ML16190A069
| ML16190A069 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Waterford  |
| Issue date: | 06/08/2016 |
| From: | Keegan E Division of License Renewal |
| To: | |
| Keegan Elaine, NRR/DLR, 415-8517 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML16172A078 | List: |
| References | |
| NRC-2016-0078, NRC-2428, TAC MF4064 | |
| Download: ML16190A069 (15) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Public Scoping Meeting for Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 2 Docket Number:
NRC-2016-0078 Location:
Hahnville, Louisiana Date:
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Work Order No.:
NRC-2428 Pages 1-14 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
+ + + + +
3 PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING 4
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW 6
WATERFORD STEAM ELECTRIC STATION, UNIT 3 7
+ + + + +
8 Wednesday, June 8, 2016 9
+ + + + +
10 Auditorium 11 St. Charles Parish Emergency Operation Center 12 15026 River Road 13 Hahnville, Louisiana 14
+ + + + +
15 7:00 p.m.
16 PRESENT:
17 GENE CARPENTER, Moderator 18 PHYLLIS CLARK 19 ELAINE KEEGAN 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
2 P R O C E E D I N G S 1
MR. CARPENTER: Good evening. It's the 2
appointed time, so we'll go ahead and get started.
3 I'm Gene Carpenter; I'm with the US Nuclear Regulatory 4
Commission. I am the meeting facilitator for this 5
evening.
6 With me today we have two my colleagues 7
from the NRC: Phyllis Clark, who is the safety review 8
project manager; and Elaine Keegan, who's the 9
environmental review project manager.
10 Today's meeting is for the licensee 11 renewal application, for the environmental review 12 scoping meeting for the Waterford steam generator --
13 steam electric station license renewal.
14 For the purpose of this meeting -- this is 15 a public meeting -- we are here to give you a 16 presentation as to just what will be going on for the 17 scoping of the license renewal application. Elaine 18 and Phyllis will do that. And then we will turn it 19 open to the public. This is Class 3 public meeting, 20 which means that we are here to get your comments.
21 Now, I do have a sign-up sheet for those 22 of you who wish to do comments, although you don't 23 have to sign up for it. Those who do sign up, I will 24 take you first, and then anybody else who wishes to 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
3 make comments, we will then ask for members of the 1
public to raise their hand and then come to the 2
microphone.
3 We do have a microphone here. The meeting 4
is being transcribed, so we will be able to capture 5
all of your comments for this.
6 Elaine and Phyllis will of course give you 7
an address that you could send your comments if you 8
don't wish to give them today, so that we can get that 9
from you at that point.
10 For the administrivia portion of this, 11 anyone who needs to, there are restrooms out the door 12 and to the back. If for any reason this facility 13 needs to actually operate or there is an emergency, 14 the gentleman all the way in the back in the green 15 shirt, he gets it. He is the one who is responsible, 16 and we defer directly to him, and the meeting stops.
17 So at this time, Elaine? Are you ready?
18 MS. KEEGAN: Okay.
19 MR. CARPENTER: I'm turning it over to 20 Elaine. Thank you.
21 MS. KEEGAN: Okay. I admit to being 22 technologically challenged.
23 As Gene said, my name's Elaine Keegan.
24 I'm the environment project reviewer -- or project 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
4 manager for the Waterford 3 license renewal, and I'll 1
give you a brief rundown of the process for a license 2
renewal from safety and environmental.
3 NRC's a federal agency that regulates the 4
civilian use of nuclear material. The Atomic Energy 5
Act authorized the NRC to grant license for 40 years.
6 The 40-year term is not based on safety or economic; 7
it was based on -- no, let me restart this.
8 The 40-year term was based primarily on 9
economic considerations and antitrust factors, not on 10 safety and technical limitations. The Atomic Energy 11 Act also allows for license renewal for an additional 12 20 years or more.
13 NRC's mission is to ensure adequate 14 protection of public health and safety, promote the 15 common defense and security, and to protect the 16 environment.
17 Waterford 3 -- these dates, you know them 18 probably better then I will. Application was 19 submitted in March of 2016, included an environmental 20 report with the application.
21 License renewal process has two parallel 22 paths: the environmental review and the safety 23 review. Hearings may conducted if interested 24 stakeholders submit contentions and request a hearing 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
5 and it's been accepted.
1 The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, 2
which is an adjudicatory panel, will conduct the 3
hearings. The Commission considers the outcome of the 4
hearing process in its decision on whether or not to 5
issue a renewed operating license.
