ML15089A580
| ML15089A580 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | LaSalle  |
| Issue date: | 03/10/2015 |
| From: | License Renewal Projects Branch 2 |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-1423 | |
| Download: ML15089A580 (56) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Title: Public Meeting RE License Renewal Application of LaSalle, Units 1 and 2: Evening Session Docket Number: 50-373 and 50-374 Location: Ottawa, Illinois Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 Work Order No.: NRC-1423 Pages 1-55 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 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +
4 PUBLIC MEETING RE 5 LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION FOR 6 LASALLE, UNITS 1 AND 2 7 EVENING SESSION 8 + + + + +
9 TUESDAY 10 MARCH 10, 2015 11 + + + + +
12 LASALLE COUNTY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER 13 711 EAST ETNA ROAD 14 OTTAWA, ILLINOIS 15 + + + + +
16 The above-entitled matter commenced at 17 7:00 p.m., pursuant to Notice, before David Drucker, 18 Senior Project Manager.
19 20 21 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 Bob Hagar, Facilitator 4 Region IV - Division of Reactor Projects 5 1600 E. Lamar Blvd.
6 Arlington, Texas 76011-4511 7 (817) 200-1546 8
9 Jeffrey Mitchell, Project Manager 10 David Drucker, Senior Project Manager 11 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 12 Division of License Renewal 13 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 14 Washington, DC 20555 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 (7:00 p.m.)
3 MR. HAGAR: Good evening to everybody.
4 Thanks for showing up. My name is Bob Hagar, I'm a 5 member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions meeting 6 facilitation corps. And my role in this meeting has 7 really three parts. One is, I'm going to try to keep 8 us, have the meeting run smoothly. And second, I'm 9 going to make sure that everybody who has something to 10 say in this meeting has a chance to say it. And I'm 11 going to try to keep us on schedule.
12 So with that, I'm going to cover a few 13 details about this meeting that I think you need to know.
14 First of all, I think everyone knows that Exelon has 15 applied to renew the LaSalle County Station operating 16 licenses for both units. The NRC is reviewing that 17 application. As part of that review, they're going to 18 review the environmental impacts of a license renewal.
19 And the NRC wants input from you to help focus that 20 review.
21 So this meeting is going to have three 22 parts. The introduction is what we're doing right now.
23 As soon as we're done with this, the NRC will give a 24 presentation. First, a member of the NRC staff will 25 introduce the other members of the NRC staff. And then NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 1 they'll give a presentation that describes the license 2 renewal process with a focus on the safety reviews and 3 the environmental reviews, and the public's role in 4 those reviews.
5 Then we'll do, part three of this meeting 6 is going to be question and answers about the 7 presentation materials. Because we want to insure that 8 everyone here understands what the NRC told you in the 9 presentation.
10 And then finally, we'll have public 11 comments. This is where the NRC staff is asking the 12 public for information to help them focus their 13 environmental reviews.
14 Now, we're having this meeting recorded 15 because the NRC has to produce a transcript of this 16 meeting to be a public record. In order for the 17 transcript to be complete and accurate, the recording 18 has to be complete. So we got, and to insure that the 19 recording is complete, we have to establish some ground 20 rules.
21 First of all, if you're going to speak in 22 this meeting, you need to speak into a microphone. And 23 we'll make sure you do that, and I'll tell you how we'll 24 do that when we get to that part. The first time you 25 speak we'll want you to identify yourself, and if you NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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5 1 represent a group, please identify the group you 2 represent. If your name is somewhat unusual, or if your 3 name has an unusual spelling, we'd like you to also spell 4 your name. And I appreciate you doing that.
5 We want to minimize any background noise.
6 So please avoid any conversations off to the side.
7 Because if the recording picks up two people speaking 8 at the same time, we can't tell what either one of them 9 is saying. And we want the recording to be complete and 10 accurate.
11 And finally, if you haven't already, please 12 silence your personal electronics. Silence your cell 13 phone in particular. Now I recognize you can't, some 14 of you can't afford to disconnect yourself from the rest 15 of the world during this meeting. So, and so you'll 16 need to leave your phones on, if you do, just please 17 leave it on silent. And if you get a call, please step 18 out into the hallway to take that call, so that no part 19 of your personal conversation becomes part of the 20 record.
21 Any questions about the ground rules?
22 Okay, I'm going to turn the meeting now over to Jeff 23 Mitchell. He's going to introduce the NRC staff and 24 he's going, he'll start off the NRC presentation.
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6 1 talk about the questions and answers.
2 MR. MITCHELL: The passing of the 3 microphone. Okay. Good evening, my name is Jeff 4 Mitchell. I'm the Safety Project Manager in the 5 Division of License Renewal, and I'm coordinating the 6 staff's review associated with the LaSalle County 7 Station license renewal application. Thank you all for 8 taking the time to come to this meeting this evening and 9 I saw many of you who came this afternoon as well.
10 I'd like to introduce the following Nuclear 11 Regulatory Commission representatives in attendance 12 this evening to support this meeting.
13 Chris Miller is the Director of the 14 Division of License Renewal. Brian Wittick is the 15 Branch Chief in the Division of License Renewal. David 16 Drucker is the Environmental Project Manager. Rob 17 Ruiz, who is not able to be here this evening is the 18 Senior Resident Inspector at LaSalle. John Robbins is 19 the Resident Inspector at LaSalle. Also, from the 20 Region, Mike Kunowski is the Branch Chief with LaSalle, 21 amongst several other plants. Harral Logaras is the 22 liaison for the local government. And Stu Sheldon is 23 the Regional Inspector that will be performing some of 24 the inspections at the plant.
25 Tonight we'll provide an overview of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 1 license renewal review process which includes both a 2 safety review and an environmental review. We'll 3 describe ways in which the public can participate in the 4 LaSalle license renewal process. I'd like to reiterate 5 that the most important part of tonight's meeting is to 6 receive any comments that you might have on the scope 7 of the environmental review. We will also give you some 8 information about how you can submit comments if you 9 prefer not to speak at this meeting.
10 I hope the information we provide will help 11 you understand the license renewal review process and 12 the role you all can have in this process.
13 All right. You'd think I'd be able to do 14 this better. Before I get into the discussion of the 15 license renewal process, I'd like to take a minute to 16 talk about the NRC in terms of what we do and what our 17 mission is.
18 The NRC is a Federal agency that regulates 19 the civilian use of nuclear material. The Atomic 20 Energy Act authorizes the NRC to grant a 40 year 21 operating license for nuclear power reactors. I'd like 22 to highlight that this 40 year term was based primarily 23 on economic considerations and anti-trust factors, not 24 on safety or technical limitations. The Atomic Energy 25 Act also allows for license renewal.
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8 1 The National Environmental Policy Act of 2 1969 or NEPA, established a national policy for 3 considering the impact of federal decision making on the 4 human environment. David Drucker will discuss NEPA in 5 greater detail later in this briefing.
