9
Staff conducts an on-site environmental audit, and 10 generates a draft and final generic environmental 11 impact statement.
12 In the second part of this presentation 13 Sam Hernandez, the environmental PM, will provide a 14 detailed overview of the environmental process.
15 In summary, for the safety review process, 16 the NRC reviews the applicant's renewal application, 17 reviews supporting documentation, and conducts on-site 18 audit and inspections.
19 Thereafter the Staff documents the basis 20 of the conclusion, of its review, in a publicly 21 available safety evaluation report. And, finally, 22 after the ACRS has completed their independent review 23 of both the license renewal application, and the 24 Staff's safety evaluation
- report, offers a
25
15 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 recommendation to the Commission regarding proposed 1
action to issue a renewed operating license.
2 Before turning the presentation over to 3
Mr. Hernandez, to discuss the environmental review 4
process, I would like to mention a few important areas 5
of NRC oversight, that are separate from the license 6
renewal process.
7 They include emergency planning, security, 8
and current safety performance. The NRC monitors, and 9
provides, regulatory oversight of these activities, in 10 these areas, on an ongoing basis, under the current 11 operating license.
12 Therefore we do not reevaluate them in 13 license renewal. The reason why these areas are not 14 reevaluated is because they are subject to ongoing NRC 15 inspection and oversight.
16 Any issues are identified and addressed, 17 immediately, under the current operating license. For 18 more information about the reactor oversight process 19 for Sharon Harris, you can follow the link at the 20 bottom of the page.
21 That concludes my presentation of the 22 safety review process for license renewal. Now I'm 23 going to turn it over to Sam Hernandez to explain the 24 environmental review process. Sam?
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 MR. HERNANDEZ: Hi. My name is Sam 1
Hernandez. I'm an environmental project manager for 2
the NRC. I'm responsible for coordinating all the 3
activities of the NRC Staff to prepare an 4
environmental impact statement associated with the 5
proposed license renewal of the Shearon Harris nuclear 6
power plant.
7 The National Environmental Policy Act of 8
1969 requires that all federal agencies follow a 9
systematic approach in evaluating potential impacts 10 associated with certain actions.
11 We, at the NRC, are required to consider 12 the impact of the proposed action and, also, any 13 mitigation for those impacts we consider to be 14 significant.
15 We are also required to consider 16 alternatives to the proposed action, in this case, the 17 license renewal of Shearon Harris, and by other 18 alternatives we include the no action alternative.
19 In other words, if we decide not to 20 approve the license renewal for Shearon Harris, what 21 are the environmental impacts? The NRC has determined 22 that an environmental impact statement, or EIS, will 23 be prepared for any proposed license renewal of 24 nuclear plants.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 In preparing an environmental impact 1
statement the NRC conducts a scoping process. The 2
purpose of this scoping process is to identify any 3
important issue, and information, to be analyzed in 4
depth during our review.
5 We are now in the scoping process for 6
Shearon Harris, and are here today, gathering 7
information, and collecting public comments on the 8
scope of our review.
9 Simply put, what special issues should the 10 Staff consider in preparing the environmental impact 11 statement for the license renewal of Shearon Harris.
12 In that framework I want to provide an 13 overview of the environmental review. In the 1990s 14 the NRC staff developed a generic environmental impact 15 statement, or GEIS.
16 The GEIS documented the environmental 17 impacts of renewing the operating licenses for all the 18 nuclear power plants in the nation. As a result of 19 that analysis the NRC was able to conclude that 20 several environmental issues were common, or similar, 21 to all nuclear power plants.
22 The environmental impact associated with 23 those issues was a small impact at all sites. The NRC 24 Staff, in our overview, would also evaluate any new 25
18 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 and significant information that might call into 1
question the conclusions that were previously reached 2
in the GEIS.
3 Now, the NRC also concluded that there are 4
several issues to which a generic determination, or 5
conclusion, could not be reached. And for these 6
issues the NRC will prepare a site specific 7
environmental impact statement, or SEIS, which is a 8
supplement.
9 And that is the reason we are here today 10 requesting your comments on the scope of the site 11 specific environmental impact statement for Shearon 12 Harris.
13
- Now, what do I
mean by generic 14 dispositioned issues and site specific issues? I want 15 to give you an example of what is concluded in the 16 GEIS. An impact that we consider to be generic, for 17 example is bird collisions with cooling towers.
18 These collisions have not been found to be 19 a problem at operating nuclear power plants, and are 20 not expected to be a problem during the license 21 renewal. This is an issue that was dispositioned as 22 generic. But, as part of our review, we will look for 23 information that might call into question that 24 conclusion.
25
19 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 As for site specific issue, it is impacts 1
on threatened or endangered species. Continued 2
operation is not expected to adversely affect, 3
threaten, or endanger, species.
4 However, consultation with appropriate 5
agencies is needed at the time of the license renewal, 6
to determine whether threatened, or endangered 7
species, are present and whether they would be 8
adversely affected. So this is an issue that would be 9
included in our site specific supplement.
10 When the review is completed, the GEIS, 11 and the site specific environmental impact, will be 12 the complete record of the environmental review.
13 This diagram shows the subject areas that 14 we will be looking at, and we will be evaluating in 15 our site specific environmental impact statement for 16 Shearon Harris. These are all the subject areas that 17 we will be covering.
18 So how does the public provide input for 19 the decisionmaking? This diagram shows some of the 20 inputs that are used for the license renewal decision.
21 Today we are here soliciting your comments on the 22 scope of the environmental review, and we will 23 consider your comments, received during the scoping, 24 in developing the draft supplemental environmental 25
20 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 impact statement.
1 Also, there is an opportunity to request 2
a hearing, right here at the bottom. The opportunity 3
for a hearing closes on May 19, of '07. And 4
additional information about the hearing process is 5
attached to the handouts that you received at the 6
registration table.
7 Specifically, if you look at the Federal 8
Register Notice, there is the information on how to 9
request a hearing in the proceedings.
10 Now, I would like to clarify that the 11 hearing opportunity, and the public comments on the 12 scope of the environmental review, are two different 13 processes. Today we are accepting your comments on 14 the scope of an environmental review.
15 So how do you provide your comments? You 16 can do it here, during our comment portion of the 17 meeting. If you are not ready to provide a comment 18 today, you can send us your comment via regular mail, 19 or you can also send your comment via email.
20 The special address that we have set up in 21 the NRC, for receiving comments on the scope of the 22 environmental review for Shearon
- Harris, is 23 ShearonHarrisEIS@nrc.gov.
24 Also you can deliver your comments, in 25
21 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 person, if you wish to. Or you can provide your 1
written comment, today, to us. It is important that 2
you remember that the scoping period closes on May 3
19th of '07.
4 I want to give you some information about 5
the overall review schedule. All this information is 6
provided in your handouts, so I won't bore you going 7
all over them. But all of these items, highlighted in 8
yellow here, are the opportunities for public 9
involvement.
10 Right now we are in the scoping process.
11 The scoping process closes on May 19th, 2007. Also we 12 have an opportunity to request a hearing. The 13 opportunity to request a hearing closes in May 19th.
14 As I told you, earlier, there is more 15 detailed information in your handouts about that 16 process.
17 We expect to issue a scoping summary 18 report in July of '07. In that report we will have 19 the summary of all issues that were brought up during 20 scoping. After that we expect to publish the draft 21 environmental impact in December of '07.
22 And that document will be up for a period 23 of public comment of 75 days. And we will have 24 another meeting, here, to request your comments on the 25
22 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 draft environmental impact statement.
1 We expect to conduct the public meeting 2
somewhere around January of '08. We anticipate 3
issuing the final supplemental environmental impact 4
statement in August of '08.
5 This is some additional information. If 6
you have any question about what was said, here today, 7
or any information you might find useful to submit 8
your comments, you can call any of us listed on this 9
slide.
10 Also, as previously mentioned, the license 11 renewal application, and the environmental review, 12 submitted by the applicant, are available in these two 13 local libraries.
