ML072840529
| ML072840529 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vogtle  |
| Issue date: | 09/27/2007 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Download: ML072840529 (54) | |
Text
1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
-- -----------------------------
x ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING MEETING VOGTLE ELECTRIC GENERATING PLANT, UNITS 1 AND 2, LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION
x Thursday, September 27, 2007 Auditorium Augusta Technical College Waynesboro/Burke Campus 216 Highway 24 South Waynesboro, Georgia The above-entitled hearing was conducted at 1:30 p.m.BEFORE: CHIP CAMERON, Facilitator ALSO PRESENT: J.P. LEOUS, on behalf of the Agency ERIC BENNER, on behalf of the Agency NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 2 1 INDEX 2 SPEAKER PAGE 3 Chip Cameron, NRC 3 4 J.P. Leous, NRC 7 5 Sara Barczak, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy 17 6 Walter Dukes, for Applicant 21 7 James Hendrix, SRS Community Reuse Organization 23 8 Billy Hopper, former City and County Administrator 25 9 Sara Barczak, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy 27 10 Dick Byne, Waynesboro City Council 35 11 Ellis Godbee, former County Commissioner 38 12 Bobbie Paul, Women's Action for New Direction 39 13 Teresa Carter, American Cancer Society 44 14 Reverend Charles Utley 45 15 A.K. Hasan, CSRA Citizens for Nuclear Energy 47 16 Sara Barczak, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy 49 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 3 1 P RO C E E D I NG S 2 MR. CAMERON: Good afternoon, everyone.
My 3 name is Chip Cameron; I'm with the Office of General 4 Counsel at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC, and 5 I want to welcome you to this afternoon's meeting.6 And our topic today is the Environmental Review 7 that the NRC conducts as part of its evaluation on whether 8 to grant a license application to renew the license for an 9 operating nuclear power reactor.10 And we have such an application in from the 11 Southern Nuclear Operating Company, to renew the licenses 12 for the Vogtle Plant, Units 1 and 2.13 And to just avoid any confusion for all of you, 14 the application is from the Southern Nuclear Operating 15 Company, but there are four owners of the operating units 16 at this point: Georgia Power; MEAG, which is the 17 Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia; Dalton Utilities; 18 and Oglethorpe Power.19 And it's my pleasure to serve as your 20 facilitator for this afternoon's meeting, and my general 21 responsibility in that role will be to try to help all of 22 you to have a productive meeting this afternoon.
23 And I just want to talk a little bit about 24 meeting process before we get to the substance of today's 25 discussion.
The meeting format is we're going to have a NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 4 1 two-part format, and the first part is going to begin with 2 a brief NRC presentation to give you an overview of what 3 the NRC looks at when it evaluates an application to renew 4 a license for an operating reactor.5 And then we'll have some time to go out to all 6 of you for questions that you may have about the NRC 7 process, and we also want to emphasize how you can 8 participate in the NRC's evaluation process.9 After we're done with questions, at some point 1.0 we'll have to move on to the second part of the meeting, 11 which is to give us an opportunity to listen to any formal 12 comments, advice, recommendations that you might have, on 13 the Environmental Review process.14 Our focus is on the Environmental Review 15 process. This is a scoping meeting which is a term that's 16 used to refer to what should be examined in the 17 Environmental Impact Statement that the NRC prepares on 18 this license application:
what alternatives should be 19 looked at, what types of impacts, what types of 20 methodology should be used.21 So it is a scoping meeting, and the focus is 22 Environmental Review, but we know that people have broader 23 concerns with these types of applications, so we're here 24 to listen to whatever you have to say to us this 25 afternoon.
NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 5 1 The staff from the NRC is going to tell you 2 that -- how to file written comments, but we're here today 3 to talk to you in person, and I just want to tell you that 4 anything that's offered today has jut as much weight as a 5 written comment.6 In terms of ground rules -- and these are very 7 simple, and they're just designed to help us have that 8 productive meeting -- when we get to the question period, 9 if you have a question, just signal me and I'll bring you 10 this cordless microphone, and if you could please 11 introduce yourself to us and any affiliation if that's 12 appropriate, and we'll try to answer your question.13 And I would ask you to try to be brief in your 14 questions, and to contain it to a question, hold the 15 comment for the comment period, and that will -- that way, 16 we'll make sure that we can get as many questions as 17 possible before we have to move on to the comment period.18 And during the comment period, I'm just going 19 to set a guideline of five minutes, when we'll ask you to 20 come up to the front. We don't have a whole lot of 21 speakers, so that that five minutes is a guideline but I 22 just would ask you to try to keep it under an hour at 23 least, but --24 (General laughter.)
25 MR. CAMERON: -- and one person at a time, NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 6 1 please. I don't think we have to worry about that. But 2 that always allows us to give our full attention to 3 whomever has the floor, whoever has the cordless mic at 4 the moment.5 But it also allows us to get a clean 6 transcript, and we have Brenda Thompson with us, who is 7 our court reporter today, and she'll be taking down who's 8 saying what and exactly what you say.9 And finally, just a note on courtesy, probably 10 doesn't have to be said, but you're going to hear opinions 11 this afternoon that may differ from your own, and I would 12 just ask you to respect the person who's giving it.13 And with that, I thank you all for being here 14 this afternoon.
And I just want to introduce our speaker 15 and some other people before we go on.16 We have J.P. Leous, right here. And J.P.'s the 17 Project Manager for the Environmental Review on this 18 license renewal application.
He's relatively new to the 19 NRC; he's been with us for ten months. But we have a lot 20 of confidence in J.P.21 He has a master's degree from Columbia 22 University in New York City in Environmental Science and 23 Policy, and before the master's degree, he was in the 24 Peace Corps for two years in Grenada, and is a graduate of 25 Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.
NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 7 1 And he's going to give you the overview, and 2 then we'll go out to you for questions.
3 I just want to make sure that everybody knows 4 Eric Benner. And Eric is the Chief of the Environmental 5 Review branch and the license renewal program; that's the 6 same program that J.P.'s in.7 In fact, J.P. works for Eric and works in one 8 of the other branches.
But Eric is one of our managers in 9 this program. And with that, J.P. do you want to talk to 10 us?11 MR. LEOUS: You bet.12 MR. CAMERON: Okay.13 MR. LEOUS: Good afternoon.
My name is 14 J.P. Leous. I'm the Environmental Project Manager with 15 the Division of License Renewal and am coordinating this 16 NAS review with Vogtle Units 1 and 2 license renewal 17 application.
18 Thank you all for taking the time to come to 19 this meeting. I hope the information we provide will help 20 you understand the process we're going through, and the 21 role you can play in helping us make sure that our 22 Environmental Review considers relevant information.
23 To reiterate what Chip mentioned, this meeting 24 is to discuss the NRC's environmental scoping process for 25 license renewal at Vogtle Electric Generating Plant NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 8 1 Units 1 and 2.2 This is a distinct process from the early site 3 permit, members of the NRC staff are conducting.
