ML090680578

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Transcript of Three Mile Island, Unit 1, License Renewal Public Meeting - Evening Session, February 24, 2009, Pages 1-49
ML090680578
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Issue date: 02/24/2009
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NRC-2682
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Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Title: Three Mile Island Unit 1 License Renewal Public Meeting - Evening Session Docket Number: (n/a)

Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 Work Order No.: NRC-2682 Pages 1-49 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433

1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +

4 PRELIMINARY RESULTS 5 THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR STATION 6 UNIT 1 7 LICENSE RENEWAL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW 8 + + + + +

9 PUBLIC MEETING 10 + + + + +

11 TUESDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 24TH, 2009 13 + + + + +

14 The Public Meeting was held at 7:00 p.m.,

15 at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel, 4650 Lindle 16 Road, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Bo Pham, Facilitator, 17 presiding.

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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2 1 APPEARANCES:

2 SARAH LOPAS 3 STEPHEN KLEMENTOWICZ 4 RON BELLAMY 5 DIANE SCRENCI 6

7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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3 1 A-G-E-N-D-A 2 PAGE 3 WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS........................4 4 RESULTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW....................9 5 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW SCHEDULE.....................21 6 HOW TO SUBMIT COMMENTS............................22 7 ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMENTS.........................23 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 7:00 p.m.

3 FACILITATOR PHAM: Good evening. My name 4 is Bo Pham. I work for the Nuclear Regulatory 5 Commission in the Office of Nuclear Reactor 6 Regulations. And I will be the moderator/facilitator 7 for tonight. The purpose of tonight's meeting is to 8 receive your comments, the public's comments on the 9 Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

10 We came here back in May of last year.

11 And we conducted a similar public meeting. At that 12 time that was for scoping to establish the scope of 13 the review.

14 The agenda tonight is going to start with 15 a brief presentation by Ms. Sarah Lopas, who is the 16 Environmental Project Manager at the NRC, for the 17 review of the application of TMI.

18 Once she finishes with her presentation 19 we're going to go ahead and open up the podium for the 20 general public to come up and make your comments.

21 Some notes about that. These yellow cards that I'm 22 holding right here, if you are interested in speaking, 23 please raise your hand to let me know if you want one 24 of these cards to fill out so I can get you on the 25 list.

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5 1 At this time I only have two cards. Also, 2 there's a sign-up list out front. If you didn't get a 3 chance to do it, at some point in the evening please 4 make sure you sign-in so we can have a good account of 5 attendance here.

6 Also, we have a Court Reporter in the back 7 who is recording. This meeting will be transcribed.

8 All the comments that are given here tonight verbally 9 will be considered as part of our review to produce 10 the final environmental impact statement.

11 Also, we have a few staff members here who 12 will be available to do our best to answer any general 13 questions regarding the procedure or the environmental 14 review processes, as much as we can.

15 We have Mr. Ron Bellamy from Region 1, 16 which is King of Prussia Office. We have Mr. Stephen 17 Klementowicz, who is a Senior Health Physicist at NRC 18 headquarters.

19 We have Ms. Diane Screnci who is the 20 public affairs officer back there and myself as the 21 moderator.

22 So, with that I will go ahead and move 23 forth to the next part, which is a quick presentation 24 by Ms. Lopas.

25 here and her presentation.

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6 1 MS. LOPAS: Hello, thanks for coming out 2 tonight. My name is Sarah Lopas, I'm the 3 Environmental Project Manager for Three Mile Island, 4 Unit 1 License Renewal Application Review.

5 I'll start off tonight with a brief 6 overview of why we're here, some background 7 information about NRC'S Environmental Reviews and then 8 I'll move to presenting the preliminary findings of 9 our Environmental Review of the Three Mile Island 10 License Renewal Application, Unit 1. I'll refer to 11 Three Mile Island as TMI-1 for the rest of the 12 presentation.

13 I'll then provide some information about 14 the schedule for the remainder of our review and how 15 you can submit comments. After the presentation the 16 rest of the meeting will be dedicated to receiving any 17 comments you may have on the Environmental Review.

18 Next slide.

19 The Atomic Energy Act gives the Nuclear 20 Regulatory Commission the authority to issue operating 21 license to commercial nuclear power plants for up to 22 40 years.

23 The Atomic Energy Act also allows the 24 license renewal for up to an additional 20 years, 25 depending on the outcome assessment to determine NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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7 1 whether a power plant can continue to operate safely 2 and whether the protection of the environment can be 3 assured during the 20 year license renewal term.

4 The National Environmental Policy Act of 5 1969, referred to as NEPA, established a national 6 policy for the impact of federal decision making on 7 the human environment.

8 The Commission determined that reactor 9 license renewal constitutes a major federal action for 10 which an environmental impact statement is warranted.

11 I'll abbreviate environmental impact statement as EIS 12 throughout the rest of the presentation.

13 In exercising its authority, the NRC's 14 mission is three fold, to ensure adequate protection 15 of public health and safety, to promote common defense 16 and security, and to protect the environment.

17 Next slide. The operating license for 18 TMI-1 will expire in April of 2014. The NRC received 19 AmerGen Energy Company's application for license 20 renewal for TMI-1 on January 8th, 2008.

21 AmerGen Energy Company became Exelon 22 Generation Company, LLC back in January. As part of 23 the NRC's review of Exelon's license renewal 24 application, we performed an environmental review to 25 determine the potential impacts of operating TMI-1 for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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8 1 an additional 20 years. Next slide.

2 The Environmental Review is being 3 conducted in accordance with NEPA. NEPA requires that 4 federal agencies follow a systematic approach in 5 evaluating potential environmental impacts associated 6 with certain actions.

7 The NRC is required to consider the 8 impacts of the proposed action and any mitigation for 9 those impacts that would be considered to be 10 significant. Alternatives to the proposed action 11 include taking no action on the Applicant's request 12 are also to be considered.

13 I'll discuss further in a little bit, but 14 the NRC Staff developed a generic environmental impact 15 statement that addressed a number of issues that are 16 common to all nuclear power plants.