6 The NRC's mission is three-fold. To 7 insure adequate protection of public health and safety.
8 To promote the common defense and security. And to 9 protect the environment. The NRC accomplishes its 10 mission through a combination of regulatory programs 11 and processes, such as establishing rules and 12 regulations, conducting inspections, issuing 13 enforcement actions, assessing licensee performance.
14 We also evaluate operating experience from 15 nuclear plants across the country and internationally 16 as well. The NRC has resident inspectors at all 17 operating nuclear power plants. That's Rob Ruiz and 18 John Robbins. These inspectors are considered the eyes 19 and ears of the NRC. They carry out our safety mission 20 on a daily basis and are on the front lines of insuring 21 acceptable safety performance and compliance with 22 regulatory requirements.
23 Next slide, please.
24 The NRC received Exelon's application for 25 license renewal for the LaSalle plant on December 9, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 1 2014, requesting an additional 20 years of operation.
2 The current operating licenses for LaSalle Units 1 and 3 2, expire in 2022, and 2023 respectively. Licensees 4 can submit an application for license renewal after they 5 have operated for 20 years. The NRC has determined 6 that 20 years of operation provides enough information 7 for the staff to make an informed decision on license 8 renewal.
9 The first step of the license renewal 10 process is to perform an acceptance and sufficiency 11 review of the application. The purpose of this review 12 is to determine if the applicant has provided the 13 required information. The required information 14 includes one, technical information about plant 15 structures and components and how the applicant 16 proposes to manage the aging of the structures and 17 components.
18 Two, technical specifications that define 19 the operating parameters of the plant. The application 20 indicates if any changes or additions to technical 21 specification are necessary to manage the affects of 22 aging during the period of extended operation.
23 The applicant also includes an 24 environmental report which is the applicant's 25 assessment of the environmental impact of continued NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 1 operation. If the application has the required 2 information, it is considered acceptable, and the NRC 3 staff will perform a full review. And we have 4 considered, we have performed the acceptance review and 5 have accepted the application.
6 This flowchart highlights the license 7 renewal, highlights that the license renewal process 8 involves two parallel reviews, the safety review and the 9 environmental review. These two reviews evaluate 10 separate aspects of the license renewal application.
11 It also features three other considerations in the 12 Commission's decision of whether or not to renew an 13 operating license.
14 One of these considerations is the 15 independent review performed by the Advisory Committee 16 on Reactor Safeguards, commonly referred to by its 17 acronym, the ACRS. Statutorily mandated by the Atomic 18 Energy Act of 1954, the ACRS is a group of scientists 19 and nuclear safety experts who serve as a consulting 20 body to the Commission.
21 The ACRS reviews the license renewal 22 application, the NRC staff's safety evaluation and 23 inspection findings. The ACRS reports their findings 24 and recommendations directly to the Commission.
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11 1 also be conducted if interested stakeholders submit 2 concerns or contentions and their request for a hearing 3 is granted. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, an 4 adjudicatory panel, will conduct the hearings.
5 The Commission considers the outcome of the 6 hearing process in its decision on whether or not to 7 issue a renewed operating license. As part of the 8 environmental review, the staff consults with local, 9 state, federal and tribal officials. The staff also 10 holds public meetings to receive comments on the draft 11 EIS, Environmental Impact Statement.
12 Now I'm going to describe the license 13 renewal review processes in a little more detail 14 starting with the safety review.
15 To better understand the license renewal 16 process, it's good to know the safety principles that 17 guide license renewal. The first principle is that the 18 current regulatory process is adequate to insure that 19 the licensing basis of all operating plants provides and 20 maintains an acceptable level of safety.
21 The second principle is that the current 22 plant specific licensing basis must be maintained 23 during the renewal term, in the same manner and to the 24 same extent as during the original license term. In 25 other words, the same rules that apply under the current NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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12 1 license, will apply during the renewal term. In 2 addition, a renewed license will include conditions 3 that must be met to insure aging of structures and 4 components, important to safety, is adequately managed 5 so that the plant's current licensing basis is 6 maintained during this period of extended operation.
7 The safety review focuses on the aging of 8 passive and long lived structures and components and 9 systems that the NRC deems important to plant safety.
10 We consider one, the safety related 11 systems, structures and components. For example, 12 reactor containment. Two, non-safety related systems, 13 structures and components which, if they failed, could 14 affect safety related systems, structures and 15 components functions. For example, a piece of 16 equipment directly above a safety related component.
17 And third, systems, structures and components related, 18 relied upon for compliance with regulations for fire 19 protection, environmental qualification, pressurized 20 thermal shock, anticipated transient without scram and 21 station blackout.
22 The staff's main objective in this review 23 is to determine if the effects of aging will be 24 adequately managed by the applicant. The results of 25 the safety review are documented in a Safety Evaluation NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 1 Report or SER.
2 Now that you know what is the subject to 3 review, I'll talk about how the NRC looks at all the 4 information.
5 The safety review consists of numerous, 6 rigorous aspects. A technical staff reviews the 7 applicant's license renewal application and supporting 8 documentation to, one, determine the applicant's 9 methodology to identify these systems, structures and 10 components within the scope of the license renewal and 11 subject to aging management review.
12 Two, determine if the methodology has been 13 properly implemented, and three to determine, with 14 reasonable assurance, that the affects of aging for 15 certain systems, structures and components will be 16 adequately managed or monitored by new and existing 17 programs and surveillance activities.
18 The staff uses site audits, or visits, to 19 verify the technical basis of the license renewal 20 application and to confirm that the applicant's aging 21 management programs and activities conform with how 22 they are described in the application. The staff 23 documents the basis and conclusions of its review in a 24 Safety Evaluation Report, the SER, which is publicly 25 available. 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 travels to the reactor site to verify that 2 aging management programs are being implemented, 3 modified or plant consistent with the license renewal 4 application.
5 Finally, as I've mentioned, the Advisory 6 Committee on Reactor Safeguards performs and 7 independent review of the license renewal application, 8 the staff Safety Evaluation Report and inspection 9 findings and makes a recommendation to the Commission 10 regarding the proposed action to issue a renewed 11 operating license.
12 This slide shows important milestones for 13 the safety review process. And it's important to note 14 that these dates are tentative. Schedule changes may 15 result from a host of reasons. If significant issues 16 are identified, the license renewal review may be 17 suspended indefinitely or terminated, or simply the 18 schedule modified to accommodate.
19 This concludes the description of the 20 safety review. The environmental review will be 21 discussed by the environmental project manager, David 22 Drucker.
23 MR. DRUCKER: Thank you, Jeff. Good 24 evening, my name is David Drucker and I am the License 25 Renewal Departmental Project Manager. In the next few NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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15 1 slides, I'm going to walk you through an overview of the 2 environmental review process. The review is performed 3 in accordance with the National Environmental Policy 4 Act, commonly referred to as NEPA. And NEPA 5 established a national policy for considering 6 environmental impacts and provides the basic 7 architecture for Federal environmental use.
8 All Federal agencies must follow a 9 systematic approach in evaluating potential impacts, 10 and also to assess alternatives to those actions. The 11 NEPA process involves public participation and public 12 disclosure. The NRC's environmental regulations 13 implementing the requirements of NEPA, are contained in 14 Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 51. And I've 15 placed a, part of that Title 10 Code of Federal 16 Regulations, Brian is holding up the manual out there 17 on the table.
