ML101241037
| ML101241037 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Columbia  |
| Issue date: | 04/06/2010 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
| To: | |
| Doyle D, NRR/DLR, 415-3748 | |
| References | |
| NRC-146, TAC ME3121 | |
| Download: ML101241037 (31) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Columbia Generating Station License Renewal Public Hearing Evening Session Docket Number:
50-397 Location:
Richland, Washington Date:
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 Work Order No.:
NRC-146 Pages 1-30 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
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3 COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION 4
LICENSE RENEWAL PROCESS AND 5
ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING MEETING 6
+ + + + +
7 6:00 P.M. SESSION 8
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2010 9
+ + + + +
10 RICHLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY 11 RICHLAND, WASHINGTON 12
+ + + + +
13 NRC PERSONNEL:
14 LANCE J. RAKOVAN, Presiding 15 RONALD B. COHEN 16 PAULA E. COOPER 17 DANIEL I. DOYLE 18 EVELYN H. GETTYS 19 A. LOUISE LUND 20 JEFFREY J. RIKHOFF 21 PRESENT FOR WASHINGTON STATE REPRESENTATIVE DOC 22 HASTINGS:
23 BARB LISK, District Director 24 25
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T-A-B-L-E O-F C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S 1
Opening Comment 2
Lance Rakovan...................................... 3 3
License Renewal Process and Environmental Scoping 4
Meeting 5
Evelyn Gettys, Safety Project Manager Division 6
of License Renewal........................... 7 7
Dan Doyle, Environmental Project Manager.......... 15 8
Public Questions.................................. 22 9
Public Comment 10 Alvin Ankrum, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory21 11 Ed Harrington..................................... 22 12 Dan Jordheim...................................... 23 13 Gene Kinsey....................................... 24 14 Carrie Mathews.................................... 26 15 Closing........................................... 28 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
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1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2
6:00 p.m.
3 MR. RAKOVAN: Good evening everyone. My 4
name is Lance Rakovan. I am a communication 5
specialist at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 6
or NRC as you'll hear it referred to tonight.
7 For those of you who were here for the 8
afternoon meeting, welcome back. You'll see pretty 9
much the same thing probably tonight. Although I see 10 a number of fresh faces out there so hopefully we'll 11 get some new questions and some new comments.
12 I'm going to basically be helping keep 13 things on task tonight as your facilitator. The 14 purpose of tonight's meeting is to discuss the license 15 renewal and environmental scoping process for review 16 of the license renewal application for renewal of the 17 operating license for Columbia Generating Station.
18 And of course to provide you with an opportunity to 19 ask questions and make environmental scoping comments.
20 You're going to hear that term a lot 21 tonight, scoping. We'll be going into a little more 22 detail on that during our presentations but in case 23 you're unfamiliar with it, it basically just means 24 what we should take into the scope of the 25
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environmental review for this license renewal.
1 I'd like to stress that this is an NRC 2
public meeting. NRC is not part of the Department of 3
Energy. Our mission is to regulate the nation's 4
civilian use of byproduct, source, and special nuclear 5
materials to ensure adequate protection for public 6
health and safety, and to promote the common defense 7
and security and to protect the environment.
8 While the Department of Energy's overall 9
mission is to advance the national economic and energy 10 security of the United States. To promote scientific 11 and technological innovations in support of that 12 mission and to ensure the environmental cleanup of the 13 national nuclear weapons complex. There are some 14 similarities between what they do and what we do, a 15 lot of differences. But we just wanted to make sure 16 that you were aware NRC is an independent government 17 agency.
18 For those of you who saw the agenda, the 19 meeting's going to have essentially two parts tonight.
20 We're going to start out with a few presentations by 21 NRC staff and then effectively we're going to open up 22 the meeting to you. We'll start out to see if you 23 have any questions, specifically clarifying questions 24 on the presentation that we're going to give. And 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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then after that we're going to turn the microphone 1
over to you to see what kind of environmental scoping 2
comments you have.
3 We had a number of you that filled out the 4
yellow cards that we asked you to. If you didn't fill 5
one of the cards out and you wish to make a statement, 6
that's okay. You can certainly fill the card out at 7
that point. We ask that you fill these cards out 8
primarily so that we can keep track of who spoke and 9
also to make sure we get we get your name correct on 10 the transcript for tonight's meeting.
