ML14042A174
| ML14042A174 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Grand Gulf  |
| Issue date: | 02/11/2014 |
| From: | Division of License Renewal |
| To: | |
| Drucker D, 301-415-6223 | |
| References | |
| NRC-2011-0262, NRC-529 | |
| Download: ML14042A174 (19) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
DSEIS Meeting for Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Unit 1: Evening Session Docket Number: NRC-2011-0262 Location:
Port Gibson, Mississippi Date:
Wednesday, January 29, 2014 Work Order No.:NRC-549 Pages 1-16 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
+ + + + +
3 PUBLIC MEETING ON DRAFT 4
SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL 5
IMPACT STATEMENT FOR GRAND 6
GULF NUCLEAR STATION 7
EVENING SESSION 8
Wednesday, January 29, 2014 9
Hearing Room 10 Port Gibson Hall 11 1005 College Street 12 Port Gibson, Mississippi 13 14 The above-entitled hearing was conducted 15 at 7:00 p.m.
16 BEFORE: BOB HAGAR, Facilitator 17 NRC STAFF:
18 DAVID DRUCKER 19 BRIAN D. WITTICK 20 RICHARD SMITH 21 BLAKE RICE 22 VICTOR DRICKS 23 24 25
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 P R O C E E D I N G S 1
MR. HAGAR: We're kind of doing an 2
abbreviated meeting. My name is Bob Hagar. I am a 3
member of the NRCs facilitation corps, and my job 4
here is to facilitate this meeting, and what that 5
means is to give you guys an opportunity to speak; 6
well, basically to make sure that anybody who wants 7
to say something in this meeting has an opportunity 8
to say it without interruption.
9 But before we get started, there's some 10 details about the meeting that you need to know; 11 that is that the meeting is going to be in three 12 parts. Part one is when the NRC staff is going to 13 go through this presentation to talk about the 14 subject matter.
15 Part two is when you are going to have an 16 opportunity to ask questions to clarify this 17 material, and NRC staff will answer those 18 questions. And then part three of the meeting is 19 going to be a time when you can provide the 20 feedback that this presentation is asking for, or 21 you can say anything else you want to say without 22 interruption. So that is one of the details. The 23 meeting is going to be in three parts.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 The second detail about the meeting that 1
is important is that the NRC has to produce a 2
transcript of this meeting. And to do that, we are 3
recording this meeting. And so to make sure the 4
recording is clear, we have to set up some ground 5
rules. One ground rule is that if you are going to 6
speak, you have got to speak into a microphone.
7 That's why I am using a microphone, even though 8
this room is small enough I dont need one. We 9
need it to record what I say.
10 So if you are going to speak, you need to 11 speak into a microphone too. And if you need to 12 speak, you raise your hand. I will bring the 13 microphone to you. One -- that's one.
14 The second thing is that only one person 15 can speak at a time, so please dont interrupt a 16 speaker, because if we -- if two people speak at 17 the same time, from the recording we cant tell 18 what anybody said.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 And third is we cant have any background 1
noise, so we cant have side conversations and 2
cant have electronic noise. So please right now, 3
if you havent already, turn off your personal 4
electronics.
So I guess that's all you need 5
to know about the meeting. So are you okay with 6
the ground rules? You understand the ground rules?
7 You're okay with that?
8 (No verbal response.)
9 MR. HAGAR: Right. I'm going to turn the 10 meeting over to David Drucker then. Now, he's the 11 first speaker. When he gets done, I will come back 12 for the question-and-answer period, and after that, 13 we'll move into phase three of the meeting. Thank 14 you.
15 MR. DRUCKER: Thanks, Bob. And thank you 16 all for coming out tonight. My name is David 17 Drucker, and I'm the project manager for the 18 environmental review of the Grand Gulf Nuclear 19 Station license renewal application.
