ML11287A207

Transcript of Limerick Generating Station License, Units 1 & 2, Renewal Public Meeting: Afternoon Session, September 22, 2011, Pages 1-77

ML11287A207
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Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

Limerick Generating Station License Renewal Public Meeting: Afternoon Session Docket Number: (n/a)

Location: Pottstown, Pennsylvania Date: Thursday, September 22, 2011 Work Order No.: NRC-1128 Pages 1-77 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433

1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 + + + + +

3 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 4 + + + + +

5 PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS THE LICENSE RENEWAL PROCESS 6 AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING FOR LIMERICK GENERATING 7 STATION, UNITS 1 & 2 8 + + + + +

9 THURSDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 11 + + + + +

12 13 The Public Meeting met in the Sunnybrook 14 Ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Road, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, 15 at 2:00 p.m., Richard Barkley, Meeting Facilitator, 16 presiding.

17 PRESENT:

18 RICHARD BARKLEY, Meeting Facilitator, NRC 19 ROBERT F. KUNTZ, Project Manager, NRR/DLR 20 DENNIS C. MOREY, Branch Chief, NRR/DLR 21 LISA M. REGNER, Sr. Project Manager, 22 NRR/DLR 23 DAVID J. WRONA, Branch Chief, NRR/DLR 24 25 PUBLIC COMMENTERS:

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2 1 WILLIAM ALBANY, Limerick Township Police 2 Department 3 ANITA BALY 4 LEWIS CUTHBERT, Alliance For a Clean 5 Environment, PhD 6 EILEEN DAUTRICH, TriCounty Area Chamber of 7 Commerce 8 TIM FENCHEL, Schuylkill River National &

9 State Heritage Area 10 TED DEL GAIZO, Main Line Engineering 11 MICHAEL GALLAGHER, Exelon Nuclear 12 WILLIAM MAGUIRE, Exelon Nuclear 13 JOHN McGOWAN, UMAC 14 TOM NEAFCY, Limerick Township 15 TIMOTHY PHELPS 16 THOMAS QUIGLEY, Pennsylvania State 17 Representative 18 LORRAINE RUPPE 19 BILL VOGEL 20 FRED WINTER, MD 21 22 23 24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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3 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Welcome and Opening Remarks, Richard 3 Barkley, Meeting Facilitator 4 4 Statement by Robert Kuntz, Project 5 Manager, NRR/DLR 7 6 Statement by Lisa Regner, Sr. Project Manager, 7 NRR/DLR 20 8 Public Comment Period 30 9 Adjournment 77 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 2:04 P.M.

3 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Good afternoon.

4 Wow. I'll try to get it adjusted to the sound system.

5 This is a great room, but I'm not used to such a 6 large venue to be speaking in.

7 My name is Richard Barkley. I'm the 8 meeting facilitator for this meeting and what I'd like 9 to do is just lead off initially with asking who in 10 the audience are members of an elected position with 11 either state, county, or local government? Would 12 somebody like to identify themselves? Go ahead.

13 MR. QUIGLEY: State Representative Tom 14 Quigley.

15 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you.

16 MR. NEAFCY: Tom Neafcy, Chairman of the 17 Limerick Township Board of Supervisors.

18 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you. Would 19 anyone else like to acknowledge themselves? Okay.

20 What I'd like to do quickly is just talk a 21 little bit about the ground rules for doing this 22 meeting as we go through. We have a lot of people who 23 want to speak, lots of issues to cover, so I need to 24 talk about how to make this meeting go fairly and so 25 that everybody is heard to speak as we go through.

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5 1

2 I have a couple of ground rules that are 3 typically used at these meetings and they work very 4 effectively for me. One of them is asking you to sign 5 up on a speaker card or the sign-up sheet in the back 6 and so far I already have 16 people who have signed 7 up. So in the time allotted I'll have to limit you 8 about five minutes. Typically, I find -- yes, it was 9 a yellow card, but we still work with the same cards.

10 I would like to try to see if you can 11 finish your statement within five minutes. That's 12 typically what's needed to make a statement on an 13 issue and it's fair to everyone involved. If we go 14 through 16 speakers in five minutes with the 15 transition, we should finish right on time.

16 I'll try to call a couple speakers up so 17 that the first person who is coming up, the other two 18 people are kind of queued up and ready to go, so that 19 makes for a smoother and faster transition as we go.

20 And I try to alternate early on a little 21 bit to make sure our elected representatives get to 22 speak early on, but it's not all elected 23 representative speaking at the start, so we mix it up 24 a little bit. It seems to be one that's been 25 considered very fair to the audience.

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6 1 Can we go to the next slide then, please?

2 I would ask you to silence all cell phones, please.

3 Please speak clearly into the microphone.

4 Again, I'm getting a strange echo in this hallway 5 here. We have fantastic acoustics, but it is going to 6 be a little awkward I think sound-wise. So try to 7 speak into the microphone clearly and we'll make 8 adjustments as needed as we go through.

9 I would ask in all fairness, please do not 10 interrupt the speaker when you're not at the 11 microphone, just in the interest of fairness. If we 12 for some reason don't get to all your comments or you 13 have more than five minutes of comments, I'll give you 14 a little bit of leeway, but if you have much more than 15 that I would ask that you turn it in in a written 16 form. If you are uncomfortable with speaking, you can 17 always turn your comments in in a written form and we 18 accept them and consider them the same way we do as a 19 verbal comment.

20 This meeting is a transcribed meeting. We 21 have a transcription specialist here and so we will 22 record all your comments and then address them in the 23 course of this proceeding.

24 And finally, if you have any questions 25 regarding the conduct of this meeting, you have some NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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7 1 issue with whether you get to speak or some issue of 2 fairness or you have a schedule constraint and you 3 need to speak earlier, please come see me. I'll be 4 standing over here to the corner.

5 With that, I'd like to turn it over to 6 Lisa Regner. Bob, do you want to -- yes. And Lisa 7 asked me that when you start out, please speak your 8 name clearly. That will help with the transcription 9 as he works through and tries to record all your 10 comments as clearly as possible. If you have your 11 comments all typed out and you're reading from a typed 12 arrangement, you're welcome to turn them into me and 13 I'll give them to the transcriptionist so that we 14 actually make sure we do this in a very clear and 15 precise manner.

16 With that, Rob Kuntz is going to go first.

17 Thank you.

18 MR. KUNTZ: Is this a good volume? Good.

19 Good afternoon. My name is Rob Kuntz. I 20 am the Safety Project Manager with the Division of 21 License Renewal and I am coordinating staff's review 22 associated with the Limerick Generating Station 23 license renewal application.

24 I'd like to thank you all for taking the 25 time to come out to our meeting this afternoon.

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8 1 Today, we will provide an overview of the 2 license renewal review process which includes both a 3 safety and environmental review. We'll describe to 4 you the numerous ways and opportunity the public can 5 participation in the Limerick license renewal process 6 through either the safety or environmental component, 7 or both.

8 We also will describe in more detail the 9 environmental review process associated with license 10 renewal review. But the most important part of 11 today's meeting is to receive any comments that you 12 might have on the scope of the environmental review.

13 We also will give you some information about how you 14 can submit comments if you prefer not to speak at this 15 meeting.

16 At the conclusion of today's presentation, 17 we'll be happy to answer any questions that you may 18 have on the license renewal process. However, I must 19 ask you to limit your participation to questions only 20 and hold your comments until the appropriate time of 21 the meeting. Once all questions are answered, we can 22 begin to receive any comments that you have on the 23 scope of our environmental review.

24 Next slide.

25 Before I get into the discussion of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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9 1 license renewal process, I'd like to take a minute to 2 talk about the NRC in terms of what we do and what our 3 mission is. The NRC is a federal agency established 4 by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. We regulate 5 the civilian use of nuclear material. The Atomic 6 Energy Act of 1954 authorized the NRC to grant a 40-7 year operating license for nuclear power plants. This 8 40-year term was based primarily on economic 9 considerations and antitrust factors, not on safety or 10 technical limitations.

11 The Atomic Energy Act also allows for 12 license renewal. The National Environmental Policy 13 Act of 1969, often referred to as NEPA, established a 14 national policy for considering the impact of federal 15 decision making on the human environment. Lisa will 16 discuss NEPA in greater detail.

17 The NRC's regulations governing nuclear 18 safety, security, and environmental protection are 19 contained in Title 10 of the Code of Federal 20 Regulations, often referred to as 10 CFR. In 21 exercising its regulatory authority, the NRC's mission 22 is three-fold: to ensure adequate protection of 23 public health and safety, to promote a common defense 24 and security, and to protect the environment.

25 The NRC accomplishes its mission through a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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10 1 combination of regulatory programs and processes such 2 as establishing rules and regulations, conducting 3 inspections, issuing enforceable actions, assessing 4 licensee performing, and evaluating operating 5 experience from nuclear power plants across the 6 country and internationally.

7 The NRC has resident inspectors at all 8 operating nuclear power plants. These inspectors are 9 on the front lines of ensuring acceptable safety 10 performance and compliance with regulatory 11 requirements.

12 Next slide.

13 Here's some background on the Limerick 14 license renewal. The license renewal application was 15 received by the NRC on June 22nd of this year. The 16 operating licenses for Unit 1 and 2 are set to expire 17 in 2024 and 2029, respectively. The licensee can 18 submit an application up to 20 years prior to the 19 expiration of their license, but they cannot be 20 granted a license for longer than 40 years. The 21 renewed license is superseding and it replaces the 22 existing license.

23 Next slide.

24 The first of the license renewal process 25 is to perform an acceptance and sufficiency review.

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11 1 When the NRC receives a license renewal application, 2 the NRC staff examines it to determine whether the 3 application contains sufficient information to justify 4 the staff's review. The staff looks to see whether 5 the applicant has provided enough in terms of 6 technical information, technical specifications, and 7 the environmental report so that the staff can begin 8 its work, the application has enough in it to warrant 9 the staff's review. Then the application is 10 considered acceptable and sufficient and it is put on 11 the NRC's formal docket.

12 General information such as the 13 applicant's name and address, business and 14 administrative information, technical information 15 about plant structures and components and how the 16 applicant proposes to manage aging pertaining to aging 17 management. This information is the focus of the 18 staff's safety review.

19 Technical specifications define the 20 operating parameters of the plant. The application 21 indicates what, if any, changes or additions to 22 technical specifications are necessary to manage the 23 effects of aging during the period of extended 24 operation. The applicant also includes the 25 environmental report which is the applicant's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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12 1 assessment of the environmental impacts of continued 2 operation. This information is the starting point for 3 the staff's environmental review which will be 4 discussed a bit later in the presentation.

5 Next slide.

6 I would like to mention a few very 7 important areas of NRC oversight that routinely come 8 up during our interactions with members of the public.

9 NRC staff addresses these areas of performance every 10 day as a part of the on-going regulatory oversight 11 provided for all currently operating power reactors.

12 They include current, safety performance as defined by 13 the NRC inspection findings, violations, and general 14 assessment of plant performance; emergency planning 15 and security. For specific information on current 16 performance of Limerick, you can use the link 17 provided on the slide.

18 The NRC monitors and provides regulatory 19 oversight of activities in these areas on an on-going 20 basis under the current operating license. Thus, we 21 do not reevaluate them in license renewal. That's not 22 to say that they're not important. We just do not 23 duplicate the regulatory process in this area for 24 license renewal.

25 Next slide.

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13 1 Since the accident at Fukushima, the NRC 2 has taken multiple steps to ensure the safety 3 operation of nuclear power plants both now and in the 4 future. As part of its initial response to the 5 accident, the NRC issued temporary instructions to our 6 inspectors directing specific inspections in nuclear 7 power plants in order to assess disaster readiness and 8 compliance with current regulations.

9 The next step in the NRC's response was 10 the report of the NRC's Near-Term Task Force. The 11 purpose of the Near-Term Task Force was to develop 12 near-term recommendations and suggest a framework for 13 us to move forward in the longer term. The Near-Term 14 Task Force issued its report on July 12th of this year 15 and discussed the results of their review in a public 16 meeting on July 28th. As a result of the review, the 17 Near-Term Task Force presented 12 over-arching 18 recommendations for improvement. These 19 recommendations are applicable to operating reactors 20 regardless of license renewal status.

21 Based on the results of the Near-Term Task 22 Force, the Commission has directed the NRC staff to 23 evaluate and outline which of the recommendations 24 should be implemented. The staff submitted a paper to 25 the Commission on September 9th providing the staff's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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14 1 recommendation on which task force recommendations, 2 and in the staff's judgment, should be initiated in 3 part or in whole without delay. On October 4 3rd, the staff will submit another Commission paper on 5 its prioritization of 11 of the 12 task force 6 Recommendation 1 of the task force, the 7 recommendation to reevaluate the NRC's regulatory 8 framework will be evaluated over the next 18 months.

9 To date, the NRC has not identified any issue as part 10 of these activities that call into question the safety 11 of any nuclear facility. Additionally, this review 12 process is going on independent of license renewal.

13 Any changes that are identified as necessary will be 14 implemented for all licensees regardless of license 15 renewal status.

16 More information on the NRC's post-17 Fukushima activities, including the results of the 18 Near-Term Task Force, can be found on the NRC's 19 website by clicking on the Japan Nuclear Accident NRC 20 Action Link on the home page or directly through the 21 web address on this slide. There are also a 22 limited number of copies of the Near-Term Task Force 23 report available at the back of the room.

24 Next slide.

25 Now on to license renewal process. Here's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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15 1 a simplified diagram of the license renewal process.

2 The review involves two parallel reviews, the safety 3 review and the environmental review. These two 4 reviews evaluate separate aspects of the license 5 renewal application, but also features three other 6 considerations in the Commission's decision of whether 7 or not to review an operating license.

8 One of these considerations is the 9 independent review performed by the Advisory Committee 10 on reactor Safeguards or ACRS. Statutorily managed by 11 the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the ACRS is a group of 12 scientists and nuclear safety experts who serve as a 13 consulting body to the Commission. The ACRS reviews 14 the license renewal application, the NRC's staff 15 evaluation, and inspection findings. The ACRS reports 16 their findings and recommendations directly to the 17 Commission.

18 Hearings may also be conducted if 19 interested stakeholders submit concerns or contentions 20 and their request for a hearing is granted. The 21 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board referred to as ASLB, 22 and adjudicatory panel will conduct the hearings. The 23 Commission considers the outcome of the hearing 24 process in its decision on whether or not to renew the 25 license.

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16 1 As part of the environmental review, the 2 staff consults with state, local, federal, and tribal 3 officials such as the EPA and the staff holds public 4 meetings to receive comments on the Draft 5 Environmental Impact Statement.

6 Now I'm going to describe the license 7 renewal process in a little more detail, starting with 8 the safety review.

9 Next slide.

10 To better understand the license renewal 11 process, it's good to know the safety principles that 12 guide license renewal. The first principle is that 13 the current regulatory process is adequate to ensure 14 that the licensing basis for all operating plants 15 provides and maintains an acceptable level of safety.

16 The second principle is that the current plant's 17 specific licensing basis must be maintained during the 18 renewal term in the same manner and to the same extent 19 as during the original licensing term. In other 20 words, the same rules that apply under the current 21 license will apply on the renewal term.

22 In addition, a renewed license will 23 include conditions that must be met to ensure aging of 24 structures and components important to safety is 25 adequately managed so that the plant's current NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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17 1 licensing basis is maintained during the period of 2 extended operation.

3 The regulations governing license renewal 4 are based on two principles. To effectively 5 communicate these principles, I need to describe a 6 concept, a term of art used by the NRC. That concept 7 is licensing basis. Licensing basis consists of a 8 wide range of design and operational requirements and 9 conditions that must be met for the plant to comply 10 with its operating license. The primary focus of 11 these requirements is to maintain public health and 12 safety. They serve as the basis upon which the NRC 13 originally licensed the plant. To continue to 14 operate, the plant must conform with its licensing 15 basis.

16 Next slide.

17 The safety review focuses on the aging of 18 passive and long-lived structures and components and 19 systems that the NRC has deemed important to safety.

20 Components within the scope of license renewal are 21 defined in 10 CFR 54.4 and include safety-related 22 systems, structures, and components, nonsafety-related 23 systems, structures, and components whose failures 24 could prevent satisfactory accomplishment of safety-25 related SSC functions. And systems, structures, and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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18 1 components relied on in its safety analysis or plant 2 evaluations to perform a function that demonstrates 3 compliance with the regulations for fire protection, 4 environmental qualification, pressurized thermal 5 shock, anticipated transients without scram, and 6 station blackout.

7 Passive components are components who 8 perform the functions without moving parts or change 9 in configuration or properties. Long lived are those 10 that are not replaced on qualified life or specific 11 time period. Active components are generally excluded 12 from license renewal because degradation is more 13 readily detected by existing surveillance and testing 14 and performance monitoring and condition monitoring.

15 The staff's main objective in this review 16 is to determine if the effects of aging will be 17 adequately managed by the applicant. The results of 18 the safety review are documented in a Safety 19 Evaluation Report.

20 Next slide.

21 A safety review comprises numerous 22 aspects. The technical staff reviews the application, 23 the applicant's license renewal application and 24 supporting documentation that determines the 25 applicant's methodology to identify the systems, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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19 1 structures, and components within the scope of license 2 renewal and subject to an aging management review to 3 determine if the methodology has been properly 4 implemented and to determine with reasonable assurance 5 that the effects of aging for certain systems, 6 structures, and components will be adequately managed 7 or monitored by new and existing programs and 8 surveillance activities.

9 The staff uses site audits to verify the 10 technical basis of the license renewal application and 11 to confirm that the applicant's aging management 12 programs and activities conform with how they are 13 described in the application. The staff documents the 14 basis and conclusion of is review in a Safety 15 Evaluation Report which is publicly available. In 16 addition, a team of specialized inspectors travel to 17 the reactor site to verify that aging management 18 programs are being implemented, modified, and planned 19 consistent with the license renewal application.

20 Finally, as I've mentioned, the Advisory 21 Committee on Reactor Safeguards, the ACRS, performs an 22 independent review of the license renewal application, 23 the staff Safety Evaluation Report, and inspection 24 findings and makes a recommendation to the Commission 25 regarding the proposed action to issue a renewed NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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20 1 license.

2 Next slide.

3 This slide shows the important milestones 4 for the Limerick license renewal. Like I mentioned, 5 the application came in on June 22nd. Right now, 6 we're in the middle of the hearing process and that 7 runs through October 24th and that is the public's 8 chance to request the hearing and review of the 9 application. This meeting will serve as an 10 opportunity to solicit comment on the environmental 11 report, but you can continue to provide comment 12 through October 28th. The SER with Open Items, the 13 staff's evaluation is planned to be issued in July of 14 2012.

15 Let's see. And without a hearing, the 16 plan is to have a decision on the license renewal 17 application by April of 2013.

18 That concludes my portion of the 19 presentation. I'll turn it over to Lisa now.

20 MS. REGNER: Thank you, Rob. Can you hear 21 me okay? Good afternoon. As Rob said, my name is 22 Lisa Regner and my focus for the Limerick license 23 renewal review is on the environmental side. It's 24 equally important. It's separate from the safety 25 review that Rob talked about, but it's equally NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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21 1 important.

2 The review is performed in accordance with 3 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 or NEPA, 4 as Rob said. NEPA established a national policy for 5 considering environmental impacts and provides the 6 basic architecture for federal environmental reviews.

7 So all federal agencies are required to follow a 8 systematic approach in evaluating potential impacts of 9 projects and also to assess the alternatives to those 10 actions.

11 By law, the NEPA process involves public 12 participation and public disclosure. That's primarily 13 why we're here today. NEPA established the U.S.

14 Council on Environmental Quality, the CEQ, within the 15 Executive Office of the President. And the CEQ 16 establishes policy for how NEPA is to be implemented.

17 The NRC's environmental regulations are contained in 18 10 CFR Part 51 and they are largely based on those 19 that the CEQ developed.

20 Our environmental reviews considered the 21 impact of the license renewal and any mitigation for 22 those impacts that we consider significant. We also 23 consider the impacts of alternatives to license 24 renewal including the impact of not renewing the 25 license. The staff documents its environmental review NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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22 1 in an Environmental Impact Statement which is made 2 publicly available.

3 Ultimately, the purpose of the staff's 4 environmental review is to determine whether the 5 environmental impacts of license renewal are 6 reasonable and in combination with the safety review, 7 the regional inspections and decisions by the Advisory 8 Committee on Reactor Safeguards to make a 9 recommendation to the Commission whether to recommend 10 to renew the license or not.

11 Next slide.

12 So for a license renewal review, the NRC 13 environmental staff looks at a wide range of impacts.

14 Additionally, we consult with various federal, state, 15 and local officials, some of whom are here tonight, 16 we're happy to see, as well as leaders on tribal 17 nations. We gather pertinent information from these 18 sources and ensure it's considered in our analysis.

19 So some of the examples of the groups that we consult 20 with are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the 21 Environmental Protection Agency, and that includes the 22 Pennsylvania EPA as well who I'm happy to say is here 23 with us tonight; the Pennsylvania Department of 24 Conservation and Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania 25 Fish and Boat Commission, the State Historic NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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23 1 Preservation Office, and also Displaced Pennsylvania 2 Tribal Nations since you may or may not know there are 3 no tribal nations that exist in Pennsylvania, 4 federally-recognized tribal nations that still live in 5 Pennsylvania. But we do consult with those that have 6 been displaced.

7 Next slide, please.

8 The environmental review begins with a 9 scoping process which we're in the middle of right now 10 which is an assessment of the specific impacts and 11 significant issues that the staff should consider in 12 preparing the Limerick Environmental Impact Statement.

13 Information that we gather from you today and in the 14 next few weeks will be considered and included in the 15 Environmental Impact Statement.

16 We have recognized that some impacts are 17 similar, if not identical, at all nuclear power 18 plants, so to improve efficiency what we've done is to 19 develop a Generic Environmental Impact Statement or 20 GEIS, that addresses a number of impacts that are 21 common to all nuclear power plants. So what I will 22 prepare then with the staff is what we call a 23 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that's 24 specific to Limerick. But in addition to those site-25 specific issues, we also reexamine all the generic NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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24 1 issues for any new and significant information that 2 would change the conclusions in the GEIS, in the 3 Generic Environmental Impact Statement.

4 Next slide, please.

5 So the scoping period started on October 6 26th of this year when the Notice of Intent to prepare 7 an Environmental Impact Statement and conduct scoping 8 was published in the Federal Register. The NRC will 9 accept comments on the scope of the environmental 10 review until October 28th, so that's a few days more 11 than the hearing period which is different. Those are 12 two different dates, okay? So environmental comments 13 will be accepted until October 28th.

14 In general, what we're looking for in 15 those environmental comments is information about 16 environmental impacts from the continued operation of 17 Limerick. You can assist us in this process by 18 telling us, for example, what aspects of your local 19 community we should focus on, what local 20 environmental, social, and economic issues the NRC 21 should examine during our environmental review, what 22 other major projects are in progress or planned in the 23 area and what reasonable alternatives are most 24 appropriate for this region.

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25 1 headquarters. We don't live in your community and 2 while we do have NRC people that do live in your 3 community, we need you to provide those regional 4 environmental impacts to us. That will help us do a 5 thorough and comprehensive review.

6 Those are just some of the examples of the 7 input we're looking for and they represent the kinds 8 of information we seek through the environmental 9 scoping process.

10 Next slide, please.

11 So this slide kind of ties it all 12 together. But I do want to stress if you look at the 13 top, public comments are an important part of the 14 environmental review process. How do we use your 15 comments? All of your comments to us whether provided 16 verbally during this meeting, in a written letter, 17 fax, or email are considered and addressed in our 18 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. We 19 respond to each comment as part of the SEIS and the 20 SEIS as well as several other factors shown here in 21 the slide will all contribute to the Commission's 22 decision whether to renew the Limerick license or not.

23 Next slide, please.

24 So how can you submit comments? Well, 25 first of all, those of you who are here and have NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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26 1 filled out the yellow card, you're good to go. We've 2 got the transcriptionist so all of those comments will 3 be accepted as formal comments.

4 Additionally, you can also go on line to 5 regulations.gov and it's a pretty easy process. If 6 you go to regulations.gov you'll see two search boxes.

7 If you put in this docket ID, NRC-2011-0166, 8 sometimes it takes a minute or at least for my 9 computer it takes a minute, you'll get a list of 10 hopefully Limerick-specific Federal Register notices.

11 The top one should be -- it should say Exelon 12 Generation Company, Notice of Intent to Prepare an 13 Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping 14 Process. And if you look on the right it should say, 15 it should have a link to submit a comment. If you 16 have any problems, my contact information is in here.

17 You can give me a call and I'll walk you through the 18 process.

19 Another alternative is fax. If you fax to 20 this number, you can reference RADB, that's just the 21 branch that collects and formally captures these 22 comments. You can also either reference the docket 23 number, that NRC 2011-0166 number or write Limerick, 24 okay?

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27 1 is October 28th. Next slide, please?

2 You can also submit by mail to this 3 address here and again they collect all the comments, 4 put them into our formal document management system 5 and they will be addressed by the staff.

6 Also, if you happen to be in Washington, 7 D.C. and want to come into NRC headquarters, you can 8 submit written comments in person as well. And you're 9 more than welcome to give me a call so that I can meet 10 you at the gate and help you with that, if you want to 11 come to headquarters.

12 Next slide, please.

13 So these are the environmental review 14 milestones. Again, scoping comments are due October 15 28th. Now this is not the last time that you'll see 16 myself or Rob. What we'll do is we will develop a 17 Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, as 18 I mentioned. We'll issue that formally, and anybody 19 that filled out a blue card and has an email address, 20 I will send that to you by email. And then we will 21 also have another public meeting where you can provide 22 comments on that Environmental Impact Statement. So 23 we'll be gathering again and that will happen barring 24 any unforeseen problems with this license renewal 25 application, we'll be doing that late August, early NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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28 1 September of 2012, next summer.

2 The final SEIS again, barring any 3 unforeseen problems that the staff identifies should 4 be right around February of 2013. And all of your 5 comments submitted in relation to the draft SEIS are 6 also addressed in the final SEIS.

7 Next slide, please?

8 Here's our, Rob's and my contact 9 information. We are the primary points of contact 10 within the NRC for license renewal issues at Limerick.

11 If it's not a license renewal issue, we'll do our 12 best to get you in contact with the appropriate 13 person.

14 Next slide.

15 Okay, if you don't happen to have a 16 computer, we've also provided a hard copy of the 17 license renewal application at two local libraries, 18 both the Pottstown Regional Public Library and the 19 Royersford Free Public Library have hard copies of the 20 license renewal application. They're pretty big.

21 It's two, four-inch, three-inch binders. So it's a 22 good -- three, three-inch binders. It's a good bit of 23 information. And that's both the safety and the 24 environmental report. I will also put the 25 draft SEIS in those libraries as well.

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29 1 Additionally, I did bring a bunch of disks 2 that have it on disk if you would like to take the 3 license renewal application. They're in the back of 4 the room as well.

5 And I did want to do one more plug for the 6 blue cards, if you do have an email address and you 7 would like to receive any NRC-generated Limerick 8 documents that would include both license renewal and 9 non-license renewal NRC documents, we have a listserv 10 and if you give me your email address on one of those 11 blue cards, I can sign you up for that.

12 This concludes my presentation and I think 13 we will open it up for questions at this time. I'll 14 turn it back over to Rich Barkley.

15 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Yes. At this point 16 in time before we move into the comments section, I 17 wanted to see if there were any questions regarding 18 the presentation made by the staff? So if you have a 19 question, raise your hand. I'll take the microphone 20 to you. If not, we'll move into the question and 21 answer period.

22 Okay, let's move into the question and 23 answer period. At this point in time, I have 16 24 people signed up. I was interested in three of the 25 speakers. I had three people from the National NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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30 1 Resources Defense Council signed up, but they were 2 thinking of actually turning their comments in in a 3 written form. So I wanted to see if they're here this 4 afternoon. And since they're not, then I have 13 5 people to go through in the call order.

6 So what I would like to do if we could is 7 have you make your statement from this fixed 8 microphone here in the middle of the hallway and I'd 9 like to lead off with Dr. Lewis Cuthbert, followed by 10 Bill MaGuire, the site vice president for Limerick 11 Station and then followed by State Representative 12 Thomas Quigley.

13 Mr. Cuthbert.

14 MR. CUTHBERT: Good afternoon, members of 15 NRC, elected officials and members of this community, 16 I'd like to read the following statement and then 17 place it on the record in hard copy with some 18 supporting documentation and research summaries, if I 19 may.

