ML15208A587
| ML15208A587 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Pilgrim |
| Issue date: | 07/09/2015 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Guzman R | |
| References | |
| 2.206, LTR-15-0319, NRC-1725 | |
| Download: ML15208A587 (29) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
10 CFR 2.206 Petition Review Board RE Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Docket Number:
05000293 Location:
teleconference Date:
Thursday, July 9, 2015 Work Order No.:
NRC-1725 Pages 1-29 Edited by: Richard V. Guzman, Petition Manager NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 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 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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10 CFR 2.206 PETITION REVIEW BOARD (PRB)
CONFERENCE CALL RE PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION
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THURSDAY JULY 9, 2015
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The conference call was held, Scott A.
Morris, Chairperson of the Petition Review Board, presiding.
PETITIONERS:
REBECCA CHIN, Town of Duxbury Nuclear Advisory Committee MARY LAMPERT, Pilgrim Watch BILL MAURER, Cape Downwinders DIANE TURCO, Cape Downwinders
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 PETITION REVIEW BOARD MEMBERS SCOTT A. MORRIS, Director Division of Inspection and Regional Support, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation RICHARD GUZMAN, Petition Manager for 2.206 Petition TANYA MENSAH, Petition Review Board Coordinator EMILY MONTEITH, Office of General Counsel RAY MCKINLEY, Branch Chief, Division of Reactor Projects, Region I DOUG TIFFT, State Liaison Officer, Region I
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 TABLE OF CONTENTS Participant Introductions..........................4 Scott Morris, Petition Review Board Director.......7 Petitioners Mary Lampert, Pilgrim Watch.......................12 Bill Maurer, Cape Downwinders.....................19 Rebecca Chin, Town of Duxbury Nuclear.............22 Advisory Committee Diane Turco, Cape Downwinders.....................25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 P R O C E E D I N G S 1
2:04 p.m.
2 MR. GUZMAN: Good afternoon. This is Rich 3
Guzman, Project Manager in the Office of Nuclear Reactor 4
Regulation. I'd like to thank everyone for attending 5
this meeting.
6 The purpose of today's teleconference is to 7
allow the Petitioners representing Pilgrim Watch, Cape 8
Downwinders and the Nuclear Advisory Committee to 9
address the Petition Board regarding the future of its 10 petition dated June 11th, 2015, regarding radiological 11 merchant response and test measures at Pilgrim Nuclear 12 Power Station.
13 I'm the Petition Manager for this petition.
14 The PRB Chairman is Scott Morris.
15 The meeting is scheduled from 2:00 p.m. to 16 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The meeting is being recorded 17 by the NRC Operations Center and will be transcribed by 18 a Court Reporter. The transcript will become a 19 supplement to the petition and will also be made 20 publicly available in ADAMS.
21 I'd like to open the teleconference with 22 introductions. We will go around the room and the 23 bridge line please be sure to clearly state your name, 24 your position and your office or organization for the 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 record. I'll go ahead and start.
1 Again, Rich Guzman, Project Manager in NRR.
2 MR. MORRIS: Scott Morris, NRR.
3 MS. MONTEITH: Emily Monteith, Office of the 4
General Counsel.
5 MS. MENSAH: Tanya Mensah, Division of 6
Policy and Rulemaking, NRR.
7 MR. GUZMAN: That completes introductions 8
here at NRC Headquarters.
9 Okay. Are there any NRC participants from 10 the regional office.
11 MS. McNAMARA: Nancy McNamara, Region I, 12 State Liaison Officer.
13 MR. TIFFT: Doug Tifft, Region I State 14 Liaison Officer.
15 MR. McKINLEY: Ray McKinley. I'm the 16 Division of Reactor Projects Branch Chief for Pilgrim.
17 MR. GUZMAN: Okay. And are there any 18 representatives on the line for Entergy, the Licensee 19 for Pilgrim?
20 And for the record, would the Petitioners 21 please introduce yourselves.
22 MS. LAMPERT: Mary Lampert, Pilgrim Watch 23 Director.
24 MS. CHIN: Rebecca Chin, Co-Chairman of the 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Nuclear Advisory Committee for the Town of Duxbury.
1 MS. TURCO: Diane Turco, Cape Downwinders.
2 MR. MAURER: Bill Maurer, Cape Downwinders, 3
Falmouth, Mass.
