ML23107A244
| ML23107A244 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/04/2023 |
| From: | NRC |
| To: | |
| References | |
| PR-51, NRC-2018-0296, 88FR13329 | |
| Download: ML23107A244 (1) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Public Meeting on the Proposed Rule Renewing Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses -
Environmental Review Location:
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania Date:
04-04-23 Work Order No.:
NRC-2353 Pages 1-32 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1716 14th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 234-4433
1 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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PUBLIC MEETING ON THE PROPOSED RULE RENEWING NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPERATING LICENSES -
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
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TUESDAY APRIL 4, 2023
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The Meeting was convened at Alloy King of Prussia, 301 West DeKalb Pike, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and via Video-teleconference, at 6:00 p.m. EDT, Brett Klukan, Facilitator, presiding.
PRESENT BRETT KLUKAN, R-I, Facilitator LANCE RAKOVAN, NMSS/REFS, Online Facilitator JENNIFER DAVIS, NMSS/SLED KEVIN FOLK, NMSS/SLED BOB HOFFMAN, NMSS/REFS TRISH HOLAHAN, NMSS/SLED YANELY MALAVE-VELEZ, NMSS/SLED SHERRI MIOTLA, NMSS/SLED BILL ROGERS, NMSS/SLED
2 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com A-G-E-N-D-A OPENING REMARKS PAGE Brett Klukan.......................................3 PRESENTATION.......................................5 PUBLIC COMMENTS...................................29 ADJOURN...........................................32
3 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 6:00 p.m.
MR. KLUKAN: All right. Good evening, everyone. My name is Brett Klukan. I am the regional counsel for Region I of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, as you'll hear it referred to during this meeting. It is my pleasure to facilitate tonight's meeting, along with my associate, Lance Rakovan, who is assisting in the virtual aspect of our meeting.
We're going to do our best to make this meeting worthwhile for everyone, and we hope that you'll help us out with that. For those of you participating via Microsoft Teams, you may turn on closed captions for this meeting by selecting the three dots from the top of your screen where it says More. From the drop-down menu, depending upon which version of Microsoft Teams you're using, you can select Language and Speech or Accessibility to turn on live captions.
Our purpose tonight is to provide information and to receive public comments on the proposed changes to the NRC regulations, draft Revision 2 to NUREG-1437, Generic Environmental Impact
4 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, otherwise known as the LR GEIS, and associated guidance.
This is a comment-gathering meeting, which, according to the NRC's definitions, means that we'll be actively seeking your input after we complete our presentation. You can find the slides for this meeting from tonight on the NRC's ADAMS electronic filing system using the session number, ML23069A013.
You can also find a link to the slides on the Public Meetings Schedule page for this meeting.
We're going to be going over the various ways you can provide comments later in the meeting, and we will go through how you can provide those comments at this meeting once we have finished with the NRC's presentations. However, please be aware that, as we want to hear from you directly, we have turned off the chat feature in Microsoft Teams.
Please also keep in mind that we are recording and transcribing this meeting tonight to make sure that we fully capture your comments. You can help us get a clean recording by first identifying yourself and any group you are with when it is your turn to speak. You can also help us by minimizing any background noises. For those of you in the room,
5 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com please turn off your electronic devices, or at least silence them at this time. The bathrooms are just to the right and then down the stairs, and exits are just straight behind the room.
And with that, without any further ado, I'd like to hand things over to Trish Holahan, and I will be back after the NRC's presentations when we move to the public comment portion of the meeting.
And again, I would ask that everyone hold your questions until after the presentations are over.
Thank you.
DR. HOLAHAN: Thank you, Brett. Slide 3.
Good evening, everyone, and welcome. As Brett said, my name is Trish Holahan. I'm the Director of the Subsequent License Environmental Directorate, commonly known as SLED, in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards at the NRC.
Thank you all for coming out tonight and participating in this meeting.
With me at the table presenting are Jennifer Davis and Kevin Folk, Senior Environmental PMs, and online is Yanely Malave, the Rulemaking PM.