18 Our environmental review considers the 19 impact of license renewal and any mitigation of those 20 impacts considered significant. We also consider the 21 impacts of alternatives to the license renewal 22 including impact of not issuing a renewed license. We 23 document our review in an Environment Impact Statement 24 which is made publicly available.
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16 1 licenses. The purpose and need of the proposed action 2 is to provide an option that allows for power generation 3 capabilities beyond the term of the current nuclear 4 plant operating licenses to meet future system 5 generating needs as such needs may be determined by 6 other energy planning decision makers not the NRC.
7 This definition of purpose and need 8 reflects the NRC's recognition that, unless there are 9 findings in the safety review required by the Atomic 10 Energy Act, or findings in the environmental analysis 11 that would lead the NRC to reject the license renewal 12 application, the NRC does not have a role in energy 13 planning decisions of state regulators and or public 14 utilities as to whether a particular nuclear power plant 15 should continue to operate.
16 Next slide.
17 The NRC staff analyzes a wide range of 18 potential impacts to areas such as those shown on the 19 slide, please click through those, one more click.
20 Initially we consult with various federal, 21 state and local officials as well as leaders of Tribal 22 Nations. Examples include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 23 Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the 24 Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois 25 Forest Preservation Agency, and Tribal Nations with NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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17 1 historic ties to the area around the plant. We gather 2 pertinent information from these sources and insure it 3 is considered in our analysis.
4 The environmental review begins with a 5 scoping process, which is an assessment of the specific 6 impacts and significant issues that the staff should 7 consider in preparing the environmental impact 8 statement. Currently, this is where we are in the 9 process, we're in the scoping process. Information 10 that we gather from you tonight, and in the next few 11 weeks, will be considered in the development of the 12 environmental impact statement.
13 Some impacts are similar, if not identical, 14 at all nuclear power plants. So to improve efficiency, 15 we developed a generic environmental impact statement 16 that addresses a number of impacts common to all nuclear 17 power plants, and Brian Wittick is holding up a copy of 18 the three volumes that make up our generic environmental 19 impact statements. And there are CDs available with 20 that document on them, right on the table there with 21 Brian.
22 The staff supplements that generic 23 environmental impact statement with a site specific 24 environmental impact statement in which we will address 25 issues that are specific to LaSalle. The staff also NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 1 re-examines the conclusions reached in the generic 2 environmental impact statement, to determine if there 3 is any new significant information that would change 4 those conclusions.
5 The scoping period started on February 3, 6 2015, when the Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS and 7 conduct scoping was published in the Federal Register.
8 The NRC will accept comments on the scope of the 9 environmental review until April 6, 2015.
10 In general, we are looking for information 11 about the environmental impacts from the continued 12 operation of LaSalle. You can assist this process by 13 telling us, for example, what aspects of your local 14 community we should focus on. What local 15 environmental, social and economic issues the NRC 16 should examine during our review and what other major 17 projects are in progress or planned in the area. And 18 finally, what reasonable alternatives are most 19 appropriate for this region.
20 These are just some of the examples of the 21 input we seek through the environmental scoping 22 process. We don't know your community as well as you 23 do so your comments will help insure a thorough review.
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19 1 your comments? Well, all of your comments, whether 2 provided verbally during this meeting, or written in a 3 letter, or in an e-mail, are considered and addressed.
4 We respond to each comment as part of the environmental 5 review process. The EIS is one of the factors, as well 6 as some that are shown here on the slide, that influences 7 the decision to renew the license or not.
8 I would like to mention several important 9 areas of NRC oversight that routinely come up during our 10 interactions with members of the public. NRC staff 11 address these areas of performance every day as a part 12 of ongoing regulatory oversight provided for all 13 currently operating power plants. They include 14 current safety performance, and emergency preparedness 15 and security. And on the slide I've provided under the 16 current safety performance, the website where you could 17 find current safety performance for LaSalle. That 18 information is on the slide, so you don't need to write 19 that down.
20 So the important thing to note here is that 21 the NRC is monitoring these activities every day. So 22 we do not re-evaluate them in license renewal.
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20 1 goes. The opportunity to submit environmental scoping 2 comments closes on April 6, 2015.
3 Please note, and as Jeff discussed earlier, 4 this is the same last day to submit contentions for a 5 hearing. Please note that a draft supplemental 6 environmental impact statement is scheduled to be 7 issued for public comment in February of 2016, with an 8 associated public meeting to receive your comments on 9 this preliminary document.
10 In addition to providing verbal and written 11 comments in this meeting, there are other ways that you 12 can submit comments. You can provide written comments, 13 by e-mail, at the address provided at the top of the 14 slide. You can submit comments online using the 15 Federal Rule Making website at regulations.gov. And 16 you want to enter the keyword NRC-2014-0268, because 17 that's specific to the LaSalle license renewal 18 application review. You can e-mail me your comments, 19 and please note that comments will not be edited to 20 remove any identifying or contact information, so 21 please do not include any information in the comments, 22 that you do not want to publicly disclosed.
23 And as I mentioned, the deadline for the 24 comments during the scoping review, at the bottom of the 25 slide, April 6, 2015.
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21 1 Jeff and I are the primary points of contact 2 at the NRC for the license renewal review for LaSalle.
3 Our contact information is provided on this slide. And 4 again, the slides are available hardcopy on the desk out 5 there.
6 Hardcopies of the license renewal 7 application and the environmental report can be found 8 at the library shown on the slide and I also have CDs 9 with the license renewal application on the table in the 10 hallway. These documents will also be on the NRCs 11 website at the web address shown at the bottom of the 12 slide. And, as you came in, you were asked to fill out 13 a registration card at our reception table. If you've 14 included your address on that card, I will mail you a 15 CD copy the draft and the final EIS.
16 This concludes my presentation. I turn 17 the microphone back to Bob Hagar. Thank you.
18 MR. HAGAR: All right, that was the NRC 19 presentation that constituted Part Two of this meeting, 20 so we'll move right into Part Three.
21 Does anyone here have any questions about 22 the material you've just seen? Anything you want the 23 NRC to cover again or any questions, anything you want 24 them to clear up?
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22 1 the public to participate by phone, so let me check in 2 with the operator and ask the operator, is there anyone, 3 do we have any participants on the phone?
4 OPERATOR: We do have three participants, 5 and if you would like to ask a question, please hit *1 6 so we know that you want to ask a question.
7 One moment.
8 MR. HAGAR: Okay, so we'll just standby and 9 give the members of the public on the phone a chance to 10 hit the right buttons and be recognized.
11 OPERATOR: It looks like we have one 12 question queuing up, one moment.
13 Our question is from Linda Lewison, your 14 line is open.
15 MS. LEWISON: Thank you, this is Linda 16 Lewison, from Chicago, I'm with Nuclear Energy 17 Information Service, a watchdog on the nuclear industry 18 in Illinois and I'm with the Sierra Club National Core 19 team Nuclear Free Campaign.