14 In these local libraries you will also be 15 able to inspect the scoping summary report, the draft 16 environmental impact statement, the safety evaluation 17 report, and the final supplemental environmental 18 impact statement, once the NRC issues these documents.
19 And you can also go to the NRC website and 20 find information. If you have any problem locating 21 any document, in the NRC website, you can call any one 22 of us, and we will make sure you obtain the 23 information you are looking for.
24 And that concludes my remarks. Thank you.
25
23 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, 1
gentlemen. I have a stack of cards of people who 2
signed up to comment. But before I move to these I 3
wanted to give a quick check to see if anyone had any 4
specific questions about the presentations that Sam 5
and Maurice gave.
6 Sir, do you want to step to the mike 7
there, if you would? If you could give us your name, 8
and if you are representing any organization?
9 MR. RUNKLE: John Runkle with the North 10 Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network. Can 11 you make it louder, or what do I need to do, talk 12 louder? Okay, thank you.
13 The question was on the scoping comments, 14 and the request for hearing. Those are two different 15 things, now?
16 MR. HERNANDEZ: Yes, those are two 17 different processes. Both of them conclude on May 18 19th. But the scoping comments, for the environmental 19 review, we will be collecting those comments today, 20 and you can either send your comments to us, for the 21 scoping of the environmental review, via email or 22 regular mail.
23 Now, the hearing process, that is a 24 different, it is a very structured process, and it is 25
24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 a legal proceeding, so maybe Dave Roth, he is with 1
OGC, he can explain, maybe, if you have any questions 2
about that particular subject, of the process of the 3
hearing.
4 MR. RUNKLE: No, I just wanted to make it 5
clear that those are two different things. So if 6
scoping comments should be scoping comments, and 7
request for a hearing, is a request for a hearing?
8 MR. HERNANDEZ: Yes, those are two 9
different processes.
10 MR. RUNKLE: Thank you.
11 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thanks, Sam. Any 12 other questions before we go to the comment cards?
13 (No response.)
14 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Okay, seeing none, 15 I had a few individuals who asked if they could go 16 early, for one reason or another. So I'm going to 17 start with them.
18 The first I have the Director of Public 19 Safety for Wake county, Mr. John Rukavina.
20 MR. RUKAVINA: Ladies, and gentlemen, 21 thank you. My name is John Rukavina, I'm Director of 22 Public Safety for Wake County.
23 Wake County is responsible for emergency 24 and crisis response planning, in Wake County. That 25
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 includes planning and exercise functions connected 1
with the Shearon Harris plant, as required by the 2
Nuclear Regulatory Commission and FEMA.
3 Since the initial licensing efforts, for 4
the plant, Wake County and, at the time, CP&L, and 5
subsequently Progress Energy, have had a continuing 6
relationship.
7 And that relationship includes financial 8
planning, and work support, in development and 9
maintenance of our emergency response plans, and other 10 preparedness activities.
11 And, as a result of that continuing 12 collaborative effort, when we've tested our emergency 13 response activities, it has been determined that we 14 meet NRC and FEMA standards for emergency response 15 external to the plant.
16 In Wake County we actually conduct annual 17 tests of that plan. In alternating years we either 18 test the activation of the EOC only, or we activate 19 the EOC and the field activities response for exercise 20 purposes.
21 And what I wanted to establish, for the 22 record, was that current relationship with Progress 23 Energy, in emergency planning and testing, and 24 managing the emergency plan for Shearon Harris. Thank 25
26 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 you.
1 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you. Next I'm 2
going to see if Lynn Bauchkey is prepared to speak.
3 Is this all right, Lynn? Do you want me to bring you 4
the wireless, or do you want to come up here?
5 MS. BAUCHKEY: Thank you for allowing me 6
to come first. I have my granddaughter, and my son 7
Michael. I'm a little bit nervous, so I will relax.
8 I'm just a resident of North Carolina. My 9
husband's job has required us to move around, 10 periodically, which I have been doing for the past 15 11 years.
12 Let me start by saying that I'm not here 13 saying I know everything, I know nothing. I'm just a 14 mom, I'm a grandmother, I'm a wife. I'm very 15 concerned about what we are going to do with the spent 16 rods, before we do any renewal of license.
17 I have been here for two years. Previous 18 to that I lived in a small town called Bayville, New 19 Jersey. We were right outside Oyster Creek. You guys 20 renewed their license, I cried that day.
21 If you could renew Oyster Creek license, 22 you could renew your license. But anyone that opposes 23 it, I feel for you, I truly do feel for you. And what 24 I'm doing is I'm begging that you do look into 25
27 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 disposing of these used rods.
1 When we first started nuclear energy we 2
never expected to keep them on the facilities, and we 3
have. They don't want them out there in the desert, 4
in Nevada. They are very, very dangerous in our 5
backyards.
6 It is their future, for our sins. And I'm 7
just asking you to please consider it. People don't 8
want alternative. I lived in Wales for a year and a 9
half. Actually I thought the windmills looked pretty 10 good.
11 I would rather look at a windmill than 12 look at nothing, or know that I lived and gave these 13 sins of us, to our children. And that is about all I 14 have to say, thank you.
15 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you very much.
16 I had another request to go early for Herman Jaffe.
17 Sir, would you like to use the podium, or do you want 18 to use the wireless?
19 MR. JAFFE: Good afternoon. My name is 20 Herman Jaffe, 209 Old Grove Lane, here in Apex, where 21 I have been for about ten years.
22 Now, there are several reasons not to 23 extend the license of Shearon Harris nuclear plant.
24 The most important is that Shearon Harris has been 25
28 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 stalling, for 15 years, and now asks for another ten 1
years to correct the wiring of firewalls.
2 This is material installed, originally, by 3
the builders of Shearon Harris and approved by you, 4
the NRC. Shearon Harris is spending 500,000 dollars 5
a year on a fire watch system, again, approved by the 6
NRC, hoping to prevent a major fire.
7 That is a hell of a job to look around and 8
look to see if the fire was smoke. Boy, that is awful 9
boring. The next reason not to extend the license is 10 that it was built to last 40 years, only, and it is 11 wearing out, much as a car that was built to last 12 100,000 miles, and has run over 550,000 miles.
13 There are parts of the plant that cannot 14 be measured for durability, and useful life, just as 15 an old car engine and drive train can only be 16 estimated. When a piece of equipment is designed for 17 40 years of use, there are hidden weaknesses to 18 consider. It ages. Let's wait ten more years before 19 we consider a license renewal.
20 Shearon Harris has stalled on replacing 21 known unsafe firewalls, and wiring, and does not 22 really qualify as a responsible operator. The 23 corrections must be made before you, the NRC, consider 24 a license extension that Shearon Harris has asked for.
25
29 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Now, this is really a public relations 1
ploy by Progress Energy. I have been around for over 2
80 years. And as far as the Nuclear Regulatory 3
Commission, I have been around from the get-go. And 4
I supervised security offices back in the '70s.
5 And all the blab, and all the blurb from 6
Progress Energy, I can sum up in one little statement 7
from every security officer I supervised in five 8
different atomic energy plants, in the northeast.
9 Anything happens here, bud, I'm the first 10 one out the gate. And this is all security officers 11 I'm referring to, who I supervised. You have no real 12 security if a major accident occurs. And we have just 13 been going along hoping that they spot a fire, like 14 they did back in '93, before it becomes a major 15 conflagration.
16 I thank you for your courtesy and time.
17 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
18 Jaffe. I have one additional individual who asked to 19 go early. David McNellis.
20 MR. MCNELLIS: Thank you. I'm David 21
- McNellis, 39507 Glenglade, Chapel
- Hill, North 22 Carolina. I'm a research professor at UNC in Chapel 23 Hill, with a dual appointment in the Institute for the 24 Environment, in the Department of Environmental 25
30 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Sciences and Engineering.