In the audience, we have Sherri Miotla, Bob Hoffman, and Bill Rogers, and we also have a facilitator, Lance Rakovan, monitoring the questions online. There are
6 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com other members of the organization either in the audience or on Teams to listen to your comments as well.
The purpose of tonight's meeting is to obtain public comment on the Draft [Generic]
Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants and proposed rule. I'll refer to these as the proposed rule package. Both these documents were published on March 3rd, 2023.
We're going to start off with a brief presentation by the staff. We want to maximize the amount of time that we have tonight to hear from you all. I just want to start off with a few general comments on our rulemaking process at the NRC.
Writing regulations is one of the most important things we do at the NRC. It's the vehicle we use for implementing national policy and standards.
It's also the mechanism we use at the NRC to fulfill our goals, which is maintaining health and safety and security and protecting the environment.
The meeting we're having tonight is a very important part of that rulemaking process. It's the opportunity for the public and other interested parties to comment on what the staff has done in draft form. We want your perspectives and your input.
7 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com I also want to point out that in the proposed rule package, the NRC is asking for your input regarding whether this rulemaking should apply to more than two license renewal terms, the initial and one subsequent. Your feedback will help us improve our final document, and it will provide valuable input to the Commissioners during their deliberations on the final rule and the final Generic Environmental Impact Statement.
So, we encourage you to actively participate tonight and to provide us with your input.
In addition, we are also receiving written comments on the draft proposed rule and Generic Environmental Impact Statement, and we'll get into that later in the presentation.
This is one of several hybrid meetings we'll be having on this proposed rule package. The last one will be held in the vicinity of Region II later on, on Thursday. It'll be in a similar format, and we'll be receiving public comments at that meeting as well as in writing.
So, once again, welcome, and thank you for joining us tonight. And now I'll turn it over to Jennifer.
MS. DAVIS: All right. Thank you, Trish.
8 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com Again, my name is Jennifer Davis. I'm one of the technical project managers for this rulemaking.
In terms of our agenda, first, we'll provide a brief overview of how we got here. Next, we'll discuss NUREG-1437, which is the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants or, as we call it, the License Renewal GEIS, or simply LR GEIS.
We will also discuss our methodology for developing the draft GEIS and proposed rule, summarize some of the proposed amendments that we are making to 10 CFR Part 51, which is the NRC's environmental protection regulations. We'll talk about our schedule and review how comments can be submitted. Slide 5, please.
The NRC's regulations in Appendix B to Subpart A of 10 CFR Part 51 state that on a ten-year cycle, the Commission intends to review the material in this appendix, including Table B-1, and update it if necessary. The last ten-year review of the License Renewal GEIS and Table B-1 was completed in June of 2013.
In August of 2020, the NRC published a scoping notice in the Federal Register announcing the staff's intent to review and potentially update the
9 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 2013 License Renewal GEIS. This notice also provided the results of the staff's preliminary review, which included addressing subsequent license renewal or, as we call it, SLR, and requested comments and suggestions from the public for other areas that should be updated.
During the public scoping period, the NRC staff conducted four public webinars on August 19th and 27th of 2020. The scoping comment period ended November 2nd of that year. The staff used the scoping comments to inform and prepare a rulemaking plan which culminated in a series of rulemaking plans for the Commission's review and approval between July 2021 and April of 2022.
All of the staff's rulemaking plans included updating Table B-1 and the License Renewal GEIS and associated guidance to include addressing their applicability to subsequent license renewal, along with other pertinent updates, which will be discussed on the next slide.
On March 25th, 2022, the staff submitted a revised rulemaking plan, number SECY-22-0024, to request approval to proceed with the rulemaking, but aligned with Commission orders, which were issued in February of 2022. The orders, in part, had concluded
10 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com that the staff had not conducted an adequate NEPA analysis for subsequent license renewal environmental reviews. Next slide, please.
