ML19024A199
| ML19024A199 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Surry  |
| Issue date: | 01/08/2019 |
| From: | NRC/NRR/DMLR/MRPB |
| To: | |
| Tran T, NRR-DMLR 415-3617 | |
| References | |
| NRC-0023 | |
| Download: ML19024A199 (65) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Title: Subsequent License Renewal Scoping Meeting, Surry Power Station Units 1 and 2 Docket Number: 05000280 & 05000281 Location: Surry, Virginia Date: January 8, 2019 Work Order No.: NRC-0023 Pages 1-64 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 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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SURRY POWER STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2
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SUBSEQUENT LICENSE RENEWAL SCOPING MEETING
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TUESDAY JANUARY 8, 2019
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The meeting was held in the Surry Administrators Office at the Surry Government Center, 45 School Street, Surry, Virginia, at 6:00 p.m., Daniel Mussatti, facilitating.
NRC STAFF PRESENT:
DANIEL MUSSATTI, Facilitator EMMANUEL SAYOC, NRC BENJAMIN BEASELEY, NRC BARBARA HAYES, NRC ROGER HANNAH, NRC JOHN PELCHAT, NRC EDWIN LEA, NRC TAM TRAN, NRC NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction and Purpose......................... 3 SLR Safety Review Overview...................... 14 SLR Environmental Review Overview............... 19 Public Comments .......................... 28 Adjourn .......................... 62 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 6:00 p.m.
3 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, good afternoon, 4 everybody.
5 My name is Daniel Mussatti and I am your 6 facilitator for tonight and I want to welcome you 7 here to -- for your participation in this scoping 8 meeting for the Surry Power Station Units 1 and 2 9 relicensing application.
10 As the facilitator, my job is to help 11 the meeting to run smoothly and on time and that the 12 information that we gather from this meeting is 13 helpful for us to develop the reports that are 14 coming out from -- in concert with this application.
15 Therell be a safety report thats 16 coming out, but this meeting is for the environment 17 impact analysis that has to be done as part of that 18 safety analysis.
19 And, the agenda today includes two main 20 speakers that are going to be giving presentations 21 on -- with PowerPoint slides. You can see them 22 through the television screens up above you.
23 Following that, we will take questions 24 from the audience as to the process. Not about the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 1 plant itself or the application itself or nuclear 2 power in general, anything like that, about why is 3 it that you do it this way? Why is that you have a 4 public meeting like this and then you do this?
5 Anything about the process itself that you need 6 clarification on, well take questions from the 7 audience and then try to answer them to the best of 8 our ability.
9 Following that is going to be most 10 important part of this meeting and thats your input 11 as the public to us.
12 And, what were asking you here very 13 simply is, what is your advice when it comes to 14 making sure that this environmental impact statement 15 we have to write is as good as it can possibly be.
16 You live here, youre the people that 17 have the biggest contact with the environment here.
18 And so, you would be the ones who would be able to 19 tell us: wait a minute, you dont know anything 20 about this little rock quarry down the road over 21 here thats going to be impacted by whats going on.
22 Or, this little wetland over here that 23 has an endangered species in it or something like 24 that.
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5 1 These are the kinds of things were 2 looking for so that we can make this as accurate as 3 possible an environmental impact statement which we 4 will send to you in a draft form or publish in a 5 draft form for you to look at and then you get to 6 come back here and tell us what we did wrong and 7 tell us what we need to adjust to make that final as 8 we possibly can.
9 Hopefully, well get 99.9 percent of it 10 right the first time based on the marvelous comments 11 were going to be getting here tonight.
12 So, lets see what we can do about that.
13 Let me start by introducing the NRC team 14 and some of our guests that are in the room here.
15 The NRC team, we have three people that 16 are from the Licensing Renewal Branch at the NRR, 17 thats the Nuclear -- Office of Nuclear Reactor 18 Regulation.
19 And that would be Manny Sayoc, Manny, 20 where are you? There you are.
21 And, we have Tam Tran and we have 22 Barbara Hayes.
23 And, Tam and Tran are the environmental 24 project manager and Manny Sayoc is the safety NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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6 1 project manager.
2 MS. HAYES: Tam and Barb.
3 MR. MUSSATTI: Pardon?
4 MS. HAYES: Tam and Barb.
5 MR. MUSSATTI: Tam and Barb, okay.
6 We also have here with us the branch 7 chief of the Environmental and NEPA branch and 8 thats Ben Beasley here.
9 NEPA is an acronym that we use a lot.
10 It stands for the National Environmental Policy Act 11 which is the federal law that governs why in the 12 world were doing this in the first place.
13 We also have here with us the Regional 14 Public Affairs Officers from Region II which 15 includes this area here and that would be Roger 16 Hannah and, oh Im sorry, I got that wrong? Thats 17 John Pelchat and Edwin Lee, isnt that right?
18 (OFF MICROPHONE COMMENTS) 19 MR. MUSSATTI: I got it wrong again?
20 (OFF MICROPHONE COMMENTS) 21 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, we have three guys 22 that are regional officers here. We have Roger 23 Hannah, hes the Senior Regional Public Affairs 24 Officer. And we have John Pelchat and Edwin Lea who NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 1 are Regional Government Affair -- Government Liaison 2 Officers. I think I got it right that time. Please 3 dont tell me I got it wrong.
4 (LAUGHTER) 5 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay. And, we have a 6 court reporter here as you can see up in the front 7 of the room. His name is Joseph Garry and he will 8 be recording this meeting for us and we can get a 9 clean transcript as a part of our public record.
10 So, Im going to be giving you some 11 ground rules as to how we are going to ask your help 12 in doing that.
13 This is a Category III meeting which is 14 our way of designating that this meeting is to get 15 input from the audience. Youre going to do more 16 talking than we are.
17 We are here to get information from you 18 and it lets us work with -- the Category III meeting 19 lets us work with the public so that we get as much 20 information that is accurate and timely about the 21 area that were dealing with so that we can do our 22 job like I said a little bit earlier.
23 You can submit your verbal testimony, 24 your comments tonight after we get done with our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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8 1 presentations. And, if you have any follow up 2 things that you think of later on after youre done 3 leaving here tonight or on another topic or you 4 didnt speak tonight and just have something you 5 want to say, theres a process for you to be able to 6 submit formal written comments regarding relicensing 7 Surry Units 1 and 2 and we will have slides up later 8 on that will have that information.
9 There are handouts out there that have 10 all the slides out there for you. You can pick up a 11 set of those on the way out. Itll have all that 12 information as to how to do that.
13 Okay, first of all, some housekeeping 14 items.
15 The mission of the Nuclear Regulatory 16 Commission is a safety mission. And, in that sense, 17 I would like to start off by doing some safety and 18 basic things here.
19 First of all, if we need to get out of 20 this building for any reason, a fire drill, anything 21 like that, the people on this side of the house, 22 please leave from that door.
23 The people on this side of the house, 24 please leave through that back door thats right NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 1 over there.
