ML12037A222
| ML12037A222 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Grand Gulf  |
| Issue date: | 01/31/2012 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Drucker D | |
| References | |
| NRC-1404 | |
| Download: ML12037A222 (34) | |
Text
Official Trans cript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Grand Gulf License Renewal Public Meeting: Afternoon Session Docket Number: (n/a)
Location:
Port Gibson, Mississippi Date:
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 Work Order No.:
NRC-1404 Pages 1-31 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 234-4433
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
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3 PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS 4
LICENSE RENEWAL AND 5
ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING PROCESS 6
GRAND GULF NUCLEAR STATION 7
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9 Tuesday, January 31, 2012 10
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11 City Hall Chambers 12 Port Gibson City Hall 13 1005 College Street 14 Port Gibson, Mississippi 15
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16 2:00 p.m.
17
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18 BEFORE: BILL MAIER, Facilitator 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2
A G E N D A 1
ITEM PAGE 2
Welcome and Purpose of Meeting..................... 3 3
Overview of the License Renewal Process............ 9 4
Overview of the Environmental Review Process..... 19 5
Public Comments................................... 28 6
Closing........................................... 30 7
Adjourn........................................... 31 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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P R O C E E D I N G S 1
MR. MAIER: Good afternoon, everyone.
2 Thank you for coming to today's meeting and showing an 3
interest in what your government's business is as it 4
affects you and relates to the environment around the 5
Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant.
6 My name is Bill Maier, and I work in the 7
Nuclear Regulatory Commission's, or NRC's, regional 8
office in Arlington, Texas. It's my pleasure to serve 9
as the facilitator for this afternoon's meeting.
10 The purpose of this meeting is twofold:
11 First it is intended to provide information to you 12 about the process by which the NRC will review the 13 license renewal application of Entergy Operations for 14 the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant to operate for an 15 additional 20 years.
16 During that first portion of the meeting, 17 the various NRC officials who will be reviewing that 18 application will provide information to you about the 19 process and the expected time line for the review.
20 After that presentation, we will provide 21 an opportunity for you to ask questions of the various 22 NRC presenters and officials present to clarify the 23 information they presented.
24 We hope that the folks present will be 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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able to answer all the questions asked, but if they 1
can't, I will ensure that the question is captured, 2
and we'll get your contact information to get an 3
answer back to you.
4 And if you think of a question that you 5
would like to have answered but didn't get to the 6
microphone to ask it, the NRC staff will be remaining 7
behind after the meeting is over, to discuss any 8
questions you may have then.
9 The second and the most important part of 10 the meeting is intended to provide an opportunity for 11 you to give information and comments to the NRC about 12 what you want the NRC to consider during the review of 13 the potential environmental impacts of an additional 14 20 years of operation of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant.
15 Today's meeting is just one way of 16 providing that information. If you did not come 17 prepared to this meeting to provide comments and the 18 information provided by the NRC folks gives you ideas 19 later that you wish to provide to the NRC, there are 20 other methods available within the period specified 21 for providing comments, and the NRC presenters will go 22 into detail about how to do that.
23 There are also feedback forms 24 available -- and here's one of them (indicating) --
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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for you to fill out, to tell the NRC about how the 1
meeting went and how it could be improved. The NRC is 2
always looking to improve its meeting, and your 3
feedback is important.
4 You can fill it out as the meeting is 5
going on or at the end and get it back to one of us, 6
who I'll introduce shortly, or you can take it home, 7
and you can fill it out and mail it back to the NRC.
8 Postage is prepaid. And I'll mention these again 9
before the meeting is adjourned.
10 At this point I'd like to provide some 11 brief introductions of some of the NRC staff who is 12 here and who would be glad to accept your completed 13 meeting feedback forms. I'll ask them to stand 14 briefly as I mention them.
15 There are two individuals here who are 16 going to do the lion's share of the meeting. Nate 17 Ferrer: Nate is the project manager coordinating the 18 NRC review of the safety aspects of the Grand Gulf 19 license renewal application; and David Drucker: David 20 is the project manager coordinating the NRC review of 21 the environmental aspects of the application.
22 Also representing the NRC are Dave Wrona; 23 Dave is the chief of the Environmental Projects Branch 24 in the NRC's Division of License Renewal at NRC 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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headquarters; and Dennis Morey. Is Dennis here? He 1
stepped out. We'll identify Dennis later.
