ML13261A164
| ML13261A164 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Braidwood  |
| Issue date: | 08/21/2013 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-154 | |
| Download: ML13261A164 (62) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Braidwood LRA Public Scoping Meeting Evening Session Docket Number: 50-456 and 50-457 Location: Braidwood, Illinois Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 Work Order No.: NRC-154 Pages 1-58 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 BEFORE THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 4 + + + + +
5 NUCLEAR MANAGEMENT COMPANY 6 BRAIDWOOD LRA PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING 7 + + + + +
8 Regarding the License Renewal Application 9 NEPA Required Scoping Meeting 10 + + + + +
11 WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST 21, 2013 13 + + + + +
14 386 W. KENNEDY ROAD 15 BRAIDWOOD, ILLINOIS 16 + + + + +
17 7:00 p.m.
18 + + + + +
19 The above-entitled matter 20 commenced pursuant to Notice before Sheila Ray and 21 Cheryl Hausman, Facilitators.
22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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2 1 PRESENT:
2 NRC STAFF:
3 Yoira Diaz 4 Tam Tran 5 Alex Garmo[e]
6 Stuart Sheldon 7 Anita Ghosh 8 Prema Chandrathil 9 Elizabeth Pool 10 Jacob Steff[e]s 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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3 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 (7:01 P.M.)
3 MS. HAUSMAN: My name is Cheryl and I'm 4 going to be the facilitator for this evening's 5 meeting, and my role as a facilitator is to help make 6 sure that the meeting runs smoothly, that everybody 7 who wishes to speak gets a chance a chance to speak, 8 and to kind of keep us on time. Before we get 9 started this evening I just want to let everybody 10 know that this meeting is being transcribed, so we'll 11 try and keep the background noise and any sidebar 12 conversations to a minimum so the transcriptionist 13 can get an accurate record of this evening's meeting.
14 Just a couple ground rules. If you have 15 any electronic devices, please put them on vibrate or 16 mute for this evening's meeting. And, while other 17 people are speaking, just please be respectful of the 18 comments. The restrooms are outside to the left if 19 anybody doesn't know. There's two exits to the room, 20 one over here on the side and then in the back 21 corner. And we also have Officer Vern Reid here this 22 evening from the Braidwood Police Department, just in 23 case of an emergency.
24 The purpose of today's meeting is to 25 discuss the licensing renewal process to identify NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 1 significant issues related to the proposed license 2 renewal activity for Braidwood, Units 1 and 2, and to 3 determine the scope of issues to be addressed in the 4 environmental impact statement.
5 The agenda for this evening's meeting 6 will be a presentation by the NRC staff to discuss 7 the license renewal process, and when the 8 presentation concludes we'll have a brief 10 or 15 9 minute question and answer period about the 10 presentation, if there's any questions you have about 11 the presentation or anything you've seen on the 12 slides. And then we'll open it up into the public 13 comment period. And we're going to discuss the 14 public comment period a little bit later on in the 15 meeting, but just you know, if you have a comment, if 16 you have not filled out one of the yellow cards, 17 there's some on the tables out front. If you would 18 like to make a comment, just please fill out the card 19 and give it to me or Sheila and we'll add you to the 20 list of people to be speaking.
21 And I'm going to introduce a few of the 22 NRC staff that are here tonight. First Yoira.
23 MS. DIAZ: Good evening. I'm Yoira Diaz, 24 I'm the Supervisor, Branch Chief in headquarters. My 25 staff is in charge of the safety review of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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5 1 License Renewal Application for Braidwood.
2 MS. HAUSMAN: Tam?
3 MR. TRAN: My name is Tam Tran, I'm the 4 Project Manager for the Environmental Review of the 5 License Renewal Application for Braidwood Stations.
6 I will be one of the speakers today.
7 MS. HAUSMAN: Alex?
8 MR. GARMO[E]: My name is Alex Garmo[e],
9 I'm the Acting Senior Resident Inspector at 10 Braidwood, so I'm one of the two inspectors that 11 reports there on a daily basis for inspections.
12 MR. SHELDON: Good evening. My name's 13 Stuart Sheldon, I'm a Senior Inspector out of our, 14 the NRC Regional Office up in Lisle, Illinois. I 15 will be leading the regional inspections associated 16 with the safety review for the license application.
17 MS. GHOSH: Good evening. My name is 18 Anita Ghosh and I'm with the Office of the General 19 Counsel.
20 MS. CHANDRATHIL: Good evening everyone.
21 My name is Prema Chandrathil, I'm the Public Affairs 22 Officer for the NRC, the Regional Office, located in 23 Lisle, Illinois. I deal mainly with members of the 24 public and reporters who have inquiries about NRC 25 activities. Thanks.
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6 1 MS. HAUSMAN: And, is there anybody else 2 from any other federal agencies?
3 MS. POOL: Hi, I'm Elizabeth Pool, I'm 4 from USEPA in the Chicago Office, Region 5. I'm in 5 the NEPA Compliance Division and I'm going to head up 6 the EPA's review of the document.
7 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Okay, we're 8 going to start this evening's presentations. Tam 9 Tran. And if you have any questions about the 10 presentation please hold them until the end. Thank 11 you.
12 MR. TRAN: My name is Tam Tran. I'm one 13 of the two project managers for the NRC Division of 14 License Renewal, associates with the Braidwood 15 Station, License Renewal Review. I am the 16 Environmental Project Manager. The Safety Manager is 17 John [D]ailey. John's not here today. And thank you 18 for taking the time to come out to help us with this 19 public meeting, to provide your comments. We value 20 your comments. Thank [you].
21 Today I will provide an overview of the 22 license renewal review process, which include[s] both 23 a safety review and environmental review. I will 24 describe in more detail the environmental review 25 process for the Braidwood Station, but the most NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 1 important part of today's meeting is to receive any 2 comments that you may have on the scoping of the 3 environmental review. I will also provide 4 information about how comments can be submitted 5 outside of this meeting.
6 I hope the information that we provide to 7 you will help you to better understand the license 8 renewal review process, and the role that you can 9 play in helping us to make sure that NRC 10 Environmental Review considers the relevant 11 information that it should.
12 Before I get into the discussion of 13 license renewal review process, I would like to 14 briefly talk about NRC in terms of what we do and our 15 missions. The NRC is a federal agency established by 16 the Energy Reorganization Act that regulates the 17 civilian use of nuclear material in the commercial 18 sense. The Atomic Energy Act authorized the NRC to 19 grant a 40-year operating license for nuclear power 20 reactors. This 40-year term was based primarily on 21 economic considerations, and anti-trust factors, not 22 on safety or technical limitations.
23 The Atomic Energy Act also allows for a 24 license renewal. The National Environmental Policy 25 Act established the national policy for considering NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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8 1 the impact of federal decisions on the human 2 environment. As a matter of policy, the Commission 3 determined that reactor license renewal constitutes a 4 major federal action for which an environmental 5 impact statement is warranted.
6 And exercise as regulatory authority, the 7 NRC mission is three-fold; to ensure adequate 8 protection of the public health and safety, to 9 promote the common defense and security of the 10 nations, and to protect the environment. The NRC 11 accomplished [its] mission [through] a combination of 12 regulatory programs and processes, such as 13 establishing rules and regulations, conducting 14 inspections, issuing enforcement actions, assessing 15 licensee performance, and evaluating operating 16 experience from nuclear plants across the country and 17 internationally.
18 The NRC has resident inspectors at all 19 operating nuclear power plants. These inspectors are 20 considered the eyes and ears for the agency. They 21 carry out safety missions on a daily basis and are on 22 the front lines of ensuring acceptable safety 23 performance and compliance with the regulatory 24 requirement for the plant.
