ML081910668
| ML081910668 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 05000024 |
| Issue date: | 06/19/2008 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-2251 | |
| Download: ML081910668 (66) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Grand Gulf Nuclear Station Public Scoping Meeting: Afternoon Session Docket Number:
50-024 Location:
Port Gibson, Mississippi Date:
Thursday, June 19, 2008 Work Order No.:
NRC-2251 Pages 1-60 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3
4 PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS 5
THE ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING PROCESS FOR 6
GRAND GULF NUCLEAR STATION, UNIT 3 7
COMBINED LICENSE APPLICATION 8
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 9
+++++
10 AFTEROON SESSION 11
- THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2008 12 1:00 PM 13 City of Port Gibson City Hall 14 1005 College Street 15 Port Gibson, Mississippi39150 16 17 18 FACILITATOR:
CHIP CAMERON 19 20 SPEAKERS:
RICHARD RAIONE 21 TAMSEN DOZIER 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2
(1:00 p.m.)
3 MR.
CAMERON:
Good afternoon, everyone.
4 My name is Chip Cameron.
I work for Executive 5
Director for Operations at the Nuclear Regulatory 6
Commission.
And we're going to try not to use 7
acronyms today, or at least we'll explain what they 8
are.
But we will be using NRC for Nuclear Regulatory 9
Commission.
10 And I
want to welcome you to this 11 afternoon's meeting.
And our topic for today is to 12 describe the NRC review process, the NRC evaluation 13 process for the review of applications to build and 14 operate new nuclear reactors.
And we do have an 15 application from Entergy to build a new reactor at the 16 Grand Gulf site.
17 And it's my pleasure to serve as your 18 facilitator for today's meeting.
And in that role 19 I'll try to help all of you to have a productive 20 meeting today.
And I just wanted to talk for a few 21 minutes about meeting process-issues so that you'll 22 understand what's going to be happening today.
And 23 I'm going to tell you about the format for the 24 meeting, some simple ground rules to allow us to have 25 a good meeting, and to introduce the NRC speakers to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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you today.
2 The format basically it's a
two-part 3
meeting.
The first part of the meeting we have two 4
brief presentations by NRC Staff to give you an idea 5
about the NRC's review process and, more importantly, 6
how the public how you can participate in that 7
review process.
8 And we'll have some time after that to go 9
out to you for any questions that you have about the 10 process.
11 Second part of the meeting is going to be 12 our opportunity to listen to all of you to get your 13 advice and your recommendations, hear any concerns 14 that you might have about our process.
15 Our focus today is on the Environmental 16 Review part of the NRC process.
And the NRC speakers 17 will be describing the entire process to you.
We're 18 here to hear your comments and particularly any 19 comments that you might have relative to the types of 20 things that the NRC should look at as it prepares its 21 Environmental Impact Statement, a Draft Environmental 22 Impact Statement.
23 So the NRC Staff will tell you that we're 24 also taking written comments on these issues.
But we 25 wanted to be here today to meet with you personally NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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and talk with you.
And anything that you say today 2
will carry the same weight as written comments that we 3
receive.
4 Is there a buzz?
Or is it --
I thought 5
maybe it was my night last night or something.
6 (Laughter) And is it really bothersome to you?
Shall 7
we try to fix this? Can we do anything' about that?
8 MR. EMCH:
It 's been going on all day.
9 It's something in the building.
10 MR.
CAMERON:
All right, well, let me just 11 talk a little bit about ground rules for the meeting.
12 We do have the NRC presentations.
And if you could 13 just hold your questions until after the speakers are 14 done, then we'll go on to you for questions.
15 If you do have a question, just signal me,.
16 And I'll bring you this cordless microphone.
And if 17 you could just introduce yourself to us, we'll try to 18 answer your question.
I would ask that only one 19 person speak at a time so that we can give our full 20 attention to whomever has the floor at the moment and 21 also so that we could get what I tall a clean 22 transcript.
23 We have Stephen Anderson with us who is 24 our Court Reporter.
And his grandson is tagging 25 along.
And Steve is going to keep a transcript of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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this meeting.
It will be your record.
It will be our 2
record of the meeting.
It will be publicly available.
3 So one person speaking a time.
And we 4
want to always make sure that we can hear from 5
everybody so that we'll just ask you that you'll try 6
to be as concise as possible in your questions and 7
comments.
I don't think we're going to have a big 8
problem with time this afternoon.
But I usually have 9
a three to five-minute guideline in terms of when you 10 come up to make your comments.
If you could try to 11 limit it to that, it would be helpful.
But I think 12 we're going to have plenty of time this afternoon.
13 And finally, and this is We do meetings 14 all over the country.
And usually this is something 15 that doesn't need to be said in the South.
But if you 16 could just give courtesy to everybody here this 17 afternoon.
You may hear opinions that are different 18 from yours.
But please respect the person giving 19 that.
20 And with that, I would thank you for all 21 being here to help the NRC with our evaluation 22 process.
23 Since we do have the luxury of a little 24 bit of time, we did bring several staff members.
And 25 I just want to you.
They'll be here after the meeting NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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if you have any questions.
But let me introduce the 2
NRC speakers first.
3 We're going to have Richard Raione, who is 4
the Environmental Projects Branch Chief at the NRC, is 5
going to start us off today.
And he's going to tell 6
you a little about the NRC, who the NRC is.
And 7
Richard's branch is in the division of Environmental 8
and Site Review.
And it's in the Office of New 9
Reactors.
That's where all of our work on new reactor 10 applications takes place.
11 And I'd like to tell you a
little bit 12 about our speakers and I'll do that for Richard.
And 13 Richard will do that for our second speaker who is 14 going to cover the main part of the presentation and 15 that's Tamsen Dozier right here.
And Tamsen is the 16 Project Manager for the Environmental Review of the 17 Grand Gulf Application.
18 Now Richard Raione, he is from the South.
19 And he holds degrees in biology and geology from 20 Tennessee.
That's the University of Tennessee.
And 21 he has a Master's in geology from the University of 22 Kentucky.
He's a Licensed Professional Geologist in 23 19 states, including the state of Mississippi.
He's a 24 Certified Groundwater Professional by the Association 25 of Groundwater Scientists and Engineering.
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And he's worked for several agencies:
2 Department of
- Defense, Department of
- Energy, 3
Department of Interior.
Now we're lucky to have him 4
at the NRC.
And he's had 25 years of professional 5
experience in both with the Federal Government and 6
with the --
in the private consulting area.
And he's 7
going to introduce Tamsen in a minute.
8 Just let me introduce some of the NRC 9
Staff here.
I'll start with Richard Emch, who is a
10 long time senior person.
I didn't say old.
I said 11 long time senior person with the NRC.
And he's here 12 with Andy Kugler in the back.
Also he's been here for 13 a
while.
They're Senior Environmental Project 14 Managers.
They've been through the licensing process 15 for the renewal of operating licenses and for new 16 reactors for Early Site Permits.
And they give us a 17 lot of comfort because they can answer the questions, 18 any questions that come up if we need to amplify.
19 And we have Dan Mussatti here, who is 20 another one of our experts from NRC Headquarters.
And 21
- Ron, Ron Schmitt, is also from NRC Headquarters.
And 22 he is our Emergency Planning Expert.
So if we do have 23 questions or if you have questions after the meeting 24 about Emergency Planning issues, he can answer them.
25 And we have Eric Oesterle.
And Eric is
- NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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he is the Project Manager for the Safety Review of the 2
Grand Gulf Application.
Tamsen, Environmental Review.
3 Eric, Safety Review.
4 We also have brought along one of our 5
attorneys from the Office of General
- Counsel, Ms.
6 Renee Holmes.
So if you have questions about the NRC 7
hearing process,
- whatever, Renee is here to answer 8
those.
9 In the back we have Steve Lemont, also 10 from the NRC staff.
And I guess our Resident Andrew 11 Barrett.
Andrew didn't come yet; did he?
He didn't 12 make it.
Okay.
13 And we have Adrienne who's helping out at 14 the desk here.
15 And did I miss anybody?
16 Oh, yeah, how could I forget.
This is Dr.
17 Darby Stapp.
And he is the Team Leader for the group 18 of experts that are helping the NRC evaluate the 19 environmental aspects of this application.
He's from 20 the Pacific Northwest National Lab in
- Richland, 21 Washington.
22 Anybody else that I missed?
23 Okay.
Well, I'm going to turn it over to 24 Richard at this point.
25 And again thank you.
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MR.
RAIONE:
Everybody hear me in the 2
back?
3
- Well, thank
- you, Chip, for the 4
introduction.
5 My name is Richard Raione.
I'd like to 6
thank you all for being here this afternoon.
We were 7
here last in February of
'08 and it was dark and 8
rainy.
So it's nice to be here on a day like today.
9 So thank you all for the good weather.
10 I'd like to start out with my introduction 11 by giving you all a quote which goes something like 12 this.
"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are 13 all together.
See how they run from pigs from a gun.
14 See how they cry.
I'm crying.