11 And we are transcribing tonight's meeting.
12 That's to make sure whatever environmental scoping 13 comments you make, we have down word-for-word and 14 that's why I'm using a microphone even though you 15 could probably hear me if I were just speaking in a 16 room this size. We'll ask that if you are going to 17 ask a question or make an environmental scoping 18 comment, that you do use a microphone and that you 19 introduce yourself as well. Again just to make sure 20 that we keep a clean transcript and so we make sure we 21 know who's talking at all times.
22 Something else you can help us do to get a 23 clean transcript is to put any electronic devices you 24 have on vibrate or turn them off. What happened 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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actually while I was standing here giving the opening 1
comments that I did because mine started vibrating as 2
I was giving the opening comments, so I ask that you 3
do the same.
4 If you noticed on the sign in table on the 5
way in there were copies of the presentation, the 6
agenda, and also a public meeting feedback form.
7 That's something that you can take a moment to fill 8
out, let us know what you thought of tonight's 9
meeting, if you thought it went well, if you have some 10 suggestions on how we can do things better in the 11 future. You can leave that with any of the NRC staff 12 here tonight or you can drop it in the mail after the 13 meeting, postage is free so that'll get to us. And we 14 really do take a look at these and they really do 15 change how we do our meetings. So if you'd take a 16 moment to do that, you would really appreciate it.
17 We're going to do our best to address any 18 questions you have tonight. We primarily got people 19 here who are familiar with the license renewal and 20 environmental scoping process. If you have a question 21 that's outside of those topicS we may try to take a 22 shot at it, but if we don't have the best person to 23 address your question here, we'll get your information 24 and we'll find the right person to get back to you 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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after the meeting.
1 For those of you who haven't found the 2
restrooms, if you head back and pretend like you're 3
about to enter the library proper, if you will, 4
they're on your right, just in case you need one of 5
those.
6 I'd like to take a moment to introduce a 7
few of the staff members here today. Evelyn Gettys, 8
is the Safety Project Manager for this review and one 9
of our presenters.
10 Also Dan Doyle is the Environmental 11 Project Manager and he's our other presenter tonight.
12 I'd also like to introduce Louise Lund, 13 she's one of our managers in license renewal at the 14 NRC.
15 And finally Mahdi Hayes -- he had to 16 leave? Okay. Sorry. All right. He was our Resident 17 Inspector, apparently he had to duck out.
18 With that I will turn this over to Evelyn.
19 We'll ask that you hold any questions you have until 20 both Evelyn and Dan have had a chance to speak and 21 that way we could open the floor to questions and 22 comments. So Evelyn, if you would?
23 MS. GETTYS: Good Evening. Can you hear 24 me okay 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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My name is Evelyn Gettys and I'm the 1
Safety Project Manager for the Division of License 2
Renewal. I'll be coordinating safety reviews and I'd 3
like to thank you all for coming out tonight.
4 Tonight we will provide an overview of the 5
license renewal process, which includes extensive 6
safety review and environmental review.
7 We will describe to you the numerous ways 8
and opportunities the public can participate in the 9
Columbia License Renewal process through either the 10 safety or the environmental component. We will also 11 describe in more details, the environmental review 12 process associated with a license renewal review. But 13 the most important part of tonight's meeting is to 14 receive your comments that you may have on the scoping 15 of the environmental review.
16 I hope that the information we provide to 17 you will be helpful in the roles that you play in the 18 process. This will help us to ensure that our 19 environmental review considers relevant information.
20 Before I get into the discussion of the 21 license renewal process, I'd like to take a minute to 22 talk about NRC in terms of what we do and what our 23 mission is.
24 The NRC is a federal agency. It was 25
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established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 1
and we regulate the civilian use of nuclear materials.
2 The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 authorized NRC to grant 3
40 years operating license to nuclear reactors. This 4
40 year term was based primarily on economic reasons 5
and antitrust factors and monitoring safety or 6
technical limitations.