20 My questions are about the storage of 21 radioactive waste at LaSalle. We'll file these 22 comments in writing as well, but we would like more 23 information about what is in the fuel pools now, how much 24 radioactive waste is in the fuel pools, and what are the 25 plans when you go forward to put in and take out NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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23 1 radioactive waste to and from the fuel pools. And what 2 do you plan to do with the radioactive waste during the 3 future plans for LaSalle.
4 MR. HAGAR: Okay, Linda, let me interrupt 5 just a minute. This part of the meeting we're asking 6 for questions about the material the NRC has presented.
7 You're asking for information that was not what the NRC 8 presented and so that's certainly information that the 9 NRC wants to consider. But first let's cover, do you 10 have any questions about the material the NRC presented?
11 MS. LEWISON: I will think on it some more 12 and I'll get back, I'll come back in a minute, yeah.
13 Thank you, go ahead.
14 OPERATOR: Thank you. We do have another 15 question from Ruth Thomas. Your line is open.
16 MR. HAGAR: Okay Ruth, hi.
17 MS. THOMAS: Hi.
18 MR. HAGAR: Do you have a question about 19 the material?
20 MS. THOMAS: You mean all the materials 21 used in nuclear power?
22 MR. HAGAR: No, the materials that the NRC 23 just presented in this meeting about the environmental 24 impact reviews and license renewal.
25 MS. THOMAS: Well, the materials are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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24 1 affected we're still, you're still talking about 2 renewal of these plants that were built in 1973?
3 MR. HAGAR: Yes, that's exactly what 4 they're talking about.
5 MS. THOMAS: And, and over the years and 6 there's certainly plenty of evidence about what 7 exposure to radiation has done to different materials 8 and I'm not sure, have the steam generators been 9 replaced before, over the years? Or are they the 10 original steam generators?
11 MR. HAGAR: Ruth, the LaSalle County 12 Station is a, both the units are boiling water reactors, 13 they don't have any steam generators.
14 MS. THOMAS: Oh, well that's good, they 15 don't have to replace them then. Well what is the 16 component that has been replaced over the years in the 17 boiling water reactors?
18 MR. HAGAR: Ruth, let me just try to answer 19 that question. It's my understanding that there are no 20 major components in boiling water reactors that are 21 replaced in any manner like the way steam generators are 22 replaced in pressurized water reactors. There are, of 23 course, components in any plant that wear out. But as 24 they wear out, every plant, including the LaSalle 25 Station, replaces them. They perform maintenance on NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 1 them as they're operating and as they wear out, they 2 replace them. That's ongoing and has been, it is 3 ongoing during the current license period and, as I 4 think Jeff pointed out, that will continue during the 5 period of extended operation.
6 MS. THOMAS: Well I've read that things 7 like gaskets in maintenance materials like that, are, 8 have to be replaced they're subject to damage from 9 radiation.
10 MR. HAGAR: Ruth, that's exactly right.
11 And that's exactly what I talked about, in terms of 12 periodic maintenance, preventive maintenance, 13 corrective maintenance. Those things that wear out get 14 replaced, and so that's really not a, I suggest that's 15 really not a consideration associated with license 16 renewal. Because that's something that happens even 17 during the current license period.
18 Do you have a question associated with 19 environmental impact reviews, or license renewal?
20 MS. THOMAS: Well I'm not sure what you're 21 saying is outside the scope because when our group 22 thinks about nuclear power, we think about all the steps 23 in there. Mining of the uranium, the transportation, 24 the processing, the enrichment and all of the different 25 steps and --
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26 1 MR. HAGAR: And Ruth, Ruth let me 2 interrupt, and it is certainly true that in the area of 3 nuclear power, there are many issues. There are issues 4 associated with mining, and refining and building and 5 operating and renewing the license of nuclear power, and 6 if we were to talk about any of those topics, even one 7 of those topics in depth, we could not possibly cover 8 that topic adequately in the two hours we've set aside 9 for this meeting.
10 So we really need, in this meeting, to focus 11 on the purpose of this meeting. That's to obtain input 12 from the public to help the NRC focus their 13 environmental impact reviews associated with license 14 renewal for the LaSalle County Stations.
15 So I ask again, do you have any questions 16 that would help, do you have any questions about the 17 material the NRC presented?
18 MS. THOMAS: Well when do questions come in 19 about the changes that have happened since they started 20 using nuclear, changes in the process of making 21 decisions. The decision making process, where is that 22 --
23 MR. HAGAR: Okay, Ruth, let me interrupt, 24 let me suggest, and in this afternoon's meeting you will 25 recall David Drucker invited you to send your comments, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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27 1 your questions to him? So please do that. And 2 operator, we need to move on and to see if there are any 3 other people on the line?
4 OPERATOR: Okay, we do have Marv, your line 5 is open.
6 MR. LEWIS: Marvin Lewis, member of the 7 public. Look, back in the '60s and '50s, '70s the 8 enrichment of U235 was around two or three percent. The 9 coefficient's of criticality which are predictions sort 10 of, when the darn things going to get too hot to handle, 11 was designed around those enrichments.
12 Now I read, in your paperwork, that the 13 enrichment is above five percent. I have not, I've been 14 following it for years. Yes, I've been following it 15 through the '60s and '70s and '80s. And my question is 16 this, I haven't seen definitively how a criticality, at 17 the wrong time, is being avoided. Usually using 18 something called a coefficient of criticality or COEFF, 19 or KEFF rather, subscript eff in the calculations. I 20 have not seen it 21 Now you're saying that this is safe. And 22 I can't understand that. If the darn plant is designed 23 for two or three percent enrichment of uranium 235, and 24 now you're saying it's safe at a five percent 25 enrichment? I would say this raises flags, kind of like NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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28 1 a maintenance tag hiding a little red warning light at 2 Three Mile Island. If you understand that accident.
3 And that's my point. I don't see it in your 4 paperwork. Where do you look at the criticality and 5 make sure it's safe when it should be.
6 MR. HAGAR: We'll certainly take that 7 comment and the program manager is indicating that they 8 will address that in their, in either the environmental 9 impact review or I guess it'll be in the safety review, 10 safety evaluation report.
11 MR. LEWIS: All right, my e-mail is 12 marvlewis@juno.com. I'd sure like to see when you, 13 send me ML numbers, you know, the Adams numbers for it 14 when it comes out. And it should have come out before 15 you ask for the extension. Thank you.
16 MR. HAGAR: Okay, Marv, Marv wait, one more 17 time, give your e-mail address one time, one more time 18 so we're sure we get it right.
19 MR. LEWIS:
20 M-a-r-v-l-e-w-i-s@j-u-n-o.c-o-m. Marvlewis.com 21 MR. HAGAR: All right Marv, thank you very 22 much for your comment.
23 MR. LEWIS: Thank you.
24 MR. HAGAR: Operator, is there anyone else 25 on the phone that we have to comment?
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29 1 OPERATOR: I am showing no other questions 2 in queue.