1 At UNC I teach courses in energy, and the 2
environment, and treat both transportation, fuels, and 3
systems, and conventional, renewable, and nuclear 4
electricity power production.
5 I'm also an adjunct professor in the 6
department of nuclear engineering at NC State. With 7
my colleagues, and students at NC State, we are 8
working on a number of areas related to the nuclear 9
power industry; non-proliferation, risk assessment, 10 spent fuel, heat evolution, and transmutation.
11 In other words, our work deals with how do 12 we get rid of the spent nuclear fuel. The last area 13 that I mentioned, transmutation, or transformation of 14 spent nuclear fuel components, and the materials that 15 are less radiotoxic, have shorter half lifes, produce 16 less heat, or are stable, reduce physical content 17 and/or lessen the burden on the repository, is the 18 area of my principal interest.
19 My research is privately funded, it 20 includes sponsoring some of the graduate students at 21 NC state, and a number of inter-academy projects with 22 the US and Russian Academy of Sciences.
23 I'm here to speak in favor of extending 24 the license for the Shearon Harris nuclear power 25
31 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 plant. The Progress Energy staff has demonstrated, 1
over the past 20 plus years, that it is fully capable 2
of safely operating the facility, and storing the 3
spent assemblies in pools, and in dry casks.
4 I am convinced that they are fully capable 5
of also preparing the assemblies for shipment, when 6
the repository, or an interim storage facility is 7
available.
8 Operationally, since 1987, Shearon Harris 9
has increased its capacity factor from a little over 10 70 percent, to just over 89 percent this past year, in 11 2006 which was, also, a refuel outage year.
12 It has also been uprated, by the NRC, in 13 2001, by four and a half percent, bringing it to its 14 current 900 megawatt rating.
15 The global nuclear power industry has now, 16 according to my estimates, over 12,000 reactor years 17 of operation, or operational experience. The storage 18 pools at Shearon Harris was originally built to store 19 the assemblies, from the four reactors for which the 20 site was originally designed.
21 There is, of course, only one reactor in 22 operation at the site, and the pool holds, of its own 23 fuel, again according to my estimates, less than 25 24 percent of its capacity of 8,400 rods, or assemblies.
25
32 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 And with its own fuel will only be 1
approximately at 75 percent of capacity, at the end of 2
the relicense period. Shearon Harris is contributing 3
to the provision of the base load of electricity that 4
we, the consumers, are demanding.
5 It is contributing to our national goal of 6
energy independence, and its operation is not 7
contributing to the tropospheric loading of green 8
house gases.
9 Shearon Harris is also a member of the 10 local community. Its management communicates with, 11 and advises, local and state officials, on matters 12 related to its operation.
13 It communicates with the public through 14 its visitor centers, and outreach programs, and 15 participates with local and state organizations, in 16 safety related drills and exercises.
17 I
have toured the facility
- and, 18 periodically, talked with some of the plant's staff 19 and employees. They have earned my confidence, over 20 the years, and I'm pleased to speak in support of this 21 application to extend the license, for the Harris 22 facility, for an additional 20 years.
23 I thank you.
24 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Professor 25
33 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 McNellis.
1 I have just been handed the card of 2
someone else who would like to speak early. So let's 3
go ahead and do that. I have John Byrne, who is the 4
Mayor of, and I apologize, but I can't read what you 5
are the Mayor of. I really apologize for that.
6 MR. BYRNE: Mayor of Fuquay-Varina.
7 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Now that you say it 8
I can read it. Pleasure sir, thank you.
9 MR. BYRNE: First of all, I appreciate the 10 opportunity to be here today. I have been fortunate 11 to have met with some of the NRC officials, several 12 months ago, as this process was starting.
13 I have had a chance to visit the plant and 14 interface with Bob Duncan, and his management team.
15 I have seen, first-hand, the security measures in 16 place, and the dedication, and the commitment, of the 17 entire Progress Energy team.
18 Many of the employees who work at the 19 Shearon Harris plant live in, and are a part of, our 20 community. I am confident that their commitment to 21 safe operation of the plant, and their strong 22 commitment to the environment, are there.
23 There are numerous activities that the 24 lake, and the Harris park, offers, to citizens, 25
34 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 including hiking, and nature trails. I have lived in 1
Fuquay for over 30 years, and continue to count on 2
Progress Energy to provide the electricity needed for 3
our community, and the region, and recognize that the 4
Shearon Harris plant has been a part of providing 5
infrastructure, and meeting the tremendous growth that 6
has taken place in our area.
7 I'm satisfied, in fact, that we could not 8
have had this type of growth if we hadn't had the type 9
of energy needed for this region. And the Harris 10 plant has met those demands.
11 While we face challenges in meeting the 12 demands of growth, certainly our region has, and will 13 continue, to meet those challenges while we work 14 together. In that spirit of team work, cooperation, 15 the Wake County Mayors Association has unanimously, 16 there are 12 municipalities in Wake County, and they 17 support this renewal, unanimously, with a resolution.
18 I'm also a member of the Board of 19 Directors of the Fuquay Chamber of Commerce, and its 20 support was unanimous. I truly believe that we will 21 have a continued safe and reliable operation at the 22 Harris plant, with the 20 year license renewal.
23 I want to thank the NRC for the 24 opportunity to engage our community in the progress, 25
35 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 and want to encourage us all to continue to work 1
together, to meet the needs of our community, our 2
region, and for all of our citizens to enjoy the 3
environment.
4 This is a very safe plant, it has proven 5
that it has stood the test of time, and it meets a 6
very, very important part of our community and 7
region's needs.
8 And, again, I want to thank the NRC for 9
holding this meeting, and notifying us all to speak if 10 we would like. Thank you very much.
11 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you. Is that 12 okay? Actually the Mayor is going to set up a 13 number of representatives of various cities, or 14 counties, that will speak at this point, starting with 15 Paul Fisher, who is the Alderman of Southport, North 16 Carolina, Chairman of North Carolina Municipal Power 17 Board of Commissioners. Alderman?
18 ALDERMAN FISHER: Thank you for the 19 opportunity to address you this afternoon. My name is 20 Paul Fisher, I'm an Alderman for the City of 21 Southport, if you are not familiar with that term, 22 that is the same as city councilman.
23 Also, I'm Chairman of the North Carolina 24 Municipal Power Agency, which I will refer to as the 25
36 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 agency, from here on, it is easier to say.
1 Southport is the home of Brunswick nuclear 2
power plant, they have two units, unit 1 and 2. In 3
2006 their license was extended. We have found the 4
Brunswick plants to be an important economic base for 5
the community.
6 In addition, the plants have, and are 7
continuing, to operate in a safe manner, and they are 8
very good custodians of the environment. And, most of 9
all, they are very good neighbors to the City of 10 Southport.
11 The North Carolina Municipal Power Agency, 12 the agency, consists of 32 municipalities. We have 13 ownership in five generating facilities, three nuclear 14 plants, and two coal-fired plants. The agency, the 15 power agency, owns 16.17 percent of the Harris nuclear 16 plant.
17 The Harris nuclear plant provides safe and 18 reliable power to more than 250,000 power agency 19 customers. The Harris plant is important to Progress 20 Energy to ensure reliable power to both and all of its 21 customers.
22 The plant does not depend on imported fuel 23 and is environmentally responsive to concerns of 24 global warming.
25
37 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Progress Energy has an outstanding track 1
record and is recognized, world-wide, as an industry 2
leader in safe and reliable nuclear operations. The 3
North Carolina Municipal Power Agency supports the 4
continued safe and secure operations of the Harris 5
plant, and encourages favorable considerations of the 6
license renewal extension.
7 I
have left a
- copy, with your 8
receptionist, of my remarks, plus the Resolution of 9
the 32 cities in support of this license renewal 10 favorably. I thank you for the opportunity to speak 11 to you this afternoon.
12 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Alderman.
