ML111940362
| ML111940362 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crystal River  |
| Issue date: | 06/28/2011 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Doyle D, NRR/DLR, 415-3748 | |
| References | |
| TAC ME0278, NRC-962 | |
| Download: ML111940362 (71) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Crystal River Unit 3 Environmental Review Evening Session Docket Number: 50-302 Location:
Crystal River, Florida Date:
June 28, 2011 Work Order No.:
NRC-962 Pages 1-70 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 PRELIMINARY SITE-SPECIFIC RESULTS OF THE 4
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW FOR CRYSTAL RIVER UNIT 3 6
+ + + + +
7 Tuesday, June 28, 2011 8
The Plantation Golf Resort & Spa 9
9301 West Fort Island Trail 10 Sabal Room 11 Crystal River, Florida 12 13 The above-entitled hearing was conducted at 14 7:00 p.m.
15 BEFORE: GEORGE SMITH, Facilitator 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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1 I N D E X 2
AGENDA PAGE 3
I. Welcome and purpose of meeting 3
4 II. Overview of License Renewal Process 7
5 III. Results of the Environmental Review 12 6
IV. How Comments Should Be Submitted 16 7
V. Public Comments 8
Barbara Sieling 19 9
Ken Frink 21 10 Josh Wooten 22 11 Thomas Saporito 26 12 Mike Bays 36 13 Dale Malm 39 14 Mark Klutho 41 15 Emily Casey 45 16 Jim Kimbrough 51 17 Barbara Sieling 52 18 Michael Canney 55 19 Thomas Saporito 63 20 James Williams 68 21 VI. Closing 69 22 23 24
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P R O C E E D I N G S 1
7:00 P.M.
2 MR. SMITH: Okay. Good afternoon. My 3
name is George Smith. I'm from NRC Region 1 and I'll be 4
the facilitator for the meeting today for the Crystal 5
River Draft
- SEIS, which is the Supplemental 6
Environmental Impact Statement for the Licensee Renewal 7
of Crystal River Unit 3, Nuclear Generating Plant.
8 The purpose of this meeting today is to 9
present the results of the NRC's Environmental Review for 10 Crystal River's License Renewal Application as published 11 in the Draft SEIS that is publically available in the 12 Agencywide Documents Access and Management System, which 13 is ADAMS. This Session Number for that document is 14 ML11139A153, and that was issued in May 26th 2011.
15 Before we start we always like to go over 16 the rules of the meeting. And I have three rules that 17 I put up on the board. The first rule is always respect.
18 And what we mean by respect is to respect all the meeting 19 participants. If you have someone speaking we ask that 20 you, you know, do not have sidebar conversations, and 21 also to not talk over the speakers. Because we would 22 like for everyone to have an opportunity to get their 23 views out and to provide their comments for this meeting.
24
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Also, as far as your comments, I have about 1
four comment cards here. So, we do not plan on limiting 2
the amount of time for your comments. However, at the 3
first meeting I started off with four cards and I ended 4
up with ten, eleven. So we ask that you be mindful that 5
others would like to have their comments heard. So, we 6
would ask that you provide your information and limit the 7
time frame that you're providing your comments.
8 And also, over to the right, we have a 9
parking lot. So if we have information that we need to 10 take back that was not answered, if you have a question 11 we'll put it on the parking lot. But, I only ask to make 12 sure whatever I capture on the parking lot, that I'm 13 capturing what you would like me to capture, that 14 information. So, if there's a break or after the meeting 15 if you need to clarify, just let me know.
16 Just a couple of things. There are 17 restrooms. The men's restroom is out this door, but we 18 ask that you use the side and the back door to go to the 19 restroom. From the earlier meeting, the back door is 20 much quieter, so if you can use that back door it will 21 help a lot.
22 Also, if you have phones, we ask that you 23 put your phones on the silent mode so you don't interrupt 24
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the meeting.
1 Also, right now, I'd like to ask if we have 2
anyone on the phone line at this time?
3 (No response.)
4 MR. SMITH: I'll ask a couple more times 5
throughout the meeting just to make sure if we have anyone 6
on the phone lines so we can get their questions in also.
7 I'd like to introduce -- we have two -- or 8
three other NRC employees here at the meeting. Mike 9
Wentzel will do the presentation after I finish the 10 introductions, and Dan Doyle is also in the back. He's 11 the man at the table where you signed in. And both Dan 12 and Michael are from DLR, they're DLR Project Managers, 13 and they're in Rockville, Maryland.
14 Roger Hannah is Region II's Public Affairs 15
-- Senior Public Affairs Officer, and he's out of 16 Atlanta. And of course, again, I'm George Smith and in 17 Region I, and I'm out of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 18 near Philadelphia.
19 Mike is going to present the results of the 20 Environmental Review, and after Mike presents the 21 results of that review, if you have any clarifying 22 questions that you would like to ask Mike or Dan, they 23 will be glad to answer those questions. And then we'll 24
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move onto the public comment part of this meeting.
1 During the public comment portion, again, 2
I'll use the cards to call you up, and you'll come here 3
to the podium and provide your comments.
4 The NRC staff is mostly in the receiving 5
mode at this time, so basically they'll listen to your 6
questions. And if there are any kind of direct 7
questions, again, they will provide answers to those 8
direct questions and your comments will be considered and 9
addressed during the final SEIS.
10 And what we would like to emphasize also 11 that, you know, if you would like your questions answered 12 or if you need more clarifying questions, you know, Dan 13 and Mike will be around to answer questions after the 14 meeting. So, don't feel that if you didn't get your 15 answer that it won't be answered. So, I just want to 16 emphasize that.
17 So now I'll ask Mike to come forward and 18 he'll provide the briefing.
19 MR. WENTZEL: All right. Thanks, George.
20 Like Mike said, my name is Mike Wentzel, I 21 am an Environmental Project Manager with the Division of 22 License Renewal.
23 Today I am going to be presenting the 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Preliminary Results of the NRC's review of the site 1
specific issues related to the proposed license renewal 2
of Crystal River Unit 3. I hope that the information 3
that we provide will help you understand the process 4
we're going through, what we've done so far, and the role 5
that you can play in helping us ensure that the final 6
SEIS, when it's issued, is accurate and complete.
7 I'll start off with a brief project 8
background and then move onto presenting the preliminary 9
findings of our environmental review, which assesses the 10 impacts associated with renewing the operating license 11 for another 20 years.
12 Then I'll provide some information about 13 the schedule for the remainder of the review and how you 14 can submit comments, if you wish. After my presentation 15 there will be time for you to present your comments. And 16 for those of you who would prefer to send in your 17 comments, rather than provide them this evening, I will 18 explain some options in doing that.
19 The NRC was established to regulate 20 civilian uses of nuclear power, including applications 21 that produce electricity. The NRC conducts license 22 renewal reviews for plants whose owners wish to operate 23 them beyond their initial license period.
24
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The NRC license renewal review addresses 1
safety issues related to managing the effects of aging 2
and environmental issues related to an additional 20 3
years of operation, as well as any potential major 4
refurbishment activities that the plant owner or 5
operator may undertake during or in preparation for an 6
additional 20 years of operation.
7 In all aspects of the NRC's regulation our 8
mission is three-fold: To ensure adequate protection of 9
public health and safety; to promote the common defense 10 and security; and to protect the environment.
11 Now, before getting into the preliminary 12 findings of the environmental review I would like to take 13 a few moments to acknowledge two topics that have 14 increased public interest lately: The first topic will 15 be the containment delamination at Crystal River Unit 3 16 and the nuclear accident in Japan.
17 The containment delamination: While the 18 plant was shut down in 2009 to replace the steam 19 generators, the licensee discovered cracks or 20 delamination in the containment wall. This structure 21 serves as an important barrier to prevent radioactive 22 materials from escaping to the environment in the event 23 of an accident. The plant has been shut down for repair 24
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since this discovery, and there have been no impacts on 1
public health and safety as a result. Additional 2
delamination was discovered in March of 2011 and the 3
licensee yesterday announced their intention to repair 4
the containment.
5 Now the question is, how does this impact 6
7 The containment delamination is a current 8
operating issue and it will need to be addressed prior 9
to allowing the plant to return to power operations.
10 The license renewal staff has issued requests for 11 additional information, asking the applicant to tell us 12 how they plan to manage the effects of aging on the 13 containment structure. The staff will not be issuing 14 its decision on license renewal until the applicant has 15 adequately addressed the staff's concerns. But when 16 that does happen the decision on license renewal can be 17 reached, and that decision potentially could come prior 18 to the repairs actually being completed.
19 Now, at tonight's meeting we will accept 20 comments on the containment delamination. However, it 21 is important to note that the real purpose of this meeting 22 is to get your feedback on the draft SEIS and any 23 environmental impacts that are associated with an 24
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 additional 20 years of operation.
1 The next topic's the nuclear accident in 2
Japan. This past March an earthquake and subsequent 3
tsunami led to a nuclear accident at the Fukushima 4
Daiichi site in Japan. The NRC is conducting an analysis 5
of the lessons that can be learned in this event in order 6
to see if there's any changes that can be made here in 7
the U.S. to make the plant safer.