On April 5th, 2022, the Commission approved the staff's rulemaking plan as described in SECY-22-0024. In this memorandum, it directed the staff to initiate a rulemaking that aligned with Commission orders, remove the word initial from NRC regulations [in] 10 CFR 51.53(c)(3), revise the License Renewal GEIS and associated guidance to fully support subsequent license renewal, account for changes in applicable laws and regulations, account for new data, and incorporate lessons learned and knowledge gained from license renewal reviews completed since 2013. And it also directed the staff to complete this rulemaking within 24 months. Slide 7, please.
The primary purpose of the License Renewal GEIS is to identify all environmental issues associated with continued nuclear power plant operations and refurbishment during the license renewal term and evaluate those impacts considered to be generic for all or a subset of nuclear power plants.
The License Renewal GEIS also identifies
11 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com and provides information on issues that need to be addressed in plant-specific environmental reviews for license renewal. The NRC documents plant-specific reviews in supplemental environmental impact statements prepared to the License Renewal GEIS. Slide 8, please.
The License Renewal GEIS is the technical and regulatory basis for the proposed rule, the findings of which are codified in Table B-1 of Appendix B to Part 51. The environmental issues evaluated in the GEIS and listed in Table B-1 are characterized as either Category 1 or Category 2.
Category 1 issues are considered to be generic, as the impacts have been found to be essentially the same or similar at all, or a subset of nuclear power plants, and that additional plant-specific mitigation measures are not likely to be sufficiently beneficial to warrant consideration.
Category 1 issues are only reevaluated in plant-specific reviews if there is new and significant information.
In contrast, Category 2 issues are those that must be considered on a plant-specific basis.
Each nuclear power plant review must address Category 2 issues, and Table B-1 summarizes both Category 1 and
12 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com 2 issues in Table B-1. Slide 9, please.
The purpose of the staff's evaluation was to determine whether the findings presented in the 2013 License Renewal GEIS remain valid for initial license renewals and to ensure that the analysis and assumptions support subsequent license renewal reviews. In doing so, the NRC considered the need to modify, add to, or delete any of the 78 issues evaluated in the 2013 GEIS and codified in Table B-1.
These proposed changes are intended to maintain the accuracy of the License Renewal GEIS and to ensure that future environmental reviews meet the hard-look standard to fully account for the environmental impacts of initial license renewal and subsequent license renewal, as documented in the draft revised GEIS. Slide 10, please.
As illustrated on this slide, the staff used a
systematic approach to evaluate the environmental impacts of initial license renewal, focusing on the effects of subsequent license renewal as directed by the Commission.
The staff focused on describing the activity or aspect of plant operations or refurbishment that could affect a resource, identify the affected resource, evaluate past license renewal
13 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com reviews and other available information, assess the nature and magnitude of the potential environmental impact, characterize the significance of effects, determine whether the results of the analysis apply to all nuclear power plants or a subset of, or whether they're plant-specific, and consideration of additional mitigation measures.
Most importantly, lessons learned and knowledge gained during previous license renewal reviews provided a major source of new information for this review. Public comments received during those plant-specific reviews were re-examined to validate existing environmental issues and to identify new ones.
Since 2013, 15 commercial nuclear power plants have undergone initial license renewal environmental review. For the purposes of this review, the staff also considered five subsequent license renewal reviews, including two reviews where a draft supplemental environmental impact statement was issued, but not a final supplemental impact statement.
Slide 11, please.
So, in the proposed rule package, the NRC staff identified a total of 80 environmental issues that may be associated with nuclear power plant
14 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com operation and refurbishment during the license renewal term. Of the 80 issues, NRC identified 59 environmental issues as Category 1, which could be codified in the proposed Table B-1 in Part 51.
Applicants and NRC staff would be able to rely on the generic findings for each Category 1 issue, as supported by the analysis in the draft revised GEIS, subject to the consideration of any new and significant information.
The NRC staff also identified 20 environmental issues as being Category 2. These issues cannot be evaluated generically and must be evaluated by the applicant in its environmental report and the NRC staff in its supplemental environmental impact statement using plant-specific information.
