ML15091A329

March 10, 2015, Public Scoping Meetings for Environmental Review of LaSalle County Station (LSCS) Units 1 and 2, License Renewal Application

ML15091A329
Person / Time
Site:	LaSalle
Issue date:	04/01/2015
From:	Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:
Drucker D, 415-6223
References
20150222, TAC MF5567, TAC MF5568
Download: ML15091A329 (5)

Text

April 1, 2015 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting Summary

Title:

Public Scoping Meetings for Environmental Review of LaSalle County Station (LSCS)

Units 1 and 2, License Renewal Application (LRA) (TAC NOS. MF5567 AND MF5568)

Meeting Identifier: 20150222 Date of Meeting: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 Location: LaSalle County Emergency Management Agency, Ottawa, IL Type of Meeting: Category 3 Purpose of the Meeting(s):

To describe the license renewal process and to allow members of the public the opportunity to provide comments regarding environmental issues the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should consider during its environmental review of the LSCS LRA.

General Details:

The NRC held two meetings to accommodate interested persons, one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. Both meetings were preceded by an informal open house beginning one hour prior to the meeting where members of the public met with NRC staff.

The afternoon meeting was held from 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. CST. The evening meeting was scheduled from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. CST. Ten NRC staff members were present. The meetings were facilitated by Mr. Bob Hagar, an NRC in-house facilitator. The meetings began with a review of meeting ground rules and an introduction of NRC staff, followed by a presentation on the license renewal safety review process by Mr. Jeff Mitchell and the license renewal environmental review process by Mr. David Drucker. The presentations emphasized that comments were welcome to help focus the environmental review. Next, there was a question and answer period on the NRC staff presentations. Finally, there was the comment portion of the meetings in which the attendees provided comments.

Thirty-three people participated in the afternoon meeting (three of whom participated via phone), and 31 people participated in the evening meeting (three of whom participated via phone). Comments were provided at both the afternoon and evening meetings. In addition to members of the public, meeting participants included a representative from U.S.

Congressman Kinzingers office, the Nuclear Energy Information Service, local officials, and the applicant.

Summary of Presentation:

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 authorizes the NRC to grant licenses for commercial power reactors to operate for up to 40 years and allows these licenses to be renewed for up to another 20 years. The 40-year term was based primarily on economic considerations and antitrust factors, not on safety and technical limitations. The NRC has established a license renewal process that has two separate, but parallel review tracks; a safety review and an environmental review.

The focus of the safety review stems from the NRCs obligation under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, and is performed under the regulations of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 54, Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plant. The purpose of this review is to verify that each applicant has fully analyzed the management of aging effects in sufficient detail to conclude that the plant can be operated safely during the period of extended operation. The NRCs safety review is documented in the final safety evaluation report.

Under the NRCs environmental protection regulations in 10 CFR Part 51which implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)issuance of a new nuclear power plant operating license requires the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS). The NRC performs plant-specific reviews of environmental impacts of operating life extension in accordance with NEPA and the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions. As part of the environmental review, the staff consults with local, State, Federal, and Tribal officials.

The environmental review begins with a scoping process, which is an assessment of specific environmental impacts associated with renewing the LSCS operating licenses. Some environmental impacts are similar, if not identical, at all nuclear power plants, so, to improve efficiency, the NRC staff developed a generic environmental impact statement, NUREG-1437, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, that addresses a number of impacts common to all nuclear power plants. The NRC staff supplements the generic EIS with a plant-specific EIS (SEIS), in which all issues that are specific to LSCS will be addressed. The staff also re-examines the conclusions reached in the generic EIS to determine if there is any new and significant information that would change those conclusions. The NRC staff will make a recommendation on whether or not the environmental impacts are so great that they preclude maintaining the option of license renewal for energy-planning decisionmakers.