17 The Staff is supplementing that generic 18 EIS with a site-specific EIS that will also address 19 issues that are specific to the TMI-1 site. The Staff 20 also evaluates the conclusions reached in the generic 21 EIS to determine if there's any new or significant 22 information that would challenge those conclusions 23 that we reached in the generic EIS.

24 NEPA is specifically structured to involve 25 public participation and, accordingly, our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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9 1 Environmental Review includes opportunities for public 2 involvement.

3 The first opportunity was during the 4 scoping period last year. And, as Bo had mentioned we 5 were here back on May 1st in Middletown for the scoping 6 meeting. This is the meeting on the Draft 7 Supplemental EIS and is another opportunity for public 8 participation.

9 The draft report has been published for 10 comment. And that's why we're here today, to receive 11 your comments. In July 2009 we'll be issuing the 12 final version of the supplemental EIS, which will 13 address the comments that we receive on the draft, 14 including those provided to us tonight.

15 Next slide. In the mid 1990's the NRC 16 developed a generic environmental impact statement by 17 evaluating the impacts of all operating nuclear power 18 plants across the U.S.

19 The NRC looked at 92 separate impact areas 20 and found that for 69 of those areas the impacts were 21 the same for all plants with similar features. The 22 NRC called these category 1 issues or generic issues.

23 And we were able to make generic 24 conclusions that all the impacts on the environment 25 would be small. The NRC was unable to make similar NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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10 1 determinations for the remaining 23 site-specific 2 issues.

3 And, instead, we prepared a supplemental 4 environmental impact statement for each plant to 5 address these remaining 23 issues, which we call 6 category 2 issues.

7 Accordingly, the Staff is supplementing 8 the generic EIS with the site-specific EIS that 9 addresses those issues that are specific to TMI-1.

10 Together the generic EIS and the supplemental EIS will 11 form the Staff's analysis for the environmental 12 impacts of license renewal at TMI-1.

13 Also, during the review the NRC Staff 14 looks for and evaluates any new and significant 15 information that might call into question the 16 conclusions we'd reached previously in the generic 17 EIS.

18 The Staff also searches for new issues 19 that aren't addressed in the generic EIS. Next slide.

20 So, how do we quantify these impacts? The generic 21 environmental impact statement defines three impact 22 levels, small, moderate and large.

23 Fish in the Susquehanna River could be 24 used as an example. So, despite prevention measures, 25 the TMI-1 intake may affect fish populations.

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11 1 If the decrease in fish are so small that 2 it cannot be detected in relation to the total 3 population of fish in the river, that impact would be 4 small. If losses cause the population to decline but 5 then stabilize at a lower level, this would be a 6 moderate impact.

7 If the intake causes fish populations to 8 kind of plummet and the decline doesn't stop, then we 9 would call this impact large. We apply this 10 methodology to each resource that we look at. So this 11 includes things such as terrestrial resources, water 12 use impacts, etcetera.

13 Next slide. This is our decision standard 14 for the environmental review. Simply put, is license 15 renewal acceptable from an environmental standpoint?

16 To make this determination the NRC Staff uses 17 information from various sources as we conduct our 18 Environmental Review.

19 We use the information received in the 20 environmental report that was submitted as part of the 21 TMI-1 license renewal application. We conducted an 22 environmental audit in late April of last year where 23 we toured the TMI-1 facility, observed plant systems 24 and evaluated the interaction of the plant operations 25 with the environment.

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12 1 We talked to plant personnel and reviewed 2 specific documentation. We also spoke with Federal, 3 State and Local officials and agencies. Additionally, 4 we considered the comments received during the public 5 scoping period last year.

6 All of this information formed the basis 7 of our preliminary conclusions that are presented in 8 the draft supplemental EIS. Next slide. This slide 9 and the next slide is a small slide, so you might want 10 to look at your handouts.

11 These two slides are the 59 generic or 12 category 1 environmental issues that are applicable to 13 the continued operation TMI-1 during the license 14 renewal period.

15 Steve, you can move on to the next slide.

16 For these 59 generic issues NRC Staff did not find 17 any information that would call in to question the 18 conclusions that we reached in the generic EIS.

19 As such, we have preliminarily adopted the 20 conclusions that impacts and category 1 issues would 21 be small. Next slide. Radiological impacts is a 22 category 1 issue deserves a little bit more in 23 discussion.

24 As a category 1 issue, the NRC made a 25 generic determination based on information evaluated NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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13 1 from all nuclear power plants operating in the U.S.

2 that the impact of radiological releases from normal 3 nuclear powerplant operations during the period of 4 extended operations is small.

5 By design, the operation of nuclear 6 powerplants is expected to result in small releases of 7 radiological effluence. TMI-1 is no exception to 8 this.

9 During our site audit we looked at 10 selected parts of the radioactive effluent monitoring 11 and radiological environmental monitoring programs and 12 supporting documentation.

13 We looked at how the gaseous and liquid 14 effluence are controlled, treated, monitored and 15 released, as well as how solid radioactive wastes are 16 handled, packaged and shipped.

17 We looked at how the Applicant's radiation 18 protection program maintains radiological releases in 19 compliance with the NRC regulations. We also looked 20 at the Applicant's radiological environmental 21 monitoring data from on-site and off-site monitoring 22 stations.

23 This data includes the results of 24 evaluations of water, milk, fish, food products and 25 direct radiation. Based on our review of the data, we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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14 1 found that the calculated dose to the maximumly 2 exposed member of the public to be well within the 3 NRC's radiation protection limits.

4 The dose of the maximumly exposed person 5 is a conservative calculation, which assumes maximum 6 values for activities such as breathing rate, food 7 consumption, drinking water and proximity to the plant 8 associated with an individual who is exposed to all 9 radiation sources and to TMI-1.

10 Based on a historical review of the 11 radiological data and the current status of the 12 plant's radiological systems, the NRC concluded that 13 radiological releases from the plant are expected to 14 be similar on a year-to-year basis during the period 15 of extended operation.

