ML13266A183
| ML13266A183 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Byron  |
| Issue date: | 08/20/2013 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-151 | |
| Download: ML13266A183 (50) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Title: Public Meeting RE License Renewal:
Byron Nuclear Station Afternoon Session Docket Number: 05000454 and 05000455 Location: Byron, Illinois Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 Work Order No.: NRC-151 Pages 1-50 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 Before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 6 + + + + +
7 NUCLEAR MANAGEMENT COMPANY 8 BYRON NUCLEAR STATION 9 Regarding License Renewal Application, 10 NEPA Required Scoping Meeting 11 12 TUESDAY 13 AUGUST 20, 2013 14 2:00 P.M.
15 . + + + +
16 BYRON FOREST PRESERVE 17 7993 NORTH RIVER ROAD 18 BYRON, ILLINOIS 19 + + + + +
20 The above-entitled matter commenced 21 pursuant to Notice before Sheila Ray, Facilitator.
22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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2 PRESENT:
NRC STAFF:
E Dennis Morey Bruce Bartlett John Daily E Stuart Sheldon Tam Tran S Prema Chandrathil 10C Anita Ghosh 11 Lindsay Robinson 12 Elizabeth Pool 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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3 1 PROC EED I NG S 2 (2:03 P.M.)
3 MS. RAY: Good afternoon, ladies and 4 gentlemen. Thank you for your attendance. My name is 5 Sheila Ray. I'll be the facilitator for this meeting.
6 And my role as a facilitator is to help the meeting run 7 smoothly, and to make sure we are on time. And also to 8 ensure that all participants have a chance to speak.
9 Before we get started, I'd like to let you know that this 10 meeting is being transcribed in order to have an accurate 11 record of the meeting.
12 And so, I would ask that you keep any sidebar 13 conversations to a minimum. And if you have any 14 electronic devices, please silence them at this time.
15 And also, if you do get aphone call that you need to take, 16 I'd ask that you step outside to take the phone call. And 17 this will help ensure that we have an accurate record of 18 the meeting. Thank you.
19 I'd also like to ask that everyone is 20 respectful of others, and this will help ensure that we 21 can take everyone's comments. I'd like to note that the 22 restrooms are outside this door on the left, and there 23 are two exits, one on the left outside the door, and also 24 the staircase at the end of the hallway on the right. And 25 we do have security present if there are any issues coming NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 1 up. We have Officer Jeff Zilowski. I'm not sure I 2 pronounced that right. But thank you for attending.
3 And the purpose of today's meeting is to 4 discuss the license renewal process, and to identify 5 significant issues related to the proposed license 6 renewal activity for the Byron Units 1 and 2 station.
7 And also, to determine the scope of issues to be addressed 8 in the environmental impact statement. The agenda for 9 this meeting includes a brief presentation by the NRC, 10 a brief period for questions and comments regarding the 11 presentation and any clarification on that presentation.
12 And, finally, we'll move into the public 13 comment period. So for the comment period, we've asked 14 those who would like to make a comment to fill out a yellow 15 card. And, if you haven't done so, please do so. There 16 are some yellow cards outside the room. I have a 17 received a number of them, but I will take the comments 18 as I receive them, and I will call you up. And I'd ask 19 that everyone please introduce themselves and also use 20 the microphone when making a comment, just to let you know 21 ahead of time.
22 At this time, I'd like to as NRC staff to 23 introduce themselves. As I said, my name is Sheila Ray.
24 I'm the facilitator. And also, I have Cheryl Hausman to 25 help me facilitate. And I'd like to ask Dennis to begin NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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5 1 the introductions.
2 MR. MOREY: Okay, thank you. Dennis 3 Morey. I'm the chief of the aging management of reactors 4 systems branch and divisional license renewal. So, my 5 role here today is to help make the meeting go smoothly 6 and make sure everybody gets their questions answered and 7 get your comments into the record. And what we're going 8 to do here, as just explained, we'll have a couple of 9 presentations. Then have a period when you can ask 10 questions.
11 And we have staff here that can answer 12 questions about the license renewal process. We've got 13 a very seasoned veteran, or senior resident, Bruce, who 14 can answer all your questions about the plant. So, I 15 want to thank you for coming to the Byron kick-off 16 meeting, and we'll get on to introduce the rest of the 17 staff. Thank you.
18 MS. RAY: Bruce.
19 MR. BARTLETT: I'm Bruce Bartlett. I'm 20 the senior resident inspector for Region III assigned to 21 the Byron station. There's two of us out there assigned 22 full time, and we're the technical people.
23 MR. SHELDON: Hi. I'm Stuart Sheldon. I'm 24 a senior inspector in the regional office in Lisle, 25 Illinois I'll be leading the inspections associated NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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6 1 with the safety review for license renewal.
2 MR. DAILY: Hi. My name is John Daily.
3 I'm a senior project manager. I'm in charge of the 4 safety review portions which we'll discuss a little bit 5 briefly on this, on the license renewal project for Byron 6 and Braidwood stations. I work in the division of 7 license renewal along with Dennis.
8 MR. TRAN: Yes, my name is Tam Tran. I'm 9 an environmental project manager. My main project is 10 the Braidwood license renewal review and environmental 11 review. Lois James is the project manager for 12 environmental review for Byron. But, unfortunately, 13 she could not come today, so I'm standing in for her, 14 basically. And I work with Dennis and with John, of 15 course.
16 MS. CHANDRATHIL: Hi everyone. I'm Prema 17 Chandrathil, the public affairs officer for the NRC out 18 in Region III. I handle kind of all sorts of interest 19 with media and reports and members of the public. Thank 20 you.
21 MS. RAY: Anita.
22 MS. GHOSH: Good afternoon, everyone. My 23 name is Anita Ghosh, and I'm with the office of the 24 general counsel.
25 MS. RAY: Thank you very much. At this NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 1 time, I'd like to move into the presentations. Please 2 hold all of your questions until the end of the 3 presentation, where we'll have a short, 10-minute Q&A 4 session to ask any clarifications regarding the 5 presentation itself. At this time, I'd like to turn it 6 over to John Daily for the presentation.
7 MR. DAILY: Thank you, Sheila. As I said, 8 my name is John Daily. I'm senior project manager. And 9 so, today our purpose is to discuss, as an overview, the 10 process for conducting a license renewal project. We'll 11 talk about the two tracks that the project, basically, 12 takes. We'll go through some of the steps and things; 13 and then we'll talk about each track individually. I 14 will speak to the safety portion, which talks about the 15 technical aspects of the plant itself. And then, we'll 16 talk about the environmental reviews they've done, and 17 Tam will present that. Next slide please.
