ML093240195
| ML093240195 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Salem, Hope Creek  |
| Issue date: | 11/05/2009 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Ashley D, NRR/DLR, 415-3191 | |
| References | |
| NRC-3176, FOIA/PA-2011-0113 | |
| Download: ML093240195 (80) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Title: Salem/Hope Creek License Renewal Public Meeting Docket Number: (n/a)
Location: Woodstown, New Jersey Date: Thursday, November 5, 2009 Work Order No.: NRC-3176 Pages 1-79 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 SALEM/HOPE CREEK 5 NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION 6 LICENSE RENEWAL PROCESS 7 and 8 ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING MEETING 9 + + + + +
10 Thursday, 11 November 5th, 2009 12 + + + + +
13 Woodstown, New Jersey 14 The Public Meeting was held at 1:00 p.m. at the 15 Salem County Emergency Services Building, 135 Cemetery 16 Road, Woodstown, New Jersey, Lance Rakovan, 17 Facilitator, 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 LANCE RAKOVAN - Facilitator 3 BO PHAM - NRC Projects Branch 1 4 NEIL SHEEHAN - NRC/OPA 5 BRIAN G. HARRIS - NRC/OGC 6 DONNIE ASHLEY - Srr. Project Manager 7 CHARLES ECCLESTON - Project Manager 8 NATHAN FERRER - Project Manager 9 DANIEL DOYLE - Project Manager 10 DANIEL SCHROEDER, Srr. Resident Inspector, Salem 11 HARRY BALIAN - Resident Inspector, Salem 12 BLAKE WELLING - Sr. Resident Inspector, Hope 13 Creek 14 AMAR PATEL - Resident Inspector, Hope Creek 15 16 17 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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3 1 A-G-E-N-D-A 2
3 WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS ........................ 4 4 OVERVIEW OF SCOPING PROCESSES 5 DONNIE ASHLEY .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.8 6 CHARLES ECCLESTON ................................. 22 7 PUBLIC COMMENTS ................................... 35 8 CLOSING REMARKS ................................... 77 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 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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4 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 1:30 p.m.
3 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Good afternoon, 4 everyone. I have to say this is the most orderly 5 public meeting I think I have done in a really long 6 time.
7 Thanks to everyone for taking their seats 8 so we can get started on time. My name is Lance 9 Rakovan, I'm a Communications Specialist at the U.S.
10 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, as you will 11 hear it referred to today.
12 It is my pleasure to facilitate this 13 afternoon's meeting, along with my colleague, Butch 14 Burton, who also comes to us from NRC, from our Office 15 of New Reactors.
16 What we are going to try to do is to just 17 kind of keep the meeting on schedule, and try to make 18 the meeting, this afternoon, productive for everyone 19 who is here.
20 The purpose of this meeting is to discuss 21 the license renewal and environmental scoping 22 processes, for the license renewal application from 23 Public Service Enterprise Group Nuclear, or PSEG 24 Nuclear, and Exelon Generation Company, for the 25 renewal of the operating licensees for the Salem NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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5 1 Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 and 2, and Hope 2 Creek Generating Station.
3 And to provide members of the public and 4 opportunity to provide us comments regarding 5 environmental issues that the NRC should consider 6 during its review.
7 A term you are going to hear a lot today 8 is scoping. That simply means determining the scope 9 of an Environmental Review, in this case for the Salem 10 and Hope Creek sites.
11 Today is one way that you can participate 12 in the scoping process, and we will be going through 13 that as part of our presentations in a moment.
14 The meeting, today, is essentially going 15 to have two parts. First we are going to hear some 16 short presentations from some NRC staff on the license 17 renewal, and Environmental Review Processes, 18 information that we think is important that you 19 understand, when it comes to the license renewal for 20 Salem and Hope Creek.
21 There are copies of the presentation on 22 the sign-in table in the back. If you didn't happen to 23 pick one up, that is okay. I'm going to probably grab 24 a few and run them around in a moment.
25 So once I'm done giving my opening NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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6 1 comments, just look for me, give me a hands-up, and 2 will bring a copy of the presentations over to you.
3 I'm going to try to keep these 4 presentations short, so we can get to the second half 5 of the meeting, which is for us to listen to your 6 comments, that you have on the Environmental Review.
7 There were yellow cards at the sign-in 8 table. If you knew you wanted to speak then, 9 hopefully, you filled one of those out. I'm going to, 10 essentially, just call people up one at a time, to 11 take the podium, and give us their comments, from 12 those cards.
13 If you weren't sure that you wanted to 14 speak, at the beginning of the meeting, and you decide 15 that you want to, we just ask that you fill one of 16 those cards out for us and then we will be more than 17 happy to let you come up to the podium and speak.
18 We ask that you fill out those cards so 19 that we have your name correctly, so we can get you 20 correctly on the transcript. And I want to make sure 21 that you are aware that we are transcribing today's 22 meeting.
23 You can help us get a clean transcript for 24 the meeting by silencing any electronic devices, 25 phones, blackberries, those kinds of things, right now NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 1 if you would.
2 Keeping side conversations to a minimum, 3 so that we can make sure that the focus is on whoever 4 has the floor. And just generally trying to keep the 5 noise level down so that we can get, again, a clean 6 transcript.
7 If you are going to speak, once you come 8 up and take the microphone, if you could let us know 9 who you are, and any organization that you are with.
10 Again, this will help us identify, on the transcript, 11 who is speaking at each time.
12 Another item that I'm hoping you picked up 13 when you walked in, is our public meeting feedback 14 form. This is just a short form where you can give us 15 your opinion on how today's meeting went.
16 You can either hand that to any of the 17 NRC staff in attendance this afternoon, and we have 18 these badges on, or you can drop it in the mail, 19 postage is free, and that will get to us.
20 So that is just a way that you can kind of 21 give us an idea on how you think things went tonight.
22 Rest rooms are actually right behind me, 23 but in case you don't feel like going through the 24 central door, essentially, to the meeting, if you do 25 go through the elevator lobby, and make a left, there NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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8 1 is a rest room that way.
2 Sam, is there any way to turn that down, 3 by any chance? We will see if we can have that not be 4 doing that during the meeting.
5 I want to take a moment to introduce some 6 of the NRC staff in attendance, here. Our presenters 7 are Donnie Ashley, who is the lead for the Salem Hope 8 Creek license renewal, and Charles Eccleston, who is 9 the lead for Salem Hope Creek environmental scoping.
10 We also have Bo Pham, who manages these gentlemen.
11 With that I'm going to hand things over to 12 Donnie, so that he can go through these presentations.
13 And once the presentations are over I will be back, 14 and we will start calling people up to give us their 15 comments on the environmental scoping. Donnie?
16 MR. ASHLEY: Thanks, Lance, we appreciate 17 it. Can everyone hear me okay? I'm an old 18 instructor, so sometimes I start getting louder and 19 louder. So if I see someone wince I will tone it down 20 a little bit.
21 It is good to see all of you here. We 22 appreciate your attendance at this meeting. We 23 appreciate Salem County, and Mr. Gage and the staff 24 here for the use of this facility.
25 As I said, we appreciate Salem County, and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 1 the administration for the use of this wonderful 2 facility, and we appreciate the turn-out from the 3 local community here.
4 As Lance said, I'm the senior project 5 manager for the Salem Hope Creek license review group.
6 And we want to provide you with an overview of the 7 license renewal process.
8 This includes both a Safety Review and an 9 Environmental Review. This afternoon most of the time 10 will be spent on the Environmental Review, and 11 discussing what that process is, and how you can 12 participate.
13 One of the things that we will do, as 14 Lance said, again, we will be taking questions from 15 you about the Safety Review, and the Environmental 16 Review, as well as allowing you time to comment.
17 I hope that the information that we 18 provide to you today will help you to understand this 19 process, and the roles that you can play in this 20 almost two year process, including helping us make 21 sure that the Environmental Review considers all the 22 relevant information that we need to look at.
23 Before I go into the discussion of the 24 process itself, I would like to take a few minutes to 25 talk about the NRC, in terms of what we do, and what NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 1 our mission is.
2 The NRC is a federal agency, established 3 by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, that 4 regulates the civilian use of nuclear materials.
5 The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 authorizes 6 the NRC to grant a 40 year operating license for 7 nuclear power reactors. This 40 year term was based, 8 primarily, on economic considerations, and on anti-9 trust factors, not on safety or technical limitations.
10 The Atomic Energy Act also allowed for 11 license renewal. The National Environmental Policy 12 Act of 1969, which we refer to as NEPA, establishes 13 the national policy for considering the impact of 14 federal decision-making on the human environment.
15 And Charles is going to talk about that in 16 greater detail, in just a few minutes. The NRC's 17 regulations governing nuclear safety, security, and 18 environmental protection, are contained in Title 10 of 19 the Code of Federal Regulations, which is commonly 20 referred to as 10CFR. 21 In exercising its regulatory authority, 22 the NRC's mission is three-fold. To ensure adequate 23 protection of public health and safety; to promote the 24 common defense and security, and to protect the 25 environment.
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11 1 The NRC accomplishes this mission through 2 a variety of combined regulatory programs, and 3 processes, such as establishing rules and regulations, 4 conducting inspections, issuing enforcement actions, 5 assessing licensee performance, and evaluating 6 operating experience from these nuclear plants, as 7 well as other nuclear plants across the nation, and 8 around the world.
9 The NRC has resident inspectors at all 10 operating nuclear power plants. These inspectors are 11 considered the eyes and the ears of the NRC. They 12 carry out our safety mission on a daily basis, and are 13 on the front lines of ensuring acceptable safety 14 performance, and compliance with regulatory 15 requirements.