8 NRC's staff will present the 90-day update 9
to the Commission on July 19th. You can find more 10 information by going to our website, www.nrc.gov and 11 clicking on the link, "Japan Nuclear Accident 12 NRC-Actions." The direct link to this website is on this 13 slide and it's also in the meeting handouts that are 14 available in the back of the room.
15 It's important to note that to date there 16 have not been any immediate changes to the license 17 renewal process as a result of the NRC's review. Seismic 18 risk is an issue that is considered in the design basis 19 for all plants and the license renewal review includes 20 an analysis of severe accident mitigation alternatives 21 which are potential changes that the licensee could 22 implement to reduce the effects if a severe accident were 23 to occur.
24
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 The results of the staff's review of the 1
severe accident mitigation alternatives that were 2
considered for Crystal River Unit 3 are located in 3
Appendix F of the draft SEIS.
4 I am now going to move on to the potential 5
site-specific impacts of license renewal for Crystal 6
River Unit 3. These findings are contained in the Draft 7
Supplemental Impact Statement, draft SEIS that the NRC 8
issued on May 26th.
9 There are copies on the table in the back 10 of the room there, and there's also CD's that have 11 electronic copies of the draft SEIS in addition to other 12 useful background information related to the review.
13 Issues for which the environmental impacts 14 are the same across all or most nuclear power plants are 15 evaluated in the generic environmental impact statement, 16 also known as the GEIS.
17 The NRC staff reviewed these issues to 18 determine whether the conclusions reached in the generic 19 environmental impact statement are valid for Crystal 20 River Unit 3. The NRC staff also reviews the 21 environmental impacts of potential alternatives to 22 license renewal and other ways for possible replacement 23 options for Crystal River Unit 3's electrical generation 24
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 capacity. And the purpose of that is to determine 1
whether or not the impacts from license renewal would be 2
reasonable or not.
3 Okay. This slide lists the environmental 4
issues the NRC reviewed for the continued operation of 5
Crystal River Unit 3 during the proposed license renewal 6
period. Overall the direct and indirect impacts from 7
license renewal for most issues was found to be small, 8
which means that the impacts would neither -- excuse me 9
-- would either be detectable or would not noticeably 10 alter the environment.
11 The impact to aquatic resources ranges from 12 small to moderate due to the effect of the plant's 13 once-through cooling system on the fish and shellfish 14 population in the Crystal Bay aquatic community. A 15 finding of moderate indicates a noticeable but not 16 destabilizing effect on that resource.
17 When reviewing the potential impacts of 18 license renewal on the environment, the NRC also looks 19 at the effects on the environment from other past, 20 present, and reasonably foreseeable human actions. For 21 example, the NRC considered the operation of the coal 22 plants at the Crystal River Energy Complex, the possible 23 construction and operation of new nuclear reactors in 24
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 Levy County, and a possible power uprate at the Crystal 1
River Unit 3, among other things.
2 The NRC's preliminarily conclusion is that 3
there are moderate cumulative impacts on water resources 4
due to nonpoint sources of pollution and the potential 5
of increased ocean water temperature over the next 20 6
years.
7 For aquatic resources, impacts are moderate 8
due to multiple stressors affecting the aquatic 9
resources in the Crystal Bay, such as continued operation 10 of Crystal River Energy Complex, continued withdrawal of 11 water for various human
- uses, commercial and 12 recreational fishing and
- boating, residential, 13 commercial and industrial development, invasive 14 species, disease and climate change.
15 For terrestial resources, impacts are 16 moderate due to the extent of expected wetland losses, 17 habitat fragmentation from ongoing and planned 18 development projects, continued widespread manipulation 19 of habitats for commercial forest management, and the 20 anticipated losses of habitat for important species.
21 For socioeconomic resources, impacts are 22 moderate due to the possible extended power uprate in the 23 proposed new nuclear power plant in Levy County.
24
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 For air quality, the impacts are moderate 1
due to the cumulative impacts of ambient air quality from 2
the continued operation of the plant and other sources 3
of criteria air pollutants in the region of interest.
4 In other areas that the NRC considered, the 5
preliminary conclusions are that the cumulative impacts 6
are small.
7 A major step in determining whether license 8
renewal is reasonable is comparing the likely impacts --
9 excuse me -- of comparing the impacts of alternatives 10 including
-- including other methods of power 11 generation, and also not renewing Crystal River Unit 3's 12 operating license.
13 In the draft SEIS, the NRC considered 14 natural gas combined cycle generation, supercritical 15 coal-fired generation, and as part of the combination 16 alternative, natural gas with conservation and 17 efficiency.
18 Finally, the NRC considered what would 19 happen if no action is taken and Crystal River Unit 3 20 shuts down at the end of its current license without a 21 specific replacement alternative.
22 The NRC found that the impacts from energy 23 alternatives would vary widely based on the 24
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 characteristics of the alternatives. In most cases 1
construction of new facilities created significant 2
impacts. This is discussed in detail in the draft 3
document.
4 Based on a review of the potential 5
environmental impacts from license renewal and 6
alternative to license renewal, the NRC staff's 7
preliminary recommendation in the draft SEIS is that the 8
adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for 9
Crystal River Unit 3 are not great enough to deny the 10 option of license renewal for energy planning decision 11 makers.
12 To state it more simply, the NRC is saying 13 that license renewal would be an acceptable option from 14 an environmental standpoint.
15 It is important to note that the 16 environmental review is not yet completed. Your 17 comments today and all written comments received by the 18 end of the comment period on July 25th will be considered 19 by the NRC as we develop the final SEIS. Due to the 20 containment damage the NRC has not set a date for the 21 issuance of the final SEIS. When that date is set the 22 NRC will issue a public letter and update the schedule 23 on the website.
24
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 The final SEIS will contain the NRC's final 1
recommendation on the acceptability of license renewal 2
based on the work we've already performed and the input 3
we receive in the form of comments during the comment 4
period. Your comments can help change the staff's 5
findings in the final SEIS.
6 The primary contact for the environmental 7
review is Ms. Elaine Keegan, and Rob Kuntz is the primary 8
contact for the NRC's safety review.
9 Hard copies of the draft SEIS, although in 10 limited quantities, are available back on the table as 11 are CD's. In addition, two local libraries, the Central 12 Ridge Library and the Coastal Region Library, have agreed 13 to make copies of the draft SEIS, along with other 14 information about the Crystal River Unit 3 license 15 renewal review, available for public review. And, 16 additionally, electronic copies of the draft SEIS and 17 associated documents are available on the NRC's public 18 website.
19 The NRC will address written comments on the 20 draft SEIS in the same way we address spoken comments here 21 today. To submit written comments you can send them to 22 the NRC by mail to the address listed here, and this 23 address is also contained in the handout that is 24
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 available in the back. You may also submit them 1
electronically via the Federal Rulemaking website, 2
www.regulations.gov.
3 If you have written comments this evening 4
you can give them to any NRC staff member. Again, to 5
ensure that your comments received consideration, they 6
have to be received by Monday, July 25th, 2011.
7 So at this point if there's any specific 8
questions related to process I can take those now.
9 MS. SIELING: My name is Barbara Sieling, 10 and I'm kind of curious. When you discuss the 11 alternative energy why are you only discussing ones that 12 are very harmful to the environment, whether it's after 13 use or before getting, like the mountaintop clearing for 14 the coal and the fracking for the natural gas? Why 15 aren't you considering other types of alternative 16 energy?
17 MR. WENTZEL: Well, I can't specifically 18 answer that question. I was not directly involved in 19 that environmental review.
20 I think the scope of the questions we're 21 going to take right now are more process related. If you 22 would like to submit a comment or, you know, provide the 23 comment here tonight, that's something that can be 24
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 addressed in the final SEIS. But, to be quite honest, 1
I don't have that answer for you.
2 MR. SMITH: Thank you.
3 MR. WENTZEL: Okay. That concludes my 4
remarks and I will hand the meeting back over to George.
5 MR. SMITH: I think we have someone to call 6
in on the phone?
7 (No response.)
8 MR. SMITH: Do we have someone to call in 9
on the phone? Can you please pronounce your name or 10 organization?
11 MR. SAPORITO: Yes. Can you hear me?
12 MR. SMITH: Yes, we can hear you. Can you 13 hear us?
14 MR. SAPORITO: Yes. I can hear the NRC 15 people with the microphone, but I cannot hear the people 16 in the audience when they ask questions. So, if you can 17 fix that I'd greatly appreciate it.
18 My name is Thomas Saporito, I'm from Jupiter 19 Florida. I'm with Saprodani and Associates.
20 MR. SMITH: And that was Thomas -- what's 21 your last name, sir?
22 MR. SAPORITO: Saporito, S as in Sam, 23 a-p-o-r-i-t-o.
24
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 MR. SMITH: All right. Thank you, sir.
1 Right now we're going to go into the public comment 2
portion of the meeting, and if you have a question -- do 3
you plan to offer a question, sir?