18 The NRC's governing statutes, basically, 19 start out with federal law. It starts with the Atomic 20 Energy Act of 1951, as amended a few times after that.
21 And then, the National Environmental Policy Act which was 22 first passed in 1969, which oversees the regulations 23 regarding the environmental reviews and environmental 24 aspects of major federal decisions.
25 Now, our particular mission at the Agency NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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8 1 is threefold, as we see up here on the slides. First of 2 all is to protect the public health and safety during the 3 operation of commercial and civilian nuclear power and 4 radiological projects. We also have a mission, have a 5 charge to protect, provide for the common defense and 6 security of the United States. And then, also, to 7 protect the environment in all of the things that are 8 done. So these are the things that the statutes establish 9 for us, and then we formulate our rules and regulations 10 in order to carry out those particular aspects. Next 11 slide please.
12 Our license renewal here today, we'll be 13 talking briefly about Byron station. The actual project 14 itself considers both stations, which Exelon has 15 submitted. Exelon Generation Corporation has submitted 16 license renewal for both Byron station and for Braidwood.
17 Just by way of introduction, Byron is, as you probably 18 are all well aware of, consists of two units, each one 19 with its own reactor and associated systems. Each one 20 is licensed, and the licenses expire in October of 2024 21 and November of 2026, as you can see there.
22 Earlier this year, May 29th, Exelon 23 submitted an application to renew those operating 24 licenses. They submitted to the Agency, and if the 25 process is successful, and all aspects are fully NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 1 satisfied, and the Agency is satisfied that there's 2 reasonable assurance as to the operation of these, then 3 the potential is for a renewed operating license that 4 would extend that lifetime for those plant an extra 20 5 years. So they would go up to 2024 and 2026, no greater 6 than that. But, typically, it's about 20 years longer 7 in their license renewal. Next slide.
8 When a license application comes into the 9 Agency, this application contains several volumes of 10 information. First of all, though, it can be broken down 11 into three basic areas. First of all, some general 12 information, corporate information concerning the owner 13 and operator of the facilities. And that's the first 14 portion that's up there.
15 The second portion, which is fairly large, 16 is a rundown of technical aspects of the plant and the 17 plant systems themselves, and the various components.
18 There's hundreds of components, and literally thousands 19 of things that are looked at in terms of the technical 20 aspects. And then, those things are all evaluated again 21 by us as a part of our reviews.
22 The third portion that's submitted in the 23 application is an environmental report. And in there, 24 the applicant discusses the local environmental 25 surroundings. And they also take a hard look at the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 1 projection of how their facility and how their operations 2 will impact the surrounding environment to make sure that 3 if there's any adverse impacts or anything like that, 4 that again, those are at least disclosed, and they're 5 discussed as a part of the review and the ongoing process.
6 Next slide please. Thank you.
7 Now, I mentioned earlier that the license 8 renewal process, basically, follows two tracks. The 9 first track is called the safety review. The second 10 track is called the environmental review. These two 11 tracks follow alongside each other, basically, in 12 parallel. And I can tell you that, you know, thousands 13 of man hours goes into the considerations and the 14 questions and the analysis back and forth, and the 15 documentation of each one of them.
16 If you look, then, at the safety review, the 17 completion of that comes together in a document known as 18 the safety evaluation report. This safety evaluation 19 report is then given to an independent review committee 20 called the advisory committee on reactor safeguards.
21 This committee reports directly to the Commission, to the 22 commissioners, and they do an independent check of the 23 technical evaluations and the adequacy of it, and render 24 their opinion, which is documented, as well.
25 Now, on the environmental side, which Tam NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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11 1 will be talking about more in detail, that's proceeding 2 on a parallel track. And once both of those, the 3 environmental and the safety reviews, are completed, and 4 the independent review, then the NRC, as an agency, is 5 prepared, generally, to make a decision on the 6 application. The once exception to that is there may be 7 cases where interested parties may file for an 8 adjudication or for, basically, a hearing on certain 9 aspects that they believe need to be taken into 10 consideration.
11 That, you can see, depicted here in the 12 middle by the hearings block. If there is a hearing that 13 is granted, there's a specific topic that will be looked 14 at in depth, and that's, basically, a legal proceeding.
15 That will have to be resolved and completely satisfied, 16 again, before a decision would be reached in those 17 particular cases. Next slide please.
18 The license renewal overview itself, which 19 that's the part that we lead, that I lead, we focus on 20 the aging effects of, basically, components and 21 structures that are important to plant safety in one form 22 or another. These are, generally, passive equipment 23 such as concrete buildings and other thing like that. We 24 review these things to look at the aging effects that they 25 may undergo.
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12 1 I'm sure everybody here realizes that 2 whether it's, you know, yourselves or your car or your 3 building or your plant, things age. As it gets older, 4 all of those things need to be taken into account to make 5 sure that the effects of that aging is managed properly.
6 And so that's a big focus of our safety review. We also 7 consider generic as well as site-specific operating 8 experience and events and history that may have occurred 9 that point to issues that need to be addressed for that 10 particular facility.
11 Under the environmental review, it's going 12 to analyze and disclose environmental impacts that the 13 plant or facility may have, and the operation that that 14 plant or facility may have on the surrounding environs; 15 whether it's the air, the land, the water, and so forth.
16 There's a whole lot more detail that Tam will be talking 17 about here in just a few minutes.
18 But the staff reviews this to determine 19 whether or not environmental impacts would be great or 20 moderate or small, with the idea that if they are too 21 great, obviously, then that might present some problems.
22 But, if they are not so great as to allow further 23 operation then, you know, a reasonable person might 24 conclude that, you know, that it would be acceptable to 25 have a license renewed for this facility. Next slide NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 1 there. Thank you.
2 We also have some other programs at the 3 Agency that are involved. As we mentioned, we have two 4 resident inspectors that are there. They're on duty 5 there 24/7. I mean, they're not at the plant 24/7, but 6 they're right here. So they work, you know, but they're 7 assigned full time, and their full responsibility is 8 ongoing oversight of the programs and aspects and 9 operations of Byron station.