16 Mr. Blake Welling is with us this 17 afternoon, and we appreciate him taking the time to be 18 here. I'd like to mention a few more very important 19 areas of NRC oversight that routinely come up, during 20 our interaction with members of the public.
21 The NRC staff addresses these areas of 22 performance every day, as part of the ongoing 23 regulatory oversight provided for all currently 24 operating power reactors.
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12 1 performance as defined by NRC inspection findings 2 violations, and general assessment of plant 3 performance, emergency planning, and security.
4 For specific information on the current 5 performances of both Salem and Hope Creek, there is a 6 link provided on the hand-out that we gave you. Or if 7 you to the NRC website, nrc.gov you will be able to 8 locate it there, as well.
9 The NRC monitors and provides regulatory 10 oversight of activities in these areas, on an ongoing 11 basis, during the term of the current operating 12 license.
13 Thus we, and license renewal, do not 14 reevaluate them. That is not to say they are not 15 important it is just that we don't duplicate anything 16 that is being done in the regulatory processes for 17 these areas of license.
18 The NRC received the applications for 19 license renewal of all three units, on August 18th, 20 2009. For those of you who would like an electronic 21 copy of those applications, we have cds in the back of 22 the room, for you, just see one of the NRC 23 representatives, and we will get you a copy of that.
24 You can also look on the NRC website, and 25 see it there, if you need to. The current operating NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 1 licenses for Salem expire in 2016, 2020, and for Hope 2 Creek in 2026.
3 Salem unit 1 was initially licensed in 4 August 13th, 1976, with unit 2 following in April of 5 1980. Hope Creek was licensed in April of 1986.
6 A licensee can submit an application for 7 license renewal after 20 years of operations. The 8 length of any given license cannot exceed 40 years.
9 Renewed license is superseding. That is, it will 10 replace the original license that the plant received.
11 The first step of the license renewal 12 process is to perform an acceptance and sufficiency 13 review of the application. When the NRC receives the 14 application, the staff examines it to determine 15 whether the application contains sufficient 16 information to justify a review.
17 The staff looks to see whether the 18 Applicant has provided enough information in terms of 19 technical information, technical specifications, and 20 the Environmental Report, so that the staff can begin 21 its work.
22 If the application has enough information 23 in it to warrant the staff's review, then the 24 application is considered acceptable, and sufficient, 25 and is placed on the NRC's formal docket.
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14 1 You will hear the NRC use that term a lot, 2 because we place things on the docket. And this is 3 the formal body of in that is the official license of 4 the plant, and any information that changes that 5 license, goes on that docket.
6 So most everything that we do goes on the 7 docket. And the docket information is publicly 8 available for the most part, except for security 9 information.
10 Within the application, itself, there is 11 general information such as the Applicant's name, and 12 addresses, and business, and administrative 13 information.
14 The technical information is specific to 15 the plant's structures and components, and how the 16 Applicant proposes to manage the aging of those 17 components.
18 This information is the focus of the 19 Safety Review. Technical specifications, which define 20 the operating parameters of the plant, indicates what, 21 if any, changes or additions to technical 22 specifications are necessary to manage the effects of 23 aging during the period of extended operation.
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15 1 expired. The application also includes the 2 environmental report, which is the assessment of the 3 environmental impacts of continued operation.
4 This information is the starting point for 5 the staff's Environmental Review that Charles is going 6 to discuss.
7 Salem and Hope Creek's applications were 8 found to be acceptable, and placed on the docket on 9 October the 23rd of this year.
10 Hopefully you can see that. This is the 11 license renewal process and it does go into two paths, 12 and right now I'm talking about the path for the 13 Safety Review.
14 And there is another review there with the 15 environmental. But these two reviews merge at the 16 very end in the NRC's decision-making process. They 17 are separate aspects of license renewal.
18 And one of the considerations is an 19 independent review of our work, by the Advisory 20 Committee on Reactor Safeguards. And we refer to that 21 as the ACRS.
22 Its statutory mandates, by the Atomic 23 Energy Act of 1954, the Advisory Committee on Reactor 24 Safeguards is a group of scientists, and nuclear 25 safety experts, who serve as the consulting body to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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16 1 the Commission.
2 The ACRS reviews the license renewal 3 application, the NRC's staff Safety Review, and the 4 regional staff's inspectionary findings. The ACRS 5 then reports their findings, and their 6 recommendations, directly to the Commission.
7 Hearings may also be conducted if 8 interested stakeholders submit concerns, or 9 contentions and their request for a hearing is 10 granted.
11 The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will 12 conduct those hearings. This is an adjudicatory 13 panel, and the Commission considers the outcome of the 14 hearing process in its decision on whether or not to 15 issue a renewed license.
16 As part of the Environmental Review, the 17 staff will consult with local, state, and federal 18 authorities, such as the EPA, and with tribal 19 officials.
20 The staff also holds public meetings to 21 receive comments on the Draft Environmental Impact 22 Statements. In this schedule, in the process, the 23 schedule that we follow normally takes 22 months.
24 Hearings, if they are granted, will add 25 additional time to that 22 months schedule. We have NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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17 1 only had, I think, one or two hearings, and it added 2 at least eight months to a year to each of the 3 schedules.
4 Salem and Hope Creek are scheduled to be 5 completed in June of 2011, if there are no hearings.
6 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Donnie, it looks 7 like you are going backwards on the slides right now.
8 So I think maybe you are hitting the wrong button.
9 MR. ASHLEY: Well, they have reversed 10 buttons on me.
11 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: There we go.
12 MR. ASHLEY: Thanks, Lance.
13 To better understanding the license 14 renewal process it is good to know the safety 15 principles that guide license renewal. The first 16 principle is that the current regulatory process is 17 adequate to ensure that the licensing basis of all the 18 operating plants provides and maintains an acceptable 19 level of safety.
20 The second principle is that the current 21 plant-specific licensing basis must be maintained 22 during the renewal term, in the same manner, and to 23 the same extent, as the original operating license 24 term.
25 In other words, the same rules that apply NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 1 under the current license condition will apply in the 2 renewal period. In addition renewed license will 3 include additional conditions that must be met to 4 ensure aging of structures and components, important 5 to safety, is adequately managed, so that the plant's 6 current licensing basis is maintained throughout the 7 period of extended operation.
8 In other words, what is being done today 9 will continue, plus additional requirements.
10 The Safety Review focuses on the aging of 11 passive and long-lived structures, and components, and 12 systems, that the NRC deems important to safety.
13 The safety related systems, structures, 14 and components, are covered, that we evaluate, are 15 covered in 10CFR54.4, paragraph A1.
16 Non-safety related structures, systems, 17 and component failures are those things which could 18 prevent satisfactory accomplishment of safety related 19 SSC functions, and those are considered in 54.4 A2.
20 We evaluate failures that are part of the 21 current licensing basis of the plant. And it may 22 require that we evaluate second, third, and fourth 23 level support systems. So it may not be just primary 24 systems that we evaluate.
25 Structures, systems, and components relied NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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19 1 on, in safety analysis or plant evaluations to perform 2 a function that demonstrates compliance with 3 regulations in 10CFR54.4 A3.
4 These would be SSCs that are in fire 5 protection, environmental qualification, pressurized 6 thermal shock, anticipated transients without SCRAM, 7 and station black-outs. Those are specifically 8 described in regulations that we evaluate.
9 The passive functions of these components 10 are functions that are made without moving parts, or 11 change in configuration, or properties, such as 12 buildings and supports.
13 They are long-lived SSCs, they are not 14 replaced on qualified life, or a specified time 15 period. Active components within the plant, pumps, 16 circuit breakers, those kinds of things, are 17 generically excluded from the review, because those 18 are part of the review that is being done on a daily 19 basis.
20 The staff's main objective, in this review 21 of license renewal, is to determine if the effects of 22 aging will be adequately managed by the Applicant.
23 The result of the Safety Review are documented in a 24 Safety Evaluation Report, which we refer to as an SER.
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20 1 received, one from Salem, one from Hope Creek, we will 2 produce two Safety Evaluation Reports.
3 The Safety Review, or the technical staff 4 reviews the Applicant's license renewal application, 5 and all of its supporting documentation, to determine 6 that the Applicant's methodology, to identify the 7 structures and components, within the scope of license 8 renewal, and subject to an aging management review.
9 To determine if the methodology has been 10 properly implemented, and to determine, with 11 reasonable assurance, if the effects of aging, for 12 certain SSCs will be adequately managed, or monitored, 13 by new and existing programs, and surveillance 14 activities.
15 The staff uses site audits, make visits to 16 the site to verify the technical basis of the license 17 renewal application, and to confirm that the 18 Applicant's aging management programs, and the 19 activities, conform with how they are described in the 20 application.
21 The staff documents the basis and the 22 conclusion of its review, in the Safety Evaluation 23 Report. Those Safety Evaluation Reports will be 24 publicly available, when they are completed.
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21 1 inspectors will travel to the reactor site, from the 2 regional office, to verify that the aging management 3 programs are being implemented, modified, or planned 4 consistent with the license renewal application.
5 Finally, as I mentioned, the Advisory 6 Committee on Reactor Safeguards, the ACRS, performs 7 that independent review of the license renewal 8 application, the SER, and the inspection findings, and 9 makes that recommendation to the Commission, regarding 10 the proposed action to issue a renewed operating 11 license.
12 Only after all of those activities are 13 completed will the NRC make a decision on renewing the 14 operating licenses. The public will have several 15 opportunities to participate, and be heard, during the 16 license renewal process.
17 This slide lists three opportunities for 18 involvement through the safety track of the process.
19 And the fourth is this meeting today. In addition 20 there will be two ACRS meetings that would be open to 21 the public, and those are tentatively scheduled for 22 October of 2010, and the full Committee meeting in May 23 of 2011.