16 During the NRC's review no new and 17 significant information related to this issue was 18 found. Thus, we have preliminarily concluded that 19 TMI-1's radiological impact on human health and the 20 environment is small.

21 This finding is contained in the license 22 renewal generic EIS. Next slide. This slide lists 23 the site-specific issues that we reviewed for 24 continued operation of TMI-1 during the proposed 25 license renewal period, including potential impacts NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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15 1 expected during the steam generator replacement 2 project at TMI-1.

3 I'll discuss a few of these issues 4 quickly. The first set of issues I'll discuss relate 5 to TMI-1's use of groundwater and surface water. TMI-6 1 has seven on-site wells that withdraw groundwater 7 for plant services and drinking water.

8 TMI-1 also withdraws surface water from 9 the Susquehanna River for use as plant cooling water.

10 Plant surface and groundwater use is regulated by the 11 Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which requires 12 annual reporting of groundwater pumping rates and 13 surface water withdrawals.

14 A review of groundwater pump tests 15 indicated that TMI-1 groundwater withdrawals had no 16 affect on nearby wells. Surface water withdrawals in 17 the Susquehanna River are a small percentage of the 18 river's flow, even during low flow conditions.

19 Furthermore, TMI-1 participates in the 20 Cowanesque Lake Water Storage Project, which releases 21 water to the Susquehanna during drought conditions.

22 NRC determined that potential impacts from water use 23 conflicts would be small during the license renewal 24 period.

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16 1 species, during both the license renewal term and 2 refurbishment, the Staff consulted the U.S. Fish and 3 Wildlife Service Pennsylvania Field Office, the 4 Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, the 5 Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural 6 Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

7 The Fish and Wildlife Service determined 8 that no Federally listed, threatened or endangered 9 species are known to occur in the vicinity of TMI-1 or 10 its transmission line corridors.

11 The Pennsylvania Department of 12 Conservation and Natural Resources noted that, 13 although several state listed species of concern may 14 occur in the vicinity of TMI-1 and its transmission 15 line corridors, the proposed action and associated 16 refurbishment would not cause any adverse impacts to 17 these species.

18 With regard to socioeconomics, because 19 non-outage employment levels at TMI-1 remain 20 relatively unchanged during the license renewal 21 period, and because the length of time needed for the 22 steam generator project is of relatively short 23 duration, there would be no impacts or small impacts 24 related to housing, education, transportation, and 25 land use.

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17 1 No impacts to known historic or 2 archeological resources are expected with continued 3 operation of TMI-1 or during refurbishment because 4 Exelon does not plan to modify plant or transmission 5 line structures.

6 Next slide. The next issue I'd like to 7 discuss is cumulative impacts. These are impacts that 8 are minor when considered individually, but could be 9 significant when considered with other past, present 10 or reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of 11 what agency or person undertakes the other actions.

12 The Staff considered cumulative impacts on 13 water resources, aquatic resources, terrestrial 14 resources, human health, and socioeconomics, which 15 included historic and archeological resources.

16 Some contributors to cumulative 17 environment impacts include other power generating 18 plants in the lower Susquehanna River Basin, including 19 hydro-electric dams on the Susquehanna, gas well 20 drilling in the river basin, past and present 21 industrial discharge to the Susquehanna River, 22 transmission line right-of-way maintenance and 23 development of rural land in the lower sub-basin.

24 Our preliminary determination is that any 25 cumulative impacts resulting from the operation of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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18 1 TMI-1 during the license renewal period would be 2 small, with the exception of aquatic resources, where 3 cumulative impacts resulting from all past, present 4 and reasonably foreseeable future actions, including 5 those non-TMI-1 actions, would be small to moderate.

6 The NRC Staff determined there would be no 7 cumulative impacts to socioeconomics and historic 8 resources during the license renewal period. Next 9 slide. As part of NEPA and as part of our 10 environmental review process we also evaluated a 11 number of alternatives to license renewal.

12 Specifically we looked at the impacts of 13 replacing the power generated by TMI-1 with other 14 power sources, or by energy efficiency and 15 conservation measures.

16 In evaluating alternatives to license 17 renewal, the NRC Staff screens available technologies 18 to remove those that cannot meet future system needs 19 or those whose costs and benefits don't justify 20 inclusion in the range of reasonable alternatives.

21 For alternatives to TMI-1 license renewal 22 the NRC Staff initially considered 17 discrete 23 potential alternatives, including technology such as 24 wind and solar power, wave energy and wood waste 25 And then we narrowed these lists down to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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19 1 four discrete alternatives and one combination 2 alternative.

3 Alternatives the teem looked at included 4 not renewing the TMI-1 license, replacing TMI-1's 5 generation with power from coal or natural gas plants, 6 or purchasing power from electricity providers.

7 We also evaluated a demand side energy 8 conservation or energy efficiency measure. Finally, 9 the Staff analyzed the combination alternative that 10 included portions of conservation energy efficiency, 11 natural gas production and power uprates at existing 12 hydro-electric dams on the Susquehanna River.

13 Next slide. For each alternative we 14 looked at the same types of issues that we did when 15 evaluating the environmental impacts of license 16 renewal.

17 The NRC's preliminary conclusion is that 18 the environmental impacts from not renewing the TMI-1 19 license, that is if the plant just shut down, could 20 have moderate impacts in the area of socioeconomics.

21 Environmental impacts from likely power 22 generation alternatives could reach moderate to large 23 significance with regard to air quality, terrestrial 24 and aquatic resources and land use.

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20 1 environmental impacts would likely be small for most 2 areas considered, with some moderate impacts. The 3 energy conservation and efficiency alternative is the 4 environmentally preferred alternative to license 5 renewal.

6 Next slide. During the environmental 7 review we found no information that would challenge 8 the conclusions contained in the generic environmental 9 impact statement regarding nuclear powerplant license 10 renewal.