10 We also have programs that look at emergency 11 preparations or emergency planning. We have aspects 12 where we look at plant security to make sure that the 13 security's adequate, the actual physical security of the 14 plant and the personnel and the equipment. We also 15 monitor and conduct inspections and frequent public 16 meetings on the safety performance. And I believe we 17 have some safety meetings, or some cycle meetings that 18 might be coming up shortly. We do this on a routine basis 19 for every single plant.
20 These are all things that, again, the Agency 21 is involved in on an ongoing process. And the reason 22 that I mention that, that's very important because in 23 license renewal, we rely on that, as we'll see here in 24 the next slide. We have some guiding principals that we 25 try to rely on when we think of renewing the license of NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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14 1 a facility.
2 And the first one addresses this ongoing 3 regulatory process which I just mentioned a couple of 4 minutes ago. We want to know, and of course we make sure 5 that the ongoing regulatory processes remain adequate 6 and, of course, that's on ongoing event. And that's one 7 of the things that ensures the safety of all the currently 8 operating plants; in the particular the facility here, 9 Byron station.
10 We also have a principal regarding plant 11 operating rules, or the basis upon which that plant, that 12 plant has a basis that it's operating upon today. And, 13 as a rule, those plant rules and those bases and those 14 principals will continue to be the same force and have 15 the same effect as they go into a renewed operating 16 license period, just as they are today. So nothing on 17 that is going to change. Now, there may be additional 18 conditions or additional things that we may have them 19 manage in order to make sure that, again, as components 20 age, that they manage these effects of aging. Next 21 slide.
22 So in the safety review, just to kind of wrap 23 it up, by our technical staff, we review the application 24 itself which, as I said, is several volumes and several 25 hundreds and hundreds of pages. We conduct onsite NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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15 1 audits where we examine the programmatic documents and 2 some of the background materials that all go into this.
3 We conduct inspections. As Stuart had mentioned, that 4 will happen a little bit later on in the project.
5 And then, we will be issuing a safety 6 evaluation report that summarizes the findings and the 7 discussions and the evaluations that were presented for 8 all of these different components and all of these 9 different issues that we have been looking at. We submit 10 it, as I mentioned, to an independent review of, 11 basically, top scientists and engineers that report 12 directly to the commissioners. This is called the 13 advisory committee on reactor safeguards. And they make 14 their independent recommendations, which are all 15 necessary, before the Agency's going to reach its final 16 opinion. Next slide.
17 At this point, I'll turn the presentation 18 over to Tam Tran, the environmental project manager, and 19 he'll continue to discuss that side of the application.
20 MR. TRAN: Thank you, John. For the 21 environmental review, the staff will perform a review in 22 accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act or 23 the acronym is NEPA. NEPA will provide the basic 24 architecture for federal environmental review 25 requirements. It requires that all federal agencies NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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16 1 follow a systematic approach in evaluating potential 2 impacts associated with major federal actions, and 3 alternatives to those actions.
4 The NEPA process involves public 5 participation and public involvement, as well as public 6 disclosure. The energy and environmental regulations 7 are contained in 10 subpart 51, and it largely based on 8 other implemented regulations for NEPA. NRC 9 environmental reviews consider the impact associated 10 with the license renewal and any mitigation for those 11 impacts we consider to be significant. We also consider 12 impact of alternative to license renewal, including the 13 impact of not issuing the renewed license. Next slide 14 please.
15 In conducting the review, the NRC staff will 16 look at various impacts to the affected environment.
17 This review involves a wide range of expertise 18 illustrated on this slide. The experts will examine 19 environmental justice, ecology, land use, regulatory 20 compliance, climate change, et cetera, for the staff to 21 develop the environmental impact statement. Next 22 slide.
23 As illustrated, all the way down. As 24 illustrated on this slide, some of the agencies that we 25 work with include U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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17 1 Environmental Protection Agency, state historical 2 preservation offices, as well as many local and state 3 agencies, and any affected Indian tribes. Next slide.
4 The energy staff will also review 5 cumulative impacts associated with the continued 6 operation of the Byron station. For cumulative impacts, 7 the staff will look at the effects on the environment from 8 past, present and reasonable foreseeable future of human 9 action. The cumulative impacts include both from the 10 Byron station operations and from other activities near 11 Byron. In other words, the cumulative impacts analysis 12 considers potential impact to the end of the 20-year 13 renewal time. Next slide.
14 For the time beyond the 20-year period of 15 extended operations the NRC, with confidence, addresses 16 the environmental impact of the management of spent 17 nuclear fuel after the license life, including the 18 license renewal term. Previous license renewal 19 environmental impact statements noted that the 20 environmental impacts of temporary storage of spent 21 nuclear fuel for the period following the reactor 22 operating license term, were addressed by the NRC Waste 23 Confidence Rule.
24 The Waste Confidence environmental impact 25 statement is expected to be issued in 2014. In August, NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 1 2012, the Commission decided that the Agency would not 2 issue final licensing decisions for reactor, including 3 license renewal, until the Waste Confidence regulation 4 activities are completed. If, at that time, any license 5 renewal related site specific issue at the Byron remains 6 unresolved, they will be addressed separately. Next 7 slide.
8 The environmental review begins with the 9 scoping process, which is where we are today. The 10 purpose of the scoping processing is to identify 11 significant issues that should be considered in the 12 environmental review. We are now gathering information 13 that we will use to prepare the EIS for the Byron station 14 license renewal. That is the environmental impacts that 15 are local to this area, and that are important to the 16 staff to consider.
17 The staff as developed a generic 18 environmental impact statement that addresses a number 19 of issues common to all nuclear power plants. The staff 20 is supplementing that generic environmental impact 21 statement with a site-specific supplemental 22 environmental impact statement for the Byron station.
23 The staff will also re-examine the conclusions reached 24 in that generic environmental impact statement to 25 determine if there is any new and significant that would NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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19 1 change the conclusion in the generic environmental 2 impact statement, the so-called GEIS. The scoping 3 process started July 31st, and we will continue to take 4 comments until September 27th. Next slide.
5 In general, we are looking for information 6 about the environmental impacts from continual operation 7 of the Byron station during the extended period of 8 operation. You can assist us in that process by telling 9 us, for example, what aspect of your local community we 10 should focus on. What local environmental, social and 11 economic issues that the NRC staff should examine. And 12 what reasonable alternatives are mostappropriate for 13 this region. Next slide.