24 That concludes the safety side of this 25 presentation. And do you want to take questions now, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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22 1 Lance, on safety side, or wait?
2 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: I think we would 3 like to get through the presentation and then we are 4 going to pause, briefly, to see if there are any 5 clarifying questions. So I think we should move on to 6 Charles.
7 MR. ASHLEY: Thank you. Charles?
8 MR. ECCLESTON: As Donnie stated, my name 9 is Charles Eccleston, I'm the environmental project 10 manager for the Salem and Hope Creek license renewal 11 project.
12 I, quite often, give my presentations 13 without a microphone. So if I get too loud, or if I'm 14 not loud enough, please anybody feel free to raise 15 their hand and let me know.
16 NEPA is the National Environmental Policy 17 Act of 1969. And NEPA is noted for two basic 18 attributes. The first is that it establishes the 19 basic environmental charter, the basic environmental 20 policy for the entire United States.
21 In fact, it has been called the grand-22 daddy of all modern environmental legislation.
23 Virtually every major environmental statute, and 24 regulation, followed on the footsteps of NEPA's 25 policy.
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23 1 Everything from clean air, to clean water, 2 to endangered species, TOSHKA, RECRA, SERCLA, this 3 endless array of acronyms that most of us can't 4 pronounce, those all followed on the wake of NEPA.
5 But NEPA is also important for one other 6 aspect. And that is it requires an EIS, or an 7 Environmental Impact Statement for all major federal 8 actions significantly affecting the quality of the 9 human environment.
10 And there is one other requirement, here, 11 and that is this, and it is quite important. It 12 requires an objective, inter-disciplinary and 13 systematic process be used --
14 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Charles, microphone?
15 MR. ECCLESTON: -- in preparing the EIS.
16 In other words, you need a structured 17 scientific process, an objective process, be used in 18 preparing the EIS.
19 Did I go backwards?
20 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Donnie, do you want 21 to give him a hand to --
22 MR. ASHLEY: Yes, I already know how to go 23 back.
24 MR. ECCLESTON: The EIS must rigorously 25 investigate the environmental impacts of license NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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24 1 renewal project, and the alternatives.
2 The purpose of the EIS is to inform 3 federal decision-makers, and to publicly disclose the 4 impacts of the proposal, and the reasonable 5 alternatives. And that includes the alternative of 6 no-action. In this case the alternative of no-action 7 involves denial of license extension.
8 Again, as Donnie said earlier, NRC's 9 environmental regulations can be found at 10CFR Part 10 51.
11 What I wanted to do here was give you a 12 basic outline, and an idea of how the entire EIS 13 process works. Pay special note to the boxes that are 14 in yellow over here.
15 This is a simplified process. There are a 16 lot more boxes that go into it. This, basically, 17 shows the overall process of what we will be doing 18 over the course of this license renewal project.
19 The EIS begins with an issuance of a 20 Notice of Intent, or an NOI. The NOI is published in 21 the Federal Register. And it basically announces that 22 a federal agency plans to prepare an EIS.
23 That step has already taken place. The 24 NRC published, in the Federal Register, a notice 25 indicating that we intend to prepare an EIS for the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 1 Salem Hope Creek license renewal project.
2 Once you get past the NOI stage, you go 3 into a public scoping process. And that includes a 4 public scoping meeting. And that is what we are doing 5 here today. We are at the public scoping meeting.
6 The purpose of this meeting is to solicit 7 input and comments regarding the scope of EIS. So we 8 are going to take the information we get from the 9 public, we are going to feed that in, and we are going 10 to use that to help determine the scope of the EIS 11 that we prepare.
12 We will be preparing a Draft Environmental 13 Impact Statement, in this case it is an SEIS, or a 14 supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, but just 15 to simplify it, I'm going to call it an EIS, okay?
16 Once the draft EIS is prepared, we then 17 take that EIS and we publicly issue it to the public, 18 and we again ask the public for comments and input 19 regarding that draft EIS.
20 Anything that we obtain from the public, 21 in terms of comments, or issues, or concerns, we 22 consider and then we use those to revise the draft 23 EIS, and we prepare a final EIS.
24 Once the final EIS is prepared, we then 25 prepare, then we publicly issue that final EIS.
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26 1 Again, it goes out the public, the public has an 2 opportunity to review it, and once that step is 3 completed, and only at that step, does the federal 4 agency, in this case the NRC Commission, issue what is 5 known as an ROD, or Record of Decision.
6 The Record of Decision documents the NRC's 7 Commission decision with respect to license renewal.
8 And then only after that point can any action be taken 9 with respect to licensing the Salem Hope Creek 10 reactors, or possibly denying the license, or even 11 pursuing some kind of reasonable alternative.
12 But, again, the yellow boxes there show 13 you the steps, where you have an opportunity to 14 prevent, or to provide comments, or be engaged in the 15 public process.
16 Now, again, I want to emphasize that the 17 purpose of this public scoping meeting that we are 18 having today, is to solicit public input and comments 19 regarding the scope of the EIS.
20 It is not to make a decision regarding the 21 proposed action which is license renewal. Again, the 22 EIS will assist the NRC in reaching a final decision 23 regarding the license renewal application.
24 This brings us to the scoping process.
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27 1 process, and this scoping meeting right now.
2 We are looking for the scope of actions 3 that should be considered in the EIS. What types of 4 actions should that EIS be evaluating, and addressing?
5 In addition to that we are looking at the 6 potentially significant impacts, environmental impact, 7 and environmental issues, that you think are important 8 that that EIS needs to address.
9 And the third thing is the alternatives.
10 What are the reasonable alternatives that you think 11 should be evaluated. Because one of the requirements 12 of an EIS is to look at reasonable alternatives, and 13 to evaluate the impacts, and compare those impacts 14 with the impacts of the proposed action, which in this 15 case is license renewal.
16 Now, what does the EIS evaluate? Well, 17 take a look at the left side here. It looks at a host 18 of different impacts on resources. Everything from 19 fish, and wildlife impacts, to water resource impacts, 20 historical and cultural resource impacts, socio-21 economic impacts.
22 Impacts such as impacts to taxes, 23 community development, what about impacts to your 24 infrastructure, environmental justice impacts. We 25 also look at human health impacts.
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28 1 We will be looking at impacts to land use.
2 It will be a host of impacts. And some of it will 3 drive what we evaluate will come from the comments 4 that we receive from the scoping meeting, and the 5 scoping process in general.
6 Now, that leads to the question, how is a 7 decision made? If you look up at the very top here, 8 we have the public scoping comments. That is what we 9 are doing right here today.
10 We are trying to obtain public input, 11 trying to determine what you think is important, that 12 will feed into a supplemental Environmental Impact 13 Statement, which we will prepare.
14 And when that EIS is complete, it will 15 feed into the license renewal decision. It will feed 16 into the license renewal decision process. But note 17 that that is not the only thing that feeds into the 18 decision-making process.
19 There are other things as well. We have 20 detailed Safety Evaluation Report which Donnie, over 21 here, is responsible for. We will be conducting 22 regional inspections, we will have the license renewal 23 application.
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29 1 briefly a few minutes ago. And they will provide an 2 independent review, and an independent recommendation 3 that will feed into the decision-making process.
4 And last, but not least, in some cases 5 there will be public hearings, and that will also feed 6 into the decision-making process. So it is a host of 7 factors.
8 But one of the very important factors, up 9 here, is the EIS process. So we are here to receive 10 input, comments, ideas, on what the scope of this EIS 11 should be.
12 I would like to just give you some 13 examples of what we are looking for. What is unique 14 about your community? What would you like to see in 15 the EIS that is unique about your community?
16 What are some of the local environmental 17 issues that should be examined? Do you have specific 18 concerns about environmental impacts, or environmental 19 issues? If so, let us know, we will do our best to 20 get those incorporated into the EIS.
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30 1 determine the ultimate scope of the EIS.
2 And then last, but not least, the 3 reasonable alternatives. What types of alternatives 4 do you think should be addressed in the EIS? And I 5 will give you a good example of this.
6 I was the environmental project manager 7 for another license renewal project. I went to a 8 public scoping meeting. One of the gentlemen stood 9 up and went over a very lengthy detailed discussion.
10 And quite a bit of that had to do with 11 wind energy. He felt wind energy was a very important 12 alternative, and it needed to be given a lot of 13 consideration in the EIS.
14 We took his comment, we reviewed it, we 15 addressed it, we considered it. And, sure enough, if 16 we didn't develop an entire alternative right around 17 that wind energy alternative.
18 So I put that out just to show you that 19 whatever input or comments you are giving us we are 20 taking seriously, and that will help shape the final 21 EIS.
22 How can you provide input and comments?
23 In addition to the public scoping comments that we are 24 receiving here at the scoping meeting today, you can 25 provide comments by mail to the address up there, and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 1 that is in your handouts.
2 You can also provide comments by email, 3 and there are the two email addresses that you can 4 provide comments to. And, third of all, if you have a 5 lot of energy, you can go down to the NRC headquarters 6 and hand deliver them to the NRC headquarters.
7 So there are three very specific ways of 8 getting us the comments that you think are important.
9 This leads us to some important milestones. And, 10 again, this is in you packet. Some of the critical 11 milestones, but pay attention to the ones in yellow, 12 which are coming up.
13 The opportunity for a hearing ends on 14 December 22nd of this year. And, again, as I said 15 before, the scoping comments are due by December 22nd, 16 so keep that in mind.
17 Now, if you would like to contact either 18 Donnie or myself, our contact information is here, we 19 will be glad to talk to anybody that wants to contact 20 us, and get back to you with any concerns, or any 21 questions that you might have, there is our 22 information to contact us.