7 The National Environmental Policy of 1969 8
established a national policy for considering the 9
impact of federal decision making on human 10 environment. The NRC's regulatory governing nuclear 11 safety, security and environmental protection are 12 contained in Title 10 in the Code of Federal 13 Regulations, which is commonly referred to as 10 CFR. 14 In exercising its regulatory authority, 15 the NRC's mission is three-fold: To ensure adequate 16 protection of public health and safety; to promote the 17 common defense in security, and; to protect the 18 environment. NRC accomplishes its mission through a 19 combination of regulatory programs and processes, such 20 as: Establishing rules and regulations; conducting 21 inspections; ensuring enforcement action; assessing 22 license performance, and; evaluating operating 23 experience from nuclear plants across the country and 24 internationally.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 10 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has 1
resident inspectors at all the operating nuclear 2
plants. These inspectors are considered the eyes and 3
ears of the NRC. They carry out our safety mission on 4
a daily basis and are on the front lines of ensuring 5
acceptable safety performances in compliance with our 6
regulations.
7 I would like to mention a few very 8
important areas in NRC oversight that routinely come 9
up during our interactions with the members of the 10 public. The NRC staff addresses these areas of 11 performance everyday on the ongoing regulatory 12 oversights provided for all current operating power 13 reactors. They include: Current safety performances; 14 emergency planning, and; security. For information on 15 current performance of Columbia use the link provided 16 on the slide and this is also in your handout.
17 The NRC monitors and provides regulatory 18 oversight of activities in these areas on an ongoing 19 basis. That's not to say that they aren't important, 20 but we just don't duplicate the regulatory process in 21 the area of license renewal.
22 The NRC received application for the 23 license renewal of Columbia on January the 20th, 2010.
24 The current operating license for Columbia expires in 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 11 2023. A licensee can submit an application for 1
license renewal after 20 years of operation. The 2
length of a license cannot exceed 40 years.
3 The first step of the license renewal 4
process is to perform an acceptance and sufficiency 5
review on the application. When the NRC receives a 6
license renewal application, the NRC staff examines it 7
to determine whether the application has sufficient 8
information to justify the staff's review. The staff 9
looks to see whether the applicant has provided enough 10 in terms of the technical information, the technical 11 specifications, and the environmental report so that 12 staff can begin its work. If the applicant has enough 13 in it to warrant the staff's review, then the 14 application is considered acceptable and sufficient 15 and is put on the NRC's formal docket.
16 The Columbia application was found 17 acceptable and placed on the docket on March the 11th 18 of this year.
19 This is a simplified diagram about license 20 renewal process. A license renewal involves two 21 parallel
- reviews, the safety review and the 22 environmental review. These two reviews evaluate 23 separate aspects of the license renewal application.
24 There are other considerations in the Commission's 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 12 decision on whether or not to renew the operating 1
license.
One of these considerations is the 2
independent review of the Advisory Committee on 3
Reactor Safeguards. It was mandated by the Atomic 4
Energy Act of 1964. and the ACRS is a group of 5
scientists and nuclear safety experts who serve as a 6
consulting body to the Commission. The ACRS reviews 7
the license renewal application, the NRC staff's 8
safety evaluation and the inspection findings. The 9
ACRS reports their findings and recommendations 10 directly to the Commission.
11 Hearings may also be conducted if 12 interested stakeholders submit concerns or contentions 13 and their request for a hearing is granted. The 14 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will conduct the 15 hearings. The Commission considers the outcome of the 16 hearing process and its decision on whether or not to 17 renew the operating license. As part of the 18 environmental review, the staff consults with the 19 local state, federal, and travel officials and the 20 staff holds public meetings to receive comments on the 21 draft Environmental Impact Statement.
22 The licensing renewal process is designed to 23 take 22 months and that leaves 30 months if there is a 24 hearing.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 13 To better understand the license renewal 1
process it is good to know the safety principles that 2
guide license renewal.
3 The first principle is that the current 4
regulating process is adequate to ensure that the 5
license basis of all operating plants provide and 6
maintain an acceptable level of safety.
7 The second principle is that the current 8
plant licensing date must be maintained during the 9
renewed term in the same manner and to the same extent 10 as during the original licensing. In other words, the 11 same rules that apply under the current license will 12 apply to a renewed term.
13 In addition a renewed license will include 14 conditions that must be met to ensure aging of 15 structures and components and components of safety is 16 adequately managed so that the plant's current license 17 basis is maintained during the period of extended 18 operations.