13 Next to comment I have Robert Ahlert, who is a 14 Councilman, City of Clayton, North Carolina. He is a 15 member of the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power 16 Agency, Board of Commissioners. Councilman?
17 COUNCILMAN AHLERT: Mr. Heath, Mr.
18 Hernandez, and other members of the Nuclear Regulatory 19 Commission. I want to thank you for the opportunity 20 to speak at this hearing.
21 My name is Robert Ahlert, I live at 100 22 Cherry Laurel Drive, in Clayton, North Carolina. I 23 have lived at this address since 1995, approximately 24 12 years.
25
38 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 I serve on the Town Council, and have done 1
so for the past nine years, and I'm currently the 2
Mayor ProTem.
3 Clayton is located in Western Johnston 4
County, about 20 minutes from the state capital, 5
located in Raleigh. Clayton is the fastest growing 6
town, in the fastest growing county, in North 7
Carolina.
8 The population of Clayton is 13,000.
9 Clayton operates its own electric utility system that 10 was established in 1913. We serve over 5,100 11 customers, and are continuing to grow our customer 12 base.
13 I also represent the town of Clayton, as 14 a Commissioner, of the North Carolina Eastern 15 Municipal Power Agency, and as Mr. Fisher said, I will 16 refer to that, in the future, as the agency.
17 He has said there are 32 members, with the 18 combined population of over 420,000, and serve more 19 than 250,000 electric power customers. In order for 20 the agency to provide that electrical power, to its 21 members, it has invested in a number of Progress 22 Energy generating plants.
23 The agency owns over 18 percent of the 24 Brunswick 1 and 2 nuclear power plants, located 16 25
39 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 miles south of Wilmington. You recently granted an 1
operating license renewal for these two plants.
2 The rated capacity of these plants is 938 3
megawatts, and 937 megawatts, respectively. The 4
agency owns 16.17 percent of the Mayo plant, and 12.94 5
percent of the Roxboro plant. These are coal fired 6
plants, located in Person County, North Carolina. The 7
rated capacity of these plants is 741 megawatts, and 8
698 megawatts.
9 And, lastly, the agency owns 16.17 percent 10 of the Shearon Harris nuclear generating plant, 11 located in southwest Wake County, in North Carolina.
12 And that is the subject of this operating license 13 renewal hearing today.
14 The rated capacity of this plant is 900 15 megawatts. The agency's share of the Shearon Harris 16 plant's output is 146 megawatts. This represents 17 about 10 percent of the capacity that is owned by the 18 agency's generating capacity, and 12 percent of the 19 energy requirements.
20 The Harris plant has provided safe, 21 secure, economical power to the agency, its members, 22 and customers, for almost 20 years. Should the NRC 23 not grant an operating license renewal for the Harris 24 plant, beginning in 2027, the agency, including the 25
40 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 town of Clayton, would have to purchase power from 1
other sources to meet the requirements of its 2
customers.
3 Seeking other sources, without the Shearon 4
Harris plant, would undoubtedly direct the agency to 5
other higher costs, fossil fuel generating plants, in 6
the southeastern, part of the United States. That 7
is, of course, assuming there is transmission capacity 8
in order to get that power to our member cities.
9 In addition to the economic impact, 10 consideration should be given to the negative impact 11 of replacing clean nuclear power with fossil fuel 12 power, that generates greenhouse gases, carbon 13 monoxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and nitrogen oxide.
14 Likewise, conservation measures would not 15 be sufficient to offset the loss output from the 16 Harris plant.
17 In closing, the town of Clayton, and the 18 Eastern Municipal Power
- Agency, endorse the 19 application of Progress Energy to renew the operating 20 license for Shearon Harris nuclear generating plant.
21 Premature closing of the plant would have 22 a negative impact for the more than 425,000 citizens 23 in the agency municipalities, and the more than 24 250,000 electric customers they serve.
25
41 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 We encourage you to give favorable 1
consideration to a safe and secure operating license 2
renewal of the Shearon Harris plant for the economic 3
and environmental reasons previously stated. Thank 4
you.
5 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you 6
Councilman. Next I would like to invite the comment 7
of David Finger, from the Cary Chamber of Commerce.
8 MR. FINGER: My name is David Finger, the 9
address is 307 North Academy Street, in Cary. I am 10 serving as Chairman of the Cary Chamber of Commerce 11 Board of Directors this year.
12 And I'm here, today, representing over 13 1,300 businesses that are members of the Cary Chamber 14 of Commerce, located in and around Cary, that rely on 15 energy provided by Progress Energy, and the Shearon 16 Harris nuclear power plant.
17 The Cary Chamber fully supports the 18 continued safe and secure operation of the Harris 19 plant, and encourages the NRC to extend the Harris 20 plant's operating license an additional 20 years.
21 Progress Energy has a proven 35 year track 22 record of operating nuclear plants safely and 23 securely. The Harris plant supplies power to more 24 than 550,000 businesses and residences, or about 12 25
42 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 percent of the total electricity generated by PE 1
Carolinas.
2 Continued operation of the Harris plant 3
will result in no greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce 4
dependence upon unstable foreign energy supplies.
5 Aside from benefiting from the plant's 6
safe and productive operation, our community realizes 7
a tremendous positive and economic impact from 8
Progress Energy and the Harris plant by virtue of the 9
tax revenues generated, salaries generated, and the 10 company's strong philanthropic contributions to Cary 11 and Wake County.
12 To the NRC we ask that you take whatever 13 steps are necessary to facilitate the operating 14 license extension, and thank you for allowing us to 15 participate in this hearing today.
16 And I would also like to leave, with you, 17 a resolution that was unanimously approved by our 18 Board of Directors and our Executive Board. Thank 19 you.
20 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
21 Finger. I'd like to invite to the podium Scoop Green, 22 who is representing the Holly Springs Chamber. I 23 believe that would be Chamber of Commerce. That is 24 just a guess.
25
43 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 MR. GREEN: My name is Scoop Green, I'm 1
the executive director of the Holly Springs Chamber of 2
Commerce. The Holly Springs community continues to be 3
one of the fastest growing communities in North 4
Carolina.
5 On January 24th, 2007, with one hundred 6
percent support, the Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce 7
Board of Directors passed a resolution in support of 8
the continued safe and secure operations of the 9
Shearon Harris nuclear plant.
10 Besides Progress Energy's proven track 11 record and safety, we also recognize their tremendous 12 economic impact, and the environmental resources that 13 Progress Energy has in Holly Springs, as well as 14 within Wake County.
15 Please support the necessary steps to 16 facilitate the operating license extension. And, 17 again, thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
18 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
19 Green. Next up I have Harvey Schmitt, who is with the 20 Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.
21 MR.
SCHMITT: Thank you for the 22 opportunity. I'm Harvey Schmitt, president of the 23 Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. We have 2,800 24 members representing roughly 70 percent of the private 25
44 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 sector workforce in Wake County. I live in North 1
Raleigh at 9005 Armitage Court.
2 June 12th, or approximately thereabouts, 3
will be a significant day in our region. Our county 4
has, over the past year, we have been growing at 5
roughly 100 people per day. And at this rate our MSA 6
population should reach a million people in mid-June.
7 Over the past 12 months our area has 8
received many high rankings and accolades; number one 9
place for business, and careers, by Forbes, number 10 eight fastest growing metro in the nation by the U.S.
11 Census Bureau; number one best U.S. city for job, 12 Forbes; top 50 hottest cities for expanding and 13 relocating companies; top ten tech town; Wake County 14 number one school district, and the Wake County's 15 schools gold rating from Expansion Management 16 magazine.
17 What those ratings suggest is that dynamic 18 growth that has taken place in this market is likely 19 to continue. And that kind of growth requires energy 20 to meet new demand.
21 The Shearon Harris plant currently 22 supplies more than a half million residences and 23 businesses, and provides 12 percent of the total 24 energy generated by Progress Energy of the Carolinas.
25
45 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 And the plant generates more than 7.9 1
million megawatt hours of electricity, and 2
approximately ten million dollars in taxes to Wake 3
County, annually.
