ML102730611
| ML102730611 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palo Verde  |
| Issue date: | 09/15/2010 |
| From: | Division of License Renewal |
| To: | |
| DRUCKER D, NRR/DLR, 415-6223 | |
| References | |
| Download: ML102730611 (19) | |
Text
1 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
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3 PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS PRELIMINARY SITE-SPECIFIC 4
RESULTS OF THE LICENSE RENEWAL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW FOR 5
PALO VERDE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION 6
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7 WEDNESDAY, 8
SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 9
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10 TONOPAH, ARIZONA 11
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12 The Public Meeting convened in Saddle 13 Mountain Unified School District Offices at 38201 14 W. Indian School Road, Tonopah, Arizona 85354 at 15 2:00 p.m.
16 Present on behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
17 JAY ROBINSON 18 DAVID DRUCKER 19 KEVIN FOLK 20 LARA USELDING 21 MIKE BAQUERA 22 JOE BASHORE 23 24 25
2 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 1
INDEX 2
Welcome and Introductions, Jay Robinson..... 3 3
Overview of License Renewal Process, 4
David Drucker................ 5 5
Public Comments................ 12 6
Closing Comments, Jay Robinson......... 17 7
Adjourn.................... 18 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
3 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 1
2 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 3
2:00 p.m.
4 JAY ROBINSON: All right. Good afternoon, 5
everybody. Why dont we get started. Thanks for 6
coming. Its nice to be inside now with the air 7
conditioning. Ive been standing outside for a while.
8 But welcome.
9 This is a public meeting of the Nuclear 10 Regulatory Commission, and this meeting is to obtain 11 input on the Preliminary Environmental Impact Statement 12 for the License Renewal of the Palo Verde Nuclear 13 Generating Station.
14 My name is Jay Robinson. Im a branch chief 15 from Headquarters. With me today from Headquarters is 16 David Drucker; hes the project manager for the 17 environmental review for Palo Verde. Also, I have 18 Kevin Folk from Headquarters; hes a staff member in 19 the Environmental Review branch. We also have some 20 local people, Lara Uselding is here and we also have 21 the resident inspector, I dont -- can you announce 22 your name?
23 MICHAEL BAQUERA: Michael Baquera.
24 JOE BASHORE: Joe Bashore.
25
4 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 JAY ROBINSON: Okay. And theyre also here 1
as well.
2 Typically, we refer to the Nuclear Regulatory 3
Commission as the NRC, so if we do say the NRC today, 4
thats what were referring to.
5 We have a couple of ground rules for the 6
meeting. If you have a cell phone or a pager, just put 7
it on vibrate so it doesnt disturb the meeting. If 8
you do get a call and you need to take it, just please 9
take the call outside, okay. If you want to make 10 comments between yourselves, please also take those 11 outside to not disturb the meeting.
12 We also have a transcriber here, so the 13 meeting is being transcribed. So if you are going to 14 make comments, please, I have a wireless microphone 15 that Ill give you. Please state your name and your 16 affiliation before you make your comment and please 17 speak slowly and clearly.
18 We do have an agenda and were going to sort 19 of run through the beginning fast, because we do want 20 to leave the majority of the time for comments. So 21 after me, David Drucker will do overview of the license 22 renewal process and he will also do an overview of the 23 environmental
- review, then well talk about how 24 comments can be submitted. And then weve devoted an 25
5 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 hour for public comments, and then we have about five 1
minutes for closing.
2 So the meeting is scheduled to go to 3:45.
3 If we get through all the comments before then, well 4
keep the meeting open for a while after that just like 5
I said, just because of the address issue and just to 6
make sure everybody gets here and can make a comment if 7
they need to.
8 Let me see if theres any other things I have 9
to go over. Right now we have three people that have 10 signed up to make a comment. If anybody else wants to 11 make a comment, please see Kevin on the back table and 12 sign a sheet. And if any of you havent known, 13 recently we switched over; we distribute all the 14 correspondence for license renewal electronically now, 15 so we dont give paper hard copies. So if you want to 16 do that you can get with one of us and we can tell you 17 how to sign up for the listserv. Its for the 18 Operation Reactor listserv and it gives you all the 19 correspondence that we send out electronically. So all 20 we need is your email address and we can do it for you, 21 or can point you to a website and you can sign up 22 yourself. And you can actually do that for all the 23 operating reactors if youre interested in any of the 24 other ones.
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6 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Okay. I dont think theres anything else 1
for me to go over, so right now well have David 2
Drucker.