25 Now turning to the Braidwood Station, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 1 Exelon Generation Company filed an application dated 2 May 29th seeking to renew the operating licenses of 3 the Byron and Braidwood plants for an additional 20 4 years of operations. The current operating license 5 for Braidwood expires on October 17, 2026 for unit 6 one, and December 18, 2027 for unit two.
7 Exelon, in submitting a single 8 application to cover both Byron and Braidwood plants, 9 cited extensive similarity in the system structures 10 and components that are analyzed in the license 11 renewal review. The NRC will conduct a separate 12 environmental review for Braidwood because of the 13 differences and the environmental and cultural 14 resources surrounding the Braidwood Station in 15 comparison to the Byron.
16 A license renewal application is required 17 to contain certain sets of information. General 18 information such as the applicant's name, address, 19 business and administrative information, and 20 technical information which pertain to aging 21 managements. This information is the focus of the 22 safety review. The application also includes an 23 environment report, which is the applicant assessment 24 of the environmental impact of continued operations.
25 This information serves as a starting point for the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 1 staff to review the environmental aspect of the 2 license renewal for the Braidwood stations.
3 This diagram illustrates the safety and 4 environment review processes. It's also featured 5 t[w]o other consideration and the Commission decision 6 of whether or not to renew an operating license. One 7 of these considerations is the independent review 8 performed by the Advisory Committee on Reactor 9 Safeguards. The so-called ACRS is a group of 10 scientists and nuclear safety experts who serve as a 11 consulting body to the Commissions. The ACRS reports 12 its findings and recommendations directly to the 13 Commissions. The ACRS review would also include a 14 public meeting.
15 Hearings may also be conducted. Before 16 September 23, 2013 Braidwood interested stakeholders 17 may submit concerns or contentions and request a 18 hearing. A panel of the Atomic Safety Licensing 19 Board will be established to review the contentions 20 for the admissibility. If hearing is approved, the 21 Commission will consider the outcome of the hearing 22 process, and its decision of whether or not to issue 23 a renewal of operating license.
24 License renewal involves two parallel 25 reviews; the safety review and the environmental NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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11 1 review. The safety review focuses on the aging 2 effects of passive and long-lived components and 3 structures that the NRC deems important to plant 4 safety. The staff's main objective in this review is 5 to determine whether effects of aging will be 6 adequately managed by the applicant. The review also 7 considered generic and site-specific operating 8 experience related to the effects of aging. The 9 results of the safety review are documented in the 10 Safety Evaluation Report, and sometimes we may refer 11 to that document as the SER.
12 For the environment review, the staff 13 considers, evaluates and discloses the environmental 14 impacts of continued plant operation for an 15 additional 20 years. The staff also evaluates 16 environmental impacts of alternatives to license 17 renewal. The objective of the review is to determine 18 of the environmental impact of license renewal is so 19 great that license renewal would not be a reasonable 20 option. Or more plainly, it is, whether or not[,] is 21 license renewal acceptable from an environmental 22 standpoint. The staff prepared an environmental 23 impact statement to document its review, and you may 24 hear us to refer to that document as EIS.
25 Before I go into more depth about the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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12 1 safety environmental reviews, I want to mention a few 2 areas that are very important and part of the NRC 3 oversight process. These are emergency planning, 4 security and current safety performance. NRC 5 addresses this area of performance every day as 6 part[s] of the ongoing regulatory oversight provided 7 for all currently operating power reactors.
8 Current license issues [are] addressed on 9 an ongoing basis under the current operating 10 licensing term. License renewal issues are addressed 11 separately as a part of the license renewal review.
12 Now we will cover a little bit more 13 detail about the safety review. The regulation 14 governing license renewals for the safety review has 15 two guiding princip[le]s. The first princip[le] is 16 that the current regulatory process is adequate to 17 ensure the licensing basis of all our operating 18 plants, and it provide[s] an acceptable level of 19 safety.
20 The second princip[le] is that the 21 current plan's specific licensing basis must be 22 maintained during the license renewal in the same 23 manner and to the same extent as during the original 24 license term. In other words, the same rules that 25 apply under the current license will continue to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 1 apply during the new term, or the additional 20 years 2 of operations.
3 In addition, a renewal license will 4 include conditions that must be met to ensure aging 5 [of] components, important safety adequately managed 6 so that the plant's current licensing basis is 7 maintained during the period of extended operations.
8 For safety, the staff will perform 9 [multi] levels review. First, the staff reviews the 10 license renewal application and supporting 11 documentations. This review includes an evaluation 12 of new and existing programs and surveillance 13 activity to determine with reasonable assurance that 14 effect of aging of certain plant structure and 15 component [will be] adequately manage[d] or 16 monitor[ed].
17 Second, the staff will perform site 18 audits to verify the technical basis of the license 19 renewal application, and to confirm that the 20 applicant's aging management programs and activities 21 conform with how they are described in the 22 applications. The staff documents the basis and 23 conclusion of its review in the safety [evaluation]
24 report, which is publicly available.
25 In addition, a team of specialized NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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14 1 inspectors from the NRC Region III travel[s] to the 2 reactor site to verify that aging management programs 3 are being implemented, modified or planned consistent 4 with the license renewal applications.
5 Finally, as I have mentioned, the 6 advisory committee on reactor safeguards will 7 [per]form an independent review of the license 8 renewal application, and the staff safety 9 [evaluation] report, and makes a recommendation to 10 the Commission regarding the proposed action 11 iss[uance] of a renewal of operating license.
12 For the environmental review, the staff 13 [will] perform an environmental review in accordance 14 with the National Environmental Policy Act or so-15 called NEPA. NEPA provides the basic architectures 16 for the federal environmental review requirements.
17 It requires that all federal agenc[ies] [to] follow a 18 systematic approach in evaluating potential impacts 19 associated with the major federal actions, and 20 alternative to those actions[.]
21 The NEPA process involves public 22 participations and public involvement, as well as 23 public disclosure. The NRC environmental regulations 24 contained in 10CFR, part 51, are largely based on 25 implementing regulations for NEPA. NRC environmental NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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15 1 review considered the impact associated with the 2 license renewal, and any mitigation for those impacts 3 we consider to be significant. We also considered 4 the impacts of alternatives to license renewal, 5 including the impact of not issuing a renewal 6 license.
7 In conducting the review, the NRC staff 8 will look at various impacts to the affected 9 environment. This review involves a wide range of 10 [expertise]-- illustrated on this slide. The expert 11 [will] examine environment justice, ecology, land 12 use, regulatory compliance, climate change, et cetera 13 for the EIS. As illustrated on this slide, some of 14 the agencies that we work with will include U.S. Fish 15 and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection 16 Agency, state's Historical Preservation Offices as 17 well as many local and state agencies, and any 18 affected Indian tribes.
19 The NRC staff, we also review cumulative 20 impacts associated with the continued operation of 21 the Braidwood Station. For cumulative impacts, the 22 staff will look at the [e]ffects on the environment 23 from past, present and reasonably foreseeable future 24 [human] actions. The cumulative impacts will include 25 both from the Braidwood Station operations and other NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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16 1 activities near Braidwood. In other words, the 2 cumulative impacts analysis consider[s] potential 3 impacts through the end of the 20 year renewal term.
4 5 For the term beyond the 20 year period of 6 extended operations, the NRC Waste Confidence 7 addresses the environmental impact of the management 8 of the spent nuclear fuel after the license life, 9 including renewal. Previous license renewal EIS 10 noted that environmental impacts of temporary storage 11 of spent nuclear fuel for the period following the 12 reactor operating license term were addressed by the 13 NRC Waste Confidence Rule.