Some of you may 15 recognize this as John Lennon's' lyrics from the song,
.16 "I
Am the Walrus,"
from the Beatles Magical Mystery 17 Tour rereased back in the Middle Ages.
I'm talking 18 about 1967.
(Laughter) 19 Why am I bringing this up?
Well, the real 20 meaning of this song still escapes me, assuming it 21 even had a meaning back then.
But we in the federal 22 government have invented a -language with a lot of 23
- acronyms, a lot of phrases that are not commonly used 24 by the public, to say the least.
So if you've heard 25 something from our open house here earlier today, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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during the course of our presentation, or something 2
that's in our literature that remotely sounds like 3
English but the meaning alluded you, make sure you let 4
us know.
5 We do these. public meetings periodically.
6 Each time we do these we try to improve our 7
communication skills.
And we recognize that those of 8
us that live in the Washington, D.C. area, our lingo 9
may not be very commonly used around *the country.
So 10 make sure you let us know if you hear something that 11 doesn't quite ring --
that you don't understand very 12 well because we do try to communicate effectively.
13 Might talk a little bit about the NRC. We 14 manage the civilian use of radioactive materials.
15 Examples include over 100 nuclear power plant 16
- reactors, approximately 4,500
- medical, industrial, 17 government, and academic materials licensees.
This 18 includes things like radio pharmaceuticals.
And of 19 course as everyone knows, these are used to help treat 20 cancer and other types of diseases.
21 We are an
- independent agency or an 22 independent federal
.agency typically with five 23 Commissioners.
Currently we have four Commissioners.
24 We have three Republicans and one Democrat.
These 25 folks are appointed by the President.
And they are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 approved by Congress.
2 The reason that this that we have this 3
arrangement is that this keeps politics as much out of 4
the Agency as much as possible.
We don't have a 5
Secretary of the Interior.
We don't have a Secretary 6
of Defense.
These high-level managers and appointees, 7
they basically go when a new administration comes in.
8 So when a new president is elected, often times these 9
folks are let go.
10 What's the advantage to the NRC and to the 11 public?
- Well, in the NRC there's a lot more 12 continuity.
So by inference there's a lot more 13 accountability because our leaders are there for the 14 longer term.
So that's an advantage for this 15 particular agency.
16 Another thing I like to point out is that 17 NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has been voted 18 the best place to work in the Federal Government.
19 This is quite an accomplishment when you consider the 20 fact that there's over 280 federal agencies.
And if 21 you're like me, you're still scratching your head.
22 You didn't realize there were so many.
23 I only mention this to indicate that our 24 staff is' highly motivated, enthusiastic, and 25 competent.
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threats facing our country today, this is especially 2
important because this helps us recruit and keep the 3
best and brightest in the government's service.
4 Many of you all know we're headquartered 5
in Rockville, Maryland, just north of the District of 6
Columbia.
we also have regional offices in Atlanta, 7
Philadelphia, Chicago, and Arlington, Texas.
8 Now specifically my branch manages the 9
environmental aspects of New Reactor License 10 Applications.
we review the Environmental Report 11 which is part of the application package.
And we 12 produce what is called an Environmental Impact 13 Statement.
14 If you like acronyms, you'll see the 15
But it's an Environmental Impact 16 Statement.
17 my staff consists of scientists and 18 engineers who are assigned as the Environmental 19 Project Manager for a particular application.
We 20 currently have four applications in-house.
These 21 include Calvert Cliffs, Maryland; Virginia; the Duke 22 site, it's Cherokee, South Carolina; and of course, 23 Grand Gulf.
All of these applications are in various 24 stages of review.
25 Also within the next five months 'or so, we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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should be getting five more applications.
These 2
include Levy County, Crystal River, Florida; River 3
Bend, Louisiana; Farley, Michigan; Victoria County, 4
Texas; and Nine Mile Point up there in New York.
5 My branch interacts closely with other 6
branches. within my division such as the Hydrology 7
Branch, the water folks, the Environmental Technical 8
Support Branch.
These are p eople with specialized 9
disciplines such as ecology, socioeconomics, health 10 physics, etcetera.
11 We also interact' with meteorology and 12 others both within and outside our division because 13 there's a lot of people on the team just from the NRC 14 side of the house.
15 We also rely on the expert technical 16 advice and expertise provided by our nation's National 17 Laboratories within the Department of Energy community 18 headed up by Pacific Northwest National Lab in 19 Richland, Washington and others such as Brookhaven 20 National Lab in New York and Oak Ridge National Lab in 21 Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
22 We also use the services of private sector 23 consulting companies.
All of this brain power is 24 collectively used to produce the Environmental Impact 25 Statement in about two years time.
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So what are we doing here today?
- Well, 2
the main purpose for us being here is to solicit 3
information or data from you as members of the public 4
as part of the process which is called scoping.
This 5
scoping process helps us as a federal agency meet the 6
intent behind what is referred to as the National 7
Environmental Policy Act, otherwise known as NEPA.
8 Let's go back in time to the mid to late 9
- 1960s, when alternative music was being played and a 10 lot of things were happening in our country.
There 11 was a
general realization back then that our 12 environmental practices could not continue as they had 13 over the previous 100 years.
Our country had grown 14 dramatically in population.
And polluting a river at 15 one point meant that another user down stream was 16 being affected.
So basically we couldn't pollute at 17 will.
18 Perhaps the final straw was the fact that 19 the Cuyahoga
- River, which means Crooked River in 20
- Iroquois, in Cleveland, Ohio actually caught on fire 21 because it was so polluted.
Those folks even had a 22 River Fire Department charged with putting out fires 23 on the river.
I'm still amazed that something like 24 that could have happened.
I'm not sure about you all 25 but it just flips me out that a river could catch on NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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fire in our country.
2 At any rate to the credit of the Nixon 3
administration and the Congress at the time, they 4
passed the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969 5
with the lofty. expressed goal of protecting human 6
health and the environment.
This goal is shared by 7
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as is evidenced by 8
our published strategic objective statement which says 9
in part that we will conduct our mission in a manner 10 that protects public health and safety and the 11 environment.
12 At any rate we are here again today to 13 solicit information from you relative to the 14 environmental aspects of this proposed project.
15 What am I talking about here?
Well, I'll 16 give.you some examples.
You may have a grandfather 17 that used to do a lot of hiking in the vicinity of the 18 plant back in the '40s or the '50s.
And he used to 19 talk about this old graveyard, presumably Civil War in 20 age, with a graveyard that had grown over with a bunch 21 of vines.
And you kind of take him out there and say, 22 "Hey, that sounds to me like a historic resource.
A 23 historic, resource that needs to be protected."
So you 24 want to bring that to our attention.
25 Another example could be a good friend of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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yours has been fishing ever since he was six years 2
old, best fisherman around these parts.
He went out 3
fishing the other day and brought in this wild and 4
crazy looking fish.
He couldn't identify it.
Showed 5
it to all the neighbors, they couldn't identify it.
6 So you're kind of scratching your head, "Hey, this may 7
be a rare species, may be a threatened, endangered 8
species."
9 So you want to bring this out to say, 10 "Hey; take a look at this watershed."
11 And we all know environmental typically 12 deals with
- air, land, and water.
But our 13 Environmental Impact Statement is a much more detailed 14 analysis than just those type of perspectives.
We 15 also look at socioeconomics, for example.
16 An example where that could apply is that 17 you've been thinking abdut if this plant is licensed 18 and built what happens to local churches and roads if, 19 say, two or three thousand folks come in and these 20 construction folks come into the area and move to the 21 area.
So these are some examples of the kinds of 22 input we're hoping to get to today.
23 But I want to emphasize right here that if 24 you are *interested in participating in our process you 25 don't have to speak this afternoon; you don't have to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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speak tonight.
What you really need to know is who to 2
- contact, how to contact those folks:
e-mail, phone 3
- call, you could use U.S.
Postal Service to write a 4
letter.
Heck, you can even come to Rockville and see 5
us in person.
And you need to know like anybody else 6
we have schedules and we do have deadlines.
So those 7
are some of the important points that you want to walk 8
away with.
9 My Environmental Project Manager for this 10 task, as Chip indicated earlier, is Ms.
Tamsen Dozier.
'11 She is going to be providing a lot more information 12 shortly and she is going to talk in more details about 13 our licensing method, our schedule and how the public 14 can participate.
I'm sorry.
It's Mrs.
Tamsen Dozier.
15 Okay, this slide what I really wanted to 16 show in this slide which illustrates the participants 17 in our process is the middle column, the Stakeholder 18 column.
This slide indicates that we as an agency do 19 not make decisions in a vacuum.
There are many 20 players in this process which is designed so that 21 people who have a stake in the proposed project are 22 given a chance to participate and be heard.
Hence the 23 name stakeholder.
So what we are talking about here 24 is that you as the folks who live and work here are 25 stakeholders in this process.
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be.
After all this is your community and your home.
2 If this project' proceeds, we recognize that this 3
activity will have more of an impact here locally than 4
on other folks living further away.