11 Therefore, we preliminarily adopted the 12 generic conclusions that the impacts associated with 13 the 59 category 1 issues applicable to TMI-1 would 14 continue to be small during the proposed license 15 renewal period.

16 In the draft supplemental environmental 17 impact statement we analyzed the remaining site 18 specific issues that were applicable to TMI-1 and 19 determined that the environmental impacts resulting 20 from these issues would also be small.

21 We also evaluated some potential likely 22 alternatives to energy production to TMI-1 and 23 determined that the environmentally preferred 24 alternative overall is energy efficiency and 25 conservation.

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21 1 However, that finding doesn't make the 2 option of renewing TMI-1 unreasonable. Therefore, 3 based on these conclusions, the NRC'S preliminary 4 recommendation is that the environmental impacts of 5 license renewal of TMI-1 are not so great that license 6 renewal would be unreasonable.

7 Next slide. This slide shows the 8 important milestone dates for the environmental review 9 process. The highlighted dates indicate future 10 milestones in the Environmental Review.

11 The draft supplemental environmental 12 impact statement was published on December 2nd, 2008.

13 We also call that supplement 37 for TMI-1. We're 14 currently accepting public comments on the draft until 15 March 4th.

16 As Bo mentioned earlier today, today's 17 meeting is being transcribed for the purposes of us 18 making sure that we get your comments correctly when 19 we go back to headquarters.

20 Any comments that you provide here tonight 21 carry the same weight as any written comments that we 22 might receive. Once the comment period closes we'll 23 develop the final supplemental EIS, which we expect to 24 publish in July 2009.

25 Next slide. This slide shows that I'm the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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22 1 Environmental PM and I'm your primary point of contact 2 for any environmental issues or questions you might 3 have.

4 Jay Robinson is the Safety Project 5 Manager. And the Safety Review of TMI-1 is ongoing.

6 Documents related to the TMI-1 review may be found at 7 the Londonderry Municipal Township Building, the 8 Middletown Public Library and the Pennsylvania State 9 Harrisburg Library.

10 You can also find other license renewal 11 applications and the application, and obviously the 12 environmental impact statement online at our website 13 there, that address there at the bottom.

14 There's also hard copies of the EIS out on 15 the registration table outside. If you filled out a 16 registration card outside and you put your address on 17 it, we will mail you a copy of the final environmental 18 impact statement, the one that's published in July.

19 Next slide. So, there's other ways to 20 submit comments. If you're not ready to speak tonight 21 you can also email us at to 22 ThreeMileIslandEIS@nrc.gov.

23 You can send us anything you need to by 24 mail to the address up there. Or you can stop by at 25 Rockville and visit and tell us what you think NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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23 1 personally there.

2 But emailing is probably the quickest way.

3 And that's all by March 4th, the deadline.

4 And, with that, my presentation is 5 finished. I'll hand it back to Bo and we'll get your 6 comments. Thank you.

7 FACILITATOR PHAM: Thank you, Sarah. Like 8 Sarah said, this is not the only opportunity that 9 you'll have to provide comments to the NRC for 10 consideration. As you can see on this screen here, 11 email is probably the most expedient way to get your 12 comments to the NRC.

13 Tonight I only have two speakers 14 registered with yellow cards to speak. Is there 15 anyone else that would like to sign up to speak?

16 Okay, I'll get you a card.

17 The first speaker we have tonight is Ms.

18 Judith Johnsrud from the Sierra Club. Also, I asked 19 if you can speak into the mike so that the transcriber 20 can record it.

21 MS. JOHNSRUD: Thank you. Am I audible?

22 Good. My name is Judith Johnsrud. I hold a Doctoral 23 Degree in the Geography of Nuclear Energy. I have 24 served as an intervener in the licensing of TMI, the 25 operating license for TMI-1 and TMI-2, and TMI-1 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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24 1 restart following the accident.

2 I wanted to start my comments with the 3 observation that, so far as I know, most of the 4 preparation of the EIS was based on existing criteria 5 of the Agency, of the NRC, and no special information 6 was incorporated from what we may be learning as the 7 result of climate change.

8 I suggest to the NRC that it would be 9 extremely important, as communities world-wide begin 10 to cope with changes in climate that result in 11 different consequences that may be far more damaging 12 to the public than had been anticipated in the 13 development of the EIS.

14 In addition to this, which I really urge 15 the Agency and the Pennsylvania organization, I really 16 urge them to take into consideration the importance of 17 preparing for changes in the future, the 20 year 18 future, hoping that there would not be another 20 year 19 continuation beyond.

20 I have been asked to present a short 21 presentation on behalf of another organization. In 22 addition to Sierra Club I do direct the Pennsylvania-23 based Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power.

24 And I'm on the boards of a number of other 25 organizations, including the Optimistic Beyond NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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25 1 Nuclear, which I commend to you all. The Radiation 2 and Public Health Project has summarized some data 3 that I think also need to be carefully considered, 4 particularly for those who live within the vicinity 5 within Dauphin County.

6 Their statement begins, new data on high 7 local disease rates suggest link with TMI.

8 Harrisburg, updated data documenting high rates of 9 infant mortalities, low weight births, child cancer 10 deaths and thyroid cancer cases in Dauphin County 11 suggest radioactive discharges from the Three Mile 12 Island Unit 1 nuclear reactor that may be harming 13 local citizens.

14 The analysis is presented today with the 15 hope that they will be taken seriously by the Agency, 16 by the NRC and by the utility. I'm quoted in their 17 statement, continued high local disease rates in those 18 most vulnerable to radiation exposure raise concerns.

19 And I want to add there that -- actually, 20 he continues that the National Academy of Sciences in 21 1999 and again in 2005 concluded that there is not 22 safe dose of ionizing radiation, that there may be 23 damages that do not show up immediately, there may be 24 damages that will no occur for a long time into the 25 future but are the result of genetic alterations.