6 Phyllis will describe the safety side of 7
the review later.
8 The environmental review is performed in 9
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 10 of 1969, or NEPA. NEPA establishes the national 11 policy for considering environmental impacts and 12 provides the basic architecture for federal 13 environmental reviews. All federal agencies must 14 follow a systematic approach in evaluating potential 15 impacts and must also assess alternatives to the 16 action.
17 The NEPA process involves public 18 participation and public disclosure. The two primary 19 parts of the process designed to obtain public 20 participation are the scoping process and when we 21 issue the draft supplemental environmental impact 22 statement.
23 We have public meetings near the plant so 24 that the people can provide the comments during the 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
6 scoping meeting and after the draft has been -- draft 1
EIS has been published. This slide shows the types of 2
areas that are reviewed, and our review will be 3
documented in the supplemental environmental impact 4
statement.
5 Our review may also consider mitigation 6
for those impacts considered significant. We also 7
consider the impacts of alternatives to license 8
renewal, including the impacts of not issuing a 9
renewed license. We document our review in the 10 environmental impact statement, which will be publicly 11 available.
12 In conducting our environmental review, we 13 consult with various federal, state, local officials, 14 as well as tribal leaders and gather pertinent 15 information from these sources to ensure it is 16 considered for our analysis.
17 Examples are National Oceanic and 18 Atmospheric Administration, Fish & Wildlife, state 19 department of public health, National Marine Fisheries 20 Service, and the state historic preservation officer.
21 We've also sent letters out to local tribal leaders.
22 Ultimately the purpose of the 23 environmental review is to determine whether the 24 environmental impacts of license renewal are 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
7 reasonable and, in combination with safety review and 1
inspections, to make a
recommendation to the 2
Commission whether to renew the license or not.
3 And now it's Phyllis's turn.
4 MS. CLARK: Good evening. I'm Phyllis 5
Clark, a safety project manager for the Waterford 3 6
license renewal application. I'm going to go over the 7
licensing renewal safety process very briefly.
8 To better understand the licensing renewal 9
process, it's good to know the safety principles that 10 guide license renewal. The first principle is that 11 the current regulatory process is adequate, and the 12 interrelationship between our regulations and 13 licensing and oversight activities provide for 14 adequate protection of the public health and safety at 15 any point during the plant life.
16 The second licensing renewal principle 17 describes mainly the current licensing basis for the 18 plant, operating experience, research results, and 19 other information that supports our decision making 20 also feed into the aging management program.
21 This information is also used in our 22 licensing activities as a basis for the changes of the 23 regulations and guidance.
24 As a consequence of applicants receiving 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
8 the renewal license, the aging management program is 1
necessary to ensure continuous safe operation of the 2
passive long-lived structures and components are added 3
to the existing plant licensing basis.
4 Next I'll go through this flow chart for 5
the actual safety review. The flow chart highlights 6
the licensing renewal safety review. The safety 7
review is performed under the regulation of 10 CFR 8
54 -- Part 54.
9 The focus of the safety review stems from 10 the NRC application under the Atomic Energy Act of 11 1954. The purpose of the review is to make sure and 12 verify that each applicant has fully analyzed the 13 management of the aging effects in sufficient detail 14 to conclude that the plant can be operated safely 15 during the period of extended operation.
16 The license renewal application must 17 contain technical information and evaluations about 18 the different types of plant aging that might be 19 encountered in specific plants and how the licensing 20 may manage or mitigate those aging effects.
21 This information must be sufficiently 22 detailed to permit the NRC staff to determine whether 23 effects of aging are well managed, such that the plant 24 can operate during the extended period of operation 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
9 without undue risk of health and safety to the public.
1 After completing the evaluation, the 2
staff's review is documented in the safety evaluation 3
report, which is -- the acronym is SER -- in addition, 4
a regional inspection report and also regional 5
administrator's recommendations of their issue to 6
document the results of the inspections conducted and 7
the overall regional oversight performed.
8 One of these considerations is independent 9
review performed by the Advisory Committee on Reactor 10 Safeguards, commonly referred to as ACRS. This is 11 mandated by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. The ACRS 12 is a group of scientists and nuclear safety experts 13 who serve as a consulting body to the Commission.
14 The ACRS reviews a renewal application, 15 the NRC staff's evaluation, which would be the SER, 16 and inspection findings. The ACRS reports their 17 findings and recommendations directly to the 18 Commission.