5 By the same token, you folks that live and 6
work here 'are also the best to solicit any 7
environmental information from since you are the 8
source for localized site specific information.
9 This slide also indicates that public 10 interest groups, other federal agencies such as the 11 Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, the 12 Environmental Protection Agency, tribal nations, state 13
- agencies, in this
- case, the Mississippi National 14 Heritage
- Program, the Mississippi Department of 15 Archives and History to list a few, are also involved 16 and utilized.
17 So with this being said, I appreciate your 18 time, interest, and input here today.
I'd to ask Mrs.
19 Tamnmy Dozier to come up.
Tammy used to live in 20 Vicksburg.
She does have a master's degree in Civil 21 Engineering from Mississippi State University.
She 22 previously worked for the Waterways Experiment 23 Station.
And she's currently headquartered in 24 Rockville, Maryland.
And we're glad to have her also.
25 Thank you.
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MRS.
DOZIER:
Thank you, Richard.
Can 2
everyone hear me from back there?
3 As Richard said, my name is Tamsen Dozier 4
and I
am also with the Division of Site and 5
Environmental Review with the NRC's Office of New 6
Reactors.
And as he said also, I
am the Project 7
- Manager, the Environmental Project Manager, for the 8
Grand Gulf Unit 3 COL Application.
There I go again 9
with the acronym --
Combined License Application.
You 10 might hear me accidentally refer to it as COL.
11 They're the same thing.
12 But before I get started, I'd like to --
13 I'm happy to be back in Mississippi.
I'd like to 14 thank every one of the citizens of Port Gibson.
15 You've been gracious and hospitable as our --
to me 16 and my staff as we've been trying to prepare this 17 meeting.
And I'd especially like to thank the Mayor 18 of the city for allowing us use of this beautiful 19 building.
We don't normally get a chance to have our 20 meetings in such a great location.
21 But with that we'll go ahead and start on 22 the next slide.
Now what is a combined license?
Now 23 as we see here, it is the authorization from the 24 Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct and operate 25 a new nuclear power plant in accordance with the laws NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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and regulations.
2 Now Entergy submitted an application to 3
the NRC on February the 27th of this year to construct
.4 and operate a new nuclear facility at the Grand Gulf 5
site adjacent to Unit 1.
6 Now to avoid confusion, I'd like to 7
clarify there is still only one currently operating 8
reactor at the Grand Gulf site.
Entergy has 9
designated the planned new unit as Unit 3
to 10 differentiate it from the,1d plans that had been 11 underway some years ago for a Unit 2.
12 The NRC review of a combined license is a
13 rigorous process.
There are currently three separate 14 reviews occurring simultaneously on the Grand Gulf 15 application.
The first two are related -to the safety 16 of the plant.
The one discussed in the top line here 17 is the review of the plant design that Entergy plans 18 to use, the ESBWR.
Now the ESBWR is a design that is 19 currently being reviewed under a public rule-making 20 process to determine if it is appropriate for 21 certification.
The second review is a site specific 22 safety review.
And then the third review that happens 23 at the same time as the previous two is that of the 24 environmental effects associated with construction and 25 operation of that design at the Grand Gulf site.
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This slide is just an overview of the 2
Combined License Review Process.
The safety review is 3
shown along the top portion of the diagram which if 4
you remember is both the review of the design and then 5
the site specific safety review.
6 And along the bottom portion of the 7
diagram we have the environmental review process.
And 8
then the path in the middle represents the hearing 9
process.
And I'm going to be talking a little bit 10 about that later.
11 And then the final step is the 12 Commission's decision on whether to not to grant the 13 license.
14 Now even though the primary purpose of 15 this meeting is to discuss the environmental scoping 16 portion of the Grand Gulf review and to of course hear 17 your comments, I will briefly present a list of some 18 of the areas of the site safety review.
19 Now the Safety Project Managers for the 20 Grand Gulf Combined License Review are Mr.
Eric 21 Oesterle and Mr.
Mark Tonacci.
Mr.
Oesterle is here 22 with us today, as Chip introduced him earlier.
And as 23 we can see from this slide, Mr.
Oesterle and Mr.
24 Tonacci and their team are quite busy.
I won't read 25 all the points outlined here.
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questions on these or any other matters of the safety 2
- review, then please talk to Mr.
Oesterle after the 3
meeting.
He'll be happy to help you.
4 And I would also encourage everyone to 5
take a look at the vast array of literature and 6
booklets that we've brought with us today.
We 7
probably have a booklet to address your general --
any 8
general concerns that you may have.-
9 Now many of you may remember that the NRC 10 was here a couple of years ago holding meetings and 11 doing reviews.
And that was for an early site permit.
12 A few utilities have elected this licensing option of 13 seeking approval of a site prior to applying for a 14 combined license.
Entergy was one of these.
And as 15 Richard said, their Early Site Permit was granted by 16 the Commission in.April of.2007.
17 Now the Environmental Review, which is the 18 subject of today's meeting, is guided by the National 19 Environmental 'Policy Act of 1969 or, as Richard said, 20 we refer to as NEPA.
21 NEPA is the federal statute which requires 22 that all federal agencies evaluate the impacts of 23 proposed action and to use a systematic approach in 24 doing so.
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environment, an Environmental Impact Statement is 2
required by this law.
3 Because I will be referring to the 4
Environmental Impact Statement so often, I'm going to 5
go ahead and define it as an EIS.
So if I
6 inadvertently *use the term EIS, you'll know I'm 7
talking about an Environmental Impact Statement.
8 The NRC has determined that issuing a 9
combined license for a new nuclear facility is a major 10 federal action.
And so the staf f will develop an 11 Environmental Impact Statement before the Commission 12 takes final action on any Combined License 13 Application.
14 Now many of the environmental effects 15 related to the construction and operation of an 16 additional unit at the Grand Gulf site were analyzed 17 and resolved during the early site permit review. And 18 an Environmental Impact Statement was prepared and 19 issued in April of 2006.
And I have a copy of it 20 here.
21 Now as part of the combined license review 22 process, the staff will prepare a supplement to this 23 Environmental Impact 'Statement from the early site 24 permit review.
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document is known as tiering.
2 And for the Grand Gulf COL environmental 3
review, the NRC staff will tier off or incorporate by 4
reference the Early Site Permit EIS analysis into the 5
Supplemental Impact Statement.
6 Just one second.
I'm going to go back. I1 7
want to talk just a minute that the scope of this 8
Supplemental EIS that we prepare will focus on the 9
environmental issues that were not analyzed or 10 resolved in ESP, our Early Site Permit.
An example of 11 an environmental issue not analyzed or resolved in the 12 Early Site Permit Environmental Impact Statement is 13 the need for power.
A need for power analysis was not 14 conducted during the early site permit review because 15 the NRC regulations' do not require it, this 16 assessment, at that stage.
But we will be conducting 17 this analysis as part of our current combined license 18 review.
19 Now for issues that were evaluated and 20 resolved during the early site permit review, the 21 staff will look at those issues to make certain 22 nothing has changed that could call into question the 23 conclusions that were previously reached in that 24 review.
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will take during the environmental review.
As I
2 explained, Entergy submitted the application I'm 3
sorry.
- Yes, submitted the application with their 4
Environmental Report to the Agency on February the 5
27th of this year.
Next the application was evaluated 6
to ensure that it met our technical sufficiency 7
guidance and was accepted for docketing by the Agency.
8 Once this decision was made the NRC issued 9
a Notice of Intent that was actually a few weeks 10 ago on May 30th to notify the public of the 11 Agency's intention to develop a
supplement to the 12 previous EIS and to conduct scoping.
13 Now scoping is the process of providing 14 all stakeholders outside the NRC an opportunity to 15 provide information regarding issues that the NRC 16 should consider during its NEPA Review.
So the 17 scoping comment period for the Grand Gulf Review began 18 on may 30th and it ends on July 29th.
This public 19 meeting also serves as an opportunity to provide 20 comments because it's being transcribed, as Chip 21 mentioned.
22 Another step of the environmental review 23 is the environmental site visit or audit.
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Headquarters in Jackson to conduct an independent 2
evaluation *of the information that was provided by 3
Entergy in the Environmental Report that's part of 4
their application.
5 We do further information gathering in the 6
coming weeks.
We will ask questions of the applicant 7
through a process called Request for Additional 8
Information.
We will investigate comments from the 9
public and other state and federal agencies.
10 After analyzing the information we obtain 11 during all of this, the NRC will then develop its 12 Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
13 Now we call this document a draft not because it is 14 incomplete, but because the public has not yet had a 15 chance to comment on it.
16 When the Draft Supplemental EIS is 17 published, this initiates another comment period.
Now 18 during this period we will come back to Port Gibson 19 and we will have another public meeting that explains 20 the results of our review.
And we will collect 21 comments on that document.
22 23 Now after we evaluate the comments on the 24 Draft EIS, we may decide to modify it.
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Supplemental EIS as a f inal document.
That document 2
will be used as one of several different inputs into 3
the formal hearing process which I describe in a bit.