4 MR. SAPORITO: Yes. I have a few questions 5
for the NRC specifically.
6 MR. SMITH: Okay, one second. We'll get a 7
couple questions in and we'll come back to you, if you 8
can hold on one minute. We would only ask that you put 9
your phone on mute because if not we're going to be able 10 to hear any kind of comments you make or if you're moving 11 around. Thank you very much.
12 The first person for comments will be 13 Barbara Sieling. And as Barbara is coming up, I'll let 14 you know who is coming after Barbara. It will be Ken 15 Frink and then Josh Wooten.
16 MS. SIELING: Hi there. My name is Barbara 17 Sieling. I don't know if all of y'all are new or old from 18 this afternoon. And I don't mean that "old" in age.
19 I guess I'll direct my question now about 20 what I just asked, is, why is the only alternative energy 21 that was mentioned in the report that the gentleman spoke 22 about early is, why are they only discussing the ones that 23 have to do with either fracking or mountaintop clearing 24
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 for coal and gas instead of some of the safer, cheaper 1
alternative energies?
2 But what I came up here to say, and if 3
everyone will pay attention as they listen to the 4
continuing speakers after me is, I don't understand why 5
it's about the environment and the only positive things 6
anybody can say about it is, it's all about the money.
7 The only positive thing any speaker said about the 8
nuclear power plant was, good for real estate, good for 9
jobs, good for people making money. But not one of them 10 could come out and say anything about, "Hey, it's a good 11 option because it's safe and it's affordable," because 12 it's neither.
13 Everybody wanted to say -- you know, the 14 only positive things anybody who would say is all about 15 the money. And as we know, profit has no conscious.
16 A friend of mine was saying that they 17 understood -- they talk about the safety of these power 18 plants. How many people in Japan had took the safety 19 ride, or whatever it is, to see how safe the power plant 20 was, and are now either dead, are dealing with radiation, 21 lost everything they own because they'll never be able 22 to go back to it? I'm sure they all thought it was safe 23 too.
24
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 And I don't know if it's their government 1
of if they have private enterprise or capitalism that is 2
running their nuclear power plants. But either way, 3
apparently they weren't told the truth either. Just 4
like we don't seem to be told the truth here either.
5 So, all I can say is, if you're going to tell 6
us how great it is, then how about telling us how great 7
it is, not about the money. Thank you.
8 MR. SMITH: Thank you, Ms. Sieling.
9 Ken Frink.
10 MR. FRINK: Good evening. My name is Ken 11 Frink, I'm a near lifelong resident of Citrus County. I 12 also come before you as a Director on the Citrus County 13 Chamber of Commerce Board, and I also stand before you 14 as the Department Director for the Department of Public 15 Works for Citrus County. And I'm here in front of you 16 as a representative of the Citrus County Board of County 17 Commissioners. They're in session right now. They 18 wish they could make it but they couldn't.
19 But we stand here in strong support of this 20 application. We're in strong support of the power 21 plants Units 1 though 5, specifically Unit Number 3.
22 The lady in front of me mentioned that, you 23 know, it's all about the environment, and I would agree 24
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 with that. It is all about the environment. If this 1
plant is deactivated that power is still going to have 2
to be generated someplace else. Why not do it where it's 3
already been doing now? Why should we move it someplace 4
else and create impacts someplace else when the 5
infrastructure's in place?
6 There's billions of dollars worth of 7
infrastructure in place right now. That all we are doing 8
is asking to renew this license for another 20 years, and 9
hopefully another 20 years beyond that. We welcome 10 Progress Energy as a neighbor to Citrus County and we 11 stand in strong support of this application. Thank you.
12 MS. SIELING: May I make a correction? I 13 didn't say it was about the environment. I said it was 14 all about the money.
15 MR. SMITH: Okay. Thank you, ma'am. I 16 think we got it.
17 Thank you, Mr. Frink.
18 And by the way, if you want to make comments 19 a little later, if we have time you can come back up and 20 make more comments.
21 Josh Wooten.
22 MR.
WOOTEN:
Thank you for this 23 opportunity, sir. I'm Josh Wooten, President and CEO of 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 23 the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce. And we have done 1
a Resolution -- our Board has done a Resolution. I want 2
to read it into the record and then make a few comments, 3
if you will indulge me, sir.
4 Whereas, the nuclear plant license for the 5
Crystal River nuclear plant site is set to expire in 2016.
6 And, whereas, Progress Energy is a vital 7
component to a successful economy in Citrus County, the 8
jobs created due to the nuclear plant location in Crystal 9
River are invaluable to our citizens.
10 And, whereas, Progress Energy as a company 11 plays an integral role within our community taking an 12 active role with community organizations and community 13 events.
14 And, whereas, Progress Energy is a diligent 15 steward of the property that they own, ensuring safety 16 for our citizens has always been an utmost priority.
17 And, whereas, the repairs to put the nuclear 18 site located in Crystal River, Florida, back online would 19 not be completed until the year 2014.
20 And now, therefore, be it resolved by the 21 Board of Directors of the Citrus County Chamber of 22 Commerce on this 28th day of June 2011 as follows: The 23 Board formally asks the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to 24
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 extend the nuclear plant license for the nuclear power 1
site located in Crystal River, Florida, for the term of 2
20 years from its set expiration date in 2016 so that the 3
Progress Energy may make the needed repairs to bring the 4
site back online and continue operation within Citrus 5
County.
6 And I would like to submit that to you in 7
writing and then make a few additional comments.
8 Part of my unscripted remarks will maybe --
9 the young lady that spoke earlier -- being involved in 10 the Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development 11 Council, I can assure you that there is great interest 12 in other sources of energy. Progress Energy knows that.
13 They work closely with us. And in fact we're working 14 with biomass companies right now, wind companies, solar 15 companies.
16 And part of the reason why they're looking 17 in Citrus County is because we're one of the biggest 18 suppliers of energy in the southeast. It's a natural 19 place for them to look.
20 One of the problems with that is, there's 21 no mandates per se that power companies have to use these 22 type of supplemental energy, and the cost is not down low 23 enough to where the consumer would tolerate it. We're 24
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 trying to get that fixed.
1 The Chamber of Commerce supports green 2
energy. We support biomass, we support wind, we support 3
solar, but America and Florida needs a diversified energy 4
portfolio, and one of those components is most certainly 5
nuclear. It's an inexpensive way. There has not been 6
any major safety issues out at the nuclear power plant, 7
and as a result of us being one of the largest producers 8
of energy in the southeast United States, we have other 9
opportunities to get into green energy in other areas.
10 And you're going to see some of those come into fruition 11 quite soon.
12 This site has worked well for all these 13 years with a minimal effect on the environment and a solid 14 safety record. So the question is, as Mr. Frink stated, 15 why would we want to fix something that ain't broke?
16 I think that the diligent thing to do is to 17 get this site repaired, back online, extend it 20 years.
18 And, yes, it is about the money. It's about keeping 19 people in our community employed, it's about delivering 20 electric rates to our citizens and our businesses over 21 17 counties where they can afford them, and it's about 22 being in a position for the nature coast to work with 23 Progress Energy, to look at all other sources of energy 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 26 that are coming down the pike, green energy, nuclear 1
energy, natural gas and everything else.
2 So, the Chamber of Commerce would urge you, 3
sir, and your staff, to take back to Atlanta or 4
Washington, wherever y'all are going back to, that we 5
would love for you to extend this license. Thank you.
6 MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Wooten.
7 I'm going to give this to Mike. Mike and 8
Dan are the technical experts for this meeting, and I'm 9
performing as the facilitator. And also, Mike and Dan 10 are in Rockville, Maryland, at NRC headquarters.
11 I think we're going to go to the phone right 12 now.
13 Sir, are you still there?
14 MR. SAPORITO: Yes, I am.
15 MR. SMITH: Sir, before you start, we only 16 ask that you lower the volume of your phone because we're 17 getting feedback and we're not being able to understand 18 you. The stenographer cannot understand -- cannot 19 clearly hear you over the phone.
20 Can you hear us?
21 MR. SAPORITO: I'll try to lower it. I'll 22 have to -- how would you lower the volume of your phone?
23 MR. SMITH: You may have to pick it -- as 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 27 opposed to being on speaker phone you may have to pick 1
the phone up and just speak into it.
2 MR. SAPORITO: How's that? Is that 3
better?
4 MR. SMITH: That is much better. Thank 5
you, sir. If you have a comment, if you can give us a 6
comment now, we would appreciate it. Thank you.
7 MR. SAPORITO: Yes, for the record --
8 excuse me. But is there going to be a transcript of this 9
record?
10 MR. SMITH: Yes. Yes, sir, there will be.
11 MR. SAPORITO: Hello? Is there going to be 12 a transcript of this record, sir?
13 MR. SMITH: Yes, sir.
14 MR. SAPORITO: Okay, great.
15 For the record, my name is Thomas Saporito.
16 I am the Senior Consulting Associate of Saprodani 17 Associates, and we're located in Jupiter, Florida, and 18 well within the reach of a nuclear accident of the Crystal 19 River nuclear power plant.