4 MR. GUZMAN: Okay. It is not required for 5
members of the public to introduce themselves on this 6
call but if there are any members of the public on the 7
phone that wish to be heard at this time please state 8
your name for the record.
9 And for our Court Reporter, would you also 10 please state your name?
11 COURT REPORTER: Toby Walter, Neal Gross.
12 MR. GUZMAN: Okay. I'd like to ask the 13 parties that we each need to speak loudly and clearly 14 so that the Court Reporter can accurately transcribe 15 this meeting. Also, if you do have something that you'd 16 like to say then please first state your name for the 17 record.
18 For those dialing into the teleconference 19 please remember to mute your phone and minimize any 20 background noise or distraction. If you don't have a 21 mute button it can be done by pressing the key *6 and 22 then to unmute press the *6 key again. Thanks.
23 And at this time, I'll turn it over the 24 Scott Morris, Petition Review Board Chairman.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 MR. MORRIS: Good afternoon. I'm Scott 1
Morris. I'm the Director of the Division of Inspection 2
and Regional Support here at NRC Headquarters in the 3
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
4 I obviously welcome you to this meeting 5
regarding the 2.206 submitted by Pilgrim Watch of Cape 6
Downwinders in the town of Duxbury Nuclear Advisory 7
Committee.
8 Just share a little bit of background on our 9
process first and foremost. As you know or likely know, 10 Section 2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 11 Regulations describes this petition process which is 12 really the primary mechanism for members of the public 13 to request enforcement action by the NRC in a public 14 process and this process obviously permits anyone 15 petitioning the NRC to take any enforcement-type action 16 related to the licensees that the NRC regulates or in 17 any associated license activity. So, depending on the 18 results of our evaluation, we can ultimately modify, 19 suspend or revoke any NRC issued license or take any 20 other appropriate enforcement action to resolve a 21 problem.
22 The NRC's guidance for how we work this 23 process, particular petition request is in our own 24 internal management directive 8.11 and if you're 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 interested that's a publicly available document on our 1
external safety website.
2 So, the purpose of today's teleconference 3
obviously is to give the Petitioners an opportunity to 4
provide any additional explanation or support for the 5
filing that was made before this Board of which I'm the 6
Chairman, you know, does any real initial consideration 7
in ultimately making a recommendation with regard to how 8
to disposition the request.
9 This meeting is not a hearing. It's not an 10 opportunity to, you know, question the Petition Review 11 Board members or, you know, really look at the merits 12 of any of the issues in the request for us, we're not 13 going to do that. We're just collecting information at 14 this point. We're not making decisions during this 15 conference. So, really it's an opportunity for the 16 petitioners to share additional information. And 17 obviously following this teleconference, you know, 18 myself and members of the Board will conduct our 19 internal deliberations and the outcome of this meeting 20 will be discussed with the petitioners.
21 Typically, the PRB, Petition Review Board, 22 consists of a chairman and in this case myself and I am 23 a senior executive here at the NRC. I've been with the 24 agency for almost 23 years. I've spent a lot of time 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 in the field as an inspector, senior resident inspector 1
at two different power plants and I've worked in 2
multiple offices here at NRC so I've got a lot of 3
experience with not only this process but a variety of 4
other licensing and oversight and enforcement 5
activities. And I've been a Petition Manager in the 6
past so I've got a lot of familiarity with this.
7 In addition, the Board has a Petition 8
Manager which in this case is as Rich has already 9
mentioned himself and the PRB Coordinator. Now, who is 10 that? Tanya Mensah is our PRB Coordinator.
11 MS. LAMPERT: Could you speak up. It seems 12 that the people sitting around, Scott, are not speaking 13 loudly. We could not even hear their introductions.
14 MR. MORRIS: Okay. That was Tanya Mensah 15 and she's a Branch Chief in -- she is the Petition Review 16 Board Coordinator. So, there's a Chairman, a Petition 17 Manager and a Coordinator and there's other members of 18 the Board based on whatever happens to be the content.
19 So, in this case we also have The Office of the General 20 Counsel and obviously the regional office. Region I.
21 So, anyway, just to close up on the process, 22 as the Petitioners provide information on the call day 23 it's likely or it's a good possibility that the NRC staff 24 will ask clarifying questions simply to better 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 understand the information that you're sharing to help 1
us make a reasonable decision on whether to accept or 2
reject the request under the 2.206 process.