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26 1 I've been following these issues for a 2 number of years. And, I must say, that is a 3 conclusion that many specialists in these fields have 4 now reached, that we have allowed far more sources of 5 radiation into our environment than we human beings 6 and other species are capable of coping with safely.

7 The data that I want to present to you now 8 very briefly come from the U.S. Centers for Disease 9 Control and Prevention. And they show Dauphin County 10 rates exceeded U.S. rates for the following 11 conditions.

12 First, a plus 21.1 percent for births 13 under 5 and a half pounds. A 24.2 percent for deaths 14 among infants in the first month of life. A 28.6 15 percent for cancer deaths among children under the age 16 of 20, in other words, those that were born in the 17 aftermath of the accident at TMI-1.

18 FACILITATOR PHAM: Judith, excuse me, 19 could you state which report you're reading from so we 20 can get it in the record?

21 MS. JOHNSRUD: Yes, this is from Radiation 22 and Public Health Project.

23 FACILITATOR PHAM: Thank you.

24 MS. JOHNSRUD: And, finally, of this short 25 list, a 31.4 percent for the incidence of thyroid NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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27 1 cancer among all ages. Reactors produce over 100 2 radioactive chemicals to generate electricity.

3 Most are stored as waste. But, of course, 4 increasingly some of those low dose wastes are allowed 5 to be released and recycled into consumer products.

6 Some of these are routinely emitted from local air and 7 water, entering human bodies through breathing and the 8 food chain.

9 These chemicals damage cells leading to 10 cancer, especially thyroid cancers, and are especially 11 harmful for infants and children. Three Mile Island, 12 Unit 1 began its operation in 1974 but was closed in 13 1979 for a TMI-2 accident from 1979 to 1985 after the 14 meltdown at Unit 2.

15 Like all reactors, this plant is licensed 16 for 40 years. The NRC has granted 20 year extensions 17 for some 51 of the 104 U.S. reactors. The NRC hearing 18 is required by law.

19 It takes place one month prior to the 30th 20 anniversary of the 1979 meltdown, the worst nuclear 21 accident of U.S. history. I hope that those of you 22 who live in Dauphin County and those of you who have 23 friends and family who live in the county will take to 24 heart the implications of this report from the 25 Radiation and Public Health Project. Thank you.

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28 1 FACILITATOR PHAM: Thank you, Judith.

2 Next we also have from the Pennsylvania Sierra Club is 3 Laura Piraino.

4 MS. PIRAINO: I just have a very brief 5 statement. I was very encouraged that the NRC is 6 considering energy efficiency as an alternative 7 consideration and investment, which the Sierra Club 8 very much supports, reducing demand through demand-9 side management, energy efficiency, green design 10 construction, and technologies, particularly non-11 polluting renewable energy technologies.

12 But, coming from previously the College of 13 Engineering at Penn State, I want to share with you a 14 quote from a Department of Energy Office of Energy 15 Efficiency and Renewable Energy report in 1997 since 16 you're considering energy efficiency.

17 A 30 percent improvement in U.S. building 18 efficiency would reduce energy bills for Americans by 19 75 billion dollars in 15 years and eliminate the need 20 for 80 new nuclear power plants over the next 20 21 years.

22 Building codes are up for review in the 23 state of Pennsylvania. And that 30 percent 24 improvement in building efficiency could be achieved 25 through improved building codes. Thank you.

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29 1 FACILITATOR PHAM: Thank you, Laura. Next 2 we have Mr. Eric Epstein from TMI Alert.

3 MR. EPSTEIN: Eric Epstein, Three Mile 4 Island Alert. I've been around a while. I now have 5 gout and I'm bald and fat. And I don't really care 6 what people think what I have to say.

7 And that's sad, because this is actually 8 my third re-licensing proceeding. I think more than 9 anybody else in America I've probably been 10 intermittently involved with three processes that, 11 frankly, I think have little to no value.

12 I read the entire GEIS. I'm not normally 13 a big fan of fiction, but I did read it. I was going 14 to offer comments to telling issues. These were my 15 comments.

16 I'm not going to submit them. It won't 17 matter. It really won't matter. I read the entire 18 document as I read the entire document at Peach 19 Bottom, as I read the entire document at Susquehanna 20 and it had no value.

21 The only thing I'm going to formally enter 22 -- and I'll give it to you, Sarah -- is on your 23 chronology of environmental review, there were 14 24 correspondences that you missed, among other things.

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30 1 little to do with the re-licensing of Three Mile 2 Island. I think Exelon is a smart company. They are 3 a strategic company.

4 If I were them I would try to re-license 5 TMI -2. Frankly, TMI-2 would get through. I'm just 6 telling you. And I said the same thing before in May.

7 By the way, to the police, relax.

8 Hopefully you're getting overtime for 9 this. I have no idea why you're here. But relax and 10 enjoy the evening. Actually, my neighbor could have 11 used you the other night, they had a domestic issue.

12 TMI re-licensing, as with the re-licensing 13 of every nuclear powerplant, is a done deal. It's a 14 smart move for Exelon. It doesn't cost a lot of 15 money.

16 In fact, the next generation of nuclear 17 powerplants is where the existing generation is. It's 18 a smart move. They'd be nuts not to do it. In fact, 19 that's why we didn't oppose or challenge re-licensing.

20 In fact, that's why I settled with Exelon.

21 It made more sense. I'm here tonight, frankly, to 22 congratulate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on a 23 job well done.

24 You know, from my experience, and I'm 25 still involved in the re-licensing process at NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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31 1 Susquehanna, the process is designed to fast track and 2 approve, much better than you did the first time 3 around, minimize public input, put a smiley face on a 4 nuclear bail-out.

5 You guys are doing a good job. Frankly, 6 it's amazing. Because we litigate, intervene, that's 7 TMI Alert. Before the EHB, before DEP, before the 8 PUC.

9 You should really take a page from 10 Pennsylvania public participation. They do, I think, 11 a much better job. On a solemn note, I was just 12 looking for answers to the 50 questions I submitted on 13 May 1st.