20 First of all, I would like to correct the 21 record. The young lady was talking about the statements 22 being made -- the criteria being centered around money.
23 And then one of the pro-nuclear individuals changed that 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 28 around to being all about the environment, and that's not 1
really what she said.
2 To the extent that the Chamber of Commerce 3
interjected positive comments, I strongly suggest the 4
NRC should completely disregard those comments. We're 5
not here to debate the pros and cons of nuclear power, 6
but instead the NRC must consider whether the Crystal 7
River nuclear power plant is safe to operate, number one, 8
and is it safe with respect to public health and safety 9
to grant the licensee an extension to run this nuclear 10 reactor for 20 more years. That's the central issue here 11 that the NRC -- and that's the only issues that the NRC 12 should be interested in.
13 And with that in mind, I'd like to point the 14 NRC to a news article dated June 28th, 2011. It's the 15 Times, staff writer -- I even hand wrote this regarding 16
-- it's entitled, "Progress Energy customers will have 17 to pay for some Crystal River nuclear plant repair 18 cost."
19 There's a discussion there, which I won't 20 go into, about who's going to pay for what here. But 21 nonetheless, at the very end of this column, this news 22 article, it's recorded here that the Nuclear Regulatory 23 Commission is also reviewing Progress Energy's request 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 29 to renew the plant's operating license which expires in 1
2016.
2 And then that's followed by a sentence that 3
says: Johnson said -- and he's talking about Johnson, 4
Bill Johnson, Progress Energy's Chairman and Chief 5
Executive Officer. That's the licensee's CEO.
6 He says: Johnson said Tuesday that he is 7
confident the license will be renewed before -- I 8
emphasize that word "before" -- before the repairs are 9
completed in 2014.
10 Now, I don't know about anybody else sitting 11 in that room, but the NRC -- this should be a red flag 12 to the NRC, and it should be of great concern to the public 13 citizens who live in and about that nuclear reactor.
14 Because there appears to be some collusion here between 15 the licensee and the regulator, being the Nuclear 16 Regulatory Commission, because the Chief Executive 17 Officer and the Chairman for the licensee, is represented 18 in a public manner that he's confident the license will 19 be renewed for 20 more years before any repairs are done 20 to the damaged containment building, which is supposed 21 to protect the public health and safety.
22 To that extent, I demand that the NRC 23 present at this meeting today provide the NRC Office of 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 30 the Inspector General a complete copy of the record 1
transcripts this date so that that agency can make an 2
informed decision as to whether the NRC should be 3
invested in these circumstances.
4 Moving on. The NRC today talked about in 5
general degrees, their review of the environmental 6
impact that would result from granting a 20 year license 7
extension to allow this nuclear reactor to operate for 8
20 more years. And from what I gather from this 9
statement, the NRC's pretty much made up their minds 10 they're going to go ahead and grant this license.
11 I would encourage and urge the NRC to 12 reconsider and not grant a 20 year license extension for 13 the continued operations of the Crystal River nuclear 14 power plant for several reasons. This nuclear power 15 plant releases a tremendous, a tremendous amount of heat 16 back into the environment. That heat was not in the 17 environment before the nuclear reactor was powered up.
18 Okay. That heat is generated because of the nuclear 19 reactor.
20 The NRC, in their environmental assessment, 21 as a
prudent regulator, should make credible 22 measurements of the thermal output of that nuclear power 23 plant that's introduced into the environment when it's 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 31 operating at 100 percent power, and compare that thermal 1
measurement to what the thermal measurement would be for 2
a natural gas plant, or, let's say, a solar farm, or maybe 3
wind generation.
4 I stand to believe that the thermal release 5
back into the environment will be far less than it's being 6
generated from that nuclear power plant.
7 The NRC review also failed to take into 8
consideration wind energy. They failed to take into 9
consideration the output from solar panels. If the 10 utility is willing to invest $1.3 billion to patch up a 11 40-year old piece of equipment, why not take that $1.3 12 billion and finance solar panels for every home and every 13 business that are customers of this licensee? Why not 14 take that $1.3 billion and install on demand water 15 heaters in every customer and every business for this 16 licensee?
17 But the NRC didn't consider those 18 initiatives. Those are alternative energy initiatives 19 that the NRC failed to consider up to this point. Those 20 two initiatives alone would decrease the man-load on 21 Progress Energy's electric grid in Florida by 50 percent.
22 They would reduce the customer's electric bill 23 individually by 50 percent or more.
24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 32 So the NRC has some legwork to do here.
1 They need to consider these alternative energy and 2
conservation methods. The NRC failed to consider what, 3
if any, energy conservation initiatives were extended by 4
the licensee for its customer base. The NRC made no 5
mention of that today.
6 The NRC apparently, the NRC's 7
environmental review is nothing more than a
8 cookie-cutter environmental review. This is the same 9
rhetoric I've heard time and time again when I 10 participate in these public meetings where the NRC has 11 done a so-called environmental impact review pertaining 12 to a licensee's intent to either extend the license or 13 to amend the license.
14 This same cookie-cutter attitude of the NRC 15 is jeopardizing public health and safety. It's been 16 well documented over the course of the last week by the 17 Associated Press, who reviewed tens of thousands of NRC 18 records, which shows the complacency of the NRC and that 19 they relax safety standards over the years to allow these 20 nuclear reactors to operate well beyond their 40 year 21 safety design basis.
22 The final safety analysis report that was 23 generated for Crystal River nuclear plant, about 40 years 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 33 ago, contemplated that this plant will be decommissioned 1
after 40 years of operation. It didn't say anything 2
about extending the license for 20 years. Hell, there 3
was one individual I heard tonight, he's talking about 4
20 years and then 20 years beyond that. He's looking at 5
40 more years. What's the limit here, you know?
6 The reactor vessel is stressed when it's 7
-- this is a pressurized water reactor, 2000 or 2200 8
pounds of pressure per square inch when that reactor's 9
operating at 100 percent power. That's a tremendous 10 amount of pressure on a metal vessel that holds the 11 nuclear fuel. And that nuclear fuel, when it becomes 12 fission -- when the reactor's operating there's a fission 13 process that takes places where atoms are splitting and 14 neutrons are released. And that high level radiation, 15 it bombards the metal vessel that's holding the nuclear 16 fuel and embrittles it every year, because that's 17 operating for the most part 7 days a week, 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> a day.
18 And after 40 years that reactor has sustained an 19 appreciable amount of embrittlement.
20 Yet the NRC -- and I've been monitoring the 21 NRC for the better part of 22 years -- the NRC continues 22 to relax their safety margins, where you don't require 23 the licensee to do destructive testing on the ductility 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 34 of the metal of the reactor vessel.
1 And it's been relaxed year after year after year to keep 2
allowing these plants to operate.
3 Like the young lady said, it's all about the 4
dollar, not about safety.
5 Well, my god, if one of these reactor 6
vessels crack, I don't care how many fire trucks you put 7
out there or how many pumps you put out there, or how much 8
water's available, that nuclear reactor is going to 9
meltdown because the water's going to escape right out 10 of the crack from the nuclear reactor vessel. In fact, 11 the vessel could shatter depending on how brittle it is.
12 MR. SMITH: Okay, sir. This is George --
13 MR. SAPORITO: -- because the NRC keeps 14 rubber-stamping these licenses --
15 MR. SMITH: Sir?
16 MR. SAPORITO: -- 65 to date out of 104 17 nuclear power plants. And it's just mind boggling to me 18 that Crystal River has a pressurized water reactor.
19 Another plant could have a boiling water reactor, like 20 for Vermont Yankee, and other plants that have a GE Mark 21 I reactor, and combustion engineering, a Westinghouse 22 reactor, and the list goes on and on. Yet, out of all 23 these different types of reactors, which date back into 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 35 the '60s, the NRC has never denied a license extension.
1 MR. SMITH: Okay. Sir, this is George 2
Smith again, the facilitator for the meeting.
3 MR. SAPORITO: Pardon me?
4 MR. SMITH: Sir, I don't know if you can 5
hear me. We have about seven or eight other personnel 6
that would like to get some comments in. And we'll be 7
happy to come back to you after those individuals have 8
had an opportunity also to present their comments.
9 Sorry to cut you a little short. I apologize for that.
10 But if you would allow us to let others speak, we'd 11 appreciate that.
12 Could you hear me?
13 MR. SAPORITO: Yes.
14 MR. SMITH: Okay, sir. If we can, if we can 15 get the other personnel, give them an opportunity to 16 provide comments and then we'll come back to you. Okay?
17 Again, we ask that you put your phone on 18 mute. If not we can hear you speaking or moving around.
19 Thanks a lot, sir.
20 The next three personnel: First will be 21 Mike Bays, after Mike will be Dale Malm, and then Mark 22 Klutho.
23 MR. BAYS: My name's Mike Bays, I'm a local 24
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 businessperson here in the County. I have businesses 1
ranging from insurance to medical practice to tree farms 2
to even cattle raising. And my first degree was in 3
biology, and I first saw this plant in 1975 while hunting 4
on some property that was adjacent to it.