3 I don't believe anyone from the Licensee is 4
on this call but if they happen to join us later they'll 5
have an opportunity to ask questions to clarify the 6
issues raised by the Petitioners as well.
7 So, as I understand it and just a brief summary 8
of my understanding of the scope of the Petition which 9
is under consideration is that on June 11th of this year 10 the Petitioners submitted a 2.206 petition regarding 11 some concerns with the adequacy of the Emergency 12 Response Plan and the associated protected measures at 13 the nuclear power station.
14 In the request the Petitioners asked that 15 the NRC take appropriate enforcement related actions 16 relative to the Pilgrim Operating License to insure 17 there's reasonable assurance of adequate protective 18 measures that can and will be taken in the event of a 19 radiological emergency at the Pilgrim Station.
20 Additionally, petitioners requested that 21 the NRC reevaluate the adequacy of the Pilgrim Emergency 22 Plan, investigate actions of the Federal and State 23 emergency management agencies involved in which my 24 understanding is the Petitioners believe some false 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 information was provided to the NRC relative to the 1
evacuation with respect to the recent winter Storm Juno.
2 I guess that was in January. And amend the recently 3
issued NRC inspection report, the content to be included 4
into that report.
5 So, before I turn it over to Mary and 6
others, just remind you all that when you're speaking 7
please identify yourself before you speak to that will 8
help us with preparing the meeting transcript. That 9
will help the meeting transcribers get the transcript 10 of this conversation correct because it will be a 11 publicly available document among other things.
12 And because it's a public meeting today I'd 13 like to remind all participants to refrain from 14 discussing any sensitive or proprietary information 15 during the call.
16 So, I'll turn it over to you, Mary and 17 others and allow you to provide any additional 18 explanation or support that you believe that we should 19 consider as part of the Petition.
20 MS. LAMPERT: Okay. Mary Lampert, Pilgrim 21 Watch.
22 Clearly, NRC's mission is to protect public 23 health and safety and part of this is to insure there 24 are adequate protective actions in place which was not 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 the case in January 2015.
1 A March 30 email from NRC's Cheryl Khan that 2
we have copied in the Petition said that NRC relies on 3
FEMA in agreement with the State to provide a reasonable 4
assurance finding that the State's plan including the 5
availability of evacuation routes is adequate for 6
protecting public health and safety.
7 He went on to say during the recent 8
Massachusetts snow storm the NRC was in continuous 9
contact with FEMA and MEMA in consultation with the town 10 emergency management agencies within the 10-mile EPZ.
11 The state and FEMA provided the NRC a reasonable 12 assurance finding that the State was capable of 13 implementing their emergency plan. But there's more to 14 the story than that.
15 10 CFR 50.54(f)(2)(ii) requires that "If 16 the NRC finds that the State, the emergency 17 preparedness, does not provide reasonable assurance 18 that adequate protective measures can and will be taken 19 in the event of a radiological emergency, the Commission 20 will determine whether the reactor shall be shut down 21 until such deficiencies are remedied or whether other 22 enforcement action is appropriate. In both cases, the 23 NRC will base its findings on a review of the Federal 24 Emergency Management Agency findings and 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 determinations as to whether state and local emergency 1
plans are adequate and capable of being implemented."
2 The key words here are "NRC will base its 3
findings on a review." In other words, not as Cheryl 4
Khan implied that the NRC will accept whatever FEMA's 5
findings are, no, the responsibility is to review the 6
findings and make sure that they make sense, that they 7
are adequate that in fact public health and safety can 8
reasonably be assured by having the capability for a 9
timely evacuation. We have shown that there was no 10 evacuation that was possible. There was no contact 11 made as said with the Emergency Management Director of 12 the town of Duxbury, for example. It was obvious that 13 FEMA's findings were not true. We showed that. And 14 don't tell us that the NRC did not know that during the 15 pre-Juno Storm and during the storm itself.
16 Pilgrim has NRC resident inspectors. Number 17 one, Region I keeps tabs on weather forecasts to assure 18 the licensee is doing what they should do and following 19 precautionary instructions. So no one in the NRC 20 didn't know what was going on. NRC cannot get off the 21 hook by passing it off to the absurd report from FEMA 22 and MEMA.