4 Now as we said earlier, the result of the 5
combined license process in this last box is a
6 decision by the Commission on the application.
7 Now the scoping period is a
big 8
information gathering time for us.
This slide shows 9
the various sources that we use --
some of the various 10 sources that we will use.
11 The key point that I want to make here is 12 that the 'staff Supplemental EIS is an independent 13 evaluation.
So although we will start with the 14 applicant's Environmental Report and the Early Site 15
- Permit, we're investigating information from many 16 other sources.
17 Now to conduct the combined license 18 environmental review, we have assembled a team with 19 backgrounds in the necessary scientific and technical 20 disciplines.
And as Richard explained, they are --
as 21 Chip explained, the NRC has contracted with Pacific 22 Northwest National Laboratory to assist us in 23 preparing our Supplemental EIS.
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28 1
experts on wide ranging topics related to the 2
environmental issues and nuclear power plants.
This 3
slide gives you an idea of some of the areas we will 4
consider during our review.
5 Now this slide shows where we are in the 6
environmental review.
As you can see in the dark type 7
we're just about four
- well, we're actually 8
today we're at the third line down.
So we are 9
currently in the early weeks of the scoping public 10 comment period.
It is scheduled to end on July 29th.
11 We plan to issue the Draft Supplemental EIS in May of 12 2009.
13 We will then come
- back, present our 14
- results, and take comments on the draft in a public 15 meeting tentatively planned for June of 2009.
And 16 finally we plan to issue a
Final Supplemental 17 Environmental Impact Statement around May of 2010.
18 Now there are several ways you can provide 19 comments.
You can provide comments today during the 20 comment period of this meeting.
You can send your 21 comments via regular mail if perhaps. you're not ready 22 to provide comments today.
And you can send us your 23 comments to the e-mail address that we have set up 24 specifically for the Grand Gulf Environmental Review, 25 which is GrandGulf.COLAEIS, which stands for COL NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Application Environmental Impact Statement.
That 2
helps you remember it.
And that's at nrc.gov.
You 3
can also submit comments in person at the NRC 4
Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland.
5 And all comments received, including the 6
ones received at today's meeting, will be included in 7
the Scoping Summary Report and will carry the same 8
weight, as Chip explained earlier.
9 Now the NRC Regulations require a hearing 10 for any new reactor license application.
The results 11 of the combined license process is a decision by the 12 Commission on the application, as we have said.
An 13 opportunity for public involvement is available 14 through the hearing process.
15 Now the public will have 60 days after the 16 date of the Notice of Opportunity to participate and 17 this Notice will be filed soon.
This Petition to 18 Intervene must be filed electronically and you must 19 obtain a Digital Certificate of Approval in advance or 20 a waiver from the Digital Certificate requirement.
21 Please allow a minimum of 10 business days to receive 22 this Digital Certificate or waiver.
Now detailed 23 instructions for e-filing are on the NRC website 24 that's listed on this slide and will be described in 25 the Hearing Notice.
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So I'd like to take this time to recap 2
some very important public involvement information.
3 As I said before, the scoping public comment period 4
ends on July 29th of this year.
5 After the Draft Supplemental Environmental 6
Impact Statement is
- complete, the public meeting on 7
the draft will be held again here in Port Gibson 8
sometime around June of 2009.
9 The opportunity for Petition to Intervene 10 in the hearing process will be announced.
Please keep 11 in mind that you must receive a Digital Certificate of 12 Approval before you can file a petition.
And the 13 hearing covers both the safety and the environmental 14 issues.
15 Now this slide identifies me as your 16 primary point of contact at the NRC for the Grand Gulf 17 Combined License Environmental Review.
It also has 18 the contact information for Mr.
Oesterle and Mr.
19 Tonacci.
Next it identifies where documents related 20 to the Grand Gulf Environmental Review may be found in 21 the local
- area, which for Port Gibson is the 22 HarriettePerson Memorial Library.
23 Now I'll close this presentation by 24 saying, if you wish to be on our environmental review 25 mailing list, please fill out and turn in one of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 1
blue cards at the registration desk out front and just 2
make sure that your name and mailing address or e-mail 3
is provided to one of the NRC Staff at the table.
4 This is one way of ensuring you will be notified of 5
upcoming meetings and that you will get copies of the 6
Draft and Final Supplemental EIS.
7 And with that I would like to say thank 8
you to each and everyone for coming out today.
And I 9
will return the meeting back over to Mr. Cameron.
10 MR.
CAMERON:
Thank you, Tammy.
Thank 11 you, Richard.
12 Tammy covered a lot of ground in terms of 13 the process for reviewing these applications.
And you 14 may have some questions you want to add, so we're 15 going to go on to her questions now.
16 Is there anything that we could be clearer 17 about?
Is there anything we could provide more of an 18 explanation on?
19 And Renee Holmes from our Office of 20 General Counsel just wanted me to make sure that we 21 clarify.
In terms of the hearing that Tamsen was 22 talking about and the need for a certificate for e-23 filing, you can get a waiver from the requirement to 24 do e-filing.
Is that correct?
25 MS.
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Right, you don't have to wait NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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and do a certificate.
2 MR.
CAMERON:
It's not a waiver from the 3
certificate..
It's a waiver from e-filing.
4 So any questions that any of you have 5
about the process, about when things are going to 6
happen, or what the hearing is all about?
7 As opposed to what the NRC calls public 8
hearing, this is a public meeting.
We use the hearing 9
term to describe the adjudicatory process.
Some 10 agencies like
- EPA, for
- example, they call public 11 meetings hearings.
Okay, there's a distinction in NRC 12 parlance between public meeting and hearing.
13 Anybody?
14 And we'll be here after the meeting to 15 answer questions and also after we hear from some of 16 the people that want to make comments, if you have 17 questions then, we'll be ready to answer them.
18 So if there are no questions right now, so 19 let's go to our people from the public who would want 20 to make a comment to us.
21 And first of all, we're going to go to 22 Charlie Horhn.
Did I
pronounce that correctly?
23 Charlie is I may not have pronounced it correctly.
24 But Charlie is from Congressman Thompson's office.
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get up here?
Is there room on the side to come up and 2
talk to all of us?
3 Thank you.
4 MR.
HORHN:
Good afternoon.
My name is 5
Charlie Horhn.
And of course, I live here in the 6
state of Mississippi in Hinds County, Mississippi.
Of 7
- course, over the years I've had the opportunity to 8
visit Claiborne County, Port Gibson, Mississippi.
I'm 9
here to speak as a citizen, but I'm also here to speak 10 as an employee of Congressman Bennie Thompson.
And I 11 thank you for the opportunity to let me have your 12 stand.
13 One of the things that the Congressman has 14 to make clear that --
I represent him is that in 15 all his public meetings both in this immediate 16 community as well as surrounding areas, he has made it 17 clear. that, No.
1, his concern of the safety of the 18 nuclear reactor.
The other is his concern about 19 engaging the local community and opening and planning 20 of the reactor as well as construction of it.
And 21 then what will be the impact getting it built?
22
- One, as I
- said, is the concern about 23 safety.
But the other part of it is when we look back 24 at the present reactor here now the Congressman's 25 position is that we feel that the community have not NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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34 1
been quite as well economically and should have when 2
it comes to how the community has been benefitted 3
economically, education and those kinds of things.
We 4
think that opportunity might have been squandered.
5 But we think it's going forward with 6
another issue that there is some opportunity to try to 7
make good on those things that were left out in the 8
other one.
One of the things that Entergy has not 9
actively engaged the local community in the region in 10 and around the nuclear facility whereby the community 11 could benefit.
12 So we think that recognizing the economic 13 depression that's in this community that some 14 commitments need to be made for greater opportunities, 15 both in the area of health care, education, job 16 opportunities and job
- training, business 17 opportunities, and the long term investment in the 18 infrastructure also is very critical to this 19 community.
20 So in looking ahead in whatever it is that 21 we're going to do here, we're taking the position that 22 Entergy should definitely engage the local community 23 in all of its planning and all its activities and when 24 they come.
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that goes on with this next.
We have a great need in 2
this particular area generally underserved in those 3
areas that I just mentioned.
So in moving forward we 4
definitely ask Entergy to further and to richly engage 5
the community in planning.
6 Thank you, thank you very much.
7 MR.
CAMERON:
Thank you very
- much, 8
Charlie.
9 MR.
HORHN:
And I do have a copy of a 10 letter from the Congressman for each presenter.
I'd 11 like to present those for the record.
12 MR.
CAMERON:
Great, we'll consider that 13 formal comment and we'll also attach it to the 14 transcript.
15 MR.
HORHN:
Thank you very much.
16 MR.
CAMERON:
Thank you.
17 Next we're going to go to A.C.
Garner.
18 And Mr. Garner is from the Claiborne County NAACP.
19 MR.
GARNER:
That's true.
That's one of 20 the organizations that I represent.
21 MR.
CAMERON:
Okay.
22 MR.
GARNER:
Thank you very much.