Should 4 you be interested in that process, there will be a meeting 5 here on October 4, 2007 to discuss the draft Environmental 6 Impact Statement for the early site permit.7 However, this afternoon we'll discuss 8 environmental scoping pertaining to license renewal. In 9 August, we held a meeting here at the Augusta Tech College 10 to provide an overview of the license renewal process, 11 which includes both the safety and an Environmental 12 Review.13 Today we will describe in more detail the 14 Environmental Review process associated with the license 15 renewal. But the most important part of today's meeting 16 is to receive any comments that you may have on the scope 17 of the Environmental Review.18 We will also give you some information on how 19 you can submit comments outside of this meeting. At the 20 conclusion of this presentation we will start taking 21 comments on the scope of the Environmental Review.22 As Chip has already indicated, this meeting is 23 being transcribed, and all comments recorded from this 24 meeting will be reviewed and considered.
25 Should you not wish to speak but would like to NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 9 1 share your comments with us, there are cards available for 2 you to fill out and return to us. Alternatively, you can 3 email Voqtle 1r eis@nrc.gov or write to us, and I'll 4 provide that address in just a few minutes.5 Before I get into the details of the 6 Environmental Review process, I'd like to take a minute to 7 recap some of the information that was presented here in 8 August. The NRC is a federal agency established by the 9 Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 that regulates the 10 civilian use of nuclear material.11 The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 authorizes the 12 NRC to grant a 40-year operating license for nuclear power 13 reactors.
This 40-year term was based primarily on 14 economic and antitrust factors, not on safety or technical 15 limitations.
The Atomic Energy Act also allows for 16 license renewal.17 The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 18 commonly known as NEPA, established the national policy 19 for considering the impact of federal decision making on 20 the human environment.
As a matter of policy, the 21 Commission determined that reactor license renewal 22 constitutes a major federal action for which an 23 Environmental Impact Statement is warranted.
24 The NRC's regulations governing nuclear safety, 25 security and environmental protection are contained in NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 10 1 Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, commonly 2 referred to as 10 CFR.3 In exercising its authority, the NRC mission is 4 threefold:
to ensure adequate protection of public health 5 and safety; to promote the common defense and security;6 and to protect the environment.
7 The NRC accomplishes its mission through a 8 combination of regulatory programs and processes, such as 9 establishing rules and regulations, conducting 10 inspections, issuing enforcement actions, assessing 11 licensee performance, and evaluating operating experience 12 from nuclear power plants across the country and 13 internationally.
14 The NRC has resident inspectors at all US 15 operating nuclear power plants. These inspectors are 16 considered the eyes and ears of the NRC. They .carry out 17 our safety mission on a daily basis, and are on the front 18 lines of ensuring acceptable, safe performance and 19 compliance with regulatory requirements.
20 Now, turning to license renewal, the Vogtle 21 Reactor Units were licensed to operate in 1987 and 1989.22 For Units 1 and 2, the current operating licenses expire 23 in 2027 and 2029, respectively.
24 The NRC received Southern Company's application 25 for license renewal of both units on June 29 of this year.NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 11 1 As part of the NRC's review of the Vogtle license renewal 2 application, we'll perform an environmental review to 3 assess the impacts on the environment of an additional 20 4 years of information
-- or operation.
5 I'll explain that process in a few minutes.6 I'll also share with you a schedule for the Environmental 7 Review.8 License renewal involves two parallel reviews: 9 the Safety Review and the Environmental Review. These two 10 reviews evaluate two separate aspects of the license 11 renewal application.
12 The Safety Review focuses on the aging 13 components and structures the NRC deems important to plant 14 safety. The staff's main objective in this review is to 15 determine that the effects of aging will be adequately 16 managed by the Applicant.
The results of the Safety 17 Review are documented in a Safety Evaluation Report, or 18 SER.19 For the Environmental Review, the staff 20 considers, evaluates and discloses environmental impacts 21 of continued plant operation for an additional 20 years.22 The staff also evaluates the environmental impacts of 23 alternatives to license renewal.24 The objective of the review is to determine if 25 the environmental impacts of license renewal are so great NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 12 1 that license renewal would not be a reasonable option.2 The staff prepares an Environmental Impact 3 Statement, or EIS, to document its environmental review.4 This diagram illustrates the Safety and 5 Environmental Review processes, represented at the top and 6 bottom of the slide.7 It also features two other considerations in 8 the Commission's decision of whether or not to renew an 9 operating license. The Independent Review is performed by 10 the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, or ACRS.11 Statutorily mandated by the Atomic Energy Act 12 of 1954, the ACRS is a group of scientists and nuclear 13 experts who serve as a consulting body to the Commission.
14 The ACRS performs an independent review of the 15 license renewal application, and the NRC staff's Safety 16 Evaluation.
The ACRS reports their findings and 17 recommendations directly to the Commission.
18 Hearings may also be conducted.
Concurrent 19 with the staff's review, interested stakeholders may 20 submit concerns or contentions and request a hearing. If 21 a hearing is granted, the Commission considers the outcome 22 of the hearing process in its decision of whether or not 23 to issue to renewed license.24 Now I'm going to describe the Environmental 25 Review in a bit more detail. The National Environmental NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 13 1 Policy Act of 1969 requires that federal agencies follow a 2 systematic approach in evaluating potential environmental 3 impacts associated with certain actions.4 We are required to consider the impact of 5 license renewal, and also any mitigation to those impacts 6 that we consider to be significant.
7 We are also required to consider alternatives 8 to the license renewal, and that includes energy 9 alternatives to license renewal, mitigation alternatives, 10 and the environmental impact associated with not issuing a 11 renewed license.12 The NRC has determined that an Environmental 13 Impact Statement will be prepared for proposed license 14 renewal of nuclear power plants. The staff has developed 15 a generic environmental impact statement that addressed a 16 number of issues common to all power plants.17 The staff is supplementing that generic EIS 18 with a site-specific EIS which will address issues that 19 are specific to the Vogtle site. The staff also 20 determines if there are any new and significant 21 information that would change the conclusions reached in 22 the generic EIS.23 In preparing the Environmental Impact 24 Statement, the NRC conducts a scoping process. The 25 purpose of the scoping process is to identify the site-NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 14 1 specific environmental issues.2 We are now gathering information for an EIS and 3 are here to collect public comments on the scope of the 4 review. That is, what environmental impacts should the 5 staff consider for the proposed license renewal at Vogtle?6 For the Environmental Review, we have 7 established a team of specialists from the NRC staff and 8 contractors who are experts in various fields and 9 disciplines.
This slide gives you an idea of the various 10 areas we look at during the Environmental Review.11 They include terrestrial and aquatic ecology, 12 environmental justice, hydrology, and radiation 13 protection.
14 The scoping period started on August 27, when a 15 Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS and Conduct Scoping was 16 published in the Federal Register.
The NRC will be 17 accepting comments on the scope of the Environmental 18 Reviewuntil October 24, 2007.19 In general, we are looking for sources of 20 information about the environmental impact of continued 21 operation at Vogtle, that we should consider as we prepare 22 our Environmental Impact Statement.
