ML21070A149
| ML21070A149 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/18/2021 |
| From: | Hector Rodriguez-Luccioni NRC/NRR/DNRL/NLRP |
| To: | |
| Rodriguez-Luccioni H L-NRR/DNRL 301-415- | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML21070A117 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML21070A149 (6) | |
Text
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting Summary
Title:
License renewal for 40 years of additional plant operation.
Meeting Identifier: 20201409 Date of Meeting: February 18, 2021, 9:00 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. (Eastern Time)
Location: WebEx Type of Meeting: This was a Category 3 meeting. Public participation is actively sought for this meeting to fully engage the public in a discussion of regulatory issues.
Purpose of the Meeting(s):
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) sought public dialogue related to license renewal for nuclear power reactors, specifically the possibility of extending the time period for renewed licenses from 20 years to 40 years.
General Details:
The NRC staff held a public meeting to discuss with the public potential technical issues related to license renewal that would extend the time period for renewed licenses from 20 years to 40 years. The meeting began at 9:00 a.m. and ended at approximately 10:30 a.m. There were at least 140 named participants, including NRC staff, external stakeholders, and members of the public (Attachment).
A description and agenda of this meeting is provided in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) using Accession No. ML21034A197. The meeting was transcribed (ADAMS Accession No. ML21069A038). The presentation slides can be found in ADAMS Accession No. ML21042B879.
Summary of Meeting:
Opening remarks The meeting started with Ms. Anna Bradford, the Director of the NRC Division of New and Renewed Licenses (DNRL), welcoming all participants and providing opening remarks. She emphasized that the meeting is to gauge public and industry feedback in general on this topic, not to get detailed input. Should the NRC decide to continue consideration of revising the license renewal duration from 20 years to 40 years, she stated that the NRC would likely have additional public meetings in the future to get more specific public and industry input. The meeting followed the agenda (ADAMS Accession No. ML21034A197) as planned.
Staff presentation Dr. Allen Hiser of the NRCs DNRL described the basis for license renewal in the U.S., the regulatory provisions that limit license renewal to 20 years, the process for the NRC to review license renewal applications, the standard for approval of a renewed license, and potential Enclosure
topics for 40-year license renewal. He also described provisions in the Statement of Considerations for the 1991 license renewal rule (see 56 Federal Register 64943, 64964, under the heading Renewal Term), which contemplate changing the 20-year limit if the Commission has sufficient confidence in the adequacy of licensee programs to detect and resolve in a timely manner any unforeseen age-related degradation.
Public comments Industry and public comments are provided on pages 24 to 60 of the meeting transcript.
Mr. Christopher Earls of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) provided comments on industry interest in license renewal for 40 years, stating that there are no plants considering the combination of an SLR with a license to 100 years, and that it is just not being discussed or on industrys radar right now. Mr. Earls also stated that NEI is taking a neutral view on this effort, not opposed to it and not actively supporting it either.
Mr. Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear stated that they are opposed to this venture. He raised concerns regarding the need to benchmark aging management programs for 20 years, let alone the proposed 40 year license extension period. He also expressed concern with extension of the 2013 Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for License Renewal to cover a 40 year license renewal period.
Other comments included concerns with:
- inadequacies in reactor pressure vessel material surveillance and embrittlement predictions
- further limits that would occur to public engagement that is currently available every 20 years and would change to every 40 years
- inadequate local outreach for environmental meetings
- the staff-identified benefit of focusing on oversight of AMP implementation should be implemented now even without license renewal for 40 years
- the inability of the public affected by the winter storms occurring in many parts of the country to participate in this meeting Closing remarks Ms. Anna Bradford provided closing remarks, first thanking all of the meeting participants. She emphasized that the NRC has not made a decision whether to move forward on this topic, and following the meeting, the NRC would have internal deliberations on whether to proceed.
Further, she stated that if a decision is made to continue to investigate license renewal for 40 years, there will be other opportunities for public input, not just the opportunity that was provided today.