3 DAVID DRUCKER: Thank you, Jay.
4 Well, the NRC was established to regulate 5
civilian uses of nuclear materials, including 6
applications that produce electric power. The NRC 7
conducts license renewal reviews for plants whose 8
owners wish to operate them beyond their initial 9
license period. NRC license renewal reviews address 10 safety issues related to managing the effects of aging 11 and environmental issues related to an additional 20 12 years of operation. In all aspects of the NRCs 13 regulation, our mission is threefold: protect the 14 public health and safety, promote common defense and 15 security, and promote the environment.
16 In this meeting Ill discuss the potential 17 site-specific impacts of license renewal for Palo Verde 18 Nuclear Generating Station. The site-specific findings 19 are contained in the Draft Supplemental Environmental 20 Impact Statement the NRC published on August 12 th, 2010.
21 This document contains analyses of all applicable site-22 specific issues, as well as a review of issues common 23 to many or all nuclear power plants. Issues for which 24 the environmental impacts are the same across all or 25
7 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 most nuclear power plants are discussed in the Generic 1
Environmental Impact Statement. NRC staff reviewed 2
these issues to determine whether the conclusions in 3
the Generic Environmental Impact Statement are valid 4
for Palo Verde.
5 The NRC staff also reviewed the environmental 6
impacts of potential alternatives to license renewal.
7 We considered ways to replace Palo Verdes electric 8
generation capacity to determine whether the impacts 9
expected from license renewal are unreasonable in 10 comparison to other power generation options.
11 An earlier part of the environmental review 12 was the scoping period. And during this period, the 13 NRC solicited comments concerning what to focus our 14 review on. Comments received during the scoping period 15 and responses to those comments are addressed in 16 Appendix A of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
17 Comments were grouped into the categories shown in the 18 second bullet on the slide and many of the comments 19 voiced support for the continued operation of Palo 20 Verde.
21 This slide lists the environmental issues NRC 22 staff reviewed for Palo Verde. The staffs preliminary 23 conclusion is that all site-specific impacts related to 24 license renewal are small.
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8 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Air quality in the vicinity of Palo Verde is 1
regulated by the Maricopa County Air Quality Department 2
and they recently reissued the Palo Verde air permit in 3
August 2010.
4 Groundwater at Palo Verde is primarily 5
regulated by the Arizona Department of Environmental 6
Quality, and Palo Verde pumps groundwater at rates well 7
below what its authorized.
8 Concerning surface water, Palo Verde does not 9
draw directly from any natural surface water body; 10 instead it uses treated waste water effluent from the 11 Phoenix area. Palo Verde does not release water to any 12 natural surface water body. Instead, cooling water is 13 discharged to man-made line evaporation ponds with no 14 outlet and no hydraulic connection to any natural 15 surface water body.
16 Concerning aquatic and terrestrial resources, 17 NRC staff contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 18 and the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and 19 determined that the impact of these resources would be 20 small.
21 The review of human health included noise, 22 radiation exposure, and electromagnetic fields.
23 Socioeconomic addressed housing
- impacts, 24 public services, off-site land use, transportation, 25
9 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 historic and archeological resources and environmental 1
justice.
2 The detailed analyses of each of these areas 3
are presented in chapter four of the Draft 4
Environmental Impact Statement, and waste management is 5
covered in chapter six.
6 When reviewing the potential cumulative 7
impacts of license renewal on the environment, NRC 8
staff also looked at the effects on the environment 9
from other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable 10 human future actions. The NRC staff preliminarily 11 concluded that the cumulative impacts associated with 12 the issues shown above would be small, and this 13 analysis is addressed in Section 4.11 of the Draft 14 Environmental Impact Statement.
15 A major step in determining whether license 16 renewal is reasonable or not is comparing its likely 17 impacts with the alternatives, including other methods 18 of power generation and not renewing the Palo Verde 19 operating licenses. In the draft environmental impact 20 statement, NRC considered coal-fired generation, 21 natural gas generation, nuclear generation, and as part 22 of a combined alternative that included conservation 23 and energy efficiency, natural gas generation and solar 24 power.
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10 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 The NRC staff initially considered a number 1
of additional alternatives for analysis as alternatives 2
to license renewal and these were later dismissed due 3
the technical, resource availability, or commercial 4
limitations that currently exist and that are likely to 5
exist when the existing Palo Verde licenses expire.
6 Finally, the NRC staff considered what would 7
happen if no action is taken and Palo Verde shuts down 8
at the end of its current licenses without a
9 replacement alternative. The staff found that impacts 10 from energy alternatives would vary widely based on the 11 characteristics of the alternatives. In most cases, 12 construction of new facilities created significant 13 impacts. Overall, NRC staff concludes that continued 14 operation of Palo Verde is the environmentally 15 preferred alternative.