First 23 of all, I hadn't planned to speak today, but I had 24 planned to speak later on.
But since I have the 25 opportunity, I probably will just go ahead and speak NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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now and later on tonight.
2 As the person who introduced me said, I am 3
A.C. Garner.
That's the absolute truth.
And I live 4
here in Claiborne
- County, which I
am a
livelong 5
resident of Claiborne County.
Another thing is I am a 6
father and grandfather of people who live here in this 7
particular county.
8 I've served for some 15 years as Director 9
of Emergency Management here in Claiborne County.
So 10 when I say something concerning what's happening in 11 and around Grand Gulf Nuclear Station and other things 12 concerning Claiborne County and Grand Gulf, in some 13 cases I may know what I'm talking about.
14 There is certain situations here which 15 cause me to question, a third or second
- well, 16 Reactor No.
3 coming to Claiborne County.
In the 17 first beginning, I
wanted to award my consent to 18 support reactors coming to Claiborne County.
But 19 somewhere along the line my feelings is that some 20 things got crossed up.
21 Unit 1 at Grand Gulf came on the line in 22 1985.
At that time I was serving as the Director of 23 Emergency Management.
It was what I thought to be a 24 smooth operation.
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to take place here in Claiborne County.
But just a 2
few months after the plant went on line, some other 3
things started to take place.
4 If I remember correctly, Mississippi Power 5
and Light Company was the one who was operating Grand 6
Gulf in the beginning.
So Mississippi Power and Light 7
Company and the State of Mississippi decided for some 8
reason that it was necessary to take and split the tax 9
money that came to Claiborne County.
At that time 10 Claiborne County was receiving something in the 11 neighborhood, of $16 million per year.
You could feel 12 somewhat good about that because funds were available 13 to do almost anything for the protection of people and 14 properties here in Claiborne County.
15 It has, changed here
- now, drastically.
16 Since the funds was taken away and distributed in 17 other parts of the State of Mississippi, Claiborne 18 County only receives about $8 million in 2008.
19 Let's just think about the comparison.
20 Let's just think about certain things that have to 21 take place.
An Emergency Management group is not a 22 group that you can put together one time and forget 23 about it and it last forever.
That doesn't happen.
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because of a short of funds.
2 So I
question concerning the operation 3
around Grand Gulf Nuclear Station is whether or not 4
some things need to be changed and should be changed 5
where that -Claiborne County can be somewhat more 6
comfortable than what they are now.
7 And I would just point out, a few of them 8
to you.
The Emergency Operations Center that house 9
emergency respondents during the time of emergencies 10 is no longer,in operation for the simple reason 11 Claiborne County cannot afford to repair or replace 12 this facility.
To go a little bit further, there is 13 only one hospital located in Claiborne County.
Right 14 now it's at a dilapidated stage.
And I don't think 15 this is called for.
I think someone somewhere needs 16 to become involved in what's taking place here.
17 So what we do we call on the Nuclear 18 Regulatory Commission, we call on Federal Emergency 19 Management, we call on the State of Mississippi, we 20 call on Mississippi Emergency Management, and we call 21 on the Mississippi Legislature to do something about 22 the situation here in'Claiborne County.
23 Thank you very much.
24 MR.
CAMERON:
Thank you, Mr. Garner.
25 Does anybody else want to speak at this NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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afternoon's meeting?
Anybody else have a question?
2 We do have time for questions.
3 Yes, sir.
If you could just introduce 4
yourself to us, please.
5 MR. MARTIN:
My name is Ted Martin.
I' m a 6
Mississippian by birth.
my question is can any part 7
of the construction of this facility begin prior to 8
the issue of the license?
9 MR. CAMERON:
Let me get an answer to 10 that.
Let's give a broader answer.
You know what the 11 gentleman's concerns are.
Let's go to Rich Emch will 12 tell you the whole story on this.
Richard.
13 MR.EMCH:
Yes, sir, there are some parts 14 that can be begun before the license is issued.
Site 15 grading, excavation of the holes for where they're 16 going to' build the buildings, construction of 17 transmission lines these are some examples of 18 things that can be begun before the license is issued 19 since those things that I just described don't really 20 have any connection to protection of the public from 21 radiation.
22 Is there more to your question, sir?
23 MR.
MARTIN:
Yes, one other part, please.
24 Can you tell me approximately how long after the 25 license is issued before the plant will go online?
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MR.
CAMERON:
Eric, isn't that something -
2 thank you, Rich.
3
- Okay, if the license is
- issued, Eric, 4
could you talk about not only how long it would take 5
but also about the fact of whether the applicant, the 6
license holder, actually needs to start right away.
7 MR.
OESTERLE:
- Right, that's a
great 8
point.
Thank you.ý What we're looking at right now is 9
the license review.
And all along what we have been 10 informed by Entergy of is their commitment to proceed 11 with this license application and get the NRC to 12 review the license application and receive a license 13 to construct and operate this plant.
14 What we haven't heard yet from Entergy is 15 they have not expressly made a commitment to go ahead 16 and build this unit.
And that decision is theirs to 17 make.
Just getting a license does not require you to 18 go ahead and build this plant.
Obviously that's a 19 business decision that Entergy needs to make.
20 But if that decision was made and was 21 communicated to us, there are estimates of how long it 22 would take to get the plant online after the license 23 was issued.
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issued to prepare the site and build roads and direct 2
construction work out and that sort of thing, industry 3
estimates have ranged around 48 to 60 months work or 4
construction time.
5 And not all of that is what. we call hard 6
core construction.
But there are certain activities 7
that need to take place which the NRC still remains 8
involved in during the construction phase.
And those 9
activities require us to confirm that certain 10 activities have taken place that verify design 11 features have been constructed correctly and it will 12 perform their function correctly.
13 And the last part -of all of this is the 14 NRC Staff providing a recommendation based on their 15 review of all of those activities to the Commission on 16 whether or not to authorize loading the fuel at that 17 nuclear plant!
So there is another step after we 18 issue the license that the NRC still is very involved 19 in before the plant can actually load the fuel and 20 start producing power.
21 MR. CAMERON:
Thank you very much, Eric.
22 And just as a point of reference from another public 23 meeting that we did on another application that we 24 expect that particular company hopes to go through the 25 review process, get its license, and be online in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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42 1
2016.
That's pretty impressive schedule.
But that 2
gives you an idea of this.
3 And I'm just going to let Rich Emch 4
clarify or expand a little bit on what he answered in 5
terms of what types of things can be done before.
6 MR.EMCH:
When I
gave you the list of 7
things that can be done before the license is issued, 8
I mentioned that these were things that we didn't 9
license essentially because they have nothing to do 10 with protection of the public from radiation.
I'll go 11 a little bit further.
12 Basically we don't under the Atomic 13 Energy Act our responsibility is protection of the 14 public in the civilian use of radioactive material.
15 And basically there's so we don't authorize, we 16 don't have the authority to authorize grading and 17 excavation and things like that.
Those are things 18 that any private citizen, any company can do.
It has 19 nothing to do with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
20 As soon as they start to do something that 21 has what --
I'll use the word nexus -- as soon as they 22 start to do something having a nexus to public safety, 23 to radiation safety, then that, whatever they're going 24 to do, then that does require a license from the 25 Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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MR.
CAMERON:
Thank you for those 2
questions, sir.
3 If you want one more clarification, then 4
we'll go to you.
5 MR.
OESTERLE:
I just wanted to point out 6
that the fact that Entergy has not committed to 7
actually build this nuclear plant is not unique.
We 8
- have, I think, up to nine applications or combined 9
licenses at the NRC and in-house for review right now.
10 And all of the applicants or let me put it this 11 way.
None of the applicants have publicly committed 12 to actually building a new plant.
But they want to 13 leave that option open as a means to meet their 14 electricity demands and demands for power among other 15 options.
And so pursuing combined licenses for these 16 plants is a way for them to do that as part of their 17 business strategy.
18 MR.
CAMERON:
Thanks for that, Eric.
19 Yes, ma'am.
20 MS.
SQUARE:
Good afternoon.
Can you give 21 me a snapshot of the differences between what we have 22 already with. Unit 1 and what's being proposed with 23 Unit 3 in terms of the process and the functionality 24 of it, the design, if there's anything different, if 25 the unit like No.
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44 1
aspect of it, has it ever been is there another 2
unit in the country or world like it or is this 3
experimental?
4 MR. CAMERON:
Thank you.
And your name 5
is?
6 MS.
SQUARE:
Brenda Square, Auburn State 7
University.
8 MR.
CAMERON:
- Okay, thanks, Brenda.
I 9
think you see what Brenda's concern is.
If you could 10 just talk to that, Eric?
11 MR.
OESTERLE:
Sure, sure.
And that's a 12 great question.
13 The type of reactor that Entergy is 14 proposing in their license is called an Economic 15 Simplified Boiling Water Reactor.
It is a design that 16 is currently under review by the NRC.
It's proposed 17 by General Electric Hitachi.