One environmental issue, electromagnetic fields, the draft revised GEIS identifies as a category of N/A, or not applicable. Studies have not identified consistent evidence linking the harmful effects of field exposures. Because the state of the science is currently inadequate, no generic conclusion on human health impacts is possible.
If, in future, the Commission finds that general agreement has been reached by appropriate federal health agencies that there are adverse effects
15 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com from electromagnetic fields, the Commission then would treat this issue in a similar manner to Category 2.
Until such time, applicants are not required to submit information on this issue.
As indicated on the
- slide, no environmental issues were eliminated, but certain issues were consolidated for clarity, and one issue was subdivided into three separate issues. Next, we will summarize the key changes to environmental issues as evaluated in the draft License Renewal GEIS, which are proposed to be included in Table B-1 under the proposed rule. In general, all of the changes reflect new and updated technical or regulatory information as described in the draft revised License Renewal GEIS.
And now, I'll turn the presentation over to my colleague, Kevin Folk, who will discuss the detailed changes that we are proposing to make to Table B-1.
MR. FOLK: Thank you, Jennifer.
Good evening, everyone. My name is Kevin Folk, and I will summarize the major technical changes in the proposed rule package. For this first issue, the staff proposed to combine two related issues shown on the left side of your screen into a consolidated Category 2 issue. This revised issue is named,
16 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com Groundwater quality degradation, plants with cooling ponds.
The scope of this combined issue considers the possibility that groundwater quality and beneficial water uses can become degraded from the migration of contaminants discharged to cooling ponds from operating nuclear power plants.
The existing Category 2 issue only considers plants with cooling ponds at inland site locations. This revised consolidated issue recognizes that plant discharges to cooling ponds can degrade groundwater as well as surface-water quality in coastal areas as well as at inland sites, depending on such specific differences as cooling pond construction, operations, ambient water quality, and site-specific hydrogeologic conditions.
This proposed change is based on new and significant information identified by the NRC staff during the 2019 environmental review for the Turkey Point plant in Florida. Slide 13, please.
This renamed consolidated issue is titled, Impingement mortality and entrainment of aquatic organisms, plants with once-through cooling systems or cooling ponds. This issue pertains to cooling water intake effects on aquatic organisms, including finned
17 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com fish and shellfish, at operating nuclear plants, with once-through also called open-cycle cooling systems.
The proposed rule combines an existing Category 2 issue with the impingement component of an existing and related Category 1 issue to more fully address potential environmental impacts. The staff is renaming the combined issue to consider impingement mortality rather than simply the total number of organisms impinged by the cooling system.
This change is consistent with the United States Environmental Protection Agency's 2014 Clean Water Act Section 316(b) regulations and its revised impacts methodology. Slide 14, please.
This next issue has the same underlying regulatory and technical basis as the previous issue and combines two existing Category 1 issues on the left into a new Category 1 issue named, Impingement mortality and entrainment of aquatic organisms, plants with cooling towers.
The consolidated issue pertains to nuclear power plants using cooling towers, which are closed-cycle cooling systems. For this combined issue, the staff has determined that no significant impacts on populations of aquatic organisms have been reported at any existing nuclear power plant. Therefore, this
18 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com combined issue is generically resolved with an impact level of small.
This finding is also consistent with the U.S. EPA's revised Clean Water Act Section 316(b) regulations that establish Best Technology Available standards for cooling water intake systems, where cooling towers are recognized as best technology for minimizing environmental impacts. Slide 15, please.
This consolidated issue
- named, Infrequently reported effects of thermal effluents, combined several closely related, but seldom reported or observed, effects of nuclear plant thermal effluent dischargers on aquatic organisms. These various combined effects include cold shock, thermal barriers for migrating aquatic species, the accelerated maturation of aquatic insects, and effects on dissolved oxygen, and other adverse water quality changes.
It also consolidates the thermal effluent component of an existing Category 1 issue for completeness of the analysis. As stated in the proposed rule package, these infrequent effects would be minor and would not destabilize or alter any important attribute of aquatic populations of organisms in receiving water bodies.