19 The safety review focuses on the aging of 20 passive and long lived structures and components and 21 systems that the NRC deem important to plant safety.
22 There are safety-related system structures and 23 components, nonsafety-related system structures and 24 component whose failure could prevent the satisfactory 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 14 accomplishments of safety-related systems, structures, 1
and components functions. The SSCs relied on in 2
safety analysis to perform a
function that 3
demonstrates compliance with regulation 54.4(a)(3) 4 are: Fire protection, environmental qualification, 5
pressurized thermal
- shock, anticipated transits 6
without scram and station blackouts.
7 The staff's main objective in its review 8
is to determine if the effects of aging would be 9
adequately managed by the applicant. The results of 10 the safety review are documented in the safety 11 evaluation report, or an SER.
12 The safety review comprises numerous, 13 vigorous aspects. The technical staff reviews the 14 applicant's license renewal application and supporting 15 documents. The staff uses site audits to verify the 16 technical basis of the license renewal application and 17 to confirm that the applicant's aging management 18 programs and activities conform with how they are 19 described in the application. The staff documents the 20 basis and conclusions of its review in the safety 21 evaluation or the SER.
22 In
- addition, a
team of specialized 23 inspectors travel to the site to verify the aging 24 management programs are being implemented, modified, 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 15 or planned consistent with the license renewal 1
application.
2 Finally, as I have mentioned, the ACRS 3
performs an independent review of the license renewal 4
application, the staff's safety evaluation report with 5
respect to the findings and makes their recommendation 6
to the Commission regarding the proposed action to 7
issue a renewed operating license.
8 The staff will have several opportunities 9
to participate and be heard during the license renewal 10 process. This slide lists the three opportunities for 11 involvement through the safety track of the process.
12 This concludes the description of the 13 safety review.
14 Now I'd like to turn it over so that Mr.
15 Dan Doyle can explain the environmental review 16 process.
17 MR. DOYLE: Thank you, Evelyn.
18 Good evening. My name is Dan Doyle. I'm 19 the Environmental Project Manager for this project.
20 I'm going to take few minutes to describe the 21 environmental review process and how today's meeting 22 fits into that.
23 This review is performed in accordance 24 with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 or 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 16 NEPA. The NEPA established the basic national 1
environmental policy of the United States. It also 2
requires that federal agencies prepare an 3
Environmental Impact Statement or EIS to assess both 4
the impacts and the reasonable alternative to any 5
major federal action that may significantly effect the 6
quality of the human environment.
7 NEPA requires that all federal agencies 8
follow an objective interdisciplinary and systematic 9
approach in preparing an EIS.
10 The Columbia EIS will contain strong 11 disclosure positions which inform decision makers and 12 the public of the impacts and reasonable alternatives 13 to the proposal. This EIS will assess the impact of 14 both the license renewal and the reasonable 15 alternatives to license
- renewal, including the 16 alternative of taking no action which in this case 17 would be to deny license renewal.
18 The NRC has issued its own agency specific 19 regulations for implementing NEPA which are contained 20 in 10 CFR Part 51.
21 This slide shows the major milestones in 22 the environmental review process.
23 The yellow boxes represent opportunities 24 for public participation. The NRC issued a public 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 17 Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS on March 11th, 1
2010.
2 This meeting today is the second 3
milestone, the public scoping meeting to solicit 4
comments.
5 Next the NRC staff will prepare a draft 6
Environmental Impact Statement which will then be 7
issued for public comment including a meeting similar 8
to today's. The schedule currently planning to issue 9
the draft document in December of this year and we 10 would have a public meeting, similar to today's, in 11 January 2011.
12 All comments received will be considered 13 in the preparation of a final document which will then 14 be issued for public review. This final document will 15 be an important part of the decision making process 16 for whether or not to renew the operating license.
17 You all can play an important role in helping us 18 ensure that the final Environmental Impact Statement 19 is accurate and complete. The purpose of today's 20 meeting is to solicit your input and comments 21 regarding the scope of the impact alternative and 22 issues that the EIS should evaluate. We are not here 23 to make a decision regarding Columbia's license 24 renewal application.
The scoping process is 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 18 specifically intended to solicit comments regarding 1
the scope of the actions, the impact, and the 2
alternatives.
