ML102460649
| ML102460649 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon  |
| Issue date: | 04/09/2010 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Download: ML102460649 (108) | |
Text
1 DiabloCanyonNPEm Resource From:
Stuyvenberg, Andrew Sent:
Friday, April 09, 2010 9:31 AM To:
'Steve' Cc:
'Harbor Commission President Carolyn Moffatt'
Subject:
RE: NRC Public Meeting Attachments:
DCPP_LR_Scoping_Evening.pdf Steve -
I recall that Barbara Byron from the CEC read portions of a letter into the record when she spoke at the evening meeting on March 3. I've attached the transcript for that meeting. The trancript is also available through our electronic document system (go to http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html for web-based access) at ML100850388. Barbara's comments begin at the bottom of page 20 of the pdf (page 19 according to the printed numbers on the pages).
If that's not what you're looking for, then please give me a call, and I'll see if I can help you find what you need.
- Best, Drew DrewStuyvenberg U.S.NuclearRegulatoryCommission 3014154006 Andrew.Stuyvenberg@nrc.gov From: Steve [1]
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 5:36 PM To: Stuyvenberg, Andrew Cc: Harbor Commission President Carolyn Moffatt
Subject:
NRC Public Meeting Drew - at one of the recent public hearings, a presentation was made by CEC regarding or including seismic issues. Is it possible to get a copy of that presentation? If not from you, can you point me at the appropriate party?
Thanks Steve Steve McGrath Harbor Manager Port San Luis Harbor District (805) 595-5409 x 14
Hearing Identifier:
DiabloCanyon_LicenseRenewal_NonPublic Email Number:
974 Mail Envelope Properties (A39E93AC528D144995E76C6AB82D5D970354C3824E)
Subject:
RE: NRC Public Meeting Sent Date:
4/9/2010 9:30:54 AM Received Date:
4/9/2010 9:30:00 AM From:
Stuyvenberg, Andrew Created By:
Andrew.Stuyvenberg@nrc.gov Recipients:
"'Harbor Commission President Carolyn Moffatt'" <floydorcarolyn@hotmail.com>
Tracking Status: None
"'Steve'" <stevem@portsanluis.com>
Tracking Status: None Post Office:
HQCLSTR02.nrc.gov Files Size Date & Time MESSAGE 1374 4/9/2010 9:30:00 AM DCPP_LR_Scoping_Evening.pdf 332952 Options Priority:
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Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant License Renewal Environmental Scoping Public Meeting, Evening Session Docket Number:
50-275, 50-323 Location:
San Luis Obispo, California Date:
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 Work Order No.:
NRC-092 Pages 1-105 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
+ + + + +
3 PUBLIC HEARING 4
TO RECEIVE COMMENTS ON SCOPE OF LICENSE 5
DIABLO CANYON NUCLEAR POWER PLANT 6
+ + + + +
7 Wednesday, 8
March 3, 2010 9
+ + + + +
10 The hearing convened in the Embassy 11 Suites, 333 Madonna Road San Luis Obispo, California 12 at 1:30 p.m.
13 PRESENT:
14 CHIP CAMERON, Facilitator 15 MICHAEL FULLER, Co-Facilitator 16 ELIOT BRENNER, Director, Office of Public Affairs 17 BECKY SCHMIDT, Director, Office of Congressional 18 Affairs 19 TROY PRUETT, Deputy Director, Division of Reactor 20 Safety, Region IV 21 VICTOR DRICKS, Senior public affairs officer, 22 Region IV 23 LARA USELDING, Public office Officer, Region IV 24 AGNES CHEN, Region IV 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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1 PRESENT:(Cont'd) 2 MICHAEL PECK, Senior resident inspector, Diablo Canyon 3
TONY BROWN, Resident inspector, Diablo Canyon 4
DREW STUYVENBERG, Project manager, Division of License 5
Renewal 6
KIM GREEN, Project Manager, Division of License 7
Renewal 8
DAVE WRONA, Branch chief, Division of License Renewal 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
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P R O C E E D I N G S 1
(6:30 p.m.)
2 MR.
CAMERON:
Welcome to tonight's 3
meeting. Our topic tonight is the Nuclear Regulatory 4
Commission, the NRC's, environmental review of Pacific 5
Gas & Electric's application to renew the license for 6
the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. And my name is 7
Chip Cameron and I work for the executive director for 8
Operations at the NRC, and it's my pleasure to serve 9
as your facilitator for tonight's meeting, and in that 10 role, I'll try to assist you in making sure that you 11 all have a productive meeting tonight.
12 And tonight, I'm going to be assisted by 13 Mike Fuller, who's right here, and Mike is in our 14 facilitator training program at the NRC. And I just 15 wanted to go over a few items about the meeting 16 tonight, the meeting process, so that you know what to 17 expect this evening, and I'd like to talk about the 18 format for the meeting, and then the ground rules for 19 the meeting.
20 And then I want to introduce the NRC staff 21 who are here tonight to listen to you.
22 In terms of format, it's a two-part 23 meeting. The first part of the meeting is to give you 24 some information on how the NRC conducts its review of 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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this license renewal application, particularly the 1
environmental part of the review, and we have Drew 2
Stuyvenberg, right here, who is the project manager 3
for the environmental portion of this review, and he's 4
going to give you a brief presentation on the NRC 5
review process, and how you can participate in that 6
process.
7 We'll have a small amount of time, after 8
Drew's presentation, where we can go out to you for 9
some questions about the NRC review process, to make 10 sure that we were clear on how that all happens.
11 And then we're going to move into the 12 second part of the meeting, and that's an opportunity 13 for the NRC staff to listen to you, your comments, 14 your advice, your recommendations on what the NRC 15 should consider when it does its environmental review.
16 And we're taking written comments on these 17 issues also. But anything that's said by you tonight 18 will carry the same weight as those written comments.
19 And you may hear something tonight from the NRC, or 20 from others in the community, that would prompt you to 21 submit some written comments. Or you may want to 22 amplify on the comments that you give tonight.
23 And if you do want to speak, I would just 24 ask you, most of you have already done this, fill out 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 5
a yellow card that we have at the desk, and that gives 1
us an idea of how many people want to speak tonight.
2 If you get the urge, that you do want to 3
speak, and you haven't filled out a yellow card, you 4
can do so during the meeting itself. I would just ask 5
you to give us those cards before 9:30, okay, so that 6
we know how many people want to talk. And in terms of 7
ground rules, first, please wait until Drew is 8
finished with his presentation before you ask 9
questions.
10 And then when we go to the question 11 period, if you could just signal me and I'll bring you 12 this cordless microphone, please introduce yourself, 13 and then we'll take your question.
14 And I would just ask you to limit it to 15 questions--a lot of times a question will morph into a 16 comment, and we'd like to save the comments for the 17 comment portion of the meeting.
18 And if we can't get to all the questions 19 that you have during the question period, the NRC 20 staff will be here after the meeting to talk with any 21 of you about your questions, whether they're about the 22 NRC review process, or something about the Diablo 23 plant. Now a second ground rule is that I would ask 24 that only one person speak at a time, and that's so we 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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can give our full attention to whomever has the floor 1
at the moment. But it also helps us to get a clean 2
transcript. We're taking a transcript of the meeting, 3
and this is Pam Hollinger, who is our court reporter, 4
and Pam will know exactly who is talking, and that 5
transcript will be your record of the meeting and 6
it'll be our record of the meeting.
7 And a third ground rule is I would ask you 8
to be brief, be economical in your comments, so that 9
we can hear from everybody who wants to speak tonight.
10 We have quite a few people signed up. And I'm going 11 to set a 3-to 5-minute ground rule, and I'll let you 12 know when you're getting near the five minute mark, 13 and I apologize, in advance, if I have to ask you to 14 stop speaking, so that we can go on to the next 15 person, because I know that you have spent a lot of 16 time preparing your comment. So I apologize for that.
17 But if you don't have time to give your complete 18 comments, you can amplify, in writing, send that in to 19 the NRC, or we do have forms out by the desk where you 20 can write a comment and we'll take that back to 21 Washington, and put it on the record.
22 Please note that the NRC staff is here to 23 listen to your comments tonight. They're going to 24 listen carefully, and they're not going to be 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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responding to any comments. They're not going to be 1
responding to any questions that might be asked from 2
the podium when we get to the comment part of the 3
meeting.
4 But when the NRC staff prepares the 5
scoping report on this meeting, they will address the 6
comments and questions that they heard tonight.
7 And the final ground rule is I would just 8
ask everybody to just extend courtesy to everybody in 9
the room. You may hear opinions tonight, that you 10 don't agree with, but just please respect the person 11 that is giving them, and the courtesy rule obviously 12 applies to the NRC staff as well as everybody else in 13 the room.
14 Thank you for being here to help the NRC 15 with its decision, and I always like to stress, that 16 this is one, this meeting is one data point. Drew 17 Stuyvenberg is going to give you phone numbers and 18 contacts for NRC staff. Please feel free, if you have 19 concerns, questions, to call them, or e-mail them, and 20 we can maintain some continuity in this rather lengthy 21 process of deciding whether the licenses should be 22 renewed, or not.
23 And I've introduced Drew to you. I'm 24 going to introduce the rest of the staff, so that you 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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know who they are, if you want to talk to them, and 1
they wanted to hear from you in person, to talk to 2
you. That's why they're here tonight.
3 I'm going to start at the "top of the food 4
chain," so to speak, and start with Eliot Brenner, who 5
is the director of our Office of Public Affairs at the 6
NRC in Rockville, Maryland. And Becky Schmidt, who's 7
the director of our Office of Congressional Affairs in 8
Rockville.
9 We have Troy Pruett. Where is Troy.
10 Troy. Troy Pruett, who is the deputy division 11 director for Reactor Safety in NRC's Region IV office 12 in Arlington, Texas. We also have Victor Dricks, who 13 is our senior public affairs officer, again in Region 14 IV, in Arlington, Texas. And we have Laura Uselding 15 who is public affairs officer in Region IV, and Agnes 16 Chen, who you all met, who's helping us with the 17 administrative part of the meeting.
18 We have our resident inspectors. These 19 are the people who are actually at the operating 20 reactors, and these are the residents that are Diablo 21 Canyon, and we have our senior resident, who is 22 Michael Peck right here, and then we have our other 23 resident, Tony Brown, right here. And we have our 24 license renewal team, Drew, the project manager for 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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the environmental part, and we have Kim Green, right 1
there, who's the project manager for the safety part.
2 The branch chief of renewal projects is Dave Wrona, 3
who's here, and I introduced Mike Fuller, and I think 4
that's it, and we're just going to go to Drew now for 5
a presentation, and then we'll be back out to you for 6
questions.
7 MR. STUYVENBERG: All right. Thank you, 8
Chip. Before I get started this evening, I'd like to 9
briefly explain the term, environmental scoping, as it 10 pertains to today's meeting. In short, we want your 11 input on environmental issues that we ought to 12 consider in our review of the proposed license 13 renewal.
14 There are two major pieces to this 15 process. One is that we're looking for your input on 16 the potential environmental impacts of continued 17 operation of Diablo Canyon. In short, what would 18 happen to the local environment if the two units are 19 granted an additional 20 years of operation?
20 The second is that we're looking for your 21 input on potential alternatives to license renewal.
22 We want your input on what other options to generate 23 electricity, or address electrical demand, NRC ought 24 to consider in its analysis.
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 We're also interested in gathering 1
information about the environmental impacts of those 2
alternatives. With that as preface, I'll begin my 3
formal presentation.
4 The purpose of today's meeting is for the 5
NRC staff to receive input from you all on 6
environmental issues and license renewal. Generally, 7
NRC will be in a listening mode today. We have a 8
brief question-and-answer session to address any 9
questions on our process, and then we'll begin the 10 formal comment period. All comments that you present 11 will be formally transcribed for later consideration 12 and response by NRC staff as we continue the 13 environmental review.
14 If you filled out a blue or yellow card 15 with your contact information, then you will receive a 16 compilation of all the comments that the NRC receives, 17 as well as the NRC's staff's responses to those 18 comments.
19 We plan to publish that compilation prior 20 to the time that we publish the draft Environmental 21 Impact Statement. Also, you may have noticed the 22 video crew here. This meeting will be recorded and 23 rebroadcast on SLO-Span, a number of times over the 24 next 30 days.
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 As we discussed at our February 9th public 1
- meetings, license renewal involves two parallel 2
reviews. One review track is a safety review that 3
focuses on managing the effects of aging on the power 4
plant.
5 The other is an environmental review track 6
in which we address potential environmental effects of 7
license renewal, and possible alternatives.
8 As you can see, I will be focusing on the 9
environmental review today, which constitutes the 10 bottom path in this diagram.
11 In the course of the environmental review, 12 the NRC staff consults with local, state, federal, and 13 tribal officials. We also request input from the 14 general public and interested groups.
15 Part of that process is today's public 16 meeting to receive your input.
17 You may also notice the box in this 18 diagram that refers to NRC's adjudicatory hearing 19 process. That is another opportunity for the public, 20 groups, and governments, to use, to formally raise 21 issues related to either the safety or environmental 22 reviews.
23 We have instructions on how to use that 24 process on the table out in the lobby.
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 NRC's regulations implementing the 1
National Environmental Policy Act, often referred to 2
as NEPA, require that we prepare an Environmental 3
Impact Statement to document our environmental review.
4 In our Environmental Impact Statement, we'll compare 5
the likely environmental impacts of license renewal to 6
the likely environmental impacts of alternatives to 7
8 These alternatives include other means of 9
generating electricity or dealing with electrical 10 loads, other than the current power plant. These can 11 include, for example, fossil fuel generation, renewal 12 generation, or other means of addressing electrical 13 demands.
14 Input from the public and agencies in the 15 scoping process can affect how NRC considers 16 environmental issues and alternatives during the 17 course of the license renewal review.
18 We evaluate a wide range of issues in our 19 Environmental Impact Statement. This slide includes 20 issues for which we require site-specific evaluations 21 in our license renewal Environmental Impact Statement.