23 The Petition Review Board must recognize 24 this and if they don't to explain with facts, not 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 platitude, in a decision why what facts we presented 1
were incorrect. How you would know whether emergency 2
plan could be followed, whether the public could be 3
evacuated. Do you have any facts to contradict what the 4
Emergency Management Director in the town of Duxbury had 5
to say?
6 MR. MORRIS: Are you asking me a question 7
because --
8 MS. LAMPERT: No, I know you can't answer 9
the question. I'm just making the point --
10 MR. MORRIS: Yes, I mean I think -- I'll just 11 point out --
12 MS. LAMPERT: I know that. I'm making --
13 MR. MORRIS: Mary, Mary, Scott Morris here.
14 I just want to point out that the people in this room 15 are, I mean, I have absolutely zero -- I'm completely 16 objective because I didn't know -- I haven't even looked 17 at the facts of this case until this Petition came in 18 so I haven't been associated with it. So, I'll leave 19 it at that.
20 MS. LAMPERT: No, I'm accusing NRC in a 21 larger term, not you --
22 MR. MORRIS: Okay.
23 MS. LAMPERT: -- as an NRC person. But 24 this will lead up to the fact that we are tired of 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 Petition Review Board previous decisions that provide 1
platitude and no rebuttal of the facts that are 2
presented. And so this is something that we are hoping 3
that this Petition Review Board will act differently.
4 But to go on we showed that the governor said and this 5
is important at MEMA Headquarters with MEMA standing 6
beside the governor. This was televised. This was on 7
radio, the speech, etcetera, etcetera. "White-out 8
conditions and treacherous roads will make driving 9
anywhere extremely dangerous. I repeat, driving will 10 be virtually impossible in many areas for extended 11 periods starting late tonight while the reactor was 12 operating and through much of tomorrow." The Governor, 13 "I can't stress this hard enough, please stay off the 14 roads. Everyone should expect impassable roads across 15 the state. We are also preparing for major coastal 16 flooding along our entire coastline. High tide is 17 inconveniently coming at about 4:00 a.m. in most places 18 and will be right at the peak of the storm and threat 19 of coastal flooding is very real. We can see damage to 20 coastal roads as well. It's extremely important that 21 everyone stays off the roads. We declare the state of 22 emergency effective immediately." Then we showed an 23 interview on television with MEMA saying the same thing.
24 Is this the very same MEMA that assured that evacuation 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 was possible?
1 Again, it was televised widely. We then 2
asked our Emergency Management Director, gee, NRC, 3
Cheryl Khan, says that MEMA was in contact with 4
Emergency Management Director to get assurance that 5
evacuation was possible. And he replied, no. And we 6
provided the email, no. No one contacted me. And if 7
they had contacted me I would have said that the town 8
would not be capable in days to evacuate. However, we 9
see a different story provided to us by NRC. Somebody 10 is not telling the truth.
11 What does this lead us? Where does it lead 12 the Petition Review Board what has to be done? You 13 summarize. Require NRC to send a team up here as they 14 did in the early '90s when Commissioner Carr was chair 15 to determine if, in fact, emergency response is 16 adequate.
17 It is clear that FEMA and MEMA's 18 assessments have shown to be untrustworthy. There is 19 no basis no assume that we or the NRC can rely on their 20 assurances that they have previously provided. As a 21 footnote I will say, the town of Duxbury when asked 22 annual whether they approved the town's Pilgrim 23 Radiological Emergency Plan and Procedures has 24 resoundingly said, no. However, it would appear that 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 MEMA and FEMA disregards that and say, yes. Therefore, 1
FEMA and MEMA having been caught with their hand in the 2
cookie jar not telling the truth it would then be 3
incumbent upon NRC to come up and look for themselves 4
because the buck stops with the NRC.
5 Second, we would ask that you do an 6
investigation of FEMA and MEMA and I am assuming that 7
NRC's Cheryl Khan was telling the truth but to get at 8
the bottom and take appropriate action for those 9
responsible for not telling the truth.
10 Third, require that the NRC we ask to amend 11 Pilgrim's operating license so that Pilgrim would be 12 required, not simply volunteer, as they did in the next 13 storm, Neptune, for a precautioning shutdown when 14 severe weather conditions are forecast or present, 15 obviously, spelling out parameters.