20 The Alliance for a Clean Environment has 21 conducted an 11-year investigation of the harms and 22 threats from Limerick Nuclear Power Plant. The body 23 of evidence confirms unprecedented environmental and 24 meltdown threats posed by this plant. One event, one 25 worst case scenario can trigger a catastrophe of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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31 1 unthinkable proportions. Whether a natural disaster 2 or terrorist attack occurs, by relicensing Limerick, 3 NRC would in effect be placing Russian roulette with 4 the lives of more than eight million people. NRC must 5 close Limerick Nuclear Plant by 2029.

6 There is no way for either NRC or Exelon 7 to ensure the safety of the environment or the 8 residents impacted by this plant. It cannot be made 9 fail safe. No other facility has the potential to 10 render the entire region uninhabitable, possibly for 11 centuries as the result of an accident or terrorist 12 attack. This is the highest-risk facility that could 13 exist in any community in this country.

14 Current 40-year operating licenses expire 15 in 2024 and 2029. Why the rush to renew these 16 licenses now?

17 We urge the NRC to say no to Exelon's 18 requested license renewals. The public was led to 19 believe that Limerick's generators, fuel pools, and 20 miles of underground pipes and cables could operate 21 safely for 40 years and then the facility would close.

22 Is Exelon fearful that the longer they wait the more 23 serious problems may arise?

24 After only 26 of 40 years, numerous signs 25 of aging and risk have been identified. Corrosion, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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32 1 deterioration, fatigue, cracking, thinning with loss 2 of material, loss of fracture toughness are all 3 documented in Exelon's own renewal application in the 4 aging management section. Instances of equipment 5 fatigue and cracking of vital equipment include the 6 reactor vessel and coolant system.

7 Aging equipment, after only 26 years 8 suggests that NRC should not just close the plant by 9 2029, but also ramp up their oversight vigilance 10 during the remaining 18 years of the current license.

11 In the past few years, Limerick has had numerous 12 unplanned shutdowns suggesting there are already 13 significant problems. Three occurred in one week in 14 June 2011. Loss of coolant leaks and accidents at 15 Limerick have already been documented. Serious 16 radioactive contamination could go undetected and 17 unreported for years from the corroding 18 infrastructure, much of it underground.

19 There have already been two near misses at 20 Limerick from 1996 to 2001.

21 This aging plant is an accident waiting to 22 happen. Large volumes, more than 6,000 assemblies 23 weighing more than a thousand tons of highly 24 radioactive waste in the form of spent fuel rods are 25 stored in densely-packed pools, elevated five stories NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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33 1 above and outside the reinforced containment 2 structure. This plant will produce about two more 3 tons of dangerous spent fuel rods every year that it 4 operates. Limerick, in addition, is now third on the 5 earthquake risk list for nuclear plants in the United 6 States.

7 With loss of cooling water, Limerick's 8 fuel rods could heat up, self ignite, and burn in an 9 unstoppable fire with catastrophic results. Exelon 10 has not been required to spend the money to guard 11 Limerick against terrorists, missiles, or air strikes 12 despite repeated requests to do so.

13 Dry cask storage and transport are also 14 very dangerous alternatives. It's time to close 15 Limerick and stop producing such deadly waste for 16 which there is no safe solution. As long as Limerick 17 operates harms to us and our environment will 18 increase.

19 Their harmful environmental impacts are 20 unprecedented. At the conclusion of our 11-year 21 investigation of routine radiation releases and review 22 of permits for major air pollution and a variety of 23 dangerous water contamination issues, it's clear that 24 this energy is not just dirty, it is in fact filthy.

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34 1 range of topics: routine radiation releases into the 2 air, radioactive wastewater discharges into the 3 Schuylkill River, radioactive groundwater 4 contamination, radioactive nuclides associated with 5 the plant detected in our soil, our sediment, our 6 vegetation, our fish, our water, and milk.

7 Research has confirmed radiation in our 8 children's baby teeth in this community. Major air 9 pollution issues under health-based standards of the 10 Clean Air Act, 32 individual sources listed. Drastic, 11 harmful increases permitted in particulate matter 12 known also as PM-10 from the cooling towers, other air 13 pollution increases also permitted.

14 Dangerous depletion of the Schuylkill 15 River, in and by itself, a singular reason to deny 16 this permit. The Schuylkill is a vital drinking water 17 source for nearly two million people from Pottstown to 18 Philadelphia. It is being depleted and contaminated 19 every day that this plant operates.

20 Alarming cancer increases that have been 21 well documented in this community repeatedly far 22 higher than national and state averages after Limerick 23 started operating until the late 1990s. The 24 findings of our investigation lead us to conclude that 25 this plant is in common language a recipe for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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35 1 disaster.

2 While NRC is required to prepare a 3 supplement to the Limerick Environmental Impact 4 Statement for license renewal, we have little 5 confidence in the process based on NRC's regulatory 6 history. It would be difficult to enumerate a short 7 list, so I'm going to rely on written documents.

8 There are critics of the NRC out there who have done a 9 much better job than we have of generating such a 10 list, most notably a scathing indictment by the 11 Associated Press. I'm not going to re-enumerate that 12 information.

13 It's long past time for the NRC to summon 14 the courage to do the right thing in our judgment and 15 actually protect the environment and the public, 16 rather than the industry.

17 Today, I am going to be submitting on the 18 record summary packets of our research on Limerick's 19 major air pollution, harms to the Schuylkill River, 20 radioactive groundwater contamination, links between 21 Limerick's radiation and our elevated cancers in this 22 community and how Limerick's nuclear power can, in 23 fact, be replaced with safer sources today.

24 Based on the compelling body of evidence 25 of environmental harms to date and the enormous NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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36 1 increased population in proximity to this facility, 2 Limerick Nuclear Plant must be closed by 2029.

3 There is no amount of energy production that is 4 worth risking the lives of so many people. Thank you 5 very much.

6 (Applause.)

7 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you, sir.

8 MR. MAGUIRE: Good afternoon. My name is 9 Bill Maguire and I am the site vice president at 10 Limerick Generating Station. And I have overall 11 responsibility for the safe and reliable operation of 12 the facility.

13 I have been working in the nuclear power 14 industry for 25 years and my career began at the 15 Limerick Generating Station as an engineer. I 16 continued with a license to be a licensed senior 17 reactor operator supervisor in the operations 18 organization and was the on-shift senior manager of 19 that facility for many years.

20 I have also worked at a few other nuclear 21 stations across the country and before rejoining 22 Limerick as the site vice president in May of 2010, I 23 was the site vice president at the Peach Bottom Atomic 24 Power Station in southeastern Pennsylvania in York 25 County.

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37 1 Operating Limerick Generating Station 2 safely and reliably is a responsibility that everyone 3 at the power station takes very seriously. We 4 understand our obligation to the community, to the 5 environment, and to each other to operate the plant 6 safely.

7 A key component of a thriving community 8 like ours is the availability of safe, clean, and 9 reliable electricity. And as we look into the future 10 for the power needs of Pennsylvania and the United 11 States as a whole, we can see the increasing demand 12 for this very important resource.

13 At the same time, there's a growing 14 concern about greenhouse gases and climate change that 15 is a result of burning fossil fuels. To help meet 16 that growing power demand and to help keep our 17 environment clean, Exelon has applied to the U.S.

18 Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 20-year extension 19 to the plant's operating license. Limerick's current 20 license for Unit 1 will expire in 2024 and Unit 2 in 21 2029. With license renewal, Limerick can provide our 22 region with clean power through 2049.

23 We understand our special obligation to 24 operate the plant safely and reliably and to maintain 25 a close relationship with our neighbors. We pledge to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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38 1 continue that special trust as we operate the plant 2 well into the future.

3 The 104 nuclear reactors in the United 4 States provide roughly 20 percent of our nation's 5 electricity. More than 70 reactors nationwide have 6 already received approval from the Nuclear Regulatory 7 Commission for a 20-year license extension including 8 the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in York County.

9 Limerick Generating Station operates in a 10 manner that preserves the environment. The plant 11 produces almost no greenhouse gases. The plant 12 conducts approximately 1700 tests annually on air, 13 water, fish, soil, cow's milk, and other food products 14 to measure for environmental impact. We also maintain 15 a chain of radiation monitors surrounding the plant.

16 In 2005, the environmental management 17 systems at Limerick Generating Station achieved 18 certification under the strict criterion of the 19 International Organization for Standardization, ISO.

20 This certification is known as ISO 14001, a common 21 industry reference for the environmental 22 certification. The ISO 14001 certification requires a 23 commitment to excellence to prevent pollution and to 24 ensure continuous improvement in environmental areas.

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39 1 recognized Limerick Generating Station's commitment to 2 environmental stewardship by awarding us the Wildlife 3 at Work Certification. This distinction was awarded 4 to Limerick Generating Station for our commitment 5 towards establishing long-term wildlife habitat 6 enhancements that provided undisturbed habitats with 7 food, water, cover, and space for animal species 8 living on the plant station's landscape.

9 To ensure Limerick continues to operate 10 safely for years to come, Exelon is investing in 11 upgrades to plant equipment. Since 2010, Exelon has 12 invested more than $200 million into the plant 13 including installation of new safety equipment, new 14 electrical cables, new valves, and refurbishing the 15 cooling towers. In addition, Limerick has made more 16 than $40 million in physical security upgrades since 17 2001.

18 Our investment in the future does not stop 19 with equipment. We have hired and trained over 100 20 new employees over the last three years, mostly coming 21 from our native region here. We maintain a steady 22 workforce of approximately 850 people and during our 23 annual maintenance and refueling outages, we bring in 24 between 1500 and 2000 temporary workers that provide a 25 boost to our local economy. Hiring and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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40 1 retaining top talent is a key priority for Limerick 2 Generating Station.