2 Head out through the lobby and across 3 the street to the other side and we will gather 4 there. And, the reason that we kept asking 5 everybody here to sign in when they came in is that, 6 once weve got everybody across the street, were 7 going to do a roll call.
8 Because if we do a roll call and 9 somebody doesnt answer, theres a possibility that 10 they didnt get out of the building and we would 11 have to send our stalwart police officers back 12 inside to save them.
13 So, we dont want to have to do that.
14 If you have the -- any sort of 15 biological urge that strikes you while were in this 16 meeting, through these doors, across the hall to the 17 left there is a fountain and a mens room and a 18 ladies room. So that should take care of all of 19 that sort of business.
20 This is a judges room. Theres no 21 food, no drinking in this room please.
22 Okay, some ground rules as to how were 23 going to do this meeting.
24 I would like to have everyone in this NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 1 room, please take any electronic devices that beep, 2 buzz, squeak, squawk and put them on mute or turn 3 them off.
4 There are a number of people in the NRC 5 that cannot turn their phones off, they have a 6 safety responsibility to be available 24/7 to be 7 able to be on call. And people at some of the 8 plants are the same way.
9 If you have to take the call for a 10 personal reason or for an emergency reason, please 11 make your way outside into the entry way so that 12 youre outside of the room.
13 Thats for two reasons, one for 14 politeness because we want to make sure that were 15 not interrupting the meeting.
16 And, number two, were trying to make 17 the clean transcript here. And any time we have two 18 things going on at once, were bound to have a 19 problem with the transcript.
20 So, we want to minimize the opportunity 21 for that as much as possible.
22 If the urge strikes you to take 23 advantage of your First Amendment right and stand up 24 and speak in front of us, we have a little tape spot NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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11 1 on the floor. And the reason being is that this is 2 a little bit different for us in the way that the 3 room is set, the microphone is hard wired into the 4 system here.
5 So, we really cant get our transcript 6 microphones to jump -- piggyback into that system.
7 We have to capture the sound from the microphones 8 that are in here.
9 And, were stationed two microphones up 10 here in the front and weve got an X duct taped on 11 the floor down there that gives us about the optimal 12 spot for you to be standing when youre speaking.
13 What Ill do is Ill call you up and 14 then Ill call up the person thats going to be next 15 and Ill tell them that theyre on deck so that they 16 know that theyve got to make their way towards the 17 aisle so that they can be the next speaker.
18 And when you get the microphone and you 19 start speaking, what I would like you to do is to 20 first state your name and your affiliation.
21 My name is Daniel Mussatti, I am the 22 facilitator tonight.
23 And, if your last name is hard to spell 24 and or difficult or garbled in any way then I would NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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12 1 like to have you spell it so that the court reporter 2 can get it right.
3 My name is spelled M-U-S-S-A-T-T-I. And 4 then, your affiliation. Im the facilitator. And 5 then, please speak clearly into the microphone.
6 If you turn away from the microphone, 7 theyre not going to be able to get as good a 8 recording of it, so speak into the microphone.
9 And, when - theres only a few people 10 here that have signed up to speak. So, normally, 11 Id say three to five minutes and Im going to give 12 us a little bit of leeway here because weve got the 13 time to do that. But, its not going to be, you 14 know, like any sort of a, you know, Hamlet soliloquy 15 or anything like that.
16 Five minutes and Ill start with being 17 uncomfortable. And every once in a while, Im going 18 to have to go to the phones because we have a phone 19 set up here and were going to have people that are 20 going to be listening in by the phone and they may 21 want to make a comment.
22 At this time, I would like to alert 23 India that I would like to have her give the 24 instructions to the people who are on the phone as NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 1 to how it is that they let her know that they want 2 to be put into the queue to speak.
3 India?
4 INDIA: If you do have a public comment 5 or a question, please press star, one and record 6 your name when prompted. Please make sure your 7 phone is unmuted before you record your name.
8 Thank you, well hold for further 9 questions.
10 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you, India.
11 I really appreciate your help tonight.
12 INDIA: Youre welcome.
13 MR. MUSSATTI: All right, a few members 14 of the public that we do have on line, the same 15 rules apply to you. Your phone will be on listen 16 only mode until we get through with the 17 presentations up here in the front.
18 And then, what will happen is, is that 19 if you want to speak, you will note -- let India 20 know and you will, in order, be invited to speak.
21 What Ill do is Ill go around the room 22 asking for people that want to speak getting 23 comments from here and then Ill go to the phone and 24 Ill ask India, India, do we have anyone on the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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14 1 phone that wants to speak?
2 If she says, yes, she will activate your 3 telephone so that you can speak. And, when you get 4 done speaking, well move on to the next person.
5 Its a very simple process.
6 One last thing, everybody has opinions, 7 everybody has different opinions on different things 8 and some of those opinions are very strongly held.
9 But, that does not mean that we need to show any 10 disrespect for anybody else in the room.
11 Please try to keep your comments as 12 nonviolent, whats the word I want to use, as polite 13 and civil, as polite and civil as possible so that 14 we can have some decorum in our forum here.
15 And, with that, Id like to ask, is 16 there any questions in the room so far?
17 (NO RESPONSE) 18 MR. MUSSATTI: All right, then what Im 19 going to do is Im going to turn the meeting over to 20 Manny so that he can give us -- the first 21 presentation.
22 MR. SAYOC: Can everybody hear me okay?
23 (OFF MICROPHONE COMMENTS) 24 MR. SAYOC: Okay, so were on slide NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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15 1 three.
2 Thank you, Daniel, my name is Emmanuel 3 Sayoc, I go by Manny. Im one of the project 4 managers for the safety review for Surry subsequent 5 license renewal application.
6 First I will start off with an overview 7 of the NRCs subsequent license renewal process as 8 shown on this slide.
9 Starting on the left, the process begins 10 once a subsequent license renewal application or 11 SLRA, has been accepted for review.
12 Then the process breaks out in two 13 separate reviews that occur in parallel. The 14 environmental review, which you see on the top and 15 the safety review which you see on the bottom.
16 On the safety side of the review, 17 following the staffs review of the application, the 18 Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, or ACRS, 19 completes an independent review of the application 20 to make a recommendation to the Commission.
21 In the center of the flow chart, the 22 environmental and safety review steps have dotted 23 lines that lead to hearings.
24 The dotted lines represent the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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16 1 opportunity for a hearing in accordance with the 2 Atomic Energy Act which establishes the process for 3 the public to request involvement in the hearings on 4 a variety of civilian nuclear matters including 5 subsequent license renewal.
6 Finally, with the input from the 7 environmental review, ACRS recommendation from the 8 safety review as well as the staffs finding on the 9 safety review, a final decision is made by the NRC 10 on the subsequent license renewal application.
11 The Atomic Energy Act authorizes the NRC 12 to issue licenses for a commercial power reactors to 13 operate for up to 40 years. These licenses can be 14 renewed for an additional 20 years at a time. The 15 period after the initial license term is known as 16 the period of extended operation.
17 Now, subsequent license renewals would 18 allow plants to operate beyond the 60 years for an 19 initial license and the first renewal.