14 The Waste Confidence environmental impact 15 statement is expected to be issued in 2014. In 16 August, 2012 the Commission decided that the agency 17 will not issue a final licensing decision for 18 reactors, including license renewal, until the Waste 19 Confidence regulatory activities are completed. If 20 at that time any license renewal related site-21 specific issue[s] at Braidwood station remain 22 unresolved, they will be addressed separately.
23 The environmental review begins with the 24 scoping process, which is where we are today. The 25 purpose of the scoping process is to identify NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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17 1 significant issues that should be considered in the 2 environmental review. We are now gathering 3 information that we will use to prepare an 4 environmental impact statement for the Braidwood 5 Station license renewal, that is, the environmental 6 impact[s] that are loca[l] to this area, and that are 7 important to the staff to consider.
8 The staff has developed a generic 9 environmental impact statement that addresses a 10 number of issues common to all nuclear power plants.
11 The staff is supplementing that generic EIS with a 12 site-specific supplemental EIS for the Braidwood 13 Stations. The staff [will] also reexamined the 14 conclusion reached in that generic EIS to determine 15 if there are any new and significant information that 16 would change the conclusion and the generic EIS. The 17 scoping period started on July 31st and we will 18 continue to take comments until September 27th.
19 In general, we are looking for 20 information about environmental impacts from 21 continued operation of the Braidwood Station during 22 the extended period of operation. You can assist us 23 in that process by telling us, for example, what 24 aspect of your local community we should focus on, 25 what local environmental social and economic issue NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 1 that NRC should examine, and what reasonable 2 alternatives are most appropriate for this region.
3 This slide illustrates the NRC various 4 considerations for deciding if a renewed operating 5 license will be issued. It's a rigorous review 6 involving the EIS, safety [evaluation] report, 7 regional inspections, and so on. But, what's 8 important to point out here is that the public 9 comments are an important part of the license renewal 10 process. We consider all comments that we receive 11 today and throughout the scoping period, and the 12 comments will help us to inform and to shape the 13 supplemental environmental impact statement.
14 In addition to providing comments at 15 today's meeting, there are other ways that you can 16 submit comments on the environmental review. You can 17 provide written comments by mail to the NRC Chief of 18 Rules at direct[ive] branch at the address provided 19 on this slide, and there [are] copies of this slide 20 for you to use. Or you can send your comment 21 electronically by going to regulation.gov. You can 22 also make your comment in person if you happen to be 23 in Rockville, Maryland. We ask that you get in touch 24 with one of the NRC project managers beforehand so 25 that we can set up appropriate arrangements. The NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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19 1 comments should be submitted by September 27th.
2 This slide shows some important 3 milestones for the environmental review process. The 4 petition to request for hearing [dues] on September 5 23rd, 2013. We plan to issue the draft environmental 6 impact statement in 2014. Once the draft is issued, 7 there will be a comment period where again there will 8 be an opportunity for the public to read through the 9 draft EIS and to comment on the draft.
10 The contact for the NRC environmental 11 review is myself. John Daly is the contact for the 12 safety review, and John's contact information is on 13 the meeting handout. The Fossil Ridge Library has 14 agreed to make the license renewal application 15 available for public review, and when it's published 16 for comment, the draft supplemental EIS will also be 17 available at the library. In addition, these 18 documents will be on the NRC website listed on this 19 slide. As you came in, you were asked to fill out a 20 reservation card at our reception desk. If you have 21 included your address on that card and indicated you 22 would like to be on the distribution list, we will 23 send you a copy of the draft and the final EIS for 24 your information. If you didn't have an opportunity 25 to fill out that card, please feel free to do [so]
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20 1 before you leave[;] to fill out a card, and then add 2 your address to it.
3 And that concludes my presentation.
4 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you, Tam. Before we 5 move into the public comment period, the NRC staff 6 would like to offer the opportunity to answer any 7 questions about the presentation you've just seen.
8 Does anybody have any questions about the 9 presentation or the material that was presented?
10 Okay. Then we'll go into the public 11 comment period, and I'll be calling everybody up one 12 at a time. When you get to the microphone, the 13 podium, please state your name and spell your last 14 name so the court reporter can get the correct 15 spelling of your name for the transcript. First I 16 would like to invite Sue Rezin, State Senator.
17 MS. REZIN: Thank you. Rezin, R-e-z-i-n.
18 Since I won't be near Rockville, Maryland anytime 19 soon, thank you for the opportunity to make the 20 comments here tonight. It's much more convenient.
21 Just briefly I'd like to say, my senate district is a 22 high energy producing district, and with it we have 23 three nuclear power plants in here. Exelon has been 24 an excellent company for our communities in terms of, 25 you know, reaching out to the communities, but also NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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21 1 providing good paying jobs in the area as well. So, 2 we appreciate them. We also appreciate you being 3 here as they're going through the re-licensing, and 4 anytime that we've had any questions with them, 5 they're very responsive to us and we appreciate that 6 as well. Thank you.
7 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Next I would 8 like to invite Greg Ridenour from Representative 9 Kissinger's office.
10 MR. RIDENOUR: It's R-i-d-e-n-o-u-r. The 11 congressman couldn't make it here tonight, but he 12 gave me a statement he would like me to read for him.
13 It's addressed to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 14 Commission. I write to express my full support for 15 the renewal of the operating license of the nuclear 16 generating station at Braidwood, Illinois. This 17 facility provides lower energy costs for residents 18 and businesses, and supports hundreds of high paying 19 jobs in Illinois, while helping to ensure state 20 compliance with federal clean air act regulations.
21 It will undoubtedly play an important role in meeting 22 the energy needs of Illinoisans well into the future.
23 24 Nuclear energy production plays a 25 critical role in Illinois where nuclear energy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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22 1 generates 48 percent of the state's electricity and 2 employs nearly 5,000 skilled workers. Having visited 3 the Braidwood Generating Facility, I can attest to 4 the value it has to local residents and communities, 5 which benefit through reduced energy costs, high 6 quality jobs, and significant tax revenue.
7 While many areas of Illinois struggle to 8 meet clear air standards, the generating station at 9 Braidwood offers affordable, abundant energy with a 10 fraction of the greenhouse gas admissions as other 11 conventional energy sources. As Americans and 12 Illinoisans' demand for energy rises, nuclear 13 generating stations like Braidwood will be vital to 14 meeting the energy needs for our citizens.
15 I fully support the operating license 16 renewal for this generating station, and believe it 17 will play a critical role in making America and the 18 state of Illinois more energy secure. Signed, Adam 19 Kissinger, member of Congress.
20 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. I'd like to 21 invite Bill Rulien, Mayor of Braidwood.
22 MR. RULIEN: When I was about 10 years 23 old I used to read my dad's newspaper, and the first 24 commercial nuclear power plant in about 1960 came 25 online, and it was an amazing thing to me. It NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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23 1 produced power with almost no fuel, no pollution.
2 Commonwealth Edison, the parent company of Exelon, 3 was the cutting edge of technology, the company that 4 brought that to us.
5 When I was about 20, I built a solar 6 collector, and I also experimented with a wind 7 generator. It didn't take too long to realize when 8 the breeze quit that it was great supplemental power 9 but it wasn't something you could really rely on as a 10 source of power. In the 43 years since then, there 11 hasn't been anything much that's changed. If you 12 want reliable, mass produced pollution free electric 13 power, nuclear power is the proven technology and the 14 way to go for now, and as far as we can see into the 15 future.