18 And one of the main differences between 19 that boiling water reactor design and the boiling 20 water reactor design that currently exists in Grand 21 Gulf Unit 1 is the fact that Unit 1 relies upon what 22 we call active equipment to work in case of an 23 accident to safely shut down the plant.
So we're 24 talking about pumps that need to operate, valves that 25 need power to close and things like that.
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Whereas this new design, this ESBWP.
2 that's another acronym for you.
It relies very 3
heavily on what we call passive safety features.
And 4
what that means is you don't have any pumps that force 5
water into the reactor core to cool it.
The design 6
actually includes large, large volumes inside the 7
containment building itself that are filled with 8
water.
9 So that in an accident scenario this --
we 10 use --
they allow gravity to work to allow this water 11 to just flow down into the reactor without it being 12 pumped into the reactor.
And there's a lot more water 13 available with this design than there are in other 14 designs to keep the core cool.
15 In this design they also don't rely upon 16 power-operated valves to open or close to allow this 17 water to get into the core to cool it.
And neither do 18 they rely upon emergency diesel generators to supply 19 power, to the plant in case they lose power coming into 20 the plant from offsite.
They rely upon station 21 batteries which have a lifetime of 72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br />.
And 22 beyond that they have other means to provide power.
23 So the big change and the big difference 24 here is a much more reliance upon passive safety 25 features rather than the active type safety features:
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pumps and valves and things like that.
2 MR.
CAMERON:
- And, Eric, I think part of 3
Brenda's questions was where --
and I don't know 4
MS.
SQUARE:
Where else?
5 MR.
CAMERON:
Where else are they located?
6 MR.
OESTERLE:
There currently are no 7
other ESBWRs operating in this country or in the world 8
for that matter.
As I said, this the design for 9
the ESBWR is still under NRC review.
And once NRC 10 completes its review, the design will be certified.
11 And this review looks at safety.
And once the NRC 12 certifies this plant will be certified that it meets 13 all of the NRC regulations with respect to safety.
14 There are elements of this design that are 15 not unique.
They have been taken from other General 16 Electric designs that have that are either in 17 operation or have --
in the United States or that have 18 been built in other countries.
They also rely upon 19 experimental test facilities and things like that.
So 20 they do incorporate proven design features into this 21 design.
22 MR.
CAMERON:
And I think we're going to a 23 place that I think we need to perhaps expand on a 24 little bit is that Brenda used the term experimental.
25 And I guess that can be in the eye of the beholder.
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MR.
OESTERLE:
Sure.
2 MR.
CAMERON:
But we would not in our 3
- parlance, even though we're doing we haven't 4
certified this design yet, we wouldn't at the NRC call it experimental; would we?
6 MR.
OESTERLE:
Right, we would not.
What 7
I meant by that is that the design features have been 8
tested in testing laboratories that they use to test 9
certain design features.
But we would not certify 10 something that is experimental.
So we're not allowing 11 this design to be certified so that it can be run and 12 test out certain design features to make sure they're 13 safe.
We're going to certify that they're safe before 14 we allow that to happen.
15 MR.
CAMERON:
And, Brenda?
16 MRS.
SQUARE:
And how far along are you in 17 that process of certifying the design?
18 MR.
OESTERLE:
This application for the 19 ESBWR design came into the NRC in about August of 20 2005.
And we just recently received a revision to 21 that design application.
So the schedule for 22 completing that review is currently under review.
So 23 we're estimating probably another year and a half, 24 maybe two years.
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are still looking at what the impact of this latest 2
revision is on the review schedule.
3 MR.
CAMERON:
And Tamsen mentioned that 4
the way that the Combined Operating License 5
Application is evaluated --
part of that is a hearing 6
process, adjudicatory process.
7 How is what process is used to certify 8
the design?
And how does the public participate in 9
that?
It's different than the hearing process.
10 MR.
OESTERLE:
Right.
The process that is 11 used to certify a reactor design is the public rule-12 making process.
And so once the NRC completes its 13 Review of that design, we issue what's called a Final 14 Safety Evaluation
- Report, which would have gone 15 through an independent review by what we call the 16 Advisory Committee for Reactor Safeguards.
And 17 they're an independent review body that works directly 18 for the Commission.
And they're comprised of a lot of 19 scientists and engineer industry experts.
And they 20 look at the status review of this application as well.
21 22 So once we come up with. a Final Safety 23 Evaluation Report, that gets issued to the public as 24 part of a rulemaking comment period.
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and propose a rule to make that design as a part of 2
our rules in order to achieve standardization so that 3
many other applicants can reference that same design 4
and so that we don't end up with a situation where out 5
of 104 operating plants that we have in the nation 6
today we might have 104 designs.
We're trying to 7
achieve standardization through this design 8
certification process.
9 So when we issue this rule, there is a 10 public comment period that lasts for 75 to 90 days.
11 I'm not sure of the number right now.
But that's the 12 process that allows the public to comment on that 13 design and that rule-making as opposed to the hearing 14 process that is used for COL application reviews.
15
'MR. CAMERON:
Okay, thank you, Eric.
16 And as I mentioned before, for Brenda and 17 all of you, if you want to discuss this further in 18 further detail, we're going to have plenty of time 19 after the meeting today.
And Eric and Rich and others 20 will be available to talk with you about that.
21 Other questions at this point?
22 Do you want to come up f ront?
This is 23 Norris McDonald.
But I'll let him introduce himself 24 to you also.
And this is going to be a comment.
25 MR. MCDONALD:
Hi.
my name is Norris NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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McDonald.
I'm founder and President of the Center for 2
Environment, Commerce, and Energy.
And our outreach 3
arm is the African American Environmental Association.
4 we support nuclear power.
And this is about our 5
eighth year of support.
6 And we have some
- concerns, national 7
concerns.
We come at this from a
national 8
perspective, even an international perspective at this 9
point.
We support nuclear power because of the threat I1.0 from global warming and because global warming causes 11 a smog threat.
The hotter the temperature, the more
.12 it cooks up the smog.
And you can see that in 13 different areas.
14 My concern now though is that when we 15 first started about 2000, they projected that these 16 nuclear plants would cost about a billion dollars.
17 Now we're hearing four and five and possibly higher 18 prices.
So when I hear NRC today say that, well, they 19 may get the Combined operating License, but that 20 doesn't mean they'll necessarily make a decision to 21 build.
22 And so that basically becomes a Wall 23 Street decision and whether or not these companies, 24 even when they form consortiums, whether or not then 25 they can attract the funding to build this sort of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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plant.
Even in competition with other areas who have 2
the Combined Operating License approved, there will be 3
some sort of Wall Street competition.
4
- Well, what does that mean for Claiborne 5
County?
I think this is my third time here for the 6
hearings and public meetings.
And I heard today the 7
NAACP mention additional concerns about health care.
8 If you look in the Environmental Impact Statement and 9
the other environmental reports under the 10 Environmental Justice section, they have a socio-ii economic part that says there that the project will 12 generate large socioeconomic benefits.
13
- Well, from that standpoint I believe that 14 locally the citizens need to get together.
This is 15 black community citizens and white community citizens 16 and look at the possibility of entrepreneurship.
I 17 mean you can kind of come to the public meetings with 18 NRC and list your concerns, but you're probably going 19 to have to aggressively partner with Entergy somehow 20 and possibly with entrepreneurs.
21 The things about these plants whether they 22 cost a billion. dollars or five or six million dollars, 23 you're talking about a lot of
- steel, a
lot of 24 concrete, a lot of other supplemental sources of jobs.
25 So that helps my concern within the context of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Claiborne County and some of the economic concerns you 2
have here and the hospital concerns.
3 My notion would be that you would try to 4
aggressively partner with Entergy somehow to come up 5
with some sort of a community, agreement so you can 6
develop some sort of business model business plan that 7
really leverages the general statement made by NRC in 8
the report.
That's going to be a general statement.
9 They're not going to go into the specifics of it.
10 But I think the community should go into the specifics 11 themselves and leverage what's going on between NRC 12 and Entergy because at the end of the day it goes even 13 beyond NRC and Entergy and goes to Wall Street.
14 But you do not want to wait until they 15 make the decision to build to start devising your 16 community development plan.
Now the frustration I 17 have in counties is that in many cases they're bedroom 18 communities.
And they do not have businesses, office 19 businesses.
20 So in addition to the steel and concrete 21 and all the wiring and everything else, all the jobs 22 that are, going to come in for years during the 23 construction of, the
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to restaurants.
Restaurants need a lunch crowd, a
2 dinner crowd.
And to the extent you attract those 3
sorts of businesses, they decide to bring their 4
families here, you never know they might decide to 5
stay.
6 With a good business plan then that helps 7
your case for getting a hospital.
No matter where you 8
are, hospitals are hard to maintain.
It usually takes 9
some state subsidies with that.
- Well, if they have 10 the office complexes and the people who maybe did the 11 construction to stay here in Claiborne County, then 12 that would lead to more support possibly for the sort 13 of health care that the NAACP mentioned earlier and 14 that the community is talking about.