14 I don't think I'm ever going to get 15 responses. Based on my experiences in re-licensing, 16 what happens is you put a question in and what comes 17 back, it's bizarre.

18 You don't get your question back. You get 19 this generic format. And then there's some response 20 at the end that bears no relation to the question.

21 You may want to work on that.

22 I did find some issues here. But what I'm 23 going to do is just go through the process that I 24 experienced as a human being, trying to offer input 25 and comments on re-licensing.

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32 1 Back on March 25th I contacted Sarah Lopas.

2 And I said, I asked -- I kept all my notes because 3 I'm anal and have no social life. And I asked for 4 responses to questions that I was going to submit on 5 May 1st.

6 And she got back to me that day. And this 7 was her response. She replied quickly. It was great.

8 I will do my best to answer any of the environmental 9 license renewal questions regarding TMI-1 or any 10 questions you might have on the license renewal 11 process in general regarding consumptive water use, 12 groundwater monitoring, bio-fuel control of the 13 circulating water system, da, da, da, da.

14 I was really getting into it and 15 encouraged. So I can't make any definitive statements 16 until December until we tentatively plan to publish 17 the draft.

18 And then she outlined the scoping period.

19 And I thought initially, wow, this is pretty cool.

20 We're getting off to a better start. I made initial 21 contact with the representative from the NRC who, by 22 the way, came to visit in Harrisburg.

23 And we had established a dialogue. So far 24 so good. Not really. Not really. If you look hard, 25 and I did when I read this, you can see how the NRC NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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33 1 altered the intent in the content of my questions and 2 then they melded them into a response.

3 It's like this massaged composite format.

4 I've never seen anything like it before. But you 5 have to squint real hard, otherwise you miss it. And 6 I'll give you an example.

7 One example, I spent a lot of time 8 submitting really well defined and researched 9 questions relating to invasive species, which is a 10 problem not just for nuclear powerplants, but for all 11 powerplants on the Susquehanna River.

12 You'd have to get out your microscope, but 13 you might find actually a reference to our questions 14 on Asiatic clams and zebra mussels. Actually, if you 15 want to and you have nothing else to do, and you want 16 to join me in not having a life, you would go to 2.3, 17 2.32 and 2.3 -- you'd have to look hard.

18 And then if you go back to the question we 19 asked, I thought it was right on. By the way, the 20 question is listed on A-5 of the appendix with no 21 response. However, I persisted.

22 There's only one issue, frankly, after we 23 settled with Exelon, that I really cared about more 24 than any other issue, and that's emergency planning.

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34 1 at the NRC.

2 The EJ person, which I guess is your 3 Environmental Justice person, which is really 4 interesting because the NRC's definition of 5 environmental justice bears no relation to DEP's 6 definition of environmental justice.

7 Just for shits and giggles I'll read you -

8 - sorry, strike it, don't strike it, I don't care.

9 Environmental Justice to the DEP is the fair treatment 10 and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless 11 of race, color, national origin or income with respect 12 to the development of implementation.

13 I wrote a letter to Sarah. And she wrote 14 back. She said he -- I guess there's some buddy named 15 Jeff Rikhoff who I never met, who never contacted me, 16 and apparently I'm never going to hear form.

17 He wasn't coming to the meeting on 18 Thursday. And you were very nice. She said, I 19 apologize for that, he has been CC'd on the email. I 20 will ask him to give you a call to discuss this week.

21 That was May 5th, never heard from him. My 22 phone number has been the same. The address remains 23 the same. The bill collectors find me. My ex-wife 24 finds me, he can find me. Hard to miss.

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35 1 Mr. Rikhoff, did not attend the May 1st meeting I 2 followed up with Ms. Lopas and requested a meeting 3 with the NRC representative on socioeconomic impacts.

4 Again, this is just my experience trying 5 to get some questions. Two months later, this is in 6 August, Mr. Rikhoff had not emailed me, but Ms. Lopas 7 did and stated, actually, there are numerous EJ issues 8 that we're still wanting to contact Mr. Rikhoff about.

9 That's what I was saying to her. And she 10 wrote. And again, Sarah's pretty good, the same day.

11 If you have specific questions regarding 12 environmental justice and the TMI-1 license renewal I 13 can forward them on to him although, keep in mind, 14 scoping is over.

15 So I'm not really sure how I was to be 16 scoped if nobody contacted me. And we're putting the 17 draft SEIS together, which is why I recommend waiting 18 until the draft is published.

19 All right, maybe miscommunication, maybe 20 we missed each other. How does this all come 21 together, what issue am I raising? The only issue --

22 that's okay, Sarah, because you'll ignore me again 23 anyway.

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36 1 25 or 30 years. It's very bizarre. It's that we have 2 a special needs population who is not ambulatory, who 3 does not use electronic devices, who was left behind 4 during the last accident.

5 I thought, very basic, just one issue 6 we'll see if we can get some attention for. And this 7 is what I wrote Ms. Lopas. One of the special needs 8 populations that is also an EJ issue is the status of 9 alerting and evacuating the Amish, who don't own cars 10 or use phones or may not have access to potassium 11 iodine.

12 However the Amish, as well as some 13 Mennonite sects, are mostly agricultural communities 14 and will likely stay behind, which causes problems 15 beyond their enclaves.

16 For instance, the sale of their produce 17 and livestock, chronic health issues, low birth weight 18 from midwife delivery, dedicated water contamination, 19 etcetera.

20 And I said to you, that is why we wanted 21 to meet with a live human being. Visual inspections 22 and the realities of these problems just don't drop 23 off the sheep.

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37 1 some people that's an ancient event -- and more 2 recently the experience the Amish went through with 3 Nickel Mines should have sensitized people to the need 4 to include these people in a plan so that they're 5 accounted for in the event of an accident or incident.

6 The only issue I have pursued since May.

7 Nothing. I would also point out, and I don't know, 8 and at some point maybe somebody can explain this to 9 me.

10 According to the GEIS, I figured, look, if 11 we can make a population disappear we can probably 12 make weather disappear. I don't know what a severe 13 weather incident is.