23 You can assist us in this process by telling 24 us, for example, what aspects of your local community we 25 should focus on: what local environmental, social, NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 15 1 economic aspects the NRC should examine during our 2 Environmental Review, and what reasonable alternatives are 3 most appropriate for this area.4 These are just some of the examples of what 5 we're looking for and represent the kinds of information 6 we are seeking through the environmental scoping process.7 Your comments today should be helpful in providing 8 insights of this nature.9 Now, this slide illustrates the various 10 considerations that are factored into a decision to issue 11 a renewed'operating license. So how do we use your input?12 Public comments are an important part of the 13 Environmental Review process. We consider all of the 14 comments that we receive from the public during the 15 scoping process, as well as comments received on the draft 16 Environmental Impact Statement.
17 Now, in addition to providing comments at this 18 meeting, there are other ways you can submit comments for 19 our Environmental Review process. You can provide written 20 comments to the Chief of our Rules Directives and Editing 21 Branch. You can also make comments in person if you 22 happen to be in Rockville, Maryland.23 Additionally, we've established a specific 24 email address at the NRC for the purpose of receiving your 25 comments on the development of our draft Environmental NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 16 1 Impact Statement, as well as scoping for the Environmental 2 Review.3 That email address is Voqtle lr eis@nrc.aov.
4 Again, all of your comments will be collected, reviewed 5 and considered.
6 This slide shows important milestone dates for 7 the Environmental Review process. The Notice of 8 Opportunity for Hearing was published on August 21, 9 followed by the Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS and 10 conduct scoping.11 The opportunity to submit contentions for a 12 hearing closes on October 22, and if you have comments you 13 would like to submit outside of today's meeting, you have 14 until October 24, as highlighted, to do so.15 This slide identifies the primary contact at 16 the NRC for the Environmental Review: me, J.P. Leous, 17 Environmental Project Manager. It also identifies where 18 documents related to our review may be found in the local 19 area.20 The Burke County Library has agreed to make the 21 license renewal application available for public review.22 When it's -- when the document is published, the draft 23 Environmental Impact Statement will also be available at 24 this library.25 These documents will also be on the NRC's NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 17 1 website, at the web address shown at the bottom of the 2 slide.3 In addition, as you came in, you were asked to 4 fill out a registration card at our reception table. If 5 you've included your address on that card, we will mail 6 you a copy of the draft and final EIS's as they're 7 published.
8 This concludes my presentation.
I thank you 9 very much, and I'll turn it back over to Chip.10 MR. CAMERON: Thanks. Thanks a lot, J.P. So 11 that's the evaluation process in a nutshell, and we have 12 time for questions before we go to formal comments.13 Are there questions about the license renewal 14 process?15 (Pause.)16 MR. CAMERON: Sara? And please introduce 17 yourself.18 MS. BARCZAK: Sara Barczak with Southern 19 Alliance for Clean Energy in Savannah.
I don't know if 20 this is a -- let me ask the two questions and --21 The one question was whether there's any 22 clarification that you could explain -- and I may be 23 incorrect on this, but isn't Vogtle applying for their 24 license renewal early in terms of what other plants have 25 done? And I think it might be more specific to Unit 2?NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 18 1 And then the second question was just if either 2 of you have an itemization of how many license renewals 3 have been applied for across the country, granted, and --4 or approved I should say, and also denied.5 MR. CAMERON: Okay. J.P. or Eric, I don't know 6 how you want to divide this up, but I guess the first 7 question is is the Vogtle license renewal application
--8 did it come in earlier than most license renewal 9 applications, and I guess the underlying question, too, is 10 why do companies come in early on -- for license renewal.11 And also, the second question is, how many have 12 been granted and have any been denied. And I would throw 13 in there, also, how many have been sent back because they 14 were unacceptable and may have come back in again.15 MR. BENNER: Uh-huh.16 MR. CAMERON: Eric?17 MR. BENNER: Regarding the first question, the 18 way the regulations are laid out, applicants can come in 19 any time within 20 years of the end of the license. So 20 given the -- that for Unit 1, it expires in -- or excuse 21 me, Unit 2 expires in 2029, that is greater than 20 years.22 They can request an exemption to that, and I 23 believe, J.P., we granted the exemption so that both --24 indeed, both units are being reviewed as part of this 25 action.NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 19 1 Regarding the statistics, I don't have the 2 actual numbers of applications and granted. We can 3 probably have that for you sometime later today if we can 4 look that up.5 We have returned applications that we found to 6 be unacceptable.
We conduct an acceptance review before 7 we start our review, and we have had applications that 8 have not been acceptable.
9 Regarding, have we -- once we have accepted an 10 application, have we denied the renewal of any licenses, 11 they answer is, no. We haven't. And part of that is, the 12 rigor in the acceptance review, and the fact that the NRC 13 has developed regulations and significant guidance in this 14 area.15 And applicants put a lot of energy into 16 ensuring that when they submit an application, that it 17 follows the regulations and the guidance, and then are 18 willing to supplement that application as the staff comes 19 up with additional questions and concerns.20 MR. CAMERON: And it may be helpful in terms of 21 the exemption, was the exemption requested so that both 22 Units, 2 and Unit 1, could be considered at the same time?23 MR. BENNER: Well, Unit 1 didn't need an 24 exemption.
Right? They came in within the timeframe 25 specified in the regulations.
So the exemption was only NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 20 1 so that Unit 2 could come in. You know, if you track back 2 from the 20-year requirement, you would expect their 3 application to come in, in 2009. Because they came in in 4 2007m that's what the exemption had to be granted for.5 MR. CAMERON: So that we'll do one review --6 MR. BENNER: So that -- it will be one review, 7 for both units.8 MR. CAMERON: Okay. All right. Anybody else 9 have a question that -- at this point? And we probably 10 have the luxury of coming back for further questions if 11 something occurs to you during the Formal Comment part of 12 the meeting.13 MR. BENNER: And certainly at the end of the 14 Formal Comment --15 MR. CAMERON: Right.16 MR. BENNER: -- portion of the meeting, we'll 17 be available.
18 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Terrific.
Well, why don't 19 we go to Formal Comment, and I often find it useful at the 20 first scoping, or at the scoping meeting on license 21 renewal for -- people are, always wonder why is the 22 company coming in for license renewal at this time.23 And it's useful to have the company's vision on 24 this explained briefly, and we do have Mr. Walter Dukes, 25 who's a regional vice president for the company, who is NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 21 1 going to talk to us for a few minutes.2 Do you want to come up, Mr. Dukes?3 MR. DUKES: Appreciate it.4 Good afternoon.
Let me just take this 5 opportunity, first of all, to thank you so much for the 6 opportunity to make some comments on behalf of the Georgia 7 Power Company, and also as co-owners, MEAG, Oglethorpe and 8 others. We thank you so much for allowing us to make some 9 comments here this afternoon.
10 I'm -- as stated earlier, my position is Vice 11 President of the Regional Operations here in the 13-county 12 area. Offices are down here in Augusta. But I just want 13 to kind of put it in context here as I speak.14 I started out here. I'm originally from Burke 15 County, and this is home here in Burke County. And 16 certainly
-- I started out at Plant Vogtle as a 17 construction engineer many years ago when I graduated from 18 Georgia Tech.19 So I know much about Plant Vogtle. I worked 20 there for five years, and spent a lot of time there, at 21 Plant Vogtle even after that, and I've spent much time 22 there going in and out of Plant Vogtle over the last 20 23 years.24 And I do want to say for over the last 20 25 years, Plant Vogtle has operated safely. And I think NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 22 1 that's very important, that we've had it operated safely 2 and we've been very reliable, and at very low cost to 3 consumers.