14 This slide illustrates the NRC's rigorous 15 considerations in deciding if a renewed operation will 16 be issued. It's a rigorous review involving the EIS, the 17 safety evaluation report, regional inspection and so on.
18 But what ' s important to point out here is that the public 19 comments are an important part of the license renewal 20 process. We consider all comments that we receive today 21 and throughout the scoping period. And these comments 22 will help us to form and to shape the supplemental 23 environmental impact statement. Next slide.
24 In addition to providing comment at today's 25 meeting, there are other ways that you can submit NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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20 1 comments on the environmental review. You can provide 2 written comments by mail to NRC Chief of Rules at directed 3 branch at the addressed provided on this slide. And 4 there are copies of these slides for your use later on 5 if you want to pick one, pick one to use. Or you can send 6 your comment electronically by going to regulation.gov 7 and use the docket ID listed on this slide.
8 You can also make your comments in person, 9 if you happen to be in Rockville, Maryland. We ask that 10 you get in touch with the NRC project managers beforehand 11 so that we can set up the appropriate arrangements. The 12 comments should be submitted to us by September 27th.
13 Next slide.
14 This slide shows some important milestones 15 for the environmental review. The petition to request 16 for hearing due on September 23, 2013, and we plan to 17 issue the draft environmental impact statement in 2014.
18 Once the draft is issued, there will be a comment period 19 where, again, there will be an opportunity for the public 20 to read through the draft EIS, and to comment on the 21 draft. Next slide.
22 The contact for the license renewal 23 environmental review for the Byron station is Lois James.
24 John Daily is the contact for the safety review. And 25 John's contacts and Lois James's contacts are listed on NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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21 1 this slide. The Byron library has agreed to make the 2 license renewal application available for public review 3 and, when it's published for comment, the draft 4 supplemental environmental impact statement will also be 5 available at the library. In addition, this document 6 will be on the NRC website listed on this slide.
7 As you came in, you were asked to fill out 8 a registration card at the reception desk. If you 9 include your address on that card, and indicate that you 10 would like to be on the distribution list, we will send 11 a copy of the draft EIS and the final EIS for your 12 information. If you didn't have an opportunity to fill 13 out the card, please feel free to do so before you leave, 14 and make sure that you address your address to it. Next 15 slide.
16 This concludes my presentation, and I will 17 now turn the meeting over to Sheila.
18 MS. RAY: Thank you, John. Thank you, Tam.
19 At this time, I'd like to move into the Q&A session to 20 see if anyone has any comments regarding any 21 clarifications on the presentation itself. Is there any 22 questions? I will entertain them, and I'd ask you to 23 come to the microphone and introduce yourself. Any 24 questions? Yes, and please introduce yourself.
25 MS. THEIS: My name is Brittany Theis with NEALR. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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22 1 Whitt Law. During the presentation, there was a slide 2 about the anticipated time line, the schedule, as well 3 as a slide about the Waste Confidence decision. Is it 4 correct to say that the NRC does not expect the Waste 5 Confidence decision process to delay the renewal process 6 decision for Byron?
7 MR. MOREY: Yes, that's correct.
8 MS. RAY: Thank you, Dennis. Are there any 9 other questions regarding the presentation? Seeing 10 none, we will move into the public comment period. Just 11 to mention once again, if you have arrived, and would like 12 to make a comment, I ask that you fill out a yellow comment 13 card. They're on the registration desk, and we will be 14 happy to hear your comments. But, with that, I would 15 also ask that you keep your comments to about five minutes 16 so we can ensure that everyone has a chance to speak. An 17 please introduce yourself. I will call out the comment, 18 and first we'll hear from Chris Millard, the Mayor of 19 Byron.
20 MR. MILLARD: Thank you. My name is Chris 21 Millard. I'm the Mayor of Byron currently. A little 22 history on myself. Our family came to Byron when I was 23 five years old, so Byron is really all that I have ever 24 known in my life. And when I got into city politics, I'm 25 a three-term alderman, and I'm in my second term now as NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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23 1 mayor. But, before that, or during that period, too, I 2 was also a career fire fighter for Byron for 35 years.
3 I had the distinct pleasure to work with the 4 people at the plant, the professionals out there. We did 5 some very unique things early on. We did pre-fire 6 planning on the site, where we actually went in, did 7 building surveys and things like that. So the fire 8 department was always received very openly. Since I 9 have retired, two years ago now, and I'm sure the fire 10 chief will probably be here to validate those comments.
11 But on emergencies, fire-related, on EMS 12 calls, the people were always very professional. We 13 worked very closely with their fire brigade. For quite 14 a while, we even trained their fire brigade. And, on the 15 city end of it, we have our emergency operations center 16 since we're within the 10-mile zone. And the 17 communication has really been phenomenal.
18 To be able to get phone calls from the plant, 19 saying that they're doing some testing. They're going 20 to be, maybe, dumping some of the steam off of a generator 21 to test something out there; I'm not sure what they're 22 testing. But to let us know, because we might hear 23 noises in town or people might be calling city hall and 24 asking, you know, have we heard what's going on. We're 25 able to answer those questions because we do know what NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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24 1 is going on.
2 For our drills and our exercises, they're 3 really good, because they're all different varieties of 4 drills. They're not the same drill every year, where you 5 walk in and you sit down and think oh boy, you know, here, 6 we're going to be here for six or seven hours. It's a 7 functional drill where we can learn. Where we can 8 practice our things that we have to do on a local 9 government level.
10 And I would also like to say that the city 11 proper is not one of the 11 taxing districts for the 12 nuclear power plant. So our relationships is still 13 phenomenal with them. I think right now, currently, 14 you've got probably somewhere of a hundred or your 15 employees that live within the realm of Byron, within 16 that area. And I know, of course, you also have 17 employees that live in Stillman Valley, Oregon, Mt.
18 Morris, and the different town in our county of Rochelle.
19 And I know the people that you employ out 20 there are very active in the communities. And, like for 21 the outages, I know two months ahead, two-and-a-half 22 months ahead that there's a schedule outage coming. Our 2 businesses plan for that. When you're going to bring in 24 1,200 to maybe 2,000 construction workers to the area, 2 of course that's a great economic boom for our community.
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25 1 So my kudos to the plant, and to everything 2 that it's about. Because I couldn't ask for a better 3 working relationship. Thank you very much.
4 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 5 Jarid Funderburg to the podium from Congressman 6 Kinzinger's office.