14 But, when I looked in the records, and I 15 may be wrong, we've had an earthquake, a tornado and a 16 drought the last couple of years. And they weren't 17 included.

18 So, this isn't a criticism. I just and 19 trying to find some idea of constitutes a severe 20 event. This is it. I mean, I'm not going to come up 21 and testify in this process or participate in the 22 process anymore.

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38 1 that. You know, we tried to work with the company.

2 That's going so-so.

3 Based on my experiences at Susquehanna, I 4 know even if I did get a response, the agency would 5 distill and homogenize and tailor that response to 6 meet some limited low-hanging NRC metric.

7 But part of the problem is me. And I 8 recognize that. I mean, I can continue to participate 9 in a regulatory white-out and a linguistic shell game.

10 Or what I'm going to propose tonight is I can formally 11 cease to exist.

12 And I propose that I no longer exist. And 13 my request to the NRC is simple. And I'd like a 14 response. And I think this would probably make Exelon 15 happy.

16 I would like you to expunge every comment, 17 every piece of paper, letter or whatever I submitted.

18 Get rid of it as if I -- what I just said tonight, 19 get rid of it.

20 What I want you to do is expunge 21 everything that I've said or done relating to the re-22 licensing issue. And then I'll feel as if we're okay, 23 that I've done what I was supposed to do.

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39 1 it would make everybody feel happy, certainly Ralph, 2 Jan, Exelon, the NRC because I will not be coming 3 back.

4 And, Sarah, can you do that? Everything I 5 just said, can you take off the record and everything 6 I testified before. Can you do that? Please get back 7 to me because I don't want to put any more effort into 8 it and I don't want to be a party to it.

9 And to the guy back there, I'm sorry, I 10 should have told you I was going to do it before you 11 got carpal tunnel issues. Poof, I'm gone. Have a 12 nice evening.

13 FACILITATOR PHAM: Thank you, Eric. I'm 14 sorry you feel the way you do. And I don't think 15 anything I could say tonight is going to help that 16 situation.

17 But we won't expunge your comments though.

18 We'll have it on record. I don't think it serves any 19 purpose to expunge the record.

20 MR. EPSTEIN: (Inaudible, not at 21 microphone.)

22 FACILITATOR PHAM: No, I'm not making a 23 legal declaration. But we'll consider it. Next we 24 have is Scott Portzline from TMI Alert. So we have a 25 multimedia presentation.

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40 1 (Video played.)

2 MR. PORTZLINE: For me that is the biggest 3 problem that we have with environmental scoping, the 4 most important issue of all the longest lasting is not 5 even on the table. That's a real problem.

6 I agree with Eric. That's a very odd 7 Houdini act he's involved with. I certainly 8 understand the feeling because, as I said this 9 afternoon, we filed a petition for rule-making with 10 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on entrance guards, 11 site protection officers to be required at the 12 entrances of all nuclear powerplants.

13 And, on 40 occasions, over a seven year 14 period, the NRC did not follow its own guidelines and 15 broke its own rules. So it really does feel like --

16 and is our experience, not just a feeling.

17 It's our experience that it doesn't do 18 much good to participate in these hearings anymore, 19 whether it be the annual safety assessment of Three 20 Mile Island where we can ask questions and the NRC can 21 answer but the company feels that it's not allowed to 22 answer.

23 At least that's what the Vice President 24 told me at the last meeting. So he doesn't even know 25 the rules of how the meeting goes. This gets to be NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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41 1 old. And I'm not saying anything new tonight compared 2 to what I said this afternoon.

3 But there is one leftover question, and 4 that was the concerns about the steam generator that 5 will be in the parking lot at Three Mile Island for a 6 while. The answer given to me at the lunch break was 7 that there is no regulation saying how long that can 8 be there, that it will be monitored for radiation.

9 I sure would like to see that monitoring 10 be implemented into Eric's EMFR radiation monitoring 11 network. They should have a feed to that information 12 also.

13 So my question to Exelon here tonight, and 14 I know there's a couple people at least from Exelon, 15 what is the plan? How long will that steam generator 16 be there?

17 That's an expensive item to move because 18 it's enormously heavy. And there's going to be 19 failures in the nuclear industry just like there is in 20 every other economic industry we have right now.

21 And there's going to be companies walking 22 away. And so I think the state of Pennsylvania would 23 be concerned too about what they're going to walk away 24 from and to try to minimize Pennsylvania's exposure 25 financially and radiologically.

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42 1 So, how long will the steam generators 2 remain at the parking lot, so to speak?

3 FACILITATOR PHAM: I don't think -- I 4 think your point is noted. I don't know if anybody is 5 available from Exelon to provide that answer tonight.

6 MR. PORTZLINE: Why doesn't the Nuclear 7 Regulatory Commission have a limitation?

8 FACILITATOR PHAM: A limitation for?

9 MR. PORTZLINE: For how long they can 10 store nuclear waste on their site.

11 FACILITATOR PHAM: Steve, could you talk 12 about this briefly? As I understand it, and I was 13 listening to your discussion during lunch, the way the 14 NRC regulates is by exposure, not by whatever 15 component is sitting around, on a case-by-case like 16 that.

17 MR. PORTZLINE: As long as you have a 18 radioactive source term of this degree you have to 19 have a license. And that's why even Unit 2 has to 20 have a special license for post-fuel monitored 21 storage.

22 So there's a specific classification. I 23 want to know what the specifics are for the Nuclear 24 Regulatory Commission regarding the steam generator's 25 storage and what Exelon's plans are.

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43 1 And if you haven't thought about that, 2 you're not doing your job. And I want you to do your 3 job.

4 MR. KLEMENTOWICZ: The NRC has regulations 5 on essentially radiation limits. So we require the 6 storage of these radioactive steam generators to be 7 stored safely in accordance with our regulations.

8 The plant has a Part 50 license. Under 9 that Part 50 license they are allowed to have and use 10 and possess and store any amount of radioactive 11 material that they need for the operation of the 12 facility.