5 And in all these years I've been here I have 6
to say that I can't -- I was going to try to give a number 7
but I really can't do that. I can't tell you how many 8
people I know that have worked at that plant, have with 9
pride, at all levels, whether it be from the coal to the 10 nuke, they talk about the safety, the level of 11 expectations, how they work there.
12 We all talk about alternatives, and in some 13 days they may come. But we still do things, like we drive 14 cars and we still need lights and we still have things 15 we need. And I believe that when you look at the history 16 or this plant, and you look at the requirements and the 17 restrictions that it works under, I think y'all do your 18 job. In fact, I think it's almost -- it's amazing 19 anybody can even perform sometimes because it's, how far 20 do you go and what do you do.
21 As a person with a first degree in biology 22 I will say this: From an environmental standpoint I've 23 lived here long enough now, fished and hunted, dove in 24
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 that area -- in the wintertime we try to fish as close 1
as we can because fish and other animals try to get up 2
in that area because the water is warm and they kind of 3
like it there. So, that part, I don't know if it's a 4
positive or negative, but from a fishing standpoint it's 5
pretty good.
6 From a standpoint of long-term results and 7
what's going to happen and what's not going to happen, 8
I also believe that when I look at this county, without 9
that plant a lot of the people that are here wouldn't be 10 here. You go back to this place in 1974 and '5, when I 11 first came here, and without that plant the jobs would 12 have still been basically some service work and crab and 13 fishing and some other areas of that kind of environment.
14 The opportunity for job growth here has 15 always been questionable, it was stagnant, and the plant 16 has been a good, not only environmental partner, but it's 17 actually been a good partner, period. It's been the one 18 that basically has kept us alive at times, it pays a huge 19 amount of the tax base for this county.
20 And if that's about money and dollars, it's 21 really not. It's about people and how people live in the 22 environment that they live in, which is the entire 23 county.
24
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 They also spoke about some alternatives, 1
such as if we went in -- we made everybody take their hot 2
water heaters out and we're going to put the zero based 3
in. That would be great. I put one in lately. It was 4
about $1100, and I can imagine in Beverly Hills, where 5
my office is, going up there and trying to tell people 6
we're going to take those hot water heaters out and we're 7
going to make them put in an $1100 because we're going 8
to save some electricity.
9 A lot of the things that are said are great 10 and wonderful, and as an environmentalist, because I've 11 been one and I still consider myself one, I think that 12 it's like anything, we go so far that we leave people out.
13 And I think -- I welcome the plant, I'm excited about the 14 fact that environmentally we know what we have here and 15 I don't see them as the problem. I see other things that 16 we are doing and other things we need to do.
17 I also think that from an economic position 18 without them there would be an awful lot of issues that 19 we'd be facing that right now they give us hope and they 20 us a future. Thanks.
21 MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Bays.
22 Next, we'll have Dale Malm, Mark Klutho will 23 come after Dale and Ms. Emily Casey.
24
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 MR. MALM: Hi, my name is Dale Malm and I'm 1
a resident, business owner, and also I work for the 2
Economic Development Council for Citrus County.
3 In my role with the EDC of course we go to 4
look for companies to come into this county that in fact 5
are going to make a very positive impact towards what we 6
have here. Not only from a financial standpoint but also 7
from an economic standpoint, from a fit standpoint, 8
quality of life. And of course what we have here in 9
Crystal River is really something unusual with all the 10 wildlife and the natural settings that we have. We 11 obviously don't want to interrupt that. And so those 12 companies that we looked at -- of course we looked very 13 closely at the integrity of the company and does it fit.
14 "Clean" is always a word we talk about, 15 "green" is a word we talk about. And so when we look for 16 those companies we look for that fit that's here.
17 Integrity is something else that we look for and that is 18 who is the company, what is their history, what have they 19 done?
20 And when you look at the plant that we have 21 out there and Progress Energy, they fit here. They have 22 done the things that we in fact want our environment to 23 be. We in fact look to them to assist in our community, 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 40 and they do.
1 While we look at the plant itself, we also 2
look at the company. And the company, you know, we look 3
at what they've done for our community, and we look at 4
what in fact we rely on them for. Besides just jobs and 5
money, they are there helping in a lot of different areas 6
that we in fact look to them for, and it's very untypical 7
for them not to be there when we want them to be there.
8 A lot of times I ask myself the question, 9
you know, what's the right thing to do. And time and time 10 and time again Progress Energy is there doing the right 11 thing. They have a great safety record. They in fact 12 employ a lot of people. They in fact help with the 13 environment. We count on them. We count on them as our 14 neighbor.
15 And I guess from my standpoint, if I was to 16 vote to in fact have another Progress Energy company come 17 in here, absolutely we'd vote yes. The plant is one 18 thing. The integrity of the company and the decisions 19 that they make is probably as much a part of your decision 20 making as anything else. Have they done the right thing?
21 Have they made the right decisions from a safety 22 standpoint to keep our residents safe?
23 Granted they have a problem with a crack 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 41 right now. But on the other hand, all the other 1
decisions that they make they make them correctly, and 2
they make them for what's here and our people. And from 3
my standpoint that -- marrying the actual company itself 4
with a plant like that is the right thing to do. And 5
those people do make the right decisions. Their safety 6
record is great, like I said, and they are the right 7
company.
8 So, I highly encourage you to renew this 9
license. Thank you.
10 MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Malm.
11 Mark Klutho. And then Emily Casey will be 12 coming and then Jim Kimbrough.
13 MR. KLUTHO: Mark Klutho, Largo. Hot 14 water heater? If the water's hot you don't need to heat 15 it.
16 This environmental impact statement 17 scoping process. It says here -- there was one comment 18 in this category in opposition to nuclear power. And the 19 comment is generally not supportive, the comment is 20 general in nature. It provides no new and significant 21 information, and, therefore, will not be evaluated 22 further.
23 Well, today in your book, as I stated, you 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 42 can't differentiate between conservation and energy 1
efficiency. Now, this is a defect on a grand stage. And 2
it really says a lot about the NRC. And this article here 3
says a lot more. Talking about how time after time 4
officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have 5
decided that original regulations were too strict, 6
arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, 7
according to records and interviews. The result, rising 8
fears that accommodations by the NRC are significantly 9
undermining safety, and inching reactors closer to an 10 accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the 11 future of nuclear power in the United States; failed 12 cables, busted seals, broken nozzles, clogged screens, 13 cracked concrete, dented containers, corroded metals, 14 rusty underground pipes.
15 All of these and thousands of other problems 16 tied to aging were uncovered in all the year-long 17 investigation. All of them could escalate dangers in 18 the event of an accident.
19 Now, all of you people that are wearing 20 blinders, your ignorance isn't going to save you. And 21 this statement in here from the NRC, you are going to 22 ignore what I had to say back in March. I mean, you know, 23 Mr. Doyle doesn't even know that the 10 gauge wire is 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 43 bigger than the 12 gauge wire. I mean, these people, 1
they don't have any business in this business. This is 2
an absolute farce. An absolute farce.
3 And everybody talks
- about, "Well, 4
alternatives, yeah, but they aren't here yet." Well, it 5
isn't about alternatives. When I was here in March I was 6
talking about our last four electric bills and not one 7
of those four electric bills at our house were over $30.
8 See, it isn't about burning any kind of 9
energy one way or another, it's about efficiency, and 10 that's not the same thing as conservation. And the fools 11 at the NRC, as I've stated before, the fox guarding the 12 hen house, they want to say that what I have here, 13
- science, is something that is not significant 14 information and therefore will not be evaluated further.
15 And what it means is, the people will pay 16 bigger utility bills, and society will be less vital.
17 And if you check with the odds-makers they're one in two, 18 if you want to make a bet on whether or not there will 19 be a nuclear calamity. Not very good. Not very good.
20 That's the bottom line.
21 And the information that I have presented 22 at over a half a dozen hearings, isn't dream based. Here 23 in the Rocky Mountain Newsletter Amory Lovins says, "New 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 44 Nuclear Reactors, Same Old Story."
1 And you're talking about patchwork. Yeah, 2
maybe there's going to be a new core in that building, 3
but we still have lots of old components in there. And 4
this article here, after this year-long investigation by 5
the Associated Press, tritium leaking at plants all 6
across the country and all kinds of other problems.
7 I just don't understand how you people think 8
this is such a good idea. I mean it is so ridiculous.
9 And like Amory Lovins says in Energy For Tomorrow, 10 negawatts on average cost you eight times less than 11 making a watt. See, it's not about biomass, coal, oil, 12 gas, or nuclear. It's about doing the things that means 13 you don't have to buy electricity. It's keeping the 14 money in your pocket. You're being stupid when you burn 15 it.
16 And what do I hear from the boys at the NRC?
17 Oh, this is science we don't want to hear. Well, every 18 time I see them the more I learn how ignorant they are.
19 And, of course, where I'll be going with this is before 20 the Pinellas County Commissions, the Hillsborough County 21 Commission. See, they have these up here where the vast 22 majority of the rate payers are not. They wouldn't have 23 one of these plants down there in Pinellas County or 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 45 Hillsborough County. No, that wouldn't happen, 1
wouldn't happen.
2 But this is just stupidity. There is no 3
other word to describe it.
4 MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Klutho.
5 MR. KLUTHO: There is no "R" in it, Klutho.
6 MR. SMITH: Klutho. Thank you, sir.
7 Okay, Emily Casey. And Jim Kimbrough will 8
be next and then Barbara Sieling.
9 MS. CASEY: My name is Emily Casey.
10 Listening to this hearing tonight puts me and quite a few 11 of my friends, so to speak, between a rock and a hard 12 place. It is the uprating of CR-3. My family has moved 13 here and exists here because of CR-3. So I totally 14 understand the economics of it. But I'm also very 15 concerned, and very concerned because of what has 16 happened in just the few recent months, and very 17 concerned about what has happened in the past to CR-3.
18 So I am going to try to just restate some 19 of the information that was in the study that you all had, 20 and then ask some questions and check the challenge to 21 our county.
22 The uprating of CR-3 as was stated will 23 increase the thermal discharge in that particular area.
24
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 Yes, good for fish sometimes, not so good for seagrasses 1
and the other life that's in the estuary at other times.
2 Uprating of CR-3 will increase the 3
circulating water flow, which of course will increase the 4
thermal load that's out there up to about, what, 150 5
million gallons per minute? Okay.
6 It's possible to have what you called ISFSI.
7 I finally found that I think on page 589 what it meant:
8 Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations. Okay.
9 So I really wasn't quite sure just exactly what that was, 10 other than to me that it meant that it was going to be 11 outside of the -- the storage of the spent fuel was going 12 to be outside of the pool that's there.
13 So then I found out a little bit of 14 information about it, that these particular spent fuel 15 storage installations would need to be hardened on a site 16 storage facility, they could not be considered permanent 17 solutions, and they could not be constructed deep 18 underground.
19 So then my question was, well, they must be 20 on top of the ground. And then my question is, how safe 21 is that to our security? I mean especially people who 22 live in Levy and Citrus County or beyond, and then how 23 safe is that for national security if these are 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 47 constructed at other sites? That's a big question.
1 As I stated, I do understand the economics 2
of this area. So my challenge is to Progress Energy. It 3
would truly help us then if we would move toward an 4
innovative economy, one that would really truly move into 5
the 21st Century, not use the antiquated technologies of 6
nuclear power.
7 But the many things that were stated here 8
that were stated in your study that were not looked at; 9
renewables, solar, wind, tidal, geothermal. Whatever 10 would fit in that particular area. You know, demand side 11 management. Putting it on rooftops.
12 I mean just last week you had -- Germany was 13 over here. A company from Germany was over here in 14 Pinellas County looking to set up a solar farm. That's 15 great, but I really find it rather sad that we, as a 16 country, have to depend on another country to come in and 17 tell us what to do. That's just a shame.
18 Okay. To me it's the quality of the life.
19 Yes, we have to have jobs to exist. But it's the quality 20 of the life in this area for not just us but for 21 generations to come. What kind of legacy are we going 22 to leave?
23 There are some things that I wanted to kind 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 48 of repeat and make sure it's on the record. I have a 1
question about the public safety. Is it safe for people 2
to consume Mercury?
3 And I understand this is not just about the 4
-- NRC's about the nuclear power. But out there at the 5
Crystal River complex we do have four coal plants. Yes, 6
it is the coal that's mostly emitting the -- well, 7
emitting the sulfites that finally become mercury in our 8
waters, which are now impaired according to SWFWMD, and 9
according to the Suwannee River Water Management 10 District. That's includes the Waccasassa, the 11 Withlacoochie, Crystal River areas.
12 So, is that safe for public health and 13 safety? Well, no. But is it safe for we as a public to 14 consume the radioactive effluent that is released? Now, 15 I'm not talking about emitted. I want to make sure I get 16 my terminology correct. I understand you do not emit, 17 but you release on a routine basis, radioactive effluent 18 into the air and to the water, and it's done accordingly, 19 supposedly, to ALARA standards.
20 Well, this sounds nice. But now I read that 21 you -- the NRC is asking for those ALARA standards to be 22 reduced. So, how safe is this?
23 It was found that behind CR-3, where the 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 49 monitoring wells MWC-27 and MWC-1-F2, that between 2005 1
and 2009 the sodium levels in the water exceeded the 2
drinking water standards. And in 2007, which was 3
probably about the last time it was measured because it 4
has been offline for quite a while, the tritium levels 5
were extremely high. But I guess those won't be 6
considered high if these standards are reduced.
7 The plant itself was really designed for 8
about approximately a 40-year life span. It's my 9
understanding that it's because -- well, one, you had to 10 cut into the containment wall to get to the generator.
11 But it was also built there with large bolts -- the big 12 bolts and large spaces, not small bolts and small spaces 13 in between.
14 So my question is, that it's really hard to 15 probably repair this and then ask for an uprated power 16 level of 15 percent? I'm not sure just how safe that's 17 going to be because I always learned that an entity is 18 only as strong as its weakest link, and this, perhaps, 19 is a very weak link. I think it is.
20 Yes, a lot of people wouldn't be here, and 21 I am concerned about the economy of Citrus County, Levy 22 County. So we really need to be innovative. I just 23 attended a meeting last night in Alachua County where 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 50 Plum Creek is looking at an entity called Innovate 1
Alachua. They're wanting to become proactive and put 2
their thinking caps on and come up with ways Alachua 3
County can create sustainable jobs.
4 I think we used to have something like that 5
called Citrus 20/20. I'm not sure what happened to that, 6
but I think that's where we need to go again. And we 7
really do need to look at the many alternatives that 8
exist. They do not have to be expensive. And I'm not 9
saying Progress Energy or whatever power entity cannot 10 make money. I understand those are laws. Those laws 11 were made by people, they can be changed by people if we 12 have the will to do so.
13 So I am asking you, please, for the future 14 generations, thinking about what is happening in the 15 climate change -- and I'm not just saying this, I am going 16 to not verbatimly repeat it, but this was taken out of 17 the 599 page study. It states in there that climate will 18 change; rainfall will be lowered, temperature will be 19 higher, frequency of the rainfall events will lessen, the 20 duration of the time and intensity of droughts will 21 increase, and probably may not harm that particular area, 22 right there where CR-3 and the other four units are 23 located, but it could lead to drying up of the lakes, the 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 51 surrounding wetlands and water and our springs. And 1
that's not just me saying it, that's out of your -- the 2
report.
3 So I ask you, is energy created by nuclear 4
power more important than water? I don't think so, 5
because without water, which we have the pleasure of 6
enjoying now, without the water, though, there will be 7
no life. So I urge you all to think seriously about this, 8
and while you have the opportunity -- not the NRC but 9
Citrus County -- while we have the opportunity to create 10 something different we really should. Thank you.
11 MR. SMITH: Thank you, Ms. Casey.
12 Jim Kimbrough, and Barbara Sieling will 13 come after Jim, and then Michael Canney.
14 MR. KIMBROUGH: Thank you. My name is Jim 15 Kimbrough. I'm a business person here in the market.
16 I'm a fifth generation resident of this Nature Coast area 17 of Florida. I had the privilege of being president when 18 a spade was put in the ground for the power plant some 19 40-plus years ago, and have grown up watching all the 20 wonderful things that have happened in this area of 21 Florida as a result of the presence of Florida Power, now 22 Progress Energy.
23 I would like for the record for my name to 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 52 be affixed to and in support of, without repeating all 1
the things that Mr. Wooten and Mr. Frink and Mr. Bays 2
said. I would like for my name to please be affixed to 3
those remarks in support of them, and respectfully 4
request the NRC to approve the application as presented 5
by the applicant. Thank you.
6 MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Kimbrough.
7 Barbara Sieling.
8 And, sir, if you're still on the line, after 9
Michael Canney -- Barbara Sieling is coming up right now.
10 Michael Canney will be coming and then if you want to 11 finish your comment we would appreciate it.
12 MS. SIELING: I'm back. I guess for some 13 reason I was misunderstood, so I just wanted to clarify 14 a little bit.
15 Yes, I am a tree hugger. That's why my 16 shirts says, "Only when the last tree has died and the 17 last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been 18 caught, will we realized that we cannot eat money."
19 My statement was not encouraging the fact 20 that it was about money. My statement was, doesn't seem 21 that anybody can come up with anything positive about 22 nuclear energy that doesn't have to do with money, about 23 jobs, about this, about that.
24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 53 There are jobs made by alternative energy.
1 People seem to think that if that goes away there will 2
never be another job in Citrus County and Crystal River 3
and wherever. I find that extremely hard to believe 4
because I'm sure all the subsidies -- and I have to assume 5
because all the other big corporations seem to get 6
corporate welfare -- that Progress Energy probably does 7
too. And maybe if some of that was redirected towards 8
alternative energy instead of at the nuclear waste that 9
is so harmful to the environment, and I'm sure you people 10 who talk about, "Well, it's safe now." Of course it's 11 not even operating. "We want to continue it." It's not 12 operating, it's not functional.