16 In about 1980 I was doing a little 17 construction work out by Goose Lake, and it seemed 18 that folks were starting to build houses out by 19 nuclear power plants, and I thought that was a pretty 20 remarkable thing. Well, for 25 years we in the 21 Braidwood area now have lived side by side with 22 working nuclear power plant, and it's brought many 23 benefits to our area. They include good jobs, 24 contribution to our tax base has been enormous, for 25 our library, our schools and our fire district.
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24 1 They've been generous to our community.
2 Kindly they've given millions of dollars to create a 3 water system there in Braceville, millions of dollars 4 in subsidy, food pantry, thousands of dollars in help 5 to our food pantry, help our needy, and many other 6 projects too numerous to mention. Last year they 7 helped out the city when I asked them to help us buy 8 the electronic sign outside of city hall, and to help 9 us create a tourism spot that we hope will help us 10 create tourism energy and economic benefit on Route 11 66.
12 So, they've been a really good neighbor, 13 and I just wanted to say that a guy here earlier 14 today, he mentioned that, you know, his whole thing 15 was what's going to happen if the power plant was to 16 close down. Well, you know, we think about those 17 things, and my administration's planned on those 18 things, and we're planning to use the money we get in 19 this area from our nuclear power plant and the good 20 jobs and everything to help prepare us for that 21 future. We've set aside acreage for industry and 22 things like that, and we intend to be ready for that 23 date.
24 But I also, personally, believe that the 25 infrastructure that's there on that power plant site NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 1 now, they will develop a way to use that, because 2 they're going to have a major investment in that 3 site, and they might build Braidwood three and four 4 there, I don't know, it'll probably be after I'm long 5 gone, but I look forward to that, and we look forward 6 to you giving them a license to continue operations 7 into the future. Thank you.
8 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. I'd like to 9 invite Mark Kavanos, site VP for Braidwood.
10 MR. KANAVOS: Kanavos, K-a-n-a-v-o-s.
11 Good evening, I'm Mark Kanavos, I'm the Site Vice 12 President at Braidwood Generating Station. I have 13 the overall responsibility for the safe and reliable 14 operation of the facility, and the coordination and 15 management of personnel, and overall station 16 performance.
17 A little bit about my background. I have 18 over 32 years of progressive nuclear power plant 19 experience. Before I took my current role as Site 20 Vice President, I was the Plant Manager at Braidwood.
21 Prior to that I was the Plant Manager at Clinton 22 Nuclear Station in Clinton, Illinois, and at Comanche 23 Peak Nuclear Station in Glen Rose, Texas. I've had 24 experience in project management, maintenance and 25 engineering.
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26 1 Operating the station safely and reliably 2 is a key responsibility of all of the employees at 3 the Braidwood Generating Station, one that we take 4 very seriously and as a personal commitment to 5 ourselves, to the community and to our industry.
6 Proud to say that we've been a key part of this 7 community for over 25 years.
8 Braidwood Generating Station operates 9 under the manner that preserves the environment. We 10 maintain a comprehensive, radiological monitoring 11 program that extensively monitors the air, water and 12 food products around the facility to ensure that we 13 did not adversely impact the environment.
14 We have a comprehensive on-site 15 environmental groundwater protection program for 16 monitoring and detecting the presence of 17 radioactivity in the ground water before it has a 18 chance to migrate off of our property. This program 19 includes 19 on-site monitoring wells designed to 20 protect, detect and alert us of any unusual events, 21 levels of radiation in the groundwater, so that we 22 can assess and address any changes quickly.
23 We have detailed procedures that outline 24 how we test all the water leaving our station.
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27 1 a ten mile radius around the planet to monitor any 2 radiation levels and dose to ensure the safety of the 3 community.
4 We also have had great success in our 5 tritium remediation efforts. In the last seven years 6 Braidwood has made significant progress.
7 Hydrogeologists have confirmed that remediation is 8 having the intended effect. As of today the square 9 footage of land affected by tritium has been reduced 10 by 96 percent, and the highest concentrations of 11 tritium in the groundwater have been reduced by 99 12 percent. We'll continue to monitor and retain the 13 ability to remediate via pumping, should that become 14 necessary.
15 Braidwood's environmental management 16 systems are certified under the strictest criteria, 17 the International Organization of Standardization, or 18 ISO, specifically we have received the ISO 14001 19 certification, an industry standard recognition.
20 This is an internationally recognized benchmark for 21 environmental management. The ISO 14000 22 certification requires a commitment to excellence in 23 meeting our regulatory requirements, and the 24 prevention of pollution and continuous improvement in 25 our environmental programs and systems.
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28 1 Last year the Wildlife Habitat Counsel 2 recognized Braidwood Generating Station's commitment 3 to the environmental stewardship by awarding us the 4 Wildlife award certification. This distinction was 5 awarded to our commitment for ensuring that the 6 continuance of the healthy wildlife around our 7 planet, through our fish habitat restoration project.
8 This project places artificial habitats in the 9 Braidwood Lake, and that greatly benefits the fish 10 throughout their life, and greatly enhances the 11 fishery.
12 To ensure that Braidwood continues to 13 operate safely for years to come, Exelon continues to 14 invest in Braidwood. We've spent millions of dollars 15 each year to improve and modernize our equipment and 16 enhance our plan operations and safety systems. Our 17 investment in the future doesn't stop with the 18 equipment. We've hired 152 new employees in the last 19 two years, and we maintain a workforce of 20 approximately 850 employees.
21 During our annual maintenance and 22 refueling outage, that population grows by another 23 1,500 to 2,000 employees, bringing a boost to the 24 local economy. We also take pride in our investments 25 in the community. Last year employees contributed NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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29 1 over 240,000 to the United Way Crusade of Mercy, and 2 our signature annual event, Fishing for a Cure, has 3 generated over $300,000 to charity over the years.
4 We also support the Braidwood Summer Fest, the 5 Braidwood Shootout, and numerous other community 6 activities.
7 Our employees host blood drives, toy 8 drives and fund drives for various community groups 9 and agencies. They also volunteer, and in short, we 10 do our very best to be a good neighbor.
11 For over 25 years Braidwood has performed 12 reliably and safely, and has set numerous benchmarks 13 in the nuclear power industry. We work towards 14 license renewal every day through dedication to 15 continuous improvement.
16 In conclusion, we look forward to working 17 with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the review 18 of our license renewal application. Thank you for 19 this opportunity to address the public.
20 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. I would like to 21 invite Mike Gallagher, the VP for License Renewal, 22 Exelon.
23 MR. GALLAGHER: Okay, good evening. My 24 name is Mike Gallagher, and that's G-a-l-l-a-g-h-e-r, 25 and I'm the Vice President of License Renewal for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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30 1 Exelon. I have overall responsibility for the 2 Braidwood Generating Station license renewal 3 application.
4 First of all I'd like to thank the NRC 5 for this opportunity to speak on behalf of Exelon for 6 this very important project for us. Exelon has a 7 great deal of experience with license renewal, as we 8 have already obtained the renewed licenses for our 9 Dresden and Quad Cities plants here in Illinois, and 10 for three of our other facilities in Pennsylvania and 11 New Jersey. We've also, an application for our 12 Limerick Plant in Pennsylvania under NRC review.
13 Just a little, briefly, about myself.
14 I've been working in the nuclear industry for 32 15 years. I was a licensed senior reactor operator and 16 plant manager at our Limerick Generating Station 17 facility in Pennsylvania, and I worked at two other 18 nuclear power plants and our corporate office.
19 Mr. Kanavos, the Site Vice-President for 20 Braidwood spoke to us all here about how rigorously 21 we safely operate Braidwood, and about the reasons 22 for renewing the license. I'd like to speak briefly 23 about the process for preparing this license renewal 24 application, and the amount of the work and 25 engineering analysis that was put into preparing the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 1 application.