19 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com These impacts have been of small significance. The NRC staff also projects that these effects or impacts would continue to be small for all nuclear plants during any future license renewal term.
Therefore, this combined issue is generic in nature and Category 1. Next slide, please.
Here, the staff proposed dividing an existing Category 2 issue into three separate Category 2 issues that address the potential impacts of operating nuclear plants on federally protected ecological resources. This proposed change will promote clarity and consistency with the separate federal statutes and interagency consultation requirements that the NRC staff must consider.
The first issue concerns listed terrestrial and freshwater species and their critical habitats under the Endangered Species Act, or ESA, subject to U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service jurisdiction. The second of the three issues concerns ESA-listed marine and migratory species and their critical habitats under National Marine Fisheries Service jurisdiction.
The last issue concerns essential habitat for regulated marine fisheries under National Marine Fisheries Service jurisdiction, pursuant to the
20 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Slide 17, please.
The NRC staff has also identified three new environmental issues for inclusion in Table B-1 of 10 CFR Part 51. First, a new Category 2 issue titled, National Marine Sanctuaries Act:
Sanctuary Resources, would be added to evaluate the potential effects of continued nuclear power plant operation on protected resources.
Currently, five operating nuclear power plants are located near existing or designated national marine sanctuaries. This addition would enhance and clarify the NRC's interagency consultation requirements. Specifically, Section 304(d) of the Act requires that federal agencies consult with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries for actions that may injure sanctuary resources.
The NRC staff would perform a plant-specific impact assessment as part of each license renewal environmental review to determine the potential effects on sanctuary resources and would consult, as appropriate.
The remaining two issues are closely linked and will facilitate the NRC staff's reviews
21 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com regarding greenhouse gas emissions, or GHGs, and climate change. The NRC staff has been addressing GHGs and climate change in its licensing reviews in accordance with Commission direction since 2009, but these issues were not explicitly included in the 2013 License Renewal GEIS and rulemaking. Now, a new Category 1 issue named, Greenhouse gas impacts on climate change, would be added that evaluates the GHG impacts on climate change associated with continued nuclear power plant operations during the license renewal term.
Based on the NRC staff's evaluation, continued nuclear plant operations and refurbishment activities emit small quantities of GHGs from such common industrial sources as diesel generators, pumps, boilers, motorized equipment, and motor vehicles.
Staff analysis shows that the impacts of GHG emissions on climate change during the license renewal term would be small for all nuclear power plants.
In addition, a new Category 2 issue would be added
- titled, Climate change impacts on environmental resources. This issue addresses the impacts of climate change on those environmental resources that may also be directly impacted by continued nuclear power plant operations. Changes in
22 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com resource conditions, such as water temperature, associated with climate change could result in environmental changes and interact with the incremental impacts of continued nuclear power plant operation.
The impacts of climate change on environmental resources are location-specific, and therefore, they cannot be evaluated generically. The NRC staff therefore proposes to perform a plant-specific impact assessment for this issue as part of each license renewal environmental review. Slide 18, please.
The proposed rule package re-classifies the current Category 2 severe accidents issue to Category 1. Under the NRC's current regulations, license renewal applicants must perform a Severe Accident Mitigation Alternatives analysis, or SAMA, if not performed previously for the nuclear power plant.
This requirement would not change.
However, as proposed, this issue would be resolved generically for the vast majority, if not all, license renewal applicants. This is because it is expected that future applicants will have previously completed a full SAMA analysis for their plants. All future applicants will still have to
23 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com identify any new and significant information with respect to severe accidents, subject to independent review by the NRC staff.
This proposed change from Category 2 to Category 1 is supported by new information and analyses performed by the NRC staff which shows an overall reduction in population dose risk coupled with continued severe accident regulatory improvements that have reduced the likelihood of finding additional beneficial plant safety upgrades.