4 Obviously it has a big impact. Greater 5
Raleigh Chamber of Commerce would support this 6
relicensing request, and would ask that the agency 7
consider the fact that this growth has taken place in 8
the market, and will have an impact on the need for 9
electricity in our community for some time to come.
10 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, sir. I 11 would like to kind of interrupt the flow of what I was 12 trying to do, there, and actually let a member of the 13 public come up and have the podium, since we have had 14 a lot of people representing various groups.
15 If Liz Cullington would like to come and 16 comment, please?
17 MS. CULLINGTON: Thanks very much. I hope 18 I'm not going to hold up any of the town worthies who 19 came today, but there has been a fair amount of 20 disinformation said so far, and misinformation, and 21 whatever.
22 So since I was fourth, originally, on the 23 list I thought I would interrupt and say, okay, give 24 me a turn.
25
46 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 An environmental scoping process is not a 1
popularity contest. The environmental impact 2
statement is supposed to analyze the effect of a no-3 action alternative, which would mean an NRC denial to 4
extend the operating license beyond 2026 to 2046, or 5
deciding not to do so at this time.
6 It also has to consider alternative 7
sources for power. We are talking about a very early 8
extension of the license. The license doesn't expire 9
for 20 years. We won't have the same staff, we won't 10 have the same environmental conditions, we won't have 11 the same population.
12 The alternative energy sources that 13 Progress Energy has considered, in its report, are 14 limited to those that are available now, in terms of 15 electricity demand now, not in 2026.
16 And on their claim that energy demand is 17 simply going to increase for the foreseeable future.
18 They only consider, in their report, power generation 19 sources that they consider viable now, a new nuclear 20 or new fossil fuel plant, or purchase power from such 21 dirty sources, rather than what might be available, 22 and viable, in 2026.
23 In terms of plant aging issues and those 24 affects on the public health and the environment, 25
47 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 aging of plant systems is the only area, other than 1
environmental issues, that the NRC is supposed to 2
consider in relicensing a plant or not.
3 But this is the one area that is very 4
impossible to predict so far in advance. During the 5
first 20 to 30 years of U.S. power reactor operation 6
numerous systems and components have turned out to age 7
and deteriorate more rapidly than expected, and to be 8
missed by routine inspections.
9 It seems extremely likely that additional 10 generic aging issues will emerge in the next 5, 10, 11 and 20 years if U.S. power reactors continue to 12 operate.
13 It simply is not credible that either 14 Progress Energy, or the NRC, can predict additional 15 aging effects 40 years into the future.
16 Two dangerous examples of such unforeseen 17 issues that have emerged in recent years are reactor 18 head corrosion, and the pressurized water reactor 19 problem with butt welds.
20 These appear to be -- there are likely to 21 be many more as reactors age. A responsible regulator 22 would not tie its hands so far in advance, but would 23 retain the authority to shut down nuclear reactors 24 that can no longer be operated safely.
25
48 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Scoping issues that ought to be included 1
in the supplemental plant specific EIS, specific 2
environmental and public health impacts that are 3
supposed to be analyzed in the EIS seem very hard to 4
predict in the future, but I tried to come up with a 5
list of things that should be analyzed, and what is 6
wrong with the current analysis.
7 The first one is water supply for reactor 8
cooling. There are significant water supply issues 9
with the plant now, with water having to be pumped 10 from the lower Harris lake reservoir, to the upper 11 lake reservoir, during dry months.
12 The source for this information is 13 Progress Energy's application for renewal of its North 14 Carolina NPDES permit in 2006. Harris lake, compared 15 to some other lakes in our state, has a relatively 16 small and poor cachement area. It is not fed by a 17 single major river.
18 To what extent is Progress Energy double 19 dipping in regards to the possibility of raising the 20 water level in the lower reservoir of Harris Lake?
21 The company has said that this could be done to serve 22 two additional reactors.
23 That water supply, if that is done, that 24 water supply would not be available for additional 25
49 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 reactors if it turns out that it is needed for the 1
current reactor, and vice versa.
2 In addition to actual water volume use of 3
the lake for makeup water for a nuclear reactor, 4
raises its temperature. And so a usable water body 5
can be temperature
- limited, and affected by 6
increasingly hot summers.
7 The availability of Harris lake as a heat 8
sink not just for routine cooling for the period of 9
2026 to 2046 would need to be evaluated in light of 10 this water supply factors, and may need to be 11 evaluated for the current term of the operating 12 license.
13 For this reason alone it is dangerous and 14 unnecessary for the NRC to proceed with considering 15 extending the Harris plant license at this time.
16 The high level waste storage, i.e., the 17 fuel pools and the water supply, a separate analysis 18 would need to be done for future scenarios of climate 19 change on the fuel pools, including the possibility of 20 no repository.
21 This analysis must include the 22 availability of the lake to provide cooling, and the 23 heat sink, to the fuel pools, and the reactor, 24 simultaneously, under the most severe drought 25
50 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 conditions, and the most catastrophic accident 1
conditions.
2 Third issue, greenhouse gas emissions from 3
the entire fuel cycle, from an additional 20 years of 4
operation. Progress Energy, in its report said if we 5
decommission the plant in 2026, or if we decommission 6
the plant in 2046, oh what is the difference?
7 Well, the difference is, among other 8
things, significant quantities of various greenhouse 9
gases are released during the entire fuel cycle, 10 uranium fuel cycle, some of which are many times more 11 damaging than carbon dioxide, such as those emitted 12 during fuel fabrication.
13 The plant specific environmental impact 14 statement should consider all the greenhouse gas 15 emissions, not just carbon dioxide, associated with 16 extended operation for 20 years, beyond 2026, such as 17 uranium mining, fuel fabrication, fuel transport, 18 repair, replacement, manufacture and transport, to 19 maintain the reactor, spent fuel transport, low level 20 radioactive waste transport, low level radioactive 21 waste incineration, and so on.
22 Issue number 4, water impacts and water 23 pathways to humans and other species. An 24 environmental impact statement for an additional 20 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 years of operation beyond 2026, would have to be able 1
to adequately predict, under uncertain climate change 2
scenarios, all the water pollution aspects of all 3
those activities just discussed above.
4 Tritium is currently released at the 5
Harris lake, and thus into the Cape Fear river 6
downstream, which is used as a drinking water source 7
by a number of counties and municipalities. Harnett 8
county is merely the first intake downstream. And 9
water from that intake is currently sold to other 10 water needy counties and municipalities.
11 Tritium cannot be filtered out of water, 12 and is incorporated into the body of humans and other 13 animals. Analysis would have to include increased 14 emissions of tritium, under aging and accident 15 scenarios, and include higher concentration under 16 drought conditions, and the concentration and 17 consequent exposures during simultaneous catastrophic 18 accident and severe drought conditions.
19 There is also a section here which I will 20 just submit in writing, on additional operational 21 exposures, which is actually quite extensive.
22 Alternatives, any discussion of available 23 alternative energy generation must be done for a 24 period beginning 20 years into the future, and not 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 based on currently available technologies or prices.
1 Reasonable assumptions, which are not 2
found in Progress Energy's report, include wind, 3
solar, and current clean renewable alternatives will 4
be cheaper than at present, and possibly have lower 5
impacts than at present.
6 Additional renewable energy options will 7
be developed in the future, beyond what is considered 8
in Progress Energy's report, or basically in any of 9
our minds right now.
10 Thirdly, coal fired power plants may not 11 be an available or viable option in 2026, and natural 12 gas supplies via pipeline may not be available either.
13 If the environmental impact statement is 14 still to include alternatives such as new nuclear, 15 coal or natural gas generation, then their 16 environmental impacts would have to be evaluated, 17 thoroughly, for the period 2026 to 2046, for their 18 entire fuel cycle, not just utility operation.