22 As you can see, this includes a number of 23 issues that are of concern in this area. I will 24 mention two of these, in particular. The first, at 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 the top of this list, are the impacts from the 1
facility's once-through cooling system. NRC staff 2
will evaluate impacts from continued operation of the 3
cooling system on aquatic life.
4 Specifically, we will look at how the 5
cooling system affects aquatic life through 6
impingement, or what happens when organisms are 7
trapped against the plant's intakes, entrainment, or 8
what happens when organisms are pulled through the 9
plant.
10 And finally, we'll look at the thermal 11 effects from the plant's heated discharged.
12 The second item I'll specifically point 13 out, the severe accident mitigation alternatives.
14 This analysis is the one area of the license renewal 15 Environmental Impact Statement where seismic issues 16 can play a role, and we know that seismic issues have 17 been a visible concern lately.
18 Now as most of you know, we deal with 19 seismic issues as they arise, as part of our ongoing 20 oversight. That is, we don't wait for a license 21 renewal review to address them.
22 For this
- plant, that means we are 23 continuing to monitor and respond to new seismic 24 information. That said, in considering severe 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 accident mitigation alternatives in the Environmental 1
Impact Statement, an assessment of seismic risk is an 2
input to determining whether the proposed mitigation 3
alternatives will be cost-effective.
4 This range of issues also includes those 5
issues for which we have reached a
generic 6
determination, as documented in our generic 7
Environmental Impact Statement for license renewal.
8 In the scoping process, we are looking for any new and 9
potentially significant information that may challenge 10 our generic determinations. One of these areas that 11 is of substantial local interest is the issue of waste 12 management for the facility during the proposed 13 license renewal period.
14 In the course of the environmental review, 15 we will look for scoping comments that may challenge 16 the determination on this topic that the staff reached 17 in the generic Environmental Impact Statement.
18 If you are interested in reviewing the 19 generic Environmental Impact Statement, we have 20 several reference copies available on the tables in 21 the hallway.
22 As I mentioned at the beginning of this 23 presentation, we are not only looking for in on the 24 impacts that may result from continued operation 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 15 Diablo Canyon. We will also look at potential 1
alternatives to continued Diablo Canyon operation, and 2
the impacts that could result from reliance on those 3
alternatives. In this case, alternatives are other 4
means of generating electricity or dealing with 5
electrical load.
6 We've already heard that considering an 7
array of energy alternatives is an important issue in 8
this area.
9 While we'll be evaluating a wide variety 10 of environmental impacts from license renewal, and 11 possible alternatives during our environmental review, 12 I wanted to point out that many of the issues we'll be 13 evaluating are in areas in which the State of 14 California has ultimate jurisdiction.
15 For example, when it comes to planning for 16 energy demand, and dealing with approving or denying 17 means of generating electricity, the state Energy 18 Commission and Utilities Commission have authority, 19 respectively.
20 We've already been in touch with staff 21 from both organizations as part of this review, and 22 several staff from the Energy Commission are currently 23 in attendance this evening. The Utilities Commission, 24 in addition, also holds authority over electric rates.
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 While NRC staff will consider issues related to water 1
use and quality, the state's Water Control Boards 2
exercise permitting authority over these matters.
3 In
- addition, the Coastal Commission 4
specifically addresses coastal land use, and the Air 5
Resources Board addresses air quality and air 6
permitting.
7 NRC's evaluation of environmental issues 8
relating to these matters will not preempt any 9
decisions made by these state level authorities. NRC 10 does, however, have primary oversight for plant safety 11 and for the plant's operating licenses.
12 And we want to make sure that you know 13 that there are a number of ways that you can submit 14 scoping comments to us, and that you're not limited to 15 providing spoken comments during today's meeting.
16 If you have a written statement, or 17 written comments that you would like to provide to any 18 NRC staff person, you may do that this evening. If 19 you come up with additional comments after this 20 meeting, you may submit them via e-mail or via regular 21 mail, and we'll provide those addresses at the end of 22 this presentation.
23 We'll handle all of your comments in the 24 same manner, and afford them the same consideration, 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 whether you've submitted them in person, in hard copy, 1
or electronically.
2 We will continue to accept comments on the 3
environmental review through April 12th of this year.
4 As I mentioned earlier in this presentation, anyone 5
who provides contact information, either a blue or 6
yellow card, will be added to this mailing list to 7
receive the compilation of all comments received by 8
NRC, as well as the NRC staff responses.
9 Today's meetings are part of a broader 10 environmental review for the proposed license renewal 11 of Diablo Canyon. Later this year, we plan to return 12 to the power plant site to conduct an on-site audit.
13 After reviewing the information we gather 14 from scoping, from the on-site audit, and from any 15 information requests that we make of PG&E, we plan to 16 publish our draft Environmental Impact Statement in 17 October of 2010.
18 We then plan to hold an additional set of 19 meetings, similar in format to this meeting, in this 20 area, in December of this year. Now many of you may 21 be mindful that we've received several requests to 22 delay the license renewal review until PG&E completes 23 certain studies for the state.
24 We are currently reviewing those requests, 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 and we plan to have a decision in response to those 1
requests by the end of this month. Until that time, 2
we will proceed with the review, as scheduled. Though 3
it's not listed here on the schedule, I wanted to let 4
you know that NRC staff will return to this area as 5
part of ongoing safety oversight, in six to eight 6
weeks, for the end-of-cycle meeting. This meeting 7
will provide an opportunity for questions and answers 8
as well as extensive interaction with the NRC staff.
9 We will issue a press release and take out ads in 10 local papers prior to that meeting, to publicize it.
11 If, during the course of this meeting, you 12 wish to review the environmental information that PG&E 13 submitted to the NRC as part of its license renewal 14 application, or to review NRC guidance or background 15 documents on environmental impacts of license renewal, 16 we have hard copies available for your review in the 17 lobby, as well as copies on CD that you may take with 18 you.
19 In addition, copies of the license renewal 20 application are available for public review at local 21 libraries in San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. You can 22 also link to them through the NRC Web site.
23 If reviewing any of these documents 24 triggers additional comments, you may submit them 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 through April 12th. Now as I mentioned earlier, you 1
may submit additional comments through a variety of 2
means. I'll leave this slide up for you during the 3
remainder of the meeting.
4 With that, I will conclude my presentation 5
for this meeting, and note that there are a few 6
remaining slides in your packets. Those contain 7
contact information for me and my safety counterpart, 8
Kim Green, as well as additional information about how 9
to petition the NRC for an adjudicatory hearing.
10 And with that, I'll turn the meeting back 11 over to Chip. Thank you.
12 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you very much, 13 Drew. Drew's given you a high-level overview of the 14 NRC review process.
15 Are there any questions, so we can make 16 sure that all of this was clear to you, questions 17 about the process? Anybody have a question?
18
[No response]
19 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Well, we're going to 20 get right into comment, and we're going to go to 21 Barbara Byron of the California Energy Commission.
22 Barbara. Barbara Byron.
23 MS. BYRON: Thank you. Good evening. My 24 name is Barbara Byron. I'm a senior nuclear policy 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 adviser with the California Energy Commission. We 1
appreciate the opportunity to provide comments here 2
today regarding the scope of the environmental review 3
for the Diablo Canyon license extension application.
4 My comments will be brief since we plan to 5
submit written comments at the end of this month. In 6
November 2008, as required by California Assembly Bill 7
1632, which was authored by Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, 8
the California Energy Commission completed a
9 comprehensive assessment of Diablo Canyon and San 10 Onofre Nuclear Power Plants. We also completed two 11 additional integrated energy policy reports in 2008 12 and 2009, and all of these reports are available at 13 our Web site, www.energy.ca.gov. And if you're 14 interested, I can, in the break, or after the meeting, 15 I can give you--help you get to these sites, or give 16 you the Web link.
17 We completed these studies, and this 18 assessment included studies of the seismic hazards at 19 Diablo Canyon, and San Onofre, and the seismic 20 vulnerability of these plants.
21 We found, through this assessment, that 22 important data on Diablo Canyon seismic hazard and 23 vulnerabilities are incomplete or are outdated.
24 In addition, just prior to the completion 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 of our assessment, PG&E announced the discovery of the 1
Shoreline Fault, which you've heard a lot about today.
2 As a result, the Energy Commission recommended that 3
PG&E conduct a number of additional seismic hazard and 4
plant vulnerability analyses.
5 The California Public Utilities Commission 6
also directed PG&E, in 2009, to report on the major 7
findings and conclusions from these studies as part of 8
its license renewal feasibility studies for Diablo 9
Canyon.
10 These important studies include updated 11 seismic tsunami hazard studies, including using three-12 dimensional seismic reflection mapping, and other 13 advanced techniques, to explore fault zones near 14 Diablo Canyon. Assessments of the long-term seismic 15 vulnerability and reliability of the plant, focusing 16 on switch yards and non-safety related components.
17 An evaluation of additional preplanning, 18 or mitigation steps that PG&E cold take to minimize 19 plant outage times, following a major seismic event, 20 such as the event that occurred after the major 21 earthquake in Japan in 2007, that affected their large 22 nuclear power plant. And then finally, an evaluation 23 of the adequacy of access roads to Diablo Canyon and 24 surrounding roadways, for allowing emergency personnel 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 to reach the plant and local communities and plant 1
workers to evacuate.
2 PG&E's completion of these seismic studies 3
is particularly important in light of the nearly three 4
year outage of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power 5
Plant in Japan, following the 2007 earthquake.
6 The Energy Commission and the Public 7
Utilities Commission have also identified a number of 8
other studies that are needed, in order to determine 9
the
- economic, environmental and reliability 10 implications of relicensing Diablo Canyon.
11 These studies would answer the following 12 questions. What would be the local economic impacts 13 of continuing to operate the plant, and how would 14 these impacts compare with potential alternate uses of 15 the Diablo Canyon site?
16 What would be the low-level nuclear waste 17 disposal costs, and spent fuel costs, in estimated 18 storage, and disposal plans for spent fuel from the 19 plant's operation, the 20 year license extension, and 20 decommissioning?
21 What alternate power generation options 22 could be used in place of power from Diablo Canyon, 23 and what would be the reliability, economic and 24 environmental impacts of these options, compared to 25
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1 What mitigation plans may be needed to 2
ensure the integrity of the Diablo Canyon reactor 3
pressure vessel over a 20 year license extension, in 4
light of any updates to the estimated seismic hazard 5
at the site?
6 And finally, what are the options and 7
costs for complying with California's once-through 8
cooling policy?
9 The seismic studies, and these additional 10 studies, are all needed to assess the cost and benefit 11 to the state of continuing to operate Diablo Canyon 12 for an additional 20 years.
13 In addition, some of these studies are 14 also relevant to the NRC's evaluation of the 15 environmental and safety implications of continuing to 16 operate the plant. For example, an updated seismic 17 hazard assessment is needed to assess the 18 vulnerability of aging plant components to an 19 earthquake.
20 This is especially important for those 21 reactor components, such as the reactor pressure 22
- vessel, that have been embrittled by neutron 23 bombardment.
24 In addition, the environmental assessment 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 should consider possible changes to Diablo Canyon's 1
cooling system, resulting from the state's emerging 2
once-through cooling regulations that are required by 3
provisions of the U.S. Clean Water Act, and updated 4
assessments of site evacuation plans.
5 Therefore, we request that the NRC 6
evaluate the safety and environmental implications of 7
these
- studies, as recommended in the AB 1632 8
assessment, and that have been identified by the 9
California Public Utilities Commission and the Energy 10 Commission, and require that these seismic studies, 11 and the other state-mandated studies, be reviewed as 12 part of the Diablo Canyon license renewal review 13 proceeding. Thank you very much.
14 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Barbara. Next 15 we're going to go to Chris Joyce, and then Chris 16 Ungar, and then Barbara Scott. And this is Chris 17 Joyce.
18 MR. JOYCE: Good evening, and thank you 19 for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name's Chris 20 Joyce. I've been here, I've been blessed enough to be 21 a part of this county, part of this--I came to Cal 22 Poly in 1978 and they couldn't get rid of me. I 23 managed to get a job with PG&E. So I am a plant 24 employee. But tonight I speak on behalf of myself, 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 not on behalf of the plant.
1 And what I would say, if you look at 2
Diablo Canyon, particularly, the NRC is looking at the 3
environmental, I would suggest that there would be a 4
much larger impact to the county of San Luis Obispo, 5
and the State of California, if Diablo Canyon were to 6
go away, because just as much as I am a part of this 7
county, my wife, my family, my kids--everything--we 8
have grown, we're a part of this community, it would 9
be much more environmental impact if there were no 10 Diablo Canyon.
11 Diablo is, has been a
fantastic 12 environmental steward. I've been driving that access 13 road for a number of years, and I look at the things 14 that I do, I do look at the thing that my peers do in 15 the community, and, you know, we're soccer coaches, 16 we're worship team leaders, we're active in a number 17 of things. We're docents. We're a lot of things to 18 this community.
19 So I look at the environmental, and again, 20 just a real simple statement. I think that for Diablo 21 Canyon to not be here would be a far greater impact 22 than the impact Diablo Canyon is going to make in 23 terms of relicensing for 20 years. The way I see it, 24 relicensing for an additional 20 years is zero impact, 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 because it has grown and it is a part of the 1
community, just like I am here today. That's all I 2
have. Thank you.
3 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you, Chris.
4 Chris Ungar. Then Barbara Scott.
5 MR. UNGAR: Thank you. I'm Chris Ungar 6
and I'm a trustee of the San Luis Coastal Unified 7
School District, and I'm here to talk tonight about 8
the financial impact of the power plant to our school 9
district as a public service. As most of you know, 10 billions of dollars have been cut from school 11 districts throughout California. Thousands of layoffs 12 of teachers and program cuts have affected countless 13 children throughout our state.
14 Because of the complexity of the state 15 revenue system, which is, in part, based on property 16 taxes, we're fortunate enough to have the power plant 17 in our jurisdiction and within our boundaries. We 18 received several million dollars in property taxes 19 because of PG&E and because of the nuclear power 20 plant.