20 I just want to introduce -- and if you 21 all want to switch seats, please do. I'm sorry 22 about the pole being in our way, but whatever; make 23 yourself comfortable there.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 I want to introduce first of all, my 1
supervisor, Brian Wittick. He is sitting on my 2
immediate left. He has come with me from 3
Rockville, Maryland. And to his left is Richard 4
Smith. And he's the senior resident inspector at 5
Grand Gulf. And then sitting out here in the 6
audience is Victor Dricks, and Victor is the public 7
affairs officer for Region IV, and he has come out 8
from Arlington, Texas. So that is the NRC 9
contingent that is with us tonight.
10 I hope the information we provide with 11 this presentation will help you understand what we 12 have done so far and the role you can play in 13 helping us make sure that the final Environmental 14 Impact Statement is accurate and complete.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 So I would like to emphasize that the 1
environmental review is not yet complete. I would 2
like to start off by briefly going over the agenda 3
and purpose of this presentation, at which time, I 4
will discuss the NRCs regulatory role, the 5
preliminary findings of our environmental review, 6
which addresses the impacts associated with 7
extending the operating license of the Grand Gulf 8
Nuclear Station for an additional 20 years. And I 9
will present the current schedule for the remainder 10 of the environmental review and how you can submit 11 comments outside this meeting.
At the end 12 of this presentation, there will be time for 13 questions and answers on the environmental review 14 process and, most importantly, time for you to 15 present your comments on the Draft Supplemental 16 Environmental Impact Statement, which we call the 17 SEIS, or the Draft SEIS.
18 And here is a copy of it right here.
19 There's hard copies out on the table in the hallway 20 and also CDs. If you want, you can take them with 21 you tonight.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 The NRC was established to regulate the 1
civilian use of nuclear materials, including 2
facilities producing electric power. The NRC 3
conducts license renewal reviews for plants whose 4
owners wish to operate them beyond their initial 5
license period.
NRC license renewals 6
address safety issues related to managing the 7
effects of aging and environmental issues related 8
to an additional 20 years of operation. In all 9
aspects of the NRCs regulation, our mission is 10 threefold: to ensure adequate protection of public 11 health and safety, to promote common defense and 12 security, and to protect the environment.
13 We are here to discuss the potential 14 site-specific impacts of license renewal for Grand 15 Gulf. The Generic Environmental Impact Statement, 16 or GEIS, examines the possible environmental 17 impacts that could occur as a result of renewing 18 licenses of individual nuclear plants. The GEIS 19 establishes and bounds the significance of 20 potential impacts.
21 The analysis in the GEIS pertains to 22 operating power plants. For each type of 23 environmental impact, the GEIS establishes general 24 findings covering as many plants as possible.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 For some environmental issues, the GEIS 1
found that a generic evaluation was not sufficient 2
and that a plant specific analysis was required.
3 The site-specific findings for Grand Gulf are 4
contained in the Draft Supplemental Environmental 5
Impact Statement, or Draft SEIS, published in 6
November 2013.
7 This document contains analyses of all 8
applicable site-specific issues, as well as a 9
review of issues covered by the GEIS, to determine 10 whether the conclusions in the GEIS are valid for 11 Grand Gulf. In this process, the NRC staff also 12 reviews the environmental impacts of potential 13 power generation alternatives to license renewal.
14 For each issue identified, an impact 15 level was assigned. The NRC established three 16 levels of significance for potential impacts:
17 small, moderate and large, as defined on the slide.
18 For small impact, the effects are not 19 detectable or are so minor, that they will neither 20 destabilize nor noticeably alter any important 21 attribute of the resource.
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 For a moderate impact, the effects are 1
sufficient to alter noticeably but not to 2
destabilize important attributes of the resource.
3 For a large impact, the effects are clearly 4
noticeable and are sufficient to destabilize 5
important attributes of the resource.
6 For protected species and habitats, that 7
resource, the impact significance determination 8
language is specific to the authorizing legislation 9
which is the Endangered Species Act. So we dont 10 use small, moderate and large for protected species 11 and habitat, and you'll see on the next slide what 12 we do use.