19 From exploration and mining, through 20 transportation, and up to disposal of wastes, it would 21 also have to include all the resources committed and 22 used, those would be impacted in the full range of 23 water and air emissions, resulting in deep stage.
24 Uranium supply, analysis of remaining 25
53 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 global uranium supply does not support the feasibility 1
of operating the Harris plant for an additional 20 2
years under current assumptions regarding fuel 3
availability, or price.
4 Uranium prices are projected, by industry 5
analysts, to continue to rise with global scarcity, 6
and increasing global demand for uranium, for both 7
fuel fabrication and nuclear feed stock, until they 8
reach 500 dollars a pound, and then conceivably people 9
would just stop paying.
10 The price advantage cited by Progress 11 Energy and the nuclear industry, generally, over other 12 alternatives, often relies on old uranium prices, such 13 as when several years it was 8 dollars a pound, now it 14 is 113 dollars a pound, and shows no sign of slowing 15 down.
16 It has risen 57 percent since the start of 17 2007. Uranium mining is dependent on a supply of 18 water very nearby. The environmental impact statement 19 would have to consider the effects of uranium mining 20 using alternative water supply methods because, 21 basically, that water supply future is not assured.
22 Industry analysts predict that many 23 declared global uranium reserves may not be able to be 24 mined now using in situ recovery, which is water 25
54 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 dependent.
1 Let me skip that part. The generic 2
environmental impact statement is not adequate to 3
address future environmental impacts 40 years into the 4
future, since it was only prepared in the 1990s.
5 Significant new mechanisms have been 6
discovered since that time, which have drastically 7
altered both projected impacts and timelines of 8
climate change effects.
9 Any issue that was covered inadequately in 10 the GEIS, or not covered at all, but which involves 11 future environmental impacts, in this case, should be 12 allowed into the scope of the plant specific 13 environmental impact statement.
14 To adequately comment on this process a 15 person would have to know about, obtain and read, 1680 16 pages. While Progress Energy's 476 page environmental 17 review is located in two Wake libraries, at this point 18 the generic environmental impact statement is not 19 there yet.
20 I'm asking the NRC to provide a copy of 21 the generic environmental impact statement to the Cary 22 library. I also request that the NRC allow another 60 23 days to allow for adequate comment.
24 The vast majority of the public only had 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 a few days notice from Sunday's April the 17th News 1
and Observer, or possibly a week from one or more of 2
the local papers. That is a certain amount of 3
information, but probably not full or adequate.
4 Without these documents it is impossible 5
for interested members of the public to know what 6
environmental impacts are supposed to be considered, 7
and which process the adequacy of current scoping 8
plans, or how the process affects the future of their 9
environment.
10 The entire relicensing process is a 11 premature action which is unwise and unnecessary.
12 What is the hurry? The Harris plant operating license 13 is good for another 20 years, and does not need to be 14 renewed at this time.
15 To rule on aging and safety issues, 20 16 years in the future, is both risky and absurd. The 17 licensee has not even attempted to frame these issues 18 in the required future years of 2026 to 2046. Instead 19 they have prepared a report that could be quickly 20 adapted for other purposes, such as to support a 21 combined operating and siting license, construction 22 license, for one or two new reactors at the Harris 23 site.
24 Since it covers conditions in the year 25
56 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 2006, not 2026, let alone 2046. I urge the NRC to 1
reject Progress Energy's application for license 2
extension at this time.
3 If the NRC insists on proceeding along 4
this relicensing track, then I urge the NRC to reject 5
the company's draft EIS and require them to attempt to 6
meet their legal requirements for the future period in 7
question.
8
- Secondly, the NRC must not begin 9
consideration of an application for one or two new 10 reactors at the Harris site, until the relicensing 11 process for the first reactor is finalized, and all 12 the water supply, and other issues, described above, 13 are resolved.
14 The NRC must not allow a separate track 15 process under which the company could allocate the 16 same resource to several different safety and 17 environmental impact analysis without the left hand 18 counting what the right hand is doing.
19 Thank you very much.
20 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you for your 21 comments. I had a request if someone can go.
22 Apparently he needs to get back to work. Michael 23 Leach, representing the Raleigh Apex NAACP.
24 MR. LEACH: Good afternoon. I'm Michael 25
57 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Leach, president of the Raleigh Apex branch of the 1
National Association for the Advancement of Colored 2
People.
3 And I have submitted a resolution in 4
support of the Harris license renewal. I work with 5
Progress Energy on various projects over the years.
6 And I'm familiar with its Harris plant.
7 I'm also a customer of Progress Energy.
8 I count on them to provide me, and the members I 9
represent, with reliable power. The Harris plant is 10 an important part of Progress Energy's plan to ensure 11 reliable power at the least expensive cost to me, and 12 other customers.
13 Therefore I support to ensure the Harris 14 plant continues to operate in the future, providing 15 safe, reliable, and affordable energy.
16 I would like to thank the NRC for allowing 17 me the time to make comments on behalf of the 18 community. Thank you.
19 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
20 Leach. I'd like to thank everyone who is being 21 patient waiting to comment. I would like to allow 22 Robert Duncan, who is the Harris vice president to 23 comment, if you would like.
24 MR. DUNCAN: Thank you very much for the 25
58 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 opportunity to speak today. My name is Bob Duncan, 1
I'm the site vice president at the Harris nuclear 2
plant.
3 On May 2nd of this year the Harris plant 4
will reach a major milestone in its history, 20 years 5
of commercial operation, 20 years of providing power 6
to our customers without incident.
7 Over those 20 years the Harris plant has 8
produced over 130 million megawatt hours of power.
9 That is enough power to power over a half a million 10 homes for over 20 years.
11 At Progress Energy we believe a balanced 12 solution is absolutely necessary to help the future of 13 population growth that we see in the area. The 14 solution includes demand site management, energy 15 efficiency, renewable energy sources, clean air 16 technology, as well as new nuclear baseload operation.
17 The Harris plant is essential to meeting 18 the needs of our customers and we meet those needs 19 with zero greenhouse gas emissions. With very real 20 concerns about global warming it is good for our 21 customers and good for the environment to take steps 22 now to ensure that the Harris plant continues to be 23 that clean air energy source well into the future.
24 Renewing the plant's license will allow us 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 to do exactly that. A recent Bisconti research 1
national survey determined that 85 percent of the 2
public believe that the U.S. should take advantage of 3
all low carbon energy opportunities in the future, 4
including nuclear power.
5 And I agree with DOE assistant secretary 6
Dennis Bergen, who recently said, any serious efforts 7
to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, while 8
providing the increasing amount of energy for economic 9
development and growth must include expanded use of 10 nuclear energy.
11 That, obviously, includes the retention of 12 current capabilities through the license renewal 13 process.
14 I'm here today representing 650 employees 15 who work at the Harris plant, many of who are in the 16 audience today to show their support. These are 17 highly skilled, extensively trained professionals, who 18 are dedicated and committed to their work.
19 Understandably these employees, including 20 me, are held to very high expectations. We are 21 responsible for safely operating a nuclear reactor, 22 and that is a huge responsibility.
23 We come to work every day with our first 24 priority not simply to generate electricity, but to 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 make sure that we are generating electricity in a 1
sustainable way, that ensures the health and safety of 2
the public, and the environment.
3 It is my responsibility to ensure that 4
safety for our employees, and for our public. Safety 5
has, and always will be, a top priority for the Harris 6
plant.
7 In 2006 the Harris plant received its 8
third consecutive Institute of Nuclear Power 9
Operations Excellence Award, identifying it as a top 10 operating plant in the U.S. industry.
11 We also have an obligation to produce 12 power in a cost effective way. The Harris plant helps 13 Progress Energy do that. We consistently rank high in 14 the industry in this category. And in 2002 and 2005 15 the Harris plant was the lowest cost energy provided, 16 in dollars per megawatt generated, of any nuclear 17 plant in the country.