3 MR. HAGAR: Okay, thank you. Okay we've, 4 now we've cleared up what we hoped were the questions 5 about the material, so we kind of segued into Part Four 6 of this meeting. And that is where the NRC is asking 7 for input to help the NRC focus their environmental 8 reviews. Any site specific information, any local 9 information that you want to insure the NRC considers 10 in the environmental reviews.
11 So, I'd ask the people here, that are 12 present, do you have any input that you want the NRC to 13 consider in their environmental impact reviews? I 14 don't see any hands. So I'll put the same question to 15 the people on the phone; does anyone on the phone have 16 any comments to help the NRC focus their environmental 17 impact reviews associated with the license renewal of 18 the LaSalle County Station?
19 Operator, could you ask, does anyone, is 20 anyone indicating they have any comments?
21 OPERATOR: Again, it's *1 if you have any 22 comments. We do have one person queuing up, one moment.
23 I am showing no questions in queue.
24 MR. HAGAR: Go ahead on the phone.
25 MR. DRUCKER: No, she said no questions.
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30 1 MR. HAGAR: Oh no questions.
2 Misunderstood, thank you operator. All right, Part One 3 was the introduction, Part Two was the presentation, 4 Part Three was the questions and answers, Part Four was 5 comments. So we completed all the parts of this 6 meeting. Chris Miller, do you want to have any close 7 B 8 MR. DRUCKER: Before you do that, could we 9 ask, Operator, could you ask if Linda Lewison is still 10 on, because I don't know if Linda completed her question 11 or comments. And I want to make sure she has a chance 12 to say what she wanted to say.
13 OPERATOR: Okay, one moment. Linda, your 14 line is open.
15 MS. LEWISON: Is it open now?
16 MR. HAGAR: Yes.
17 MS. LEWISON: Can you hear me?
18 MR. HAGAR: Yes, we can hear you.
19 MS. LEWISON: Okay, Linda Lewison, I do not 20 have any further questions or comments at this time.
21 MR. HAGAR: All right Operator, thank you.
22 MS. LEWISON: We'll submit them in writing 23 by April 6th, thank you.
24 MR. HAGAR: And I apologize, I tried to 25 wing this without reviewing my script and I forgot the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 1 yellow cards. So, when you signed in tonight, those of 2 you that indicated you wanted to make a comment, I wish 3 some of you had raised your hand to remind me. Put your 4 names on sheets, on yellow cards here. And we're going 5 to go through these cards in the order in which you 6 arrived, in the order which I received them. And so I 7 would invite you to come up when I call your name, and 8 bring your notes with you and stand at the lectern and 9 I'll hold them microphone and make whatever statements 10 you need to make at this time.
11 So, Roger Blomquist is going to be first, 12 followed by Doug O'Brien. So Roger?
13 MR. BLOMQUIST: Given that this is 14 essentially the same audience as this afternoon, I'll 15 just pass.
16 MR. HAGAR: I understand Roger has 17 basically the same thing to say he said this afternoon, 18 so you're going to pass. Doug O'Brien followed by Mike 19 Gallagher.
20 MR. O'BRIEN: I think I go along with 21 Roger, it's essentially the same, same group here that 22 we had this afternoon, and the same comments.
23 MR. HAGAR: So that's, you're Doug, right?
24 MR. O'BRIEN: Yes.
25 MR. HAGAR: So Doug declines to say NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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32 1 anything else. Mike Gallagher?
2 MR. GALLAGHER: Yes Bob, so my comments are 3 pretty much the same as this afternoon, but I think it's 4 important that members of the public hear, hear the 5 statements from Exelon, so I'd like to state my 6 statement again. Which, again, my name's Mike 7 Gallagher and I'm the Vice President of Licensing for 8 Exelon. I have overall responsibility for the LaSalle 9 County Generating Station license renewal application.
10 And I would like to thank the NRC for this 11 opportunity to speak on behalf of Exelon on this 12 important project for us.
13 So at Exelon, we have a great deal of 14 experience with license renewal, as we have already 15 obtained and renewed licenses for our Dresden and Quad 16 Cities plants here in Illinois and for seven of other 17 facilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and 18 New York. We also have an application for our 19 Byron/Braidwood plants here in Illinois and that's 20 under NRC review.
21 Just briefly about myself, I've been 22 working in the nuclear power industry for nearly 34 23 years. I was a licensed senior reactor operator and 24 plant manager at Limerick Generating Station in 25 Pennsylvania and I've worked at two other nuclear plants NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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33 1 and our corporate office.
2 Mr. John Keenan will be speaking shortly, 3 about the reasons for renewing our license and what I'd 4 like to speak about is our process for preparing this 5 license renewal application and the amount of work and 6 engineering analysis that was put into preparing the 7 application.
8 So because LaSalle Station can be operated 9 safely and reliably, Exelon decided to pursue license 10 renewal for LaSalle. LaSalle's safe, efficient 11 operation promotes a critical supply of carbon free 12 electricity for Illinois and beyond. LaSalle produces 13 enough clean power to supply 2.3 million homes.
14 So, in 2011, we announced our intentions to 15 seek license renewal. We later started the work 16 necessary to prepare the application. After over two 17 years of work, we submitted the application to the 18 Nuclear Regulatory Commission on December 9, 2014.
19 Safe and reliable operations has been the 20 hallmark of LaSalle Station since it came online and our 21 goal during the license renewal process, is to 22 demonstrate to the NRC and our neighbors, that we will 23 continue that legacy during our additional 20 year 24 operating period.
25 The application we have printed out is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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34 1 about 2200 pages, it's a huge amount of information.
2 But that only represents a small part of the work that 3 was done for the engineering analysis to prepare the 4 application. We invested over 60,000 man hours of 5 engineering work and once we completed our engineering 6 work to prepare the application, we brought in outside 7 experts to review the application and to insure that it 8 was complete, thorough and accurate.
9 And there are two different parts to our 10 application, the safety review and the environmental 11 review. For the safety review, we took an in-depth look 12 at the history and condition of the safety equipment in 13 the plant. We did that to determine whether the 14 necessary maintenance was being performed on that 15 equipment, to make sure that equipment will be able to 16 operate when needed, not only today, but for the 17 additional 20 years of operation.
18 So when you look back at LaSalle, when it 19 was built, all the equipment was new, it was thoroughly 20 tested to make sure it would perform properly. But like 21 anything else, equipment does age and therefore certain 22 activities need to be done with the equipment.
23 Preventative maintenance is performed, sometimes 24 equipment is refurbished, some equipment may be 25 replaced, there may be modifications done to the plant NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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35 1 to upgrade the equipment. In fact, Exelon has invested 2 over $61 million in 2014 alone at LaSalle to improve and 3 modernize the equipment to enhance plant operations and 4 safety.
5 We've also reviewed calculations that were 6 performed as part of the design of the plant that were 7 done to insure that the plant could operate safely for 8 40 years. We analyzed those calculations and we were 9 able to confirm that the plant would be able to operate 10 safely for 60 years. Overall, our conclusions from our 11 engineering review, was that LaSalle could operate 12 safely for 60 years.