21 This directly benefits our children and 22 our community. Without this, we would lay off 23 teachers, classified staff, including teacher's aides, 24 custodians, and other members of our community.
25
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- addition, PG&E employees donate 1
thousands of dollars and many hours of time to our 2
local schools. We consider this a valuable resource 3
which contributes to the education of our students and 4
to the San Luis Coastal Unified School District 5
community. Thank you.
6 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much. And 7
this is Barbara Scott.
8 MS. SCOTT: Thank you. My name is Barbara 9
Scott, and I bought a newspaper, in case you hadn't 10 noticed that a plane had gone into an IRS building.
11 And I thought about the safety of Diablo, immediately.
12 The fact that it could happen--this is a disgruntled 13 person. How many disgruntled employees, how many 14 "crazies," in psychological terms, who fly planes? We 15 have no restriction on flying over Diablo as far as I 16 know, and I want to point that out.
17 And as far as Diablo being part of the 18 community, of course it is, and the idea that we could 19 have an alternative windmill, or geothermal, or solar, 20 aspect to this, and really reduce the possibility of 21 having harmful, spent fuel rods sitting in our back 22 yard. Thank you.
23 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Barbara. We're 24 going to go to Jim Bennett next, and then to June, 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 June Cochran.
1 MR. BENNETT: Thank you. My name is Jim 2
Bennett. I am also an employee at Diablo Canyon.
3 I've lived here since 1975, and raised my family here.
4 I'm here tonight speaking on my own behalf. I'm not 5
a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric. I'm a 6
bargaining unit, hourly employee, so that affords me 7
the opportunity to walk around in the plant and 8
actually work on the equipment.
9 I feel Diablo Canyon, myself, is a very 10 safe place. I'm very glad, and have the opportunity 11 to work there, and even though I know I'm a thorn in 12 management's side from time to time, raising issues, 13 I'm very pleased, and here to tell you, that there's 14 not one issue that I've raised, that they haven't 15 really addressed.
16 The management at Diablo Canyon takes 17 nuclear safety and this community very seriously, and 18 I'm really proud to work for them. I plan on retiring 19 here in a few years, and going to continue to make 20 this my home, and I graduated from Cal Poly and met my 21 wife there. I graduated in 1980. And so I don't 22 necessarily need Diablo Canyon to be here when I 23 retire. I don't need the job. But our community 24 needs Diablo Canyon. It provides a great opportunity 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 for a lot of people here. It enriches out community 1
and provides a lot of opportunities.
2 And, you know, so as far as environmental 3
stewardship, it's a beautiful drive, too bad that the 4
general public doesn't have the opportunity to drive 5
out to the plant. PG&E takes very good care of the 6
property as far as I can tell, down to the point where 7
we're even limited on how we rinse our cars off in the 8
parking lot.
9 So they're--from my perspective as an 10 employee working out there, I'm very impressed with 11 the way management addresses environmental 12 stewardship, and the safety, and the general public at 13 large. Thank you very much.
14 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Jim. And June 15 Cochran's going to join us, and then we're going to go 16 to Jill Zamek and Jane Swanson.
17 MS. COCHRAN: My name's June Cochran, and 18 I live in Shell Beach, which is where the plume would 19 hit, if there was an accident, and we saw with the big 20 rig accident, just last year, that Highway 101 is the 21 only way in and out of this place, and it was clogged 22 up for hours. Imagine, if there was an evacuation.
23 And no one has addressed these issues, 24 really. It is a two-lane road, in and out of Avila, 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 30 and it is a very narrow 101 that goes through San Luis 1
Obispo County, trying to get out of the area. That's 2
one segment.
3 The next is that let's not waste money on 4
an old plant, with aging parts, on top of this seismic 5
nightmare. Instead, let's see what we can do in the 6
next few years--and maybe it's a good thing that PG&E 7
asked for this license now, because now we can start 8
thinking about the alternatives. As Drew said, we 9
need to be thinking about wind, solar, and new 10 technologies. Wave. There's so many things coming 11 out.
12 Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis 13 Obispo County have gotten together, and they're 14 talking about fossil-free by thirty-three. Well, in 15 their plan, they don't really have nuclear as part of 16 the equation.
17 We're hoping to make up the difference by 18 conservation, by education, and by new technologies.
19 And there's new technology in the solar field, it just 20 came out in USA Today, just this weekend. So this is 21 a very viable thing to do.
22 One of the things that concerns me in 23 addition to the aging plant, and the cable systems--
24 you've seen my pictures before of the cables 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 31 corroding, the pipes corroding, and there's no way to 1
know how many of these pipes are corroded, and 2
whenever I ask PG&E, are you going to dig these up, 3
especially the fire system, the fire protection 4
system, which was almost the first thing that went in, 5
they go, no, we'll just wait till we have a problem 6
with it, which they have, and that's why we have the 7
pictures of it.
8 And Diablo Canyon would be so perfect--
9 there's a nice windstream in there to put more wind 10 up, we could have a retraining session, so that these 11 wonderful PG&E employees that love the area and do so 12 much community work can stay here, and just retrain 13 into the renewable fields, and continue with their 14 community service.
15 So the waste problem is the next thing, 16 and the last thing I'll talk about. We have these 17 casks up there, and there's several things that worry 18 me about the casks, and the gentleman from the school 19 district is concerned about the children not having 20 money. But I would be concerned about the children 21 having waste in their backyard for hundreds of 22 thousands of years, and the casks are not all that 23 well made. There's been a lot of studies that talk 24 about the welding being a problem. They have to be 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 32 relicensed every 20 years, infinitum. How is that 1
going to be financed?
2 Our grandchildren are going to have to do that.
3 We're already going to have all the waste 4
from what it's come up with now. Or do we really want 5
20 more years of waste there? I don't think so. So 6
thank you.
7 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, June. And Jill, 8
Jill Zamek, and then we're going to go to Jane 9
Swanson, and then we're going to go to Rochelle Becker 10 on video.
11 MS. ZAMEK: My name is Jill Zamek, and I'm 12 speaking on behalf of the San Luis Obispo Mothers For 13 Peace. In the NRC environmental review for PG&E's 14 license renewal, Mothers For Peace requests that the 15 issue of inadequate design basis documentation be 16 included. NRC document titled "Frequently Asked 17 Questions on License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants" 18 states that, quote, the current licensing basis, the 19 CLB, is the particular set of NRC requirements 20 applicable to a licensed operating nuclear power 21 facility. End quote.
22 These CLB changes are noted in documents 23 such as the Final Safety Analysis Report, Technical 24 Specifications and License Amendments.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 33 10 CFR 54.29 requires that, quote, there 1
is reasonable assurance that the activities authorized 2
by the renewed license will continue to be conducted 3
in accordance with the current licensing basis, and 4
that any changes made to the plant CLB in order to 5
comply with this paragraph are in accord with the Act 6
and the Commission's regulations.
7 Mothers For Peace asserts that the design 8
basis documentation is lacking at Diablo Canyon, and 9
that these design and configuration deficiencies could 10 affect the operability of required equipment, 11 interfere with the functionality of aging structures 12 and components, and raise unreviewed safety questions.
13 Recent NRC inspection reports identify 14 multiple examples of PG&E making unauthorized changes 15 to its facility.
16 10 CFR 50.59 allows PG&E to make changes 17 without prior NRC approval, if certain conditions are 18 met. Otherwise, a license amendment is needed.
19 PG&E has a history of poor implementation 20 of this regulation. An adverse trend has been noted 21 by the NRC inspectors regarding issues related to poor 22 licensing and design basis management.
23 In the NRC integrated inspection report 24 from August 5th, 2009, noted violations demonstrating-25
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-and these are all quotes--failure to maintain 1
adequate plant design
- basis, weakness in the 2
licensee's programmatic processes to evaluate problems 3
associated with maintaining the plant licensing basis; 4
failure to implement the industry 50.59 program; 5
failure to understand when prior NRC approval is 6
required for change to the facility; and failure of 7
the licensee to recognize a condition outside of the 8
plant design basis.
9 These violations involved a variety of 10 systems--off-site power, spent fuel pool, 500 KV 11 switch
- yard, containment
14 In the NRC inspection report, from the 15 recent one, February 3rd, 2010, identified an adverse 16 trend in problem evaluation, which includes eleven--
17 quote--11 NRC documented findings with problem 18 evaluation crosscutting aspects.
19 The inspectors concluded that most of the 20 NRC-identified examples of less-than-adequate problem 21 evaluation during the first two quarters of 2009 were 22 related to a poor understanding of the plant design, 23 licensing basis, or implementation of administrative 24 regulatory programs. End quote.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 35 In April 2009, PG&E completed a root cause 1
analysis of the adverse trend, and concluded that, 2
quote, Diablo Canyon evaluations were focused on 3
meeting historical compliance based on licensing and 4
design positions, or relied on previous evaluations.
5 The licensee concluded that contributing 6
to this trend was that the complex Diablo Canyon 7
licensing basis is not well understood or 8
communicated.
9 The inspectors concluded that the 10 licensee's corrective actions, associated with October 11 2009 apparent cause evaluation, were insufficient to 12 identify and correct past inadequate evaluations that 13 have led to incorrect changes in the plant licensing 14 basis. End quote.
15 Examples of the adverse trend provided in 16 this inspection report included inadequate 50.59 17 evaluation of steam generator tube rupture; less-than-18 adequate replacement reactor head modification design 19 control; and less-than-adequate change evaluation to 20 the facility as described in the final safety analysis 21 update, involving the critical seismic damping values.
22 Unresolved items in the corrective action 23 following degraded off-site power system; containment 24 sump recirculation valve position interlock failure 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 36 due to inadequate testing.
1 Given PG&E's demonstrated lack of a clear 2
understanding of the current licensing basis, Mothers 3
For Peace claims that PG&E cannot offer reasonable 4
assurances of its ability to manage the effects of 5
aging into the renewal period.
6 Mothers For Peace seeks a
thorough 7
examination of all the discrepancies between the 8
current licensing basis and the plant design basis.
9 All inconsistencies must be rectified and confidence 10 restored, before the NRC can grant a license renewal.
11 Thank you.
12 MR. CAMERON: Thank you. Thank you very 13 much, Jill. And now we're going to go to Jane 14 Swanson, and then will we be ready to play the video?
15 Okay. This is Jane.
16 MS. SWANSON: Yes. Jane Swanson speaking 17 on behalf of San Luis Obispo Mothers For Peace.
18 Before I present our prepared scoping comment related 19 to seismic issues, I want to share a news report that 20 came to our attention over the dinner hour.
21 A 6.4 earthquake is reported to have 22 happened in Taiwan at dawn on Thursday. So that was 23 just a very few hours ago. Taiwan of course is on the 24 Ring of Fire, along with Chile and Japan, sites 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 37 recent great quakes.
1 The dozen faults in the vicinity of Diablo 2
Canyon Nuclear Power Plant are also on this Ring of 3
Fire. Add to that the quake in Haiti, and we are 4
reminded that tectonic plates are moving and we need 5
to take them into account. Okay. On to our prepared 6
scoping comment.
7 In the NRC environmental review for PG&E's 8
license renewal application, Mothers For Peace 9
requests that the issue of new seismic information and 10 potential environmental impacts of postulated severe 11 accidents be included.
12 Although seismic issues are codified as 13 category one, or generic, in the NRC license renewal 14 environmental protection rule, the NRC does allow for 15 the identification and analysis of new, significant 16 information.
17 Furthermore, the National Environmental 18 Policy Act focuses on environmental impacts which are 19 considered in the site-specific supplement to the 20 generic Environmental Impact Statement.
The 21 environmental review takes into account the 22 environmental effects of postulated plant accidents 23 that might occur during the license renewal term.
24 Mothers For Peace thus argues that 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 38 issue of the potential for environmental impacts as a 1
result of seismic activity on the newly-discovered 2
fault is within the scope of this license renewal 3
process.
4 On November 14th, 2008, PG&E notified the 5
NRC that preliminary results from ongoing studies by 6
PG&E, and the U.S. Geological Survey, indicated the 7
presence of a result, referred to as the Shoreline 8
Fault, approximately 25 kms. in length and located 9
approximately one km. offshore from Diablo Canyon.
10 PG&E and the NRC attempt to placate the 11 public with assurances that the newly-discovered 12 Shoreline Fault adds no additional risk to a severe--
13 no additional risk of a severe accident.
14 In the January 20th, 2010 NRC Summary of 15 January 5, 2010 Meeting with PG&E regarding Shoreline 16 Fault--that was a title--it was, quote: Concluded that 17 any damage due to secondary faulting is very unlikely 18 and the impact on the Diablo Canyon Power Plant 19 seismic core damage frequency is negligible. Unquote.
20 PG&E admits in this same summary, however, 21 that data collection and interpretation are not 22 complete.
23 Mothers For Peace asserts that the 24 discovery of the Shoreline Fault is significant and 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 39 has serious implications for environmental impacts 1
during the renewal term. The consequences of an 2
earthquake on this unreviewed fault has the potential 3
to cause a grave accident at Diablo Canyon Nuclear 4
Power Plant, resulting in considerable environmental 5
impacts.
6 PG&E has not provided
- evidence, or 7
reasonable assurance, that the newly-discovered 8
Shoreline Fault will not adversely affect the 9
operations at Diablo Canyon during the license renewal 10 period. Data is incomplete, studies have not been 11 completed, an independent analysis has not yet been 12 performed. Barbara Byron of the California Energy 13 Commission spelled this out in her statement.
14 Mothers For Peace argues that PG&E and the 15 NRC cannot legitimately claim the impact--I'll start 16 that sentence again. Mothers For Peace argues that 17 PG&E and the NRC cannot legitimately claim the impact 18 of the Shoreline Fault to be, quote, negligible, 19 unquote, until studies are complete.
20 The burden of proof lies with the 21 applicant, not with Mothers For Peace. The NRC cannot 22 draw a conclusion favorable to the applicant unless 23 and until a complete and independent study provides 24 objective evidence to support such a conclusion.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 40 The NRC cannot meet the licensee renewal 1
rule requirements until the new earthquake fault has 2
been proven to be within the current licensing basis.