19 Subsequently the results of evaluation are 20 reviewed by the ACRS and, based on the review of the 21 information presented, the ACRS makes a decision to 22 issue a recommendation letter to grant the renewed 23 license, which is something that we -- well, Waterford 24 would like.
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
10 The step is very valuable since it 1
provides an independent third-party assessment of the 2
review performed. The dotted line on the flow chart 3
depicts that the hearings may be conducted if 4
interested stakeholders submit concerns or 5
contingencies and their request for the hearing is 6
granted.
7 The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board --
8 and this is an adjudicatory panel -- will conduct the 9
hearings. The Commission considers the outcome of the 10 hearing process in its decision on whether or not to 11 issue the renewed operating license.
12 Next we have the agency's decision, and 13 we'll discuss the Commission's consideration. In 14 summary, before deciding to issue the renewed 15 operating license, the Commission considers various 16 factors: the staff's safety review, which is 17 documented in the SER, safety evaluation report; the 18 staff's environmental review, which will be conducted 19 under Elaine Keegan's direction, which involved 20 preparation of the environmental impact statement; NRC 21 inspection findings and conclusions; the 22 recommendations of the ACRS and, if a hearing is 23 conducted, the outcome of the process is considered as 24 well.
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
11 Now, this completes the presentation of 1
the licensing aspect of it, and I'll turn it back over 2
to Elaine to inform you how to actually look at the 3
reviews, SER.
4 MS. KEEGAN: Okay. Based on this slide 5
you can tell we're usually geared more for members of 6
the public than for the licensees. The website for 7
the Waterford license renewal is there. It contains 8
links to the licensing application, the environmental 9
report, the most up-to-date schedule.
10 It also includes who -- Phyllis's name, my 11 name, and the division of operating reactor licensing 12 PM also.
13 If you want to get on the LISTSERV for 14 Waterford so that you get all the correspondence, 15 that's -- go to the Waterford LISTSERV and you'll get 16 all their correspondence.
17 These are the milestones that have been 18 established. We're at the June 8, obviously. The 19 draft supplemental environmental impact statement is 20 scheduled to be published in May of 2017. Safety 21 evaluation report will be available in June of 2017, 22 with a final EIS and the final SER in January of 2018.
23 This is contact information for Phyllis 24 and myself. Feel free to contact us.
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
12 If you want to submit comments after the 1
meeting, by mail it's to the Chief of the Rules, 2
Announcement, and Directives Branch. You can go to 3
regulations.gov, use docket ID NRC-2016-0078. In the 4
handouts it was 0079; -78 is correct.
5 Comments on the scoping for the 6
environmental review are due August 1. And that's all 7
I have. This has been the scariest meeting I've been 8
at since y'all are on our side, I guess. I've not 9
faced a friendly audience before.
10 Does anybody have questions about the 11 licensing process?
12 (No response.)
13 MS. KEEGAN: Anybody want to speak?
14 (No response.)
15 MS. KEEGAN: This is almost a record for 16 getting through.
17 No questions?
18 (No response.)
19 MS. KEEGAN: Come on. It wasn't that 20 good.
21 MR. CARPENTER: Any comments, anything?
22 You don't have to speak. We get paid whether you do 23 or not.
24 (No response.)
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
13 MS. KEEGAN: Well, that's it. It's all 1
yours.
2 MR. CARPENTER: So Elaine and Phyllis have 3
given you a very high-level overview of the process as 4
we go through in the NRC to review the applicant's 5
application for license renewal.
6 Again, at this time we're taking any 7
questions, any comments that you have on this; either 8
specifically questions regarding the environmental 9
impact and how we do that; how we do a license renewal 10 application. What is the NRC? Entirely up to you 11 guys.
12 (No response.)
13 MS. KEEGAN: (away from microphone) 14 MR. CARPENTER: No? Okay. Since those of 15 you in the audience heard what Phyllis was saying but 16 our court reporter could not, she'll be here again 17 next week, and if you have any further questions, you 18 can ask her in person at that time.
19 Again, you can submit comments after the 20 meeting, as we have up on the screen, or you can 21 contact either Phyllis or Elaine directly with 22 questions or comments, and their contact information 23 is available in the handout.
24 Going once? Twice?
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
14 (No response.)
1 MR. CARPENTER: Thank you very much. We 2
appreciate your participation. Have a very good 3
evening.
4 (Whereupon, at 7:19 p.m., the public 5
meeting was concluded.)
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433