ML21075A343

Meeting Summary: Public Scoping Meeting for the Environmental Review of the Subsequent License Renewal Application for Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (EPID No.: L-2020-SLE-0002) - Summary

ML21075A343
Person / Time
Site:	Point Beach
Issue date:	02/17/2021
From:	NRC/NMSS/DREFS/ELRB
To:
Clark, P.M, NMSS/REFS/ELRB, 301-415-6447
Shared Package
ML21075A333	List: ML21075A342 ML21075A343
References
EPID L-2020-SLE-0002
Download: ML21075A343 (6)

Text

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting Summary

Title:

Public Scoping Meeting for the Environmental Review of the Subsequent License Renewal Application for Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 Meeting Identifier: 20210090 Date of Meetings: Wednesday, February 17, 2021 Location: Webinar Type of Meeting: Category 3 Purpose of the Meeting(s):

To provide an overview of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRCs) process to review the subsequent license renewal application for Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (Point Beach) and solicit public comments on the scope of the environmental review.

General Details:

The NRC held a public scoping meeting as part of the Point Beach Subsequent License Renewal environmental review. The meeting started at 2:00 p.m. EST (1:00 p.m. CST) and ended at approximately 4:00 p.m. (3 p.m. CST). The meeting was facilitated by Ms. Sheila Ray, 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 by the NRC staff on the license renewal safety review process and the license renewal environmental review process. The presentations emphasized that comments were welcome to help focus the environmental review. There was an opportunity for attendees to ask questions about the NRC staffs presentation followed by an opportunity for members of the public to provide oral comments on the scope of the environmental review to be conducted.

Approximately 100 people (this number includes the NRC staff) attended the meeting. The participants included members of the NRC staff, members of the public, NextEra Energy Point Beach, LLC representatives, state and local government officials, members of public advocacy organizations, and the news media.

Summary of Presentation:

The NRC staff reviewed the Principles of License Renewal Safety Reviews, which have not changed with the transition from initial license renewal (40 to 60 years) to subsequent license renewal (60 to 80 years).

- The regulatory process adequately ensures the plants current licensing basis provides and maintains an acceptable level of safety.

Enclosure 1

- Each plants current licensing basis is required to be maintained during the renewal term in the same manner and to the same extent as during the original license term.

Therefore, the focus of the safety review is to identify aging effects that could impair the ability of systems, structures, and components within the scope of license renewal to perform their intended functions, and to demonstrate that these aging effects will be adequately managed during the period of extended operation. The NRC staff stressed that this focus has not changed with the transition from initial license renewal to subsequent license renewal. A single, complete Safety Evaluation Report will be issued prior to the NRC staff meeting with the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Subcommittee on Plant License Renewal.

Regarding the environmental review, the NRC staff explained that it conducts the environmental review in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). NEPA requires federal agencies to follow a systematic approach in evaluating the potential impacts from the proposed action and alternatives to the proposed action. The environmental review begins with the scoping process. Scoping is the process by which the NRC staff identifies the specific impacts and significant issues to be considered within the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and public participation is an important aspect of scoping. The NRC staff considers all scoping comments provided during the public meeting, as well as written comments received during the scoping period in preparing the draft EIS. At the conclusion of the scoping process, NRC will prepare and issue an Environmental Scoping Summary Report that describes comments received during the scoping period and includes significant issues identified as a result of the scoping process.

The NRC staff further explained that it also conducts an independent assessment, including an environmental site audit and documents its findings within the draft EIS. The draft EIS will be issued for public comment and the staff will consider these comments in preparing the final EIS. In conducting our environmental review, the NRC staff will be coordinating with other Federal, State, and local agencies, as well as tribal leaders to ensure that local technical resource specialists are involved in the review. Within the EIS, the NRC evaluates impacts from the proposed license renewal for a wide range of environmental resources, such as air quality, human health, wetlands, and threatened and endangered species.

Ultimately, the purpose of the environmental review is to determine whether or not the environmental impacts of license renewal could be so great that preserving the option of license renewal for decision makers would become unreasonable.

The staff informed the attendees that the EIS will be considered in conjunction with the NRC staff's safety review in recommending to the Commission whether to renew the Point Beach operating license.

The staff ended the meeting by stressing that the closing date for submitting scoping comments is March 3, 2021. 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; or (2) submitted online using the Federal Rulemaking website at regulations.gov (Docket ID: NRC-2020-0277). The staff stressed that comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information, so do not include any information in comments that you do not want publicly disclosed.