3 Over the past 25 years, Limerick has been 4 one of the best performing and most reliable 5 generating stations in the nuclear power industry.

6 During that time, the plant has set several records 7 for continuous days of operation and has been 8 recognized by the industry for our reliable operation.

9 In March 2010, Limerick completed a successful run of 10 727 continuous days for our Unit 1 plant. This 11 represented the second longest continuous run for a 12 boiling water reactor in the United States.

13 While we do not set out to break records, 14 continuous operations are on indicator of the 15 excellent human performance and equipment reliability 16 that Limerick strikes for every day.

17 We also take pride in our investments in 18 the community. In 2010, Limerick donated more than 19 $600,000 to the community in contributions to the 20 United Way, fire and ambulance companies, educational 21 health and youth organizations. And many of our 22 employees serve as volunteers in the local communities 23 around the plant.

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41 1 Commission as you review our license renewal. I 2 appreciate the opportunity to speak with you this 3 afternoon. Thank you.

4 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thanks, Bill.

5 (Applause.)

6 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Representative 7 Quigley.

8 REP. QUIGLEY: Good afternoon, my name is 9 State Representative Tom Quigley. I represent the 10 146th District here of which lower Pottsville is a 11 party of that district, so I want to welcome the NRC 12 here today to the beautiful Sunnybrook Ballroom for 13 this meeting and thank them for coming out to listen 14 to the public and take commentary.

15 I'm here today to voice my strong support 16 for the relicensing of the Limerick Generating 17 Station. I wanted to touch on a couple points of why 18 I feel it is important for this facility to be 19 relicensed.

20 First is the amount of electricity that is 21 produced by this facility. One of the things that 22 myself and my colleagues in Harrisburg hear 23 consistently from businesses and the Commonwealth and 24 our citizens is the demand for energy and electricity 25 now and more importantly what that demand is going to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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42 1 be in the future.

2 Right now this facility generates enough 3 electricity for two millions homes and without 4 producing some of the greenhouse gases that we hear so 5 much about that could be produced by coal, natural 6 gas, or oil. And I'm going to put a caveat in there 7 for my good friends out in the western part of the 8 state where coal is a big part of the Pennsylvania 9 economy and I'm suggesting that this be done to the 10 exclusion of coal and nevertheless, some of the 11 technologies that they're developing out there are 12 also important for that industry and important for the 13 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

14 Again, one of the concerns we hear 15 consistently from businesses is how can we come here 16 into Pennsylvania with the infrastructure being what 17 it is which needs to be improved for the transmission 18 of the electricity, but more importantly the 19 generation of that electricity?

20 Number two, I think is important is the 21 jobs and overall economy. Again, in these tough 22 economic times that we're facing here in the 23 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and also in this nation, 24 one of the top issues that we hear consistently about 25 is jobs.

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43 1 And as was mentioned by the site vice 2 president, over 860 people are employed here with an 3 annual payroll of $75 million. The direct impact that 4 is to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, of course, is 5 realized through the state income tax and also all of 6 these local municipalities most of them enact an 7 earned income tax which again sustains their townships 8 as well as their respective school districts. To have 9 that taken away I think would have an even more 10 dramatic impact on our local economy.

11 As was mentioned the impact for the local 12 area here, the temporary workers who show up here 13 during the outages and the refueling, there's already 14 been two hotels that have sprung up along the 422 15 corridor with another one planned right up here at the 16 Sanatoga area. Again, more jobs and more economic 17 growth here for our communities.

18 Thirdly, I want to talk about the 19 communication that I've experienced in the seven years 20 that I've been in office with Exelon and with their 21 Government Affairs people as well as with their site 22 people. I've been on the site three times, twice for 23 a tour and one to make a presentation during an 24 anniversary of the facility. And I have to say that 25 it is a very secure area. I know a lot of people are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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44 1 concerned about terrorism attacks or people being on 2 the property. But unless you've actually gone over 3 there and gone through a tour, seeing how things are 4 set up, seeing the armed guards there, seeing the 5 security measures that are in place, I think you come 6 away much more relieved with that. And I'm able to 7 speak to my constituents more affirmatively about the 8 safety and security of the facility.

9 Any time that there's been the slightest 10 occurrence there, whether it will be a couple times a 11 hunter has wandered onto the property where the 12 authorities were called, the Government Affairs people 13 at Exelon are on the phone to me or with an email 14 right away to let me know what's happening before the 15 word gets out to the media or to the press. So 16 they're always very well prepared in their 17 explanations, not only of things that happen at the 18 plant itself, but also incidents and issues that occur 19 around the country and around the world.

20 Obviously, what took place in Japan with 21 the incident over there, they were on the phone with 22 me and met with me a few times to explain what took 23 place over there and how the safeguards are being put 24 in place here so that doesn't happen at this facility.

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45 1 storage where the spent fuel rods are now stored 2 outside in a dry cask storage facility. When that was 3 proposed back in 2005-2006, the Generating Station 4 held two open houses that were very well attended. I 5 went to both of them where they had people on there to 6 explain to the people what exactly was taking place 7 with this dry cask storage, why it was necessary. A 8 lot of questions and answers back and forth and I 9 think a lot of the people came away better informed 10 about that process.

11 Just recently at an open house, the site 12 VP who just spoke, Bill Maguire, came out to give some 13 initial comments and wound up spending the full hour 14 in an impromptu question and answer session and not 15 again just planted questions, a lot of tough 16 questions. And I think again the people came away 17 feeling confident in the openness and the transparency 18 that was displayed in that question and answer 19 session.

20 Another point of that is for relicensing 21 for the overall environment here is the good corporate 22 citizenship that the Generating Station has exhibited.

23 As was mentioned by Bill, some of the charitable 24 contributions that have gone on, not only for the host 25 community of Limerick, but also for the surrounding NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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46 1 areas. I attended a few dedication services where 2 they provided money to the Upper Providence Elementary 3 School and the Limerick Elementary School for an 4 outside environmental classroom.

5 One of the things we talk about as 6 political leaders, and I'm on the House Education 7 Committee, is the need for our children to be educated 8 particularly in the sciences and given these budget 9 constraints that we're operating under, both the 10 school districts and the Commonwealth, it's good to 11 see a corporate citizen stepping up to the plate and 12 providing that financial support, particularly in the 13 area of science. They've also partnered with the 14 Montgomery County Community College to provide 15 assistance in support for an associate degree in 16 nuclear engineering technology.

17 Again, we hear so much about our students 18 here not being well versed in technology and 19 engineering and things of that nature. So again, 20 stepping up to the plate to provide that assistance 21 when, in fact, perhaps in these tough budget times 22 where the government might not be able to do that.

23 Last, I want to talk about overall public 24 opinion and safety issues. One of the things that I 25 looked at when I talk about safety and the feeling of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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47 1 comfort that people have here is how many of the 2 people who work at that plant live within the ten-mile 3 radius of the facility? And I asked that question 4 when I first was elected in 2004 and I just asked it 5 again in preparation for this hearing and 563 6 employees live within the ten-mile radius.

7 The population growth in my District in 8 the past ten years, we're getting ready to redraw our 9 lines based on the 2010 Census, so I broke it down by 10 township as to how much the population has increased 11 in those areas: Limerick Township, increasing by 33.5 12 percent; Upper Pottsgrove by 29.5; Royersford Borough, 13 where I live, 11.9; Lower Pottsgrove, 7; Pottstown, 2; 14 now this is a little bit skewed, but I have a small 15 piece of New Hanover Township which actually increased 16 by 54 percent.

17 When you look at the public opinion, and 18 again, we get calls on a lot of different issues and 19 as I mentioned that dry cask storage issue. Back 20 then, at the same time that that issue was being 21 rolled out to the public, Boyd Gaming had purchased a 22 property next to our plant was getting ready to apply 23 -- had applied for a license, casino license. At that 24 time, my office had received 2 calls in regard to the 25 dry cask storage project, over 200 calls regarding the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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48 1 casino application. So at the time, it appeared 2 people were more concerned about the prospect of a 3 casino being in their neighborhood than they were a 4 dry cask storage facility.

5 And lastly, as some of you heard, there is 6 a proposal right now to put a hold on Route 422. And 7 again, in the past six months with the incidents in 8 Japan, with the current earthquake we had here, with 9 the AP story telling you how these plants are all 10 falling apart, I received two calls regarding that one 11 where they could get the KI pills, one where they 12 could -- what was the evacuation plan for that, and 13 more calls and emails regarding the proposed 422. So 14 again, it appears that the constituents and the 146th, 15 they're more concerned about the prospect of paying a 16 toll to ride of 422 than they are about the nuclear 17 power plant issues.

18 So again, I strongly support the 19 relicensing of this for the reasons I mentioned.

20 Thank you.

21 (Applause.)

22 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you, 23 Representative Quigley.

24 The next three people I'd like to call, 25 first is Lorraine Ruppe, private citizen; and the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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49 1 next, Michael Gallagher of Exelon; and finally, I'd 2 like to call Dr. Fred Winter after that.

3 MS. RUPPE: Hi, my name is Lorraine Ruppe.

4 I am speaking here today to represent the children 5 and future generations, especially in our community.

6 Residents are fearful about the possibility of 7 disasters here in light of Fukushima in March 2011 and 8 since the earthquake and Hurricane Irene in August 9 2011 affecting our area. Climate changes, etcetera, 10 are causing disasters everywhere and continuing to get 11 worse.