18 We also have a three year capacity factor, 19 over 93 percent. That means we are on-line an average 20 of 340 days of every year. We are privileged to 21 provide power for the community at the Harris plant, 22 and we take that responsibility very seriously.
23 It is important to clarify that if our 24 application is approved, that doesn't give us carte 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 blanche to operate for another 20 years. We have to 1
earn that license every minute, of every day, through 2
our performance.
3 We are a good neighbor, and a capable 4
corporate citizen. And we intend to preserve what has 5
been entrusted to us, and that is our commitment.
6 Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
7 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
8 Duncan. Next up Keith Sutton, from the Triangle Urban 9
League.
10 MR. SUTTON: Good afternoon, Keith 11 Sutton, President of the Triangle Urban League, and I 12 have submitted a letter of support for Progress 13 Energy.
14 We are a community based organization that 15 is devoted to empowering African-Americans. You just 16 heard about some of the accolades bestowed on this 17 community and we just recently received one, and that 18 is the third best city for African-Americans in this 19 country.
20 Like other community leaders I have worked 21 closely with Progress Energy since 2000, and I know 22 first hand the commitment this company has to the 23 community that it serves.
24 As that community continues to grow, with 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 these accolades and others, so will the demand for 1
electricity. Therefore I advocate for safe, 2
affordable, and reliable electricity.
3 And in my observation Progress Energy is 4
capable of providing such and, therefore, I support 5
moving forward with the license renewal of the Harris 6
plant.
7 Thank you for this opportunity to give a 8
community perspective.
9 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
10 Sutton. Tom Oxholm, if you would like to come up and 11 comment, sir?
12 MR. OXHOLM: My name is Tom Oxholm. Sorry 13 for my bad cold. I'm a CPA, I live at 7301 Bayhill 14 Court in Raleigh, I'm a 30 year resident of Wake 15 county and customer of CP&L Progress Energy.
16 Also a chief financial officer of Wake 17 Stone Corporation, which is headquartered in 18 Nightdale. Our 150 employees produce crushed stone 19 for concrete and asphalt producers, as well as road 20 builders, and general contractors.
21 An average new home requires about 700 22 tons of crushed stone. The expected life of our 23 quarries is about 200 years. We like to plan way 24 ahead.
25
63 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 We are a 37 year customer of Progress 1
Energy, spending close to a million dollars per year 2
for power to crush our products to state 3
specifications.
4 We count on them to always provide our 5
stone crushing plants with a reliable power. A power 6
outage in our business means equipment that locks up, 7
full of thousands of tons of raw material. A lockup 8
might take us a full day to unclog.
9 When we do have a power problem they get 10 right on it, helping us get back in business as 11 quickly as possible. The Harris plant is an important 12 part of Progress Energy plan to ensure reliable power 13 at the lowest possible cost to us, and to other 14 business customers.
15 Nuclear power helps Progress Energy 16 protects customers from price volatility, ensures a 17 reliable supply of energy. We do not need to depend 18 on imported fuels. We do need to be environmentally 19 responsible to concerns about global warming, and we 20 need to be safe.
21 One of our plants is about ten miles from 22 the Harris plant. We are very pleased with Progress 23 Energy's outstanding safety record, and are very 24 confident in their ability to keep our employees safe.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 With demand for our products growing in 1
Wake county, and eastern North Carolina, failure to 2
renew the license of the Harris plant would threaten 3
the reliability of our needed power source, and 4
affordability of our products.
5 I would also like to add that I'm a former 6
member of the Wake county Board of Education, serving 7
from 1999 to 2003. And there is no better partner for 8
public education than Progress Energy.
9 School children's safety is always their 10 top priority. And Wake County public schools 11 confidently depend on their reliability record.
12 I'm also currently the finance chair of 13 the Board of Directors of Wake Med Health and 14 hospitals. The hospital system cannot operate without 15 safe dependable power. Progress Energy has an 16 unwavering commitment to all of Wake Med's hospitals 17 and patients, that Wake County citizens depend on, 18 every minute of every day.
19 Thank you for the opportunity to speak, 20 and to ask you to please renew the Harris plant 21 license.
22 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
23 Oxholm. Carl Wilkins, representing the American 24 Association of Blacks in Energy.
25
65 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 MR. WILKINS: Hi. I'm Carl Wilkins, the 1
past president for the American Association of Blacks 2
in Energy, the North Carolina chapter.
3 I'm a resident of Wake County, have lived 4
here for over 32 years with my family. In 2005 our 5
national office commissioned a study on the state of 6
energy for African-Americans in the United States.
7 We learned that African-Americans, and 8
other minorities, pay a disproportionate share of 9
their income for energy, and these groups to be more 10 acutely affected by air emissions from our 11 transportation and energy sectors.
12 We also learned that our communities tend 13 to live in older housing stock, which isn't energy 14 efficient, and usually has older, less efficient 15 appliances, and heating and cooling systems.
16 With these observations, as a back drop, 17 we have determined that our constituents, and our 18 communities, would be greatly served from measures 19 that would ensure low cost, clean and reliable energy 20 sources.
21 With the current volatility in the fossil 22 fuels market, we believe that the stable cost of 23 nuclear power has had a positive effect on our local 24 rates with respect to fuel adjustment.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Our members and constituents want 1
continued access to low cost energy, as we see it as 2
necessary to having a growing economy, and the quality 3
of life which we have grown accustomed to.
4 We have lived with the Shearon Harris 5
nuclear power plant in our region since 1987 and have 6
observed that it is operated without a major incident.
7 We also know that it operates at a low cost of 8
production, which helps keep our local electric rates 9
low.
10 In addition we have observed that it has 11 operated reliably and safely. Therefore it is the 12 opinion of the North Carolina Chapter of the American 13 Association of Blacks in Energy, that Progress 14 Energy's application to extend this operating license 15 for Shearon Harris nuclear power plant be granted by 16 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
17 Thank you for the opportunity to make 18 these public comments.
19 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
20 Wilkins. Next up I would like to invite to comment 21 Nelle Hotchkiss, who is with the North Carolina 22 Electric Membership Corporation.
23 MS. HOTCHKISS: Thank you, and good 24 afternoon. I'm Nelle Hotchkiss, senior vice president 25
67 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 of corporate relations for the North Carolina Electric 1
Membership Corporation, which provides electricity to 2
26 rural electric cooperatives, serving over 800,000 3
meters across the state.
4 North Carolina Electric Membership 5
Corporation is a wholesale customer of Progress Energy 6
Carolinas. The Harris plant is an important part of 7
Progress Energy's resources.
8 Extending the life of a well run, existing 9
plant, in today's global environment of rising energy 10 costs, and environmental sensitivity, provides for the 11 continuation of emission free, reliable power, at the 12 lowest possible cost to the citizens of North 13
- Carolina, including our electric cooperative 14 membership.
15 In a broader context, nuclear energy is 16 essential to a balanced portfolio for any energy 17 company operating in North Carolina. North Carolina 18 Electric Membership Corporation has interest in a 19 nuclear plant as well, and supports the continuation 20 and development of nuclear resources in our state.
21 We strongly support the relicensing of the 22 Harris plant and encourage the Nuclear Regulatory 23 Commission to do so as well.
24 I have a copy of my remarks, and I will 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 leave them in the back of the room. Thank you.
1 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Ms.
2 Hotchkiss. Ken Atkins, representing the Wake County 3
Economic Development.
4 MR. ATKINS: My name is Ken Atkins, 5
executive director of Wake County Economic 6
Development, and thank you for this opportunity to 7
speak here today.
8 I'm here to support the extension of the 9
license for Progress Energy. North Carolina and 10 Research Triangle Region is recognized as one of the 11 most dynamic economies in the U.S., we heard some of 12 the earlier accolades.
13 My organization is directly responsible 14 for working with a lot of the industries that are 15 looking to either move or expand here. And in 2006 I 16 worked directly with many of those companies, there 17 were 33 of them coming into this area.