Attachment:
Meeting Attendees ATTACHMENT - Meeting Attendees Name Organization Paul Aitken Dominion Brian Allik NRC Kyle Amberge Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Isaac Anchondo-Lopez NRC Chris Bagley MPR Associates Michael Benson NRC Jana Bergman Curtiss-Wright Araceli Billoch NRC Eric Blocher Dominion Steven Bloom NRC Jan Boudart Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS)
John Bozga NRC Anna Bradford NRC Mike Burke EPRI Scott Burnell NRC Mat Burton NRC Brandon Caldwell Framatome Tison Campbell NRC Roberto Caricchio Eletronuclear - Brazil Ganesh Cheruvenki NRC Robert Choromokos EPRI Jay Collins NRC John Conly Certrec Corp Alan Cox Entergy Robert Davis NRC Russell Day Talen Energy Jonathan DeLaune Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Dave Dijamco NRC Steven Dolley S&P Global Peter Donahue TVA Steven Downey NRC Chris Earls NEI Shanna Eismar Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) gGmbH -
Germany Carolyn Fairbanks NRC Edison Fernandez NRC Leo Fifield Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Kevin Folk NRC Steve Frankl NRC Bridget Frymire NY Department of Public Service Bart Fu NRC James Gavula NRC Lloyd Generette U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Anita Ghosh Naber NRC Lauren Gibson NRC Hipo Gonzalez NRC Briana Grange NRC Erica Gray Kim Green NRC Dan Green TVA Pamela Greenlaw Midlands Group of Sierra Club Hans Gripenberg Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) - Finland Jeff Gromatzky Enercon Services, Inc.
Paul Gunter Beyond Nuclear Lifeng Guo NRC Brian Harris NRC Craig Heah Dominion Terry Herrmann Structural Integrity Associates John Hilditch Exelon Suzanne Hiser Julia Hiser Boston Scientific Elaine Hiser Matt Hiser NRC Allen Hiser NRC Hoa Hoang General Electric Keith Hoffman NRC Robert Hoffman NRC Joel Jenkins NRC Ronaldo Jenkins NRC Wayne Johnson EPRI Marieliz Johnson NRC Travis Jones NRC Shane Jurek Talen Energy Amit Kalia Luminant Robert Krsek NRC Bryce Lehman NRC Thomas Lentz Energy Harbor Nuclear Corporation Tracey LeRoy Duke Energy Marvin Lewis Linda Lewison Ryan Lighty Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Eric Magnuson NRC Bill Maher NextEra Energy Andrew Mantey EPRI Brandon Marlow Southern Co Nancy Martinez NRC Lisa Matis Tetra Tech Wynter McGruder EPRI Joe McManus NRC James Medoff NRC Alfred Meyer Eric Michael TVA Keith Miller Dominion Seung Min NRC Bruce Montgomery NEI Carol Moyer NRC Duc Nguyen NRC Richard Orthen NextEra Energy Joon Park NRC Alyse Peterson New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Jose Pires NRC Jeffrey Poehler NRC Andrew Prinaris NRC Bill Rautzen NRC Jeffrey Rikhoff NRC Caroline Rivard Nuclear Watch South Hector Rodriguez NRC Bill Rogers NRC David Roth NRC David Rudland NRC Mo Sadollah NRC Kaori Saito Kyodo News - Japan Mike Semmler Westinghouse Maggie Shober Southern Alliance for Clean Energy John Simons MPR Associates, Inc.
Madhumita Sircar NRC Taylor Smith Luminant Carl Sweely Framatome Steve Swilley EPRI Andrew Taylor TVA Doug Tifft NRC Jennifer Tobin NRC Tam Tran NRC Rob Tregoning NRC Raymond Trelka NRC John Tsao NRC Toby Walter Neal R. Gross & Co., Inc.
George Want NRC Chris Wax EPRI Heather Westra Prairie Island Indian Community (PIIC)
Dan Widrevitz NRC Don Williams XCEL Engineering Steven Williams EPRI Chris Wilson Exelon Emma Wong EPRI Mary Woods NRC Angela Wu NRC On Yee NRC Mark Yoo NRC Sho Yoshinaga Japan Electric Power Information Center, USA (JEPIC-USA)
Paul Young Xcel Energy