20 Subsequent license rules would also be 21 for 20 years.
22 The purpose of the safety review is to 23 identify aging effects that could impair the ability 24 of systems, structures and components within the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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17 1 scope of license renewal to perform their intended 2 functions and to demonstrate that these aging 3 effects will be adequately managed during the period 4 of extended operation.
5 This scope has not changed from initial 6 license renewal to subsequent license renewal.
7 On October 15, 2018, Dominion Energy 8 Virginia submitted an application to the NRC for 9 subsequent license renewal for Surry Power Station 10 Units 1 and 2.
11 After receiving the application, the NRC 12 conducted an acceptance review, the first step of 13 our safety review.
14 The NRC determined that Dominion 15 subsequent license renewal application was 16 sufficient and acceptable for docketing on December 17 3, 2018.
18 Then we move into our technical review 19 with consists of three parts, the operating 20 experience audit which we did last month, an in-21 office review and the in-office audit and an onsite 22 audit.
23 First, for the operating experience 24 audit, the NRC staff reviewed the applicants NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 1 operating experience and corrective action database 2 for information applicable to aging management.
3 The NRC staff conducted the operating 4 experience audit with Dominion last month.
5 During the in-office review and in-6 office audit, the NRC staff will review documents 7 and references in the application in more detail.
8 The NRC staff is currently conducting 9 its in-office review -- holding the in-office audit 10 with Dominion next month.
11 Finally, the NRC staff will conduct an 12 onsite audit of the plant facility and additional 13 documents as needed scheduled to take place in 14 April.
15 At the very end, the staff will document 16 a safety evaluation report or SER.
17 The NRC ensures the adequate protection 18 of public health and safety and the environmental --
19 the environment through the regulatory process which 20 is shown on this slide.
21 The regulatory process consists of five 22 major components.
23 Number one, we develop regulations and 24 guidance for applicants and licensees.
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19 1 Number two, the license or a certified 2 applicants to either use nuclear materials, operate 3 nuclear facilities or decommission.
4 And, number three, oversee licensed 5 operations and facilities to ensure that licensees 6 comply with the safety requirements.
7 Number four, evaluate operational 8 experience at licensed facilities for involved 9 license activities.
10 And, number five, in support of our 11 regulatory decisions, we conduct research, hold 12 hearings to address the concerns of parties that are 13 affected by the Agency decisions and obtain 14 independent reviews.
15 With license renewal, the regulatory 16 process now considers aging management as 17 represented by the red block and arrow.
18 Next, Barbara Hayes will discuss the 19 environmental review.
20 MS. HAYES: Thank you, Manny.
21 So, thank you, everyone for coming this 22 evening. Can everyone hear me?
23 (COLLECTIVE YES) 24 MS. HAYES: Excellent.
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20 1 My name is Barbara Hayes, Im one of the 2 environmental project managers working on the Surry 3 environmental review.
4 The environmental review is performed in 5 accordance with the National Environmental Policy 6 Act of 1969, commonly referred to as NEPA.
7 NEPA requires federal agencies to follow 8 a systematic approach in evaluating potential 9 impacts from the license renewal and alternatives to 10 the license renewal.
11 Public participation is an important 12 aspect of the NEPA process. Environmental review 13 milestones that include public participation are 14 highlighted in green on the graphic on the screen.
15 The environmental review begins with a 16 scoping process which includes todays public 17 scoping meeting.
18 Scoping is the process by which the NRC 19 staff identifies the specific impacts and 20 significant issues to be considered in preparation 21 of the environmental impact statement.
22 The NRC will consider all of your 23 scoping comments received today as well as in 24 writing, as we prepare the draft supplemental NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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21 1 environmental impact statement.
2 The staff will also conduct an 3 independent assessment including an environmental 4 site audit.
5 The NRC staff will publish its findings 6 in a draft environmental impact statement which will 7 be issued for public comment. And that represents 8 the second green box on the slide.
9 That public comment period will be the 10 next opportunity for you and other members of the 11 public to participate in the environmental review 12 process.
13 So, the scoping process. So, what 14 exactly is meant by scoping?
15 The NRC staff uses scoping to determine 16 the range of issues and alternatives to be 17 considered in the environmental impact statement.
18 In addition, scoping comments help 19 identify significant issues that will be analyzed in 20 greater detail.
21 Scoping is also intended to ensure that 22 concerns are identified early and are properly 23 evaluated throughout the environmental review.
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22 1 process because you are more familiar with your 2 community, your comments will help to facilitate a 3 thorough review.
4 You can assist this process by telling 5 us, for example, what aspects of your local 6 community we should focus on.
7 What local environment, local and 8 economic issues the NRC should examine during our 9 review?
10 What other major projects are in 11 progress in the planned or planned in the area?
12 And, what reasonable alternatives are 13 most appropriate for this region?
14 So, in terms of scoping documentation, 15 there is several documents that you should be aware 16 of.
17 The NRC issues the following documents 18 in association with the environmental scoping 19 process.
20 The NRC initially issues a Notice of 21 Intent to prepare the supplemental environmental 22 impact statement and to inform the public about the 23 scoping process.
24 The Notice identifies the federal NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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23 1 action, comment period and methods by which comments 2 can be provided.
3 We have copies of this Notice at the 4 sign in table that you are welcome to take home with 5 you.
6 The NRC also issues letters to federal, 7 state, tribal government agencies and other 8 interested parties announcing our intent to conduct 9 scoping.
10 In addition, the NRC issues a press 11 release and newspaper advertisements to announce the 12 public meeting and the scoping process.
13 At the conclusion of the scoping 14 process, the NRC prepares and issues an 15 environmental scoping summary report that identifies 16 comments received during the scoping period and 17 identifies significant issues identified as a result 18 of the scoping process.
19 So, environmental resources, the NRC 20 evaluates the impacts from the proposed license 21 renewal for a wide range of environmental resources 22 such as air quality, wetlands, threatened and 23 endangered species, historical and cultural 24 resources and human health.
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24 1 The NRC staff conducts this review by 2 building upon decades of previous experience 3 analyzing the environmental impacts from power plant 4 operation.
5 For example, in 2013, the NRC staff 6 published a revised generic environmental impact 7 statement which identified 78 environmental impacts 8 due to the operation of nuclear power plants.
9 The NRC staff analyzed the impacts to 10 these 78 environmental issues based on the knowledge 11 gained During 40 previous license renewals as well 12 as new research, findings and public comments.
13 The staff determined that 59 of the 14 environmental issues were the same at all nuclear 15 power plants.
16 For the other 19 issues, the NRC staff 17 determined that these issues were site specific or 18 that the impacts varied depending upon the 19 environmental surrounding the power plant and the 20 operational conditions.
21 Therefore, the analysis of the -- for 22 the Surry license renewal will focus on the 19 site 23 specific environmental resource issues.
24 The NRC staff has also conducted NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 1 previous site specific environmental analyses at the 2 Surry site. For example, in 2002, the staff 3 completed an environmental impact statement for the 4 initial license renewal.