13 This slide lists the site-specific issues 14 that NRC staff reviewed for the continued operation 15 of Grand Gulf during the proposed license renewal 16 period. Overall, the impacts of license renewal on 17 all these issues were found to be small, which 18 means the effects are not detectable and are so 19 minor that they will neither destabilize nor 20 noticeably alter any important attribute of the 21 resource.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 This slide provides a summary of our 1
findings with respect to cumulative impacts 2
associated with Grand Gulf. Cumulative impacts 3
include the effects on the environment from other 4
past, present, and the reasonably foreseeable 5
future human actions.
These effects not 6
only include the operation of Grand Gulf but also 7
the impacts from activities unrelated to Grand 8
Gulf, such as future urbanization or other energy 9
producing facilities in the area. This analysis 10 considers potential impacts through the end of the 11 current license term as well as the 20-year renewal 12 license term.
13 While the level of direct and indirect 14 impacts of Grand Gulf on aquatic and terrestrial 15 resources are small, as shown on the previous 16 slide, the cumulative impacts, when combined with 17 all other sources, would be moderate for aquatic 18 and terrestrial resources. This is primarily due 19 to historical Mississippi River modifications. And 20 in all other areas considered, the staff 21 preliminarily concluded that cumulative impacts are 22 small.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 The National Environmental Policy Act 1
mandates that each Environmental Impact Statement 2
consider alternatives to any proposed major federal 3
action. A major step in determining whether 4
license renewal is reasonable or not is comparing 5
the likely impacts of continued operation of the 6
nuclear plant with the likely impacts of 7
alternative means of power generation.
8 Alternatives must provide an option that 9
allows for power generation capability beyond the 10 term of the current nuclear power plant operating 11 license to meet future generating needs. In the 12 Draft SEIS, NRC staff initially considered 16 13 different alternatives, and then we chose four of 14 these alternatives to be analyzed in depth, and 15 they are listed on the slide.
16 Finally, the NRC staff considered what 17 would happen if no action is taken and Grand Gulf 18 shuts down at the end of its current license 19 without a specific replacement alternative. This 20 alternative would not provide power generation 21 capacity nor would it meet the needs being 22 fulfilled by Grand Gulf.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 The NRCs preliminary conclusion is that 1
the environmental impacts of renewal of the 2
operating license for Grand Gulf would be smaller 3
than those feasible and commercially viable 4
alternatives.
5 The no-action alternative would have 6
small environmental impacts in most areas, with the 7
exception of socioeconomic impacts, which would be 8
small to large. Continued operation would have 9
small environmental impacts in all areas. The 10 staff preliminarily concluded that continued 11 operation of the existing Grand Gulf Nuclear 12 Station is the environmentally preferred 13 alternative.
14 Based on the review of likely 15 environmental impacts from license renewal as well 16 as potential environmental impacts of alternatives 17 to license renewal, the NRC staffs preliminary 18 recommendation in the Draft SEIS is that the 19 adverse environmental impacts of license renewal 20 for Grand Gulf are not great enough to deny the 21 option of license renewal for energy-planning 22 decision makers.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 For the term beyond the 20-year period of 1
extended operation, the NRC addresses the 2
management of spent nuclear fuel in a waste 3
confidence decision and rule. Previous license 4
renewal Supplemental EIS noted that the 5
environmental impacts of temporary storage of 6
nuclear fuel for the period following the reactor 7
operating license term were addressed by this rule.
8 This Draft SEIS does not discuss 9
potential environmental impacts of storing spent 10 fuel for an extended period after the plant shuts 11 down. That issue will be addressed in the NRCs 12 waste confidence Environmental Impact Statement and 13 rule.
14 The draft rule and EIS were issued in the 15 fall of 2013, and the public had the opportunity to 16 provide comments. The final EIS and rule is 17 expected to be issued in the fall of 2014.