18 And I would like to just name a very few 19 to give you an example, Biogen, 100 new jobs, and 20 about 20 million dollars of investment. ConAgra, 30 21 new jobs, Credit Suisse, 400 new jobs, 40 million 22 dollars of investment; Fidelity Investments, 1000 new 23 jobs, 100 million dollars of investment. Nobardis 350 24 new jobs, 267 million dollars of investment.
25
69 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 I will leave the complete list with you, 1
but I think you are getting a feel for what we are 2
saying. These new companies, and the others that came 3
in, represent 29,759 net new jobs for the citizens of 4
Wake County.
5 We must continue to grow our jobs, and 6
investment, for us to continue having a dynamic 7
economy. My staff and I were involved in every one of 8
the projects I just mentioned.
9 And I can tell you a key factor in their 10 decision to come here was the availability of 11 reasonably priced reliable energy. And it is 12 extremely important to us that this license be 13 renewed, because many of these companies, particularly 14 Novardas, the vaccine producer, it will take them five 15 to six years even to get their facility up and 16 operating.
17 They are very concerned that there is a 18 long term plan in place to continue having a good 19 steady supply of electricity, and a very vibrant 20 market.
21 It is for that reasons, and many of the 22 others that you heard today, that Wake County Economic 23 Development strongly supports the extension of the 24 license. We feel it is a critical part of our vibrant 25
70 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 economy and must be in place for us to move forward.
1 Thank you very much.
2 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Mr.
3 Atkins. Hilda Pinnix. And I apologize, I don't know 4
if it is Ragland or Bagland.
5 MS. PINNIX-RAGLAND: Thank you for this 6
opportunity. I'm Hilda Pinnix-Ragland, I do reside at 7
100 Lock Cove Lane, in Cary, North Carolina, not far 8
from the Harris plant.
9 I have the opportunity to serve 16 10 counties in central and northern North Carolina for 11 Progress Energy. And I also have this opportunity to 12 ensure that our commercial, our industrial, and our 13 residential customers receive the power to their 14 homes, and their businesses.
15 We must make sure that reliable, 24/7 flow 16 of power, is there to meet their needs each and every 17 day. And, especially, for those hospitals, the fire 18 and police departments, and for our industrial 19 customers, often who can't even tolerate a flick 20 within their power flow.
21 So continuous power is needed. The Harris 22 plant is an important, no it is essential, it is an 23 essential part to a balanced solution, to meeting all 24 of our customers needs.
25
71 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 So we are applying to renew the Harris 1
plant's operating license because we have 2
responsibility to serve our customers, to ensure they 3
have power today, and for tomorrow.
4 And, of course, we have an obligation, 5
under the direction of the North Carolina Utilities 6
Commission to meet that need in the most cost 7
effective, environmentally responsibility way we can.
8 The nuclear power generated at Harris is 9
the lowest cost option, and it produces no greenhouse 10 gases that contribute to global climate change.
11 Now, we are also mindful of making an 12 impact in our communities. In fact, there are two 13 great examples. Our employees, and our customers, 14 since 1982, have contributed more than 16 million 15 dollars to our energy neighbor fund.
16 Now, that fund was created by us to make 17 sure those customers who can't afford to pay their 18 bills, have that opportunity. And they can do so by 19 applying for this Energy Neighbor Fund dollars.
20 Furthermore, in 2006, Progress Energy 21 contributed more than 12 million dollars to support 22 our community, to enhance education, to protect the 23 environment, to promote economic development.
24 And, of course, we are supportive of our 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 communities, because we have more than 10,000 1
employees, out and about in our communities.
2 Now, we have a major tax impact on this 3
community. I think someone mentioned it earlier. In 4
Wake County the tax revenue is about 15.1 million 5
dollars, of which 7.4 million is directly attributable 6
to the Harris plant.
7 So we are in the community, we are 8
contributing from a tax revenue perspective. We are 9
in Johnston County, we are in Orange, we are in 10 Chatham, we are in Lee, we are in Harnett.
11 We are all over the community with those 12 10,000 employees. Now, as I close, I'm extremely 13 pleased to announce that we have support from 13 14 different entities. These are resolutions.
15 Some of them have been mentioned already.
16 I will mention just the 13. The Raleigh Apex branch 17 of the NAACP, the American Association of Blacks in 18 Energy; the Wendell Wake branch of the NAACP, the 19 Triangle Urban League, the Holly Springs Chamber of 20 Commerce, the Fuquay-Varina Area Chamber of Commerce, 21 Wake County Economic Development, Town of Clayton, the 22 Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, the North 23 Carolina Economic Developers Association, the North 24 Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency, and the Wake 25
73 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 County Mayors Association.
1 Again, I thank you for allowing me this 2
opportunity, and I definitely endorse the renewal of 3
the plant.
4 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, Ms.
5 Raglan. At this point that was the last speaker that 6
I had signed up by completing a yellow card. I 7
believe we have some time left if there is anybody who 8
wants to have the mike again, if they already made a 9
comment, or if somebody new wants to come up and make 10 a comment, or ask a question, we have time for that 11 now.
12 I will pause and gaze around the room, 13 slowly a couple of times, just to see if I see any 14 hands go up. Since I didn't I will go ahead and 15 introduce Rani Franovich. Rani is going to close out 16 the meeting for us. She is the chief of the 17 environmental branch, for license renewal at the NRC.
18 MS. FRANOVICH: Thank you, Lance. I just 19 want to take this opportunity to thank you all for 20 coming to this meeting. Getting input from the public 21 is a very important step in our environmental review 22 process.
23 For those of you who did not provide 24 comments during today's meeting, the comment period is 25
74 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 open until May 19th. Likewise, the opportunity for 1
hearing is also open until May 19th, for those of you 2
who wish to proffer contentions for the NRC to 3
consider.
4 I wanted to correct something that was 5
said earlier by Ms. Lynn Bauchkey. She was the one 6
who came up with her grandchild and her son. She 7
indicated that the NRC staff has renewed the license 8
of Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station.
9 This is a facility in New Jersey that 10 applied for license renewal in the latter part of 11 2005. The Staff has completed its environmental 12 impact statement, it was published around January 13 19th, I believe.
14 The Staff has also completed its safety 15 review, and the safety evaluation report was issued 16 March 30th. But that particular proceeding is 17 currently in litigation. We will be going to hearing 18 in the next few months.
19 And so the NRC staff has not issued a 20 renewed license, we have only completed the safety 21 review, and the environmental review, but hearings are 22 another part of the process, one of the things we 23 consider before coming to a conclusion about issuing 24 a renewed license. So I just wanted to correct the 25
75 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 record on that.
1 We have comment forms that you may have 2
received when you first registered for the meeting.
3 Any ideas, suggestions, on how we can improve our 4
public meetings, things we can do better, things we 5
can do different, things that are working well, please 6
don't hesitate to let us know, fill out one of the 7
forms.
8 You can leave one with a member of the 9
Staff. Or you can mail it in. I think the postage is 10 pre-paid. And with that I would like to close the 11 meeting. Thank you all, again, for being here, and if 12 there are any members of the public who wish to speak 13 with NRC staff, we are all wearing name tags, we will 14 be hanging around the area for the next 15 or 20 15 minutes, we will be happy to talk with you, just grab 16 one of us and let us know what you would like to 17 discuss with us, and we will be happy to.
18 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Rani, would you like 19 to mention that we are having another one of these 20 meetings tonight, just in case anybody wants to come 21 back?
22 MS. FRANOVICH: We are going to have a 23 meeting very, very similar to this one. It will start 24 at 7 o'clock, we will have an open house between 6 25
76 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 o'clock and 7 o'clock before that meeting. So if 1
anyone wishes to come back, they are welcome to.
2 If you know of anyone who could not make 3
this afternoon's meeting, please let them know they 4
will have another opportunity to come meet with us 5
this evening. Thank you Lance.
6 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you.
7 (Whereupon, at 3:10 p.m., the above-8 entitled matter was concluded.)
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19