5 The NRC staff will build upon any 6 relevant information in the previously issued 7 environmental impact statement to conduct the 8 environmental review in an efficient manner.
9 So, for interagency coordination, in 10 conducting our environmental review, we will be 11 coordinating with various federal, state and local 12 officials as wells as tribal leaders.
13 This coordination helps to ensure that 14 local and technical resource specialists are 15 involved. Some of the agencies we will be 16 coordinating will include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 17 Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the 18 Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the 19 Virginia Division of Historic Resources and the 20 Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
21 Ultimately, the purpose of the 22 environmental review is determined whether or not 23 the environmental impacts of license renewal could 24 be so great that preserving the option of license NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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26 1 renewal for decision makers would become 2 unreasonable.
3 The environmental impact statement will 4 be considered in conjunction with the NRC staffs 5 safety related reviews and recommending to the 6 Commission whether to renew the Surry operating 7 license.
8 So, in summary, these are the factors 9 that will be considered by the Commission in 10 deciding whether to renew the Surry licenses.
11 It is the goal of the NRC staff to 12 complete its license renewal review and reach a 13 decision on renewing the operating licenses in 18 14 months from the time the application was accepted.
15 The schedule can be extended to 16 accommodate a hearing if granted.
17 Please note, if you wish to receive a CD 18 copy or a hard copy of the draft and/or the final 19 environmental impact statements developed by the NRC 20 staff, please fill out the blue card at the table in 21 the hallway. And you should add -- provide contact 22 information, whether you prefer a CD or whether you 23 prefer something mailed to you.
24 Otherwise, the draft and final NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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27 1 environmental impact statements will be available at 2 the website shown in my concluding slide.
3 So, review milestones, this slide shows 4 important milestones for the safety and 5 environmental review processes. It is important to 6 note that future dates are tentative.
7 Id also like to note that the safety 8 evaluation report, the SER, is a publically 9 available report that we will issue documenting our 10 results of the safety review.
11 Also, the Advisory Committee on Reactor 12 Safeguards, ACRS, those meetings are open to the 13 public. They are held in the headquarters at 14 Rockville, Maryland.
15 How to submit comments after the 16 meeting, this slide has the information on how to 17 submit comments after this meeting concludes.
18 Comments will be accepted through January 22nd and 19 can be submitted by mail or the regulations.gov 20 website.
21 In addition, you can provide any NRC 22 staff member here tonight with any written comments 23 you wish to submit.
24 Further information, the first item on NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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28 1 this slide provides a website to learn more about 2 nuclear power plant license renewal in general.
3 The second item on this slide provides a 4 website with information regarding the Surry 5 subsequent license renewal review.
6 This website also provides access to 7 Dominions subsequent license renewal application.
8 A hard copy of the application is 9 available near the sign in table and the 10 environmental report that is a portion of that 11 application is also there.
12 As shown in the third item of the slide, 13 the application is also available at the Branch of 14 the Williamsburg Regional Library.
15 This concludes the staffs formal 16 presentation. If you need additional information, 17 please contact Tam Tran or Manny Sayoc whose contact 18 information is on the slide above you.
19 Ill now turn it back to Daniel Mussatti 20 for questions and answers.
21 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, one quick thing, 22 just a clarification on the Surry Power Station site 23 that you have up there, is there a spot on there 24 where people can sign up so that they can get NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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29 1 announcements?
2 I know we normally have something like 3 that where they get -- I go on --
4 MS. HAYES: Theres a way to do it, Im 5 not sure whether its on these particular website.
6 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay.
7 MS. HAYES: I think if people can - Ill 8 get their contact information and let them know --
9 provide the link afterwards if somebody wants to get 10 regular updates on things happening at Surry.
11 MR. MUSSATTI: They can put their --
12 that information right on the blue card out there.
13 MS. HAYES: They could do that, too.
14 MR. MUSSATTI: That would help.
15 Okay, at this time, what we want to do 16 is we want to ask questions -- ask a question of 17 you, do you understand the process that we just 18 talked about or do you need clarification on 19 anything?
20 Were not talking about the Surry Plant 21 itself right now, just the process. Anything about 22 how were doing our job with why we do it, the way 23 were doing it, that you would like to get a little 24 clarification on?
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30 1 (NO RESPONSE) 2 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, India, does anyone 3 on the phone have a question about the process that 4 were going through here?
5 INDIA: Once again, if you do have a 6 question or comment, please press star one and 7 record your name when prompted.
8 One moment for our first question.
9 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, once more in the 10 room while shes waiting for people to find the star 11 button on their phone.
12 (NO RESPONSE) 13 MR. MUSSATTI: No comments or question 14 on the process that were dealing with?
15 (NO RESPONSE) 16 INDIA: Excuse me, there are no 17 questions on the phone lines.
18 MR. MUSSATTI: Thank you very much, Ill 19 get back with you later.
20 INDIA: Okay.
21 MR. MUSSATTI: All right, so well move 22 right on into the comment period. This is our 23 opportunity to listen to you, to get advice from you 24 as to how to improve our products, in particular, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 1 the environmental impact statement that has to be 2 produced as part of this application.
3 And, what were here for is to listen.
4 This isnt going to be an opportunity for us to 5 speak because we dont have the technical paperwork 6 in front of us and the technical documentation in 7 front of us to be able to give you technical answers 8 on things.
9 We could probably answer very simple 10 questions on the spot, but when it comes to 11 something thats going to be more technical, were 12 not going to be able to answer that.
13 And that gets really hard on the NRC 14 staff because they would like to have -- when 15 somebody asks them a question, they want to answer 16 it, but we just dont have, you know, the -- we 17 didnt do our homework.
18 We dont -- if you ask us a technical 19 question, were bound to not have the proper 20 information and we dont want to give you the wrong 21 information, especially when its on a public record 22 like this.
23 We would rather have you take a look at 24 the document we create at the end of this and let NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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32 1 that be the answer to your question because, that 2 way, we will have a chance to thoroughly think 3 through the answer and make sure that it is well 4 thought out, complete and understandable.
5 And the idea of complete and 6 understandable, Id like to also remind you that --
7 of one thing, when youre making your comments here, 8 sometimes youre going to say things that you think 9 are clear and they might not be as clear in second 10 thought later on.
11 Sometimes youre going to say things 12 that could be interpreted in two different ways and 13 you wont realize it at first, but we can 14 misunderstand you because were thinking about it 15 differently.
16 I encourage you to follow up any 17 comments you give here with a written comment, 18 either emailed in or mailed in to us so that we can 19 make sure that whatever it is that you want on the 20 record is exactly what you want to say.
21 And that goes for the people on the 22 phones as well, if they call in.
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33 1 speak tonight, make sure that, you know, we want to 2 make sure that what you say is exactly what you want 3 us to hear.
4 So, with that, I would like to introduce 5 our first speaker, I picked him as our first speaker 6 for several reasons.
7 Number one, he is an official from the 8 area here and, therefore, he is -- should be 9 accorded some sort of special consideration.