3 Mothers For Peace seeks five things. One. A 4
completed, thorough study of the Shoreline Fault and 5
its interactions with other faults in the area. Two.
6 Independent and peer-reviewed analysis of the 7
significance of the data. Three. Analysis of the 8
effects of an earthquake on transformers, containers, 9
piping, and the mechanical and electrical equipment 10 that are not built to withstand a significant seismic 11 event. Four. Analysis of the effects of an 12 earthquake on ageing seismic components. And finally, 13 a delay of the license renewal process until the 14 results of these studies have been examined.
15 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Jane. We're 16 going to show a video of Rochelle, Rochelle's 17 comments, and I'm going to turn these lights out so 18 you can see it.
19
[Videotape of Rochelle Becker shown]
20 MS. BECKER [on video]: Good evening. My 21 name is Rochelle Becker and I'm executive director of 22 the Alliance For Nuclear Responsibility. I'd like to 23 thank the NRC for allowing this unusual presentation 24 tonight, but we are on our way, as we speak right now, 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 41 to meet with Commissioner Jaczko, the chair of the 1
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to discuss our biggest 2
concern, seismic activity and the relicensing of the 3
nuclear power plant for an additional -- 1800 feet 4
offshore of Diablo Canyon. But we had asked them to 5
look at some seismic studies five years previous to 6
that, when the NRC came to San Luis Obispo to license 7
an on-site radioactive waste dry cask storage 8
facility.
9 Now the facility has been built with no 10 seismic hearings, whatsoever. Now you're expected to 11 live with this waste in a temporary manner, but the 12 NRC has no definition for temporary. Yucca Mountain 13 has been ostensibly cancelled, and therefore we are 14 living with highly radioactive waste on a seismically 15 active coast, less than three miles from two major 16 active earthquake faults.
17 If earthquakes are foreseeable then to 18 Diablo Canyon, I don't know what is. I don't know why 19 the NRC refuses to make sure that the state-required 20 studies aren't being finished before they continue 21 with the license renewal application process. I don't 22 know why PG&E refuses to do these seismic studies and 23 get them out of the way.
24 We do know that the state spent a great 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 42 deal of time doing an in-depth
- analysis, and 1
recommended that high-level, high-definition, new 2
seismic studies be done. 3-D studies. 3-D mapping.
3 These are new studies. These are studies that haven't 4
been done before, and we need them completed, and we 5
need them completed now.
6 The NRC is not to be trusted with this 7
information. The NRC has proven in the past, that 8
when PG&E said no, don't look any further, and no, we 9
tell you everything is okay, that that hasn't been the 10 case. And when they did this in the past, they cost 11 us $4.4 billion, according to the CPUC's own staff.
12 It's time to start this process. It's time to do it 13 right, to do the collaboration that the NRC talks 14 about, to do the transparent and open proceedings that 15 the NRC talks about.
16 It is time to do the seismic studies.
17 Quit spending money coming to our community to talk 18 about scoping and process, when the one issue, the one 19 issue that this community cares most about--
20 earthquakes, nuclear power plants and radioactive 21 waste are being ignored. We need these studies done 22 now, we need to stay in the process now, we need a 23 joint panel with the NRC, the USGS, and state 24 oversight agencies now.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 43 Anything less is not what this community 1
deserves. We need these studies now and we hope you 2
are listening. Thank you.
3 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Karen Swift, and Jeff 4
Buckingham, and Henriette Groot. This is Karen Swift 5
coming up to join us.
6 MS. SWIFT: Good evening, everyone, and 7
thank you, NRC staff, for being here to hear and 8
hopefully listen to public commentary regarding the 9
relicensing of PG&E.
10 I was here earlier this afternoon, between 11 1:30 and 4:30, as well as now, and I've heard 12 perspectives, as everyone has, on the relicensing.
13 Some of those views expressed would like immediate 14 closure of the plant, if that were possible, due to 15 reasonable concerns about there being two major fault 16 lines within the near vicinity of PG&E, one only 1800 17 feet from the plant.
18 I do not need to outline these concerns, 19 once again, because others have been very good at 20 doing so. Others we have heard from would like to 21 have quick renewal, without any further delays, no 22 more seismic surveys.
23 Yet anyhow, there have been two kind of 24 overlapping views expressed by people. One 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 44 economic concern. I understand that most people would 1
like to have job stability, would like PG&E to 2
contribute to the tax base, and would like PG&E to 3
contribute to the school system. Yet we have not 4
looked at other renewable job possibilities. I'd like 5
to mention two studies, recently.
6 One has been by the University of 7
Massachusetts, Political Economy and Research 8
Institute, in which they looked at--I can pass out the 9
survey later, in a moment--they looked at if you were 10 to invest $1 billion into an economic recovery 11 package, for example, that would create four times as 12 many jobs, that would otherwise have been created 13 within the oil industry, which is about equal, if not 14 more jobs, than within the nuclear industry.
15 Another study that has been conducted is 16 that by Navigant Consulting, which shows that if 17 utility companies were to invest--or were to create 25 18 percent of their energy from renewable sources, they 19 would create up to 274,000 jobs.
20 There are many possibilities, and I think 21 people are lacking creativity and looking at solutions 22 into this, and looking at renewal, 15 years from now, 23 when we have yet to come up with new technologies.
24 Photovoltaic, by the day, has become 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 45 cheaper. A few years ago it seemed unfeasible. Now 1
people are putting it up, continually. I don't know 2
what it'll be in 15 years, but even General Electric's 3
chief engineer has stated that by 2015 there will be 4
equal amounts of energy--I mean, in terms of money, it 5
will be cheaper, if not equal to current conventional 6
energy production.
7 Another issue that has been expressed is 8
the fear of climate change. Understandable. And 9
nuclear energy, some have said, is necessary to avoid 10 catastrophic climate change. Yet let's look at the 11 UNFCCC conference in Copenhagen which didn't show very 12 much optimism in terms of government doing anything 13 toward this.
14 So let's not get too far from this topic 15 and let's see. If nothing is done by 2013, the 16 glaciers may melt, who knows what will happen, and 17 we're talking about renewing this plant 15 years from 18 now.
19 I think we need to think about these 20 issues in a broad perspective. We also need to think 21 about the potential of human creativity and new 22 technologies that can be created. Thank you.
23 MR. CAMERON: Thanks, Karen. And Jeff.
24 Jeff Buckingham.
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 46 MR. BUCKINGHAM: Hi. I'm Jeff Buckingham.
1 I live on a ranch outside of Los Osos, and I think 2
it's important, when we look at this plant, and the 3
relicensing process, that we really look at the whole 4
environment here. We've already paid whatever price, 5
environmentally, we needed to pay to have the plant in 6
place today.
7 And I find it really interesting, that 8
when you look at the way PG&E is structured and 9
compensated, PG&E as a company is viable, producing 10 power through whatever means that it produces. The 11 real benefit to the plant being here is really to all 12 of us as ratepayers and as citizens.
13 For PG&E, they'll be fine. They could 14 make power any way they want.
We've paid the 15 price for this plant. It's here today. We get the 16 benefit of the electricity from this plant as we 17 actively pursue many other ways to provide 18 environmentally-safe power, and of course PG&E has 19 been a champion of that.
20 As I mentioned, I live on a ranch outside 21 of Los Osos. I actually live off the grid. I'm 22 probably one of the only people in San Luis Obispo 23 County who's not a customer of PG&E. However, I have 24 several sets of high-power lines that cross the ranch, 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 47 and I have an opportunity to interact with PG&E all 1
the time.
2 And a couple of things I've noticed about 3
PG&E. One of them is their stewardship of the land 4
around Diablo Canyon is exemplary, and I often wish 5
that I could afford to put as many resources in to 6
protecting my land as PG&E puts into protecting 7
theirs. Last weekend, my wife and I were out with our 8
shovels, trying to kind of do some thing that PG&E had 9
done a much better job of. We were doing them by 10 hand. But they set an example for that.
11 And in my experience with working with 12 PG&E, I've seen them in all kinds of situations, and 13 what I see is they do the right thing when nobody else 14 is even around to look, and I think given that, and 15 the way that they've run this plant, and the price 16 that we've paid for, to have it, we certainly ought to 17 continue to use it as long as possible while we 18 explore all other kinds of sources for power, you 19 know, in the future. Thank you.
20 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Jeff. Henriette.
21 And then we're going to go to James Patterson, who's 22 a supervisor, here, in San Luis Obispo County.
23 MS. GROOT: Good evening. My name is 24 Henriette Groot. When fishermen out at sea want to 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 48 call another boat, they go, "Hey, Johnny, you got your 1
ears on?" meaning have you got your radio turned on.
2 I'm glad the NRC has got its ears on tonight. We have 3
talked about some of these things before but we are 4
again doing so.
5 I do want to talk to you about fish and 6
fishermen. We are told by health professionals to eat 7
more fish, but the fish we can find to eat often comes 8
from far away. Our local coast is getting "fished 9
out," is getting more empty.
10 In an effort at conservation, fishermen 11 are severely restricted in where they can fish, what 12 they can fish, and how much. Some of them have gone 13 out of business, consequently, and that, in the State 14 of California, called by a Pew study from some years 15 back, the state with the fifth largest ocean-related 16 economy in the world. The biggest fisherman of them 17 all, Diablo, is still in business, and even asking to 18 be relicensed for another 20 years on top of the 19 current expiration date after 2025.
20 How does Diablo take fish? Diablo uses 21 2.45 billion gallons of sea water per day to cool its 22 turbines. That is not just water they are using.
23 That is fish, fish larvae, and invertebrates. They 24 catch live fish, as has been explained earlier, is 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 49 called impingement. In 2008, Diablo had to shut down 1
because of so many jellyfish were plugging up its 2
intakes.
3 In 2004, it was San Onofre Nuclear Plant 4
which was stopped by masses of sardines.
5 One time, Diablo even caught a live scuba 6
diver that way.
7 But that is not even the worst. More 8
disastrous is what is called entrainment. Many, many 9
fish larvae and invertebrates are sucked into the 10 plant and killed that way.
11 That's what does the real damage. That is 12 what does the damage to future generations of fish, 13 because the breeding stock is being depleted. There 14 are some who say that fish produce so many eggs, so 15 many larvae, that it does not really matter that much.
16 But here we get to the issue of cumulative 17 impact. Year after year, fewer fish are producing 18 fish, to the point where eventually, a population may 19 collapse.
20 Think of it. Extending the license would 21 be a death warrant for how many more fish in the 22 future? Are we going to get to the point where there 23 will be no fish in the water to worry about? The sea 24 water would then, indeed, be just sea water.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 50 Of course the water quality control people 1
have been trying to do something about this problem 2
for years. Various approaches have been tried over 3
the years, but basically they have not succeeded in 4
finding a way and making it stick.
5 This very month, though, the State Water 6
Board will come out with new regulations to control 7
the damage done by once-through cooling, to finally 8
satisfy the requirements of the environmental--of the 9
EPA.
10 Coastal power plants will be required to 11 reduce their impact on marine life, about ninety, or 12 is it 95 percent of what would be the impact, if they 13 changed over to cooling towers.
14 Nuclear plants are not exempt this time.
15 They will be required to do studies about how to 16 reduce their impact, and they will be required to 17 report on these studies three years after the new OTC 18 policies went into effect. So that would be, 19 hopefully, three years from now.
20 And then by December 2021, they are 21 supposed to be in compliance with the policy. So why 22 would we, at this point, already extend the nuclear 23 power plant licenses? We need to know the results of 24 seismic studies, and we need to know how the marine 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 51 impacts are going to be reduced, in accordance with 1
the new OTC regulations.
2 And the NRC should also address--now this 3
is kind of a separate issue--whether it makes any 4
sense, any more, to have large power plants generating 5
electricity, and to send that power over long 6
transmission lines to distant cities.
7 If I remember correctly, there's supposed 8
to be about a 15 percent loss over long transmission 9
lines. Some recognition of that fact is already seen 10 by the newer facilities that are being built closer to 11 where the power is needed.
12 And so it's my opinion that the California 13 Energy Commission and the PUC, who have not approved 14 this application to extend Diablo's license, that they 15 need to do so, need to look at this first. They have 16 the duty to do that. They need to decide whether 17 large coastal power plants are what is best for the 18 energy needs in our future. Thank you.
19 MR. CAMERON: Thank you. Thank you, 20 Henriette. Supervisor Patterson.
21 MR. PATTERSON: I first want to take a 22 moment to thank the NRC for responding to local 23 requests to have multiple hearings, here, in San Luis 24 Obispo. The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant has 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 52 been a fixture here--well, actually, the process has 1
been going on since the mid '60s, and there is a lot 2
of passion revolving around the plant, and I think 3
it's very important that the community have an 4
opportunity to "weigh in."
5 I want to thank all of you also for taking 6
advantage of this opportunity to speak directly to the 7
NRC about your concerns relative to the plant. I know 8
tonight's meeting is focusing on scoping for the 9
environmental impact report for the relicensing of the 10 plant. But before I make my comments relative to the 11 scoping, I want to comment about the relicensing.
12 I've been following this for the past 13 several months. As you all know, there's been a new 14 earthquake fault discovered off the plant. They are 15 calling it the Shoreline Fault. The California Public 16 Utilities Commission has asked for a thorough analysis 17 of that fault and its connectivity to other faults 18 offshore. Our Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee has also made 19 the same requests of the NRC to postpone any 20 relicensing procedures until we have the full data on 21 that newly-discovered Shoreline Fault.
22 And I have to concur with the California 23 Public Utilities Commission as well as Assemblyman 24 Blakeslee. I think it's premature to pursue licensing 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 53 at this point in time. It's been stated that the 1
relicensing process--and the NRC has completed about 2
fifty of those, I understand, and there's still 3
another twenty or twenty-five actually in process now.
4 But they take an average of about five years to 5
complete, and here we are with reactors that are 14 to 6
15 years, under their current license, left to 7
operate.