13 We also took a look at the environmental 14 impacts of continuing to operate LaSalle. We looked at 15 all aspects of continuing impact of the plant on the 16 environment. Our conclusion is that the impacts on the 17 environment are small, and I use that term small in the 18 sense that is in the regulation. The regulation 19 defines small as the environmental affects are not 20 detectable and/or minor. We reviewed the alternatives 21 if LaSalle would not have its license renewed and other 22 sources of electric generation would have to be 23 installed either here onsite or someplace else to 24 replace the required electricity.
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36 1 generating the replacement electricity would have more 2 of an impact on the environment than the continued 3 operation of LaSalle.
4 So, in conclusion, we operate LaSalle 5 safely, and we could continue to operate safely for an 6 additional 20 years. LaSalle will provide approximately 7 2313 megawatts of base-load electric generation that's 8 not only safe, but it's clean, it's reliable and it's 9 economical. Continued operation of LaSalle will 10 benefit our community, the State of Illinois, and the 11 nation.
12 Thanks for this opportunity.
13 MR. HAGAR: Thank you Mike, Larry Louis?
14 MR. LOUIS: Yes. I will also pass.
15 MR. HAGAR: So you will defer additional 16 comments and basically refer back to the comments you 17 made this afternoon?
18 MR. LOUIS: Yes, I'm representing the 19 Illinois Valley building trades. Illinois Valley 20 building trades and I would like to say that we support 21 nuclear power and the support the relicensing of LaSalle 22 Station.
23 MR. HAGAR: Thank you Larry. Jim Carlson.
24 You'll be up, followed by Jay Houston. Jim come on up.
25 MR. CARLSON: Good evening everyone, I'm NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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37 1 Jim Carlson, the Superintendent of Seneca High School, 2 and I wanted to speak out in support of the license 3 extension that's being proposed. Exelon has been a 4 terrific partner for Seneca High School and if anyone 5 has had the opportunity to come and visit us, they could 6 only look at our building and see why. The wonderful 7 resources that they're able to provide us had allowed 8 us to develop rock solid outstanding core curriculum as 9 well a wonderful vocational program that we don't have 10 to drive to another county or across a county for our 11 kids to access.
12 But besides the resources, which again, has 13 given us a wonderful, safe, current building, they've 14 also provided us some other things. And I don't know 15 a lot of understand or know about. For example, their 16 engineers and scientists have worked with our science 17 teachers on developing curriculum that can be infused 18 in our science program, dealing with nuclear energy.
19 Okay, in a program I think they call Nuclear 101.
20 Additionally, on an annual basis, they 21 provide support for a project that our FFA program 22 sponsored which is called "30 miles per hour". Which 23 is essentially, we adopt stretches of road and we go out, 24 our kids go out and they clean up the rubbish and the 25 trash that have accumulated over the years.
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38 1 Now a couple of other things that you might 2 not think are a big deal, but they were to me, is just 3 the ability to reach out to someone like Megan, and say 4 hey listen, we know our website's not very good, and we 5 want to be more transparent and we want to be very 6 proactive in our communication. And we would like you, 7 as an expert, and you as a constituent, to take a look 8 at our website and tell us what we can do to do better, 9 so that we can communicate better. And you would think 10 that perhaps that it would just be, okay, you know, I'll 11 get to you. But that's not what happened. What 12 happened is I got a thoughtful, reflective and very 13 thorough response that truly helped us make our website 14 better. Okay, again, an above and beyond type of thing.
15 And it's not perfect, but it's a lot better. Thanks, 16 Meg.
17 Also, and this is maybe one of the most 18 important things that we've experienced with our 19 partnership with Exelon, is we're constantly striving 20 to get better and better every day. To provide a great 21 educational program, because we're only successful if 22 our kids are successful. And we really explored the 23 work of Dr. Tony Wagner, from Harvard, who took a look 24 at what kids need to be successful when they enter either 25 the workforce or college, or the military, what have NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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39 1 you. And we found the same core competencies are 2 required.
3 And so, of course you have to, you can't 4 just take research for research, you kind of almost have 5 to validate that. And so we, at the local level, we 6 tried to replicate that. So again, a call to Exelon 7 just asking a series of questions, like what are you 8 looking for kids to be able to do so that they can be 9 employed by you. And again what I received is not just 10 something that was just okay, here, go away type of 11 thing, but a very thoughtful and reflective response 12 that actually helped us develop a lot of our curriculum 13 and instructional initiatives that we changed.
14 So again, you know, you look at the dollars 15 that are contributed to Seneca High School and you say 16 wow, that's great, but then you look at the other things 17 and you realize that our partnership is really much more 18 than just us reaping some benefits of dollars.
19 A couple of things I want to comment about 20 safety, I've had the opportunity through invitation to 21 attend the plant on a couple of different occasions, if 22 you try to get into the plant you know that there are 23 hurdles upon hurdles upon hurdles. So you know that 24 they take safety, you know, to a large degree. And 25 also, along the lines of safety, I've participated in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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40 1 numerous mock incidents both at the Seneca level, but 2 also here in this very room when I was the Regional 3 Superintendent of the schools. Where we participate in 4 the mock disaster drills, you know, at the plant. And 5 I can tell you this, that those drills are taken very, 6 very seriously by Exelon and have actually helped us 7 kind of reflect on our own safety plan so that we can 8 do a better job of insuring that our kids and our staff 9 are safe.
10 A couple more things, obviously Exelon 11 provides an economic driver for our community. Many of 12 our community members work at the plant and a lot of our 13 parents do. And again, our hope is that hopefully some 14 our graduates are going to be able to be employed in the 15 future and that's kind of the goal for us.
16 So, in closing, Exelon has a wonderful 17 track record of community service, safety, and a 18 commitment to education that make them a wonderful 19 partner and I urge you to grant its request for license 20 extension. Thank you.
21 MR. HAGAR: Thank you, Jim. Jay Houston?
22 And Jay will be followed by Jerry Hicks.
23 MR. HOUSTON: Good evening, my name is Jay 24 Houston, I am the Nuclear Oversight Manager on LaSalle 25 County Station. I've got 37 years at the plant through NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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41 1 various positions. Currently I manage ten 2 individuals. Those individuals monitor the assessment 3 or the behaviors of the workers at LaSalle county, 4 auditors which look at the process and programs to make 5 sure they're completed accordingly and quality 6 verification to insure that equipment components are 7 restored to their as designed basis. So I consider this 8 a very good opportunity for the site for a license 9 renewal and support the safety and continued operation 10 of LaSalle. That's it. Thank you.
11 MR. HAGAR: Okay, thank you. And Jerry 12 Hicks? And Jerry will be followed by Reed Wilson.
13 MR. HICKS: I am Jerry Hicks, I'm LaSalle 14 County Board Chairman here in the County and can 15 remember numerous things that Jim had brought forward 16 as well. And I'd like to say that LaSalle County does 17 support the license renewal, I, some of the thing that 18 I'm going to say are probably somewhat elementary and 19 potentially redundant. To this group as well, I hope, 20 well I had anticipated more members of the public here 21 to be able to expound upon it, but since I do have a few 22 tidbits here I think I'm going to go ahead and throw them 23 out there for the record as well.