10 And, second of all, he asked because 11 hes got to go catch the ferry.
12 So, at this time, I would like to 13 introduce Sanford Wanner.
14 MR. WANNER: Wanner.
15 MR. MUSSATTI: Wanner, who is your 16 interim Surry County Administrator.
17 MR. WANNER: Yes, sir.
18 Do you wish me to face the audience or -
19 -
20 MR. MUSSATTI: Yes, well, it doesnt 21 matter which you face because youre going to be 22 speaking into the microphone, but you need to stand 23 on that, remember.
24 MR. WANNER: Good evening, my name is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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34 1 Sanford D. Wanner. I am the interim County 2 Administrator of Surry County, Virginia.
3 And, I want to thank you for this 4 opportunity to provide comments on Dominion Energys 5 application to renew the licenses of the two units 6 at the Surry Power Station for a second 20-year 7 term.
8 As the interim County Administrator of 9 Surry, it has been my privilege to work with the 10 power station because they have been a good 11 neighbor. They have been environmentally 12 responsible, particularly in the area of groundwater 13 protection for a groundwater dependent community.
14 They have been forthcoming in providing 15 public information. Their location is compatible 16 with our storage resources and our storage sites.
17 And, they are a vital component of the Surry County 18 economy and that of our neighboring communities in 19 Hampton Roads.
20 Your support of this application would 21 be appreciated.
22 Thank you.
23 MR. MUSSATTI: Thank you.
24 Would you like to submit that in writing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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35 1 as well?
2 MR. WANNER: Ill clean it up.
3 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you.
4 Next up would be Fred Mladen, hes from 5 Dominion and on deck will be Erica Gray, youll be 6 next.
7 MR. MLADEN: All right, good evening.
8 My name is Fred Mladen, last name is M-L-A-D-E-N.
9 And Im the Second Vice President of the Surry Power 10 Station.
11 Ive been an employee of Dominion Energy 12 for 34 years, all of them in nuclear.
13 Id like to thank the U.S. Nuclear 14 Regulatory Commission for holding this important 15 meeting to accept public comments on Dominion 16 Energys application for renewal of licenses for the 17 two Surry units for a second 20-year term.
18 Nuclear energy is by far the largest 19 source of carbon-free energy both in Virginia and 20 the nation.
21 Its key aspect of any reasonable clean 22 energy strategy and operation of not only Surry 23 Power Station but all the nuclear power stations 24 which produce no greenhouse gases and is critical NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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36 1 for the further build out of zero carbon renewables 2 which generate power but intermittently.
3 Surry Power Station is one of the top 4 performing stations in the United States as measured 5 by the NRC and the nuclear industry.
6 The two units at Surry produce about 15 7 percent of the electricity thats utilized in the 8 State of Virginia.
9 In addition, the station has an economic 10 edge for the Hampton Roads area.
11 We take great pride that our station 12 provides safe, reliable and affordable energy that 13 is vital to the economic growth of the Commonwealth 14 and provides well-paying jobs for more than 800 15 employees.
16 In addition to the millions of dollars 17 of tax revenue for Surry County, taxes paid by the 18 station support schools and important public 19 services and the salaries earned by our colleagues 20 who work at the station go directly to the purchase 21 of goods and services in the local economy.
22 Surry Power Station has maintained 23 excellent compliance with environmental health 24 standards, research and permitting. The NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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37 1 environmental monitoring is continuous, 2 consultations with the National Historical Resource 3 Agencies are ongoing in support of subsequent 4 license renewal and we continue to report 5 environmental results in keeping with not only 6 regulatory requirements, but Dominion Energys 7 environmental stewardship policy.
8 Were not about doing whats the minimum 9 required, were about doing right for the 10 environment.
11 And one of the examples is, we work in 12 concert with the neighboring Virginia Department of 13 Game and Inland Fisheries on the Hog Island Wildlife 14 Management area.
15 The subsequent license renewal for Surry 16 Power Station, its current licenses for Units 1 and 17 2 will expire in 2032 and 33 respectively, will 18 ensure that that facility will continue to provide 19 not only electricity to our customers into the mid-20 century, but employment for the people who supports 21 the operation.
22 Renewing the licenses for Units 1 and 2 23 will mean that the units may continue to provide 24 safe, reliable and affordable electricity through NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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38 1 2052 and 2053 respectively.
2 As the NRC staff will discuss tonight 3 and has discussed, license renewal is a very 4 thorough process governed by federal regulations and 5 backed by significant research into the effects of 6 aging of equipment along with rigorous program of 7 tests and inspections.
8 Effectiveness of our ability to manage 9 the long term operation of these units is 10 demonstrated by the fact that after more than 45 11 years of operation, our reactors at Surry are 12 performing at very high levels in terms of safety 13 and reliability.
14 Moreover, Electric Power Research 15 Institute and the United States Department of Energy 16 conducted extensive scientific research to 17 understand the technical aspects associated with the 18 safe, long term operation of nuclear power plants.
19 This research has shown that there are 20 no generic technical issues that would prevent a 21 well-maintained nuclear plant such as Surry from 22 operating safely during the subsequent license 23 renewal period.
24 Dominion Energy has performed extensive NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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39 1 technical evaluations using insights from various 2 industry research groups as well as the NRC 3 regulations and guidance documents.
4 We demonstrate in our application 5 submittal that Surry Power Station can safely 6 operation for an additional 20 years.
7 Again, Dominion Energy is committed to 8 safe and reliable operation today and every day.
9 Appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight 10 in support of the Surry operating for an additional 11 20 years.
12 MR. MUSSATTI: All right, thank you.
13 And, you are Erica?
14 MS. GRAY: Hello, my name is Erica Gray.
15 I came over here from Henrico, Virginia.
16 I have been following mostly the North 17 Anna and its license and have not had too many 18 opportunities to come over here to Surry.
19 Of course, it peaked my attention when I 20 saw that Surry is actually going forward with its 21 subsequent license first before North Anna which 22 they are in the queue.
23 Following behind, I guess I have to 24 mention from the last commenter is if nuclear fuel NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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40 1 could actually jump into the reactors by themselves, 2 it would be carbon-free.
3 But, actually, the whole process of the 4 nuclear fuel chain is extensively carbon. It is 5 carbon intensive and highly toxic and another 20 6 years added on to this last license renewal will get 7 us many more metric tons of highly radioactive fuel, 8 spent fuel that will be radioactive and toxic for 9 eternity, which there really is no solution.
10 So, I had to add that.
11 As it goes forth with this license 12 renewal, I have many questions and I guess we can 13 start with, first of all, I was told that Dominion 14 expects, or the NRC expects that after 18 months of 15 review, they will get this license renewal.
16 Eighteen months is a short period of 17 time to review thousands of documents, if this is to 18 be a thorough investigation or review or whatever 19 you want to call it.
20 I guess, for the most part, the goal is 21 generic but I think we need to look at site 22 specific.
23 When it comes to safety, Im sure that 24 the NRC as well as Dominion want to run safe plants.
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41 1 But, I wanted to mention that also Surry happens to 2 be one of the plants thats had the most nuclear 3 accidents and fatalities.