16 So based on a review of likely environmental 17 impacts from license renewal as well as potential 18 environmental impacts of alternatives to license 19 renewal, the NRC staffs preliminary recommendation is 20 the environmental impacts of license renewal for Palo 21 Verde Nuclear Generating Station are not so great that 22 license renewal would be unreasonable.
23 Well, the environmental review is not yet 24 completed. Your comments today and all written 25
11 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 comments received by the end of the comment period on 1
October 29 th will be considered by NRC staff as we 2
develop the final environmental impact statement, which 3
we currently plan to issue this winter.
4 It will contain the staffs final 5
recommendation on the acceptability of license renewal 6
based on the work weve already performed and on input 7
we receive during this comment period. Your comments 8
can help change the staffs finding in the final 9
environmental impact statement.
10 Im the primary contact for the environmental 11 review, and Lisa Regner is the primary contact for the 12 safety review. Hard copies of the Draft Environmental 13 Impact Statement are available on the table in the back 14 as well as CDs that contain the environmental impact 15 statement. And in addition, Litchfield Park Branch 16 Library and Sam Garcia Western Avenue Library have hard 17 copies available. You can also find electronic copies 18 of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement along with 19 other information about the Palo Verde Nuclear 20 Generating Station license renewal review online at the 21 website shown on the slide.
22 And these are the two methods that you can 23 send in written comments by, to that email address 24 thats shown at the first bullet or you can also send 25
12 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 them in through the conventional mail method shown 1
there on the second bullet.
2
[By e-mail: PaloVerdeEIS@nrc.gov 3
By mail: Chief, Rulemaking and Directives 4
Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of 5
Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-5B01M, U.S. Nuclear 6
Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 20555-0001].
7 Inside the DEIS -- and you can look at that 8
both online or the hard copy here -- there is a -- one 9
of the very first pages lists these two ways of sending 10 in your comments. So if you wanted to write that down 11
-- if you dont feel like youre getting the time to 12 write it down now, its available to you in the back of 13 the room here or you can see anyone from the NRC staff 14 and well make sure you get the right address to write 15 in your comments.
16 So with that, Ill turn the meeting back over 17 to Jay.
18 JAY ROBINSON: All right. Thank you, David.
19 Right now were going to open the meeting up 20 to the public comment period. So first I have Gary 21 Yaquinto.
22 GARY YAQUINTO: Right here.
23 JAY ROBINSON: Okay, Gary.
24 GARY YAQUINTO: You want me to use the mic?
25
13 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 JAY ROBINSON: Yeah, use the mic. State your 1
name and your affiliation and then feel free to make 2
your comment.
3 GARY YAQUINTO: You want me to come up there?
4 JAY ROBINSON: No, you can do it right here.
5 Thats fine.
6 GARY YAQUINTO: Are we on?
7 JAY ROBINSON: Yep, uh-huh.
8 GARY YAQUINTO: Great. My name's Gary 9
- Yaquinto, its spelled Y-A-Q-U-I-N-T-O, and Im 10 president of the Arizona Investment Council.
11 Now, let me tell you just a little bit about 12 the Arizona Investment Council, because Im sure you 13 dont know anything about it. Were a nonprofit 14 organization with about 6,000 members, many of whom are 15 investors in Arizona utility companies and other 16 Arizona businesses. We advocate on behalf of our 17 investor members and we also work with policymakers to 18 support investment in Arizonas essential backbone 19 infrastructure; infrastructures like Palo Verde.
20 If you bear with me, Id like to just go back 21 in time a little bit. In a former life, I worked for 22 the Arizona Corporation Commission. I worked for the 23 Corporation Commission from 1984 to 1997 and I was 24 director of the utilities division when units two and 25
14 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 three at Palo Verde were rate based. In fact, it was 1
on my watch and under my direction that the staff 2
negotiated a settlement agreement with APS that led to 3
the rate basing of unit three. And I can tell you that 4
it was not easy, in fact, it was a very, very difficult 5
process.
6 The commissioners were very skeptical about 7
Palo Verde, they were concerned about its costs, they 8
were concerned about its size, they were concerned 9
about the potential for excess capacity, and yeah, they 10 were concerned about the safety as well. But as I 11 stand here today let me say thank our lucky stars that 12 we have Palo Verde. It is and has been a dependable 13 source of power for Arizona residents and for Arizona 14 businesses. In fact, its arguably our most important 15 and strategic source of power for Arizona people, 16 families, and business.
17 So I think that I agree entirely with the 18 NRCs assessment that extension, renewal, of the 19 license is in order. For Arizona it is an extremely 20 important source of power, as I mentioned. It is also 21 a substantial economic contributor to the State on an 22 annual basis, contributing upwards of $1.5 million to 23 our State and local economy.
24 And with that Id just like to say that it is 25
15 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 my opinion and that of AIC that wed like to see Palo 1
Verde operating many, many years into the future.
2 Thank you.
3 JAY ROBINSON: Okay. Thank you. Next, we 4
have Jack Arend.
5 JACK AREND: Good afternoon. My name is Jack 6
Arend and Ive been in the Valley here since 1940, so 7
Ive seen all the changes. I knew the area there when 8
it was desert and after that it was a cotton field for 9
a time before the plant came. And I worked in a coal-10 fired plant and Ive been over to Palo Verde and I see 11 how neat and clean it is. And if youve ever been in a 12 coal-fired plant, its a lot different. Theyre not as 13 bad as they used to be, but theyre awfully dirty.
14 Palo Verde is reliable, Ive found over the 15 years. For four years I was with the Tonopah Valley 16 Community Council and I had an open line to Palo Verde 17 by email and phone; and if anything was going on during 18 overhauls or whatever, they would let us know so we 19 could put out the word that they had dump trucks coming 20 in or concrete trucks, so many every hour and what 21 time, so that if the people here needed to go some 22 other route to go to their jobs we could do that.
23 Theyve been a good neighbor. Theres 24 opportunities there for employment for a lot of people.
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16 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 And like this gentleman said, I would like to see them 1
be there for a long time to come. Thank you.
2 JAY ROBINSON: Thank you. Next, Gordon 3
James.
4 GORDON JAMES: My name is Gordon James. Im 5
a third generation Arizonian and in business here in 6
Phoenix. And I was asked by Todd Sanders, the 7
President and CEO of the -- Im a member also of the 8
Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. I was asked by Todd 9
Sanders, President and CEO of the Greater Phoenix 10 Chamber of Commerce, to read the following statement 11 into the record:
12 As President and CEO of the Greater 13 Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, I want to 14 express my appreciation for allowing my 15 statement to be read into the record at 16 todays NRC meeting.
The Greater 17 Phoenix Chamber of Commerce proudly 18 supports the renewal of the operating 19 license for the Palo Verde Nuclear 20 Generating Plant. We believe Palo Verde 21 operates in a safe and secure manner and 22 is an asset to the community in many 23 ways, particularly in terms of providing 24 abundant clean energy and major economic 25
17 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 benefits to the greater Phoenix area.
1 Records show the ownership and 2
management at the plant has demonstrated 3
this through efforts to reduce emissions 4
over the last two decades.
5 Additionally, the plant continues to 6
provide significant support to the 7
community by employing nearly 3,000 8
residents, contributing $50 million a 9
year in property
- taxes, expending 10 numerous transactions with suppliers 11 and servicers, and investing in 12 Arizonas future through scholarships 13 and educational programs for our 14 students.
15 The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating 16 Plant is a partner to this community, 17 promoting infrastructure investments 18 and economic opportunities and 19 renewable and efficient energy in 20 Arizona.
We appreciate our 21 relationship with our good neighbor and 22 have confidence in their ability to 23 operate the plant efficiently, safely, 24 and to the benefit of the community.
25
18 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 On behalf of the Greater Phoenix Chamber Of 1
- Commerce, thank you for your continued 2
outreach efforts regarding the issues at 3
Palo Verde.
4 Regards, Todd Sanders, president and 5
CEO.
6 Thank you.
7 JAY ROBINSON: Thank you very much. Is there 8
anyone else who would like to make a comment who didnt 9
sign in earlier?
10 Okay. So what were going to do now is were 11 just going to keep the comment period open for a while 12 in case there are any people that come in. So feel 13 free to talk amongst yourselves and if theres anybody 14 who comes in, well let them make their comment. And 15 then at a determined point if we feel that nobody else 16 is going to come, well then end the meeting. But wed 17 like to give at least everybody an opportunity to make 18 a comment, so well just wait for a while. Thank you.
19 (A brief recess was taken.)
20 JAY ROBINSON: We took a walk around; we 21 didnt see anybody else that was here for comment. So 22 Ill ask one more time if theres anybody here that 23 wants to make any comments regarding Palo Verde 24 Environmental -- Draft Environmental Impact Statement?
25
19 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Okay. So with that, we will conclude this meeting.
1 The staff will stick around just in case anybody does 2
happen to show up for that but otherwise well consider 3
the meeting concluded. Thank you very much.
4 (The meeting adjourned.)
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