7 MR. FUNDERBURG: Thank you. My name is 8 Jarid Funderburg. I am the representative for 9 Congressman Kinzinger, Illinois 16th District. He 10 wrote a letter, and I'd like to read it on his behalf.
11
Dear Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners,
I write to 12 express my full support for the renewal of the operating 13 license of the nuclear generating station at Byron, 14 Illinois. This facility provides lower energy costs for 15 residents and businesses, and supports hundreds of 16 high-paying jobs in Illinois, while helping to ensure 17 statement compliance with federal Clean Air Act 18 regulations.
19 It will, undoubtedly, play an important 20 role in meeting the energy needs of Illinoisans well into 21 the future. Nuclear energy production plays a critical 22 role in Illinois, where nuclear energy generates 48 23 percent of the state's electricity and employs nearly 24 5,000 skilled workers. Having visited the Byron 25 generating facility, I can attest to the value it has to NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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26 1 local residents and communities, which benefit through 2 reduced energy costs, high quality jobs, and significant 3 tax revenue.
4 While many areas of Illinois struggle to 5 meet clean air standards, the generating station at Byron 6 offers affordable abundant energy with a fraction of the 7 greenhouse gas emissions as other convention energy 8 resources. As American and Illinoisans' demand for 9 demand for energy rises, nuclear generating stations 10 like Byron will be vital to meeting the energy needs of 11 our citizens. I fully support the operating license 12 renewal for this generating station, and believe it will 13 play a critical role in making American and the State of 14 Illinois more energy secure. Sincerely, Adam 15 Kinzinger, Member of Congress. Thank you.
16 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 17 Russ Kearney from Byron. He is the site VP.
18 Mr. KEARNEY: Sheila, if I may, I'm going 19 to turn this podium just a little bit. I'll try not to 20 break anything. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, 21 Mr. Mayor, members of the State of Illinois and the NRC.
22 My name is Russ Kearney. I am the site vice president 23 at the Byron generating station. I have some 30 years 24 experience in the nuclear power industry. Before 25 beginning my career in commercial nuclear power, I spent NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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27 1 six years serving our country in the United States Navy 2 in the Nuclear Navy Propulsion Program.
3 Following my Navy time, I worked some 22 4 years at the Perry Nuclear Plant that's located in 5 northeastern Ohio, currently owned and operated by 6 FirstEnergy. I joined the Exelon Generation 7 Corporation in April of 2005, and I've had assignments 8 at the Dresden station at the director level, and I've 9 been a site vice president now at three of our stations; 10 those being the Clinton power station here in Illinois, 11 Limerick generating station located in Pennsylvania and 12 currently at the Byron station.
13 Operating our nuclear station here is a 14 great responsibility for myself and for our employees.
15 We're very committed to safety and reliability on all 16 fronts. We take that as a commitment to ourselves, to 17 our industry and, certainly, to the community that 18 surrounds us. The Byron station has operated in this 19 manner for some 25 years now in our community, and with 20 a prime objective or preserving our environment.
21 We work hard to maintain a comprehensive 22 radiological monitoring program. That program has 23 extensive measures to monitor air quality, water quality 24 and impacts to food products in our community. We have 25 a very comprehensive onsite environmental monitoring NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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28 1 program, as well. We monitor and detect the presence of 2 any radioactivity that may find its way into the ground 3 water.
4 Currently, we have installed 15 monitoring 5 wells. Those wells allow us to quickly detect, and then 6 make any adjustments that we need to make to ground water 7 interfaces with our station. We have detailed 8 procedures that outline for my staff and how to respond 9 and how to monitor each one of those wells.
10 Radiation monitors are staged within the 10-mile 11 radius of the station. There's 40 radiation monitors, 12 again looking at the plant's impact to the environment 13 in the local community. And Byron has been recognized 14 recently, through our environmental management program, 15 and attained a certification from the international 16 certification organization, standardization 17 organization known as ISO. Specifically, the 18 environmental certification is known as ISO 14001.
19 Last year, the Wildlife Habitat Council 20 recognized the Byron generating station's commitment to 21 environmental stewardship by awarding the station, and 22 really by awarding the people at the station, a Wildlife 23 At-work Certification. The distinction of this award is 24 that it recognizes the station's footprint in the 25 community from an environmental habitat standpoint, NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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29 1 where the plant property provides a healthy habitat, 2 undisturbed, habitat for the wildlife, providing food, 3 water, shelter, et cetera.
4 To ensure Byron continues to operate safely 5 now and into the renewal period, Exelon Generation 6 invests significant capital on an annual basis at the 7 station. Now, that investment is intended to improve 8 today's equipment through modernization and 9 replacement. And also works to enhance plant operations 10 and safety.
11 Our investment in the future does not, and 12 just with the equipment that we operate, it also extends 13 into our employees, as well. Since 2011, the station's 14 hired on the order of 200 employees, and we expect that 15 that hiring rate will continue for some time now, as the 16 first generation moves through the plant, and the next 17 generation joins us in the product of electricity through 18 nuclear power.
19 Currently, as was mentioned earlier, the 20 station has some 850 full-time employees that live and 21 around the Byron area. And during refueling outages, 22 you can see that number surge to between 1,000 and 2,000 23 employees for on the order of about a month while we go 24 through out refueling outages.
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30 1 commitment to the community through our community 2 service. Since 2012, the station has contributed around 3 $300,000 to the community, mostly through United 4 Way-related agencies. But also into very local agencies, 5 local schools and the like. You'll find our employees 6 serving at food banks, serving side-by-side with local 7 community leaders, hosting blood drives, hosting toy 8 drives, hosting local fund raisers for schools and other 9 businesses.
10 For more than 25 years now, the Byron 11 station has operated safely and reliably and has set a 12 number of benchmarks within our industry. We're proud 13 of our service record to the industry, and we're proud 14 to be a community leader. In conclusion, the Byron 15 station and myself look forward to working with NRC 16 through the renewal period, and we look forward to 17 generation beyond our initial license period into the 18 period of extended operation. Thank you for your time.
19 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 20 Mike Gallagher from Byron.
21 MR. GALLAGHER: I'll turn this a little bit 22 more this way. Yes, my name is Mike Gallagher, and I'm 23 the vice president of license renewal for Exelon, and I 24 have overall responsibility for the Byron generating 25 station license renewal application. First of all, I'd NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 1 like to thank the NRC for giving us this opportunity to 2 speak on behalf of, give me this opportunity to speak on 3 behalf of Exelon on this important project for us.