23 Documents, there are a number of documents 24 that are important. For example, the Applicant's 25 Environmental Report is on file. You can find it at NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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32 1 the web address shown there on the bottom.
2 Hard copies are also on file at the Salem 3 Free Library, if you choose to look at a hard copy.
4 So there are documents there you can get, if you want 5 additional information on what is going on.
6 And let me bring you back to this one more 7 time, because that is the purpose of why we are here 8 today. What is unique about your community that you 9 want to see included in the EIS; what are the 10 significant impacts, or issues, positive or negative, 11 beneficial or adverse, that you want to see evaluated?
12 What are the socio-economic concerns that 13 you might have, again, positive or negative, 14 beneficial or adverse. And then, again, what are the 15 reasonable alternatives that you think are important, 16 that you think should be evaluated in the EIS.
17 So I just brought that back here, again, 18 because that is what we are doing here today, is 19 trying to get this type of information.
20 And, finally, I leave it with this slide 21 here. Again, these are the three different ways that 22 you can contact us and provide comments, and input to 23 the NRC regarding the scope of this EIS.
24 With that I will turn it over to Lance.
25 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thanks, guys.
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33 1 Before we go ahead and start calling people up, to 2 give us their comments, I just wanted to pause, 3 briefly, to see if anyone had any clarifying comments 4 on the material that Donnie and Charles went over.
5 We don't want to make this kind of like an 6 open dialogue about various issues, again, because we 7 want to focus the meeting on listening to your 8 comments, and give you a chance to comment.
9 But just in case there was any material 10 that was covered, in that presentation, that there 11 might be a little confusion about, just raise your 12 hand, and I can bring you a microphone and, hopefully, 13 we can provide you with some clarity on that.
14 Any questions, right now?
15 (No response.)
16 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: If you do have a 17 question about anything that was covered in the 18 presentation, or anything else that falls under the 19 NRC's regulatory purview, grab one of us that has one 20 of these name tags on.
21 If we are not the person who can answer 22 the question, hopefully, we can find someone who can 23 speak to it for you. Or we can get you the 24 information back at a later date. So just keep in 25 mind that after the meeting is over we will be kind of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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34 1 hanging out.
2 So if you have any questions about 3 anything, let us know. We are trying to make this 4 meeting, again, as productive for you as possible. So 5 when you came in, a number of you filled out yellow 6 cards to let us know that you wanted to give comments 7 to.
8 What I would like to do now is to start 9 calling people up to take the podium, and give us your 10 comments on environmental scoping. Given the amount 11 of cards that I have, and the amount of time that we 12 have, I'm going to ask that you stick to about ten 13 minutes, or under, with your comments if that is 14 possible.
15 Depending on how things go we might allow 16 for a little bit more than that. But I would like to 17 give everybody who has expressed interest in speaking 18 a chance to get up here.
19 So holding it to about ten minutes, or 20 less, I think will help make sure that can happen.
21 Again, when you come up here, if you can identify 22 yourself, and any group you are with, that will make 23 sure that we understand who made a particular comment 24 on the transcript.
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35 1 to what order I will be going in, giving you kind of 2 three-deep, if you will, before I bring you up.
3 And if you do decide that you want to make 4 a comment, and you didn't fill out a yellow form, 5 Butch has some blank ones, so he would be happy to 6 bring one over to you.
7 And, again, we ask that you fill it out 8 just, you know, for our sake, so we can have a good 9 record as to who spoke and to make sure, again, that 10 we get your name correctly on the transcript.
11 So I will go, again, calling three people 12 up, just to give you an idea. First I'd like to offer 13 the microphone to Lee Ware, a Freedholder Director of 14 County of Salem.
15 After Mr. Ware I'd like to go to Greg 16 Gross, from Delaware State Chamber of Commerce. And, 17 third, to Brian Duffey, Salem County Chamber of 18 Commerce. So, Mr. Ware, if you would like to come to 19 the microphone?
20 MR. WARE: Thank you, Lance. My name is 21 Lee Ware, Director of Salem County Freeholders Board, 22 starting my tenth year as a Freeholder. I'm a little 23 down today because my beloved Phillies went down.
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36 1 lead-off hitter here today, Lance.
2 I'm coming before you, today, to let you 3 know that PSEG Nuclear is a valuable asset to our 4 county. Not only are they great community partners, 5 but they are the county's largest employer.
6 They have been good neighbors, and good 7 partners. A majority of their employees are local 8 residents, who live in our community. PSEG takes a 9 very proactive role in developing positive 10 relationships with members of Salem County community.
11 Whether it is providing funding and 12 support to local community groups, or attending every 13 community event. A lot of members here can attest to 14 that. We see each other quite a bit.
15 They are always demonstrating their 16 commitment to Salem County's proud heritage and bright 17 future. We understand the hesitation of those within 18 and surrounding our county, towards PSEG Nuclear.
19 Their concerns regarding safety, and plant 20 performance, are valid. However, PSEG Nuclear has 21 consistently demonstrated its commitment to safety, 22 and excellence, through proper planning and 23 transparency.
24 As life-long residents of Salem County, 25 six miles as the crow flies from the reactors, I feel NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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37 1 safe around the power plant, I have raised my children 2 here, and they still reside here.
3 We have seen no negative impact to our 4 environment, or community. I support PSEG Nuclear and 5 license renewal for the Salem and Hope Creek stations.
6 Their continued success is our success. Thank you.
7 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you. Just to 8 let you know, if you do have a written statement, that 9 you have brought with you today or if, in fact, you 10 write one down while you are here today, if you will 11 hand that to me, we will have that included as part of 12 the transcript.
13 So that can be something that you come up 14 and read and, also, you submit. Or it can be an 15 individual statement as well. Again, we can take 16 those and have those incorporated into the transcript 17 for today's meeting.
18 So I just wanted to remind you that that 19 is possible. Let's go with Greg Gross, from the 20 Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, then to Brian 21 Duffey, Salem County Chamber of Commerce, and third, 22 Fred Stein, Delaware Riverkeeper.
23 MR. GROSS: Good afternoon. I'm Greg 24 Gross, I'm director of government affairs with the 25 Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, and we represent NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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38 1 about 1,700 plus members of the business and corporate 2 communities in the Delaware, throughout Delaware.
3 And when I was invited, and I want to 4 thank you for the opportunity to come here and speak 5 in support of one of our most valued partners. And, 6 quite frankly, when I was invited to come speak in 7 support, I knew about it, I wasn't totally educated 8 about it, but I took a few minutes yesterday, and 9 educated myself about what it means to the Delaware 10 community.
11 I didn't realize that we have about in 12 excess of three hundred employees, from Delaware, that 13 come across that bridge each day. But it is not just 14 about the 300 folks that come across that bridge, it 15 is also about the families they support.
16 About the economic structure in our 17 community that it supports. And also, too, I took a 18 few minutes to query a few of our elected officials 19 that are very involved, and plugged into the 20 environmental community and said, you know what, Greg?
21 We don't worry about them, we don't worry, because 22 they are safe, because they have gone that extra mile 23 to be safe.
24 If there is something there that they know 25 may be troublesome, they address it before it happens.
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39 1 So that means something. I said, we don't worry.
2 There always will be, I'm sure, 3 apprehensions to what goes on, and there always will 4 be fear, I'm sure. But as each year goes by I'm sure 5 that that fear will slowly dissipate as things often 6 do, with such things of this nature.
7 But we are happy that we do have such a 8 strong partner involved in every facet of our 9 community in Delaware. As I said, I didn't realize 10 how much, until I went back and I looked over some 11 things.
12 And I was saying, wow, I mean it is just 13 incredible what a strong partner. And when you are 14 going down the years of 2016, I think the other one 15 was 2026, I don't know if I will be around in 2026.
16 I'm hoping I will be around in 2026. But 17 I hope that I am, and I hope I am back even more 18 educated, and being able to speak more passionately 19 about what I believe is the great work that is done.
20 And, most importantly, the safety and just 21 preparing for what we are going to be facing in the 22 years, as far as what we are going to need for our 23 energy, and our needs. It doesn't get any easier.
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40 1 know, we give our total support in any way we possibly 2 can, whether we -- whether in a letter, from our 3 President, or any folks that are needed, within our 4 community there, please don't hesitate to let us know.
5 Thank you, again, for allowing me to take 6 a few minutes of your time to be here with you today, 7 and I look forward to hearing additional comments, 8 thank you.
9 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Let's go to Brian 10 Duffey, then to Fred Stein and, third, to Charles 11 Hassler, IBEW Local Union 94.
12 MR. DUFFEY: Good afternoon. I'm the 13 current vice-chair, and the 2010 incoming chair of the 14 Salem County Chamber of Commerce.
15 Approximately 400 businesses and community 16 organizations are members of the Salem County Chamber 17 of Commerce, and this includes PSEG Nuclear, who is a 18 long-time member.
19 On behalf of the Chamber, I would like the 20 NRC to know that PSEG Nuclear plays a leading role in 21 our community. They have supported the Chamber's 22 efforts to build relationships, within the community, 23 and to make Salem County a premier place to live, 24 work, and conduct business.
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41 1 dozens of local businesses, and Chamber members, and 2 with our support they are helping to drive the local 3 economy.
4 Earlier this year PSEG Nuclear, hosted the 5 Chamber Board of Directors for a tour of the Salem and 6 Hope Creek facilities. It became very clear, to the 7 Board of Directors that PSEG operates in a culture of 8 safety and security.
9 That visit also reinforced the Board's 10 belief that PSEG Nuclear operations provide a safe and 11 clean source of energy. We also believe that nuclear 12 power can help to combat climate change, and that 13 PSEG's operations will continue to play a positive 14 role in Salem County's future.