2 Because the Braidwood Station can operate 3 safely and reliably, Exelon decided to pursue license 4 renewal. Braidwood's safe, efficient operation 5 promotes a critical supply of carbon free electricity 6 for Illinois and beyond. Braidwood produces enough 7 clean power to supply more than two million homes.
8 So in 2011 we announced our intention to 9 seek license renewal for Braidwood and a similar 10 plant, or Byron Generating Station up in Ogle County.
11 Later that year we started the work necessary to 12 prepare the application, and after over two years of 13 work we submitted the application to the Nuclear 14 Regulatory Commission on May 29th, 2013.
15 So safe and reliable operations has been 16 hallmark at Braidwood Station since it came online, 17 and our goal during the license renewal process is to 18 demonstrate to the NRC and to our neighbors that we 19 will continue that legacy throughout the 20 year 20 extended operating period.
21 The application is a very large 22 application. When you print it out it's about 3,500 23 pages, and when you put it in binders, it's in four 24 large binders about this thick. It's a huge amount 25 of information. But that only represents a small NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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32 1 part of the work that was done for the engineering 2 analysis. The total amount of engineering analysis 3 if we printed it all out would be about 400 binders 4 of information. We invested over 90,000 man hours of 5 engineering work. Once we completed the engineering 6 work to prepare the application, we brought in 7 experts from outside Exelon to review the 8 application, to ensure that it was complete, thorough 9 and accurate. Our total cost to prepare this 10 application and to get it reviewed by the Nuclear 11 Regulatory Commission for both Byron and Braidwood 12 will be approximately $45 million.
13 There are two different parts of the 14 application, the safety review and the environmental 15 review. For the safety review we took an in-depth 16 look at the history and the condition of the safety 17 equipment in the plant. We did that to determine 18 whether the necessary maintenance was being performed 19 on that equipment, to make sure that the equipment 20 will be able to operate when it's needed, not only 21 for today, but for the additional 20 year period.
22 When you look back at Braidwood, when it 23 was built, it was brand new, it was all thoroughly 24 tested to make sure it would work properly, but like 25 anything else the equipment does age, and therefore NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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33 1 we have to do certain activities to it. Preventative 2 maintenance is performed, sometimes equipment is 3 refurbished, some equipment may be replaced, there 4 may be modifications done to the plant to upgrade 5 equipment. In fact, Exelon has invested over $230 6 million in the last four years alone at Braidwood, to 7 improve and modernize the equipment, to enhance plant 8 operations and safety.
9 We also reviewed the calculations that 10 were performed as part of the design of the plant, 11 that were originally done to, for the plant to 12 operate for the original 40 year period. We analyzed 13 all those calculations and were able to confirm that 14 the plant was able to operate safely for an 15 additional 20 years, up to 60 years. So overall our 16 conclusion from an engineering review was that 17 Braidwood could operate safely for 60 years.
18 We also took a look at the environmental 19 aspects, and the impacts to continue to operate 20 Braidwood. We looked at all the aspects of the, 21 well, the impact of the plant on the environment, and 22 our conclusion is that these impacts on the 23 environment are small, and I use the term small in 24 the sense of the regulation. The regulation defines 25 small as the environmental effects are not detectable NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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34 1 or minor.
2 We've also reviewed the alternatives if 3 Braidwood would not have its license renewed and 4 another source of electric generation would have to 5 be installed, either here on site or someplace else 6 to generate the replacement electricity. We 7 concluded that any other means of generating the 8 replacement electricity would have more an impact to 9 the environment than the continued operation of 10 Braidwood.
11 So in conclusion, we operate Braidwood 12 safely, and we can continue to operate safely for an 13 additional 20 years. Braidwood will provide 14 approximately 2,340 megawatts of baseload generation 15 that's not only safe, but it's clean, it's reliable, 16 and it's economical. Continued operation of 17 Braidwood will benefit this community, the state of 18 Illinois and our nation. Thanks again for the 19 opportunity to make my statement.
20 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Next I would 21 like to invite John Greuling, Will County Center for 22 Economic Development.
23 MR. GREULING: Thank you, and that's 24 Greuling, G-r-e-u-l-i-n-g. The Will County Center 25 for Economic Development is a private, not for profit NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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35 1 economic development corporation that's served Will 2 County for 32 years. Our membership includes 3 representatives from the largest corporations in Will 4 County, along with other private sector leaders as 5 well as governmental leaders. Our mission is to 6 assist in the retention, the expansion and the 7 recruitment of business to Will County.
8 We support critical infrastructure 9 investments as well, such as energy infrastructure, 10 to make sure that the investments and reinvestments 11 are being made appropriately to serve our rapidly 12 growing area. Since 1990 Will County has more than 13 doubled in population to where today we're just under 14 700,000 people, and we've become one of the fastest 15 growing job generators in the metro Chicago area.
16 We're also home to the largest Inland Container Port 17 in North America, supporting global freight movement.
18 19 The Will County Center for Economic 20 Development is here today in support of Braidwood 21 Generating Station's license renewal application 22 submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 23 on May 29th of this year. Since 1987 the Braidwood 24 facility has been producing emissions-free energies 25 in Northeastern Illinois. The Center for Economic NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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36 1 Development believes by granting this renewal the NRC 2 will allow Exelon Generation to continue to provide 3 thousands of megawatts of clean energy to the tens of 4 thousands of businesses in the region. Adequate, 5 reliable and affordable energy supply has become one 6 of the most important factors when businesses are 7 considering an expansion or relocation today.
8 Without it we cannot successfully compete for good 9 jobs for our residents.
10 The Braidwood facility itself is an 11 economic engine for the region. With over 850 good 12 paying jobs and an annual payroll of $82 million, 13 Braidwood is one of the largest employers in Will 14 County, and certainly one of its most significant.
15 In addition, the facility made $20.7 million in tax 16 payments in 2012. The significant contributions that 17 Exelon generation and its employees made to the local 18 economy cannot be overstated. Support for groups 19 like the United Way, Fishing for a Cure, and other 20 local and business, local business and civic 21 associations are critical to the fabric of our 22 community in this part of Will County.
23 The CED recognizes what a good 24 environmental steward Exelon has been and will 25 continue to be at their Braidwood facility. The NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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37 1 radiological monitoring and the groundwater 2 protection programs in place today give the community 3 a sense of safety and environmental protection we 4 expect from a world class facility like Braidwood.
5 To close, the CED again supports the 6 renewal application for the Braidwood Generating 7 Station, and I think you for your time.
8 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. I would like to 9 next invite Don Moran.
10 MR. MORAN: Good evening. Don Moran, M-11 o-r-a-n. From 1984 until 1987 I worked at the 12 Braidwood Station as a young construction worker, or 13 sheet metal worker. Today I'm employed as a business 14 representative for sheet metal workers, but I'll 15 speak on behalf of not only my own local union, but 16 the Will and Grundy building and construction trades 17 as well.
18 Beginning in the fall of 2007, a full 19 year before the rest of the country's economy was 20 effected, the construction industry was decimated by 21 the worse case of unemployment it had seen since the 22 great depression. Literally thousands of our members 23 lost their jobs, their homes, their families, during 24 the next five and a half years of economic blight.
25 One bright spot during all those years NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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38 1 has been the construction jobs provided during the 2 refueling and upgrading of the Braidwood Station.
3 Having been involved in the building and maintenance 4 of the station over the past 30 years, I'm very 5 confident in the continued safe operation of this 6 plant into the future, and I'm thankful for their 7 commitment to local trades by providing good jobs and 8 benefits to people.
