ML072040023
| ML072040023 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Harris  |
| Issue date: | 07/17/2007 |
| From: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| To: | |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| 07-855-02-LR-BD01, 50-400-LR, NRC-1664, RAS 13897 | |
| Download: ML072040023 (14) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant Docket Number:
Location:
50-400-LR; 07-855-02-LR-BDO1 Raleigh, North Carolina DOCKETED USNRC
.July 20, 2007 (11:12am)
OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Date:
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 Work Order No.:
NRC-1664 Pages 1-12 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433 5'&'y -o~
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD (ASLB)
LIMITED APPEARANCE SESSION In the Matter of:
CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY (Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1)
- Docket No.
- 50-400-LR ALSBP No.
07-855-02-LR-BD01 2007 Tuesday July 1.7, 1707 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina The above-entitled matter began, pursuant to notice, at 5:30 p.m.
BEFORE:
ANN MARSHALL YOUNG PETER S.
LAM ALICE MIGNEREY Chair Administrative Judge Administrative Judge NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 www.nealrgross.com
2 C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S PRESENTATION Martin Criscoe Joseph Mangano Cecil Parker Herman Jaffe NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10-www.nealrgross.com
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P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2
5:25 p.m.
3 CHAIR YOUNG':
Hello, everyone, thank you 4
for coming.
My name is Ann Marshall Young.
I'm the 5
Chair of this Licensing Board and the attorney member 6
and that is the Licensing Board assigned to consider 7
the --
regarding the license renewal application for 8
the Shearon Harris Plant.
And we are here to hear 9
limited appearance statements from the public.
We 10 welcome you.
We have four people who have signed up 11 to speak.
I see more people than that in the 12 audience, so even if you have not signed up, you are 13 free to speak.
We have set a time limit of five 14 minutes per person, so that everyone can speak.
15 We can give a little leeway on that if 16 there's extra time and you won't cut into anyone 17 else's speaking time.
To help us keep track of the 18 time, our law clerk Zachary Kahn will be holding up 19 these signs and then we'll try to gently remind you if 20 you start to go over.
21 Before we begin, are there any questions?
22 All right, then I'mgoing to call on the first person 23 whose name we have and that is Martin Criscoe, the 24 Director of the Wake County Emergency Management.
25 MR.
CRISCOE:
Yes, good evening.
I'd like NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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to offer some supporting comments.
I've been 2
associated with Wake County Emergency Management since 3
1990 and have been intimately involved with the 4
preparedness activities in support of the Shearon 5
Harris Nuclear Power Plant.
I've worked with the 6
staff of --
7 CHAIR YOUNG:
I'm getting a signal from 8
the back that people in the back might not hear you.
9 MR.
CRISCOE:
- Yes, I
was probably not 10 close enough.
1i CHAIR YOUNG:
Okay, thank you.
12 MR.
CRISCOE:
All right, I've worked with 13 many members of the Harris staff over the years and we 14 have an excellent working relationship with the plant 15 in a number of ways.
We're mainly involved in the 16 off-site emergency preparedness activities.
We have 17 a
Shearon Harris Preparedness Task Force that we 18 participate in on a regular basis with the other 19 counties that touch the EPZ, the Emergency Planning 20 Zone and we meet on a regular basis.
And we discuss 21 preparedness planning, training, exercise, activities 22 with amongst ourselves and the members of the 23 utility.
24 We also organize and plan our exercise 25 activities at that forum as well.
We also are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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responsible for making sure that the plans and 2
procedures are trained provide training to our 3
public safety
- agencies, municipal agencies that 4
support our response to an incident at the Harris 5
Nuclear Power Plant.
6 That group has always been very supportive 7
in anything that we brought to them that we need to 8
change in our activities or add to those activities.
9 They've always been very supportive over the years and 10 I have an idea that they will continue to support 11 those activities in the-. future.
That's all I have to 12 say.
Thank you.
13 CHAIR YOUNG:
Thank you, sir.
The next 14 person is Mr. Joseph Mangano.
15 MR. MANGANO:
Good afternoon and thank you 16 for this opportunity.
I'm Joseph Mangano.
I'm the 17 Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health 18 Project.