12 Increasing floods, droughts, earthquakes, 13 tornados have made us all feel insecure, making 14 nuclear power increasingly risky, especially with the 15 Limerick plant basically in our backyards. Any 16 earthquake that comes through this area could be a 17 possible Fukushima, Chernobyl or Three Mile Island 18 which reminds me, four months have passed since the 19 NRC failed to get back to me when I asked how close 20 the Remapo fault line is to the Limerick nuclear 21 reactors? Maybe I can get an answer today.

22 Indian Point nuke plant was sketched as a 23 possible terrorist target in reference to 9/11 24 attacks. A suspected terrorist worked at Limerick for 25 years without the industry knowing it. How scary is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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50 1 that?

2 The Pacific Ocean is now severely 3 irradiated by Fukushima. Radiation impacts of 4 Fukushima equalled over 20 Hiroshima bombs when I last 5 researched. Our drinking and bathing water here is 6 being continuously polluted by Limerick every day, 7 24/7 for years with radiation and unfiltered toxic 8 contaminated mine water, thanks to the NRC and Exelon.

9 This is disgusting.

10 Most of us have to depend on the water, 11 especially for bathing. Some of us pay extra for 12 water filtration or drink bottled water because we are 13 afraid to drink from the Schuylkill and because it 14 tastes really bad now. Imagine how toxic it would be 15 18 plus years from now if there was even any water 16 left.

17 There has been increased particulate 18 matter in the air and other toxics from Limerick 19 causing increased asthma, heart attacks, and strokes.

20 And to add insult to injury, Limerick was granted a 21 permit to allow an eight-fold increase in air 22 pollution since 2009. Cancer rates in our area have 23 skyrocketed since Limerick has been up and running in 24 the '80s and rates have steadily increased.

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51 1 of strontium 90, a radionuclide in baby teeth of 2 children nearest to nuke plants. Baby teeth near 3 Limerick plant had the highest levels in the whole 4 United States. This stuff and God knows what else is 5 in our bodies now thanks to a Nuclear Regulatory 6 Commission that to put it nicely is less than 7 enthusiastic about protecting us.

8 Solar wind, geothermal, ocean thermal, 9 energy conservation and efficiency are now cheaper 10 than nuclear power, along with being truly clean and 11 safe. The Department of Energy 2006 report stated 12 solar alone could provide 55 times our entire nation's 13 energy needs which leads me to a point, there have 14 been numerous studies proving the many dangerous and 15 deadly consequences of nuclear power. There's no 16 denying the massive devastation it has already caused 17 and will continue to cause indefinitely, but the 18 industry still goes on in their trance-like, 19 indifferent fashion as if everything is safe and 20 wonderful and will continue to be 18 plus years from 21 now or until 2049 for our community. This is what 22 really scares us the most.

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52 1 power has blinded them to moral life and death issues 2 and facts set right in front of their faces. But my 3 big question of the day is why is Exelon applying for 4 an extension 18 years ahead of time? Thank you.

5 (Applause.)

6 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you, Lorraine.

7 Mike?

8 MR. GALLAGHER: Good afternoon. My name 9 is Mike Gallagher and I'm the Vice President of 10 License Renewal for Exelon. I have overall 11 responsibility for the Limerick Generating Station 12 license renewal application.

13 Exelon has a great deal of experience with 14 license renewal, as we have already obtained the 15 renewed licenses for our Peach Bottom and our TMI 16 plants in Pennsylvania, our Oyster Creek plant in New 17 Jersey, and our Dresden and Quad Cities plants in 18 Illinois.

19 Just briefly about myself. I've been 20 working in the nuclear power industry for 30 years. I 21 was a licensed senior operator and plant manager at 22 Limerick and I worked at two other nuclear plants and 23 our corporate offices.

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53 1 for Limerick. I'd like to speak briefly about the 2 process for preparing this license renewal application 3 and the amount of work and engineering analysis that 4 was put into preparing the application.

5 Because the license Generating Station can 6 be operated safely and reliably, Exelon decided to 7 pursue license renewal for Limerick. Limerick is a 8 very clean energy source which produces no greenhouse 9 gas emissions. Limerick is also good for the economy 10 in that it lowers market prices on electricity for the 11 citizens of Pennsylvania to the tune of $880 million 12 per year.

13 So in 2009, we announced our intention to 14 seek license renewal for Limerick. Later that year, 15 we started the work necessary to prepare the 16 application. After over two years of work, we 17 submitted the application to the Nuclear Regulatory 18 Commission on June 22, 2011. The application, as Lisa 19 had mentioned, when you print it out it's about 2100 20 pages. And when you put it in the binders it's three 21 large binders. It's a huge amount of information.

22 But that only represents a small part of the work that 23 was done for the engineering analysis to prepare this 24 application.

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54 1 if we printed it all out would be about 290 binders of 2 information. We invested over 60,000 manhours of 3 engineering work. Once we completed our engineering 4 work to prepare the application, we brought in experts 5 from outside Exelon to review the application to 6 ensure that it was complete, thorough and accurate.

7 Our total cost to prepare the application and get this 8 application reviewed by the NRC will be about $30 9 million.

10 There are two different parts of our 11 application, the safety review and the environmental 12 review. For the safety review, we took an in-depth 13 look at the history and the condition of the safety 14 equipment in the plant. We did that to determine 15 whether the necessary maintenance was being performed 16 on that equipment and to make sure that the equipment 17 will be able to operate when it's needed, not only for 18 today, but also for an additional 20 years of 19 operation.

20 When you look back at Limerick, when it 21 was built, all the equipment was new. It was 22 thoroughly tested to make sure it would perform 23 properly, but like anything else equipment does age.

24 That doesn't mean it won't work, but it does age and 25 certain activities need to be done to the equipment.

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55 1 So we perform preventive maintenance. Sometimes we 2 refurbish the equipment. Some equipment is replaced.

3 There may be modifications done to upgrade the 4 equipment in the plant and in fact, as Bill Maguire 5 has stated, Limerick had spent over $200 million in 6 the last couple years alone to improve and modernize 7 the equipment and enhance plant operations and safety.

8 We also then reviewed calculations that 9 were performed as part of the original design of the 10 plant that were done to ensure that the plant could 11 operate safely for 40 years. We analyzed those 12 calculations and were able to confirm that the plant 13 would be able to operate safely for 60 years.

14 Overall, our conclusion from our engineering review 15 was that Limerick could operate safely for up to 60 16 years.

17 We also took a look at the environmental 18 impacts of continuing to operate Limerick. We looked 19 at all the impacts of continued impact of the plant on 20 the environment. Our conclusion is that impacts on 21 the environment are small and I use the term small in 22 the sense that is in the regulation. The regulation 23 defines small as environmental effects are not 24 detectable or are minor.

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56 1 Limerick would not have its license renewed and 2 another source of electric generation would need to be 3 installed either here on site or someplace else to 4 generate the replacement electricity. We concluded 5 that any other means of generating the replacement 6 electricity would have more of an impact on the 7 environment than continued operation of Limerick. For 8 instance, if Limerick could be replaced by a wind 9 generation facility, the wind form would have to 10 occupy between 10 and 40 percent of all the land in 11 the state of Delaware and that would have a huge 12 impact on the land. If a solar facility could replace 13 Limerick, it would need to cover 32 to 50 percent of 14 the entire land area of Montgomery County.

15 In conclusion, we operate Limerick safely 16 and we can continue to operate it safely for an 17 additional 20 years. Limerick will provide 18 approximately 2340 megawatts of base-load generation 19 that's not only safe, but it's clean, reliable and 20 economical.

21 Continued operation of Limerick will 22 benefit this community, the Commonwealth of 23 Pennsylvania and our nation. Thanks for giving me the 24 time for this. Thank you.

25 (Applause.)

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57 1 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you, Mike.

2 Dr. Winter?

3 DR. WINTER: Good afternoon. Thanks for 4 letting me speak. We have heard a lot of pros and 5 cons, haven't we? And it's hard to make a decision 6 that's for sure. But let me get going here.

7 As a physician practicing radiology for 8 over 50 years, I still have strong concern about 9 cancer sensitivities from harmful radiation exposures, 10 naturally. My medical colleagues share the same 11 concerns because we have seen our cancer rates 12 increase since the Limerick power plant started, 13 especially thyroid cancer. It jumped to 78 percent 14 higher here than the national average. And some of 15 the people I talked to, this is because people are 16 aging more now, getting older, so there are more 17 cancers. But that's not true because in other areas 18 similar to our area in Pottstown, they're not nearly 19 getting the thyroid cancers that we are. This has 20 been well established by the state.

21 You wonder why some of our medical and 22 cancer fundraisers haven't reacted with more 23 responsibility in order to stop this. They're making 24 a lot of money, but not taking much effort to prevent 25 environmental damage.

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58 1 Yes, we are creating our own form of 2 terrorism. Now that sounds kind of funny, doesn't it?

3 But allowing any harmful environmental events to 4 occur, we are allowing our own form of terrorism, just 5 like foreign people would come in here.

6 Having attended a Hiroshima, Japan atom 7 bomb clinic right after World War II, naturally I had 8 a chance to see the worst results of harmful 9 radiation. All those little kids I saw who only lived 10 for a few days, it left me with a very sad memory. Of 11 course, what is happening here will be taking much 12 longer, but it sure is not good.

13 I don't know whether you've heard that 14 some scientists are already predicting that -- I'm 15 sorry to tell you this, but nuclear energy has the 16 capacity of destroying mankind. It may take about 100 17 years, but our whole world is exposed to the harmful 18 effects, maybe not so much here in the United States, 19 but the whole world can be affected.