This is 16 particularly important at Pilgrim because Pilgrim faces 17 northeast. The most severe storms that we can get here 18 come from the northeast, northeasters. As important, 19 the switch yard faces northeast at sea level with fills 20 on either side channeling the wind, the spray into the 21 switch yard and Bill Maurer can talk about that bringing 22 about loss of outside power.
Last, require that 23 NRC amend its May 27th inspection report to explicitly 24 state that during Juno there was no reasonable assurance 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 that the state was capable of implementing their 1
emergency plan including evacuation. That should not 2
go unnoticed because it's a serious finding. And to say 3
it again, we request that the PRB this time provided a 4
detailed response if, in fact, the petition is not 5
accepted.
6 I'll state again which I have since 2012 7
when Judge Rosenthal pointed out with one possible 8
exception the NRC has not granted a Section 2.206 9
petitioner with substantive relief if sought for at 10 least 37 years. We would then bring it up to 40 years.
11 He said further that, "Where truly 12 substantive relief is being sought, i.e., some 13 affirmative administrative action taken with respect to 14 the licensee or license there should be no room for a 15 belief on the requested part that the pursuit of that 16 course is either being encouraged by commission 17 officials then or has a fair chance of success. That 18 is a very disturbing record. It is disturbing also that 19 the game is rigged because we cannot appeal the 20 decisions and it's becoming increasingly disturbing 21 because PRB decisions are nothing but platitudes of late 22 with no substantive facts or demonstrations of why the 23 petitioners facts were disregarded or not considered.
24 And so I'll turn it over to others on the 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 call. Thank you very much.
1 MR. MORRIS: All right. Thank you, Mary.
2 This is Scott Morris. Are there others who are either 3
from Duxbury or Downwinders that would like to comment 4
that they would like to add?
5 MR. MAURER: Yes, I'll chime in here. This 6
is Bill Maurer from Cape Downwinders in Falmouth, Mass.
7 I did a little study of the Pilgrim scrams 8
due to nor'easters. The first was in 1978, the Blizzard 9
of '78. And since then it's scrammed eight times due 10 to nor'easters, blizzards and ice and snow storms. And 11 each of those eight times they were associated with 12 failures in the switchyard.
So, you
- know, 13 historically, Pilgrim, it's a no-brainer. The 14 switchyard at Pilgrim is vulnerable to failure during 15 nor'easters, winter storms. And we asked the NRC to ask 16 Entergy for a precautionary closure prior to Juno and 17 that was ignored. So, basically, the NRC and Entergy 18 decided to roll the dice to see if the switchyard would 19 make it through this winter and it didn't. And, you 20 know, I really think that set a reckless risk-taking 21 when you look at the history of the switchyard failures 22 and with the conditions that caused those failures.
23 It's not a surprise that the switchyard failed.
24 And the second part of it which deals 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 directly with the 2.206 is that if there's to be a 1
weather offense here in the northeast, you know, travel 2
-- evacuation is off the table as an emergency 3
preparedness option. Basically, people are left with 4
the only thing to do is shelter in place which they'll 5
have to do because they're snow bound. And that can 6
last for days to a week. And, you know, that's not 7
unusual. That's a typical severe winter storm here in 8
the northeast.
9 And so, you know, knowing that and knowing 10 that duration is a key ingredient of emergency 11 preparedness planning it seems again to be a no-brainer 12 that there's a deficiency in the emergency preparedness 13 planning when you leave pilgrim on line during severe 14 weather events.
15 Now, this past winter was about a winter 16 storm. But, you know, travel can be impacted by 17 hurricanes, you know, snow and ice storms any sorts of 18 storms that, you know, knocks branches down and make 19 travel on the roads impassable or impossible or 20 difficult.
21 So, I'll stop there. This isn't rocket 22 science. There's a deficiency. We have an inherent 23 deficiency. One of them is in the Pilgrim switchyard 24 and the other is in the emergency preparedness planning 25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 in evacuation during severe weather events.
1 And, you know, I'll just finish saying that, you 2
know, program failures seem to be coincident with severe 3
weather events.
4 That's it. Thank you.
5 MR. GUZMAN: Hey, Bill, thanks for those 6
comments. This is Rich Guzman.