2 Dennis is the chief of the Safety 3
Projects Branch in that same division. Also here is 4
Laura Uselding. Laura is the public affairs officer 5
in the NRC's Region IV office in Arlington, Texas.
6 And the resident inspector, Blake Rice, is here, and 7
he is supporting this meeting.
8 We also -- you may have noticed that two 9
deputies are standing in the doorway. Deputies Smith 10 and Claiborne are here. They are here for your 11 protection. It makes good sense in a public meeting 12 such as this one to have someone to turn to if you get 13 into difficulty and need some help, so we welcome you 14 gentlemen for being here.
15 At this point I would like to introduce 16 two of the most important people here tonight. Mr.
17 Bob Smylie is working the sound system here. Bob, 18 would you raise your hand? And Ms. Penny Bynum is 19 transcribing the meeting to capture it into written 20 form, word for word, and enter it into the public 21 record.
22 This lets the NRC reviewers know what 23 comments were provided orally and lets the world know 24 that your comments were provided and that the NRC 25
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needs to consider them. Ms. Bynum is recording the 1
meeting from the microphones, and because of this, 2
there are certain rules that need to be followed:
3 First one is, only one person speaks at a 4
time. More than one person speaking at the same time 5
can result in important information being lost in the 6
transcription process.
Second rule:
Side 7
conversations, please take them outside the room.
8 They can also disrupt the recording process.
9 From this point on, all cell phones and 10 other devices that make audible alarms need to be 11 either turned off or set to vibrate. I'll be the 12 first one to start that.
13 Let me say that again: All cell phones 14 and other devices that make audible alarms need to be 15 set to vibrate or turned off.
16 And most importantly, any speaker who is 17 being recognized at the time must have me come to them 18 with the hand mike and speak into it. This is vitally 19 important to ensure that the most important 20 information that you have to provide is accurately 21 captured.
22 In order for persons who have comments to 23 provide to be properly recognized, the NRC has 24 provided these yellow cards that are filled out and 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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given to me. So far we haven't gotten anybody to fill 1
out a yellow card, but I'm hoping that somebody will 2
fill out a yellow card and register.
3 But you're not required to fill out a 4
yellow card if you have comments later to make. We'll 5
recognize other folks that may not have filled out 6
yellow cards, but yellow cards for a large number of 7
comments will ensure that the folks that have come 8
prepared for comments will be able to get those 9
comments on the record.
10 If you need to get a card, I will be 11 bringing blank cards around during the presentations 12 and the question period, and wave to me if you need to 13 fill one out, if you would like to make a comment for 14 the NRC to consider in this review. I will call 15 people up in the order that I receive their yellow 16 cards.
17 It is very important that you fill out 18 the card clearly so that I don't mispronounce your 19 name and get it into the record wrongly. When I 20 recognize you by name, you can come up and make your 21 comment.
22 Based on how long this meeting is 23 expected to last and how many yellow cards I have 24 received so far, we don't anticipate that there will 25
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be a limit for comments, but if a lot of cards do get 1
filled out, then we may have to put a time limit on 2
the time for folks to make comments.
3 Okay.
Now there's some logistical 4
information I'd like to make you aware of about the 5
room and the building that we're in. There are 6
restrooms at the bottom of the staircase here. They 7
are at the bottom of the staircase and behind it, 8
towards the back of the building.
9 There's a water fountain across from 10 those restrooms on the first floor. It's next to the 11 elevator. In the event of an emergency, you're asked 12 to go either down this staircase here outside this 13 door and out the door to the back of the building and 14 congregate in the parking lot, or there is also an 15 external staircase from the room that's across the 16 hall from us. There's a door that goes out to an 17 external staircase where we could leave the building 18 that way.
19 Are there any questions on what I've gone 20 over so far?
21 (No response.)
22 MR. MAIER: Okay. If there are no other 23 questions, please silence your cell phones, and we'll 24 begin the NRC presentation.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 10 MR. FERRER: Good afternoon, everyone.
1 My name is Nate Ferrer, and as Bill mentioned, I'm the 2
safety project manager at the NRC coordinating the 3
staff's review of the Grand Gulf license renewal 4
application.
5 I'd like to thank you all for coming to 6
the meeting this afternoon. Today we'll be providing 7
an overview of the license renewal review process, 8
which includes both a safety and an environmental 9
review.
