ML20324A259

Scoping Meeting Summary

ML20324A259
Person / Time
Site:	North Anna
Issue date:	12/03/2020
From:	NRC/NMSS/DREFS/ELRB
To:
References
EPID L-2020-SLE-0000
Download: ML20324A259 (4)

Text

December 3, 2020 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting Summary

Title:

Public Scoping Meeting for Environmental Review of North Anna Power Station (North Anna), Unit Nos. 1 and 2 Subsequent License Renewal Application (EPID NO. L-2020-SLE-0000)

Date of Meeting: November 4, 2020 Location: Webinar Type of Meeting: Category 3 Purpose of the Meeting(s):

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) conducts a scoping process to gather information necessary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the subsequent license renewal of the operating licenses for North Anna Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (North Anna). The NRC is seeking stakeholder input on this action.

General Information:

The NRC held a public scoping meeting as part of the North Anna Units 1 and 2 Subsequent License Renewal Application (SLRA) environmental review. The meeting started at 1:00 p.m.

local time. The meeting was preceded by a sign-in/registration period, beginning prior to 15 minute before the meeting where members of the public were provided the opportunity to register as speaker (commenter). The meeting ended at 2:29 p.m. There were 23 NRC staff members present. The meeting was facilitated by Ms. Joan Olmstead, an NRC in-house facilitator. The meeting began with a review of meeting ground rules and an introduction of the NRC staff, followed by a presentation on the license renewal safety review process by Ms. Lois James Safety Project Manager, and the license renewal environmental review process by Mr. Tam Tran. The presentations emphasized that comments were welcome to help focus the environmental review. Next, there was a question and answer period on the NRC staff presentations. Finally, there was the comment portion of the meeting.

There were 55 people in attendance at the meeting, including NRC staff. Their names and affiliations are listed in Table 1.

2 Table 1: Attendees Name Affiliation Anita Ghosh NRC Anna Bradford NRC Bob Caldwell NRC Briana Grange NRC Caroline Hsu NRC Glenna Lappert NRC Joan Olmstead NRC Joe Giacinto NRC John Pelchat NRC Joseph McManus NRC Kevin Folk NRC Lauren Gibson NRC Lois James NRC Maggie Tobin NRC Nancy Martinez NRC Peyton Doub NRC Phyllis Clark NRC Rob Elliot NRC Robert Hoffman NRC Roger Hannah NRC Sherwin Turk NRC Tam Tran NRC Kenya Carrington NRC (Resident Inspector)

Andy Wade County of Louisa Anita Powell Dominion Energy Bill Standley Dominion Energy Craig. Heah Dominion Energy Daniel McGinnis Dominion Energy Diane Aitken Dominion Energy Fred Mladen Dominion Energy Craig Heah Dominion Energy James Beazley Dominion Energy Keith Miller Dominion Energy Ken Holt Dominion Energy Ken Custalow Dominion Energy Mark Sartain Dominion Energy Michael O'Connor Dominion Energy Paul Aitken Dominion Energy Paul Bradley Dominion Energy Paul Phelps Dominion Energy Sarah Marshall Dominion Energy

3 Rachel Turney-Work Enercon Daniel Rose FEMA Region 3 Terrance Sullivan Hanover County Sheriffs Office Harry Looney Local citizen Robert Babyok Louisa County Board of Supervisors Kenneth Harding Luminant Taylor Smith Luminant Todd Evans Luminant Scott Clausen Morgan Lewis Allegra Chilstrom Neal R Gross Thomas Saporito Nuclear Energy Oversight project Don Safer Tennessee Environmental Council Lisa Matis Tetra Tech Ericka Gray Volunteer Don Safer Tennessee Environmental Council Lisa Matis Tetra Tech Ericka Gray Volunteer Summary of Presentation:

The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 authorizes the NRC to grant licenses for commercial power reactors to operate for up to 40 years and allows these licenses to be renewed for up to 20 years. The regulations do not limit the number of renewal periods and, therefore, a renewed license may be subsequently renewed. The NRC has established a license renewal process that has two separate, but parallel review tracks; a safety review and an environmental review.

The focus of the safety review stems from the NRCs obligation under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, and is performed under the regulations of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 54, Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plant.

The purpose of this review is to verify that each applicant has fully analyzed the management of aging effects in sufficient detail to conclude that the plant can be operated safely during the period of extended operation. The NRCs safety review is documented in the safety evaluation report.

Under the NRCs regulations in 10 CFR Part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functionswhich implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)issuance of a nuclear power plant operating license requires the preparation of an EIS. The NRC performs plant-specific reviews of environmental impacts of operating life extension in accordance with NEPA and the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51.

As part of the environmental review, the staff consults with local, State, Federal, and tribal officials.

The environmental review begins with a scoping process, which is an assessment of specific environmental impacts associated with renewing the North Anna operating licenses. Some environmental impacts are similar, if not identical, at all nuclear power plants, so, to improve efficiency, the NRC staff developed a generic environmental impact statement, NUREG-1437, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, that

4 addresses a number of impacts common to all nuclear power plants. The NRC staff supplements the generic EIS with a plant-specific Supplemental EIS (SEIS), in which all issues that are specific to North Anna will be addressed. The staff also re-examines the conclusions reached in the generic EIS to determine if there is any new and significant information that would change those conclusions. The NRC staff will make a recommendation on whether or not the environmental impacts are so great that they preclude maintaining the option of license renewal for energy-planning decision makers.

The closing date for submitting scoping comments is November 23, 2020. In addition to providing comments at the meeting, comments can be: (1) mailed to Office of Administration Mailstop TWFN7A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; (2) submitted online using the Federal Rulemaking website at regulations.gov (Docket ID: NRC-2020-0201). Comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information. Do not include any information in comments that you do not want publicly disclosed.

Public Participation Themes:

There were several comments provided during the public meeting. Themes included (a) aging management programs of structures and components, (b) the need for site specific review in addition to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement, (c) concerns about environmental impacts associated with refurbishment activities, (d) environmental impacts associated with severe accidents, (e) recognitions of North Anna as a source of positive socioeconomic impacts to the local areas, (f) spent nuclear fuel safety, (g) replacement power alternatives in the range of reasonable alternatives considered for review, and (f) concern about technical understanding of aging structures and components relate to decommissioning.

A complete accounting of the comments provided can be found in the meeting transcript which is available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) public electronic reading room under the accession numbers listed below, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

Action Items/Next Steps:

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

Attachments:

o Meeting notice and agenda - ADAMS Accession No. ML20302A036 o NRC staff presentation - ADAMS Accession No. ML20307A177 o Meeting transcript - ADAMS Accession No. ML20317A206