18 Additional information on the waste confidence 19 ruling and EIS can be found on the NRC public web 20 link at the link listed on the slide.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 In August 2012, the Commission decided 1
that the Agency will not issue licenses dependent 2
upon the waste confidence decision until the waste 3
confidence rule is completed. However, the 4
Commission directed the staff to proceed with 5
licensing reviews and proceedings.
6 If the results of the waste confidence 7
EIS and rule identify information that impacts this 8
analysis in this Supplemental EIS for Grand Gulf, 9
the NRC staff will perform the appropriate review 10 for those issues and may supplement the SEIS before 11 the NRC makes a final licensing decision as to 12 whether or not to renew Grand Gulfs license. If 13 no changes are required, the NRC staff will base 14 its decision on the final Supplemental EIS, the 15 waste confidence EIS and rule, regional 16 inspections, and the safety evaluation report.
17 I would like to reemphasize that the 18 environmental review is not yet complete. Your 19 comments today and all written comments received by 20 the end of the comment period on February 11 will 21 be considered by the NRC staff as we develop the 22 final SEIS, which we currently plan to issue in 23 September 2014.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Those comments that are within the scope 1
of the environmental review and provide new and 2
significant information can help to change the 3
staffs findings. The final SEIS will contain the 4
staffs final recommendation on the acceptability 5
of license renewal based on the work we have 6
already performed and any new and significant 7
information we receive in the form of comments 8
during this comment period.
9 I am the primary contact for the 10 environmental review, and John Daily is the primary 11 contact for the safety review, and his -- our 12 contact information is up on the slide. Copies of 13 the Draft SEIS are available on CD and hard copy in 14 the entryway.
15 And in addition, the Henrietta Person 16 Memorial Library has a hard copy available for 17 review, and you can also find electronic copies of 18 the Draft SEIS, along with other information about 19 the Grand Gulf license renewal review, online at 20 the website shown. And in addition, I just want to 21 say that copies of these slides are available 22 outside in the hallway for pickup, too.
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 NRC staff will address written comments 1
in the same way we address spoken comments received 2
today. You can submit written comments, either 3
online or via conventional mail. To submit written 4
comments online, visit the website regulations.gov 5
and search for Docket ID NRC-2011-0262.
6 If you have written comments today, you 7
may give them to any NRC staffer. I would 8
appreciate them. If you're going to provide them 9
to any NRC staffer, please give them to me. And 10 this concludes my presentation. So I am turning it 11 back over to Bob.
MR. HAGAR: All right.
12 That was part one of the meeting. This is part 13 two. Do you have any questions about any of the 14 topics that David discussed?
15 (No response.)
16 MR. HAGAR: Okay. Body language in the 17 negative says no. Okay.
18 So now we move to part three of the 19 meeting. Do you have any comments addressing this 20 environmental impact license renewal or about 21 license renewal in general? Do you want to say 22 anything?
23 (No response.)
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 MR. HAGAR: Okay. Again, body language 1
in the negative. I am going to say that no one has 2
any questions in part three of the meeting.
3 So with that, David, do you have any 4
closing comments?
5 MR. DRUCKER: Yes. I would like to thank 6
Bob Hagar for facilitating todays meeting, coming 7
all of the way out from Texas to do that. And I 8
would like to thank our resident inspector who is 9
here this evening. We had the other one was --
10 Blake Rice was out here this afternoon.
11 I would also like to thank Victor Dricks 12 for coming out to support this, from Region Four.
13 Thanks to Bob Smiley, our AV guy. Sue, thank you 14 for transcribing. And thanks mostly to my boss for 15 taking me out here in this terrible weather. So 16 that's it. Thanks.
17 MR. HAGAR: All right. Thank you for 18 your attention. This meeting is adjourned.
19 (Whereupon, 7:20 p.m., the meeting was 20 concluded.)
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