ML19323A594
| ML19323A594 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Bailly |
| Issue date: | 04/09/1980 |
| From: | Geckler R Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19323A590 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8004210431 | |
| Download: ML19323A594 (9) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of
)
NORTHERN INDIANA PUBLIC Docket No. 50-367 SERVICE COMPANY (Construction Permit Extension)
(Bailly Generating Station,
)
Nuclear-1)
)
AFFIDAVIT OF ROBERT P. GECKLER I, Robert P. Geckler, being duly sworn, state as follows:
1.
I am employed by the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a Senior Environmental Project Manager, in the Division of Site Safety and En-vironmental Analysis, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
2.
I am the enviromental project manager assigned to the Bailly Generating Station construction permit extension application.
3.
I was the environmental project manager responsible for the final direc-tion and supervision of the environmental review of the Bailly construc-tion permit application. This review culminated in the issuance of an-NRC' Staff Final Environmental Statement, dated February,1973, and sub-sequent submission of direct testimony at evidentiary hearings held before an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in 1973.. Several observations
-on the relationship. between the ash ponds for the Applicant's coal-fired plants and Bailly. construction site dewatering f.6 ow.
8004210 h
_2-4.
Two coal units have been operated at the Bailly site since the 1960's.
In connection with their operation, ash from the units has been sluiced into ponds designed to accept the ash.
Periodically, the ponds are cleared with a drag line and the ponds reused.
Several million gallons of water are cycled through the ponds each dsy. The porous (sandy) nature of the soil results in considerable loss of water into the ground water and raises the water table in the present interdunal pond area of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Lakeshore).
5.
In 1970, the Applicant (NIPSCO) submitted an application to the NRC to construct the Bailly Generating Station. The actual operation of the coal units, and their ash ponds, bears no direct relationship to Bailly-construction.
However, nuclear site dewatering required during construc-tion bears a tangential relationship to seepage from the ash ponds in light of the fact that (though separable therefrom) it may combine with the seepage to influence the water levels in the adjacent interdunal ponds. This relationship led to the formulation and approval of a moni-toring and mitigation program to be applied during the dewatering phase of construction in order to detect and mitigate, if necessary, any ad-verse impacts upon the Lakeshore or interdunal area due to the nuclear construction. This program was the subject of. litigation at the con-struction permit hearings and received Licensing Board approval.
6.
Shortly after construction of the Bailly plant had begun, the Applicant proposed a method to-further reduce the potential for adverse dewatering
~
. impact through installation of a slurry wall around the excavation.
This was designed to impede the flow of groundwater into the excavation and further reduce dewatering pumping requirements. The proposal was approved following evidentiary hearings before an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. The installation of the slurry _ wall was completed in February 1977.
It has been estimated to be 80 to 90 percent effective.
7.
As a result of the slurry wall proceedings, a license condition was placed in the construction permit to the effect that any change in de-watering technique leading to the use of well-point dewatering would be subject to Staff review and approval.
Subsequent thereto, such a change was proposed and received Staff review and approval.
8.
Fullowing issuance of the construction permit, the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior changed their objectives respecting the ultimate character of the Lakeshore. The National Park Service now appears to view its mandate as requiring restoration of the Lake-shore to its original nature to the extent feasible. As a result, the National Park Service is apparently concerned about the water regime in the entire Lakeshore, of which that portion adjacent to the site is only a small fraction.
Its principal concern appears to be that water
. seeping from the ash ponds into the groundwater artificially raises the water level.of the interdunal ponds. Consecuently, an agreement was entered into between the Northern Indiana Public Service Company and.the Department of the Interior in February.1978, under cover. letter
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of March 3,1978, whereby NIPSCO would seal the ash ponds.
i 9.
I am advised by NIPSCO that, subject to completion of a waste water treatment plant, the aan ponds will be sealed by the end of 1980.
e The first pond will probably be sealed by June 1980. Recharge from i
the ash ponds will diminish over time following their sealing until no effective recharge mound should be discernible after approximately 18 months.
10.