10 We will describe ways in which the public 11 can participate in the renewal process, and I'd like 12 to reiterate what Bill said, about the most important 13 part of today's meeting being -- is that we'll be 14 receiving comments that you may have on the scope of 15 the environmental review. So I hope the information 16 we provide today will help you understand the license 17 renewal process and the roles that you can have in 18 that process.
19 And before I get into the discussion on 20 the license renewal, I'd like to take a minute to talk 21 about the NRC in terms of what we do and what our 22 mission is.
23 The NRC is a
federal agency that 24 regulates the civilian use of nuclear material. The 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 11 Atomic Energy Act authorizes the NRC to grant 40-year 1
operating licenses for nuclear power reactors.
2 I'd like to highlight that the 40-year 3
term was based primarily on economic considerations 4
and antitrust factors and not on safety or technical 5
limitations. The Atomic Energy Act also allows for 6
license renewal, which is what we're here to talk 7
about today.
8 The National Environmental Policy Act of 9
1969, or NEPA, established a national policy for 10 considering the impact of federal decision-making, 11 such as license renewal, on the human environment.
12 Dave Drucker will be discussing NEPA in greater detail 13 during his portion of the presentation.
14 The NRC's mission is to ensure adequate 15 protection of public health and safety, to promote the 16 common defense and security, and to protect the 17 environment, and we accomplish this mission through a 18 combination of regulatory programs and processes such 19 as establishing rules and regulations, conducting 20 inspections, issuing enforcement
- actions, and 21 assessing licensee performance. We also evaluate 22 operating experience from nuclear plants across the 23 country and internationally as well.
24 The NRC has resident inspectors at all 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 12 operating nuclear power plants, and Bill introduced 1
Blake Rice, one of the resident inspectors here at 2
Grand Gulf. And these inspectors are considered the 3
eyes and ears of the NRC, that carry out our mission 4
on a daily basis, and they're on the front lines of 5
ensuring acceptable safety performance and compliance 6
with regulatory requirements.
7 I would like to mention a few very 8
important areas of NRC oversight that routinely come 9
up during our interactions with members of the public.
10 NRC staff address these areas of performance every day 11 as part of the ongoing regulatory oversight provided 12 for all operating power reactors.
13 They include current safety performance, 14 emergency planning, and security. For specific 15 information on current performance of Grand Gulf, 16 please use the link on the slide, which is also in 17 your handout.
18 The NRC monitors and provides regulatory 19 oversight of activities in these areas on an ongoing 20 basis under the current operating license; therefore, 21 we do not reevaluate them in the license renewal 22 process. And that's not to say they are not 23 important; we just don't duplicate the regulatory 24 process for license renewal.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 13 Another issue that is addressed under our 1
ongoing regulatory oversight is the NRC's response to 2
the accident at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant in 3
Japan. Since the accident at Fukushima, the NRC has 4
taken multiple steps to ensure the safe operation of 5
nuclear power plants both now and in the future.
6 As part of its initial response to the 7
accident, the NRC inspected all of the nation's 8
nuclear power plants in order to assess disaster 9
readiness and compliance with current regulations.
10 The NRC then issued the Near-Term Task 11 Force Report, which provided near-term recommendations 12 and a suggested framework for us to move forward in 13 the longer term.
14 This report was issued on July 12, and 15 the results were discussed in a public meeting on July 16
- 28. As a result, the Near-Term Task Force presented 17 12 overarching recommendations for improvement, and 18 these recommendations are applicable to operating 19 reactors, regardless of their status in the license 20 renewal process.
21 The NRC has prioritized these 22 recommendations, and the Commission has recommended 23 staff to move forward on those that can be pursued 24 without delay, and the staff plans to issue related 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 14 orders and demands for information by March of this 1
year. And it's important to note that to date, the 2
NRC has not identified any issues as part of these 3
activities that call into question the safety of any 4
nuclear facility.
5 I'll reemphasize also that this review 6
process is going on independent of license renewal, 7
and any changes that are identified as necessary will 8
be implemented for all licensees. More information on 9
the NRC's post-Fukushima activities can be found on 10 the NRC's website by clicking on the Japan Nuclear 11 Accident-NRC Actions link on the home page, or 12 directly through the web address on this slide.