13 And, do you want to be the one who's 14 responsible because you said it was safe and three years, 15 four years from now we have what happened in Japan? Who 16 wants to take a -- is your insurance going to cover me?
17 I'm within the 50 mile zone. I live in Bronson now. I'm 18 from St. Petersburg.
19 Who wants to put their hand up and say, I 20 will pay for your losses if I'm wrong? Any offers?
21 It's not about the money. That's all the 22 only positive things that anybody seems to be able to say 23 is, it creates jobs as does other types of industry, and 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 54 nobody wants to talk about it.
1 And besides, somebody -- I believe it was 2
the man from the Chamber of Commerce who probably 3
shouldn't be talking for Florida Power, because there's 4
a whole list in here that was brought up at the earlier 5
meeting. And it's actually in their book on 8-30 about 6
alternatives considered but dismissed, and it was 7
basically all of them. So I'm not going to bore you with 8
the list, but turn to that page if you question me.
9 I mean, so Florida Power has no intentions 10 whatsoever -- I'm sorry, I'm from the old school.
11 Progress Energy has absolutely no intentions whatsoever 12 of trying to come up with an alternative. I think it's 13 time for the people of the area and the people of the world 14
-- you know, they asked me on the thing, you know, what 15 my -- on that sheet, what does the question ask?
16 "Affiliation." Earthling.
17 Where are we going to go once we destroy the 18 earth? It's all about the money and that's what I was 19 saying. I haven't heard a single person come up with a 20 positive that wasn't about the money. And I hope when 21 you lose your homes and you lose your medical and you 22 start having radiation poisoning and things of that sort, 23 you enjoy eating your money. Thank you.
24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 55 MR. SMITH: Thank you, again, Ms. Sieling.
1 Michael Canney.
2 Sir, are you still on the line?
3 MR. SAPORITO: Who did you ask for?
4 MR. SMITH: Yeah. We have one more person 5
and we'll let you finish your thoughts. Thank you so 6
much for your patience.
7 MR. CANNEY: Good evening, my name is 8
Michael Canney. I live in Alachua, not within the 50 9
mile radius of Crystal River but within the 50 mile radius 10 of the new plant that's going to be built in Levy County.
11 And I'm here speaking on my own behalf and also on behalf 12 of the Green Party in Florida.
13 We are a party in the intervention in the 14 Levy County plant. We are opposed to building any new 15 nuclear plants in Florida. We are opposed to 16 relicensing the aging plants that are here, and there are 17 a lot of good reasons for that. I guess the "F" word is 18 one that nobody wants to talk about, Fukushima.
19 You know, that can happen here. But the 20 thing is, there's a lot of really smart people that work 21 for Progress Energy and that work in the nuclear 22 industry. A lot of really smart people work for NASA and 23 worked on the Space Shuttle and they said the Space 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 56 Shuttle is perfect. "We have -- everything is backed up 1
two or three times, there's no way anything can go wrong."
2 We saw one of them burn up over Texas. And now we saw 3
-- I mean there are nuclear plants in this country that 4
are identical to the ones in Japan that have been 5
relicensed by the NRC to operate for another 20 years 6
beyond their original design. There is not one that has 7
been denied. Not one relicense -- license extension has 8
been denied.
9 So, we do have a problem here, because we 10 have a regulatory agency that is regulating an industry 11 that is probably the most dangerous industry that we've 12 ever had, except for maybe the war industries that can 13 actually drop bombs. But all of these nuclear plants are 14 bombs, you know, if they go wrong.
15 And we have over a hundred of them in this 16 country now, but I'm concerned about Florida right now.
17 We're looking at a situation where we have a plant that 18 is damaged that is going to take until 2014 just to 19 repair. And we're talking about going ahead with a 20 license extension without even a serious evaluation as 21 to what the risks are for operating this plant, period.
22 Never mind for another 20 years. And I just find that 23 irresponsible.
24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 57 I mean I think what we have here, instead 1
of a regulatory agency, is an agency that has become a 2
cheerleader and a rubber stamp for the nuclear industry.
3 And I hate to say that. I think there's a lot of good 4
people probably working in the NRC as well, who really 5
care about the public interest and about public health 6
and safety. But they're not the ones that are setting 7
policy.
8 Just like there's a lot of really great 9
people in the military over in Afghanistan, and if they 10 could vote they probably would have voted not to make a 11 stupid decision to be there in the first place, but they 12 didn't have that chance. They have to do their job the 13 best they can.
14 So, you know, I think we're in a situation 15 here where we need to think seriously about the safety.
16 Just to talk about this (Indicating) is what we're 17 supposed to be here for. But this is like, how do you 18 talk about the environmental report when we're talking 19 about something that is going to be affecting the 20 environment for thousands of years to come. This isn't 21 just about when it's operating and it's operating safely 22 and everything is fine. This is about what happens if 23 you have a catastrophic event. What happens if you have 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 58 a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane or if a terrorist 1
flies a plane into that plant? Or, who knows? I mean 2
we don't know what the weather's going to be like 20 years 3
from now, 10 years from now, 5 years from now. But 4
there's a couple of plants that are underwater right now 5
that they never planned to have that event happen.
6 You know, we've got a fire out in New Mexico 7
that's threatening to burn up some serious atomic waste 8
stockpiles there that are in the way of this fire and, 9
you know, could be a real serious problem with the 10 plutonium that's in it if it does get consumed by this 11 fire.
12 So, you know, there's all kinds of risks.
13 And as here in Crystal River I appreciate the idea that 14 this plant has been providing jobs and providing power.
15 And, you know, it isn't like you can't just say there's 16 no good that came from this. But we have to learn. We 17 have to learn as we go along, and right now we're talking 18 about investing over a billion dollars -- a billion 19 dollars to patch up an aging plant so that it can generate 20 more power for another 20 years.
21 Is that really a wise investment? And if 22 it is, then why is it an investment that the company makes 23 without public subsidies, without the cost of recovery 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 59 being taken out of the pockets of the ratepayers who may 1
never see a watt from this plant if it doesn't go online, 2
or, you know, if they die before it happens?
3 Why do we have Price Anderson Act? I mean 4
why not -- if these things are so safe, let's repeal Price 5
Anderson and let's let the nuclear industry pay all of 6
the costs for their own insurance for these things out 7
of their profits. Why should they be making profits at 8
our expense?
9 You know, I know that people in Japan made 10 the same arguments against these plants when they were 11 getting built, and they have been talking about the 12 safety issues all along and being told, "Trust us. This 13 will never happen. Trust us, everything is fine. We 14 thought of all the contingencies and all the 15 possibilities."
16 And, you know, they did. They thought 17 about an earthquake and they thought about a tsunami.
18 They didn't build the wall high enough, and apparently 19 one of those reactors was actually breached in the 20 earthquake itself, not just with the tsunami.
21 So we are fallible creatures, and we think 22 we're a lot smarter than we really are, I think a lot of 23 times, and I think the nuclear -- if Fukushima doesn't 24
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 raise a flag with everyone and say, are you willing --
1 are you prepared to take responsibility for this?
2 I mean I'm sure there are some people here 3
who have bought a lottery ticket, and the odds of winning 4
the lottery are way, way, way less than the odds of a 5
nuclear accident in a nuclear plant. Okay. But you buy 6
that ticket thinking, you might win. Well, I know the 7
odds aren't that great of a catastrophic accident at this 8
plant.
9 But the Green Party of Florida requests that 10 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission protect public health 11 and safety by suspending all license extensions for 12 nuclear reactors in Florida. This is not the time to be 13 rubber stamping extensions for reactors when we have not 14 conducted a thorough evaluation of the safety issues 15 involved.
16 We have flooding issues, we have security 17 issues that nobody wants to talk about. Someone flying 18 a plane into the Pentagon or into the World Trade Center, 19 could just as easily have flown it into a nuclear reactor 20 and probably done even more damage, and some people 21 wonder why that didn't happen.
22 But we're not protected from that. We're 23 not protected from all kinds of risk. And the 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 61 consequences go far beyond monetary. They go to future 1
generations, they go to damaged genetic legacy of our DNA 2
and the birth defects that will be happening in 3
generations from now because of the radiation being 4
released from those reactors in Japan. It's going to be 5
all over the world, not just in Japan.
6 So we are asking the NRC and the utilities, 7
stop this relicensing. Conduct a thorough and 8
comprehensive review of all safety and security issues 9
with Florida nuclear plants before any more licenses are 10 issued for new plants or relicense of old plants are 11 issued.
12 And, this should involve an open public 13 discussion about energy policy. People have brought up 14 some things tonight about alternative energy. Well, 15 we're at the threshold of a new era with energy, and we 16 don't need to be building more base load, you know, dirty 17 power plants, whether it's nuclear or coal, or you know, 18 even gas is cleaner than coal. But what we need to do 19 is look to how we're going to live on this planet without 20 ruining it and just spoiling the water and the air.