4 And we've been good stewards, very good 5 stewards of the environment, and I can say that, as I said 6 earlier on, I visit Plant Vogtle regularly, because my 7 family lives here, and certainly I live in the community 8 as well, and I visit them and look at their safety 9 procedures and how they operate, and how they test the 10 employees within the confines of Vogtle, and even 11 measuring radioactivity at the plant site and outside of 12 the plant site. I think they do an outstanding job there.13 And I also want to tell you that this plant is 14 not getting older, but it's gotten better. In fact, we've 15 spent millions of dollars in upgrade, new technology, and 16 I would say that as we look at Plant Vogtle and look 17 forward to the future, we need Plant Vogtle and more like 18 Plant Vogtle, because we know the demand for electricity 19 is only growing, and in fact is -- it will grow by 30 20 percent over the next 15 years.21 And the population is going to be expanding in 22 the state of Georgia; in fact we have added over 127,000 23 customers just in the last three years alone.24 Again, when I think about our relationship with 25 the local community, we've had a great relationship over NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 23 1 the last 20 years, a great partnership, and I think it's 2 been a partnership of trust.3 I think that the -- they trust us to operate it 4 safely, and we've enjoyed that relationship, but it's 5 definitely been based on trust, and I think it goes back 6 to our core values of the company.7 We -- one thing about us, and -- Southern 8 Company, we believe in total commitment, unquestionable 9 trust and superior performance.
And I think all three of 10 those we've kept in mind as we operated Plant Vogtle.11 Again as in the past, our record is clear. We 12 provide at low cost, we provide reliable electricity, very 13 safe, and we've been good stewards of the environment.
14 And as going forward we want to be able to do 15 the same thing, as we ask that we be able to be extended, 16 extend the life of those units. Thank you so much.17 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you, Walter.18 James Hendrix is our next speaker.19 MR. HENDRIX: Good afternoon.
My name's James 20 Hendrix. I'm the Executive Director of the SRS Community 21 Reuse Organization.
Appreciate the opportunity to speak 22 to this meeting today.23 I'm going to read a letter that I've already 24 provided the original to the staff here, and we'd like 25 this entered into the record.NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 24 1 "The SRS Community Reuse Organization is a two-2 state five-county economic development board established 3 by Congress to assist communities surrounding Department 4 of Energy facilities.
Our mission is to apply Savannah 5 River Site assets to regional cooperation, leading to a 6 diversified and growing economy for our communities.
Our 7 22 directors include community leaders appointed by 8 business organizations, local governments, and the United 9 States Congressman.
They volunteer their time to serve as 10 the 'voice of the community' on things related to the 11 Savannah River Site.12 "We applaud the NRC for holding events such as 13 this meeting and trust that you will diligently consider 14 all input received." 15 Our board has recently expanded our focus to 16 include an interest in commercial nuclear topics, because 17 of the impacts on the community that we serve.18 "We have recently become more involved with the 19 important issues surrounding energy supply for this 20 region, and the Southeastern United States. It is 21 predicted that over 40 percent of all US population will 22 live in the Southeast in the next few decades.23 "We participate today to express our full 24 support for license extension for Vogtle units 1 and 2.25 We agree with the Southern Company assertion that they NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 25 1 must maintain a proper balance among their'electric 2 generating capacity.
This approach makes good technical 3 sense and it also makes good economic sense.4 "The electrical generation capacity resident in 5 the Southeastern United States is going to grow. It is 6 imperative that utilities meet that need in a way that 7 protects the environment, provides the electricity needed 8 to meet demand, and minimizes cost to the average 9 consumer.10 "License renewal for Vogtle Units 1 and 2 is 11 critical to maintaining adequate electricity supply for 12 this region. Throughout the last century, the development 13 of continents, nations, and regions can be shown to have 14 direct correlation to the availability of affordable, 15 abundant and reliable electricity.
The Vogtle plants help 16 meet that requirement, and our Board strongly endorses the 17 request for license renewal." 18 Thank you.19 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much, James.20 We're going to go to Billy Hopper next, and 21 then we're going to go to Sara Barczak.22 MR. HOPPER: My name is Billy Hopper. I reside 23 at 413 MacIntosh Drive here in Waynesboro.
I'm the 24 retired County Administrator for Burke County, and also 25 served as City Administrator for eight years prior to NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 26 1 that.2 I became County Administrator in November 1973 3 and retired in January 2002. So as you can see, for that 4 entire time, I was involved with the process at Plant 5 Vogtle, and became very involved as far as working with 6 Georgia Power and its partners.7 During that time, we received excellent 8 cooperation from the company. The relationship was always 9 good. I feel that Burke County was good for -- you know, 10 is good for Plant Vogtle, and 'Plant Vogtle is good for 11 Burke County.12 Because of that relationship, and I know of 13 no -- I'm no expert on environmental problems by any 14 means, but during that time, I certainly know of nothing 15 that caused any problems in the county.16 Because of that relationship that we have had, 17 and because of, as Mr. Dukes said, because of our trust in 18 Georgia Power and its partners, and because of what has 19 happened in the past, I certainly see nothing that should 20 cause that -- any difference in that relationship in the 21 future.22 And for that reason, I certainly wholeheartedly 23 support the extension of the license to operate Units 1 24 and 2. Thank you.25 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much.NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 27 1 Sara?2 MS. BARCZAK: I've got to come to the afternoon 3 sessions more often, because I get to talk longer.4 Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Sara 5 Barczak, and I'm the Safe Energy Director with Southern 6 Alliance for Clean Energy. We are a nonprofit energy 7 policy organization with members throughout Georgia and 8 the region.9 We promote responsible energy choices that 10 create global-warming solutions and ensure clean, safe and 11 healthy communities in the Southeast.
And I'm also a 12 resident of the downstream community of Savannah.13 The issue of extending the operating life of 14 Plant Vogtle will not affect just this local community but 15 Georgia as a whole, and our regional overall. And we hope 16 the NRC staff understands that we need to do what will 17 benefit all -- not just a select few.18 The NRC needs to fully research other energy 19 choices, including energy efficiency and conservation, as 20 the application from Southern Nuclear is woefully 21 inadequate.
Renewable energy supplies are available here 22 in Georgia, such as biopower, solar and wind. In fact, 23 according to a 2006 report from the Georgia Environmental 24 Facilities Authority, Georgia has the potential to meet 25 1500 to 1600-plus megawatts of the state's forecasted NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 28 1 electricity demand through new, renewable resources, from 2 biomass, wind, hydropower, landfill gas, and solar 3 photovoltaics.
4 These. energy supplies should be supported due 5 in part because they keep dollars here at home, and they 6 don't pose the risk to the community that nuclear power 7 does.8 The NRC should be aware that new, certified 9 wind maps of Georgia were released by the National 10 Renewable Energy Lab in October 2006, that show there is 11 substantial wind power available, especially offshore, 12 with the potential of 10,000 megawatts.