20 Of course, what is happening here will be 21 taking much longer, but it is sure not good news.

22 Besides harmful power plant exposures, we have 23 environmental disasters and a concern about our nearby 24 earthquake fault and others in the eastern U.S.,

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59 1 the radioactive spent fuel deadly waste material 2 sitting around, supposedly protected. We can't 3 control the use of nuclear power in the rest of the 4 world, but can keep America safer and cleaner here.

5 So please, ask your politicians, reliable 6 politicians to close the Limerick power plant. Let's 7 save America for our kids and descendants. I hope you 8 will take my concerns seriously. And thank you for 9 listening.

10 (Applause.)

11 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Okay, thank you, Dr.

12 Winter. The next three people I'd like to call is Tom 13 Neafcy of Limerick Township, followed by Dr. Anita 14 Baly, and then Tim Fenchel of the Schuylkill River 15 Heritage Foundation.

16 MR. NEAFCY: Good afternoon, thank you.

17 My name is Tom Neafcy. I'm the Chairman of Limerick 18 Township Board of Supervisors and I want to thank you 19 for this opportunity to speak at this forum today.

20 As the largest private employer in the 21 region, the Board is thankful for the 860 jobs that 22 Exelon provides, the positive impact of their 23 operation, the vitality of our local community. The 24 community and local economy are enhanced by the needed 25 services provided by the township, which includes the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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60 1 roadway network maintained by our Limerick Township 2 Public Works, public safety provided by the Limerick 3 and Linfield Fire Companies, and our local emergency 4 medical response, our public parks, our recreation 5 facilities and also the police protection that's 6 provided by Limerick's 21 sworn officers.

7 Because of Limerick Generating Station's 8 location within our borders,the Limerick Township 9 Police Department is the only municipal police 10 department in Pennsylvania with the primary 11 jurisdiction over Tier 1 critical infrastructure.

12 This Board prides itself on the services provided 13 directly both to the residents and the businesses of 14 this community and the township's ability to maintain 15 those current levels of service during these difficult 16 economic downturns. We are thankful for the 17 generosity of the Limerick generating plant and Exelon 18 for being good corporate neighbors and the assistance 19 they provide to the community. Without their 20 financial assistance that impact to provide those 21 services to the community would fall squarely on the 22 backs of the taxpayers. They assist in our fire 23 companies. They have been corporate sponsors of our 24 Limerick Community Days. And we are confident that 25 Limerick generating facility and Exelon will continue NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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61 1 that support in the future and be our good corporate 2 neighbor.

3 We also are in support of the relicensing 4 of the Limerick nuclear plant. Thank you.

5 (Applause.)

6 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Dr. Baly?

7 DR. BALY: Good afternoon. I'm Anita 8 Baly. I'm a retired Lutheran pastor and my concern 9 today is with the speed at which this application 10 process is going. I mean it seems to me that to 11 predict what environmental factors will be in place 13 12 years hence and 18 years hence, posits a kind of 13 omniscience and prescience that we should attribute to 14 Almighty God, but certainly not to any of us human 15 beings.

16 I would favor a slower process. As we 17 look around, we see that the population in this area 18 is getting denser all the time. The roads are not 19 being improved. And that leaves me with concerns 20 about how we would effect an evacuation were one 21 needed. I suspect strongly that we couldn't perform a 22 good evacuation today. And I also suspect that the 23 population will be increasing and the roads 24 deteriorating. In fact, just this morning in the 25 Pottstown Mercury, they were reporting on the hearing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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62 1 that was held on Route 422 which is our main road 2 around here. And Barry Seymour is quoted, he's the 3 Executive Director of the Delaware River Valley 4 Regional Planning Commission, and he told last week's 5 forum audience that population projections anticipate 6 a 50 percent increase in the region and if we don't 7 increase capacity on 422, we will have virtual 8 gridlock all the way to the Berks County line.

9 Maybe we'll improve that situation, but 10 it's way too early to know if that will happen. And 11 so my plea and my concern is can we slow this down so 12 that we know, in fact, what the environmental impacts 13 are going to be closer to a time that the decision is 14 made. Thank you.

15 (Applause.)

16 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you. Tim?

17 MR. FENCHEL: Good afternoon. My name is 18 Tim Fenchel and I'm on the staff of the Schuylkill 19 River National and State Heritage Area. We are one of 20 49 congressionally-designated Heritage Areas in the 21 country and our mission is to use recreation, 22 conservation, education, cultural and historic 23 preservation and tourism as tools for community 24 revitalization and economic development with the 25 Schuylkill River Valley.

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63 1 The Heritage Area has had the opportunity 2 for almost seven years now to partner with Exelon 3 Nuclear and the Limerick Generating Station on several 4 local and regional projects and programs. These 5 programs have proven to have a positive impact on our 6 local communities, residents, and natural resources.

7 And I would like to take a few moments to highlight 8 those now.

9 In 2005, Exelon Nuclear approached us 10 about the possibility of partnering together on a 11 grant program that would work to restore our area's 12 critical natural resource, the Schuylkill River. The 13 river has been detrimentally impacted by hundreds of 14 years of abuse and neglect, primarily as a result of 15 our nation's history related to the Industrial 16 Revolution. But even more recently, due to 17 deforestation, farming practices, and continued open 18 space development.

19 Beginning in 2006, after the creation of 20 grant program guidelines, an advisory committee and a 21 necessary accounting and reporting structures, Exelon 22 began making annual contributions to the Schuylkill 23 River Restoration Fund. The Schuylkill River Heritage 24 Area acts as the administrator and the manager of this 25 grant program, redistributing Exelon's contributions NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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64 1 to local and regional watershed groups, conservation 2 organizations, and local government agencies for 3 projects addressing the quality and quantity of 4 Schuylkill River water. Projects focusing on 5 agricultural remediation, abandoned mine drainage, and 6 stormwater runoff are supported through this program.

7 To date, Exelon has contributed over $1.2 8 million to the restoration fund for watershed-wide 9 projects. Twenty-two grants have been awarded and 11 10 projects have been completed. These projects have 11 made an impact on the water quality and quantity of 12 the Schuylkill River which is a source of drinking 13 water for over 1.75 million people in southeastern 14 Pennsylvania.

15 Exelon's establishment and contribution to 16 the restoration fund has been a model program and is 17 now a uniquely valued public/private partnership as 18 several new partners have joined efforts and made 19 their own contributions to the fund. Both the 20 Philadelphia Water Department and the Partnership for 21 the Delaware Estuary have brought funding to the 22 program and supported regional watershed projects.

23 The contributions made by Exelon have been the 24 catalyst to leverage additional funds well over 25 $600,000 for area restoration.

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65 1 The goal of the Restoration Fund Advisory 2 Committee is to be able to support a sustainable level 3 of half a million dollars annually for the fund and in 4 turn, conservation projects that will continue to 5 ensure the future health of the Schuylkill River.

6 In addition to our work on the restoration 7 fund, we have assisted Exelon Nuclear, East Coventry 8 Township, and Chester County in a planning effort to 9 begin the process of restoration and preservation of 10 the historic Fricks Locks Village. Earlier this year, 11 Exelon Nuclear, the current owners of the village, 12 signed an agreement with East Coventry Township to 13 stabilize, rehabilitate, and protect several of 14 Chester County's oldest buildings. Exelon has agreed 15 to spend $2.5 million to restore the exterior of 16 several buildings as stabilized ruins. A fence will 17 be built around the grounds and the corporation is 18 donating four houses to the township worth an 19 estimated $1 million.

20 In addition, the corporation has agreed to 21 continue to do routine maintenance on the village and 22 work with the local historical society to host guided, 23 historic and educational tours for the public.

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66 1 dedication and personal commitment of Exelon staff and 2 management. Based on the very positive community 3 programs and involvement we have experienced and 4 witnessed first hand as a regional organization, we 5 would like to communicate our support for the 6 relicensing and continued operation of Limerick 7 Generating Station. Thank you.

8 (Applause.)

9 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Okay, thank you.

10 The next three people I would like to call, Bill 11 Vogel, followed by Eileen Dautrich, is that how you 12 say that?

13 MS. DAUTRICH: Dautrich.

14 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Dautrich. Okay.

15 And then Bill Albany.

16 MR. VOGEL: Hi, my name is Bill Vogel. I 17 live in Phoenixville. Units 1 and 2 had an initial 18 life expectancy of 40 years. They are now asking to 19 increase that 20 years, a full one third increase.

20 Everything has a life expectancy, machinery, as well 21 as people. Demographically, my life expectancy is 74.

22 If I was to get a one third extension, like the 23 Limerick plant wants, that would take me to 111. What 24 do you think is going to happen to me between age 74, 25 my life span, my nameplate capacity, and the year when NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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67 1 I reach 111? It's going to go down hill. That's 2 lifecycle. Machinery has them. You don't need an 3 engineer to tell you that. Just like human beings 4 have them. We become less effective, less efficient, 5 less competent.

6 The significant difference is my failure 7 will be containable. Limerick's most likely will not.

8 If I drive over you with my car because I no longer 9 see as well or have the reflexes I once had, that's a 10 tragedy for you, your family, for me and my family.

11 The sphere of the tragedy is containable. If Limerick 12 Unit 1 or 2 fails, all hell breaks loose, no 13 disrespect. That's what a nuclear failure is, hell.

14 It affects everybody in this room, everybody in the 15 community, everybody in the tri-state area, not for a 16 week, but for decades. It's very, very last thing we 17 want to happen.

18 And I think we're putting ourselves in 19 harm's way by taking something that had a lifespan of 20 40 years and adding another 20 to it. It doesn't make 21 sense. The only way to rationalize it is through our 22 personal fear of being inconvenienced because we lose 23 a very, very good source of power. It's done a great 24 job for us. But like me, you get to a point where 25 your ability to provide a great job is at an end and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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68 1 things start deteriorating. Let's not put ourselves 2 in that position. Let's make an intelligent decision 3 now and allow these two units to expire at their 4 nameplate time. Thank you.