This new and updated information supports the Commission's expectations that further SAMA analysis would not be necessary for plants that have previously completed a full SAMA analysis, or similar analysis such as a Severe Accident Mitigation Design Alternative analysis, also called a SAMDA. Therefore, the NRC staff has concluded that the probability-weighted consequences of severe accidents during both an initial and a subsequent license renewal term would be small.
I will now turn the presentation over to my colleague, Yanely Malave, who will provide additional information on the rulemaking. Thank you.
MS. MALAVE: Thank you, Kevin.
I'm Yanely Malave, the rulemaking project
24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com manager for this project. I know we have provided a lot of information, so I would like to summarize the proposed amendments.
We will revise the existing requirements for environmental reviews of applications for license renewal of operating nuclear power plants. The proposed amendments will codify the updated generic conclusions of the draft revised License Renewal GEIS for those issues for which a generic conclusion regarding the potential environmental impacts of issuing an initial or subsequent renewal license for a nuclear power plant can be reached.
These conclusions have been updated to account for subsequent license renewal as well as initial license renewal and other new information since the 2013 License Renewal GEIS update. The issues are identified as Category 1 issues in the draft License Renewal GEIS.
The Category 1 issues identified and described in the draft License Renewal GEIS may be applied to any initial license renewal or subsequent license renewal application for an operating nuclear power plant and have been determined to have a small impact for all plants or a subset of plants.
Table B-1 in Appendix B to Subpart A of 10
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com CFR Part 51 summarizes and codifies the Commission's findings for all Category 1 issues. The revisions to Table B-1 account for subsequent license renewal, reflect lessons learned, knowledge gained, and experience from license renewal environmental reviews performed since the development of the 2013 License Renewal GEIS. It also considers changes to applicable laws and regulations and factors in new scientific data and methodology with respect to the assessment of potential environmental impacts of nuclear power plant license renewal.
In addition, we made conforming changes to the provisions of 51.53(c)(3) and 51.95(c). We also clarified that it only applies to one term of subsequent license renewal, but we do have a question in the proposed rule package as to whether it should be applied to more than one term of subsequent license renewal. Slide 20, please.
The NRC staff submitted the proposed rule package to the Commission on December 6th, 2022, and the proposed rule was published on March 3rd. The FR citation is 88 FR 13329. We are conducting multiple public meetings during the 60-day public comment period, which ends on May 2nd.
After the conclusion of the public comment
26 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com period, the NRC staff will respond to comments received on the proposed rule, the License Renewal GEIS, and associated guidance and will update the package as appropriate. The NRC staff plans to submit the final rule package to the Commission for its review and approval by the end of November. The estimated date of publication for the final rule is April 2024. Slide 21, please.
We have created a public website with information related to this project and links to the documents. In addition, all the documents can be found through ADAMS and are shown in the table in the slide, which also have the corresponding ML numbers for each of these documents. Slide 22, please.
There are multiple ways that you can submit comments. One, at today's meeting. You can also provide it online at regulations.gov. Just be sure to search for docket number ID NRC-2018-0296.
You can email comments to rulemaking.comments@nrc.gov.
If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming the receipt of your submission, please contact us at 301-415-1677. Slide 23, please.
You can also submit your comments by mail to the Secretary at the address shown in this slide.
And as a reminder, the comment period ends on May 2nd.
27 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com Slide 24, please.
I also want to point out that in the proposed rule, the NRC is seeking comments on whether the proposed rule should be expanded beyond two license renewal terms. Please provide the rationale for your response. Slide 25, please.
This slide shows the points of contact for this project. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions. And now I will turn it over to Brett for further information as to how you can provide comments and questions today.
MR. KLUKAN: Great. Thank you so much.
So, before we begin with the public comment portion, we do have a limited opportunity to ask any clarifying questions on the presentations with respect to the NRC's environmental review that is going through to prepare the LR GEIS.
So, I'll first start in the room. Is there anyone in the room who has a clarifying question they'd like to ask at this time?
Okay. All right. For those of you online participating via Teams, you can raise your hand using the raised hand feature. It looks like a little hand.
It should be at the top of your screen if you'd like to ask a clarifying question at this time.