13 So they have a blanket license to safely 14 handle and store all radioactive material generated by 15 that facility. So, in a sense, the time limit is tied 16 to their operating license.

17 At the end of their license we would 18 require them to enter the de-commissioning mode. Now, 19 of course, with spent fuel there's a separate license 20 for the spent fuel.

21 And there are facilities that have been 22 de-commissioned and the spent fuel remains on that 23 site, even though the plant has been removed and it's 24 gone back to a green field mode.

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44 1 kicks in. They are the ones who actually own the 2 fuel. And they are obligated to take possession of 3 that at some point.

4 So, as long as there's no place to dispose 5 of the spent fuel, it has to remain on the site. Now, 6 the generators are a different issue. So, you know, I 7 could speculate that at de-commissioning when they 8 demolish the plant and haul off all the radioactive 9 material, that it's likely they would do the same with 10 the steam generators.

11 Other facilities have discarded their 12 steam generators. They cut them up and it's gone into 13 low level waste disposal sites. So, essentially, 14 while they're on site they're going to be in a 15 shielded condition.

16 Our routine health physics inspections 17 will look at that, look at the radiation readings, 18 look at everything associated with the safe storage of 19 that radioactive material.

20 But there's no specific license for that 21 or time limit.

22 FACILITATOR PHAM: And Ron, as I 23 understand it, there are no cited violations at this 24 time for any situation of steam generators being 25 stored on site.

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45 1 MR. PORTZLINE: Well, I would hope that 2 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources 3 with their Bureau of Radiation Protection, I see Mike 4 back there, I hope you're paying attention to what 5 some of the other states are doing, asking some hard 6 questions and getting some court rules and getting 7 some commitments.

8 And, I think with the economic crises that 9 we have today, it changes as to whether we could have 10 another flood that could impact even the storage of 11 the steam generators, that Pennsylvania will make some 12 demands here and play a little more hardball.

13 I mean, this is the state that suffered 14 the scariest and most dangerous accident in the United 15 States. And you owe it to us, and so does the NRC, to 16 give us good answers.

17 We're asking good questions. The last 18 thing I want to say is, let me give you a quick lesson 19 in security. That's what I do most of all, research 20 in sabotage and terrorism in nuclear powerplants.

21 It will be 25 years come April. And 22 cyber-security is of course the new frontier for 23 terrorism. It happened right here in Harrisburg, 24 actually, with a water treatment facility where a 25 hacker was able to take control of what's called Scada NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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46 1 system.

2 The engineers here know what that means.

3 And with that system they could disable the water 4 treatment facility, poisoned us with large release of 5 chlorine, possibly, done some nasty things.

6 And so, the NRC is quite familiar with 7 what I'm talking about. So, when I give you my flash 8 drive and you put it in your computer, and I 9 appreciate that, so I can show the video, you've once 10 again broken policy --

11 (Inaudible.)

12 MR. PORTZLINE: As she says, it's her 13 personal computer, and so was -- what did you say?

14 (Inaudible.)

15 MR. PORTZLINE: By the way, a true friend 16 doesn't stab you in the back, he stabs you in the 17 front. So that's why I'm making a public display of 18 it.

19 But I've had this conversation with the 20 NRC on several other occasions. And it continues to 21 happen. The laptop that was used by the person who 22 infiltrated the Harrisburg Water Treatment Facility 23 was also a home computer, a personal computer.

24 And one day you'll find yourself at work 25 with that and using that. Well, there's exceptions to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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47 1 everything. Maybe you won't. But it's not proper for 2 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow people 3 access to their computer like this.

4 There could be a worm. There could be a 5 data monitor on my flash drive. I could have pulled 6 information off of her computer right there. And so, 7 what I'm proposing is that in the future people like 8 me who want to show video presentation bring their own 9 laptop and then it's only going through the projector, 10 which has no -- well, I'm sure that capability is 11 around the corner too.

12 But I don't think that should be 13 happening. Okay, that's it.

14 FACILITATOR PHAM: Thank you, sir. With 15 that we have the last comment of the evening. Is 16 there anyone else out there who wishes to make a 17 comment? Yes, ma'am. Can I get you to say your name 18 please?

19 MS. OSBOURNE: Mary Osbourne. I'd like to 20 know how many curies a day TMI Unit 1 releases, how 21 many curies a month TMI-1 releases, how many curies a 22 year TMI-1 releases.

23 I know Unit 2 what they were releasing.

24 But I don't know what Unit 1 does.

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48 1 stab and say, unless someone has those numbers ready 2 right here, we can probably research that for you 3 afterwards. Maybe he does.

4 MR. KLEMENTOWICZ: This is Steve 5 Klementowicz. No, I don't have the numbers, but TMI 6 submits an annual effluent release report that is a 7 public document and can be accessed from the NRC'S 8 files where they report everything that they 9 discharge.

10 So, I mean, they don't do it on a daily 11 basis, but you could take those number.

12 MS. OSBOURNE: Before they get licensed 13 they have to do the EIS. And that's where I've come 14 to Unit 2. So I just never --

15 FACILITATOR PHAM: We're not getting you 16 on record. Would you like to come up and make a 17 comment?

18 (No verbal response.)

19 FACILITATOR PHAM: We are available to 20 discuss with you what Steve was starting to talk 21 about. With that I'd like to take the meeting to a 22 close.

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49 1 related to the Environmental Review.

2 You know, we do consider everything that 3 is provided in comments to us. It doesn't always mean 4 we will agree with you. And it doesn't always mean --

5 it may not sound responsive to you in the way you want 6 it.

7 Nevertheless, NRC does take these comments 8 in to full consideration. And we will respond to them 9 as part of formulating the final EIS. And that's due 10 in July of 2009.

11 With that I'd like to close out the 12 meeting. Thank you all again for attending tonight.

13 (Whereupon, at 8:05 p.m. the above-14 entitled matter was concluded.)

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50 1

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