8 And we need to keep that in mind. That 9
the plant is licensed to operate for another 14 or 15 10 years. We have an opportunity, during that time, to 11 do a thorough analysis of the seismic potential off of 12 the coast. We have additional time to review and 13 analyze alternatives to nuclear power for electrical 14 generation, renewable technologies, and other energy-15 producing means are rapidly developing. They're 16 becoming more and more cost-effective, by the day, 17 literally, and so we need to keep that in mind.
18 And we also need to keep in mind that the 19 more money we invest in this process, the more 20 difficult it is to alter that process or back out of 21 that process as we move along.
22 So I think we need to be more logical in 23 the pursuit of relicensing for Diablo Canyon and we 24 need to be more physically responsible in that 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 54 pursuit.
1 Relative to the issues of greatest concern 2
to me is obviously that newly-discovered earthquake 3
fault. We've just, in recent weeks, seen the 4
devastation of earthquakes throughout the world, and 5
it could happen here, and I have to ask, are we 6
tempting fate here, with moving forward, without 7
having all the information that can be available to 8
us, within the next year or two, if we focus our 9
energy and effort on completing the seismic studies of 10 those faults?
11 So that's a huge concern to me. Another 12 issue is I think in the environmental analysis we need 13 to take a robust look at alternative technologies, 14 energy efficiency and conservation, and do the 15 economic analysis that goes along with that, to see 16 what alternatives are available to us.
17 The once-through cooling that has been 18 proven to be a significant impact on marine resources 19 off our coast, we need to consider that, we need to 20 take a look at the on-site storage, both the dry cask 21 storage and the cooling ponds that they now use. For 22 many years, they were beyond their design capacity 23 because we didn't have alternatives for storage, so we 24 need to take a very close look at the storage options, 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 55 the long-term storage opportunities.
1 Do we have it? Are we going to have a 2
storage facility, here, in San Luis Obispo County, 3
indefinitely, because there's no place else for that 4
nuclear waste to go?
5 So that's very much a part of it, in my 6
mind. I think we ought to focus our energy and 7
efforts, here, in the next year or two, on analyzing, 8
again, the newly-discovered fault offshore, and see 9
how that would potentially impact the future of Diablo 10 Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. It's the fiscally 11 responsible and sensible thing to do, and I would hope 12 that the NRC would recognize that fact, and help us 13 move forward with those analyses. Thank you.
14 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much, 15 Supervisor. We're going to go to Larry Womack, and 16 John Lindsey, and Charlie Smith, right now, and this 17 is Larry.
18 MR.
WOMACK:
Thank you for this 19 opportunity to speak before you this evening. By way 20 of background, I first settled in San Luis Obispo 21 County in 1978. I'm now a resident of South County, 22 where my wife and I are raising our two young 23 children. I retired from PG&E in 2004. I am not 24 under the employment of PG&E nor am I spokesman for 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 56 PG&E. I do not own any shares of PG&E stock.
1 I
have confidence in the continued 2
operation of Diablo Canyon. Other than being a 3
customer who wants reliability and controlled cost, I 4
don't have a stake in this endeavor.
5 Let me give you a little background, so 6
that my comments can be put into perspective. I was 7
under the direct employment of PG&E for nearly 27 8
years.
9 More than twenty of those years were 10 associated with Diablo
- Canyon, where I
had 11 responsibilities such as systems and design 12 engineering, licensing, and operations, where I
13 received a senior reactor operator's license from the 14 Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
15 The remainder of my PG&E career comprised 16 responsibilities in fossil, geothermal and hydro 17 generation, where I held direct day to day operational 18 and long-term planning responsibilities for PG&E's 19 non-nuclear generation assets, at both the director 20 and at the officer level.
21 Through that process, I became familiar 22 with the short-and long-range integrated generation 23 resource planning undertaken by PG&E, the California 24 Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 57 Commission, and the Federal Energy Regulatory 1
Commission, as well as the day to day, hour by hour, 2
minute by minute operation of the Northern California 3
electrical power grid.
4 It's with this background that I make the 5
following comments, and I am only going to hit the 6
high points here. Three to five minutes allows no 7
more.
8 My first point. Diablo Canyon is vital to 9
the Northern California electric grid. Baseload 10 generation capacity and voltage support cannot be 11 easily or quickly replaced. Diablo Canyon produces 12 approximately 20 percent of the energy needs for 13 Northern California and approximately 10 percent of 14 California's energy needs.
15 Arguably, Diablo is the lowest incremental 16 cost source of energy amongst PG&E's generating 17 assets. Possibly only one or two hydro river systems 18 generate at a lower incremental cost. And Diablo 19 operates at a comparatively low all-in cost, or the 20 total cost of operation in going forward, and it is 21 amongst PG&E's best.
22 Diablo's 2300 megawatts of capacity 23 provide a sizeable corner for the California electric 24 system foundation. Energy and capacity are critical, 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 58 both for the safety of California and to its economy.
1 Diablo provides critical voltage support to the 500 2
kV, or kilovolt, main transmission backbone, the 3
backbone of California's electrical grid.
4 And in particular, Diablo, and some other 5
resources, provide the responsiveness to "push or 6
pull" the reactive power needs of the grid, that many 7
other sources of generation invoked today cannot 8
supply, such as solar or wind power.
9 My second point. Diablo is a diverse 10 energy supply. Not unlike diverse investments, a 11 diverse energy supply is vital to PG&E's customers, 12 others in this room, and me, as well as the vitality 13 of the California economy. Diversification in our 14 electric supply protects us from the annual 15 fluctuations. In the rains, PG&E gets hydro power not 16 only from its own system but also from the Bonneville 17 Power Administration in Washington State, and British 18 Columbia Hydro. Those vary with the annual rainfall, 19 and as the prices of natural gas vary.
20 California fossil generation supplies are 21 predominantly gas-fired. As well as the daily and 22 seasonal fluctuations in wind and solar generation.
23 As such, Diablo provides diversity comparable to the 24 stability of bonds in a diversified retirement 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 59 portfolio.
1 My third point. Geography and limited 2
electrical import capability require California to be 3
more self-sufficient than most of the rest of the 4
United States, where the grid is more interconnected, 5
underscoring the importance for native generation.
6 Fourth point. The resource planning 7
horizon for energy and capacity needs is underway.
8 The fundamental elements of generation and capacity 9
planning are carried out decades in advance of 10 anticipated need. It is for this reason that PG&E 11 seeks license renewal ten years in advance of license 12 expiration.
13 With or without Diablo Canyon, I am 14 confident that PG&E will line up the necessary 15 generation to serve its customers. Which brings me to 16 my next point. Costs.
17 PG&E will recover the full cost of Diablo 18 Canyon. That's a given. Similarly, PG&E will recover 19 the costs of future generation and energy purchases 20 made on behalf of its customers.
21 As I mentioned in my preceding comment, 22 PG&E will obtain the resources needed to supply its 23 customers. Accordingly, logically, it makes infinite 24 sense to me to continue the operation of Diablo 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 60 Canyon, whose costs will be fully recovered, rather 1
than to cease Diablo operations, replace it with other 2
supplies, and recover those costs on top of the 3
investment we, the customers, have already made.
4 My last point. Diablo is environmentally 5
friendly. Diablo does not use fossil fuels to produce 6
energy. As such, it has a negligible carbon 7
footprint. California and the United States have set 8
ambitious goals for greenhouse gas reduction.
9 Not only can these objectives be met with 10 a generation portfolio containing nuclear elements, 11 but arguably, must employ substantial environmentally 12 friendly nuclear supplies.
13 In conclusion, Diablo is the preferred 14 California energy choice for today and the foreseeable 15 future. Diablo is a key ingredient of a safe, 16 reasonable
- cost, California energy portfolio.
17 Resource planning decisions for the next 10 to 30 18 years are being made now, right now.
19 As customers, we don't need, much less 20 want, to pay twice. Allow us to reap the benefit of 21 the investment we've already made in Diablo Canyon.
22 Few resources can provide the generation reliability 23 provided by Diablo. Those needed for minute to 24 minute, day by day, year in, year out needs of this 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 61 state.
1 And lastly, nuclear energy is a critical 2
ingredient if California and the United States are to 3
reduce production of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.
4 Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
5 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Larry.
6 MR. WOMACK: I hope it was not too long.
7 MR. CAMERON: Just a little bit, but was 8
very articulate so--at any rate, this is John. John 9
Lindsey. And then we're going to go to Charlie Smith.
10 MR. LINDSEY: First of all, I'd like to 11 thank the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for allowing 12 us to make these comments to the public. Second of 13 all, my name's John Lindsey and I am a PG&E employee.
14 As a kid growing up in Sonoma County in Northern 15 California, I fell in love with the ocean by doing 16 quite a bit of diving off the coast of Sonoma County 17 and Marin County.
18 At that point I joined the Navy and spent 19 24 years in the Navy, and had the opportunity to dive 20 throughout the world, from the Red Sea, the Indian 21 Ocean, to the Eastern Pacific, Western Pacific.
22 And in 1990, I began my career at Diablo 23 Canyon, and was asked to join the PG&E dive team, and 24 I said of course. I could tell you that over my years 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 62 of diving into the intake cove--the intake cove, by 1
the way, is 32 feet deep. Consequently, the currents 2
going into the intake structure are very gentle, less 3
than a
foot per
- second, and doing bar rack 4
inspections, you could actually see the fish swimming 5
in and out of the bar racks, and, you know, large 6
divers, like myself, were never impinged upon the bar 7
racks. And just, just the number of fish and marine 8
mammals, and invertebrates, were just amazing.
9 I could tell you that the coast lying 10 along Diablo Canyon is some of the richest and most 11 diversified, and healthy waters I've ever had the 12 opportunity to dive in before. Along with diving in 13 the intake, I've had the opportunity to dive in the 14 discharge cove, and once again, the discharge cove is 15 an amazing place to dive in, and I wish that all of 16 you could actually see that. It is really remarkable.
17 Along with the subtidal areas of our coastline, 18 along this particular coast, I could tell you that the 19 intertidal zones are just as productive, and rich and 20 healthy, as the subtidal areas. I usually take my 21 kids, my son and my daughter, to the intertidal zones, 22 and we explore the tide pools in Montana de Oro State 23 Park. And I could tell you that the contrast between 24 Montana de Oro tide pools--we--I think we love them to 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 63 death, and the tide pools along the Diablo Canyon 1
coastline, once again, is a stark contrast.
2 The tide pools along the Diablo Canyon 3
coastline are absolutely pristine, with a tremendous 4
amount of life and diversity. Now where the land 5
meets the sea is the intertidal zone. But also the 6
land, the land stewardship program that Diablo, that 7
PG&E sponsors, is also remarkable. I think Sally 8
Krenn said it eloquently, when she talked about Bob 9
Blanchard and his managed grazing on the north 10 property.
11 Once again, it's just remarkable, the 12 stewardship that PG&E has practiced on the Diablo 13 Canyon lands. And I just want to say thank you very 14 much for your time, and have a great night.
15 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much. And 16 this is Charlie Smith.
17 MR. SMITH: I'm Charlie Smith from 18 Templeton. I don't represent anybody, just myself.
19 Last month, I was able to speak to two local students 20 who went to the Copenhagen conference, and I asked 21 them, was nuclear power brought up as part of the 22 solution for climate change.
They were very 23 surprised, because many of the leaders there in 24 Copenhagen mentioned that nuclear power had to be part 25
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1 This was something they didn't expect, 2
and, to me, that was really good news. I know, in 3
listening to some of the speakers here, a question 4
came up. I know everybody's talking about switching 5
to solar power, solar panels. My question is, if we 6
have a 7.5 earthquake, what's going to survive? The 7
Diablo Canyon or a bunch of solar panels?
8 I don't know if that issue has been 9
addressed, or not, the durability of solar panels to 10 earthquakes. Even the windmills, I'm sure, can be 11 very vulnerable in an earthquake.
12 The issue--again, if you want to push for 13 solar power, I feel that within ten years, a lot of us 14 are going to be driving plug-in hybrid cars. If you 15 want to charge your car up overnight, you're not going 16 to do it with solar panels.
17 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you, Charlie.
18 The next three speakers. Dave Christy. Judy Evered, 19 and Joe Boysen.
20 MR. CHRISTY: Hi. I'm Dave Christy from 21 San Luis Obispo. I got interested in this issue, when 22 I saw, in a recent newspaper article, the proposal 23 that the relicensing effort be postponed until the 24 completion of the 3-D seismic studies that are 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 65 proposed for the offshore fault that has been 1
identified, because at the conclusion of this study, 2
we then know if it was going to be safe.
3 This concerns me because I think that it's 4
an attempt to either deliberately misunderstand what 5
science can do, or to politicize science and 6
manipulate it. At the end of this study, we won't 7
know, conclusively, what will happen to that fault.
8 But we'll know a lot more, and it'll trigger us to do 9
another study, and another study after that, because 10 that's how science proceeds.
11 It's not a matter of doing a single study, 12 collecting some data, having people decide, here's the 13 answer, and it's finished. We don't understand 14 cancer. We don't understand AIDS. We don't 15 understand global warming. We don't understand a lot 16 of things. But if we believe that science is a method 17 by which we can understand the world that we live in, 18 then we have to commit ourselves to the systematic 19 step by step analysis.
20 If the proposal to postpone the 21 relicensing effort is to use this argument, I think 22 that it's fallacious. And I think that the Nuclear 23 Regulatory Commission is one of the public standards 24 of scientific knowledge in our society. Just like we 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 66 expect NASA, and the Office of Surgeon General, and 1
the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers For 2
Disease Control, to act responsibly about scientific 3
information, and to educate the public about what we 4
can and cannot expect from science, I would really 5
hope that the NRC rejects this particular approach to 6
postponing the relicensing effort.
7 If there are other reasons to postpone it, 8
let the proposers suggest those. But I would rather 9
not see science be manipulated or distorted for this 10 purpose. Thank you.
11 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Dave. Judy, are 12 you ready? This is Judy Evered.