15 Without these plants hundreds of people 16 would be left without jobs, dozens of local businesses 17 would struggle, and our local economy would suffer a 18 great loss.
19 The Salem County Chamber of Commerce 20 supports PSEG Nuclear, and its plans for license 21 renewal, for an additional 20 years of operation for 22 Salem and Hope Creek. Thank you for your time.
23 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Let's go to Fred 24 Stein, then Charles Hassler and, third, to Carl 25 Fricker, PSEG Nuclear.
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42 1 MR. STEIN: Thank you very much. My name 2 is Fred Stein, I work with the Delaware Riverkeeper 3 Network, it is a non-profit environmental advocacy 4 organization.
5 I would like to thank the NRC for the 6 opportunity to speak to the license renewal 7 application submitted by PSEG and Exelon. We 8 understand the purpose of today's meeting, of the dual 9 meetings, today, is to discuss the process around the 10 license renewal and the requisite EIS scoping.
11 And I will speak directly to that. But, 12 first, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network wants to 13 reaffirm our long-standing position, and call to 14 convert the Salem generating station to a closed cycle 15 cooling system, as mandated by the Section 316(b) of 16 the Clean Water Act.
17 The Act states that generating plants, 18 such as Salem, shall be required that the location, 19 design, construction, and capacity of cooling water 20 intake structures reflect the best technology 21 available for minimizing the adverse environmental 22 impacts.
23 The application before the NRC does not 24 call for the compliance of the Clean Water Act, as it 25 relates to the best technology available. And it NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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43 1 should.
2 According to our study, conducted by New 3 Jersey DEP hired expert in 1989, as well as 4 experiences at other facilities, installations of a 5 closed cycle cooling towers, at Salem, would reduce 6 the fish kills from the Delaware river by 95 percent.
7 And dry cooling systems, at Salem, would 8 reduce it even further, to 99 percent. Speaking now, 9 directly to the Environmental Impact Study, the 10 Delaware Riverkeeper Network calls on NRC, and other 11 reviewing agencies, to hold the Applicant to the 12 highest scientific and regulatory standards as they 13 prepare the EIS.
14 Previous permits issued to PSEG were based 15 on data that were found to be faulty, misleading, 16 biased, and incomplete. In 1999, for instance, when 17 the data and arguments to support its case, that it 18 should be allowed to continue to kill the Delaware 19 River fish unimpeded.
20 Every year the Salem Nuclear Power Plant 21 kills over three billion fish in the Delaware River.
22 That includes over 59 million blue-backed herring, 77 23 million weak fish, over 134 million arctic croakers, 24 over 412 million white perch, over 448 million striped 25 bass, and over 2 billion bay anchovies.
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44 1 Even DEP's own experts agree that PSEG's 2 assertions were not credible, and were not backed by 3 the data and studies PSEG had presented. In fact, 4 according to an ESSA Consultant hired by New Jersey 5 DEP, PSEG had greatly underestimated its impact on the 6 Delaware river fish resources.
7 According to ESSA, PSEG underestimated 8 biomass loss from the ecosystem by, perhaps, as many 9 as two-fold. And the actual total biomass of fish 10 loss to the ecosystem is at least 2.2 times greater 11 than was listed by PSE&G.
12 ESSA technologies' 154 page review of 13 PSE&G's permit application, documented ongoing 14 problems with PSE&G's assertions and findings, 15 including biased, misleading conclusions, data gaps, 16 inaccuracies and misrepresentation of their findings 17 and damage.
18 Some of the examples of the EESA findings 19 were with regards to the fisheries data and population 20 trends, ESSA said the conclusions of the analysis 21 generally overextended the data or results.
22 PSE&G underestimated biomass loss from the 23 ecosystem by, perhaps, as many as two-fold.
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45 1 are not supported by the information presented detract 2 from the rigor of this section and raises skepticism 3 about the results.
4 In particular there is a tendency to draw 5 subjective and unsupported conclusions about the 6 importance of Salem's impact on the fish species in 7 the river.
8 And, finally, referring to PSE&G's 9 discussions, and presentations of entrainment, 10 mortality rates, ESSA found PSE&G's discussion in this 11 section of the application, to be misleading.
12 The ESSA report contained no less than 51 13 recommendations for actions which PSE&G needed to 14 take, on its 2001 permit application before DEP. But 15 that didn't happen, none of those happened.
16 It is our understanding that while DEP 17 pursued some of these, many of them were never 18 addressed, and still others were turned into permanent 19 requirements to deal with over the next permit cycle.
20 In addition to ESSA recommendations, New 21 Jersey DEP received comment from the State of 22 Delaware, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, 23 both of whom conducted independent expert review of 24 the permit application materials.
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46 1 sampling, data analysis, and conclusions. While we 2 are urging you today, NRC, while we are urging you 3 today to hold PSE&G as they go through this EIS 4 process, to the highest standards, I want to reinforce 5 our belief that I started my comment with, that -- I'm 6 sorry, I jumped ahead.
7 I conclude by restating the fact that 8 because Salem is clearly having an adverse 9 environmental impact on the living resources of the 10 Delaware river, and estuary, regarding PSE&G, we 11 encourage you to hold them to the highest standards 12 possible. I'm sorry, I lost my place here.
13 We feel that it is important that, through 14 the EIS process, that the data that PSE&G and its 15 consultants bring to you, is complete, and unbiased, 16 and that it is thoroughly looked at by the NRC, and it 17 will be by the general public, too.
18 In a Philadelphia Enquirer editorial 19 today, there was an article about nuclear energy, 20 talking about that the NRC believes that it is the 21 most regulated industry, and the most regulated 22 government agency. And it should be.
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47 1 process, to the highest standards possible. Thank you 2 very much.
3 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you, sir.
4 Let's go to Charles Hassler, then Carl Friker, and 5 third to Dr. Peter Conti, from Salem County College.
6 MR. HASSLER: Good afternoon. My name is 7 Charlie Hassler, and I came here to speak in support 8 of the PSE&G licensing for the Salem and Hope Creek 9 units.
10 I'm a lifelong-resident of Salem City, and 11 I work down at the Salem Hope Creek nuclear facility 12 for the past approximately 34 years. I'm currently a 13 business agent for the International Brotherhood of 14 Electrical Workers, Local Union 94, which represents 15 the organized labor who are employed permanently at 16 the facility.
17 Additionally I'm a member of the New 18 Jersey IBEW, the umbrella organization, with about 19 35,000 members. New Jersey IBEW is also on record as 20 supporting the relicensing efforts of the Salem and 21 Hope Creek stations.
22 Our support is based upon understanding of 23 how the NRC proceeds with the relicensing effort. It 24 is an informed rational support, and comes only with 25 our belief that the safety of our members, and the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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48 1 public at large, will be assured by the continued 2 operation of these plants.
3 The three units have been operating at 4 capacity of about 90 to 95 percent in the past several 5 years. Prior to the outages now in progress at Salem 6 unit 2, that unit ran for 515 consecutive days at a 7 capacity factor of one hundred percent.
8 This type of performance can only be 9 achieved through diligent processes, procedural 10 adherence, while maintaining and operating the plants.
11 The personal standards of all workers are 12 very high. What other industry has improved the 13 standards and operating capacities the way it has been 14 done in nuclear? This is truly the most watched, from 15 the outside, and scrutinized from within.
16 The Institute of Nuclear Power Operators, 17 The Nuclear Management and Resource Council, and the 18 NRC itself, does more internal evaluations than to 19 groups in any other industry.
20 This is an industry that if you are not 21 bumping the top quartile in performance, you had 22 better have a better plan, or you are in trouble. The 23 output of the three stations supplies New Jersey with 24 about 52 percent of its electric needs.
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49 1 creating green house gases, which is an important and 2 critical component to this discussion, given the 3 global warming situation.
4 Without these plants, the reliability of 5 the electric delivery to meet demand would be put at 6 risk. Next, American's reliance on foreign energy 7 imports continues to stress our economy, costing 8 Americans jobs, and putting the middle class, itself, 9 at risk.
10 A sound energy policy is our nation's best 11 interest, and nuclear energy must play an important 12 role in that policy. Finally, we must all recognize, 13 that license renewal does not come open-ended, without 14 ongoing monitoring.
15 Safety and performance standards, just as 16 they are today, will continue for the entirety of the 17 time the plant operates. If the plant falls below the 18 acceptable standards, myself and the members of my 19 union, will be the first to speak out.
20 If a major issue, safety-wise arises in 21 the future, you can all rest assured that the NRC has 22 the ultimate power to come in, take away the keys, 23 shut the doors, and close the plant down.
24 Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
25 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Carl Fricker from NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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50 1 PSE&G Nuclear, then Dr. Contini, and third to David 2 Bailey, JR., from Ranch Hope.
3 MR. FRICKER: Good afternoon, and thank 4 you for giving me the opportunity to make a comment 5 regarding the license renewal application of Salem and 6 Hope Creek.
7 My name is Carl Fricker, and I'm the vice 8 president of operations and support for PSE&G Nuclear, 9 and I am part of the leadership team that is 10 responsible for the safe and reliable operation of our 11 plants.
12 I have over 25 years of both military and 13 commercial nuclear power plant experience. And I have 14 worked at PSE&G Nuclear for the past 14 years. I have 15 had positions in operations, maintenance, quality 16 assessment, and for the last four years, prior to my 17 current job, I was the plant manager at Salem.
18 At PSE&G we understand our obligation to 19 the local community, to the environment, to our 20 friends, families, and coworkers, to provide safe, 21 reliable, economic, and green energy.
22 In New Jersey over 50 percent of the 23 state's electricity comes from nuclear power. In fact 24 PSE&G Salem and Hope Creek Nuclear Plants, is the 25 second largest nuclear facility in the country.