4 Exelon has a great deal of experience with 5 license renewal, as we have already obtained the renewed 6 licenses for Dresden and Quad Cities plants here in 7 Illinois, and for three of our other facilities in 8 Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And we also have an 9 application under NRC review from our Limerick plant in 10 Pennsylvania.
11 Just briefly about myself, I've been 12 working in the nuclear industry for 32 years. I was a 13 licensed senior reactor operator at the Limerick 14 generating station, and a plant manager there also. And 15 I worked at two other nuclear plants and our corporate 16 office. So Mr. Kearney, the site vice president for 17 Byron, spoke to you about how rigorously we run that 18 station, and about the reasons for renewing the license 19 at Byron.
20 I'd like to speak briefly about the process 21 for preparing this license renewal application, and 22 about the amount of work and engineering analysis that 23 was put into preparing the application. Because the 24 Byron station can be operated safely and reliably, Exelon 25 decided to pursue license renewal. Byron's safe, NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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32 1 efficient operation promotes a critical supply of 2 carbon-free electricity for Illinois and beyond. Byron 3 produces enough clean power to supply more than two 4 million homes.
5 So, in 2011, we announced our intention to 6 seek license renewal for Byron, and a similar plant, 7 Braidwood generating station down in Will County. Later 8 that year, we started the work necessary to prepare the 9 application and, after over two years of work, we've 10 submitted the application to the Nuclear Regulatory 11 Commission on May 29, 2013. So, safe and reliable 12 operations have been a hallmark at Byron station since 13 it came online, and our goal is, during the license 14 renewal process, to demonstrate to the NRC and to our 15 neighbors that we will continue that legacy during the 16 additional 20-year operating period.
17 The application, when you print it out, is 18 very large. It's about 3,500 pages, and when you put it 19 in binders, it's four large binders about this thick.
20 It's a huge amount of information. But that only 21 represents a small portion of what we did to prepare that 22 application. The total amount of this engineering 23 analysis, if we printed it all out, would be about 400 24 binders of information.
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33 1 engineering work. Once we completed our engineering 2 work to prepare the application, we brought in experts 3 from outside Exelon to review the application, and to 4 ensure it was complete, thorough and accurate. Our 5 total cost to prepare and to get our application reviewed 6 by the NRC for both Byron and Braidwood will be 7 approximately $45 million.
8 There are two parts to our application.
9 It's the safety review and the environmental review, 10 which is the subject of today's meeting. For the safety 11 review, we took an in depth look at the history and the 12 condition of the safety equipment at the plant. We did 13 this to determine whether the necessary maintenance was 14 being performed on that equipment, and to make sure that 15 the equipment will be able to operate when needed, not 16 only today, but for an additional 20 years of operation.
17 So, when you look back at Byron when it was 18 built and all the equipment was new, it was thoroughly 19 to make sure it would perform properly. But, like 20 anything else, the equipment does age. And, therefore, 21 certain activities need to be performed on it. We 22 performed preventative maintenance. Sometimes 23 equipment, it was refurbished. Sometimes equipment may 24 be replace.
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34 1 to upgrade the equipment in the plant. And, in fact, as 2 Russ pointed out, Exelon has invested over $220 million 3 in the last three years at Byron to improve and modernize 4 the equipment, and to enhance plant operations and 5 safety.
6 We also reviewed the calculations that were 7 performed as part of the design of the plant that were 8 done to ensure the plant could operate safely for 40 9 years. We analyzed those calculations, and were able to 10 confirm that the plant would be able to operate safely 11 for 60 years. So, overall, our conclusion from our 12 engineering review was that Byron could operate safely 13 for 60 years.
14 We also took a look at the environmental 15 impacts of continuing to operate Byron. We looked at all 16 the aspects of continued impact of the plant on the 17 environment. Our conclusion is that the impact son the 18 environment are small. And I use the term small in the 19 sense of regulation. The regulation defines small as 20 the environmental effects are not detectible or are 21 minor.
22 We also reviewed the alternatives if Byron 23 would not have its license renewed, and another source 24 of electric generation would need to be installed either 25 here or nearby to substitute for this electricity. We NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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35 1 concluded that any other means of generation to replace 2 the electricity would have more of an impact on the 3 environment than the continued operation of Byron.
4 So, in conclusion, we operate Byron safely, 5 and we can continue to operate safely for an additional 6 20 years. Byron will provide approximately 2,340 7 megawatts of base load generation that's not only safe, 8 but it's clean, it's reliable, and it's economical. So, 9 continue operation of Byron will benefit this community, 10 the State of Illinois and our nation. Thanks for this 11 opportunity.
12 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 13 Ron Gibson from the Byron Township to make comments.
14 MR. GIBSON: Good afternoon, everybody.
15 I'm Rob Gibson. I'm the highway commissioner for Byron 16 Township. The township is not one of the 11 taxing 17 bodies, however, it has benefitted in many ways through 18 the growth. I would strongly urge that the safety and 19 the environmental that Byron plant has had over the past 20 29 years that I've been commissioner, that they be 21 granted this license in the future because they have done 22 an excellent job, and I have very strong confidence that 23 they will continue to do that. Thank you.
24 MS. RAY: Thank you. Next I'd like to 25 invite Tom Wolf from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
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36 1 MR. WOLF: Good afternoon. My name is Tom 2 Wolf. I'm executive director of the energy council at 3 the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, and I'm here today 4 speaking on behalf of the Chamber and its members across 5 the state, every corner of the state. And we're asking 6 you to approve the 20-year renewal of the Byron 7 generation facility operating license. We do so because 8 we need to support the continued operation of this vital 9 component of our energy infrastructure.
10 It's no secret that Illinois continues to 11 face significant challenges to creating, attracting and 12 retaining jobs. But, amid discussion of taxes, tax 13 rates, regulations, pension reform and infrastructure 14 improvement, there is one relatively constant asset that 15 helps keeps Illinois competitive in the global 16 marketplace; our reliable, abundant and 17 cost-competitive supply of electricity.
18 To maintain an abundant and diverse 19 electricity supply, without brownouts or limits to 20 access, and to be able to provide that supply at 21 competitive rates, Illinois relies heavily on its fleet 22 of nuclear power generation systems and facilities, 23 including Byron. As you are all well aware, Illinois has 24 more nuclear power generation than any state in the 25 country. Nearly 45 percent of Illinois' power NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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37 1 generation comes from nuclear power, and 90 percent of 2 its carbon-free electricity comes from nuclear power.