13 MS. EVERED: I'm from Santa Barbara, and 14 I'm the only one here from there, but we're very 15 interested because we know that we're in the plume of 16 the downwind from Diablo. So some--I've been very, 17 very interested in nuclear power for many years, 18 because we lost our son at the age of six years. Our 19 first born was in England when the Windscale nuclear--
20 well, it was called Atom Research, had an explosion, 21 and it didn't get reported in the Sunday, or the 22 London Times. It merely said the explosion was under 23
- control, and that they threw 200 gallons of 24 contaminated milk into the Irish Sea. But of course 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 67 they didn't tell people that it was polluted until 1
about maybe a week after the accident.
2 So my son drank a lot of milk, and we 3
didn't know that it was going to kill him. So he died 4
about four years later, and we're pretty certain that 5
was the reason. There was no other thing. So cancer 6
is caused by radiation, and they're finding, now, that 7
a lot of small exposures are as bad as one big one, 8
and sometimes much worse.
9 So I followed earthquakes, because they're 10 often associated with the dangers of nuclear power.
11
- Now, for
- instance, Lucy
- Jones, the earthquake 12 specialist from CIT, said that the earth can be moved 13 10 feet in a second with ground motion. And I guess 14 we haven't talked much about ground motion. There's 15 been talk of tsunamis here, and in 2004, a 98-foot 16 high tsunami originated in Thailand, and we're not 17 safe anywhere, really. I have to be amused, to think 18 that we can understand and predict earthquakes, when 19 some of them originate 25 miles underground.
20 In 1975, PG&E engaged six seismologists, 21 really clever, well-researched people, and they asked 22 that these seismologists would prove that it's safe, 23 Diablo Canyon is safe. But the outcome of that--
24 probably it took a year--for them to come to the 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 68 conclusion that it would take a 100 men or a 100 1
people more than a 100 years, perhaps, to actually try 2
to prove something like that.
3 But to get to another point, it doesn't 4
take an earthquake, or an accident, to kill people 5
from nuclear power. There's some brilliant research 6
done by someone called Jay Gould & Associates, and he 7
reported this work in a book called "The Enemy 8
Within," and I guess he's meaning nuclear power is an 9
enemy because it kills. And he did--he was a very 10 clever statistician, and he went to the health 11 departments in many counties where they had a nuclear 12 power plant. And he proved that up to 50 miles, there 13 was more cancer than over 50 miles, and under a 100 14 miles, there was less, but over a 100 miles, still 15 less. So he did this for 50 plants throughout the 16 country.
17 Now he didn't do Diablo Canyon, but we can 18 be sure that it's happening here.
19 For instance, in, I think it was 1994, 20 there was a public meeting in San Luis Obispo, that 21 about a dozen of us came up from Santa Barbara to 22 hear, and people there were furious at the amount of 23 cancer. There was a doctor there that said he was 24 going to stop being a doctor because too many of his 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 69 patients had lung cancer. And then people from Pismo 1
Beach, I remember saying they were furious at the NRC.
2 They said you are killing us. And that fits right in 3
with Jay Gould's research. And so you don't need an 4
earthquake to be killed by nuclear power pollution.
5 So I think that's just about all I need to 6
say for now. I'm writing a book about Diablo Canyon, 7
the protests that were made in '81, and the thousands 8
of people who were against the nuclear plant. Not the 9
people in the nuclear plant, because we think that 10 there should be economic conversion, because more 11 workers are needed for wind, solar, thermal, and so 12 on, than are needed in nuclear power, without the 13 expense of nuclear power, and without the dangers.
14 So thank you for your attention.
15 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Judy. And now 16 we're going to hear from Joe Boysen.
17 MR. BOYSEN: My name is Joe Boysen, and I 18 live in Sunset Palisades, and have for about 22 years.
19 And I was here today, so I'm not really addressing 20 any of my remarks to the NRC people, because I think 21 they have heard about as much as they want to hear 22 from me. I'm hoping to reach people in the audience 23 who are perhaps of a like mind.
24 I hope we can count on the NRC. I think 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 70 they're fine people, especially this handsome leading 1
man who is quite an asset to them, I think, Troy 2
Pruett. But I don't think that--I think they're going 3
to approve this, you know, and I think we have to look 4
elsewhere. The score, right now, is 57 to nothing.
5 They've approved 57 extensions.
6 I don't know why they have twenty more. I 7
mean, I think there's 63 plants and locations, 104 8
reactors. So if they've approved 57, it seems like, 9
you know, they've all been given a new lease on life.
10 I am a little disturbed by so many things, 11 but one of them is I think that it's a bit of abuse of 12 the process to have so many PG&E loyalists speaking, 13 naturally, on behalf of, you know, the company, that 14 they have a lot of loyalty to.
15 I've heard some comments I want to try to 16 respond to. The beautiful drive in on--which one of 17 the fellows mentioned--why he regretted that we can't 18 enjoy it. And I would say why can't we enjoy it?
19 12,000 acres. I would point out that if Judy does 20 write her book, that's a squalid history. That land 21 is land of Chumash people. That's land of people that 22 were put in internment camps in 1942. That's land of 23 old white ranchers facing bankruptcy. That land has a 24 bad chain of title, and I think that the real story 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 71 even worse.
1 They own that land, and they bought it 2
with our money. We're the sovereigns here, we're the 3
rich people, not PG&E. I, and others, pay 85 percent 4
of the school cost in San Luis Obispo Coastal, as 5
taxpayers, and that should be taken into account. The 6
appearance here of a school superintendent today was a 7
little upsetting. And then to have somebody from the 8
board of trustees--it seems to me like that 9
politicizes. We're the 85 percent. We're the rich 10 people. The money that PG&E has is money that has 11 been obtained from us.
12 We need a grassroots opposition group, I 13 think here, and if anyone wants to throw in on that, 14 because we're be--as far as this NRC process, no 15 matter that--they're going to interpret this the way 16 they do. It's scary here. I tried to put an ad in 17 the Tribune, and was just locked out. They just so 18 heavily censored it, that to get announcements out to 19 people--you know? Because I know what has to happen 20 is phone calls.
21 But that was a very upsetting experience.
22 I went in and--including after this Chilean thing. I 23 thought, for sure, they would relent. They wouldn't 24 let me talk about earthquakes and tidal waves.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 72 Wouldn't do it. Too much red meat. Had an interview 1
with the KSBY 6 today. Didn't show up on the news.
2 Okay. I don't need the exposure. But the people need 3
to hear these things.
4 We are the sovereigns here. We are the 5
rich ones. We're playing Russian roulette with 6
Murphy's Law, and with Mother Nature. With Murphy's 7
Law, in so far as we are dealing with the most 8
dangerous technology in the history of mankind. With 9
respect to Mother Nature, the Pacific Ocean, the tidal 10 wave threat that's present in this county, on this 11 coast. Where I live was destroyed in 1907. There was 12 a brand new refinery. It lasted three weeks.
13 It was a place called Oilport. Actually 14 existed. There was a harbor--what do you call it?
15 You know, the pier was destroyed, and the buildings, 16 and never functioned after that.
17 Avila was destroyed by a tidal wave in 18 1878. God only knows what else the record would show.
19 This jobs argument. We hear that all the time. The 20 20 percent--there's going to be plenty a jobs. I 21 mean, the county was probably better off before. 20 22 percent argument. That we get 20 percent of the 23 power. Well, it's been used to finance growth that we 24 don't need and don't want.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 73 We can--the one, clearest solution, is the 1
one that's available from conservation. And this 2
business about bashing. This is now being used to 3
push this Obama plan, to reinvigorate the nuclear 4
industry. And this business about bashing carbon.
5 Global warming is one thing, and that's fairly well-6 acknowledged.
7 But the carbon--the scientists are 8
standing against the carbon as the causative force 9
there. They say it's like being a Holocaust denier.
10 They're just shut down. They can't get their word 11 out.
12 Subsidy of unlimited growth. Altitude 13 questions. I've asked this over and over again. I 14 think that plant's lower than 85 feet, and that 15 storage is lower than 300 feet. I was told, first, it 16 was a mile back. It's a quarter-mile back. Jeff said 17 we have already paid the environmental price. Well, I 18 hope he's right, but I think we haven't paid the 19 environmental price. That's what we're concerned 20 about paying, is the environmental price, which would 21 be--imagine trying to--that plant needs to be shut 22 down now.
23 You couldn't get a license for it now and 24 you don't extend a license, and it shouldn't be 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 74 extended. But why would you extend a license if you, 1
if you--in other words, if you don't extend the 2
license, that means you have to shut it down now, 3
rather than take another 15 years of risk.
4 We wouldn't, we wouldn't give the license 5
now, so we're the ones that are on the line. It's not 6
PG&E. PG&E's broke. Abuse of--jobs argument--
7 environmental-friendly.
Larry said it was 8
environmentally-friendly. I don't know how you can 9
say that with a straight face, when you're creating 10 fuel, spent fuel that will, many thousands of years 11 from now will still be--and you're storing it on site, 12 and they have eight casks out there but there ought to 13 be eighty.
14 They have another eight they're going to 15 fill. But there's so much stuff in the ground, they, 16 they already have 87 of them spoken for. They need 17 three and a half a year, and this--we'll end up with 18 two hundred--
19 MR. CAMERON: Mr. Boysen, I'm going to 20 have to ask you to wrap up.
21 MR. BOYSEN: Okay. Can I just wrap up 22 here?
23 MR. CAMERON: Okay.
24 MR. BOYSEN: This business about the tide 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 75 pools, and, you know, it's so much better down by the 1
plant than it is over by Montana de Oro, so I guess we 2
ought to put a reactor out there, so they can clean 3
the water up. I would say, those who have confidence 4
in--a lady said today, she said they wouldn't be 5
operating if it wasn't safe, and this fellow said 6
NASA, you know, that's something we can look up to.
7 Well, NASA was in charge of the Challenger fiasco, and 8
I hope I'm not like the guy that they wouldn't listen 9
to on the O rings.
10 One-legged birds and pristine tide pools.
11 What I remember are the one-legged birds that used to 12 hang over by Fat Cats, and I think I don't see them 13 anymore because I think they're extinct.
14 MR. CAMERON: Okay.
15 MR. BOYSEN: If anybody wants to--
16 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much.
17 MR. BOYSEN: --join up, let me know.
18 Thank you.
19 MR. CAMERON: Thank you. And we're going 20 to go to Chuck Linden at this point.
21 MR. LINDEN: Good evening. I'd like to 22 thank the NRC, being here, and allowing this open 23 session with everybody here. I am from the Midwest.
24 Life's a lot different. We don't have earthquakes.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 76 We've got tornadoes and hail, and other things that 1
create "dimpled darlings" out of your cars.
2 But the fact is we do have problems like 3
you. There's faults in Missouri. There's faults all 4
over the world. There was recently a Japanese nuclear 5
power plant that experienced a direct hit by a 6
earthquake. They inspected it. It's up and running.
7 I'm not saying it's a perfect world. As far as 8
solar, I tried to price solar for my home, so I could 9
have a carbonless green footprint.
10 Yes. Thirty-, $40,000, you can have one.
11 They're there. But let me tell you a little bit 12 about the NRC from my years of experience. Since 13
- 1978, I
have slept with reactors on nuclear 14 submarines, lived with them for years. I have worked 15 with the NRC, and trust me, I hate to work with them 16 on a good day but I'd rather not work with them on a 17 bad day either. They are very thorough, very direct, 18 and they don't leave a stone uncovered. And that's 19 their job. Their complete job is to ensure that we 20 produce safe electricity using nuclear power for 21 peaceful application.
22 If we had not used nuclear power as a 23 weapon in World War II, I don't believe any of us 24 would be here, talking, today. We'd be using it all 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 77 over. And several other things. I have worked for 1
TVA, Exelon. I've been all over the country with 2
nuclear power plants. My primary job for Calhoun 3
Station was to be in charge of valves required to 4
perform safety-operated functions, to shut down the 5
plant if anything were to occur, for any reason.
6 And I
spent ten years of my life 7
researching it, to make it better, to improve 8
operation. In 1980's, nuclear power plants were 9
running about 84, 85 percent capacity factor. Well, 10 today, now, they're pushing high in the nineties, with 11 unreal success. I didn't believe they could ever ring 12 another megawatt out of a nuclear power plant.
13 Today, they're going to power upgrades, 14 successfully. They've reextended licenses several 15 ways, one by getting a five-year extension through 16 license granted through construction. A little 17 oversight there, not a bad oversight, but a good 18 thing, because they weren't running for five years.
19 They were being built.
20 So these were allowed. And today, they've 21 examined our--we've been challenged, we're extending 22 licenses for power plants. Our country cannot whip up 23 any more power right now. Everybody is running with 24 minimum extra surplus energy on the grid. You don't 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 78 have it. It's growing at a phenomenal rate.
1 These extensions, the 20 year extension, 2
they go all the way back to the plant current license 3
basis. I hear about people talking they're not 4
current, they're not this. Nothing's current. Have 5
you looked at your financial records? The same thing.
6 You have to--it's a dynamic situation. As new 7
technology arises, we're updating, improving things 8
rigorously, every time. We constantly raise the bar.
9 Victor
- Petrenko, in the
- Olympics, 10 recently, lost. Why? Because the bar raised and the 11 system changed. The system is working for us. We are 12 making improvements in nuclear power that I never 13 believed possible. And the NRC, along with several 14 other organizations, such as INPO and WANO, constantly 15 peer pressure for us to improve, improve, improve.
16 And findings are routine in our business, 17 because we want to know what's going on with our 18 plants. They're there for a purpose, so that we can 19 learn and improve. Sometimes bad news is also a 20 little bit a good news, because you learn from it, you 21 improve, and you perform in the community, responsible 22 manner. I believe that PGE--I've worked with them for 23 the past six months, over the past 10 years, off and 24 on--is a very responsible thing.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 79 You heard from your own peers in your 1
community that work for this company, even retirees, 2
scuba divers, and everything, what it's like there.
3 It is a wonderful plant, very upbeat attitude, and I'm 4
proud to be associated with them. Thank you very 5
much.
6 MR. FULLER: Thank you, Mr. Linden. Next 7
we'll have Mark Phillips, and after Mr. Phillips, 8
we'll have Jack Biesek or "Bysek." I hope I'm not 9
messing that name up too badly.