The monitoring program for the interdunal pond levels during nuclear construction dewatering is designed to detect potential adverse effects before they approach the site boundary. Mitigative measures (such as recharging the groundwater) could be taken before such effects occur off-site; thus protecting the Lakeshore from any adverse impact.
De-watering has been going on continually since 1974-75. To date, all i
data evaluation has been done with the presence of the current ash pond seepage.
No off-site impacts have been detected. The National Park Service, through the U. S. Geological Survey, 'ias established a monitoring program, supplemental to that devised by the Applicant, to study the groundwater regime in the Lakeshore and adjacent areas.
11.
Originally, the dewatering phase of construction would have been com-pleted before the ash ponds were sealed.
If an extended period of con-struction is permitted, site dewatering will continue after.the ash ponds have been sealed (approximately the end of 1980). With the re-sumption of construction, dewatering could continue for a period'of approximately 18 additional months.-
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t 12.
The Staff will evaluate the environmental consequences of construction-dewatering absent the phenomenon of ash pond seepage and ' cooperate with the National Park-Service -to further its goal of returning-the'Lakeshore to its natural state to every extent feasible. The Staff does not ex -
pect that continued nuclear construction activities would appreciably alter the achievement of this goal.
13.
A statement of my professional qualifications-is attached.
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Robert P. Geckler Subscribed and sworn to before me this 9th day of April,1980.
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6 Notary Public
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My Comission expires: July 1, 1980 t
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12/79 PROFESSIONAL-QUALIFICATIONS ROBERT P. GECKLER U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION I am a Senior Environmental Project Manager. for the U. S. Nuclear Reg-ulatory Commission (NRC), having joined the staff in 1972. As an Environmental Project Manager (EPM) I am responsible for the management of the review of an applicant's environmental reports and the preparation of NRC ~ Environmental Statements which meet the requirements of 10 CFR, part 51 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 in connection with applications for construc-tion permits, operating licenses and amendments for nuclear power plants. I also act as the main point of contact between the NRC and the applicant in matters relating to environmental affairs.
I have held assignments in various capacities as the EPM on the LACBNR, Bailly Nuclear Station, Calvert Cliffs, Hatch, Indian Point, Seabrook Nuclear Station, Farley, South Dade, Brunswick, Pebble Springs and Palisades.
In ad-dition, I have held a number of special assignments, including 'such areas as generic problems of alternative siting, cost-benefit analysis, monitoring re-quirements, workshops on biologica,1 significance and committee membership on a cc=mittee between EPA and the NRC, evaluation of research proposals and re-view of internal staff documents.
Prior to joining the NRC, I spent approximately five years as a Senior Research Associate in the Biomathematics Program, Statistics Department, at N;rth Carolina State University, Raleigh, N. C.
As a faculty member and as-sociate member of the graduate faculty, I taught courses in resource manage-
. ment and biology at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level, assisted in organizing and giving a course in systems ecology, participated in graduate
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student guidance, program administration and research in prey-predation' in an aquatic system (snails and marsh flies).
I was also a member of the Nutrition Institute.and the Air Pollution faculty.
Outside consulting activities in-cluded general toxicology.and toxicology of atmospheric pollutants.
Before joining NCSU, I was employed by Aerojet-General'CoEporation in
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California and Ohio for eleven years, three of which were with the ' company's nuclear division. While with the nuclear division, I had several assign-ments including those of Project Engineer for~ manufacture and ' assembly, including ~ critical assembly, of nuclear training reactors and Administra-tive Reactor Supervisor.
.I held an AEC Reactor Operator License for Aero-jet-General reactors.
In 1960, I transferred.within the company to-assist in establishing a:
life sciences activity.. I' participated in all phases of life ~ sciences pro-a grams,and was responsibic for.the biological research-withid the corporation.
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Robert P. Geckler Programs included establishing and operating an inhalation toxicology labora-
__ tory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
I was Project Engineer during i
the early phases of design and fabrication and later Assistant Laboratory Direc-
. tor.