3 For a license renewal review, the NRC 4
environmental staff looks at a wide range of impacts.
5 Additionally, we consult with various federal, state, 6
and local officials, as well as leaders of Indian 7
Nations. We gather pertinent information from these 8
sources and ensure that it's considered in our 9
analysis. For example, we have formal consultations 10 with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife
- Service, the 11 Environmental Protection
- Agency, and the State 12 Historic Preservation Office, among others.
13 This slide illustrates the NRC's various 14 considerations for deciding if a renewed operating 15 license will be issued. It is a rigorous review 16 involving a safety evaluation report that Evelyn 17 discussed, regional inspections, and so on.
18 Also as indicated on the slide, public 19 comments are an important part of the environmental 20 review process. We consider all of the comments that 21 we receive during the scoping process as part of 22 preparing the Environmental Impact Statement.
23 In general, we are looking for information 24 about the environmental impact for the continued 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 19 operation of Columbia. You can assist us in that 1
process by telling us for example:
2 What aspects of your local community we 3
should focus on; 4
What local environmental social and 5
economic issues the NRC should examine during our 6
environmental review, and; 7
What reasonable alternatives are most 8
appropriate for this region.
9 These are just some examples of the input 10 we're looking for and they represent the kinds of 11 information we seek through the environmental scoping 12 process. We don't know your community like you do so 13 your comments tonight will provide insight and ensure 14 a thorough review.
15 So how do you submit comments? In 16 addition to the opportunity to provide verbal and 17 written comments at this meeting today, there's 18 several other ways you can submit comments for our 19 environmental review process.
20 You can provide written comments by mail 21 to the Chief of our Rulemaking and Directive Branch at 22 the address provided on the slide, which is also in 23 your handout.
24 You may also submit comments via the 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 20 federal rulemaking website, regulations.gov. To find 1
this document on that website, you can search for the 2
docket ID that's shown on the screen or you can also 3
do a search at the website for Columbia Generating 4
Station and there will be a link and instructions 5
about how to submit comments to that.
6 You can also send comments to me using my 7
work email provided at the end of this presentation.
8 But the preferred method if via mail or the website, 9
regulations.gov.
10 As I
mentioned, the deadline for 11 submitting comments is May 14th, 2010.
12 This slide shows important milestones for 13 the environmental review process. These are the 14 primary opportunities for
- you, the
- public, to 15 participate in the Columbia license renewal review.
16 The opportunity to submit contentions for 17 a hearing closes on May 14th.
18 For environmental scoping comments, you 19 also have until May 14th, if you chose not submit a 20 comment today.
21 Please note that a draft Environmental 22 Impact Statement is scheduled to be issued for public 23 comment in December of 2010, with an associated public 24 meeting to receive your comments on the preliminary 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 21 conclusions in that document in January 2011.
1 Here's the contact information for myself 2
and Evelyn, we are the primary points of contact for 3
this review.
4 Also the Richland Public Library and 5
Kennewick branch of the Mid-Columbia library have both 6
agreed to make license renewal documents available for 7
public inspection. The draft and final Environmental 8
Impact Statements, when they're published will be 9
available at these libraries also. These documents 10 will also be available on the NRC's website shown at 11 the bottom of the page.
12 As you came in you were asked to fill out 13 a registration card at our reception table. If you've 14 included your email address on that card, we will send 15 you an electronic copy of the draft and final EIS.
16 In the back of the room there's a stack of 17
- CDs, they include the entire license renewal 18 application as well as our guidance documents and 19 various public information back sheets. Feel free to 20 take a copy of that if you would like one of those.
21 This concludes my remarks.
22 And I will now turn it back over to Lance 23 Rakovan for your comments.
24 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. We'd like to 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 22 transition now just to see if any of you have 1
clarifying questions on the license renewal process 2
for the environmental scoping process that Dan and 3
Evelyn just went over. If you do, just raise your 4
hand or you can, you know, come up to the microphone 5
here or I've got a handheld that I can bring you. If 6
there's any questions before we transition to scoping 7
comments. Any questions at this point?
8 Okay. Keep in mind this is not the only 9
time that you can do so. If you feel more comfortable 10 having a one-on-one conversation with an NRC staffer 11 once the meeting has adjourned, anybody with a name 12 tag you can approach, ask a question. If they're not 13 the right person to help you, they'll be more than 14 happy to find the right person to.