4 There are nine people have died at 5 Surry, more than any other commercial nuclear 6 facility.
7 In 1972, two men were killed when a 8 steam valve malfunctioned.
9 In October of 83, a different steam 10 pipe burst, killing one worker and severely injuring 11 another.
12 In 1984, two men were electrocuted.
13 In 1986, four were killed when 3,000 14 gallons of super heated water in Unit 2 ruptured.
15 Since Surry opened in 1973, the walls of 16 the pipes which is expected to last for 40 years 17 life of the reactor have in some spots gone from 18 one-half inch thick to thinner than a credit card 19 and no one knows why.
20 Sorry, Ive got lots of miscellaneous 21 notes.
22 Tests on corresponding pipes at Surry on 23 the other unit reveals similar erosion.
24 Clearly, as this plant gets older, we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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42 1 need to become more diligent.
2 So, thats specifically talking about 3 just the past. I mean, this reactor, were already 4 into the second -- well the first license renewal by 5 seven years.
6 From looking through the documents, 7 theres still a lot of commitments that Im not even 8 sure have been met for the first license renewal and 9 were already seven years in.
10 The EMDA report, the expanded materials 11 degradation assessment, basically it has also 12 instructed licensees an order they must resolve 13 issues related to reactor pressure vessel 14 embrittlement irradiation. This is stress 15 corrosion, cracking of the reactor internals, on and 16 on.
17 I dont think that if were just going 18 to be looking at the GAL as a generic, its got to 19 be more specific on Surry and tests need to be 20 performed, not just commitments before we move 21 forward.
22 MR. MUSSATTI: Erica, can I suggest that 23 what we do is give you an opportunity to speak one 24 more time later on after other people have spoken NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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43 1 and that will give you a chance to look through your 2 notes a little bit more.
3 I really think its important for you to 4 speak because we dont have very many people here 5 that are speaking from a non-pro nuclear stance.
6 So, Id like to give you chance to, you 7 know, sit down, go over your notes a little bit and 8 arrange your thoughts a little bit while we go 9 through a few more speakers.
10 MS. GRAY; Well, we can do that. I can 11 do that, too. But, I guess let me just kind of 12 really point out something in particular.
13 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, youve got one 14 minute.
15 MS. GRAY: I think the -- well, Im 16 looking for my major notes here.
17 I think that the NRC needs to look at 18 all the maintenance reports, the replacement parts, 19 items that actually -- and the event reports because 20 theres always lots of those but a lot of those 21 dont actually make events because they get shifted 22 over into a different category which is a corrective 23 action plan. So, the public really doesnt get to 24 see those.
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44 1 We need real examinations. All 2 pertinent information from the manufacturers should 3 be looked at because in 2016, with the whole problem 4 with Creusot Forge where there was falsifying the 5 documentation.
6 We know that both North Anna and Surry 7 have had different components from those different 8 companies.
9 All the data should be compiled, all the 10 exemptions, relief requests, amendments, there has 11 been so many over the years, theres no way you can 12 go off just a regular GALL generic report because 13 when the reactor started up 47 years ago, it had 14 requirements, it had codes. And a lot of that has 15 changed over time. Theres been laws and amendments 16 and changes.
17 So, for a full investigation, all that 18 needs to be looked at.
19 Also, when it comes to all the 20 differences in fuels, all the fuel burnups have 21 changed over the years. I mean, all the chemistry 22 in the reactors, I mean, all that needs to be looked 23 at, it cant just be generic.
24 And so, I think, for the most part, it NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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45 1 cant just be generic, its going to have to be more 2 thorough. Were only seven years into the first and 3 I dont see where theres going to be a difference 4 between a first license renewal and then a 5 subsequent license renewal.
6 We cant just take the papers and copy 7 and paste and put them over. We actually need to 8 have the tests.
9 And, one last thought here, when I talk 10 about exemptions and reliefs, Dominion doesnt plan 11 on actually looking at the pressure reactor vessel, 12 they, instead, when they were supposed to do it in 13 2013 and 14, theyre not going to do it until 2022, 14 2023.
15 Now how are we going to assess if this 16 plant is safe if we dont actually have to do the 17 inspections? If we put off these inspections until 18 after they get the license? Thats ridiculous.
19 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you, Erica.
20 Once again, if you want to try and 21 rearrange your notes and at the end right before we 22 stop, you know, bring up something that is new, then 23 we can do that.
24 At this time, I would like to ask Ray NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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46 1 Phelps to come forward.
2 MR. PHELPS: Good evening, thank you, 3 sir.
4 My name is Ray Phelps, Im the Emergency 5 Services Coordinator for Surry County.
6 And, I would like to take this 7 opportunity to thank you guys for coming down and 8 updating the citizens of Surry County on the future 9 of Dominion Energy.
10 Also, Surry County has had a long 11 outstanding history with Dominion Power and we 12 appreciate everything that Dominion Power has done 13 for Surry County and we look forward to a much 14 longer interest in place.
15 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you.
16 At this time, I would like to as, India, 17 is there anybody that has indicated on the phone 18 that they would like to make a comment?
19 INDIA: Currently, no one has asked to 20 make a comment. But, if you would like to have a 21 comment or question and youre just now joining us, 22 please press star, one and record your name when 23 prompted.
24 Thank you.
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47 1 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you, India.
2 How many people do we have on the line?
3 INDIA: One.
4 MR. MUSSATTI: One? One person on the 5 phone?
6 INDIA: Yes.
7 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you.
8 All right then, we will move on to 9 Jennifer Gwaltney who is our next speaker. And she 10 is - Im not sure the exact name of it, but shes 11 with the Surry School and other things.
12 MS. GWALTNEY: Good evening. Thank you 13 for allowing us to come before you tonight.
14 My name is Jennifer Gwaltney spelled G-15 W-A-L-T-N-E-Y.
16 I am a licensed teacher here in the 17 county for Surry County Public Schools. Im also a 18 20-year EMT volunteer firefighter and currently 19 chief of the Surry Volunteer Rescue Squad and a life 20 long resident here in the county.
21 Im happy to be allowed to speak tonight 22 regarding this application for Surry Units 1 and 2, 23 subsequent license renewal.
24 Dominion Energy has operated here for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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48 1 nearly 50 years from its construction phase to 2 present and Im about the same age as of Thursday.
3 Being born and raised here, this plant 4 as weve come to know it, has always been here and I 5 fear nothing from it.
6 It has always been an absolute partner 7 to the county and environmentally responsible.
8 For 20 years, I lived along the James 9 River and could see the domes of Unit 1 and 2 from 10 most rooms in my home. We always ate fish and have 11 recreational activities free of any fear that was 12 any environmental impact.
13 Its a part of life that benefits Surry 14 County in many ways, and of course, the taxes 15 contributed to our county is one of the biggest.
16 But, thats not all. Dominion Energy 17 has become an embedded thread in Surry offering more 18 than just their tax money. It offers employment 19 opportunities to the citizens of our county and 20 these jobs allow people to be able to stay here 21 locally with their families while earning good 22 wages.