13 You can go to the Georgia Wind Working Group 14 website at www.Qaw.wq.org.
And that stakeholders include 15 Southern Company, Georgia Tech, Southern Alliance for 16 Clean Energy, many; it's a diverse group of stake holders.17 Yet information in the application is 18 completely outdated.
In terms of wind, what I read said 19 it referenced 1986 data, in spite of Southern Company 20 being involved in an offshore wind study with Georgia Tech 21 that was released in part earlier this summer.22 Additionally, the potential to use Georgia's 23 plentiful agriculture and forestry resources should be 24 evaluated.
A conservative estimate from the University of 25 Georgia study showed that as much as 12 percent of NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 29 1 Georgia's total electricity demand could be generated from 2 biomass.3 The benefits to Georgia include increased self-4 sufficiency, improved water resource quality, and long-5 term environmental and rural development benefits.6 The application is deficient in its analysis of 7 energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency and conservation 8 represent the quickest, safest, cheapest way to provide 9 more power and to best protect our air and water 10 resources.
11 And I'm sorry if I'm talking really loud;12 it's -- I'm whispering, so if I'm hurting your ears, I'll 13 apologize and blame Chip. Just kidding.14 As an added benefit, increased energy 15 efficiency reduces water consumption by power plants that 16 compete with local industries and cities for much-needed 17 water. The NRC should be aware that in 2001, the Energy 18 Information Administration ranked Georgia eighth in the 19 nation for per capita energy consumption for electricity, 20 and 40th in per capita spending on energy efficiency 21 programs.22 Additionally, we are an energy-exporting state.23 We use our natural resources, impact our citizens' health, 24 and pile up nuclear waste within our borders to power 25 other states' air conditioning units. The NRC needs to NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 30 1 evaluate both Georgia's actual need for power and how 2 conservation and efficiency could reduce that supposed 3 need.4 Power plants have a tremendous impact on our 5 water resources.
Our energy choices do make a big 6 difference in the future of the river basins and the 7 communities and businesses relying on those water 8 resources.
9 And given that the license renewal for Vogtle 10 is for 20 additional years of operation, which would take 11 us to 2047 and 2049 if approved, we believe the NRC needs 12 to evaluate not only the Georgia of today, but the Georgia 13 we may be living in 40 years from now.14 And I heard some of my previous speakers talk 15 about some of that, the increased need for power, the 16 increased population.
But we also have to look at what 17 are those future environmental changes going to be from 18 those two things right there. I didn't see that in the 19 application.
20 Most people are not aware that the nuclear 21 plants in Georgia have larger water permits than most 22 municipalities, including nearby Augusta. Plant Vogtle is 23 currently the largest water user in the entire Savannah 24 River Basin, and has an average withdrawal of 64 million 25 gallons per day from the Savannah River, with an average NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 31 1 consumption of 43 million gallons per day. That means 2 that Vogtle is returning only about a third of what it 3 withdraws from the River.4 An additional 20 years of operation as 5 populations increase and the demand for water increases 6 will not be a positive development for our water 7 resources.
8 Further, the proposed new reactors at Plant 9 Vogtle are estimated to use over 50 million gallons of 10 water per day, with 50 to 75 percent of that lost as 11 steam, and that's from Southern Nuclear's August 2006 12 application.
13 This means that more water will be lost from 14 the two existing and two proposed reactors at Plant Vogtle 15 than is currently used by all residents of Atlanta, 16 Augusta, and Savannah combined.17 Yet the application doesn't discuss the 18 cumulative impacts of the existing and proposed reactors.19 Instead, it says in Section 2.12.3 that the NRC will do 20 such an analysis in the draft EIS for the early site 21 permit.22 That was released earlier this month, actually 23 after this application was submitted.
While I have not 24 yet had time to read the draft EIS word for word that 25 we're going to talk about next Thursday, but I can tell NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 32 1 you that it appears that the cumulative impact on water 2 quality and quantity have not been satisfactorily 3 evaluated in the draft EIS for the early site permit.4 And that's a problem, because this early 5 license renewal is saying that that's going to be a draft 6 in the early site permit, and I don't see it there, so 7 it's a concern.8 The NRC should not make its decisions or 9 evaluations in a vacuum. If the two new reactors are 10 approved and actually built, the existing two reactors 11 will be operating at the same time, and this application 12 and all other applications associated with Plant Vogtle 13 have to address the cumulative impacts -- not pass the 14 buck, assuming that some other committee within the NRC 15 working on some other project is going to cover it.16 My fear is that there doesn't appear to be any 17 assurance that things won't slip through the cracks, so to 18 speak. We have grave concerns that too many permits are 19 occurring at the same time with Plant Vogtle. A license 20 renewal, an early site permit and an upcoming application 21 for a combined construction and operating license.22 Can the NRC keep up with all of this in a 23 manner that is truly protective of public health? We are 24 doubtful.25 As we all know, bureaucracies themselves have NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 33 1 their deficiencies.
The idea that everything will be 2 coordinated seamlessly between all of these different 3 staffs and projects -- and you know, putting full faith 4 that we have great staff at the NRC.5 But there's a lot going on, and we're just 6 concerned that these different projects are not going to 7 be integrated, and expecting that to be integrated is 8 somewhat almost unrealistic.
But we'd hope that it could 9 happen.10 And I am wrapping up. I did time this last.11 night, so it's five minutes, but I may have been talking 12 slower.13 Additionally, since we are discussing the 14 prospects of these reactors operating for many decades 15 from now, the NRC needs to evaluate predictive effects of 16 global warming on this region, and how nuclear power 17 plants may be negatively impacted or unable to generate 18 electricity.
This was demonstrated, as many of us in the 19 room know, by the heat wave this past summer in Europe, 20 when nuclear power plants from Sweden to France had to 21 shut down because of the lake -- I'm sorry -- the summer 22 of 2006, when nuclear power plants from Sweden to France 23 had to shut down because the lake or river water 24 temperatures were too high.25 Further, if we're looking to support a nuclear NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 34 1 power infrastructure, we need to make sure we're able to 2 support the needs to oversee it properly for the public.3 Right now the NRC must be aware that we've got 4 a shortfall in terms of funding and capacity in the state 5 of Georgia to monitor the nuclear facilities we already 6 have, let alone extending their operating lives of what 7 we've already got, or monitoring more that could be 8 brought online in the future.9 Lastly, as a downstream resident I'm very 10 concerned about tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen 11 that can impact our health. Faced with saltwater 12 intrusion of the Floridan Aquifer, both Beaufort and 13 Jasper Counties in South Carolina and the Savannah area 14 will become more dependent on the Savannah River for 15 drinking water. I did not see that discussed in the 16 application.
17 Plant Vogtle already contributes to the tritium 18 in the River, although they are not the major culprit; and 19 allowing the reactors to operate for longer will do 20 nothing to reduce this reality, let alone when and if more 21 reactors come online.22 The NRC needs to study tritium in the river, 23 future projections, especially given the Savannah River 24 site's already large contribution to the tritium 25 pollution, and to analyze this with droughts and future NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 35 1 population growth in mind. The future safety of not only 2 this community, but many, many, others are at stake.3 And thank you for your time and consideration.