24 So, I understand that, you know, there are 25 six nuclear facilities that generate at least 48 percent NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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42 1 of the power in the State of Illinois. And that 2 families in these communities, like LaSalle County, 3 certainly depend on the facilities to provide the 4 electricity to them. And I do know the LaSalle Station 5 employs upwards, up to 900 employees on a regular basis 6 and they do contribute approximately $24 million to the 7 local economy. And that is certainly something that we 8 need as a driver around here.
9 LaSalle Station directly and indirectly 10 contributes at least a billion dollars to the Illinois 11 economy. And I also know LaSalle Station does provide 12 a lot of volunteer involvement. I have seen it out here 13 on numerous occasions. They donate at least up to and 14 beyond $185,000 to the local not-for-profits. And one 15 of them, and I know Larry Louis can attest to the fact, 16 Labor of Love is one of the biggest pushes that we have 17 around here and there is a lot involvement in that.
18 The annual outing has also employed 19 hundreds and hundreds of people, local people and 20 outside people that as well promote the economy as it 21 does in their other facilities that they have around the 22 state and elsewhere. And I do believe that LaSalle 23 station is among other facilities, nuclear facilities, 24 that leads the nation in providing clean energy and 25 that's what I think we're striving for and I certainly NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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43 1 think that that's something that will be very critical 2 in complying with the Illinois EPA limits on carbon 3 emissions which I know is a big push as well going on 4 right now.
5 And I have had the opportunity to work as 6 a contractor at LaSalle County generating station and 7 as well at the Morris generating station and the Dresden 8 station. I worked at the Dresden station as a painter 9 for about seven years and I was, for a couple years I 10 was at LaSalle station as a Health Physics Engineering 11 Assistant, and I'm sure you've probably heard that 12 before within the plant.
13 And I do know that there is a strong 14 commitment to safety in these nuclear facilities and, 15 you know, there is certainly an innate culture of 16 training and safety practices that's always in place.
17 And one of the statements that I recall that I maintain 18 in my mind all the time is a saying that I heard that 19 was, that may sound simple, but always maintain a 20 questioning attitude. Especially when you're around 21 such large dose and you know, take a step, maybe step 22 back and think about it two or three times before you 23 move forward. So, you know, as far as safety at the 24 plant, I think it's a very strong, very, there's a very 25 strong culture pushing that safety route.
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44 1 So I do believe that LaSalle station has 2 been very, very transparent in all it's operations 3 around the plant and would certainly like to, and shows 4 that they want to listen the public, and involving them 5 in, and obviously they're here for that and I would as 6 well like to thank Megan. She has certainly as well 7 engaged us in a lot of communications back and forth in 8 a multitude of things that we've done in the past.
9 And again, we support LaSalle stations in 10 its renewal of its license.
11 MR. HAGAR: Thank you. Reed Wilson?
12 MR. WILSON: Thank you, I'm Reed Wilson, 13 Deputy District Director for Congressman Kinzinger, 14 16th District, and of course Ottawa is the heart of that 15 district. I have a statement to share from the 16 Congressman, briefly. It's addressed to the U.S.
17 Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Dear Commissioners,
18 thank you for allowing my office the opportunity to 19 address this public meeting regarding the license 20 renewal application of the LaSalle generating station 21 currently pending with the Nuclear Regulatory 22 Commission. The issue of maintaining our current fleet 23 of clean, affordable, energy generation in Illinois is 24 of the utmost importance to residents, consumers and 25 elected officials throughout the region.
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45 1 Illinois continues to be a leader in the 2 production of carbon free electricity with six nuclear 3 plants providing nearly half of the overall electricity 4 generated and over 90 percent of the carbon free 5 electricity in the state. Four of these facilities 6 reside within in the 16th District alone, where they 7 have been a driving force in stabilizing not only the 8 price of power, but also the reliability of the grid 9 overall.
10 If this source of clean base load power 11 generation, approximately 12,000 megawatts overall, 12 were not available, there is little doubt that prices 13 would rise exponentially and grid stability would be 14 negatively impacted. Additionally, the nuclear energy 15 industry has a substantial impact on the economy at the 16 state and local level. These plants are directly 17 responsible for providing thousands of quality, high 18 paying jobs for high skilled workers and in turn provide 19 a huge boost to our economy worth nearly $9 billion 20 annually.
21 The 800 employees at the LaSalle facility 22 pay over $50 million annually in payroll and given that 23 the majority of these employees reside in LaSalle and 24 Grundy Counties, they are able to provide a foundation 25 which supports the local base.
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46 1 We're here today to discuss the license 2 renewal application of the LaSalle generating station, 3 which is to provide clean reliable power for three 4 decades. A process to be involved by NRC attainable in 5 a transparent manner in which it conducts these hearings 6 allowing members of the public the opportunity to 7 provide comments on the environmental aspects of the 8 process. There is a level of commitment and 9 transparency that should take place at aspects of 10 government licensing.
11 It is also important to note the NRC also 12 requires the plant's application to include an 13 additional environmental report based solely on a 14 plant's potential impact to the environment should the 15 application be extended beyond its initial license.
16 This extra step helps to insure the safety and 17 environmental benefit of the facility to the 18 surrounding area.
19 It is my hope that as this multi-year effort 20 takes place, they will continue to do so in an 21 expeditious manner as possible. Extending the life of 22 this facility for 20 years will insure that a clean 23 source of energy for millions of consumers is able to 24 move forward with certainty in the future operations.
25 Respectfully, Adam Kinzinger, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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47 1 Representative in Congress. Thank you.
2 MR. HAGAR: Thank you. Okay, now I've 3 been through the yellow cards. I didn't hear you, come 4 on up.
5 MR. KEENAN: For those of you who were here 6 earlier, I promise this will be just as riveting. I'm 7 John Keenan, I'm the Operating Director of LaSalle 8 County generating station. I have overall 9 responsibility for the safe day-to-day operation of 10 both nuclear units including shift operations and 11 support staff personnel. I have 15 years experience in 12 the nuclear industry. I started my career with LaSalle 13 station in 2000, I was an equipment operator, an 14 operations shift supervisor, a shift manager and shift 15 operations superintendent.
16 Operating the station safely and reliably 17 is a key responsibility for all of the employees at 18 LaSalle County generating station, one that we take very 19 seriously and as a personal commitment to ourselves, the 20 community and to the industry. I'm proud to say that 21 we've been a key part of this community for more than 22 30 years.
23 LaSalle county generating station operates 24 in a manner that preserves the environment. We 25 maintain a comprehensive radiological monitoring NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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48 1 program that extensively monitors the air, water and 2 soil around the facility to insure that we're not 3 adversely impacting the environment.
4 We have a comprehensive on-site 5 environmental groundwater protection program. This 6 program includes 20 on-site monitoring wells. We have 7 detailed procedures that outline how we test water 8 leaving the site. Radiation monitors are staged at 50 9 locations within a ten mile radius around the plant to 10 monitor radiation dose levels and to ensure the safety 11 of the community.