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51 1 Each day those plants generate enough 2 electricity to supply three million homes. In 3 addition we are able to meet the region's energy needs 4 without emitting any green house gases.
5 Today nuclear power produces over 70 6 percent of our nation's carbon-free electricity. We 7 take great pride in that and recognize our important 8 role in fighting climate change now and in the future.
9 As you hear earlier, our current operating 10 licenses expire in 2016 for Salem unit 1, 2020 for 11 Salem unit 2, and 2026 for Hope Creek. In 2006 we 12 made the decision to pursue license renewal.
13 We formed a dedicated team that worked for 14 over two and a half years, or about 122,000 person 15 hours1.736111e-4 days <br />0.00417 hours <br />2.480159e-5 weeks <br />5.7075e-6 months <br />, to prepare our application. That was about 16 4,000 pages of application.
17 This review involved a review of thousands 18 of documents, a detailed review of our equipment, and 19 component performance, and a rigorous review of the 20 existing maintenance and engineering programs, to 21 ensure that Salem and Hope Creek will safely operate 22 for an additional 20 years.
23 Over the past 10 years we have invested 24 over 1.2 billion dollars in our plants, including last 25 year's steam generator replacements at Salem unit 2, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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52 1 and the various upgrades that supported Hope Creek's 2 extended power uprate.
3 As part of license renewal we also 4 reviewed any environmental impacts that, by continuing 5 to operate, the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear plants 6 for 20 years, would cause.
7 We consider ourselves environmental 8 stewards, and since this is an environmental scoping 9 meeting, I want to touch on this subject.
10 In addition to producing no green house 11 gases, PSE&G has no adverse radiological impacts on 12 our environment. The NRC requires PSE&G Nuclear, and 13 all U.S. nuclear plants, to maintain an environmental 14 monitoring program, to monitor local radiation levels.
15 Annually we perform over 1,200 analysis on 16 over 850 environmental samples, including air, water, 17 soil, and food products like milk, and farm crops.
18 All analyses samples are cross-checked with other 19 laboratories to ensure precision and accuracy.
20 We are also closely monitored by the New 21 Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau 22 of Nuclear Engineering. The Bureau of Nuclear 23 Engineering independently monitors the local 24 environmental around PSE&G Nuclear, through a remote 25 monitoring system that provides real time readings.
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53 1 The sampling and monitoring has shown that 2 there is no adverse impact to the environment. We are 3 also proud stewards of the Delaware river and estuary, 4 through our estuary enhancement program.
5 This program involves ongoing restoration, 6 enhancement, and preservation of more than 20,000 7 acres of degraded salt marsh, and adjacent uplands 8 within the estuary.
9 The estuary enhancement program is the 10 largest privately funded wetlands restoration project 11 in the country. More importantly, it was created with 12 extensive public participation, and open communication 13 with regulatory agencies and the public.
14 As a result all the estuary enhancement 15 program sites are open to the public, and offer 16 boardwalks, nature trails, outdoor education, and 17 classroom facilities.
18 Studies show that the overall health of 19 the estuary continues to improve. In addition, 20 analysis of long-term fish populations in the estuary 21 show that, in most cases, the populations are stable 22 or increasing.
23 And that fish population trends are 24 similar through the other areas along the coast. We 25 also recognize our important role and impact to the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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54 1 local community.
2 PSE&G Nuclear is Salem County's largest 3 employer with over 1,500 employees. Some members of 4 our workforce, as with all companies, are preparing to 5 retire in the next few years.
6 As such we have looked to partner with 7 local communities, with our local community, to meet 8 our needs to providing good paying local jobs. We 9 have launched innovative partnerships with the Salem 10 County Community College, and the Salem County 11 Vocational Technical schools, to develop specialized 12 training programs.
13 Both have been overwhelmingly successful, 14 and will lead to a skilled workforce that will only 15 strengthen the local economy. In Salem County we 16 provide more than 1.4 million dollars, each year, to 17 the local economy through local property taxes.
18 This funding is vital to supporting local 19 schools and projects. From an economic development 20 point of view, we have also helped to drive the local 21 economic development through projects like 22 revitalization of downtown Salem, and the construction 23 of the Gateway Business Park in Oldmans Township.
24 We are also active partners in the Salem 25 Main Street Program, and the Salem County Chamber of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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55 1 Commerce. Our support also goes well beyond dollars.
2 Many of our employees are active participants and 3 supporters within the local community.
4 In addition to being a good neighbor, 5 being transparent is an important aspect of building 6 trust. We are fortunate to have an excellent 7 relationship with our local stakeholders, and that is 8 not something we take for granted.
9 With them there is no surprises. We are 10 proactive and engage them when challenges arise, so 11 that they have an understanding of the challenges and 12 have their questions answered.
13 This year we have provided more than 30 14 site tours for key stakeholder groups, close to 500 15 elected officials, educators, students, community and 16 trade groups, have been given an inside look at PSE&G 17 Nuclear.
18 What better way to answer their questions 19 than to let people see, first-hand, the important role 20 of nuclear power. By the end of this year we will 21 also open the doors to our new energy and 22 environmental resource center, that is housed at our 23 old training center, on Chestnut Street in Salem.
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56 1 climate change, and the various ways we can all have a 2 positive impact on our environment.
3 The center will be open to groups for 4 tours, and provide meeting spaces for local 5 organizations. In closing, PSE&G Nuclear looks 6 forward to working with the NRC, and the public, as 7 you review our license renewal application.
8 We have worked hard to provide safe, 9 reliable, economic, and green energy for the past 30 10 years, and look forward to the opportunity to build on 11 this success in the future. Thank you.
12 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: I would like to go 13 now to Dr. Peter Contini, from Salem Community 14 College, then David Bailey, Jr., and third to Kelly 15 Wichman, PSE&G Nuclear.
16 DR. CONTINI: Good afternoon, thank you.
17 I am Dr. Peter Contini, president of Salem Community 18 College, a position that I have held for the past 12 19 years.
20 And in that capacity I'm here to 21 acknowledge the support of the college for the license 22 renewal of PSE&G for Salem 1 and 2, as well as Hope 23 Creek.
24 We base that on our knowledge and 25 experience. And you have already heard that PSE&G NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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57 1 Nuclear is certainly well regarded as a corporate 2 leader in our county.
3 Certainly through their community 4 leadership, both participating on groups, and 5 supporting groups, they have directly affected the 6 quality of life in our county.
7 Additionally we have seen, first-hand, the 8 highly professional organization that they are, 9 focused on safety, and security. And, certainly, 10 generating a most valuable renewable energy source, 11 one that we think directly addresses New Jersey's 12 energy plan 2020, as well as the potential growth in 13 this county, and throughout the state.
14 We view them as, certainly, an economic 15 development and workforce driver. And we know, first-16 hand, how that happens. You just heard Carl speak 17 about a wonderful opportunity that came about as a 18 result of that level of partnership.
19 We received, this past February, a 1.7 20 million dollar three year grant from the U.S.
21 Department of Labor, Community Based Job Training. It 22 has two focuses. One, nuclear energy and, two, 23 sustainable energy.
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58 1 very collaboratively with our vocational school, Ranch 2 Hope, Calgary Redevelopment, the New Jersey Department 3 of Labor as well as Workforce development and, 4 certainly, our one stop center.
5 Their support is not just verbal. Their 6 support is certainly implementing. And as you know, 7 and you heard Carl say, there is going to be a growing 8 need for employees, as certainly portions of the 9 workforce ages out, and we hope, also, the expansion 10 of opportunity in the future.
11 As a result we work collaboratively with 12 PSE&G Nuclear, in focusing on a particular area that 13 we think is of great need, an energy, nuclear energy 14 technician position.
15 We were able to couple with them, and 16 partner at the national level with the Nuclear Energy 17 Institute. And we were selected as one of six 18 community colleges, across the country, that are 19 working on standardizing the curriculum to ensure that 20 educational experience that our students have, will 21 not only prepare them, but certainly ensure safety and 22 security in the future in this field.
23 And you also heard about the center that 24 has been revitalized in Salem City. Well, I'm proud 25 to tell you that a portion of that center will be NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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59 1 hosting a portion of our program.
2 And through a high tech classroom, as well 3 as laboratory facilities, our students will be working 4 with state of the art equipment. And, most 5 importantly, be supportive both in scholarships, as 6 well as internships.
7 So we see this as a real win-win.
8 Thinking about this, that we have only, in less than 9 one year, been able to implement this program, we now 10 have a fully accredited nuclear energy technician 11 program, technology program, what we refer to as NET, 12 we now have over 50 students in that program.
13 The corresponding program, Sustainable 14 Energy, is also working at about 20 students. We see 15 that balance, and PSE&G Nuclear sees that balance, 16 also. And they have been very collaborative in 17 working with Energy Freedom Pioneers, as we look for 18 other alternatives to energy in addition to nuclear.
19 These are important things, they are 20 important things for our community and, certainly, for 21 our students. But they also go beyond. Two years ago 22 we had an emergency in our Salem center, hosting our 23 one-stop career center. A fire, a fire that 24 immediately caused the dislocation of over 30 workers, 25 and 200 clients a day.
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60 1 Within two hours we had a commitment from 2 PSE&G Nuclear to relocate that entire program to the 3 former training center. And within two days we were 4 fully operational for the next four months.
5 It is an organization that understands 6 their role in the community, certainly puts safety and 7 security as a top priority. But, more importantly, 8 understand the value to our community.
9 And, for that reason, we fully support 10 their relicensing. Thank you.
11 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Let's go to David 12 Bailey, Jr., from Ranch Hope; Kelly Wichman from PSE&G 13 Nuclear and third to Jane, I believe, it is Nagaki, 14 from the New Jersey Environmental Federation.