The closing date for submitting scoping comments is April 6, 2015. In addition to providing comments at the meetings, comments can be: (1) mailed to Chief, Rules, Announcements and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Mailstop 3WFN-06A44MP, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555; (2) submitted online using the Federal Rulemaking website at regulations.gov (keyword: NRC-2014-0268); or emailed to david.drucker@nrc.gov. Comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information. Do not include any information in comments that you do not want publicly disclosed.

Public Participation Themes:

Public comments at the afternoon meeting supported renewal of the operating licenses and nuclear power in general.

Most public comments at the evening meeting supported renewal of the operating licenses and nuclear power in general. In addition to these comments, the following three topics were also provided as public comments at the evening meeting: safety concerns with fuel enrichment, plant maintenance, and high level waste management.

A complete accounting of the comments provided can be found in the meeting transcripts which are available in the NRCs ADAMS public electronic reading room under the accession numbers listed below, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

Action Items/Next Steps:

NRC staff will address the comments provided during this meeting as part of the LRA review process for LSCS. A record of how each comment was addressed will be included in the Scoping Summary Report or draft SEIS.

A public meeting to discuss the draft SEIS will be conducted near the plant in approximately 12 months.

Attachments:

o Meeting description and agenda - ML15058A275 o NRC staff presentation - ML15062A364 o Meeting transcripts - ML15083A538 and ML15089A580

Public Participation Themes:

Public comments at the afternoon meeting supported renewal of the operating licenses and nuclear power in general.

Most public comments at the evening meeting supported renewal of the operating licenses and nuclear power in general. In addition to these comments, the following three topics were also provided as public comments at the evening meeting: safety concerns with fuel enrichment, plant maintenance, and high level waste management.

A complete accounting of the comments provided can be found in the meeting transcripts which are available in the NRCs ADAMS public electronic reading room under the accession numbers listed below, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

Action Items/Next Steps:

NRC staff will address the comments provided during this meeting as part of the LRA review process for LSCS. A record of how each comment was addressed will be included in the Scoping Summary Report or draft SEIS.

A public meeting to discuss the draft SEIS will be conducted near the plant in approximately 12 months.

Attachments:

o Meeting description and agenda - ML15058A275 o NRC staff presentation - ML15062A364 o Meeting transcripts - ML15083A538 and ML15089A580 ADAMS Accession Nos.:

(PKG) ML15097A308 (MEMO) ML15091A329

• concurred via email OFFICE LA:RPB2:DLR PM:RPB2:DLR BC:RPB2:DLR NAME IBetts*

DDrucker BWittick DATE 4/1/15 4/1/15 4/1/15 OFFICE RECORD COPY

DISTRIBUTION:

Listserv David Drucker U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Brian Wittick NRC Bob Hagar NRC Jeff Mitchell NRC Harral Logaras NRC Victoria Mitlyng NRC Mike Kunowski NRC Rob Ruiz NRC John Robbins NRC Don Krause NRC Chris Miller NRC Stu Sheldon NRC Rick Baum NRC Elizabeth Poole EPA Region 5 (via phone)

Reed Wilson Office of U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger Jerry Hicks LaSalle County Board Chairman Larry Louis Illinois Valley Building Trades Association Rick Zuffa Illinois Emergency Management Agency Cecil Settles Illinois Emergency Management Agency Doug OBrien Illinois Clean Energy Coalition Jim Carlson Superintendent, Seneca Township High School Roger Blomquist Argonne National Laboratory Beth Jung Nuclear Power Illinois Linda Lewison Nuclear Energy Information Service (via phone)

Ruth Thomas Environmentalists, Inc. (via phone)

Marvin Lewis Public (via phone)

Wayne Eichelkraut City of Ottawa Connie Brooks Director, LaSalle County Emergency Management Agency Shelli Ocepak United Way of Eastern LaSalle County Tom Walsh LaSalle County Board, District 18 Mike Gallagher Exelon Generating Company (Exelon)

Chris Willson Exelon Krista Lopykinski Exelon John Keenan Exelon Meagan Borchers Exelon Bryan Mooney Exelon Pete Karaba Exelon Harold Vinyard Exelon Jay Houston Exelon Nancy Ranek Exelon