15 I'll conclude.
I won't. go on much longer.
16 But I
did want to list my concerns.
I'm right 17 outside of Washington, D.C.
I'm a
creature of 18 Washington, D.C.
I get all over the world.
I've 19 toured nuclear plants in China and other facilities.
20 But my concern now is that there seems to 21 be there just seems to be an unwillingness in 22 America to move forward on items.
Energy bills are 23 coming and going up on Capitol Hill right now.
They 24 can't seem to pass anything.
We also work on 25 liquified natural gas because we believe those are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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sorts of plants that can and should be built.
But 2
they're not getting approved.
3 And so my fear is that we're going to end 4
up in the same situation with electricity that we have 5
with gasoline right now.
That is these incredibly 6
high prices because we're not building enough supply.
7 And if we're going to build supplies, build nuclear 8
plants that don't emit greenhouse gases and smog.
I 9
am an asthmatic.
So I have to be careful in the 10 summertime.
11 And so that'Is my big concern is that I 12 think high gasoline prices are a symptom.
The 13 electricity sector is having all kinds of problems 14 figuring out which direction they're going to go in 15 and what they' re going to do.
What you're going to 16 look up with are very high electricity prices.
17
'Without the supply, there's nothing like a huge plant 18 like this sort of unit that they want to build here 19 that could help solve a lot of these problems.
20 So we're in Maryland right outside of 21 Washington, D.C.
We are. available to cooperate with 22 the community.
We would love to.
We're not far from 23 NRC.
24 one last point is that blacks and whites 25 here, I think, should get 'together entrepreneurial ly NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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and try to take advantage of some of the things I just 2
described.
I would recommend that you look at the 3
latest Black Enterprise magazine as well.
It's called 4
the Black Enterprise 100.
And I would recommend that 5
NRC look at this Black Enterprise magazine.
It's the 6
June issue of the BE-100s.
It lists companies, black 7
companies, that are in construction, that are in 8
metals.
And so those would be the sorts of people you 9
would want to reach out to here to start talking about 10 some sort of basically business plan, business model 11 that could lead to some of the other amenities that I 12 mentioned.
13 Thank you.
14 MR.
CAMERON:
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, 15 Norris.
16 Anybody else that we can hear from today?
17 Oh, yes, sir.
Please introduce yourself.
18 MR.
INMAN:
My name is Lloyd Inman.
I'm 19 from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In talking with 20 some of your representatives, I understand that from 21 the process steam is released and also water released 22 back into the river.
Could you discuss what 23 contaminants are contained in the steam and in the 24 water that's released back into the river?
25 MR.
CAMERON:
Tamsen, can we go to you for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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56 1
that?
2 MRS. DOZIER:
I'll address first the --
3 you're talking about the water vapor that escapes from 4
the cooling tower.
We'll talk about that first.
Now 5
the water vapor because it's not exactly steam.
It's 6
more just evaporation just like when you're out in the 7
cold weather and you breathe out.
You can see your 8
breath.
It's just a lot of it.
And what the water 9
is, it's warm.
It is hot.
10 But contaminants we have dissolved 11 there are dissolved salts in that just because the 12 river water is used.
The water that comes in is it 13 does have some sediments that are dissolved salts 14 actually.
The deposit is not very much.
15 But when you're talking about 16 contaminants, you're probably talking about 17 radioactive
- releases, correct?
And they're 18 negligible.
19 MR. INMAN:
And also maybe heavy metals.
20 MRS. DOZIER:ý Right.
I'm not quite sure.
21 The dissolved salts.
It's very light.
It's almost 22 negligible kind of things.
And we do evaluate them.
23 And I can give you a copy of our Environmental Impact 24 Statement that does have some measurements of those 25 kinds of things.
But it's --
I'm going to say the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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word negligible.
2 Now you.were talking about into the river.
3 MR.
CAMERON:
- Tamsen, you were ready to 4
just address the radiation issue.
When you say 5
negligible, you mean there's no --
6 MRS.
DOZIER:
There is some.
I mean 7
there's radiation everywhere.
But as far as that,
- 8 it's negligible.
But how about after the meeting you 9
see me and we'll take a look at the Environmental 10 Impact Statement and we can look at exactly what the 11 amounts are.
12 Then you talked about the water release.
13 You know the Mississippi Department of Environmental 14 Quality regulates the discharges into any Mississippi 15 River water body.
And so in order to discharge, 16 Entergy has to receive what we call a NPDES permit, 17 National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System.
18 Once we start using acronyms, then we forget what they 19 stand for.
So the Department of Environmental --
the 20 Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality 21 regulates that.
There are --
naturally there are 22 sediments actually in that as well.
But as far as 23 contaminants, we can take a look at the contaminants.
24 But they're within the permitting.
25 MR.
CAMERON:
So that comes from the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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58 1
state.
And does that cover thermal issues, thermal 2
discharge, how hot the water is that's --
3 MRS.
DOZIER:
- Well, we do have a
4 prediction of it.
I don't carry the number in my 5
head.
But we can look it up.
6 Are you talking about the temperature 7
differential between what we --
8 MR.
CAMERON:
- Yeah, I
thought the 9
gentleman might be interested in 10 MRS.
DOZIER:
Right.
We do take a look at 11 the --
when the water comes out, how much warmer is it 12 than what's already there and then how fast it takes -
13 the Mississippi River is a pretty big waterway and 14 water is moving pretty fast.
So the thermal plume 15 disseminates very quickly.
But we can take a look at 16 that.
17 MR.
CAMERON:
It getting bigger all the 18 time from what I hear.
19 Does that answer everything for you, sir?
20 MR.
INMAN:
Yes.
21 MR.
CAMERON:
Anybody else?
22 Okay, well, Richard, do you want to close 23 out this portion of the meeting?
24 We are going. to be here again tonight.
25 And we're here after this meeting.
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59 1
So it's Richard Raione.
2 MR.
RAIONE:
- Well, I applaud you all's 3
- interest, your intellect, your communication to us 4
here this afternoon.
We've heard a lot of comments 5
and questions.
These are good comments and questions 6
by the way.
We have a lot to think about, a lot to go 7
over when we get back to Washington.
We've got a long 8
flight.
So we'll have an advantage to look at some of 9
these notes and see how we can, incorporate this into 10 our process.
11 I know our court reporter is exhausted.
I 12 don't see how you can do that kind of job.
I'd like 13 to thank you for keeping up with everything.
14 Also like to thank the city of Port Gibson 15 and the Mayor here for letting us -use this building.
16 Got a
chance to look at the art work and the 17 photographs and the architecture here.
And really 18 this is a nice place.
19 Remember what I said earlier about who to 20
- contact, how to contact us, when to contact us, 21 etcetera?
This information is in the handouts, up on 22 the screen here.
Remember what I
said about 23 communication.
Assuming that we can do better, make 24 some things clearer, please let us know.
The more we 25 do this,, hopefully we're improving.
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I used to teach at the University of 2
And I was always amazed about every single 3
time you have a class, you learn some things.
It's 4
the same here.
When we meet with the public, there's 5
always something that we can take away.
And so we 6
appreciate all these comments.
7 Remember you can always come to Washington 8
in person.
Don't forget that.
You can make an 9
appointment to come see us.
Use it as an excuse to 10 come visit our nation's fantastic capital.
11 one last thought.
I'd like you all to 12 keep our nation veterans in your thoughts and prayers.
13 1 have a lot of colleagues that are in the military.
14 If you see them, let them know that you appreciate 15 their service to our country.
Be safe on your way at 16 home or to your business or whatever when we leave 17 here this afternoon.
18 And so I now declare this meeting to be 19 officially over. Thank you all again.
Good afternoon.
2.0 (Whereupon this meeting was concluded at 21 2.:30 p.m.)
22 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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61 Written Comments Submitted During Afternoon Session of June 19 Grand Gulf Scoping Meeting
- 1) Letters dated June 19 to Richard Raione and Tamsen Dozier from Congressman Bennie Thompson with attachment of Dec 3, 2007 letter from Mr.
Thompson to Wayne Leonard of Entergy -
submitted by Charlie Horhn NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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BENNIE G. THOMPSON SECOND DISTRICT, MISSISSIPPI THE COMMISSION ON CONGRESSIONAL MAILING STANDARDS COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN WASHINGTON OFFICE:
2432 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 20515-2402 (202) 225-5876 (202) 225-5898: FAX E-Mail: benniethompson@mail.house.gov Home Page: http://www.house.gov/thompson Congroe of tlw Mutniteb *tate Sou~t of Repre ntatibeg W&a51jington, W 20515-2402 CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL GAMING CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL SPORTSMEN'S CAUCUS
.CONGRESSIONAL RURAL CAUCUS HOUSE EDUCATION CAUCUS June 19, 2008 Tamsen S. Dozier, Project Manager Environmental Projects Branch 2 Division of Site and Environmental Reviews Office of New Reactors
Dear Ms. Dozier:
I am enclosing a copy of the December 3, 2007, to J. Wayne Leonard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Entergy Corporation.