Other programs included systems studies of waste management processes, 'fhe relationships between solid wastes and disease, needs in solid waste research, water purification and microbial problems in desalination, river purification, _
recreational water criteria, various problems associated with manned space flight and life support systems (including the. aanned Mars Mis: an), research and development leading to the fabrication of a photosynthetic : gas exchanger and study of man in confinement. Special assignments were accepted as a life science specialist within the corporation. My final position with the company was Assistant Manager, Life Sciences Division and Manager of the Advanced Bio-logical Applications Department.
Before my employment with Aerojet, I spent one year in military operations research and more than four years with the AEC, Oak Ridge Operations Office, Isotopes Division and Division of Research and Medicine as a Physiologist and Biologist.
From 1949-51, I was a faculty member in the Biology Department at Vander-bilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, where I taught general biology,~ genetics, and cytology and did research in protozoan genetics.
I received my B. S. in Chemistry and Ph D.in zoology from Indiana University in 1944 and 1949, respectively.
I was granted an M. S. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan in 1946.
I a m. responsible for approximately a dozen environmental statements for the NRC.
In addition, I am author or co-author of more than thirty unclassified scientific papers, and co-holder of a patent on the use of concentrated carbon dioxide for growing algae and have been listed in American Men of Science since 1954.
I am or have been a member of Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda Upsilon, the American Society of Natur.11ists, the American Society of Zoologists and numerous other scientific societies.
I held a NIH predoctoral fellowship for two years (1947-49),
f 'T ^
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE'THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of NORTHERN INDIANA PUBLIC Docket No. 50-367 S'ERVICE COMPANY (Construction Permit Extension)
(Bailly Generating Station,
)
Nuclear-1)
)
. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of "NRC STAFF BRIEF ON THE FINALITY OF ASH P0ND SEEPAGE AND CONSTRUCTION. DEWATERING CONSIDERATIONS.AT THE BAILLY CONSTRUCTION PERMIT STAGE" in the above-captioned proceeding have been served on the follow-ing.by deposit in the United States mail, first class, or as indicated by an asterisk, through deposit in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's internal mail system, this 10th day of April,1980:
- Herbert Grossman, Esq., Chairman Edward W. Osann, Jr., Esq.
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Suite 4600 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission One IBM Plaza Washington, D.C.
20555 Chicago, Illinois 60611
- Dr. Richard F. Cole Robert L. Graham, Esq.
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Pan'1 One IBM Plaza U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 44th Floor Washington, D.C.
20555 Chicago, Illinois 60611
- Mr. Glenn 0. Bright George and Anna Grabowski Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel 7413 W. 136th Lane U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Cedar Lake, Indiana 46303 Washington, D.C.
20555 Dr. George Schultz Kathleen H. Shea, Esq.
110 California Street Lowenstein, Newman, Reis, Axelrad Michigan City, Indiana 46360 and Toll 1025 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
. Richard L. Robbins, Esq.
Washington, D.C.
20036 Lake '41chigan Federation-53 Lst Jackson Boulevard Robert J. Vollen, Esq.
Chicago, Illinois 60604 c/o BPI 109 North Dearborn Street Chicago, Illinois '60602 e
' Atomic Safety and Licensing John Van Vranken, Esqv, Chief Northern Region Board Panel Environmental Control Division.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 188 West Rendolph Street Washington, D.C.,20555' Chicago, Illinois 60601
- Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.-
20555 Clifford Mezo, Acting President
- Docketing and Service Section Local 1010 Office of the Secretary United Steelworkers of America U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 3703 Euclid Avenue Washington, D.C.
20555 East Chicago, Indiana 46312 William H. Eichhorn, Esq.
Eichhorn, Morrow & Eichhorn 5243 Hohman Avenue Hammond, Indiana 46320 Diane B. Cohn, Esq.
Suite 700 2000 P Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
20036 Stephen Laudig, Esq.
445 N. Pennsylvania Street Indianapolis, Indiana.46204 s
LM n' 4 40 Richard /o.
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Counsel f r NRC Staff
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