9 My frustration with the high unemployment 10 led me to run for office. Earlier today the Will 11 County Executive, Larry Walsh, and the Will County 12 Board Speaker were both here, and spoke on behalf of 13 our county board, where we passed a unanimous 14 resolution supporting the re-licensing at our July 15 board meeting. I voted in favor of that resolution.
16 As Illinois struggles in today's 17 competitive business market, we cannot afford to 18 ignore any of the things that helped put us on a 19 better footing. One of the building blocks to 20 economic development is affordable and reliable 21 electricity. Illinois' diverse network of 22 electricity generation coming from coal, wind and 23 nuclear gives us an advantage in enticing new and 24 retaining existing businesses to the area.
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39 1 in California during 2000 and 2001, our local 2 electric generation and transmission systems have 3 provided consistent, reliable electricity and have 4 done so with a diminishing cost to consumers, as 5 compared to the CPI.
6 I remember cooling my first home, a tiny, 7 900 square foot house, with summer monthly electric 8 bills of over $200 in the mid 80's. Today I live in 9 a modest town home about three times that large and I 10 pay about $150 in the summer months to cool it, quite 11 the bargain compared to nearly 30 years ago, 12 especially if considered next to the costs associated 13 with fuel in your car or paying for healthcare.
14 As President of the Illinois State Rifle 15 Association, I represent the interest of many 16 outdoors people, including fisherman and water foul 17 hunters, many of whom have benefitted greatly from 18 the public access to Braidwood Station's cooling 19 lake. In addition to being a source of reliable 20 electricity generation, Braidwood Station has been a 21 benefit to local school districts, fire protection 22 and other taxing bodies in the community, not to 23 mention its commitment to local charities and 24 community events. They've been a good steward to our 25 communities, and I'd ask that the NRC renew the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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40 1 license for Braidwood Station. Thank you.
2 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Next I would 3 like to invite Dee deGroh, who's a member of the 4 Community Advisory Board.
5 MS. DEGROH: Good evening, and thank you, 6 Sheila. My name is Dee deGroh, and that is spelled 7 d-e-G-r-o-h. I, my family's from the Braidwood/Essex 8 area, my parents and my grandparents and my great 9 grandparents were from Essex and Braidwood. I moved 10 here about eight years ago, and was just concerned 11 that I wanted to be involved in the community, so I 12 became quite involved, as a matter of fact I'm 13 President of the Historical Society, Secretary of the 14 Library Board, a member of CAP, the Community Advisor 15 Panel, and the Chamber of Commerce. School district 16 has a group called the Community Involvement 17 Committee, to get the students involved in our 18 communities and vice versa, and of course I'm 19 involved in church groups. So, I'm an involved 20 person.
21 I recall there was excitement when it was 22 announced that there was going to be a power plant 23 built in the Braidwood area in 1976. They started 24 construction then, and my mother and my sister and 25 many others were on committees to talk to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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41 1 Commonwealth Edison at the time about how is this 2 going to effect us, what is it? People didn't even 3 know what it was and how it was going to effect our 4 community. And they did form various committees to 5 talk to ComEd, and they felt somewhat, I'm sure, very 6 relieved, because not only was it going to improve 7 the economics of the area, but they were also taking 8 over some of the spoiled lands left by the coal 9 companies, and it was considered spoiled land at that 10 time. Now they're wonderful recreation clubs for 11 many people, but at that time there weren't a lot.
12 At any rate, the concerns about the 13 safety and health issues were alleviated during 14 those, that time, and it took 12 years to build the 15 plant and open it, it opened in '88, and at that time 16 the community was allowed to go in and see the plant.
17 I was fortunate enough to be one of them, and very, 18 very impressed with all of the security concerns and 19 health issues and just getting in and out at that 20 time.
21 And then I joined this Community Advisory 22 Panel a few years ago when it was started, and we got 23 to tour the plant, and with the changes and additions 24 due to 911, it's unbelievable what security one goes 25 through, on a daily basis if you're an employee and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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42 1 have to get into the plant everyday. It took us, 2 well of course there was about 15 of us, 12 of us 3 maybe going on that tour, but it took us a good 20 4 minutes or more. You may have read in the Braidwood 5 Journal last week the reporter had just taken a tour 6 and she was just in awe of what she saw and all the 7 security she went through.
8 At any rate, this advisory panel helps 9 the community because anyone who asks us a question 10 about an issue that they're concerned with, we can 11 take that concern to the CAP meeting, and Exelon 12 either addresses it right then and there or our next 13 meeting they'll have someone who is knowledgeable 14 about that issue, such as tritium, and bring it to 15 the committee, and we'll spend the entire evening 16 maybe discussing that issue. It's wonderful that 17 they're so concerned about our safety and acceptance 18 of Exelon.
19 We're all interested in public health and 20 safety. We all want it. I know I want it for 21 myself. I would not have moved here if I didn't feel 22 comfortable doing so eight years ago, and I have 23 never felt uncomfortable being in the area. The 24 station, the Braidwood Station has been really a 25 wonderful neighbor, because they're not only NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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43 1 employing people in the area and helping to feed tax 2 money into our schools and fire department and police 3 and library, et cetera. They are interested in 4 community organizations and help all of us, including 5 the Historical Society and the Lions Club and Park 6 District and many such groups, Chamber of Commerce 7 and so on. So, they're really wonderful neighbors 8 and they support all of these groups, and when they 9 do that it makes our town more viable, more lively, 10 more full of life because they're helping us to 11 continue in day to day issues.
12 And, I went to the presentation August 13 8th at City Hall by NRC, and at that meeting they 14 made it very clear that Exelon has met, if not 15 exceeded, all their expectations regarding safety.
16 And because of that, I just welcome the approval of 17 the renewal license for our good neighbor, Exelon.
18 Thank you very much.
19 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. I would like to 20 invite Doug O'Brien from the Illinois Clean Energy 21 Coalition.
22 MR. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, it's 23 O-B-r-i-e-n. And I'm the Executive Director of the 24 Illinois Clean Energy Coalition. Our group that is 25 supported by business, labor and policy leaders NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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44 1 across the state promotes the development and use of 2 clean energy in a competitive market that benefits 3 both the environment and our economy. And regardless 4 of where people are individually on what various 5 policy courses they favor, I think everybody across 6 the country wants to see our country move towards 7 cleaner, a cleaner environment, and the cleaner 8 generation of energy.
9 Now, we've heard a lot about the positive 10 impacts that Braidwood has on the surrounding 11 communities, the jobs, the economic impact, the 12 millions of dollars that are invested in the 13 community, but the positive impacts reach much 14 further than the areas that benefit directly from the 15 plant operations. Nuclear has also brought a broad 16 benefit to the energy market in Illinois. It has 17 impacted, had a positive impact on rates, and 18 certainly on reliability, and as we've heard that is 19 oftentimes a key factor in attracting and retaining 20 good jobs.
21 And the benefits derived at Braidwood and 22 other nuclear plants are not limited to the economy.
23 It's an enormous benefit that the generation of 18 24 million megawatts of electricity at Braidwood last 25 year produced no carbon air emissions. And that's an NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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45 1 objective, that's a goal we all want to strive to in 2 our country.
3 Earlier this year NASA's 4 Goddard Institute, which is a leading research 5 organization studying the impacts of climate change, 6 sought to quantify the impact of nuclear power's 7 carbon free emissions. Goddard's study found that 8 replacing nuclear power with fossel fuel generation, 9 would lead to approximately 76,000 deaths globally 10 every year, primarily as a result of increased cardio 11 and pulmonary disease.
12 This is even more important here in 13 Illinois, as we all know the Chicago metropolitan 14 area is designated as a non-attainment area by the 15 EPA due to air pollution, and this situation would be 16 greatly exacerbated without the existence of the 17 Braidwood Generating Station, which produces energy 18 to power up to two million homes, without adding to 19 our existing environmental problems.