5 (Applause.)

6 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you, Bill.

7 Eileen.

8 MS. DAUTRICH: Good afternoon. My name is 9 Eileen Dautrich. I'm president of the Tri-County Area 10 Chamber of Commerce. I'm happy to be here today to 11 provide examples of how Limerick Generating Station is 12 a valued community and business partner and echo the 13 statements already shared by several others.

14 They're one of the tri-county area's 15 largest employer, providing professional employment 16 opportunities for local residents. Those local 17 residents employed by Limerick Generating Station are 18 supporting the entire tri-county business community.

19 They're purchasing personal goods and services from 20 local small businesses. The annual outage is a 21 tremendous benefit to the local economy and our local 22 businesses. Limerick encourages their outage 23 employees to visit and purchase from tri-county area, 24 local businesses, and small businesses.

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69 1 residents, they're making a significant investment in 2 our local communities. Municipalities and residents 3 benefit from assistance received from Limerick to 4 start, maintain, expand parks, recreation, and quality 5 of life opportunities.

6 Their corporate culture of giving back to 7 the community is practiced by their hundreds of 8 employees. Nonprofit organizations are supported by 9 Limerick Generating Station and the efforts of their 10 employees. Financial donations, as well as volunteer 11 hours1.273148e-4 days <br />0.00306 hours <br />1.818783e-5 weeks <br />4.1855e-6 months <br /> and time are donated, enabling our local 12 nonprofits to provide the much needed services that 13 impact those in need throughout the tri-county area.

14 The Limerick Generating Station is 15 confident in the clean and safe environment they 16 maintain in our community. The community has been 17 invited to experience the generating station 18 firsthand. The chamber hosted a membership breakfast 19 and the site vice president, Bill Maguire provided the 20 keynote presentation. He summarized safety measures 21 and advancements at Limerick and answered questions 22 pertaining to the Limerick plant and its safety in the 23 wake of the tsunami in Japan.

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70 1 meeting Limerick was holding for the community at 2 large, as well as participate in a tour of Limerick 3 Generating Station that was scheduled as a follow up 4 to our breakfast.

5 These opportunities for the community are 6 provided ongoing for the community to be informed and 7 educated about Limerick Generating Station. Thank 8 you.

9 (Applause.)

10 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Bill?

11 MR. ALBANY: Good afternoon. My name is 12 Bill Albany. I'm the Chief of Police for Limerick 13 Township Police Department. As stated earlier the 14 Limerick Township Police Department is the only 15 municipal police department in the State of 16 Pennsylvania with primary law enforcement 17 responsibility for a nuclear power plant.

18 I am badged at the site and I am also a 19 co-chair of a subcommittee for the Joint Terrorist 20 Task Force Southeast Region.

21 I didn't want to talk too much about 22 environmental issues, but about my relationship with 23 LGS, particularly as it applies to their Security 24 Department, their Emergency Planning Department and 25 their management. In a lot of companies today, you NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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71 1 see policies and procedures that people talk about and 2 they're put up on a shelf and they're followed at best 3 haphazardly with a wink and a nod and deviation from 4 the policy is not addressed.

5 One of the things that I'm continuously 6 impressed at LGS when I visit is their sound adherence 7 to policy and procedure. They don't deviate from it.

8 I've been to numerous drills at the plant, numerous 9 exercises at the plant, some of which were run by the 10 NRC and I've never seen them fail. They always come 11 out on top. In fact, in 2009, Limerick was selected 12 as a site for the first comprehensive pilot exercise 13 involving federal, state, and local law enforcement 14 SWAT teams to actually go into the power block and 15 conduct tactical operations in there, and that drill 16 was used as a boiler plate to develop policies and 17 procedures for implementation in power plants 18 throughout the country.

19 One of the -- I'm sorry, I don't believe 20 that continued operations of the power plant would 21 have any detrimental effect on public safety in the 22 southeast region. Thank you.

23 (Applause.)

24 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Okay, thank you.

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72 1 signed up, John McGowan, Ted Del Gaizo, and Timothy 2 Phillips. John?

3 MR. McGOWAN: Thank you very much. My 4 name is John McGowan and I am a life-long resident of 5 the Delaware Valley. I have lived half of my -- or I 6 should say the Limerick Nuclear Power Station has been 7 operating for half of my life. I own three 8 manufacturing companies in the Malvern area and employ 9 a number of people in those facilities who rely 10 tremendously on the Limerick Power Generating Station 11 to supply safe, reliable electrical power to keep us 12 operating.

13 Today, I would like to say that in all of 14 the years that I've lived in this area, I've never 15 worried at all about the safety of the nuclear power 16 plant. I see it every day. And it bothers me not in 17 the least. I have never seen any credible evidence to 18 suggest that there are safety problems with this 19 plant. In terms of reliability, it is the same. It 20 is running 24/7, 365 days a year and it has been doing 21 so for a quarter of a century and I hope it continues 22 to do so for many more years to come.

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73 1 possess today throughout the world and to dismiss it 2 is I think a foolish notion.

3 The impact of the Limerick plant in our 4 region has been extraordinarily positive. It 5 provides, as we all know and have heard today, lots of 6 jobs, lots of good jobs, tax revenues for schools, 7 local governments and for those who live in the area 8 to enjoy the fruits of public services and it also 9 provides a lot of charitable donations to the 10 community which is very important.

11 I think that to not keep this plant 12 running and not consider a renewal of its license for 13 an extended period would be a tragic mistake for all 14 of us and I would like to end this by saying that the 15 only meltdown that would concern me is the economic 16 one that certainly would happen to this area should 17 this plant not continue to operate.

18 (Applause.)

19 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Ted, go ahead.

20 MR. DEL GAIZO: Hi, my name is Ted Del 21 Gaizo. I'm a registered professional engineer in the 22 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I'm also president and 23 CEO of a small business engineering firm in nearby 24 Exton, Pennsylvania.

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74 1 to the 1960s where I spent 14 years in Navy submarines 2 and I personally operated, maintained, and refueled 3 nuclear power plants during that period.

4 But I'm here today as a private citizen, 5 as a resident of the area and as a member of the 6 Pennsylvania Energy Alliance to go on record and say I 7 strongly favor license renewal for the Limerick 8 Generating Station. I say that because in my personal 9 experience I know in spite of some of the things 10 you've probably heard here today, nuclear power is 11 safe, reliable, secure and clean. But in addition to 12 that, I would like to go on record, I would like my 13 neighbors to know we are lucky to have the Limerick 14 Generating Station in this area. In the industry, it 15 has a top reputation. It is one of the finest nuclear 16 power plants in America. And Exelon, if not the best, 17 is certainly one of the finest nuclear operators in 18 the world.

19 I have nothing but confidence that Exelon 20 will work together with the NRC, will run through the 21 process and we will come up with the right conclusion 22 here which is license renewal should be granted to the 23 Limerick Generating Station. I think we need to keep 24 Limerick operating as long as we can.

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75 1 you may have heard here today, I'd like to thank the 2 NRC for the fine job they do on protecting the health 3 and safety of the public. I think as a regulatory 4 agency you're one of the finest in the world.

5 Certainly, the world follows everything you do. And 6 I'm sure you'll come up with the right conclusion here 7 and thank you for what you do for the United States.

8 (Applause.)

9 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Timothy?

10 MR. PHELPS: Good afternoon. My name is 11 Tim Phelps. I'm the former president of the Tri-12 County Area Chamber of Commerce, but I'm here as a 13 citizen, not a citizen of the Limerick community, but 14 a citizen of East Whiteland. After I left the 15 Chamber, I still stayed involved in the Exelon 16 Generating Station through their CAP program. I 17 thought was extremely important because of the 18 information that was provided to the community through 19 the CAP. And I'm able to share this information, 20 share the benefits and share what's happening here at 21 the nuclear power plant.

22 I have to thank the NRC for actually 23 hosting -- this is a part of their process of making 24 the transparency available to everybody, for the press 25 to be here in the room. That shows that there's an NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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76 1 openness in the thinking process that goes into place 2 for renewal of any nuclear power plant.

3 And so from my perspective as a citizen, 4 as a business person who has worked in this community, 5 I understand the value this is to the region. And for 6 me, I applaud the NRC for what they're doing here. I 7 applaud Exelon for the great work that they're doing 8 there and I encourage the renewal process to take 9 place. Thank you.

10 (Applause.)

11 FACILITATOR BARKLEY: Thank you. With 12 that, I have all 15 people who had signed up for this 13 meeting, have been called. Is there anyone else who 14 would like to make a short follow-up remark or would 15 like to still speak at this point?

16 Okay, if not, I'd like to make two points 17 before we wrap up. One, the NRC does have public 18 meeting feedback forms which give us feedback on how 19 you think this meeting was conducted, so I would 20 greatly appreciate you filling out one of those forms 21 for us so that we can learn how to improve. There is 22 another session of this meeting at 7 o'clock tonight.

23 You're welcome to speak again tonight.

24 And secondly, what I'd like to say is I 25 facilitate a lot of meetings throughout the Northeast NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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77 1 and I find groups have very differing opinions on both 2 sides of this issue and often are not respectful or 3 civil towards each other. I thought the audience this 4 evening was marvelous and exemplary towards each other 5 and I greatly appreciate that. I did not have to 6 interrupt or intervene, so I very much thank you for 7 that.

8 With that, I'd like to wrap up this 9 meeting and the NRC will still stay around to answer 10 questions and please talk with them some more. Thank 11 you very much.

12 (Applause.)

13 (Whereupon, at 3:45 p.m., the public 14 meeting was concluded.)

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