7 I just want to get clarification on a 8
statement that you made. You mentioned certain actions 9
were requested to the NRC with regard to these stated 10 references to the switchyard failures. Was that a 11 formal request in the form of a 2.206 petition or such 12 as an email?
13 MR. MAURER: I believe it was an email. And 14 I don't have the document in front of me. But I can dig 15 that up and I can forward the details of that request 16 to you if you wish.
17 MR. GUZMAN: If you feel that that would 18 support your petition that's entirely up to you. I just 19 wanted to make sure I fully understood the context of 20 that particular action.
21 MR. MAURER: Yes, there was a request and I 22 don't know the exact way it was delivered. I believe 23 it was delivered in the form of an email. But I have 24 to dig up the details on it for you.
25
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(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 MR. GUZMAN: Okay.
1 MR. MORRIS: Do you want any other comments?
2 Is anyone--
3 MS. CHIN: This is Rebecca Chin from the 4
Duxbury Nuclear Advisory Committee.
5 I would like to make note in our emergency 6
plan that the notification component is practically 7
null and void during these storms because very 8
frequently the entire area is without power which means 9
the people are not able to hear it on the radio or the 10 TV unless they have a battery-operated radio in which 11 case they can only turn it on for short periods of time.
12 Now, during Juno this area in Duxbury was 13 really only out for a matter of hours but it's not 14 uncommon to be out for a matter of days. And, 15 therefore, that the notification component in our plans 16 is so inadequate because so many people now rely on 17 telephones that are not land lines. And so you can't 18 put a mass calling out as well. And these sirens are 19 probably useless during a northeast blizzard and I would 20 just like to call that to your attention.
21 MR. MORRIS: Okay. Thank you. That's 22 helpful.
23 Does anybody here -- NRC has questions.
24 MS. LAMPERT: Could I add a comment, please?
25
23 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. MORRIS: Sure, Mary, go ahead.
1 MS. LAMPERT: This is Mary Lampert.
2 Just to add a new comment to what Bill said 3
regarding the switchyard. I know that the licensee and 4
Entergy are looking into fixes. Three fixes have been 5
suggested but the real fix which would be covering the 6
switchyard is not among them. And so I take that into 7
consideration when you evaluate our request about 8
requiring shutdowns during certain severe storm 9
conditions that Entergy's plan to diddle with the 10 switchyard is totally inadequate and we can explain why 11 if you would like that in writing. They're intending 12 to use water sprays to get the ice off. Well, why isn't 13 it going to refreeze, for example? So, none of the 14 fixes I think if you take seriously so that there is 15 reasonable assurance that in northeasters, in the 16 severe coastal storms that you will not have a loss of 17 outside power because the real fix covering the 18 switchyard is an expensive fix. That's my personal 19 opinion.
20 Also, as far as delays of evacuation in 21 severe storms the KLG evacuation time estimates which 22 we had filed previously at 2.206 which was summarily 23 would know a real explanation dismissed by that CRB. It 24 said that in a severe storm we'd really only an increase 25
24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 of perhaps an hour in evacuation times. Well, that was 1
shown to be a lie by the experience we had here during 2
Juno and I could not get out of my driveway for three 3
to four days because the snow plow couldn't get here and 4
the plowing that began on the street created a mountain 5
at the end of my driveway. So, I went to do any business 6
uptown on snow shoes. How long would it take to 7
evacuate in snow shoes? That's an absurd. The whole 8
thing is absurd.
9 And as far as sirens go, I know they have 10 back-ups, etcetera, but the town on Duxbury and we can 11 send you this did a telephone survey when there wasn't 12 a storm and the sirens were sounded and the majority of 13 the people could not understand the voice message. So, 14 what would be the probability even if the sirens sounded 15 with folks in a storm which hopefully they have their 16 windows down could -- they couldn't hear it on a good 17 day.
18 So, I just throw those out and I'm sure 19 Diane Turco might have something to say or others. The 20 Board might have questions.