20 And I think it's also important to note 21 that while we care tremendously about the local 22 impacts, the environmental impact statement that 23 we're talking about primarily here looks at a broad 24 range of issues. In addition to local environmental 25 issues, it looks at quality of life issues, revenues NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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46 1 that are created, job creation and economic impact 2 are all part of the environmental impacts of the 3 Braidwood Generating Station.
4 And for these reasons the Illinois Clean 5 Energy Coalition strongly urges the renewal of the 6 operating license for the Braidwood station. Thank 7 you.
8 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. I would like to 9 invite Angie Hutton from the Braidwood Chamber.
10 MS. HUTTON: It's Angie Hutton, H-u-t-t-11 o-n, and on behalf of the Chamber, and I sent a blast 12 e-mail out before I left the house, I got nothing 13 derogatory from any of them again, Exelon supports 14 our schools, all of our businesses, and not only with 15 what they do for us but the people that work there, 16 which is, definitely helps our businesses in town, 17 and our schools couldn't do without them. I mean, 18 they're just, they've been wonderful. Anything we've 19 asked for, they've helped us as the chamber, and for 20 that we say thank you.
21 And there was an issue with the tritium, 22 and as being a good neighbor, which they promised 23 when they started, they did remediate the area, they 24 bought the property that was impacted, and with that 25 they took aggressive action so that it doesn't happen NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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47 1 again. And with that they also opened up great 2 communications.
3 And as Dee said, the CAP, we go in there 4 and they have no idea what questions we're bringing.
5 Anything that the public wants to know, anything 6 that we want to know, and they do answer it right 7 away, and if not, it's at the next meeting, but they 8 have no idea. And with all that they do for support, 9 they're meeting people everyday with no idea what 10 people on the street are going to ask, and they do 11 answer it. And that, in this day and age, is a big 12 deal, there's no, well, I'll get back to you or let 13 me see what I can find out, they do answer it.
14 So, with that and the support that 15 they've given us, and Exelon will be speaking at our 16 next chamber meeting, so, and they'll have no idea 17 what those people are going to ask that morning.
18 With that, we would like the license for the station 19 to be renewed.
20 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. I would like to 21 invite K. Denise Forrest from the community and 22 Exelon.
23 MS. FORREST: Hello. Last name's 24 Forrest, F-o-r-r-e-s-t. So first I'll talk to you as 25 a community member. So my dad grew up in Braidwood NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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48 1 and attended the one-room schoolhouse on Center 2 Street, and I didn't venture far from home because I 3 bought a house in Braidwood five years ago. My 4 future son-in-law just bought a house in Braidwood in 5 January. We're both employees of Braidwood Station 6 and grateful to be employees of Braidwood Station.
7 We do all of our shopping in Braidwood, 8 we see the physicians in Braidwood, even the people 9 who don't live in Braidwood still use all the 10 services that Braidwood offers. When I hear the 11 truck go by spraying for mosquitoes at night I think, 12 Braidwood may have impacted that by their tax money, 13 so.
14 How, the impact, so I live on Bodeen 15 Drive. My neighbors on both sides of my house are 16 directly impacted by Braidwood Station, either as a 17 contractor or as an employee. My neighbor on the 18 back side of me is an operator. A block away from 19 me, two employees from Braidwood Station. My son-in-20 law lives on Third Street, his neighbor is a 21 contractor. So Exelon and Braidwood Station has a 22 direct impact on the economy, just from a personal 23 perspective.
24 Whenever I go to the grocery store or I'm 25 at the mine, I'm always running into people that I NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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49 1 work with, even the people who don't live locally, 2 just out of convenience they'll stop at the grocery 3 store, our gas is cheaper here, we gas our cars here.
4 Our taxes are cheaper here, so purchases are 5 sometimes cheaper.
6 So, not only for the Exelon employees but 7 also family-owned contractors. We support a lot of 8 contractors by bidding out business at the plant, so 9 a lot of them are also impacted directly.
10 As an employee, I'm a maintenance analyst 11 at Braidwood. I'm proud to say that I was part of 12 the start-up team from the 1980's, so I've been there 13 quite a while. Not only is the equipment updated, 14 but the people are updated as well, we are developed, 15 so thank you to Exelon, they've developed me as well.
16 As I get new employees into the site, I'm 17 so proud of our plant and the way that it looks and 18 the perception when you see it, that I take my people 19 for tours out in the plant so that they can talk to 20 their neighbors and say, wow, that is just a great 21 operation. It's not scary when you actually see it.
22 It's all the talk behind the scenes, when you don't 23 actually get to witness it and see how clean and how 24 professional it is.
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50 1 community, Mark knows I say that all the time. So 2 when we tied into the septic, or the sewer, selfishly 3 I was worried about how that would, how my toilet 4 would handle that at home. Pleased to announce no 5 problems at all. So I'm always worried about the 6 community aspect.
7 They are an excellent neighbor. The 8 plant doesn't stink, it's not loud. When we do night 9 activities we notify the community. It's just a 10 respectful company to work for.
11 Lastly, industrial safety, radiation 12 safety, I have no fears at all being, living in the 13 community and living my entire life in the community.
14 We have so many systems, so many controls and so 15 many monitors in place, and even with all that, you 16 still, you have to have a culture. If you have the 17 people and the equipment in place but you have a 18 culture that doesn't support that questioning 19 attitude of being your brother's keeper and looking 20 out for everything, then you're not going to have a, 21 you're not going to succeed in this business.
22 The expectation at Braidwood, and at any 23 Exelon plant, is that if you see something that 24 doesn't look right, you bring it up. We don't hide 25 anything, we put it out there in the open and then we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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51 1 address it. And that's everybody's, everybody's 2 responsibility, it's not just for Mark, it's not just 3 for the manager, it's for the clerical person all the 4 way up, the contractor, anybody to bring it up.
5 So knowing that culture, and that is the 6 expectation, I'm grateful to be at Braidwood and I 7 would like to be extended as well.
8 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. I would like to 9 invite Philip O'Connor from Proactive Strategies, 10 Inc.
11 MR. O'CONNOR: My name is Philip R.
12 O'Connor, that's O-'-C-o-n-n-o-r. And first of all, 13 thank you to the NRC for holding this meeting. In 14 the early 1980's, during the peak construction period 15 at both Braidwood and Byron, I was serving as 16 Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, which 17 is the utility regulatory body for our state. At 18 that time I was also serving as the representative of 19 all of the other state utility regulators on the 20 board of, the Advisory Board of the Institute for 21 Nuclear Power Operations. And one of the things that 22 we came to an appreciation of during that period, and 23 even more so since, is the connection between the 24 safe practices in a nuclear plant and economic 25 performance.
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52 1 That peak period of construction in the 2 early 80's was one of substantial controversy about 3 both the economics of the projects and the long run 4 impact on electricity prices in northern Illinois, I 5 know, because my home used to be regularly picketed, 6 and I would be yelled at on the bus.
7 But let me tell you, and we all know it, 8 things have worked out extraordinarily well, far 9 better than most expected. Just three quick points.
10 First, both Braidwood and Byron have proven to be 11 stellar performers with capacity factors well over 90 12 percent. Second, in an era in which there's been 13 both great uncertainty about the economics as well as 14 the environmental aspects of fossil fuels, these two 15 stations have had the advantage of a low cost, non-16 fossil fuel supply and all of the intended 17 consequences of that.