15 MR. BAILEY: Good afternoon, my name is 16 David L. Bailey, Jr. I am the chief executive officer 17 of Ranch Hope, Incorporated. And, personally, I'm a 18 lifelong resident, growing up within minutes of the 19 Salem and Hope Creek in Alloway township, and now 20 raising my family here, as well.
21 Ranch Hope, Inc., is a 501C(3) non-profit 22 organization, founded in 1964. Again, our Alloway 23 headquarters are within minutes of the Salem and Hope 24 Creek facilities. Our mission is to provide 25 behavioral health care, educational, and adventure-NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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61 1 based environments for children and families from 2 throughout the state of New Jersey, and within the 3 Delaware Valley.
4 Through its generosity and support of 5 local organizations, such as Ranch Hope, PSE&G Nuclear 6 has touched the lives of thousands of residents, 7 making our community a better place to live.
8 At Ranch Hope's Alloway campus PSE&G 9 Nuclear supports our efforts to create a green 10 community for children with treatment and educational 11 facilities, not only environmental responsible, but 12 energy efficient, and healthy for children and staff 13 to live and work.
14 This unique collaboration with PSEG 15 Nuclear not only focuses on changing the lives of 16 children and families, but also energy efficiency, two 17 topics you don't normally see together.
18 Just as importantly, PSEG Nuclear 19 demonstrates a level of transparency within our 20 community here in Salem County. Nuclear power 21 represents a mystique that many of us will never fully 22 understand.
23 However, PSEG Nuclear has taken the time 24 to keep the local community informed. Groups of key 25 stakeholders, which I was humbled to be one myself, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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62 1 including elected officials, educators, business and 2 community leaders, recently toured the Salem and Hope 3 Creek facilities, and we learned, first-hand, the 4 importance of nuclear power.
5 As someone who was fortunate enough to 6 visit these two generating stations, I feel even more 7 comfortable, having seen the safety and security 8 measures they take to provide us with clean, reliable 9 energy, on an every day basis.
10 This being the case, Ranch Hope, and the 11 families and the communities that we support, fully 12 support the license renewal applications for PSEG 13 Salem and Hope Creek nuclear facilities. Thank you.
14 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: If we could have 15 Kelly Wichman, from PSEG Nuclear, Jane Nagaki, and 16 then Roland Wall, Academy of Natural Science.
17 MS. WICHMAN: Hi, my name is Kelly 18 Wichman, and I'm an employee of PSEG Nuclear in the 19 nuclear fuels department. I'm a safety analysis 20 engineer, and this is my first full-time job.
21 Both my husband and I moved to Woodstown, 22 New Jersey, just down the road, from the midwest a 23 year and a half ago, to take positions at the Salem 24 and Hope Creek site, and we bought a house here, with 25 the intentions of staying for some time.
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63 1 I came here today because I believe that 2 Salem and Hope Creek should be granted operating 3 license extensions. I chose a position in the nuclear 4 industry because I think it has staying power.
5 I majored in engineering in college, with 6 the intention of coming into this industry. And, as I 7 progressed in my education, I found more and more 8 reasons why nuclear power is really a great option for 9 electricity production.
10 From an engineer's standpoint, nuclear 11 fuel is one of the most efficient fuels producing 12 thousands of times more energy than a chemical 13 reaction with the same amount of material. Say, for 14 example, coal, oil or gas.
15 In addition, the land footprint is small, 16 compared to other generating options which, to me, 17 makes nuclear power an obvious choice in a world where 18 finite resources are available.
19 My position at PSEG Nuclear has provided 20 me an opportunity to explore new parts of the country, 21 and I have taken advantage of living within a few 22 hours2.546296e-4 days <br />0.00611 hours <br />3.637566e-5 weeks <br />8.371e-6 months <br /> of so many cities.
23 I have also taken advantage of all the 24 career-related opportunities offered by my job. I 25 have joined two professional organizations, the North NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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64 1 American Young Generation in Nuclear, and the American 2 Nuclear Society.
3 With Young Generation in Nuclear, I formed 4 relationships with more of my coworkers, attended 5 professional development conferences, participated in 6 charity drives, and taught kids in the area about 7 power generation at the Salem Votech.
8 With those organizations I have seen the 9 positive influence that the plants have on the area, 10 and on the people. I work there because I feel that 11 the opportunities are great, and I feel that I'm doing 12 something meaningful, by helping produce electricity 13 that everyone uses.
14 I believe the plant's continued operating 15 presence in the area will only be of benefit to the 16 community. Thanks.
17 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Let's go to Jane 18 Nagaki, from the New Jersey Environmental Federation, 19 and then to Roland Wall, Academy of Natural Science.
20 And I apologize if I'm slaughtering your name.
21 MS. NAGAKI: So my name is Jane Nagaki, 22 and I'm vice-chair of the New Jersey Environmental 23 Federation, which is the state's largest non-profit 24 environmental organization.
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65 1 regarding the relicensing. First I would like to 2 support the comments of Fred Stein, from the 3 Riverkeeper.
4 And I won't repeat everything that he 5 said, but the Environmental Federation is, also, very 6 firmly committed to the idea that if the relicensing 7 goes forward, on Salem 1 and 2, that best available 8 technology should be applied at those plants, which 9 would be cooling towers to offset the millions of 10 gallons of water that cycle through that plant every 11 day.
12 There has been a lot of talk, today, about 13 how nuclear energy produces no air emissions. And, 14 generally, when we think about environmental impacts 15 we are thinking air, releases to the air, releases to 16 the water, releases to the land.
17 And while it is true that there may be no 18 air emissions, from the plant, there certainly is a 19 consumptive use of millions of gallons of water a day, 20 run through the cooling cycle, and then discharged 21 back into the Delaware Bay, with a concurrent loss, as 22 Fred mentioned of billions of fish per year, in all 23 stages of life, from larval stage, to small stage, to 24 large scale fish that are impinged on the once-through 25 cooling system.
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66 1 Which I have toured, by the way, and 2 witnessed the huge structure that takes through 3 millions of gallons of water a day.
4 So if there is one environmental issue 5 that I would like to highlight today, is the impact of 6 the Salem Nuclear Plant on water in the Delaware Bay, 7 and the concurrent fish and wildlife that that water, 8 the Delaware Bay supports.
9 We talked about nuclear energy as being a 10 major employer in this area, and I'm certainly 11 respectful of the workers that work there, that keep 12 the plant safe every day, and the niche in the 13 economy that it provides.
14 But there is, also, a huge other economy 15 in the Delaware Bay that is the fishing industry, that 16 is severely affected by the operation of this plant.
17 And so if I were to say the huge, the most 18 huge environmental impact of this plant, is the impact 19 of water, in that once through cooling system. That 20 needs to be addressed in the Environmental Impact 21 Statement.
22 As far as, you know, there is no radiation 23 produced at this plant, there is some radiation 24 produced at this plant. It meets limits, so called 25 acceptable limits.
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67 1 There is waste that is stored on-site.
2 And so another environmental issue, that the 3 Environmental Impact Statement should address, is how 4 much more waste is going to be generated and stored at 5 the plant, at those enclosures that currently keep all 6 the waste, ever produced at that plant, on the site 7 forever.
8 So waste production concurrent with the 9 relicensing is another very major environmental issue.
10 What is unique about our community? What is unique 11 about artificial island, is that it is an island that 12 was constructed of dredge spoil material.
13 It is not an island that existed before 14 the geology of the time. So one of the concerns, 15 environmental concerns would be how stable is the 16 structure of the island to support this plant for 17 another 20 years. Or three plants, actually.
18 I think that issue will be addressed, more 19 specifically, tonight by another environmental group.
20 What is the effect of sea level rise? We talked 21 about global warming and how nuclear power doesn't 22 produce the kinds of emissions that contribute to 23 global warming.
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68 1 level rise on the plant's artificial island? You 2 know, is the island going to be inundated with water, 3 how much over the next few years?
4 Does more infrastructure need to be built 5 there to support the plant? We know that salt water, 6 and the effects of the salinity of the bay have 7 contributed to the rusting out of parts of the plant.
8 We know that there has been extensive 9 replacement of structures, and underground piping at 10 the plant. And that is both, you know, that is an 11 environmental impact, the salinity of the area, on the 12 integrity of the structure of the plant.
13 And that is an environmental issue that 14 needs to be integrated into the safety and the aging 15 issues of the plant.
16 Let's see. So going back to another 17 impact, and the result of the Salem 1 and 2 plants, 18 not having cooling towers is that PSEG Nuclear entered 19 into a very large estuary enhancement program, which 20 was referred to earlier, preserving 20,000 acres of 21 wetlands.
22 And I would be remiss if I didn't mention 23 a concern that environmental groups raised at the 24 beginning of the restoration project, because many of 25 the acres of wetlands were restored simply by NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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69 1 breaching dikes of old salt hay farms, and allowing 2 inundation of phragmites by salt water.
3 And thus controlling the phragmites, and 4 growing a more beneficial kind of vegetation, called 5 Spartana. But there are acres and acres of 6 phragmites, you know what they are, the tall waiving 7 foxtails, as they are often called, which were 8 considered nuisance vegetation, or not favorable 9 vegetation in the wetland restoration.
10 And so in order to control that 11 phragmites, massive aerial herbicide event took place 12 starting in 1995 and '96, over 2000 acres were really 13 sprayed with a pesticide called Glyphesate. And it 14 was thought that one, maybe two applications of that 15 herbicide would take care of the problem.
16 But, to this day, in the year 2009, and 17 continuing on until at least 2013, annual applications 18 by herbicide by aircraft are made to wetlands, as part 19 of this project.