15 So right now I'm going to go ahead and 16 move on to the yellow cards that I have. Again, for 17 those of you who filled out your yellow cards to let 18 us know that you're interested in speaking tonight, I 19 appreciate that. If you decide that you would like to 20 speak and you haven't filled out a yellow card, that's 21 okay too. We'll allow that once I get through the 22 cards that I have.
23 So in the order that I have them here, I'd 24 like to start first with Alvin Ankrum and then move on 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 23 to Ed Harrington and Dan Jordheim.
1 So Alvin please?
2 MR. ANKRUM: Thank you, Lance.
3 As you mentioned my name is Al. And I 4
work at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. I 5
would just like to submit a statement in favor of 6
renewing the operating license for Columbia Generating 7
Station. They've been a conscientious neighbor and a 8
good resident of this community supplying reliable 9
electricity. And a good employer. And at the heart of 10 the foundation for the economic well being as this 11 community.
12 Thank you.
13 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Let's move on to Ed 14 Harrington please. Then Dan Jordheim and Gene Kinsey.
15 MR. HARRINGTON: Well I didn't really know 16 what the content of this meeting was going to be but 17 I've got four years of my professional life invested 18 in that plant. And I have a tendency to be a little 19 protective of it.
20 I didn't build it to last just 40 years, 21 our intent was to put up an absolute perfect plant in 22 every step of the way. And we think we turned out a 23 good product.
24 And I'm sure that you'll continue to give 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 24 us a good investigation before you relicense it, we 1
encourage that. But just believe that it was a great 2
plant when we built it.
3 Thank you.
4 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Dan?
5 MR. JORDHEIM: I'm Dan Jordheim.
6 As a Tri-City's resident one of the things 7
I love to brag about to people from out of state is 8
that my power company, that delivers power to my 9
house, tells me that 95 percent of the power delivered 10 to my house comes from non-green house gas, non-global 11 warming sources. And that's something we're proud of 12 and I'd like to see continue. Ten percent of that 13 comes from the Columbia Generating Station, so it 14 seems appropriate to me that the Environmental Impact 15 Statement's side of this incorporates some positive 16 aspects of the non-global greenhouse gas side of it.
17 The other part, just to comment on my 18 part, Columbia's about 20 miles that way and my house 19 is about five miles that way. Which means that where 20 my daughter lays her head to sleep each night is 25 or 21 30 miles from the Columbia plant. And the people that 22 operate this plant have shown me for some two or three 23 decades now that I can trust them with my daughter's 24 life.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 25 Thank you.
1 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. The last yellow card 2
that I have is for Gene Kinsey.
3 MR. KINSEY: I'm Gene Kinsey. Can you 4
hear me?
5 I was a welder at this plant years ago 6
when they were building it.
7 I've got to be able to see who I'm talking 8
to.
9 Okay. So if you don't mind I'm going to 10 read a statement that I -- and anybody, you know, if 11 you want to ask me questions about it later on to, 12 your welcome. But here's what I wrote, I says: In my 13 view of this event, I can truly say that the license 14 renewal and continued operation of the Energy 15 Northwest facility is reasonable to expect. I am not 16 only in favor of the license renewal, I believe that 17 it would be prudent to add other nuclear plants on 18 this 500 plus square miles of the Hanford Nuclear 19 Reservation.
20 In the nuclear energy field, we as a 21 nation have only scratched the surface of using this 22 energy to provide a larger and more useful source for 23 public use. When you realize that a pellet, a little 24 larger than the eraser an the end of a pencil, has the 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 26 ultimate energy of a ton of coal. If this little 1
pellet is recycled to its fullest energy content, the 2
unusable residue would fit on the head of a straight 3
pin.
4 Somewhere in our future the truth will 5
emerge regarding this powerful energy resource. In 6
the early days of electrical energy, there was strong 7
resistance to its use. Electrocution by accident or 8
on purpose created a huge fear factor. We know today 9
that electrical energy in the hands of professional 10 and responsible people, like those at Energy Northwest 11 I could say, can create wonders today that people in 12 our nation's early history vaguely dreamed of.