18 Third, and this is particularly dear to 19 my heart, Illinois was a pioneer in moving away from 20 traditional electricity price regulation and toward 21 customer choice and competition in the generation and 22 supply sectors. The high performance and the low 23 production costs at both Braidwood and Byron have 24 been important factors in a successful transition 25 from traditional regulation and competition.
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53 1 Let me just illustrate this. In the 2 decade prior to Illinois' 1997 restructuring law, the 3 average Illinois electricity price was consistently 4 about 10 percent above the national average. In the 5 more than a decade since the full implementation of 6 choice, average Illinois electricity prices have been 7 seven to eight percent below the national average.
8 That 18 point swing has been worth about 35 billion 9 dollars so far, and is growing every day.
10 As of the end of May, Illinois had the 11 11th lowest electricity prices in the United States.
12 I mean, the only ones who have lower prices are 13 those with, in the west, with a lot of hydroelectric 14 power and so forth. And I think that just, you know, 15 Mr. Moran's comment about his bill now compared to 16 what it was, I think helps to illustrate the point.
17 So Byron and Braidwood are no longer 18 owned by a utility, it's true they're affiliated with 19 ComEd, but they are not part of the utility rate 20 base, and they have been operating successfully as 21 fully competitive assets in a highly competitive 22 generation market. So the bottom line here is that 23 Braidwood and Byron, if they are allowed to operate 24 well into the future by being re-licensed, are likely 25 to continue to play a positive role in maintaining NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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54 1 Illinois' advantageous electricity price position, 2 and that, of course, is a big plus for job creation 3 and prosperity in Illinois.
4 So let me end where I began, and that is 5 simply noting that Exelon's ongoing adherence to best 6 practices for nuclear safety will be an important 7 underpinning of ongoing strong economic performance 8 of both those plants and of the Illinois electricity 9 market. Thank you.
10 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Next I would 11 like to invite Steve Quigley from the Will County 12 Governmental League.
13 MR. QUIGLEY: Quigley, Q-u-i-g-l-e-y.
14 Hi, I'm Steve Quigley, Will County Governmental 15 League on behalf of the 32 communities that the Will 16 County Governmental League represents. We would 17 endorse the licensor to be renewed. On a personal 18 note, in 1992 I became the Public Information 19 Director for the Illinois Emergency Management 20 Office, and, or agency actually, and as a public 21 information director I had the opportunity and chance 22 to view all the nuclear power stations in Illinois, 23 and I learned a lot.
24 Number one, I didn't know that we had 25 more active nuclear sites, or reactors in Illinois NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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55 1 than any other state in the nation. Upon doing that, 2 that was back in the ComEd days, I saw how safety was 3 an important aspect to what goes on in any nuclear 4 power station, and I also learned subsequently when I 5 took this position how the Exelon/ComEd, it was ComEd 6 when I started, now Exelon, took their community 7 outreach. Community outreach to 8 individuals in the communities I represent is 9 paramount to having a utility such as a nuclear 10 safety or nuclear production site like this, to what 11 the mayors that I represent, they want to know, they 12 want information, it's not just Braidwood, it's the 13 communities throughout Will County. And one of the 14 things, Mr. Greuling took about half my speech so I 15 just left my notes on the thing, but we do represent 16 almost 700,000 residents. Economic 17 development is a very important aspect of what mayors 18 do in their communities. John does it in a bigger 19 picture, our mayor's do it, you know, for their own 20 communities. Having clean, efficient service and 21 reliability is a great economic benefit when mayors 22 are going out and trying to do outreach to bring 23 businesses into their communities, and the Will 24 County community as a whole.
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56 1 local station more for the outreach. They get in 2 touch with me two or three times a year, ask if 3 there's any meetings that they can attend, we have 4 monthly meetings with our mayors and our city 5 administrators, are there things they can come, is 6 there anything they can do on the behalf to 7 enlighten. They offer opportunities for the 8 community leaders to come and tour the plant. I had 9 the privilege of going right before they did the last 10 generator turnover, which I think was a couple years 11 ago.
12 I've had the opportunity to go since then 13 but they were gearing up and the safety on the inside 14 of the plant and the security on the outside of the 15 plant in my humble opinion, as somebody who's seen 16 this over the last 15 years, can't be matched. And 17 we would endorse fully the NRC's extension for the 18 next 20 years of this licensor. Thank you.
19 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Mr. Frank Antos 20 from the Community Advisory Panel.
21 MR. ANTOS: That's A-n-t-o-s. As a long 22 time resident of the area, I don't see any problem 23 with them getting renewed on their license. They've 24 been excellent, good neighbors. All I can tell you, 25 that's, go for it.
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57 1 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Nancy Ammer 2 from the Grundy Economic Development.
3 MS. AMMER: Good evening, last name 4 Ammer, A-m-m-e-r. Like Mr. Quigley I'm tempted to 5 say ditto and sit back down as I know you're all 6 anxious to get home, but I just want to make a few 7 quick comments. I'm with the Grundy Economic 8 Development Counsel in Grundy County, the adjacent 9 County over. And so we find ourselves really in an 10 enviable position in that we are sandwiched by 11 nuclear stations with LaSalle Station on our western 12 border in the next county over, Braidwood here in 13 Will County and then we're home to Dresden Station, 14 all operated by Exelon and all excellently operated.
15 I also have the opportunity then from 16 looking at them as existing businesses in our area, 17 but then also what they bring to the table as we're 18 trying to track new business to Illinois and to 19 Grundy County. The robust energy market has been 20 good for consumers, and it has also been good for 21 existing businesses as well as in the attraction 22 efforts of new businesses, especially as we're seeing 23 some reemergence of manufacturing in our area, that 24 have very energy-intensive types of businesses so 25 that we are now, have statistically, the employment, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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58 1 the lowest in the country. It just gives more 2 validation to what we've been working on.
3 The quality jobs that we see at 4 Braidwood, that we see at Dresden, that we see at 5 Exelon cannot be understated, especially in this 6 environment of high unemployment. When you take 7 those 800 plus jobs with excellent payroll, excellent 8 benefits, multiple it by three, by all three of the 9 stations, and all of a sudden you start to see 10 significant impacts of payrolls in excess of $80 11 million here, multiply that by three with the three 12 stations, employment of over 2,500.
13 And then also to not forget the 14 multipliers that we see when there are the refueling 15 outages. I can assure you as an economic development 16 person, I can't speak on behalf of Mr. Greuling, but 17 there's not a lot of people knocking on our doors to 18 bring in $80 million payroll to our community. We 19 are thankful that they are here, we are thankful the 20 commitment that they make to our taxing bodies, and 21 on behalf of the Grundy Economic Development Counsel 22 I would encourage the renewal of the license. Thank 23 you.
24 MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you everyone for your 25 comments. I'd like to open it up to the floor, and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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59 1 if there's anybody who has not made a comment yet 2 that would like to speak, please step up to the 3 podium. Everybody wants to go home.
4 Okay, and I've got a few closing comments 5 here. Thank you everyone again for your 6 participation, for the comments, for attending the 7 meeting this evening. And the comments provided will 8 be addressed in the Scoping Summary Report for 9 openness and transparency the Scoping Summary Report 10 will be available publicly on the NRC license renewal 11 website, and the address is in the handout.
12 And if there are any further comments you 13 can provide them either in writing or electronically.
14 Please do so by September 27th. And the NRC is 15 always looking for ways to improve our public meeting 16 process, so there are feedback forms on the table, if 17 you would like to fill one of those out. They're 18 postage paid and you can send them in, and any 19 improvements would be welcome.
20 Does anybody have any comments before we 21 close the meeting? Then this meeting is adjourned.
22 Thank you very much.
23 (Whereupon at 8:20 p.m. the meeting was 24 adjourned.)
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