13 There's also a limited number of copies of the Near-14 Term Task Force Report available on the back table.
15 At this point I'll move on to Grand Gulf 16 and the license renewal process. The NRC received 17 Grand Gulf's application for license renewal on 18 November 1, 2011, requesting an additional 20 years of 19 operation.
20 The current operating license for Grand 21 Gulf expires in 2024, and I'll note that licensees can 22 submit an application for license renewal after they 23 have operated for 20 years. The NRC has determined 24 that 20 years of operation provides enough operating 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 15 experience information for the staff to make an 1
informed decision on license renewal.
2 The first step of the license renewal 3
process is to perform an acceptance and sufficiency 4
review of the application. The purpose of this review 5
is to determine if the applicant has provided all of 6
the required information.
7 Required information includes things such 8
as technical information about plant structures and 9
components and how the applicant proposes to manage 10 the aging of these structures and components.
11 Technical specifications define the 12 operating parameters of the plant, and the application 13 indicates if any changes or additions to the technical 14 specifications are necessary to manage the effects of 15 aging.
16 The application also includes an 17 environmental
- report, which is the applicant's 18 assessment of the environmental impacts of continued 19 operation.
20 If the application has all of the 21 required information, then it is considered acceptable 22 and is put on the NRC's formal docket, and the staff 23 will perform a full review.
24 In terms of Grand Gulf, the license 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 16 renewal application was formally accepted by the NRC 1
on December 16 of 2011.
2 This flow chart highlights that the 3
license renewal process involves two parallel reviews:
4 the safety review and the environmental review, and 5
they each evaluate separate aspects of the 6
application.
This also shows all of the 7
considerations in the Commission's decision of whether 8
to renew an operating license.
9 I'll explain the dotted line, which shows 10 the hearing process. And this process may be 11 conducted if interested stakeholders submit concerns 12 or contentions, and their request for a hearing is 13 granted.
14 The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, 15 which is an adjudicatory panel, will conduct the 16 hearings. The Commission considers the outcome of 17 these hearings in its decision on whether or not to 18 renew the license.
19 At this point I'll describe the safety 20 review in a little more detail. There are two main 21 principles that guide the license renewal safety 22 review. The first is that our current regulatory 23 process is adequate to ensure all operating plants 24 maintain an acceptable level of safety.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 17 The second principle is that the same 1
rules that apply under the current license will apply 2
during the additional 20 years of operation and, in 3
addition, a renewed license will include conditions 4
that must be met to ensure that applicants adequately 5
manage the effects of aging and maintain the same 6
acceptable level of safety for the additional 20 years 7
of operation or, in other words, what's being done 8
today will continue, plus a lot more, to ensure the 9
continued safe operation of the plant.
10 The safety review focuses on several 11 types of systems, structures, and components. We look 12 at safety-related systems, structures, and components, 13 and we also look at nonsafety-related equipment that 14 could affect safety-related systems, structures, and 15 components if they failed.
16 An additional category that we look at 17 are systems, structures, and components that are 18 relied upon for compliance with the regulations that 19 are listed on the slide.
20 The safety review focuses on the effects 21 of aging on all of these different types of systems, 22 structures, or components, and the staff's main 23 objective in this review is to determine if the 24 effects of aging will be adequately managed by the 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 18 applicant.
1 Now that I've described what we are 2
reviewing during the process, I'll talk about how we 3
perform that review. The NRC has a team of 4
approximately 30 technical reviewers and contractors 5
that review the application and supporting 6
documentation from our headquarters in Washington, DC.
7 The staff also comes onsite for three 8
weeks to conduct audits in which we verify the 9
technical basis of the application and confirm the 10 applicant's programs and activities are consistent 11 with how they're described in the application.
12 In
- addition, a
team of specialized 13 inspectors from our regional office in Texas travel to 14 the site to verify that the aging-management programs 15 are being implemented or planned consistent with the 16 application.
17 The staff documents the basis and 18 conclusion of its review in a safety evaluation 19 report. In a final step in the safety review process, 20 there's an independent review by the Advisory 21 Committee on Reactor Safeguards. This committee is a 22 group of scientists and nuclear safety experts who 23 serve as a consulting body to the Commission.
24 The committee performs an independent 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 19 review of the license renewal application as well as 1
the staff's safety evaluation report and inspection 2
findings and makes a recommendation to the Commission 3
regarding license renewal.