3 And whether or not you agree with President 4 Obama's recent push on making America a leader in 5 reducing carbon emissions, every kind of energy 6 generation is looking for ways to improve its cost, 7 efficiency, reliability and, yes, it's environmental and 8 carbon footprint. While coal and gas remain viable and 9 important sources of electricity, and are renewable 10 sector continues to grow, Illinois' nuclear industry 11 combines capacity, reliability and efficiency without 12 those carbon emissions.
13 At the same time, nuclear generation 14 employs thousands of Illinoisans and injects billions 15 into our state's economy every year. It's hard to get 16 any kind of serious energy policy going in today's 17 political environment, and it's hard to predict how new 18 technologies will effect future electricity generation 19 opportunities. However, it doesn't take a nuclear 20 physicist, and I'm not a nuclear physicist, it doesn't 21 take one to figure out that a diverse, reliable supply 22 of electricity will create cost-competitive power that 23 our economy and our businesses need to thrive.
24 So, in that light, because Byron has been 25 a key part of Illinois' nuclear fleet which has, in turn, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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38 1 been a critical part of Illinois' electricity 2 infrastructure, because Exelon has shown itself to be an 3 excellent, responsible owner and operator of the Byron 4 generation facility and its other nuclear plants, 5 because a nuclear fleet is such a critical part of 6 Illinois' electricity supply, and because Byron is such 7 a benefit to the community in terms of employment, tax 8 revenues, direct and indirect spending and community 9 involvement; for all those reasons and more, the Illinois 10 Chamber of Commerce strongly supports this application 11 and hopes you see fit to grant Exelon the license renewal.
12 Thank you for your time and I want to end 13 with a very personal note. In 1980, when I was a senior 14 in high school, I was asked to do a paper about the future 15 or nuclear energy. I was a senior in high school. I got 16 an A- on the paper, I needed that A-, I needed it bad.
17 But I had the wrong conclusion. I concluded that we 18 needed to phase out nuclear power in our country. And, 19 for the record, I want to state that I was wrong, and I'm 20 glad that no one listened to me, and I'm happy that it's 21 part of our past, present and future. Thank you.
22 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 23 Sarah Faller from Exelon Byron station, and also NA-YGN, 24 to the podium.
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39 1 and I work at Exelon at the Byron station. And I wanted 2 to speak more on a personal level. I don't have a lot 3 of accomplishments and stuff yet with the company. But 4 that's one of the reasons that I really think that this 5 is such a great idea, and such a good thing to extend the 6 license. Is just from the perspective of the Young 7 Generation in Nuclear, which is group that myself and 8 another individual at our site are part of.
9 Coming in, for example, I came in through 10 the internship program originally. And seeing a company 11 that, you know, you go through training and you're like 12 oh my goodness, you know, what next? You go through 13 three days of background checks, and discussions on what, 14 you know, how to walk even. We have procedures on how 15 to walk.
16 And then, when I got to the station and 17 actually saw that, kind of on Mr. Daily's point, with the 18 safety of the public and the, just the future of the world 19 in general, I mean, through environmental and the 20 individuals in the community. I mean, they practice 21 what they preach. It was interesting coming, you know, 22 I was still in college, I was really nervous. You walk 23 in and there's gates and security and everything.
24 But it really is focused on safety of the 25 public. And when you walk into the station, the first NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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40 1 thing you see is well, you don't have to walk in, when 2 you drive, you know, do a safe and good job so that you 3 can go home to your family. And that's really what, we 4 want to provide safe, reliable energy, but at the same 5 time, make sure that the community and the employees are 6 benefitting from it.
7 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 8 Ron Colson, the president of Blackhawk Hills Regional 9 Council to the podium. Oh, he may show up later. At 10 this time, I'd like to invite Michael Harn, the Sheriff 11 of Ogle County.
12 MR. HARN: Good day. I'm Michael Harn, the 13 Sheriff of Ogle County. And I'll make it brief. I've 14 been there for 29 years next month. I've worked for 15 three other sheriffs, and now I am the sheriff. And I'd 16 like to comment on the cooperation that the nuclear plant 17 and its employees provide to the sheriff' s office and the 18 people of the community.
19 At any time that they think there's a 20 problem, they call us. At any time there's not a 21 problem, they call us. And at any time that we can 22 resolve any of their issues, they call us. So, I guess 23 what that means is they call us all the time, because we 24 have a great working relationship with the nuclear plant.
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41 1 there, I take great provide in providing whatever service 2 they need.
3 When there's an influx of 2,000 people for 4 a refueling, we don't have major highways to get people 5 to work. So we provide traffic safety at the entrance 6 to the plant, on our highways, make sure that people 7 aren't driving in a hurry to get there because we want 8 everybody to get to the plant to get their jobs done.
9 As far as security, we work very closely 10 with the security of the plant. They've given us 11 resources in the past, and I'm sure that if I asked they 12 would give us resources now. We provide everything from 13 patrolling the Rock River where the pump station is, to 14 participating in SWAT exercises, to taking advantage of 15 the shooting range that they have that's available.
16 So, the nuclear plant and its employees are 17 very vital to the county. We feel that we can't live 18 without them, and we'd like to think that we're very 19 important to their life, too, so thank you.
20 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 21 Doug O'Brien of the Illinois Clean Energy Coalition.
22 MR. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, and I 23 wanted to note that Mr. Colson from Blackhawk Hills and 24 County Board Chairman Gouker both had to go to the same 25 county board, which is why they're not here. My name is NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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42 1 Doug O'Brien, and I'm the executive director of the 2 Illinois Clean Energy Coalition. Our group is supported 3 by business, labor and policy leaders across the state, 4 and promotes the development and use of clean energy in 5 a competitive market that benefits both the environment 6 and our economy.
7 Now, we've heard about the positive impacts 8 that Byron has on surrounding communities, the jobs, the 9 economic activity that pumps billions into the state's 10 economy. But the positive impacts reach much further 11 than the areas that directly benefit from the plant's 12 operations. Nuclear power and the Byron generating 13 station significantly enhance the reliability of our 14 regional energy market.
15 Nuclear provides the backbone of baseline 16 power supply in Illinois. Meaning employers that rely 17 on electricity, the manufacturers, information 18 technology firms, hospitals and retailers for who 19 electricity is a major input, know that they can rely on 20 an abundant supply. Nuclear also brings broad benefit 21 to Illinois by helping maintain a competitive 22 marketplace for consumers.