4 MR. CAMERON: Okay, thank you. Thank you, 5 Sara.6 Okay, our next three speakers will be Dick 7 Byne, Ellis Godbee, and Bobbie Paul. Is Mr. Byne here?8 (Pause.)9 MR. CAMERON: Could you come up and speak to 10 us. Thank you.11 MR. BYNE: Okay. Thank you for letting me 12 speak. Thank you for the opportunity.
I'm Dick Byne; I'm 13 on the Waynesboro County Council.14 I've been to every one of the meetings, I in 15 tend to be on as many meetings as you have, if you have 16 500 between now and then, I'll be at every single one of 17 them.18 I appreciate the opportunity of living in a 19 free country, to be able to bring concerns.
You are open, 20 and you're letting us decide if this is good for our 21 community, and I really do appreciate that.22 I don't know how many other countries do that, 23 but I know America does, and I appreciate that. I also 24 appreciate the Southern Nuclear going as slow as they are;25 they're being meticulous about what they're doing. I NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 36 1 appreciate that, and I appreciate them being open with 2 everything that they're trying to do, and I appreciate 3 their challenges that they're getting; they're addressing 4 each challenge, and we appreciate that too. And that 5 really means a lot to me.6 Being in Waynesboro and growing up here all my 7 life, I'm very concerned about this community.
And I've 8 been in Burke County, and my family's been here. I'have 9 four little girls that are depending on their father to 10 make a decisions for each one of them.11 I believe in wind power; I believe in solar, 12 solar energy. I believe in walking when necessary; I 13 believe in mass transit, I believe that you should ride 14 your bike when you can.15 I also believe in eating a lot and storing it 16 up in case you need it sometime down the road. I also 17 believe in nuclear power. And I believe in Georgia Power, 18 and I think what they have done to this community has 19 really helped us.20 Now, I think there's a lot of things that won't 21 be discussed at this meeting, but a lot of us have known a 22 lot of the Georgia Power employees for a long, long time.23 We go to a lot of parties with them. We go to a lot of 24 social functions, weddings, funerals or whatever.25 And I can tell you something that I've looked NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 37 1 at: I see professional employees.
I don't see an 2 intoxicated employee or a drug-overdosed employee, because 3 they know that they could be on call at any time. And I 4 appreciate that, because they could be.5 At any time they could be called and have to go 6 to work. And those men are going to work their controls 7 that have a lot to do with the future of Burke County and 8 Waynesboro.
You want responsible men that have common 9 sense, to know that they have to do the best job that they 10 possibly know how to do.11 And I said this at the last meeting and I'll 12 say it from now on: We trust the Southern Company; we 13 trust Georgia Power. As of 2:20, September 27, 2007, we 14 just pray and hope that that trust level will continue to 15 be 100 percent. And we just ask the Georgia Power and 16 Southern Nuclear to do the best job that they can possibly 17 do, to be honest with us and tell us the truth in what's 18 going on, good or bad.19 And I think they've done it up to this point, 20 and we'd just ask for your trust level to continue to be 21 the same, and I hope you'll feel comfortable in working 22 with us. Thank you very much.23 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you, Councilman 24 Byne.25 Ellis Godbee?NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 38 1 MR. GODBEE: I'm Ellis Godbee, resident of 2 Burke County -- well, I've been a resident of Burke County 3 all my life. And I reside at 616 Godbee Road, and that's 4 located in the eastern part of the county. I'm eight 5 miles north of Plant Vogtle.6 And I am a former County Commissioner, and I 7 was on the Commission during the time of the beginning of 8 the construction of Vogtle, their license and operation.
9 I was on the Commission for 16 years.10 And as some of the speakers before me have 11 said, we embedded our trust in Georgia Power and the other 12 officials of other power companies and NRC, and we put our 13 trust in them and they put their trust in us, and we just 14 made this whole thing a success.15 And I wouldn't even attempt to try to even 16 mention the benefits here that this county has received 17 from Georgia Power and the other power companies involved.18 And I just feel it's safe. I live fairly close to Vogtle;19 I don't even go to bed worrying about the safety of Plant 20 Vogtle.21 And I just noticed how they practice safety in 22 the area where I live, I think that within a ten-mile 23 radius of Vogtle; I always called them sirens, but they 24 are some kind of signals, and some of you guys know 25 exactly what I'm talking about.NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 39 1 If we have a thunderstorm or anything, the next 2 morning around 6:00 they have employees out checking these 3 signals and all, you know, to make sure they are 4 functioning and all. This is on the weekend, holidays, or 5 any time that -- any time we have bad weather you can see 6 them coming to check these systems and all, like I say, 7 and make sure they are in good working order.8 With me not being an elected official now, I'm 9 not as involved with Georgia Power officials or NRC, or 10 whatever, but I still support this 100 percent, and I'm 11 just excited about the new reactors that's coming, and I 12 just want to just continue to trust each other, our county 13 officials put their trust in Georgia Power officials and 14 they continue to put their trust in us.15 And so being said that, I'm just real excited 16 about all of this now, because I just know what the 17 benefit will bring to this county. Thank you.18 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Godbee.19 We're going to go next to Bobbie. Bobbie Paul?20 MS. PAUL: Hello. I guess I'm addressing 21 mainly you here. My name is Bobbie Paul. I reside in 22 Atlanta. I spend a lot of time over here for the past 23 twelve to 15 years especially watch dogging Savannah River 24 Site and the area.25 We have a lot of members with Atlanta WAND, of NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 40 1 which I'm a director:
Women's Action for New Directions.
2 We are a national organization with twelve chapters, and 3 the Atlanta one is the only southern chapter other than 4 Arkansas.5 Pardon me; I have a terrible cold so I'm trying 6 not to cough. One of the things that I think is -- should 7 be considered seriously is a calculation of the overall 8 impact to the region, of the many nuclear activities that 9 are going on in this region.10 Very often we -- I myself have stayed away from 11 the nuclear power arena until the new reactors were 12 proposed, thinking we had enough to deal with at Savannah 13 River Site. But because of the waste, because of the 14 terrorist activities and potential, because of the health 15 issues and the consequences, latent cancers -- I am a 16 doctor's daughter; I've become more and more concerned 17 about all of this.18 And as you probably know, although I do find 19 that sometimes as Sara said, there's a lot of disjointed 20 where people are kind of working in a vacuum. But it 21 reminds me of the arcade game where the little guy keeps 22 popping his head up and you keep trying to bat it down.23 I feel like there are nuclear things popping 24 all over this region, and as we know, this is the most 25 radioactive region, this 15-mile area, in the whole NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 41 1 country; not for volume, but for radioactivity.
2 So right now I guess as people in the audience 3 are probably full aware the Savannah River Site is now the 4 recipient, continually will be the recipient, of more 5 plutonium from Hanford, from Lawrence Livermore in 6 California, and Los Alamos in New Mexico.7 This has an impact on the region, not only from 8 transportation but other things. We also have active 9 tritium extraction going on at Savannah River Site, and 10 added to that now we're having the likelihood of -- well, 11 I hope not the likelihood of two new reactors, which may 12 disappoint people in the room, and I do understand what an 13 economic treasure Plant Vogtle has been to this area, 14 because I have many friends who live in this area.15 But I sincerely think that that cumulative 16 burden that's really being put on the people in this 40-17 to 50-mile radius of this should be considered, whether 18 it's an independent study or what.19 As you know, there's been a controversial 20 health study that's put out, but one of the things that 21 the National Cancer Study did note that in Aiken, 22 Barnwell, Burke County, the cancer rates before the 23 startup .of Vogtle were less than 26 percent of the rest of 24 the country.25 And the most recent, from '99 to 2003, shows NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 42 1 Burke County with an 11 percent increase over the rest of 2 the country. I'm not saying, again, just like the tobacco 3 industry, why this is happening.