21 Thank you.
22 MS. TURCO: This is Diane Turco with Cape 23 Downwinders.
24 And I just want to share with the Board just 25
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 a little sentiment here that the people of Massachusetts 1
are becoming very agitated that the Nuclear Regulatory 2
Commission is not upholding its mandate to insure public 3
health and safety, you know. The operations that 4
reacted during that historical storm with all those 5
warnings it shows that the profits of Entergy 6
Corporation are preceding the public health and safety 7
that the NRC allowed the operation and told them to 8
continue during that historically dangerous storm Juno, 9
knowing from your own documentation that failure of the 10 switchyard was another historically danger at Pilgrim 11 and that Entergy had not made those repairs as shown in 12 your inspection report of January 26th, 2015, just 13 before the storm that put citizens' safety at risk. And 14 this is a totally unacceptable violation of the public 15 trust.
16 That forum was labeled by the Union of 17 Concerned Scientists as a near -- the incident was 18 considered a near miss. Those involved in the false 19 report of Assured Public Safety should be held 20 accountable as Mary Lampert has outlined. And as such 21 Pilgrim remains the most serious threat to all of us 22 whether a severe weather incident or whatever because 23 in 2013 all of those losses of offsite power were related 24 not to a severe weather storm but to equipment failure.
25
26 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, we demand -- Cape Downwinders demands that the 1
Nuclear Regulatory Commission revoke the operating 2
license of Entergy for Pilgrim (Simultaneous speaking) 3
-- but as proven from Storm Juno public safety cannot 4
be assured but you did not follow your on mandate to 5
provide public safety by not calling for the closing of 6
the reactor. We will not accept as Mary said, that 7
platitudes and excuses. We will advocate for our 8
families and our communities so please heed our calls 9
because you have lost the public trust.
10 Thank you.
11 MR.
MORRIS:
All right.
- Diane, I
12 appreciate that. Obviously, an impassioned request 13 and I respect that and I appreciate the input and I can 14 assure you that the information that you've provided 15 particularly after we get an opportunity to review the 16 transcript and go back over it and meet as a group will 17 be taken seriously and will be considered with utmost 18 objectivity.
19 MS. TURCO: We sincerely hope so. Thank you 20 for our families and community.
21 MR. MORRIS: Okay. Does anybody here in the 22 room or on the phone from the regions have any additional 23 questions for the Petitioners? This is Scott Morris.
24 MR. McKINLEY: This is Ray. I have no 25
27 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 further questions.
1 MR. MORRIS: Okay. All right. And there's 2
no members -- no members of the public joined, I don't 3
believe or the licensee. I don't believe they joined 4
either. Okay.
5 Well, again, Scott Morris here. I do 6
appreciate it. This is useful for me in particular and 7
I'm sure to the other members of the Petition Review 8
Board. I guess at this point I would just say thank you 9
for providing us the information, taking the time today 10 to help enhance our understanding of your concerns.
11 And I guess the only other point of order that I would 12 raise is if the Court Reporter has any questions about 13 anything that was said or need clarification so that we 14 get the transcript correct.
MS.
LAMPERT:
15 Excuse me. This is Mary Lampert.
16 MR. MORRIS: Sure.
17 MS. LAMPERT: Do you have any requests from 18 us? Do you want any more materials that we referenced 19 in this discussion sent to you?
20 MR. MORRIS: I don't think so, Mary, at this 21 point. I mean, I think we have access to pretty much 22 everything we need or that you've already referenced or 23 shared. But I will say that through the course of our 24 deliberations it becomes clear that we need some 25
28 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 additional information and if we don't have direct it 1
Rich will reach out to you and we'll request that. But 2
at this point I don't think so.
3 MS. TURCO: Can I ask -- this is Diane Turco.
4 Can I ask, will you be able to use the 5
January 26 investigative report as part of this petition 6
where they identify all of the corrective action plans 7
that were not in place?
8 MR.
MORRIS:
I
- mean, when you say 9
investigation report do you mean inspection report?
10 MS. TURCO: I'm sorry, inspection report, 11 yes.
12 MR. MORRIS: Absolutely. Absolutely.
13 That's a matter of public record so --
14 MS. TURCO: Okay.
15 16 MR. MORRIS: Yes, you threw me off when you 17 said investigation.
18 MS. TURCO: Sorry.
19 MR. MORRIS: That has -- well, that just has 20 a unique meaning for us, that's all.
21 MS. TURCO: Yes.
22 MR. MORRIS: No problem. No worries.
23 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 24 off 2:46 p.m.)
25