13 The future of our country abounds with 14 opportunities in the nuclear industry. Nuclear energy 15 can be the door opener for hydrogen as fuel. Too many 16 times the political influence, environmental concerns, 17 and financial history have been twisted and used to 18 slow the progress towards putting this energy source 19 into action. With nuclear power the coal mines and 20 oil wells of tomorrow can come from the air we breathe 21 and the water we drink. If you do not believe this 22 look up, Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis, and I'd encourage 23 you to look at that and talk to a real scientist about 24 that process.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 27 My life is proof that a person can live, 1
work, and retire healthy in the nuclear industry.
2 This is not to say that mistakes have not been made 3
but Energy Northwest and others should abound with a 4
bright future on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
5 Thank you for listening.
6 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. I'd like to offer up 7
the microphone to anyone here who has -- please, of 8
you would, if you could let us know who you are and 9
who you're with? And if you'd like you can come up 10 and use this microphone, it's much easier for 11 addressing the crowd.
12 MS. MATHEWS: Hi. My name is Carrie 13 Mathews and I work at Pacific Northwest National 14 Laboratory.
15 And I just wanted to pointed kind of a 16 unique situation in the Tri-City that may not exist in 17 other places with nuclear plants. And that situation 18 is that we have a laboratory, which is pursuing 19 research and development and projects which improve 20 non-filtration and nuclear security around the world.
21 And we also have AREVA's fuel fabrication plant, 22 which is producing nuclear fuel for boiling water 23 reactors.
24 And the nexus of these three facilities 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 28 and capabilities creates an unique opportunity for us 1
to reach out to states around the world who are going 2
to introduce nuclear power and there are a lot of them 3
in regions of a somewhat sense of instability and 4
insecurity. And so we really need to be engaging them 5
to help them do it right and learn from the mistakes 6
that have been made people with a lot of experience.
7 So I'm going to say that Energy Northwest 8
has been extremely helpful in opening their plant for 9
tours and providing lectures and assisting in the 10 outreach to countries that are going to introduce 11 nuclear power, to help them learn how to operate them 12 safely and securely and to safeguard nuclear material.
13 So I am just very supportive of the plant 14 and the people that work there and the regulatory 15 process and I'm encouraging, you know, that we move 16 this forward.
17 So thanks for your attention.
18 MR. RAKOVAN: Anyone else like sometime at 19 the microphone tonight?
20 Okay. I will go ahead and turn it over to 21 Louise then to close out the meeting.
22 MS. LUND: I'd like to thank everybody for 23 coming to our meeting tonight.
24 And, you know, I just wanted to mention 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 29 we've realized since over half of the operating 1
nuclear reactors, which probably a lot of you know 2
there's a 104, and I think we've got a pretty good 3
idea what it takes to put together robust aging 4
management programs.
5 You know we're right at the beginning of 6
this license renewal process and our focus is going to 7
be on making sure that the aging management programs 8
that are put into place are robust and position the 9
plant to successfully go into the period of extended 10 operation if renewed. So you're going to be seeing a 11 lot of audits and inspections, and a lot of activity 12 from our staff out here in the local area.
13 And I also wanted to say is, you know, I 14 know a lot of you folks are living around here. I 15 used to work at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 16 as well and this had a lot of meaning for me because 17 as some of you know in between the afternoon meeting 18 and the meeting tonight, I was meeting with my 19 stepdaughter and her husband and kids. And they live 20 in Finley, right outside of Kennewick so, you know, 21 it's very important to me that the plant operate 22 safely. It's important to the agency. It's important 23 to me personally.
24 So, you know, we've got a job ahead of 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 30 ourselves, you know in doing the environmental review 1
and doing a safety review and we're going to get 2
started.
3 Anyway thank you for your attention and 4
thank you for coming out.
5 I also wanted to recognize Paula who's 6
been very good about moving our slides forward. And 7
Victor Dricks who came in from Region IV, he's the 8
Public Affairs Officer. And Jeff Rikhoff who is our 9
senior environmental staff member here too. So if you 10 have any questions Jeff and Victor, and Lance and 11 Evelyn and Dan and Paula, we're all here to answer 12 questions afterwards.
13 So thank you very much and have a good 14 evening.
15 (Whereupon, the meeting was concluded at 16 6:40 p.m.)
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25