4 This slide shows the important milestones 5
for the safety review process. It's important to note 6
that these dates are tentative, and if any significant 7
issues arise during the process, delays may result.
8 I'll also note that the safety evaluation 9
report, which is indicated as final SER on the slide, 10 is publicly available, and the Advisory Committee on 11 Reactor Safeguards meetings, or ACRS, as they're shown 12 on the slide, are open to the public, and they're held 13 at our headquarters in Washington, DC.
14 This concludes the description of the 15 safety review, and Dave Drucker will now discuss the 16 environmental review.
17 MR. DRUCKER: Thank you, Nate. And good 18 afternoon. My name is David Drucker, and my focus is 19 on the environmental review.
20 This review is performed in accordance 21 with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 22 commonly referred to as NEPA. NEPA established a 23 national policy for considering environmental impacts 24 and provides the basic architecture for federal 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 20 environmental reviews.
1 All federal agencies must follow a
2 systematic approach in evaluation of potential impacts 3
of their significant actions and also assess 4
alternatives to those actions.
5 The NEPA process involves public 6
participation and public disclosure. The NRC's 7
environmental regulations implementing the 8
requirements of NEPA are contained in 10 CFR Part 51.
9 Our environmental review considers the impact of 10 license renewal and any mitigation for those impacts 11 considered significant.
12 We also consider the impacts of 13 alternatives to license renewal, including the impacts 14 of not issuing a renewed license. We document our 15 review in an Environmental Impact Statement which is 16 made publicly available.
17 Ultimately the purpose of the 18 environmental review is to determine whether the 19 environmental impacts of license renewal are 20 reasonable and, in combination with other reviews, to 21 make a recommendation to the Commission whether to 22 renew the license or not.
23 For a license renewal review, the NRC 24 environmental staff looks at a wide range of potential 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 21 impacts. Additionally, we consult with various 1
federal, state, and local officials, as well as 2
leaders of Indian nations.
3 Examples include the US Fish & Wildlife 4
Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Louisiana 5
and Mississippi state historic preservation officers, 6
Louisiana and Mississippi tribal nations with historic 7
ties to the area around the plant. We gather 8
pertinent information from these sources and ensure it 9
is considered in our analysis.
10 The environmental review begins with the 11 scoping process, which is an assessment of the 12 specific impacts and significant issues that the staff 13 should consider in preparing the Grand Gulf 14 Environmental Impact Statement.
15 Currently this is where we are in the 16 process. Information that we gather from you today 17 and in the next few weeks will be considered and 18 included in the Environmental Impact Statement.
19 We've recognized that some impacts are 20 similar if not identical at all nuclear power plants, 21 so to improve efficiency, we developed a Generic 22 Environmental Impact Statement that addresses a number 23 of impacts common to all nuclear power plants. The 24 staff supplements that Generic Environmental Impact 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 22 Statement with a site-specific Environmental Impact 1
Statement in which we address issues that are specific 2
to Grand Gulf.
3 The staff also reexamines the conclusions 4
reached in the Generic Environmental Impact Statement 5
to determine if there is any new and significant 6
information that would change those conclusions.
7 The scoping period started December 29, 8
2011, when the notice of intent to prepare an 9
Environmental Impact Statement and conduct scoping was 10 published in the Federal Register.
11 The NRC will accept comments on the scope 12 of the environmental review until February 27, 2012.
13 In general we are looking for information about the 14 environmental impacts from the continued operation of 15 Grand Gulf.
16 You can assist this process by telling 17 us, for example, what aspects of your local community 18 we should focus on; what local environmental, social, 19 and economic issues the NRC should examine during our 20 review, and what other major projects are in process 21 or planned in the
- area, and what reasonable 22 alternatives are most approximately for this region.
23 These are just some of the examples of 24 the input we seek through the environmental scoping 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 23 process. We don't know your community as well as you 1
do, so your comments help to ensure a thorough review.
2 Public comments are a very important part 3
of the environmental review process, so how do we use 4
your comments? All of your comments to us, whether 5
provided verbally during this meeting or in a written 6
letter, fax, or email, are considered and addressed.
7 We respond to each comment as part of the 8
Environmental Impact Statement.
9 The Environmental Impact Statement is one 10 of the factors, as well as several others shown here 11 on this slide, that influences the Commission's 12 decision to review the license or not.