But I would put it in 4 your laps that we really should have and support with our 5 federal dollars an independent study that we can all agree 6 upon, really takes a look at the burden of impact of this.7 And I know we like to compartmentalize:
We're 8 not DOE; we're NRC, we're blah, blah, blah. But the 9 people on the ground are the ones who are getting the 10 benefits or the deficiencies of such major mission.11 So I for one whose tax dollars will be going 12 into this -- and in fact right now up in Washington, they 13 are debating in the House $50 billion -- not million but 14 billion dollars -- in loan guarantees to the nuclear 15 industry.16 Fifty billion dollars. This industry as we 17 know could not exist without our federal dollars, because 18 people will just not fund it, because it is too risky.19 My next-to-last point would be waste. We have 20 no solution for the waste. Yucca Mountain is likely not 21 to be built. If it was, the transportation risks and 22 everything else are terrific.
There was just a little 23 earthquake tremor out in Yucca Mountain in Nevada the 24 other day.25 I know they're talking about GNEP, and I was NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 43 1 interesting
-- interested to hear the man from Savannah 2 River Site say, We're looking at energy. I know the 3 global nuclear energy partnership coming down the pike for 4 the last two years has all of these indications that 5 there's going to be a hope for getting rid of some of this 6 waste through a return to reprocessing.
7 This is one of the most filthy, dangerous 8 plutonium cycles that we could ever engage in, and will 9 create more waste. This spent fuel and these rods that 10 come out that have to sit in cooling ponds are highly 11 radioactive and have to sit in these ponds for five years 12 before we can even deal with them.13 This is a huge security risk. We all know that 14 if those planes on 9/11 crashed into Indian Point, that 15 whole area around New York would be totally uninhabitable.
16 And that leads me to the last thing and back to 17 my friends here in Burke County. How are we communicating 18 with the folks on the ground here? Let's do a worst-case 19 scenario.
Even from a business standpoint, I realize 20 Southern Company is a business and has to make a profit.21 Let's look at a worst-case scenario.
Don't we 22 owe it to the people here in Burke County to show what 23 would happen in the worst possible case, if there was a 24 meltdown, if there was a valve like there was at Farley in 25 Alabama that didn't quite work right.NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 44 1 What would be the worst, or the A, B, or C, 2 what are the evacuation plans? How many people would 3 survive? How many hospitals would it take, what are the 4 flights out? What about the river?5 Don't we owe it to our community to be 6 precautionary, and then if we can answer those questions, 7 to the approval of everyone in the community and those at 8 large, which I think is nationwide because we're weighing 9 in on it and paying for it; just then move forward.10 But I think it's time for us to stop 11 downplaying all of the risks of nuclear. We all know that 12 radiation kills. That's a known fact. I'm not being 13 hysterical about that. But let's look at the worst case 14 and then move from there, forward together.
Thank you.15 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you, Bobbie.16 We're going to go to Teresa, Teresa Carter, 17 American Cancer Society. And then we'll see if Reverend 18 Utley wants to talk to us.19 Hi, Teresa.20 MS. CARTER: Good afternoon.
I come before you 21 as Teresa Carter, Burke County Community Manager for the 22 American Cancer Society. I'm here today to provide you 23 with information on Plant Vogtle's support for the 24 American Cancer Society.25 Plant Vogtle has been a dedicated supporter of NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 45 1 the American Cancer Society and its Relay for Life in 2 Burke County for several years, not only raising money but 3 also awareness to support life-saving cancer research, 4 programs and services.5 Plant Vogtle is a corporate sponsor of the 6 Society's Relay for Life, with teams of employees who 7 raised nearly one-third of the total $77,000 raised at a 8 Burke County Relay.9 The Plant's strong support of our cancer 10 fighting activities ensures Burke County's cancer 11 patients, their caregivers and families, that they receive 12 education, advocacy and services such as Reach to 13 Recovery, Road to Recovery, Look Good Feel Better, 14 Dietician On Call, and 24/7 patient resources to help them 15 to fight against that terrible disease. Thank you for 16 your time.17 MR. CAMERON: Okay, thank you. Thank you, 18 Teresa.19 Reverend Utley, do you want to speak to us?20 And then we're going to go Mr. Hasan.21 REVEREND UTLEY: Good evening. Just wanted to 22 say that I'm primarily interested in environmental justice 23 in this area. I've been working with communities 24 throughout the country and most of those are EJ 25 communities.
NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 46 1 And I'm interested in the amount of extract of 2 water from the river, for the use of the plant not exceed 3 that. It's going to be used for those farmers along the 4 river, as well as those who would like to use it as a 5 recreation facility.6 And so I -- my primary interest in that part of 7 it at this time, because if it's not addressed, that young 8 man or that young lady who would like to just go strolling 9 down the river, are we going to pull out more than a power 10 boat would able to even go down, and enjoy it.11 So as we look at anything that's going to 12 impact our river, and the use of it now from Augusta down, 13 we know we have Olin Chemicals as well as Federal Paper, 14 and others who are pulling from the river constantly.
15 There's only one river; there's only one 16 provider.
And let us use it for the best that we can use 17 it for and not put those farmers who are using it for 18 irrigation
-- put them out of business.
So let us look at 19 what we can return to the river, as safe, usable water, 20 because once it's gone, it's gone, and we can't replenish 21 it.22 So that's my thinking, that's my goal, is to 23 make sure that the little man like I am, is taken care of, 24 in any type of restructuring, redevelopment.
And thank 25 you very much.NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 47 1 MR. CAMERON: Thank you for those comments.2 Mr. Hasan?3 MR. HASAN: My name is A.K. Hasan. I live at 4 5029 Dierdre Court, Hephzibah, Georgia. I'm a lifelong 5 resident of Augusta, Georgia.6 I am founder and chairman of CSRA Citizens for 7 Nuclear Energy. We are a grassroots organization of local 8 citizens that live near Plant Vogtle. Let the record show 9 we are not environmentalists, but we are environmentally 10 conscious.
11 We are relevant stakeholders, interested in the 12 preservation of our environment, and the continued long 13 term stability and economic viability of Burke, Richmond 14 and the surrounding counties.15 Accordingly it is indeed an honor and a 16 privilege to address the United States Nuclear Regulatory 17 Commission hearing, concerning environmental scoping for 18 license renewal for Plant Vogtle Units 1 and 2, 19 applications review.20 CSRA Citizens for Nuclear Energy join the 21 thousands of citizens throughout Georgia who appreciate 22 the wisdom of *the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's initial 23 approval of Plant Vogtle as the site to build the two 24 reactors currently under review.25 The NRC's foresight enabled the Southern NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 48 1 Nuclear Operating Company to be a major player in the 2 delivery of clean and safe electrical energy at an 3 affordable price to Georgians.