20 The acreage is down now, to around 120 21 acre realm. But it has been as high as thousands of 22 pounds of a year. And so one of the environmental 23 issue raised by this is, is there going to be 24 continued applications of an herbicide, in wetland 25 areas, as part of this restoration project, which was NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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70 1 meant to offset the impacts caused by the lack of 2 cooling towers.
3 The reason we are concerned about this 4 application of herbicides is that it actually 5 triggered an increase in the use of this herbicide, 6 state-wide.
7 PSEG kind of became the model for how to 8 restore wetlands. And so many other wetland 9 restoration projects began utilizing this methodology.
10 And the result has been a nine-fold increase in the 11 use of Glyphesate in the state of New Jersey.
12 And so while the use at this particular 13 Alloways creek area is decreasing, not over yet, but 14 still decreasing, the increase in the use, state-wide, 15 is of concern because as you know pesticides generally 16 have a habit of infiltrating our groundwater and 17 surface water.
18 They become part of our drinking water, 19 part of our surface water. And the effects of this 20 herbicide has been linked to cancer effects, birth 21 defect effects, effects on fish, insect populations, 22 and so forth.
23 So we certainly raise this as an issue 24 that needs to be addressed, because nobody has really 25 looked at the cumulative impact of this year, after NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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71 1 year application of herbicide to control a nuisance 2 plant, all in the name of restoring wetlands.
3 So I think that is the extent of the 4 issues I wanted to raise today. But I do want to say 5 that some of the safety concerns, and environmental 6 concerns, are related mainly to this issue of the 7 aging of the plant, the salinity, the lack of a firm 8 under-structure to the plant, all make the plant more 9 vulnerable to failures of structure that could lead to 10 an environmental release of radiation, which is the 11 ultimate disaster that everybody fears at this plant.
12 And so while the radiation leakage issue, 13 and emissions issue, is not a day to day concern, you 14 know, when the plant is operating optimally, if there 15 isn't an aggressive strategy for preventive 16 maintenance, that not just waits for something to 17 happen, and then addresses it, but actually 18 anticipates and replaces structures as they age, 19 before they age.
20 This vulnerability will continue, you 21 know, to be of great concern. That concludes my 22 remarks, thank you.
23 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Thank you very much 24 for your comments. The last card that I have, someone 25 who signed up to speak, is Roland Wall, from the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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72 1 Academy of Natural Science.
2 After Mr. Wall has taken his time, we will 3 open it up to see if anybody else has any comments.
4 MR. WALL: Good afternoon, I'm Roland 5 Wall, I'm the Director for the Center for 6 Environmental Policy at the Academy of Natural 7 Sciences in Philadelphia.
8 On behalf of the Academy, I appreciate the 9 opportunity to comment, specifically, on the 10 environmental protection and restoration demonstrated 11 in PSEG's estuary enhancement program.
12 Just a little context as to why the 13 Philadelphia Museum is down here making these comments 14 today. The Academy of Natural Sciences is the oldest 15 natural history museum in North America but has also 16 been engaged, for over 60 years, in research on 17 ecological sciences, particularly on understanding 18 human impacts on aquatic and estuarian systems.
19 It is in that role that we have had 20 extensive research on the physical and biological 21 characteristics of the Delaware estuary, including 22 components of the estuary enhancement program.
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73 1 who is unable to be here today.
2 The estuary enhancement program began in 3 1994. And, since that time, has been a large scale 4 effort to restore and preserve portions of the 5 Delaware estuary, in both New Jersey and Delaware, 6 encompassing more than 32 square miles, as you heard 7 earlier, it is the nation's largest privately-funded 8 wetlands restoration project.
9 Restoration efforts have included the goal 10 of replacing former salt hay farms, as you heard. And 11 also to remove marshes that are dominated by the 12 invasive phragmites, with saltcord grass dominated 13 marsh.
14 This has required a substantial effort to 15 control phragmites, and to change drainage patterns to 16 foster topography and tidal flow typical of Delaware 17 Bay salt marshes.
18 The Academy has studied many of these 19 sites, prior to restoration and a number of them 20 following restoration. Yes, the enhancement program 21 has been successful in restoring typical salt marsh 22 conditions at these sites, with most sites being 23 targets for reduction of phragmites, and establishment 24 of salt cordgrass.
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74 1 been partially met, the estuary enhancement program 2 continues to work to further improve marsh conditions.
3 The EP has also preserved open space, as 4 at the bayside track. Among other improvements at the 5 restored sites, tidal flow and development of tidal 6 channels have increased, allowing for re-colonization 7 of salt cordgrass and other species.
8 The restored marshes support large numbers 9 of targeted fish species, as well as number of other 10 fishes and invertebrates. These populations continue 11 to -- excuse me, contribute to bay productivity, most 12 notably, at the salt hay farms.
13 The restoration sites also provide 14 important habitat for terrapins, birds, and mammals, 15 and several of the sites are now part of New Jersey's 16 Audubon designated important bird areas.
17 In addition to ecological restoration, the 18 enhancement program has developed increased 19 opportunities for human use and experience, to 20 interact with the estuary.
21 Public use areas were designed to meet the 22 general education, public access, and ecotourism 23 interest of each community hosting an EEP site.
24 This has included improved access to many 25 of the sites by land and water, with boat access and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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75 1 parking areas, in turn, supporting extensive 2 recreational activities.
3 The public use areas have become important 4 settings for numerous formal and informal educational 5 programs. The restored areas have also become 6 significant research sites, and research by EEP, and 7 other organizations, including the Academy, has 8 advanced our knowledge of tidal marsh ecology.
9 The basic restoration activities, 10 particularly controlling phragmites and fostering 11 development of tidal marsh topography and hydrology, 12 have advanced the field of ecological restoration.
13 The ecological engineering technique of 14 forming primary channels, and then using estuarian 15 processes to further develop channels and topography, 16 is especially notable.
17 And in that way the estuarian enhancement 18 program does provide an important model for marshland 19 restoration. PSEG has also installed fish passage 20 structures at dams in Delaware and New Jersey.
21 These fish ladders have established river 22 herring spawning in nursery areas, and several 23 impoundments, increasing bay-wide populations of these 24 species.
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76 1 programs of Delaware fish populations, which greatly 2 increase our knowledge of Delaware Bay fisheries.
3 To conclude, the Academy would like to 4 commend PSEG on its demonstrated initiative, and long-5 term commitment to restoring the critical wetlands of 6 the Delaware estuary.
7 The estuary enhancement program has had 8 numerous positive impacts on the ecology and 9 biodiversity of the region, and has made important 10 contributions to the recreational and educational 11 opportunities available to local communities.
12 The scale and scope of this effort has 13 supported large scale scientific research, has 14 improved our understanding of the process of 15 environmental restoration.
16 The Academy of Natural Sciences has been 17 pleased to have the opportunity to participate in, and 18 to contribute, to our scientific expertise to this 19 project. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on 20 this.
21 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: That was the last 22 speaker that I had signed up to speak at today's 23 meeting. We do have some additional time, obviously, 24 though. So if anyone would like to approach the 25 microphone and speak at this point, now would be the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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77 1 time.
2 Specifically if you have any environmental 3 scoping comments that you would like to make. Once 4 you have a chance to speak, we will just ask that you 5 fill out one of the yellow cards, again, to make sure 6 that we have your name correctly on the transcript.
7 Anyone interested in approaching the 8 microphone and giving comments at this time?
9 (No response.)
10 FACILITATOR RAKOVAN: Just keep in mind 11 that, you know, you do have other options and ways to 12 get your comments in, on this process, as we went over 13 in the presentations.
14 And with that I will turn things over to 15 Bo Pham, who is going to close out today's meeting.
16 Bo?
17 MR. PHAM: Thank you, Lance. My name is 18 Bo Pham, I'm the branch chief at the NRC for the team 19 that is conducting the license renewal review.
20 On behalf of the NRC I do want to thank 21 everyone for taking the time to come out today. This 22 is an important aspect of our review, as it allows us 23 the opportunity to come out and meet with the public 24 and members of the community, to listen to your 25 concerns, and hear different perspectives and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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78 1 viewpoints regarding the proposed action.
2 I do want to emphasize to everyone, 3 everything that you have heard today does not 4 encompass the entirety of the scope of the license 5 renewal review.
6 We have only started the process. So as 7 the review proceeds, we will discover new issues. But 8 some of the information I was provided today, as part 9 of the comments, I think was very relevant and is an 10 important part of our review.
11 Nor is this the only opportunity for you 12 to make your comments. I do want to remind you of 13 some important dates. December 22nd is going to be 14 the closing date for public comments.
15 And, as you see up there, there are 16 various ways to submit your comments for the 17 Environmental Review. The most expedient way is 18 probably via email, and we can process those very 19 quickly.
20 December 22nd also coincides with the date 21 of the -- to request an opportunity for a hearing. So 22 this is a totally separate process. But, 23 nevertheless, the end date coincides with each other, 24 on December 22nd.
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79 1 which Lance had mentioned at the beginning of the 2 meeting, that is we have public meeting feedback forms 3 in the back of the room. If you haven't picked up one 4 yet.
5 If you can think of anything that we can 6 do to improve the public meeting process, what you saw 7 and heard today, we would love to hear from you, 8 positive or negative.
9 The forms are pre-postaged, so you can 10 mail it in to us, or you can hand it in to any one of 11 us today.
12 So with that, again, I thank you all for 13 coming. Members of the staff will be available if you 14 have any questions. But, other than that, this 15 meeting is adjourned. Thank you.
16 (Whereupon, at 2:40 p.m., the above-17 entitled matter was concluded.)
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