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43 1 a significant factor in Illinois' lower energy costs; 2 more than 10 percent below the national average, 25 3 percent lower than the State of Michigan, and 40 percent 4 lower than in New York, according to the U.S. Energy 5 Information Administration.
6 And the benefits derived from Byron and the 7 other nuclear plants in Illinois are not limited to the 8 economy. It is an enormous benefit that the generation 9 of 18 million megawatts of electricity at Byron last year 10 produced no carbon air emissions. Earlier this year, 11 NASA's Goddard Institute sought to quantify the real 12 impact of nuclear power's carbon-free emissions. The 13 Goddard study found that replacing nuclear power with 14 fossil fuel generation would lead to approximately 15 26,000 deaths a year globally, primarily as a result of 16 increased cardio and pulmonary disease.
17 Now this is even more important here in 18 Illinois. The Chicago metropolitan area is designated 19 as a non-attainment area by the EPA due to the presence 20 of air pollution. This situation would be greatly 21 exacerbated without the existence of Byron generating 22 station which produces energy to power, as we know, up 23 to two million homes without adding to this existing 24 environmental problem. And for these reasons, the 25 Illinois Clean Energy Coalition urges the renewal of the NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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44 1 operating license for Byron station. Thank you very 2 much.
3 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 4 Todd Tucker, the executive director of the Byron Forest 5 Preserves.
6 MR. TUCKER: Good afternoon. Once again, 7 I'm Todd Tucker. I'm executive director of the Byron 8 Forest Preserves, the spot that you're here, beautiful 9 spot. The forest preserve definitely would like to see 10 the license renewal. You know, I've worked here in Byron 11 now 19 years at the forest preserve. I grew up the last 12 44 years, my whole life, 23 miles from here. So even that 13 far away, my step dad worked at the plant, building it, 14 helping to build it in the first two years. So it 15 impacted our lives even then with a good economy and a 16 better household.
17 So I'd also like to talk, someone mentioned, 18 too, that the 800 employees out there and up to maybe 19 2,000 are direct employees. But non-direct employees, 20 we have 17 full-time employees at the Byron forest 21 preserve and have had up to 140 employees with seasonal 22 and part time staff throughout the year. So, you know, 23 that's a benefit, you know, from realtors to everything 24 else that helps this community. And, you know, they've 25 helped out community immensely. I would like to see that NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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45 1 continue.
2 We talked about the environmental impact.
3 And, obviously, right here the Byron forest preserve owns 4 1,977 acres. I'm not saying the nuclear plant is the 5 only contributor to taxes, but we all know it's the lion's 6 share. Would the forest preserve be here without it?
7 Probably not. And that impacts lots of other things.
8 We have five federally and state endangered species here 9 for plants, Lespedeza Leptostachya is one of them, and 10 there's only 29 known sites in the world of it. So, I 11 mean, that's something that holds here that's very dear 12 to my heart.
13 The Regal Fritillary, a butterfly. It only 14 hosts off of the bird's-foot violet. We have that here, 15 so that's the only reason we have the butterfly here.
16 Henslow's sparrows. I mean, it goes on and it gone on 17 and it goes on. Pileated woodpecker on property we just 18 bought four years ago. So, you know, it impacts a lot.
19 The environmental is positive for here because we 20 wouldn't have these 2,000 acres. We wouldn't protect 21 these plants and animals without the nuclear and their 22 input to the taxes.
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46 1 environment to all the school kids. We give free school 2 kids, we just started a couple years ago providing all 3 of our school kids in the community free programs through 4 the day, through all the teachers and stuff like that.
5 So, anyway, it's been positive. We would 6 love to see it, and it's been a great asset to our 7 community through the forest preserve. Thank you.
8 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 9 Allen Christianson of Exelon.
10 MR. CHRISTIANSON: Hello. My name's Allen 11 Christianson. I live in Byron, Illinois. I've been at 12 Byron station since initial start-up of the plant. Most 13 of my career has been in the operating department where 14 it's the responsibility for us to keep the units 15 operating safely and provide reliable energy.
16 Byron station's workforce is highly trained 17 to commit to the plant to keep it operating in a safe 18 manner. And I am confident that, going forward, that 19 Byron station will continue to provide safe and reliable 20 energy. My family and I appreciate what Byron station 21 has done for the local area, including the Byron forest 22 preserve, Byron park district, Byron fire department, 23 and the Byron school district. I support the license 24 renewal for Byron station. Thank you.
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47 1 Jennifer Beckman of the United Way.
2 MS. BECKMAN: Good afternoon. My name is 3 Jenny Beckman, and I'm the director of United Way of Ogle 4 County. I am here to speak in favor of the license 5 renewal on behalf of the non-profits in Ogle County.
6 United Way currently provides funding to 22 non-profits 7 in Ogle County, many of them being in Oregon and the 8 Rochelle area. But Exelon, on a corporate level and from 9 its employees, provide well over $125,000 for those 10 particular agencies only through United Way. I know 11 that there is much more that is donated.
12 But I truly believe that Exelon and its 13 employees are making a positive difference in the lives 14 of the individuals here in our community. Thank you so 15 much.
16 MS. RAY: Thank you. I did want to check 17 one more time if Ron Colson or Kim Gouker have come back 18 from their meeting. I do not think so. Are there any 19 other participants in this meeting who would like to make 20 comments? Hearing no comments, you may also provide 21 comments via in person, electronically or in written form 22 as provided from the contact information on the slides.
23 I would like to thank everyone for their 24 attendance, and for their participation. The comments 25 provided here will be addressed in the scoping summary NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
48 1 report. And, for openness and transparency, the scoping 2 summary report will be available publicly on the NRC 3 license renewal website, and that website was on the 4 handout slide.
5 And if there are any, as I said, if there 6 are any further comments, you are welcome to provide them 7 electronically or in writing. And, in addition, I would 8 like to mention that there are feedback forms outside, 9 and NRC strives to improve their public meeting process, 10 and these are postage-paid letters that you can write any 11 of your comments on the public meetings.
12 And, are there any other comments from the 13 NRC staff? With that, I'd like 14 to adjourn this meeting, and 15 thank everyone for their 16 participation. (Whereupon at 17 3:09 p.m. the meeting was 18 adjourned.)
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
49 NEAL R.GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com