23 Many of our own family -- my own family 24 and friends have careers here at Dominion Energy and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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49 1 have for years.
2 These employees dont just work at 3 Dominion, theyre encouraged to and do give back to 4 their community, either through their employment 5 contributions to local, civic and volunteer 6 organizations and groups or simply by volunteering 7 their own time in those organizations.
8 Volunteering in community projects, 9 constructing playground equipment at our local 10 school just here recently.
11 Dominion Energy offers educational 12 opportunities through its learning center with free 13 programs to students as well as educators on energy 14 sources, electricity and nuclear power.
15 Our elementary school fourth graders 16 visit there each year and take advantage of seeing 17 the models of the nuclear reactors and learn to 18 generate their own power. They learn about the 19 nuclear path from the beginning of mining of uranium 20 to the responsibilities that it takes to produce 21 clean and safe energy to the environment.
22 Surry school staff has participated in 23 trainings that were free. We received free teaching 24 materials that we can then use in our own classroom NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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50 1 and we consider them great educational partners.
2 Dominion Energy has been a safety 3 conscious workforce for many years. To my 4 knowledge, there have been no large-scale 5 emergencies causing any public safety or 6 environmental concerns.
7 Being involved with the EMS at Surry 8 Volunteer Rescue Squad member, past and present 9 chief, I have worked closely on drill practices from 10 radiological contaminations to medical emergencies 11 as well as hostile actions which has been 12 coordinated with local, state and governmental 13 agencies.
14 The diligence that I have seen by 15 Dominion Power to redesign, re-plan, to take into 16 consideration new technologies and practices 17 throughout the years has been impressive.
18 Dominion Energy works closely with Surry 19 Countys Emergency Management and those of 20 surrounding areas as well as the individual fire and 21 rescue departments to offer us trainings and 22 planning for any and all emergencies.
23 Through all of my experiences, Dominion 24 Energy continues to plan and evaluate and to follow NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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51 1 its safety plan to the highest scrutiny and to take 2 any and all corrective measures that they may have 3 found or any advances that come along to plan in a 4 very fluid manner for the future.
5 I personally have worked with and 6 collaborated over the years with Dominion employees 7 through and I feel confident and trust that they are 8 the best at what they do and that they have the 9 knowledge and expertise that is invaluable to the 10 continuation of its safe and viable operation here 11 in Surry County.
12 I ask for you to consider in favor of 13 the subsequent 20-year renewal of Units 1 and 2.
14 MR. MUSSATTI: Thank you very much.
15 Okay, at this time, I would like to ask 16 Helen Eggleston if she would like to come and make a 17 comment?
18 MS. EGGLESTON: Yes, sir. Id like to 19 thank you guys for coming down and giving us an 20 opportunity to speak concerning the renewal of 21 license for Surry Nuclear.
22 I dont think I can improve on any of 23 the positive comments that have been made. Every 24 one of them is certainly true and I agree with them NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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52 1 wholeheartedly.
2 Surry Nuclear has employed members of my 3 family, friends, neighbors and I know that they are 4 very much approving of what has gone on and the 5 safety issues that are there are not as great as 6 some would believe.
7 Concerning a previous speaker talking 8 about the accidents that has happened at Surry 9 Nuclear in times past, those types of accidents have 10 happened in every, shall I say, industrial setting.
11 Its a fact of life that unfortunate things happen, 12 that accident happen, but it is by no means an 13 indication that Surry Nuclear has been negligent in 14 their training and their safety programs and the 15 things that they have done to protect their 16 employees and the environment and the people of this 17 county.
18 I am very much in favor of Surry Nuclear 19 having their license extended for another 20 years.
20 I think that Surry Nuclear has been a wonderful 21 neighbor to this county and it has done everything 22 it could to prevent accidents.
23 I will hope that the Surry or the 24 Nuclear Regulatory Commission will extend their NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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53 1 license.
2 Thank you.
3 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you very 4 much.
5 Back to the phones, India, is anybody 6 interested in talking?
7 (NO RESPONSE) 8 MR. MUSSATTI: India?
9 (NO RESPONSE) 10 MR. MUSSATTI: Ill take that as a no.
11 Okay, Erica, would you like to speak 12 again?
13 MS. GRAY: Sure.
14 MR. MUSSATTI: Please remember that this 15 is an environmental meeting, every one of the points 16 that you have brought up so far is a safety side 17 issue and they wont -- nothing can be addressed in 18 our environmental side from what youve got.
19 Have you got any environmental issues 20 that youd like to bring out?
21 MS. GRAY: Well, Im not really sure how 22 you can separate out environmental and safety 23 particularly, but I just want to mention to this 24 lady here, I dont believe that Dominion would want NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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54 1 their employees to be hurt.
2 I believe the NRC wants everybody to be 3 safe, that was not my point. I was simply 4 mentioning what has happened at Surry over time and 5 the degradation of the plant because of aging.
6 And, basically, the reason why this is 7 all being looked at is because of the aging issue.
8 This plant has been around for a long time, so some 9 of this aging, they know the embrittlement is taking 10 place, this has nothing to do with the employees not 11 doing a good a job or Dominion trying to be careful.
12 But, in particular, the pressure reactor 13 vessel is old and the cracking thats taking place 14 and they really dont know how to look at it. The 15 specimens that theyve put in the reactor were eight 16 when they started. By the time its over, they 17 might have one. I dont know they need to come up 18 with new methodology and new ways to be able to 19 check for safety.
20 Otherwise, were riding in the dark.
21 Theres no way to really look at these parts.
22 And a reactor vessel, you cant just 23 replace. You cant climb inside and fix it. So, I 24 have nothing against the employees. Im glad their NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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55 1 good neighbors here.
2 My problem is we cant just go by a 3 generic GAL, we have to go by the numbers and 4 Dominion should be allowed to get this extension 5 without actually having to do the reviews, the 6 inspections. That needs to be done.
7 And I dont see how you can separate out 8 that to the environmental because, if we have a 9 through wall crack, it will become an environmental 10 issue very quickly.
11 Thank you.
12 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you for that 13 clarification.
14 We do have one more speaker in the 15 audience that had signed up, thats Michael 16 Eggleston.
17 MR. EGGLESTON: Thats spelled E-G-G-L-18 E-S-T-O-N.
19 Having worked previously in the industry 20 and the service, what she was referring to on the 21 erosion of pipe is called impingement and its from 22 moisture trapped in high pressure steam and it most 23 likely occurs at the elbow, just to correct the 24 record.
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56 1 Most nuclear power plants use ultrasound 2 and continuously examines pipe thickness to prevent 3 such things as this.
4 The nuclear power industry, you cant 5 just take quotes for the nuclear power industry 6 without looking at high pressure steam plants 7 elsewhere. They both use high pressure steam. So, 8 you need to use both of them in context, not just 9 separate and have nuclear power.
10 I lived in Surry County when the power 11 plant was -- the reactors were being brought up from 12 the river, so Ive been here every since they began.