10 Mr. Phillips.
11 MR. PHILLIPS: Good evening. My name's 12 Mark Phillips. I'm a registered professional engineer 13 in the State of California, mechanical engineer, and I 14 have several comments I'd like to make. Regarding the 15 Shoreline Fault, I'd like to echo the statements of 16 several other people that say that we should be 17 studying that, up-front, we should find out what we 18 can from a complete study of that, with all the tools 19 that we have at our disposal. That should be like 20 order number one of priority.
21 The fact that it's not, to me, just tells 22 me how much PG&E doesn't really want to know. You 23 know, they don't want to look at something if they're 24 afraid the answer might not be something they want to 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 80 hear. So they don't look, or they don't look very 1
hard, or they don't look very soon.
2 A lot of people that work for PG&E have 3
come up here and told you how great it is to work for 4
them, and how they'd like to stay here and live in 5
this area, and they like the paycheck they're getting.
6 It's all very understandable. It's also why you 7
don't really want PG&E being the ones doing this sort 8
of work, because they have such a vested interest in 9
the outcome. They're not independent, or, or--I mean, 10 they, they have their agenda. So those sorts of 11 things bother me.
12 I'm really getting tired of people saying 13 things that don't turn out to be true, that don't be 14 turned out to be backed up by facts. One of the worst 15 is--well, I mean, nuclear power, in terms of new 16 plants, is horrifically expensive.
17 The cost per kilowatt hour generated 18 ranges from 50 to 21 cents by one study. That 19 compares with about 7.5 cents for wind. So we're 20 talking two to three times more expensive for nuclear.
21 People try to say that nuclear's going to, 22 you know, save us, global climate-wise. That's also a 23 fallacy. A dollar spent on nuclear will remove about 24 5 to 8 kilograms of carbon, but for that same dollar, 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 81 you can remove 13 kilograms of carbon by--with wind.
1 And if you use energy efficiencies, what 2
they call negawatts, the watts that you don't use, you 3
can save 50 to a 100 kilograms per dollar spent.
4 So clearly, if global warming is the 5
issue, if that's what we're trying to accomplish, then 6
spending it on renewables and wind is the smart, 7
sensible way to go. Spending it on nuclear power is 8
suicidal. In particular, when you consider how long it 9
takes to build a nuclear power plant, it's even more 10 suicidal.
11 One of the biggest problems we have here, 12 though, is the problem of trust. People in this 13 community need to trust PG&E, we need to trust the NRC 14 that things are going to be handled in a sensible 15 manner, in an honest manner.
16 That would be great if that were true, but 17 the evidence, again, doesn't support that. I'm 18 looking particularly at what's been going on up at the 19 Vermont Yankee Plant. There's a gentleman up there, 20 Ernie Gunderson, who used to work for the owners of 21 that
- plant, he found many violations of NRC 22 regulations, he went to his boss to tell him about 23 these and was promptly fired.
24 He worked, as best he could, to try and 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 82 expose these, and got no help from the NRC. Again and 1
again, in his story, he talks about how the NRC did 2
not help him at all.
3 He found out that--he was the one that 4
found out that there were underground pipes at this 5
plant. The operators of this plant denied it for over 6
a year. And where was the NRC? Where was the NRC, 7
the watchdog, the people that are supposed to be 8
verifying this stuff? Nowhere to be found.
9 It was Ernie Gunderson who finally found 10 that they, there were pipes under there, and these 11 pipes are leaking radiation tritium, even now.
12 He--the operators of the plant have lied 13 several times, they've been fined twice so far, 14 they've had horrible accidents there, the transformer 15 fire, a cooling tower collapse, and they've lost 16 nuclear fuel.
17 These are some of the reasons why the 18 Vermont legislature voted not to extend the license 19 for this plant. It's the only time that's happened.
20 Vermont's the only state that has the ability to do 21 that, and they looked at the record of Vermont Yankee 22 and said no, we do not--we don't want any more of 23 this. So they just recently, in the last few days, 24 voted to not re, you know, renew that license.
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 83 Again, Ernie Gunderson found these many 1
violations, tried to enlist the NRC's support, could 2
not get their support. The NRC finally went in to 3
look, to try to verify his claims. They found no 4
evidence of, of any problems, but yet, when John Glynn 5
and some others went into the plant, they found seven 6
serious violations.
7 They also found that the NRC was taking 8
illegal gratuities from the owner of the power plant.
9 Again, how are we supposed to trust the NRC if 10 they're taking gratuities from the people they're 11 supposed to control and regulate?
12 So I guess that covers most of my 13 comments. Thank you very much.
14 MR. FULLER: Thank you, Mr. Phillips.
15 Next we have Jack--and please, when you get up, go 16 ahead and pronounce your name for me, so I'll stop 17 messing it up so bad.
18 MR. BIESEK: Biesek.
19 MR. FULLER: Biesek. Thank you.
20 MR. BIESEK: Good evening. My name is 21 Jack Biesek. I'm a 40 year resident of San Luis 22 Obispo, and I am opposed to nuclear power at the 23 Diablo Canyon Power Plant. In my opinion, it has not 24 proven to be a logical, economical or a sustainable 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 84 resource for our county. Rather, it's proved to be 1
just a hell of a way to heat water and create steam.
2 It definitely has not lived up to the promises that 3
were given, that go back 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 4
when it was announced and first developed.
5 On a broader note, shouldn't we be here 6
tonight to discuss putting solar panels on every 7
household in California? What if the $50 billion 8
spent at Yucca Mountain was put into solar panels?
9 The gentleman who spoke about a 30- or $40,000 expense 10 could be given a subsidy, a tax break, or whatever.
11 Who is supporting this kind of logic and common sense, 12 the soft footprint of solar?
13 It's a better, more sustainable way, and a 14 way to lighten our foot--our foot, carbon footprint.
15 But on a broader note, too, maybe we need 16 to speak about money and follow the money. Yes, the 17 county gets money. Yes, the schools get money. But 18 that is short-term unsustainable thinking. It's 19 really more like a bribe, to help with immediate 20 needs, but ignore the long-term needs. We're talking 21 about hundreds, thousands of years of storage.
22 Who is taking the long view here? And we 23 also need to consider where that money comes from. It 24 comes from the ratepayers. That is us. This 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 85 expensive nuclear industry, including what's going on 1
here tonight, the planning, the studies, the research, 2
is being funded by you and me. Frankly, I've had 3
enough of that. We need to consider where the money 4
is also going.
5 It is going to PG&E stockholders, PG&E 6
executives, PG&E lawyers, PG&E lobbyists, nuclear 7
industry lobbyists, and other, others that profit from 8
nuclear power industry, including the NRC staff and 9
its employees, many who have probably flown in here 10 tonight at our expense, ultimately.
11 Why is it that a few people get to make so 12 much money at the expense of the environment and at 13 the expense of the ratepayers?
14 Where--when, in the history of mankind, 15 did we encourage this kind of profit-taking activity?
16 Who's looking out for this oversight? Do we need an 17 oversight group to oversight, look at the NRC? And 18 what is fair from a
- humanist, balanced Earth 19 standpoint?
20 Maybe we should change the name of Diablo 21 to Lemming Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, because that's 22 what I see--all of us just giving in and letting go, 23 and following the status quo.
24 But someone needs to speak up for the 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 86 environment, and for the humanist aspect. I'm 1
concerned about the long-term deterioration of Diablo, 2
as well as the projected cost to maintain a nuclear 3
waste dump for hundreds and thousands of years.
4 In effect, we are borrowing money and 5
maintenance efforts from future generations, by 6
putting the responsibility for storage of the waste 7
into their hands.
8 What happened to the pay-as-you-go 9
lifestyle? What happened to being responsible for our 10 actions? What happened to stepping up to the plate 11 and living within the means of what we're given?
12 We are making a big mess for others to 13 clean up. What lasts for 10,000 years? Who can even 14 think in those terms? What happens when the cost of 15 storing the waste is more than what the funding 16 reserves can cover. The original plant was estimated 17 at $800 million to construct. Recently, the steam 18 generators were $800--$800 million to replace. I 19 don't think we need an accountant to tell us that the 20 future is going to be way more expensive than we 21 thought it would be.
22 We were
- promised, in
- 1977, that 23 radioactive nuclear waste would be stored in a 24 repository, a safe storage site outside California, to 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 87 be provided by the U.S. Government, and that Diablo 1
was only going to temporarily hold these wastes.
2 What is the status of that promise today?
3 It's a broken promise. And what are the current 4
plans for removing the waste? No plans. We're going 5
to be the dump, a nuclear waste dump for a permanent 6
storage of the waste.
7 And what is the status of PG&E being 8
responsible for current and future efforts? They can 9
file bankruptcy. They have. They can go away. What 10 are we left with then? Why would we be granting a new 11 license to store waste in our backyard? This is 12 ludicrous, unfair, unjust, and unsustainable.
13 What kind of planning process and EIR 14 would allow hazardous materials to be stored for 15 thousands of years, and what kind of logic are we 16 following here as a human species?
17 I submit that the only reasonable plan 18 would be to close Diablo until a storage site is 19 approved, thereby stopping the generation of hazardous 20 material that might end up as a terrorist bomb, a 21 terrorist target, or any other unforeseen nuclear 22 disaster.
23 Let's look at recent history. How many 24 nuclear plants have been opened since Three Mile 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 88 Island? Zero. Let's look at our state. Humboldt 1
Nuclear Plant. Closed. Rancho Seco Plant. Closed.
2 The Yankee Plant now is slated to be closed.
3 Let's look at the world. Chernobyl. What 4
a waste of human resource, and a shame upon the human 5
race. I don't know how many of you executives have 6
been to Chernobyl, but I hope there's a lesson to 7
learn from that.
8 Are we going to repeat that kind of 9
disaster here, in California? Are we going to have 10 this kind of threat in our neighborhood for decades to 11 come? We hope not, and that is why I am here tonight, 12 to ask the NRC to hold on any licensing until Diablo 13 can--until a permanent waste storage is found and 14 until nuclear power is truly clean and recyclable.
15 Zero waste would be what I would support. Anything 16 less is selfish, greedy thinking. Let's live within 17 our means and be stewards for the future, and be 18 sensitive to the human race. Thank you.
19 MR. FULLER: Thank you, Mr. Biesek. Next 20 we'll have John Holloway, and after him Mr. Steve 21 Zawalick. And then Will, Mr. Will Landreth. Mr.
22 Holloway.
23 MR. HOLLOWAY: Hello. My name is John 24 Holloway and I'm a maintenance electrician at Diablo 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 89 Canyon, and the whole reason that I drove down here--I 1
live in Atascadero, I have for 41 years, I'm 45 years 2
old, I'm married and have three young children. And 3
the whole reason I drove down here today was to try to 4
convey to people in this audience right now, the 5
safety that is encouraged at Diablo Canyon Nuclear 6
Power Plant.
7 I've been an electrician for 20 years, and 8
10 years of those has been at Diablo Canyon. And I 9
can tell you right now, that it's the safest place 10 I've ever worked. The safety commitment is there.
11 Every morning, when we go to work, the first thing we 12 do is we have a crew meeting, and at that crew 13 meeting, the first question asked is are there any 14 safety or human performance issues that anybody would 15 like to discuss.
16 And invariably, there's always somebody in 17 the crew, there's 35 of us electricians out there, 18 there's always somebody that raises their hand and 19 says, yes, you know what? this happened to me 20 yesterday. And we all learn from that.
21 And at Diablo Canyon, the management at 22 Diablo Canyon not only expects that but they encourage 23 it. And just like one of the speakers before me 24 mentioned, there's never been an issue that I have 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 90 seen, or I have heard of, as far as nuclear safety or 1
personal safety, that has been brought up, that has 2
not been addressed at some point, whether that be that 3
same day, depending on the severity of the issue, or 4
maybe a week or two later. But the safety issues that 5
are brought up at Diablo Canyon are always addressed, 6
and I feel very strongly about that, because like I 7
said, I have there young children and I'm raising them 8
in Atascadero.
9 I might not be in the plume, I'm not even 10 really sure what that is, but I'm close enough, that I 11 know that if my children--my children are safe, and 12 that, as parents, I'm sure all of you--everybody that 13 is a parent understands that. My children are safe 14 and I feel very--very good about that.
15 Another thing that we do at Diablo Canyon 16 also is any job that we perform, we are expected to 17 have a questioning attitude. And that's a great human 18 performance tool. And when management expects you to 19 have a questioning attitude, what that means to me is 20 if there's something that I'm not really sure about 21 with the job that I'm asked to perform, is I'm to--I'm 22 to stop. I'm to stop and say, hey, time out. I'm 23 going to ask for direction here. You know what?
24 There's something about this that is just not right, 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 91 and every single time before that job is performed, 1
before that maintenance is performed, that issue is 2
addressed, to my satisfaction, and it always has been.
3 I would like for the NRC--first of all, 4
thank you for giving me the opportunity to come here 5
today. And I would like the NRC to take these issues, 6
and what I'm saying about safety, please take these 7
into account when you do your review for the 8
relicensing of Diablo Canyon. Thank you.
9 MR. FULLER: Thank you, Mr. Holloway.
10 Next we'll have Mr. Steve Zawalick, and then after him 11 Mr. Will Landreth, and then we have--I'm going to 12 apologize, the last name is Moffatt and I cannot read 13 the first name. So--okay. So after that, Ms.
14 Moffatt.
15 So Mr. Zawalick.
16 MR. ZAWALICK: Hi. Thank you very much 17 for letting us all speak, and say our piece. I 18 appreciate it. Thank you, everyone here, and those 19 that will watch this eventually on TV, for listening.
20 My name is Steve Zawalick. I didn't grow 21 up in California. I grew up in Wisconsin. I was an 22 only child. I grew up in the country, so I spent the 23 vast majority of my childhood out in the woods or on 24 the water, and I'm an environmentalist, and I care 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 92 deeply about Mother Earth, and the planet that we've 1
been given to take care of.
2 And I figured it was only natural for me 3
to speak here tonight, because this is all about the 4
environmental impact of this operation, and should we 5
continue.