13 Now, in addition to providing verbal and 14 written comments at this meeting, there are other ways 15 that you can submit comments. You can submit comments 16 online using the federal rulemaking website at the 17 regulations.gov website. You just need to enter the 18 key word NRC-2011-0262, and this will bring you to a 19 list of Federal Register notices.
20 The top one will say, Entergy Operations, 21 Inc., Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental 22 Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process for Grand 23 Gulf Nuclear Station Unit 1.
24 Then there's an icon off to the right-25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 24 hand side of that page that will enable you to submit 1
comments. If you have any problems with that, please 2
feel free to give me a call, and I can walk you 3
through it.
4 Also you can fax comments to the number 5
shown on the slide, and please reference Grand Gulf 6
License Renewal on the fax if you do so.
7 Please note that the comments will not be 8
edited to remove any identifying or contact 9
information, so please do not include any information 10 in comments that you do not want publicly disclosed.
11 And as I mentioned before, the deadline 12 for comments is February 27, 2012.
13 Also, written comments can be mailed to 14 the chief of our Rules, Announcements, and Directives 15 Branch at the address provided on the slide. And 16 finally, if you happen to be traveling to Washington, 17 DC, you can provide written comments in person during 18 business hours.
19 This slide shows important milestones.
20 As Nate said, these dates are subject to change based 21 on the progress of the review. The opportunities to 22 submit contentions for a hearing closes on February 23 27,
- 2012, and also the opportunity to submit 24 environmental comments closes on February 27, 2012.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 25 Please note that a draft Supplemental 1
Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled to be 2
issued for public comment in December of 2012, with an 3
associated public meeting to receive your comments on 4
this preliminary document.
5 And Nate and I are the primary points of 6
contact at the NRC for license renewal issues for 7
Grand Gulf. Our contact information is provided on 8
this slide, and it's also in the handout that was 9
available at the table when you first walked in.
10 A hard copy of the license renewal 11 application and the environmental report is currently 12 sitting on the table just outside of the back of the 13 room here. It also may be found at the library shown 14 on the slide. The draft Supplemental Environmental 15 Impact Statement will also be available at this 16 library when it is published for comment.
17 These documents will also be on the NRC's 18 website at the web address shown at the bottom of this 19 slide, which is also contained in your handout.
20 As you came in, you were asked to fill 21 out a registration card at the reception table. If 22 you've included your address on that card -- these are 23 the blue cards -- we will mail a CD copy of the draft 24 and the final EIS to you.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 26 This concludes my presentation, but 1
before we start the comment period, I just want to 2
make sure, if there's any questions on what I've 3
presented or what Nate presented, this is the 4
opportunity to talk about what we've presented, and 5
next we'll follow on with a comment period. Looking 6
for questions?
7 (No response.)
8 MR. DRUCKER: No, I don't see any. So at 9
this time I really would like to thank you all for 10 participating in today's meeting, and I want to turn 11 the mic back over to Bill Maier.
12 MR. MAIER: Thank you, David.
13 Before we get to any questions or 14 comments -- I guess David's already done the screening 15 for the questions, but David had talked about the 16 handout. Here's a copy of the handout that hopefully 17 you got a copy of.
18 It has a lot of those web links as well 19 as the addresses for getting comments in, and here's 20 an example of a blue card. And a lot of folks have 21 been asking me if copies of the slides are available, 22 and I know they will be available in a meeting 23 summary, and if folks fill out this blue card, will 24 they be able to get copies of that meeting summary and 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 27 copies of the slides?
1 MR. FERRER: Yes. I'll send them all.
2 MR.
MAIER:
Okay.
Are there any 3
questions for the NRC folks? Oh, before we do start, 4
I'd also like to take a moment for two more 5
introductions.
6 Dennis Morey: Dennis is the branch chief 7
of the Safety Branch; he wasn't here when I introduced 8
him earlier. Dennis, would you stand up for a second.
9 (Pause.)
10 MR. MAIER: Thank you.
11 And way in the back is Laura Uselding.
12 Laura is with the Office of Public Affairs, and she's 13 the public affairs officer at the regional office in 14 Arlington.