We're a non-profit research group based in 19 New York.
Our work is to do studies on the health 20 risks posed by nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.
21 We've publish 22 journals articles in medical 22 journals and six books on the topic.
23 My comments today may be a little bit 24 different than what was heard earlier today and after 25 me.
A lot of the discussion of today have been on NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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potential health risks from the Shearon Harris 2,
Reactor.
My comments will be focused on the actual 3
health risks from the actual releases from the reactor 4
in the 20 years it's been operating.
5 I'd like to before I
get into my
- 6.
comments, I'd like to note that there's never been any 7
sort of a study on -- that analyzes the emissions from 8
the reactor and the potential risks of disease in the 9
local area.
There was on study by the National Cancer 10 Institute but it only included reactors opened before 11 1982 and left out Shearon Harris.
12 Today I'm actually releasing a report that 13 doesn't end this dialogue but certainly begins to put 14 forth information in this area.
The:first part of the 15 report discusses actual releases from the plant.
As 16 I think most-of you know, that in a nuclear power 17 reactor most of the radioactivity that's created is 18 contained as high level waste but in order to operate 19 there must be some routine emissions into the local 20 environment.
21 These chemicals are actually over 100 22 radioactive chemicals,, none of which are found in 23 nature.
They're only found when an atomic bomb 24 explodes or when a nuclear reactor operates.
They are 25 emitted into the air and the water and they enter the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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human body through breathing and through the food 2
chain.
They
- are, of
- course, radioactive and 3
carcinogenic and especially toxic to the developing 4
fetus and the infant and the child.
5 The policy that the NRC has set is that 6
every year each utility running a reactor must put out 7
how much has been emitted and if the emissions are 8
below this limit, then the reactor is safe to continue 9
operating.
Our group believes this is rather 10 presumptive and that studies must be done to examine 11 whether or not these low doses are, in fact, harmful.
12 And in the report, you'll see that annual releases can 13 vary from year to year by hundreds of times.
14 I also took a look at the levels in the 15 environment, specifically in drinking water in three 16 different locations, which is also reported by the 17 utility to the Federal Government.
For example, in 18 2004, the levels of beta radiation in drinking water 19 at two sites near the reactor more than doubled from 20 the spring until the fall, which is quite --
you'll 21 find that similar types of unusual patterns in other 22 years.
23 Now, probablythe most important part are 24 the actual health trends.
Probably the disease most 25 studied when it comes to radiation exposure is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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childhood cancer because, as I've said, the infant, 2
fetus and child are most susceptible.
Since Shearon 3
Harris opened in Wake and Durham Counties in the 17 4
years of operation, the childhood cancer death rate to 5
kids under 10 in these two counties has increased by 6
51 percent from what it was in the early and mid-1980s 7
and that compares to a decline of. 29 percent in both 8
the rest of the state and the country.
9 This shouldn't be in an area like this.
10 This is a
highly educated community.
It's a
low 11 poverty community and of course,, the people have 12 access to world class medical care here.
This is a
13 pattern that is highly unexpected.
Also I looked at 14 cancer incidents.
Unfortunately, the cancer registry 15 in this state didn't get going until the 1990s so we 16 cannot do a before and after comparison, but in recent 17 years rates of certain radio-sensitive cancer such at 18 thyroid cancer, bone cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, 19 and leukemia are significantly above the average for 20 the rest of the state.
21 The conclusions here, as I've said before,
- 22.
this information is certainly not any sort of a
23 definitive link between radiation and disease; 24
- however, it really should be seen as a first step.
25 The local Health Department and the Environmental NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Protection Department should undertake further studies 2
to investigate this further and no decision on 3
extending the reactor's license should be made until 4
this is fully considered.
Thank you and if you'd like 5
a copy of the report, I'll be glad to --
6 CHAIR YOUNG:
Thank you.
You're welcome 7
to put that into the record.
All right, Cecil Parker?
8 MR.
PARKER:
Good evening.
My name is 9
Cecil Parker.
I currently serve as Fire Chief for the 10 Town of Holly Springs.
Prior to doing that, I served 11 as the Police Chief for the Town of Holly Springs for 12 14 years.