13 Nuclear power is the most reliable and 14 less carbon intensive. I dont know where youre 15 getting the statement that its highly carbon 16 intensive.
17 If you take away the government 18 subsidies for the other power, wind and solar, they 19 are no longer that cheap. So Im in favor of the 20 Surry Nuclear continuing on because they replace 21 reactor heads, theyve replaced control rod 22 assemblies, theyve replaced steam generators.
23 To come in here without knowing the 24 actual history of whats been replaced from NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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57 1 something you read online really doesnt cut it.
2 Thank you.
3 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, thank you, sir.
4 And, as we were starting out this 5 meeting, I noticed that a number of people had come 6 in late. Theres nothing wrong with that, you can 7 come in late. Did you sign up, first of all, on the 8 sign up sheet thats outside? If you havent, on 9 your way out, please do so, so we can have an 10 accurate record of who was here.
11 And is anybody in the room have the 12 spirit move them to the point where they would like 13 to speak and hadnt signed up on a yellow card?
14 Okay.
15 MS. LITTLE: Do I need to come up?
16 MR. MUSSATTI: Yes, maam, you do. You 17 missed the part where I said that we had these two 18 microphones aimed here to be able to speak 19 effectively.
20 MS. LITTLE: Good evening. My names 21 Judy Little and Im an elected official here in 22 Surry County.
23 And, actually, the power plant is in my 24 district. So, I represent Dominion Power in that.
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58 1 But, Dominion Power has been a wonderful 2 partner, a wonderful neighbor.
3 We havent had any problems as I know 4 that have been identified as something that is 5 unsafe. And I want you all to know that Surry 6 County appreciates you being here.
7 And, I also know that they are also 8 looking into other safe ways of providing power for 9 Surry and other places.
10 And so, I think its a great thing that 11 Surry has such a privilege to be called the home of 12 Dominion Power.
13 Thank you.
14 MR. MUSSATTI: Thank you very much.
15 If there arent any more comments here, 16 were going to move on to the closing of this 17 meeting because everybodys got important things to 18 do.
19 One last chance, anybody in the room who 20 would like to speak?
21 Ill give you three more minutes. This 22 is Erica, again.
23 MS. GRAY: I just want to make a 24 clarification.
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59 1 I agree with what youre saying about 2 the elbows and whatnot, but what Im talking about, 3 Im talking about embrittlement of the reactor 4 itself, the part thats not replaceable.
5 MR. EGGLESTON: Thats a non-starter.
6 MS. GRAY: It might be a non-started, 7 but these guys know the documents Im talking about.
8 I attend the other meetings. Im talking about the 9 documents Im coming from are not just off the 10 internet, I attend the meetings. Roger is very 11 familiar with me. Im in contact.
12 Im not reading all the stuff off the 13 internet, sir, I am actually reading documents from 14 Dominion and from the NRC and have been involved for 15 many years.
16 So, Im not just making up stuff.
17 MR. EGGLESTON: Do you ever work in the 18 industry?
19 MS. GRAY: No, I do not work in the 20 industry and I dont get paid for what I do either.
21 This is simply a hobby of mine as it goes for 22 energy. I do want clean, safe energy but Im saying 23 that the biggest issue I have with Surry as well as 24 North Anna is we need a program to make sure these NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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60 1 reactors are safe because of the aging problems.
2 The industry is very familiar with and 3 the NRC, thats why theyre looking at these issues 4 of embrittlement and the other erosion issues.
5 Thats all I have to say.
6 Thank you.
7 MR. MUSSATTI: All right, thank you, 8 again.
9 All right, one more time to the phones.
10 India, is there anybody on the phone that would like 11 to make a comment?
12 (NO RESPONSE) 13 MR. MUSSATTI: Okay, before I trip over 14 a cords and hurt myself, Im going to begin with the 15 closing comments and then Im going to introduce Ben 16 Beaseley in a second so that he can come forward and 17 officially close the meeting.
18 But, before I -- we get to that point, I 19 want to remind you that if you havent signed in, 20 please do so. We need to have that done.
21 Were always looking to improve the way 22 that we do our meetings, the way that its set up, 23 the way that we, you know, the order that we do 24 things and all of that.
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61 1 Any comments that you might have that 2 could help us to improve how we do our public 3 meetings would be greatly appreciated.
4 And there is a feedback form that is 5 outside there, you can fill it out here and leave it 6 with us, you can take home with you and if you turn 7 the darn thing over, you fold it properly and put a 8 little piece of tape on it, its a self-addressed 9 envelop and you just pop it in the mail for nothing 10 and itll get all the way back to us.
11 But we really do need that feedback 12 information.
13 And while youre at that table out there 14 grabbing one of those feedback forms, feel free to 15 take as many pounds of that paperwork that we 16 brought down here as possible home with you.
17 Theres some interesting stuff there.
18 Theres some things that are highly informative 19 about the process. Theres some Federal Register 20 Notice, theres a copy of the GEIS, the general 21 environmental impact statement, that we have. You 22 might want to take that home with you so you can see 23 whats inside it, but I dont think you might 24 actually have one already, Im not sure.
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62 1 MS. GRAY: that is online?
2 MR. MUSSATTI: Yes, its also available 3 online and its a lot lighter when its in a PDF 4 form than it is when its in paper.
5 But, I would like to thank you all.
6 Weve had an informative meeting and I think it went 7 fairly well. It went fairly quickly, actually.
8 I dont have anything else to remind you 9 about or ask you to do except to turn the meeting 10 over to Ben Beaseley who is the branch chief for the 11 Environment and NEPA branch in the Office of Reactor 12 Regulation.
13 MR. BEASELEY: Thank you very much.
14 Im Ben Beaseley, I am the branch chief, 15 as Daniel said, for the environmental review and 16 NEPA branch. And this is an environmental scoping 17 meeting.
18 And so, I appreciate everyone coming and 19 sharing your thoughts, your concerns. We really do 20 appreciate hearing from you.
21 And, as Daniel mentioned, most of the 22 concern expressed were related to safety and thats 23 fine, we appreciate that input.
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63 1 environmental concerns, the contact information is 2 available on the last slide. And we do -- the 3 comment period is open for another couple weeks and 4 so if you have anything you would like to share, we 5 would be very glad to consider that in our 6 environment impact statement.
7 The mission of the NRC is to provide for 8 public safety, public health, protection of public 9 health and safety and so, that is our mission. We 10 will review this application thoroughly.
11 It does take us thousands of man hours 12 to review and we do have a schedule that may seem 13 short. It has been shortened up based on what weve 14 done in the past because of requests and pressure 15 from our internally within the Agency, externally 16 from the industry, but also from Congress. And so, 17 we do have to report to the Congress about our 18 performance on these reviews.
19 And so, we do -- we will conduct our 20 review and in a timely manner, but also it will be 21 very thorough and I want to assure you of that.
22 And so, thats really all I had to say 23 to summarize. We appreciate you coming out tonight 24 and we appreciate hearing from you.
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64 1 So, thank you very much and have a safe 2 drive home.
3 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 4 went off the record at 7:08 p.m.)
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