15 Are there any questions for the NRC 16 folks? Any at all? Any questions of any kind?
17 I have gotten no yellow cards, so there 18 is nobody who is really registered to provide comments 19 to the NRC. Is there anybody who, absent a yellow 20 card, would like to make a comment or would like to 21 step up and either read a comment or have me come 22 around with the hand mic?
23 I see a hand.
24 (Pause.)
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 28 MS. HILLEGAS: I'll just ask a question 1
of the safety person. Do you consider it safe to have 2
an evacuation route that runs from -- past the 3
plant -- on the one road back past the plant to -- I 4
should have said perhaps beyond the -- if one travels 5
past the -- beyond the plant and then needs to 6
evacuate, that the route is back past the plant? Is 7
that a safe evacuation?
8 MR. FERRER: In terms of safe evacuation, 9
that falls in line with one of the issues that we 10 regulate on an ongoing basis, emergency planning, and 11 there's periodic evaluations of those types of things, 12 such as evacuation routes, that are done at the site.
13 And if there's ever any determination 14 that there needs to be improvements to those plans, 15 then those are made, as I said, on an ongoing basis.
16 Does that answer your question?
17 MS. HILLEGAS: Was that yes or a no?
18 MR. FERRER: That's a yes.
19 MS. HILLEGAS: That it is safe.
20 MR. FERRER: That's correct.
21 MR. MAIER: Any additional questions?
22 Any comments that you'd like the NRC to consider in 23 their environmental review? Anything that folks would 24 like to make sure is included in that?
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 29 (Pause.)
1 MR. MAIER: I don't know what else we can 2
do today, gentlemen. I think we may be at the end of 3
the meeting. I'd like to thank the folks who came for 4
showing up for this. I hope that at least the portion 5
of the meeting where the NRC presented information was 6
helpful and informative.
7 And I see another question.
8 MS. HILLEGAS: Excuse me. I did remember 9
that I have one other kind of question, and I don't 10 know whether I have -- okay. I don't think I have the 11 information to ask the question well.
12 But I saw a very recent report that 13 discussed the -- a problem found -- was it by the NRC 14 or by some other body? -- with the boiling water 15 reactor of the same type that is used at Grand Gulf.
16 Would whoever knows how to respond to 17 that please describe what was found and what is being 18 done after that determination?
19 MR. MAIER: It's a question about the 20 type of reactor at Grand Gulf and a problem? Are you 21 aware of what that problem might be related to or --
22 MS. HILLEGAS: I don't remember precisely 23 how it was stated, and I just realized that I don't 24 have the right piece of paper with that information on 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 30 it.
1 It's -- I found it on line, though, 2
looking up Grand Gulf. If anybody has a computer, I 3
could find it again in a minute. It's an article that 4
has been published in the past few weeks if not just 5
this month.
6 No one here has heard about any problem 7
that's been discovered about boiling water reactors?
8 MR. MAIER: Laura, are you clued in with 9
anything?
10 I think Laura will try to make herself 11 available to you afterwards and try to get your 12 information. If there's more information you wanted 13 to ask, maybe, Laura, you can give her your contact 14 information, and she can get a question to you 15 somehow.
16 MS. HILLEGAS: I'll be back.
17 MR. MAIER: Okay. Great. We'll see you 18 tonight, then.
19 Yes, that's an interesting and important 20 point. There will be a second meeting tonight. It 21 will begin at seven o'clock in the evening here in 22 this very room, and the NRC staff will make themselves 23 available in an open-house type format for an hour 24 before that meeting, so that will start at 6:00 p.m.
25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 31 If there are no other questions or no 1
other comments, I think we may be at the point of 2
ending this meeting. We would like to thank Mayor 3
Reeves and the staff here for providing the room and 4
the venue for conducting the meeting.
5 Thank you to Bob and thank you to Penny 6
for your services. Thank you to the deputies from the 7
Sheriff's office; appreciate you being here.
8 And is there anything else that anybody 9
would like to say before we close out?
10 (No response.)
11 MR. MAIER: Once again, as I mentioned in 12 the opening comments, the NRC will make themselves 13 available if anybody has comments or questions that 14 they'd like to -- well, questions that they'd like to 15 ask of the NRC staff. Maybe we can get some of those 16 questions answered.
17 If there's nothing else that anybody 18 would like to say, I'll go ahead and thank you for all 19 coming.
20 (Whereupon, at 2:40 p.m., the public 21 meeting was concluded.)
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