28 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com For those who are participating via phone, you need to press *5. Again, that is star-5 to raise your hand. And then, once you are called upon, you will need to press *6 to unmute yourself. Again, that is *6. So, *5 to raise your hand, and then *6 to unmute yourself.
And now I'll turn it over to Lance to see if we have anyone online who would like to ask a clarifying question at this time.
MR. RAKOVAN: Thanks, Brett. Just pausing for a second. But at this point, I see no hands.
MR. KLUKAN: Okay, then. We will now move on to the public comment portion of the meeting. So, if you have a comment on the NRC's environmental review that you'd like the NRC to take into consideration as part of its environmental review and the preparation of the LR GEIS, please feel free to raise your hand if you're in the room.
So, we'll start within the room, and then we'll go online just as we did for clarifying questions. So, any comments you'd like to give to the NRC tonight, anyone in the room?
All right. Lance, I'll turn to you. See if there's anyone online who would like to make a comment at this time.
29 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com MR. RAKOVAN: Very good. Okay. Again, as Brett indicated, if you would like to make a comment and you're online, you can raise your hand using the Raise Your Hand feature. It's a little hand.
Yes. It looks like I have one. Jeff Luse, if you'd like to unmute yourself.
MR. LUSE: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is a great presentation. Thank you so much. And I'd like to thank the NRC for allowing me the chance to, you know, speak about this important topic.
As the Commission already knows, nuclear power is our largest source of carbon-free energy, and it's among the safest energy sources that we have available. Nuclear power provides countless jobs and economic benefits to communities across the country while stabilizing power grids around our nation. And importantly, it's critical to meeting key climate and energy security objectives now and for the future.
All too often, however, nuclear power has been hamstrung by onerous and burdensome delays in our nation's permitting and licensing process. These delays have increased the costs of building and operating nuclear power, which have allowed fossil fuels to dominate the electricity market. While affordable energy is important, the build-out of these
30 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com fossil fuels has had a demonstratively negative impact on air quality, contributing to many health problems and premature deaths, often in underserved and low-income communities.
So, understanding these benefits that nuclear power provides, as well as the public health risks that have been seen with carbon-intensive energy use, we at Generation Atomic, which is a grassroots advocacy organization -- we ask that in its new environmental assessment rulemaking, any changes that the NRC considers and adopts be ones that prioritize ways to streamline the relicensing process of existing nuclear plants.
The NRC should also consider the impacts of not licensing plants in a timely fashion.
Implementing a relicensing process that is onerous, time-exhaustive, and difficult to navigate will hurt our energy security and ability to meet key environmental objectives. And that's all. Thank you so much.
MR. KLUKAN: Thank you very much. Lance, I will --
(Simultaneous speaking.)
MR. RAKOVAN: Sorry, Brett. We keep on talking over each other. Go ahead.
31 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com MR. KLUKAN: All right. Again, Lance, I'll turn to you. I was just going to ask if we had anyone else online who had their hand raised. Again, if you'd like to offer a comment, please raise your hand within Teams or hit *5 if you're participating via phone to raise your hand.
MR. RAKOVAN: We have no hands raised at this time, Brett.
MR. KLUKAN: Okay. We'll give people a minute or two here to see if they change their minds.
And so we will wait and see.
All right. Lance, anyone have their hands raised?
MR. RAKOVAN: No hands online, Brett.
MR. KLUKAN: Okay. Again, another call within the room. Like to offer a public comment?
Okay. All right. Well, going once, twice. All right. Well, thank you, everyone who's come to the meeting this evening, as well as those who are participating online. And I would now like to turn it back over to Trish for some further remarks.
Thank you.
DR. HOLAHAN: Thank you, everyone, for taking the time this evening, and I appreciate you coming out or attending online and making comments.
32 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com And we'll take all those comments into consideration as part of our final rule package. And with that, I'll close the meeting.
MR. KLUKAN: All right. Thank you very much, everyone. And, court reporter, you can end the transcript at this time. Thank you.
(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record at 6:40 p.m.)