I've had the opportunity to work with 13 Progress Energy, more specifically the Harris Plant 14 for better than 20 years now in my capacity as a 15 public safety official for both the Town of Holly 16 Springs and prior to that Wake County.
17 In all of those 20 years, we have only had 18 a positive experience in working with the Harris plant 19 and its staff.
They have always been more than 20 willing to provide any training that we may need.
21 They have worked with us in providing us tours of the 22 facility.
We have annual training at the facility.
23 We work with their fire brigade many, many times a 24 year at the facility.
They come to our fire station 25 annually to provide training.
We, every other year, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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have evacuation drills and again, Harris provides any 2
support that we need for those drills.
They have been 3
very, very supportive to us.
-We appreciate what they 4
do.
We would like to continue to offer our support 5
and hope that they continue to do a good job as they 6
have in the past, and I trust that they will and I 7
will conclude that by just saying that we're very 8
thankful for them being there and the support that 9
they've provided us and the excellent job that they've 10 done.
Thank you.
11 CHAIR YOUNG:
Thank you.
All right, 12 Herman Jaffe?
13 MR.
JAFFEE:
I thank you for calling me.
14 My name is Herman Jaffee and I have been involved in 15 many work features of safety of nuclear power plants 16 back in the '70s.
I'm a little old, I'm 81.
So I 17 have some experience and I'd like to just give you a 18 little
- advice, if I may.
The Harris reactor is our 19 nation's newest unit going on line January 1987.
Of 20 the approximately 128 units built, only 103 are still 21 working.
Twenty-four were closed early due to safety 22 problems.
23 At this early point in the work cycle of 24 Harris, who can predict how it will be working in 30, 25 40 years from now.
We do know that it's had several NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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small fires due to faulty construction materials used 2-and the new NRC reduced the safety requirements.
3 Harris is a complex machine that has many moving parts 4
designed for a 40-year work cycle from 1987.
If you 5
bought a car that has a useful life cycle of 100,000 6
miles, would you try at its 50,000 mile work point to 7
decide to work it for another 150,000 miles?
I don't 8
think so.
9 No prediction on the safety or work life 10 of its parts can be made for 40 years from now.
It's 11 too early in the work cycle of the reactor.
We should 12 wait 15 years to try to make a prediction on the 13 useful work cycle ofthe reactor for another 20 years 14 use.
Asking you to extend the license at this time is 15 not fair to you and I request that you delay the 16 request for about 15 years.
Thank you.
17 CHAIR YOUNG:
Thank you.
Did you have 18 something in writing that you'd like to give us?
19 JUDGE MIGNEREY:
Thank you.
20 CHAIR YOUNG:
- Okay, thank you.
You get 21 better with age, huh?
I have something to look 22 forward to.
There are no more names on the list; 23
- however, anyone who's here is welcome to give your 24 comment.
Is there anyone here who would like to speak 25 who did not sign up?
You're sure?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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12 (Off the microphone remarks) 2 CHAIR YOUNG:
We'll stay.here for maybe 3
another half hour and-see if anyone comes.
And also
.4 anyone present can tell people that they can submit 5
comments in writing and-I think the notice, the press 6
release and the notice that was -in the. Federal 7
Register provided information on how to do that.
So, 8
all right, we'll just go off the record now and wait 9
a little while to see if anyone else shows up who may 10 get off work at 6:00.
11 (A brief recess was taken.)
12 CHAIR YOUNG:
okay, just on the record 13 again.
This is Judge Young.
Let the record show that 14 it is approximately 6:30 and we've come in a couple of 15 times to check to see whether there was anyone else 16 who had a comment to make and it looks like everyone 17 has left except the staff counsel and one member of 18 the staff and the people from our office and our 19 security guard and so I think it's safe to close this 20 hearing and go-off the record.
Thank you.
21 (Whereupon, at 6:25 p.m. the hearing in 22 the above-entitled matter concluded.)
23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of:
Name of Proceeding: Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant Docket Number:
50-400-LR; 07-855-02-LR-BDO1 Location:
Raleigh, North Carolina were held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript thereof for the file of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission taken by me and, thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under the direction of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing proceedings.
-SaK Wojack Official Reporter Neal R.
Gross & Co.,
Inc.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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