21 And the investment of 1.3 billion in a 40-22 year old reactor is not an investment that would be made 23 without the company being assured that the costs are 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 62 going to be subsidized.
1 So, again, let's cut out the subsidies, 2
let's cut out -- I mean one subsidy that we can't get out 3
of, you know, and the people are talking about smaller 4
government and lower taxes, but the same people that are 5
preaching to me about smaller government and lower taxes 6
are pro-nuclear.
7 I said, well, you can't find any industry 8
that's going to guarantee higher taxes and bigger 9
government than the nuclear industry, the bureaucracy 10 that it's going to take to safeguard nuclear waste in 11 perpetuity, you're going to pay for, your kids, your 12 grandkids, their grandkids, their grandkids are going to 13 be paying for this long after Progress Energy goes out 14 of business. Long after these plants are all 15 mothballed, that waste is going to be there and your 16 descendents are going to be paying for it in perpetuity.
17 There's no way, you can't line item that one out of the 18 budget. You can't say, well, we're just going to stop 19 paying for that.
20 So the more of this we create the more we're 21 going to be storing and the more we're going to be having 22 to safeguard and keep secure. And I say, you know, quit 23 while you're ahead.
24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 63 But we will put in -- we will submit a 1
written comment on this (Indicating), but we're still 2
reading it and still trying to digest some of the 3
information in this, and then we'll provide that comment 4
in writing before the comment period ends.
5 I guess that's all I have to say tonight.
6 But I would encourage the NRC to deny any relicensing of 7
any reactor in Florida until there has been a lot more 8
study and a lot more public discussion about the health 9
and safety risks
- involved, including emergency 10 evacuation plans, including the protection of our water 11 resources that are too precious to put at risk. Thanks.
12 MR. SMITH: Thank you, Mr. Canney.
13 Sir, are you still on the line?
14 MR. SAPORITO: Yes. Yes, I am. Is it my 15 turn?
16 MR. SMITH: Again, thanks again for your 17 patience. And we would definitely like you to finish 18 your comments and finish your thoughts.
19 (Pause.)
20 MR. SMITH: Go ahead, sir.
21 MR. SAPORITO: Is it my turn now?
22 MR. SMITH: Yes, sir.
23 MR. SAPORITO: Okay. Thank you. I'll be 24
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 64 very brief so the other people can speak.
1 Again, my name is Thomas Saporito and I am 2
in Jupiter, Florida. I have a question for the NRC 3
present at this meeting today, and I would like an answer 4
to this question for the record, for this public record.
5 Is it the intention of the United States 6
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to grant the licensee, 7
Progress Energy, a 20 year license extension before the 8
licensee completes repairs to the nuclear reactor's 9
containment building? Yes or no.
10 MR. SMITH: One moment, sir.
11 MR. SAPORITO: Pardon me?
12 MR. SMITH: One moment. We're going to 13 have a technical expert to come up and answer your 14 question.
15 Again, this is George Smith. I am the 16 facilitator for the meeting. And Dan Doyle will come up 17 and answer your question.
18 MR. DOYLE: Hi, sir. This is Dan Doyle.
19 I'm the Project Manager, one of the Project Managers 20 working on this project, so I'm not really a technical 21 expert I would say.
22 But just from a process standpoint, I would 23 say that, yes, it is possible that the NRC could grant 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 65 the license renewal extension if all of our concerns 1
about the plan for the repair are adequately satisfied.
2 So if the question is, does the repair need 3
to be 100 percent complete and the plant brought online 4
prior to renewing the license, I believe the answer to 5
that is, no.
6 MR. SAPORITO: Well, let me ask you this 7
then, because my understanding of your regulation 8
requires that the only way that plant can operate is if 9
it meets the safety standards set out in the final safety 10 analysis report. And the final safety analysis report 11 requires a monolithic containment building, meaning, 12 there can be no delaminations whatsoever. It has to be 13 a solid construction.
14 So with that in mind, if there was no defect 15 in that containment building that plant would be 16 operating right now under its existing license. So it 17 stands to reason to me, being just a public citizen, that 18 the government should not be allowed to authorize under 19 the current law, and under current NRC regulations --
20 should not be allowed and does not have requisite 21 jurisdiction to authorize any 20 year license extension 22 until the licensee can demonstrate that the repairs to 23 the containment building meet the final safety analysis 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 66 report safety margin.
1 Because what you're doing -- if you do that 2
ahead of time, is saying, you can operate your reactor 3
for 20 more years with a flaw in your containment 4
building. And it doesn't make any sense to anybody with 5
half a brain, so I'm very concerned. Very concerned 6
about your opinion that the NRC is going to --
7 theoretically can allow them and grant them a license 8
extension for 20 more years without the containment 9
building being satisfactorily repaired under the current 10 statute, under 10 CFR Part 50.
11 And, again, as I stated at a prior meeting 12 this morning, I demand that this record be provided to 13 the NRC Office of the Inspector General, so that agency 14 can make an informed decision as to whether the NRC is 15 guilty of wrongdoing here in these circumstances.
16 And also I'd like this record to reflect 17 that the NRC, as a government agency, is currently under 18 investigation by the United States Senate Subcommittee 19 overseeing the Energy Department, and they're under 20 investigation by the government Accounting Office.
21 So until those investigations are 22 concluded, which encompass and are centered on the AP 23 report on aging nuclear reactors, the Associated Press' 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 67 report, which one gentleman explained in some great 1
detail earlier tonight, until those investigations are 2
concluded the NRC should have a moratorium on granting 3
any license extension because the public health and 4
safety's at risk here where we don't know whether the NRC 5
has in the past just rubber stamped these licenses 6
without due regard for existing regulations and whether 7
the agency in fact relaxes its standard, and because they 8
relax their safety standard that they allow these plants 9
and granted these plants a 20 year license extension.
10 So there's too much in the air here. We 11 have this public health and safety at risk here. Our 12 families live in this area, our friends live in this area.
13 We have physical homes in these areas. And the NRC is 14 going to go back to Atlanta, they're going to go back to 15 Washington, but we stay here.
16 So we want our health and safety protected, 17 and you people should not be making these off-the-cuff 18 decisions. You better go check with your lawyers and 19 find out whether you even have authority to grant the 20 license extension with these pending investigations 21 going on. Thank you very much.
22 MR. SMITH: Thank you for your comments, 23 sir.
24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 68 Does anyone else have any comments? Sir?
1 Sir, we have a reporter, so if you can come 2
up to the mic and make a comment, I appreciate it. Thank 3
you, sir.
4 MR. WILLIAMS: My name is Jim Williams, I 5
live in Homosassa. I'm a member of the Homosassa 6
Property Owners Association. I'm here tonight strictly 7
for the purposes of learning. I don't have an axe to 8
grind or really an opinion on this, but I am somewhat 9
confused, so I'd like to get an answer.
10 This seems to me it said that this was an 11 environmental review, and that was the limit of your 12 investigation. Is that correct? Was this an 13 engineering review?
14 MR. DOYLE: There's a safety review --
15 MR. WILLIAMS: That's a separate review?
16 MR. DOYLE: Yes.
17 MR. WILLIAMS: But done by different 18 people, not you?
19 MR. DOYLE: That's correct.
20 MR. WILLIAMS: And is there a quality 21 control review?
22 MR. DOYLE: I'm not sure exactly what you 23 mean by quality control. Like quality control of the NRC 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 69 or --
1 MR. WILLIAMS: Is there someone who 2
inspects the QC manual at the plant? Is it you?
3 MR. DOYLE: We have resident inspector at 4
the NRC. There are inspectors that live at the plant and 5
there are inspections that happen.
6 MR. WILLIAMS: Do they have input before 7
there is a permit renewal?
8 MR. DOYLE: There is an inspection that is 9
specifically associated with license renewal, so.
10 MR. WILLIAMS: Let me ask this to you a 11 different way: Are you the only stage -- step between 12 renewal and non-renewal?
13 MR. DOYLE: No.
14 MR.
WILLIAMS:
You are just the 15 environmental part?
16 MR. DOYLE: That's correct, yes.
17 MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you.
18 MR. SMITH: Thank you, sir.
19 Are there any more questions?
20 (No response.)
21 MR. SMITH: Again, we would like to thank 22 you very much for showing up at the public meeting, and 23 we also had some stakeholders to show up to both meetings, 24
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 70 and we really appreciate that, to provide your comments.
1 Again, we do have a reporter, a recorder, 2
and your comments will be considered and addressed in a 3
final SEIS.
4 I'd like to bring your attention again to 5
where to submit your comments and the 6
www.regulations.gov website. And I'd like to emphasize 7
the July 25th deadline date for your submittals.
8 Sir, on the line if you need that 9
information, we can e-mail it to you if you provide your 10 e-mail address. Are you still there?
11 (No response.)
12 MR. SMITH: Oh, it's the same guy. Okay, 13 very good.
14 Thank you very much.
15 (Public hearing concluded, 8:39 p.m.)
16