The facts in this letter remain unchanged. While the community has been supportive and receptive of Entergy Corporation, regrettably, Entergy has not actively engaged the local communities and region in and around the Grand Gulf Nuclear facility in a mutually satisfactory manner.
Though Entergy has been located in the district for several years, the economically-distressed communities have not seen the tangible benefits of having a successful multimillion dollar facility. Unfortunately, the surrounding communities have not been afforded the opportunity and/or assistance from Entergy to build upon its waning local infrastructure and fledging economy. Entergy has failed to take full advantage of the academic community and has "missed the mark" in supporting local businesses and community projects.
The Entergy Corporation and the Grand Gulf community have mutual needs. A second reactor places further burden on a community whose existing local infrastructure would not have the capacity to take on a significant healthcare or security crisis. Therefore an investment in infrastructure and resources is critical. My concern has always been to ensure the safety of residents and guarantee environmental quality. Additionally, my priority is to help create prosperity for the regional communities, businesses, and resident workforce.
As the Member of Congress that represents this area, I am supportive of the expansion opportunity, however, it is my responsibility to make sure that all stakeholders surrounding and involved in this proposed site be full and inclusive participants in this process.
Sincerely, Bennie G. Thompson Member of Congress
[] 107 WEST MADISON STREET E] 509 HIGHWAY 82 WEST E] 910 COURTHOUSE LANE F] 3607 MEDGAR EVERS BOULEVARD
[] 263 EAST MAIN STREET P.O. Box 610 GREENWOOD, MS 38930 GREENVILLE, MS 38701 JACKSON, MS 39213 P.O. Box 356 BOLTON, MS 39041 (662)455-9003 (662) 335-9003 (601)946-9003 MARKS, MS 38646 (601)866-9003 (662) 453-0118: FAX (662) 334-1304: FAX (601) 982-5337: FAX (662)326-9003 (601) 866-9036: FAX (662) 326-9003: FAX (800) 355-9003: IN ST.
E] MOUND BAYOU CITY HALL P.O. Box 679 106 GREEN AVENUE, SUITE 106
. MOUND BAYOU, MS 38762 (662) 741-9003 (662) 741-9002: FAX
BENNIE G. THOMPSON SECOND DISTRICT, MISSISSIPPI COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN WASHINGTON OFFICE:
2432 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 20515-2402 (2021 225-5876 (2021 225-5898: FAX E-Mail: benniethompson@mail.house.gov Home Page: http://www.house.gov/thompson THE COMMISSION ON CONGRESSIONAL MAILING STANDARDS QCongreo of ttje OnIteb *'tatez wtouge of R&tprezentatibte;
.Wnbington, W 20515-2402 CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL GAMING CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL SPORTSMEN'S CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL RURAL CAUCUS HOUSE EDUCATION CAUCUS June 19, 2008 Richard P. Raione, Branch Chief Environmental Projects Branch 2 Division of Site and Environmental Reviews Office of New Reactors
Dear Mr. Raione:
I am enclosing a copy of the December 3, 2007, to J. Wayne Leonard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Entergy Corporation.
The facts in this letter remain unchanged. While the community has been supportive and receptive of Entergy Corporation, regrettably, Entergy has not actively engaged the local communities and region in and around the Grand Gulf Nuclear facility in a mutually satisfactory manner.
Though Entergy has been located in the district for several years, the economically-distressed communities have not seen the tangible benefits of having a successful multimillion dollar facility. Unfortunately, the surrounding communities have not been afforded the opportunity and/or assistance from Entergy to build upon its waning local infrastructure and fledging economy. Entergy has failed to take full advantage of the academic community and has "missed the mark" in supporting local businesses and community projects.
The Entergy Corporation and the Grand Gulf community have mutual needs. A second reactor places further burden on a community whose existing local infrastructure would not have-the capacity to take on a significant healthcare or security crisis. Therefore an investment in infrastructure and resources is critical. My concern has always been to ensure the safety of residents and guarantee environmental quality. Additionally, my priority is to help create prosperity for the regional communities, businesses, and resident workforce.
As the Member of Congress that represents this area, I am supportive of the expansion opportunity, however, it is my responsibility to make sure that all stakeholders surrounding and involved in this proposed site be full and inclusive participants in this process.
Sincerely, Bennie G. Thompson Member of Congress 0 107 WEST MADISON STREET
[-
509 HIGHWAY 82 WEST
[] 910 COURTHOUSE LANE LI 3607 MEDGAR EVERS BOULEVARD E] 263 EAST MAIN STREET P.O. Box 610 GREENWOOD, MS 38930 GREENVILLE, MS 38701 JACKSON, MS 39213 P.O. Box 356 BOLTON, MS 39041 (662)455-9003 (662) 335-9003 (601)946-9003 MARKS, MS 38646 16011866-9003 (662) 453-0118: FAX (662) 334-1304: FAX (601) 982-5337: FAX (662)325-9003 (601) 866-9036: FAX (662) 325-9003: FAX (800) 355-9003: IN ST.
LI MOUND BAYOU CITY HALL P.O. Box 679 106 GREEN AVENUE, SUITE 106 MOUND BAYOU, MS 38762 (662) 741-9003 (662) 741-9002: FAX
BENNIE G. THOMPSON SECOND DISTRICT, MISSISSIPPI COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN WASHINGTON OFFICE:
2432 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 20515-2402 (202) 225-5876 (202) 225-5898: FAX E-Mail: benniethompson@mail.house.gov Home Page: http://www.house~gov/thompson C~tomm;e of thie Ilniteb btatee; wtou~e oft 3epretntat~ie-C Wnbiington, 1DQE 20515-2402 THE COMMISSION ON CONGRESSIONAL MAILING STANDARDS CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL GAMING CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL SPORTSMEN'S CAUCUS CONGRESSIONAL RURAL CAUCUS HOUSE EDUCATION CAUCUS December 3, 2007 J. Wayne Leonard Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Entergy Corporation 639 Loyola Avenue New Orleans, LA 70113
Dear Mr. Leonard:
It was a pleasure talking to You regarding the decision by NuStart Energy to select the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station located in Port Gibson, Mississippi, as the site for a new reactor.
As I expressed to you in our most recent conversation, this community is an economically-distressed area. For that reason, it would be in the best interest of Nustart Energy to ensure that this new opportunity is of mutual benefit to Entergy Corporation and Claiborne County. I would like to know what efforts are being made to include the local community, its residents and the academic communities in this endeavor as you move forward with the simplified boiling water reactor project.
It is my understanding that federal and local government are heavily vested in the success of the new reactor; however, it would seem more prudent that NuStart be committed to local community developments that may involve the use of local infrastructure such as schools, community and healthcare facilities, and local organizations For example, an investment in training and equipment, and improvement of facilities for first responders and local hospitals would be essential in providing medical care in the event of a disaster as a result of the new reactor. This type of investment would prove invaluable to your business and the safety of the community.
As a multimillion dollar business component, NuStart has a unique opportunity to have an enormous impact on economic growth throughout the region. I am convinced that there is no better way to stimulate meaningful corporate partnerships in the community than by engaging local educational institutions. Because I recognize that your company seeks to employ the finest employees and is interested in using only first-rate research, I implore you to draw on local universities such as Alcorn State University and community colleges located within the region which have the capacity to perform top-notch research and produce graduates who are well-equipped with the knowledge and tools to work effectively to help facilitate this project from its inception and beyond.
M 107 WEST MADISON STREET E] 509 HIGHWAY 82 WEST
[] 910 COURTHOUSE LANE C] 3607 MEDGAR EVERS BOULEVARD E] 263 EAST MAIN STREET P.O. Box 610 GREENWOOD, MS 38930 GREENVILLE, MS 38701 JACKSON, MS 39213 P.O. Box 356 BOLTON, MS 39041 (662) 455-9003 (662) 335-9003 (601) 946-9003 MARKS, MS 38646 (601)866-9003 (662) 453-0118: FAX (662) 334-1304: FAX (601) 982-5337: FAX (662)326-9003 (601) 866-9036: FAX (662) 326-9003: FAX (800) 355-9003: IN ST.
E] MOUND BAYOU CITY HALL P.O. BOX 679 106 GREEN AVENUE, SUITE 106 MOUND BAYOU, MS 38762 (662) 741-9003 (662) 741-9002: FAX
NuStart 2
My support for this project is and has been contingent upon the support of the local community. It is my contention that NuEnergy will work within the community to use all available resources, including human capital and nearby universities, to help build a stronger, better Claiborne County.
On another note, I am also concerned about the lack of diversity in Entergy's Washington, D.C., government affairs office. As you are well aware, Entergy's service area is quite diverse. In Mississippi, for example, nearly 40% of the workforce is African-American. It is my hope that the company will take seriously its commitment to diversifying that office.
As this is a matter of the utmost importance, please provide me with a response by December 17th. I look forward to your prompt reply. If you have any questions, please contact me or my Chief of Staff, I. Lanier Avant.
Sincerely, Bennie G. Thompson Member of Congress