12 LaSalle's environmental management 13 systems are certified under the strict criteria of the 14 International Organization for Standardization, 15 specifically we received the ISO 14001 Certification.
16 This is an internationally recognized benchmark for 17 environmental management. The ISO 14001 Certification 18 requires a commitment to excellence in meeting our 19 regulatory requirements, in the prevention of 20 pollution, and continuous improvement of our 21 environmental systems.
22 The Wildlife Habitat Council recognized 23 LaSalle County generating station's commitment to 24 environmental stewardship by awarding us the Wildlife 25 at Work Certification. This distinction was awarded NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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49 1 for our wildlife habitat management and environmental 2 education program, as well as our commitment to 3 establishing long term wildlife habitat enhancements 4 for animal species living on our property.
5 To ensure LaSalle continues to operate 6 safely for years to come, Exelon continues to invest in 7 LaSalle. We spend millions of dollars each year to 8 improve and modernize the equipment and enhance plant 9 operations and safety systems. Our investment in the 10 future doesn't stop with investment in equipment, we've 11 hired 31 employees since the beginning of 2015, and we 12 maintain a workforce of approximately 800 employees.
13 During our annual maintenance and 14 refueling outages, that population grows temporarily 15 for about a month, by another 1500 employees bringing 16 a boost to the local economies. We also take pride in 17 our investments in the community. Last year our 18 employees donated over $180,000 to local United Way 19 agencies. We supported Labor of Love, a home repair 20 blitz for people who are unable to care for their homes 21 themselves. In addition to working with the Seneca 22 High School on local road clean-ups.
23 We have provided scholarships and raised 24 funds for local schools, food pantries and educational 25 initiatives. Our employees host toy, coat and school NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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50 1 supply drives. The LaSalle Station funds various 2 not-for-profit groups and agencies.
3 In short, we do our very best to be a good 4 neighbor. For more than 30 years, LaSalle station has 5 performed reliably and safely and has set numerous 6 benchmarks in the nuclear power industry. We work 7 toward license renewal every day through dedication to 8 continuous improvement.
9 In conclusion, we look forward to working 10 with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in their review 11 of our license renewal application. Thank you for your 12 time.
13 MR. HAGAR: All right, is there anyone else 14 for whom I do not have a yellow card? So let me ask 15 again, is there anyone who has any comments related to 16 or associated with the environmental impact review for 17 the license renewal of the LaSalle County station? Is 18 there anyone in the meeting who has anything else to say?
19 Then, Chris Miller, do you have any closing comments?
20 MR. MILLER: I do. Thank you, Bob. My 21 name is Chris Miller, I'm the Director of the Division 22 of License Renewal for the Nuclear Regulatory 23 Commission and it's our division that performs the 24 analysis of the licensee's application.
25 First of all I've got to say thank you, you NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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51 1 know, taking this time out of your evening, there's a 2 lot of other things I'm sure people had to do at this 3 time in the evening. But it really means a lot to us 4 to get the participation.
5 I want to thank the people that helped put 6 this on and set this up. It's nice to have a facility 7 like this and be able to share comments and discussion.
8 We heard a number of comments, I don't want 9 to go through all them and give you a litany, but I, I'll 10 just tell you a couple things that we heard. First of 11 all, I want to say for the people who had questions at 12 the beginning, before we took the statements and the 13 comments we had some questions. For those folks, 14 Linda, Marvin, Ruth, we have your contact information 15 and I believe you have ours. Some of your questions may 16 likely be outside the bounds of our license renewal 17 application review, things on waste storage, routine 18 maintenance and how licensees prove they are effective 19 is within their technical specifications and how the NRC 20 reviews that.
21 But we will get back to you with the right 22 people to be able to answer that, those questions.
23 On the statements today, and some folks 24 gave a shortened version of what they gave earlier, we 25 have those comments from earlier. I do want to thank NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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52 1 our representatives that have shown up here, public 2 representatives, Reed Wilson from Congressman 3 Kinzinger's office. Appreciate the letter and the 4 statement that the Congressman provided regarding his 5 views on the safety and the reliability of the power and 6 what the station means to the community. And the, 7 especially the comment on transparency and openness. I 8 wanted to reflect on that for just one minute because 9 that's something that the NRC, Nuclear Regulatory 10 Commission, really values. It's one of our core 11 principles.
12 We want to be transparent in what we do, we 13 want the public to see what we're doing and be involved 14 in those processes as we go through that. And so we have 15 several different stages. We have these kinds of 16 meetings, we have comment periods, you heard about the 17 comment period that closes April 6th. So if you didn't 18 get a chance to make your comment, you can still make 19 comments online, I know some of you have said that you're 20 going to do that and there's various ways beside online 21 to make those comments. So we value that openness and 22 that public participation, so appreciate it, appreciate 23 the comment there on openness and transparency.
24 I want to thank also, Mr. Hicks from the 25 LaSalle County Board to give us the local board's views NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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53 1 of how this station is perceived and the benefits that 2 you see coming out of this station.
3 We also heard comments from Mr. Gallagher 4 highlighting the clean, safe, reliable source of power 5 that they believe that Exelon is and will continue to 6 be through this and through the extending period of 7 operation, and a number of points there.
8 Mr. Louis mentioning how the trades support 9 this application. Mr. Carlson, good presentation on 10 the all the educational benefits and the partnership 11 there. I'm going to have to look up Mr. Wagner and his 12 ideas. But thank you for bringing that, your point 13 forward there.
14 And we heard several of folks from the plant 15 talking about, again, safe, reliable operation. Not 16 only that, but I think as Mr. Keenan talked about, a good 17 stewardship, a good community partner. We've heard 18 that a number of times today and so those comments came 19 across.
20 Again, this is one session, there's other 21 opportunities to put in those comments. What things 22 should we consider as we're looking the environmental 23 review. What are those things that you want us to look 24 at because you, the folks that live closer here than we 25 do may have some insights that we're not seeing, we're NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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54 1 not getting. So please provide those comments to us.
2 We really appreciate you coming out tonight 3 and we appreciate, we look forward to your comments now 4 through April 6th and we will take those seriously.
5 We'll provide a summary of this, a transcript of this 6 meeting and then there's other opportunities as we make 7 our reviews public later on, for interaction.
8 So I thank everyone here tonight. And I'll 9 turn it over, back to you Bob.
10 MR. HAGAR: Now we've gone through all four 11 parts of the meeting. The last thing I want to say, 12 besides thanks for everybody showing up and thank you 13 for your attention, your time and attention this 14 evening.
15 The last thing I want to say is there's a 16 stack of meeting feedback forms. Brian is holding one 17 of them up now. If you would please, as you leave, pick 18 up a copy, pick up one of those forms and provide us any 19 comments you have regarding this meeting this evening.
20 And we'll consider your input as a way that we can 21 improve meetings in the future.
22 So, last chance for anybody to say 23 anything. All right, then thank you again. This 24 meeting is adjourned.
25 (Whereupon at 8:15 p.m. the meeting was NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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55 1 concluded.)
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