6 I think it's important that we all realize 7
that we are not in an ideal situation. As a 8
civilization, we have issues. There are too many 9
people on this planet and population control is not on 10 the table as a discussion topic yet. That being said, 11 electrical demand in this country is not decreasing 12 any time soon. It's a serious issue.
13 You know, we've tried our best at, you 14 know, energy efficiency measures, and I can't find 15 another place in my house for a fluorescent light 16 bulb. But, nonetheless, we keep having people--we 17 keep buying things at Best Buy. We keep increasing 18 the electrical demand load, including--now we're going 19 to talk about using electrical cars, which would be a 20 huge increase in electrical demand.
21 I spent the vast majority of my adult life 22 studying nuclear power. When I was a child in high 23 school, I grew a plant in radioactive water and mapped 24 the nutrient flow. That's what we did in high school 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 93 in Wisconsin.
1 I got degrees in nuclear power, nuclear 2
engineering, a degree in physics from the University 3
of Wisconsin-Madison. I've been licensed to operate a 4
research reactor and have a certificate for a senior 5
reactor operator license at Diablo. My current job, 6
I'm involved in oversight at this facility, and I'm--
7 part of my job is I look at the problems. I look at 8
the organizational impact of what we're doing, why 9
we're doing it, and is it the right thing to do.
10 And I
work daily with the Nuclear 11 Regulatory Commission and I--you know, I'm proud to 12 call them peers. I think they're doing an excellent 13 job out there, and they're doing the right thing, and 14 I think a lot of people have issues with trust here, 15 and that's a big thing. You know, we need to trust 16 people. There's a pause there, okay, on purpose.
17 We need to trust seismologists because 18 they've spent their lives studying that. We need to 19 trust engineers. They've spent their lives studying 20 that. Okay.
21 I understand there's fears out there, 22 there's concerns, but at some point you can't do 23 everything. You need to trust. And the people who 24 are in charge of this power plant, the people who do 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 94 the oceanography
- studies, the people that do 1
maintenance out there, the people that operate the 2
plant, have come here, repeatedly, and told you it's 3
okay, we've look at it and it's okay.
4 So that's all. Thank you.
5 MR. FULLER: Thank you. Next we have Will 6
Landreth and then Ms. Moffatt. And then we'll hear 7
from Mr. Carl Dudley.
8 Mr. Landreth. Did Mr. Landreth leave 9
before we had a chance to hear from him? It seems so.
10 Okay. Ms. Moffatt. Oh. And could you please state 11 your first name. Thank you.
12 MS. MOFFATT: I sure will. My name is 13 Carolyn Moffatt. I'm president of the San Luis Harbor 14 Commission. As the nearest neighbor to PG&E Diablo 15 Canyon Power Plant, the district wishes to ensure that 16 the following five issues are addressed prior to 17 relicensing. The first cannot be overemphasized, so 18 it's not redundant, nor is it manipulative. The 19 district believes the precursor to any discussion of 20 relicensing must be a comprehensive evaluation of the 21 hazards of seismic activity.
22 PG&E is currently conducting additional 23 studies and three-dimension mapping. The relicensing 24 application should be put on hold until such time that 25
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- complete, have undergone a
1 significant level of rigorous peer review, and have 2
shown that the plant can continue to operate and store 3
waste safely.
4 This is not only common sense. It should 5
be economically prudent in the long run.
6 The second issue that we've been asked to 7
address is economic impact of the one mile water 8
exclusion zone around the plant on the livelihoods of 9
commercial fishing fleet, which are cumulative and 10 incremental when added to the impacts of the marine-11 protected areas. What does this zone actually 12 accomplish? How effectively can it be enforced for 13 security purposes?
14 The zone should either be lifted or 15 factually justified. By comparison, there is not a 16 no-fly zone over the plant.
17 The third item that we'd like to address, 18 the harbor district lies less than a half an hour 19 downwind from Diablo Canyon, given the prevailing 20 meteorological conditions. There continue to be 21 shortcomings in the ability of the district, the 22 county, PG&E, and OES, to provide for safe evacuation 23 from the port and beach facilities in the event of an 24 incident at the plant.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 96 Specifically, but not exclusively, this 1
relates to the ability of emergency response vessels 2
to respond to the harbor due to excessive shoaling 3
near the near-shore facilities which require annual 4
maintenance dredging. The lack of facilities for 5
water-based evacuation at Point San Luis lighthouse as 6
well. Absent a U.S. Coast Guard present at the Port 7
San Luis, a number of security and safety functions 8
fall to the district's harbor patrol.
9 These concerns should be addressed prior 10 to relicensing of the plant for an additional 20 11 years.
12 An additional impact that we'd like to 13 address is that of the once-through cooling system for 14 the ecosystem support, supporting forage and habitat 15 of marine species adjacent to the plant.
16 This should be evaluated and directly and 17 indirectly mitigated. Cooling alternatives should be 18 evaluated in project level detail. Finally, the 19 EIR/EIS for temporary dry cask storage facility works 20 for a hundred years, or until Yucca Mountain was 21 opened in 18 years, and did not include relicensing.
22 The elimination of Yucca Mountain requires a new 23 EIR/EIS for waste management for relicensing. This 24 should include evaluation of new technologies for 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 97 management of spent fuel as dry cask storage may be 1
obsolete before the end of the current license.
2 We will submit additional detailed 3
comments before the end of the scoping period, and I 4
thank you very much for this opportunity to speak to 5
you and address our concerns. Thank you.
6 MR. FULLER: Thank you, Ms. Moffatt. Next 7
we'll hear from Carl Dudley, and then after him Mr.
8 James Byerley, and then finally Sonja Swift.
9 MR. DUDLEY: Good evening. I'm Carl 10 Dudley. I'm a resident of San Luis Obispo, San Luis 11 Obispo County. To answer one question, to start off 12 with, how many power plants have been opened since 13 Three Mile Island? There's been at least two, because 14 Three Mile Island happened in 1979. So we've had the 15 two here that have at least been opened.
16 I believe that the relicensing process 17 needs to continue, but the first and foremost issue is 18 soundness and safety. And I challenge anybody from 19 the NRC, the employees of PG&E, that if there is 20 something wrong, to get it out in the public so that 21 it is fixed.
22 After that, nothing else really matters, 23 other than the safety and soundness. I trust the NRC.
24 I trust the "evil," big company PG&E, and I trust 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 98 their employees, and I specially trust Mr. Womack and 1
other people like him, that are retired, know the 2
intricacies of the plant and are still here. I look at 3
them as the "canaries in a tunnel." If they're still 4
here, we're still okay.
5 And I believe that we do have to go 6
forward with this. I do believe that solar, wind, 7
wave, all have a place to play in our energy needs, 8
but I do not believe that they can give the power, on 9
a consistent basis, that a nuclear power plant can 10 give.
11 I believe that Diablo Canyon, in our area, 12 has been an excellent citizen of our community. They 13 have given a lot to the nonprofit community, and it's 14 not only to nonprofits in general, but to nonprofit 15 organizations that fight against them. So I think 16 it's a strange bedfellow but it does happen, and I 17 think that says a lot about them. It says a lot about 18 the regulatory process.
19 There was a question that was brought up 20 about the earthquake fault. I believe that that 21 should definitely be studied.
22 This
- process, though, should not be 23 stopped, in spite of that. If there is a serious 24 issue with the earthquake fault, then I believe the 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 99 plant has another issue, and I don't think we ought to 1
wait till 2024 to decide what we're going to do about 2
it. That's something that needs to be done right 3
away, if it's severe. I have other, but in the 4
interest of time, thank you.
5 MR. FULLER: Thank you, Mr. Dudley. We'll 6
now hear from Mr. James Byerley, and then Sonja Swift 7
after that, and then that's all we have signed up at 8
this point. After Ms. Swift, we will hear from Dave 9
Wrona of the NRC, who will wrap things up for us this 10 evening.
11 Mr. Byerley.
12 MR. BYERLEY: Thank you. Well, I was told 13 in elementary school not to be nervous, to imagine 14 everybody in their underwear, so if you'll excuse me.
15 I spent four days in jail, civil disobedience, back 16 in the '80s, protesting Diablo. So that'll give you a 17 hint on what I'm about to say.
18 I want to thank all the great speakers 19 I've heard and I want to thank the Commission for this 20 democratic moment. I've heard several--I got here 21 late but I heard several workers reassuring us to 22 trust them, and that Diablo's safe. Safe. Safe. Why 23 do we need to hear that over and over? Because it's 24 one a--plutonium and the waste is one of the most 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 100 toxic substances known to human beings.
1 I believe that if everyone in this 2
community knew that, was well-informed, we would not 3
have Diablo Canyon. I call it an invisible Pandora's 4
Box. It's invisible. All of us still mourn 9/11, 5
because you could see the planes. All of us watched 6
it on TV. And you could see the terror, and so many 7
horrors.
8 You cannot see plutonium when you ingest 9
it, when you breathe it in, when it pops up in cancer, 10 five, ten, fifteen, thirty years later. Yes, I know 11 where it came from. I propose a study, before 12 relicensing, to examine the health of all the workers 13 at Diablo Canyon who've worked there, what kind of 14 health problems that they've had.
15 Is it any coincidence, is anybody trying 16 to tell us something, that we've having this meeting 17 tonight right after the Chile earthquake? Right after 18 the Haiti earthquake. What does Diablo mean in 19 Spanish? I say shut it down. Let's think ahead. In 20 Katrina, and many other disasters, they're behind the 21 eight-ball, and they clean up after the disasters.
22 Let's all think ahead.
23 Let's shut it down now. Thank you all for 24 listening.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 101 MR. FULLER: Thank you, Mr. Byerley. We'd 1
now like to hear from Sonja Swift. Then after that, 2
like I said, we'll hear from Dave Wrona, to sort of 3
wrap things up for us tonight.
4 MS. SWIFT: Good evening. I appreciate 5
the chance to speak. I can't--tonight, I wonder if 6
these words will be heard. Like many of the words of 7
the audience, there doesn't seem to be much of a track 8
record for listening to these concerns; but I'll share 9
a few. Let's see. Some other attempts at creating 10 renewable energy, such as what's been going on in 11 Marin County with the Marin Energy Authority, which is 12 the renewable energy alternative to the sources of 13 power, but still, to be delivered through PG&E's grid.
14 They--well, this is their project, and 15 PG&E doesn't want to cooperate with these other 16 attempts at securing alternative energies, and is 17 adamantly opposing such possibilities.
18 Prop--so in June, on the June ballot, 19 there will be a Prop 16, as it's called, which would 20 mandate any local agencies wanting to sell retail 21 electricity to customers. They would need to first 22 get two-thirds of the local electrics to sign on, and 23 this is kind--you know, if this is passed, it's 24 basically quite likely that it would end local efforts 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 102 to create energy cooperatives, and PG&E is using a 1
good $30 million to push Prop 16 forward. So this is 2
an interesting reminder that we are dealing with a 3
monopoly.
4 In California, although a fee-and-tariff 5
system was implemented, it only allows individual home 6
owners who put up solar panels to sell back excess 7
energy to the grid, until their meter turns to zero.
8 Further, the size of eligible systems is 9
capped at 5 megawatts per household and individuals 10 are not allowed to put up more solar panels than what 11 would generate their historical power usage.
12 In my mind, individual homeowners should 13 be able to sell their energy into the grid, without 14 limits. As it is now, you can only do that if you are 15 an energy corporation. A few thoughts to share, think 16 about. I'd encourage you all to vote no on Prop 16.
17 I
heard a
few people earlier on 18 associating Bob Blanchard and his rotational grazing 19 practices with PG&E's environmental track record, and 20 I just find that rather absurd, given that he leases 21 the land, and I think he was there before Diablo. I 22 just wanted to mention that.
23 And I live up Clark Valley Road on the 24 same lands I grew up on. I've been here since I was 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 103 born, and we have a siren in our back valley, and what 1
that siren means is--if it goes off, I need to, with 2
everyone else, run as fast as I can and never return.
3 You know, this is a little insane. So one 4
more thing. While I don't think it's necessary to 5
restate the concerns regarding seismic activity, let's 6
just not be arrogant, or cage ourselves in denial of 7
this blatant risk. Thank you.
8 MR. FULLER: Thank you, Ms. Swift. We'd 9
like to now hear from Dave Wrona. He's our branch 10 chief in the Division of License Renewal, and Dave, 11 you'll kind a wrap things up for us. thank you.
12 MR. WRONA: Okay. Thank you, Mike. First 13 off, I'd just like to thank everybody for coming out 14 tonight, taking time out of your busy schedules to 15 participate in our environmental scoping process. All 16 the comments we've heard today, earlier in the 17 afternoon and then this evening, will help us define 18 our scoping for the environmental review.
19 All of the comments will be addressed in 20 our environmental scoping summary report, which is 21 currently scheduled to be issued around the October 22 timeframe, or before the DSEIS which is scheduled to 23 be issued in the October timeframe.
24 If you signed up and provided your contact 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 104 information on one of those blue or yellow cards, 1
you'll receive a copy of the environmental scoping 2
summary report.
3 If speakers today made you think about 4
other comments that you didn't have a chance to 5
provide to us today, as Drew pointed out on one of his 6
slides, you can provide that to us via the U.S. mail 7
or through an e-mail, with a deadline of April 12th.
8 How we address the environmental scoping 9
issues will be documented in our draft supplemental 10 Environmental Impact Statement. We will be back here 11 around the December timeframe to specifically, in 12 meetings very similar to this, hear comments from you 13 on that document.
14 The last thing I'd like to say that the 15 NRC staff will be here for a short period of time, 16 cleaning up our stuff and breaking down.
17 If you didn't have a chance to ask some 18 questions that were, you know, not related to license 19 renewal, or even that are related to license renewal, 20 take the advantage of stopping and seeing one of us.
21 We'll try to address your questions. If we don't have 22 the right folks here, we'll take your contact 23 information and get the right person in contact with 24 you.
25
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everybody again for coming out and participating in 2
our process.
3
[Whereupon, at 9:38 p.m., the public 4
meeting was concluded.]
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