4 Additionally, the Southern Nuclear Company is a 5 wonderful private partner, engaged in the development, 6 maintenance and restoration of our natural resources.
7 Regarding the assessment of need, the State of 8 Georgia projected population growth demands an increase in 9 our nuclear energy production capabilities.
Just 10 recently, the heat wave in Georgia caused consumers to put 11 such a strain on Georgia Power's transformers until many 12 of them burned out.13 Such natural occurrences affecting our 14 environment further demonstrates Georgians' need for 15 adequate energy production and preparation for predictable 16 and unpredictable forecasts.
17 Additionally, the more energy production 18 strategies we employ at home in the United States, the 19 less we as a nation will have to rely on foreign countries 20 for fuel.21 CSRA Citizens for Nuclear Energy supports the 22 Nuclear Regulatory Commission in its mission to license 23 and grant license renewals to companies that are capable 24 and have the experience of producing clean and safe 25 nuclear energies for consumer usage. Souther Nuclear NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 49 1 Operating Company is such a company. Thank you.2 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Mr. Hasan. Thanks.3 That's the last speaker that we have for this 4 afternoon session, and before we close I'd just like to 5 ask if there's -- if there are any other questions people 6 have about the process.7 And the staff will be here after the meeting to 8 talk to anybody about whatever, and we also have officials 9 from the company here, who will be available if you want 10 to talk to them.11 Yes, Sara?12 MS. BARCZAK: I think it's -- and this is a 13 question directly to what I said earlier in our 14 statements.
Is there a process that the NRC has 15 established, given the reality that there are so many more 16 applications and things going on, and new hires, or fairly 17 new, to -- like a license renewal happening within an ESP 18 and then a COL, Early Site Permit and Combined Operating 19 License?20 Do you have a mechanism within the Agency to 21 get public comment from one entity that may not be 22 reviewed but would be relevant for the COL or the ESP? I 23 mean, the COL hasn't been applied for, but --24 MR. CAMERON: That's a good question that 25 occurs --NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 50 1 MR. BENNER: I'm going to speak mostly for the 2 Environmental Review, just because that's what I'm most 3 familiar with, but I believe it's similar for the Safety 4 Review.5 Organizationally in the Nuclear Regulatory 6 Commission, all of the new reactor work at one point was 7 being done in the same office as the operating reactor 8 work, and those two offices -- the operating reactor work 9 was in an office called Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
10 Because of the growth, a new office was created 11 called the Office of New Reactors.
So while that allowed 12 for easier management instead of having to manage a 13 thousand people, having two offices manage 500, 600 14 people, it raised the concern, the same concern that you 15 just pointed out: the interaction between the two 16 offices.17 Internal to the NRC we just issued a procedure 18 that outlines the processes to ensure technical 19 consistency.
And elements of that procedure are I meet 20 periodically with my counterpart in new reactors; any 21 significant issues that we highlight we're supposed to 22 forward to our counterparts.
23 The technical staff interact all of the time;24 and part of that is for resulting in a better review. But 25 part of that is just from the standpoint of, you know, NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 51 1 particularly in the environmental space, the staff bring 2 many different experiences to the table. So the more they 3 interact, the better solution, and the better assessment 4 would come up, come up with, with the issues.5 I can say, specific to Vogtle, I passed the 6 staff with interacting with the NRC staff doing the early 7 site permit work. And J.P. has had some interaction with 8 the project manager, for the early site permit.9 All of our technical reviewers have been 10 reviewing the technical work done on the early site 11 permit. So we -- I mean, we are looking at those two 12 actions together.13 You pointed out earlier in your statement the 14 concept of an overall review. I think several people have 15 pointed out an overall review. NEPA, National 16 Environmental Policy Act, does require that we look at 17 cumulative impacts.18 And I haven't personally read the early site 19 permit, the EIS, but I can say that for the license 20 renewal EIS, we will be looking at the cumulative impacts 21 of both actions and some discussion of Savannah River 22 Site. So that is part of our review procedures.
23 MR. CAMERON: And will we be -- well, obviously 24 we can do this, but any comments that are made in regard 25 to scoping on license renewal that may also be relevant to NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 52 1 the draft EIS on the ESP, we can specifically refer those 2 comments --3 MR. BENNER: Right.4 MR. CAMERON: -- obviously, the --5 MR. BENNER: And we will be. That's part of 6 the interaction we have, is our technical staff will be 7 reviewing any comment submitted on the early site permit 8 EIS, and I'm sure that the new reactor staff will be 9 reviewing any scoping comments or any subsequent comments 10 that are received on the license renewal application.
11 MR. CAMERON: Okay --12 MR. BENNER: I just --13 MR. CAMERON: Go ahead.14 MR. BENNER: -- wanted to point out, scoping --15 because I think we've really met the intention of the 16 scoping process, with this meeting, because the -- we do 17 have technical experts on the staff; we have biologists, 18 and hydrologists and health physicists; and they know 19 their material very well.20 But what scoping assists with is providing 21 local information that can ensure that we do a thorough 22 review, and I think the comments that we've heard today on 23 overall impacts and cumulative impacts get right to the 24 heart of that. I think some of the comments we've heard 25 on alternatives get to the heart of that, because I think NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 53 1 it's -- you know, alternatives particularly are an area 2 where the local community probably knows best which 3 alternatives could work.4 So those sorts of comments are very helpful.5 The Reverend pointed out water-use conflicts; that is an 6 issue we look at explicitly, and hearing local feedback 7 on, you know, what are the water-use issues, and what I 8 heard was local farming and recreational use.9 Hearing those sorts of comments helps us to do 10 a complete review.11 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you, Eric. I was 12 going to ask you to close out for us for this afternoon 13 session. That sounded like a pretty good close-out you 14 had --15 MR. BENNER: Yes, I'm --16 MR. CAMERON: -- but anything else that you 17 want to add?18 MR. BENNER: Just to reiterate that, you know, 19 if this meeting causes you to think of something else, the 20 scoping period is still open, so you can submit comments 21 by any of the mechanisms raised on J.P.'s slides.22 Certainly, specific comments are helpful, any 23 comments are accepted, but I think when we get comments 24 like pointing out a website where we may find additional 25 information on wind power, those sorts of pointers really NEAL R. GROSS & CO., INC.(202) 234-4433 54 1 help the staff dig in in looking to the details of an 2 issue.3 But I think -- I mean, I just want to use that 4 to reiterate again that I think this meeting really met 5 the intent of NEPA when it speaks of scoping, to help us 6 define the scope of the review.7 MR. CAMERON: Okay, thank you.8 And thank you all for being here, and we'll be 9 here tonight, seven o'clock; a six-o'clock open house, and 10 the NRC will be back next Thursday, October 4, a seven 11 o'clock meeting on the draft Environmental Impact 12 Statement on the early site permit, and that meeting will 13 be preceded by a one-hour open house from 6:00 to 7:00, 14 and the staff's here for informal discussion.
15 Thank you all. Thanks.16 (Whereupon, at 2:47 p.m., the meeting was 17 concluded.)
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS.& CO., INC.(202) 234-4433