Public Participation Themes:

There were numerous comments provided during the public meeting. Themes for the comments included (a) concerns regarding aging management programs of structures and components, (b) concerns related to the need for site specific review in addition to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement, (c) concerns related to environmental impacts associated with refurbishment activities, (d) concerns related to environmental impacts associated with severe accidents, (e) recognitions of Point Beach as a source of positive socioeconomic impacts to the local areas, (f) concerns related to the safety of spent nuclear fuel storage, (g) concerns related to replacement power alternatives in the range of reasonable alternatives considered for review, and (f) concerns associated with a technical understanding of aging structures and components as 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 any comments received during the scoping period as part of the license renewal review for Point Beach. The NRC staff will develop and publish a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to NUREG-1437, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, which will be distributed for public comment. The NRC staffs responses to the comments received during the scoping period and received on the draft SEIS will be included in Appendix A of the SEIS. Concurrently, the NRC staff will also be preparing a safety evaluation report which documents the staffs independent safety evaluation.

Attachments:

• List of Attendees

• Meeting description and agenda - ADAMS Accession No. ML21034A458

• NRC staff presentation - ADAMS Accession No. ML21042B945

• Meeting transcript - ADAMS Accession No. ML21062A192

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Scoping Meeting for the Environmental Review of the Subsequent License Renewal Application for Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 LIST OF ATTENDEES PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW OF THE SUBSEQUENT LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION FOR POINT BEACH NUCLEAR PLANT, UNIT NOS.1 AND 2 February 17, 2021 NAME AFFILIATION Bill Rogers U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

Briana Grange NRC Caroline Hsu NRC Dan Barnhurst NRC Jeffrey Rickoff NRC Kevin Coyne NRC Kevin Folk NRC Lauren Gibson NRC Lois James NRC Nancy Martinez NRC Phyllis Clark NRC Robert Elliott NRC Scott Burnell NRC Sheila Ray NRC Stacey Imboden NRC Victoria Mitlyng NRC Neal R Gross NRC Donald Palmrose NRC Daniel Barnhurst NRC Anna Bradford NRC Jeff Rikhoff NRC Lifeng Guo NRC Marieliez Johnson NRC Robert Hoffman NRC Rodriguez Hector NRC Tim Cran NRC Ace Hoffman Citizen Alfred Meyer Physicians for Social Responsibility Alison Pryor Troutman Pepper Amit Comanche Peak Amy Schulz Physicians for Social Responsibility Wisconsin Andrew Wadtrey NextEra Energy Angela Talbert Concerned Citizen Enclosure 2

NAME AFFILIATION Ann Behrmann Physicians for Social Responsibility Wisconsin Ann Frisch Physicians for Social Responsibility Arun Kapur Duke Energy Barbara Warren None Bill Maher Nxtera Energy Blankman Wisconsin Brenda Sherwinsky Point Beach Nuclear Plant Carol Gilbert Nuke Watch Chris Hubbuch Wisconsin State Journal Chris Klopp Rate Payer Christina Mercier Citizen Chuck Quirmbach WUWM Radio Clay Turnbull New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution Connie Cline Ohio Ciera Club Danielle Kaeding Wisconsin Public Radio David Kraft Nuclear Energy Information Service Chicago David Monsees Alliance for Nuclear Accountability Eric Schultz Next Era Energy Ethyl Rivera Beyond Nuclear Gerry Lodgey Attorney Hanna Mortenson PSR WI James Wicks Enercon Project Manager Jan Boudardt NEIS Jessica Madoff Next Era Energy Joann Mishiura Private Citizen John None John Duffin Citizen Joni Arends Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety Julie Boeck Nexpera Energy Keith Miller Dominion Energy Kelly Lundeen Nuke Watch Kevin Kamps Beyond Nuclear / Don't Waste Michigan Lance Green Private Citizen Linda Lewison Sierra Club Nuclear Free Campaign Lisa Matise Detratech Marie Luna Concerned Citizen Mary Hanson Private Citizen Mary Tano NPS Matthew McMullan Court Report Michael Keegan Don't Waste Michigan Michael Strope Site Vice President at the Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant Mike Goodman None

NAME AFFILIATION Mitchell Maricque None Nicole Miller Next Era Energy Resources Patricia Walter Nulcear Education and Information Service Paul Berland Environment Matters Paula Rogge Physicians for Social Responsibility Wisconsin Peter Robbins Water Power and Lights Philip Anderson Sierra Club Rachel Turney Work Enercon Randy Richards Point Beach Nuclear Plant Raymond Hardy Private Citizen Rich Griffin Next Era Energy Richard Orthen Next Era Energy Sara Dussich NEIS Energy Resources Shahla Werner Private Citizen Sharon Richey Resident Sharon Richie Fort Worth Resident Sherrie Wiegand Local Resident Steve Franzone Next Era Energy Steven Hammerich NEIS Susan Michetti Individual Tom Soevonic Enercon Victor McManemy Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination