ML23107A245
| ML23107A245 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/06/2023 |
| From: | NRC |
| To: | |
| References | |
| PR-51, NRC-2018-0296, 88FR13329 | |
| Download: ML23107A245 (1) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Public Meeting on the Proposed Rule Renewing Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses - Environmental Review Docket Number: (n/a)
Location: Decatur, Georgia Date: Thursday, April 6, 2023 Work Order No.: NRC-2354 Pages 1-33 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1716 14th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 234-4433
1 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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THURSDAY APRIL 6, 2023
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The Meeting convened at the Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Decatur Downtown/Emory, 130 Clairemont Avenue, Decatur, Georgia, and via Video-teleconference, at 6:00 p.m. EDT, Brett Klukan, Facilitator, presiding.
PRESENT BRETT KLUKAN, Region I, Facilitator LANCE RAKOVAN, NMSS/REFS, Online Facilitator JENNIFER DAVIS, NMSS/SLED KEVIN FOLK, NMSS/SLED BOB HOFFMAN, NMSS/SLED TRISH HOLAHAN, NMSS/SLED YANELY MALAVE-VELEZ, NMSS/SLED SHERRI MIOTLA, NMSS/SLED BILL ROGERS, NMSS/SLED 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 A-G-E-N-D-A OPENING REMARKS PAGE Brett Klukan.................................3 PRESENTATION.......................................5 ADJOURN...........................................33 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
3 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 6:00 p.m.
MR. KLUKAN: Good evening, everyone, my name is Brett Klukan. I am the Regional Counsel for Region I of the U.S. 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 as the virtual facilitator. We're going to do our best to make this meeting worthwhile for everyone, and we hope that you will help us out with that.
For those of your participating using Microsoft Teams, you may turn on closed captioning for this meeting by selecting the three dots at the top of your screen where it says, More. From the drop-down menu, depending upon which version of Teams you're using, you can select either Language and Speech or Accessibility to turn on live captions.
The purpose tonight is to provide information and receive public comments on the proposed changes to the NRC regulations, Draft Revision 2 to NUREG-1437, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, 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
4 otherwise known as the LR GEIS, and associated guidance.
This is a comment-gathering meeting, which by the NRC's definition means that we'll be actively seeking your input after we complete our presentation.
You can find the slides that we'll be speaking from tonight in the NRC's ADAMS electronic filing system using the accession number ML23069A013. You can also find a link to the slides on the public meeting schedule page for this meeting at www.nrc.gov.
We will be going over the various ways you can provide comments later in the meeting, and we will go through how you can provide your comments here tonight at this meeting once we have finished with the presentations. However, please be aware that we do want to hear from you directly, and so we have turned off the chat feature in Microsoft Teams.
I would ask that you please keep in mind that we are recording and transcribing this meeting to make sure that we fully capture your comments. You can help us get a clean recording of the meeting tonight by identifying yourself and any group you're affiliated with when you first begin to speak.
You can also help us get a clean recording by silencing any electronic devices and staying on 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
5 mute when it is your -- or when it is not your turn to speak.
For those of you in the room, obviously please try to silence any electronic devices you have on then at this time. With regards to those of you in the room, the emergency exits are just behind us and the bathrooms are just to the right of the main entrance doors.
And with that, without any further ado, I will hand things over to Trish Holahan, and we'll be back after the presentation when we move to the public comment portion of the meeting. And again, I'm going to ask everyone to hold any clarifying questions you may have until after the presentations are over.
Thank you.
DR. HOLAHAN: Thank you, Brett.
Good evening, and everyone, welcome. As Brett said, my name is Trish Holahan.
MR. RAKOVAN: Trish, this is Lance, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's really hard to hear you.
If there's any way that you can be louder, please do that, please.
DR. HOLAHAN: Can you hear me now?
MR. RAKOVAN: That's -- doesn't appear to be a change.
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
6 DR. HOLAHAN: Okay.
MR. RAKOVAN: I mean, we can -- we can hear, you're just quite faint compared to Brett.
DR. HOLAHAN: 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 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 on the line is Yanely Malave, the rulemaking PM. In audience we also have Sherri Miotla, Bob Hoffman, and [Bill Rogers] (audio interference).
As Brett mentioned, we also have a facilitator, Lance Rakovan, monitoring the questions online. There are 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. Ill refer to these as the proposed rule package. Both these documents 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
7 were published on March 3, 2023.
Were 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. Its the vehicle we use for implementing national policy and standards. Its also the mechanism we use at the NRC to fulfill our goals (audio interference) [which is] maintaining health and safety and security and protecting the environment.
The meeting we are having tonight is a very important part of that rulemaking process, the opportunity for the public and other interested parties to comment on what the staff has done in draft form.
Over the past few months, the Directorate has been involved in an effort to develop a rulemaking that aligns with the Commission adjudicatory order and recent Commission decisions regarding the NEPA analysis and subsequent license renewal.
We want your perspectives and your input.
I also want to point out that in the proposed rule 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
8 package, the NRC is asking for your input regarding whether this rulemaking should apply to more than two license renewal [terms], (audio interference) initial and one subsequent.
Your feedback will help us improve our final documents and provide valuable input to the Commissioners during their deliberations on the final rule, 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 GEIS] (audio interference). We'll get into that later in the presentation.
This is the last of several hybrid meetings we'll be having on this package. So once again, welcome, thank you for joining us tonight, and now I'll turn it over to Jennifer.
MR. KLUKAN: Before we turn it over to Jennifer, I just want to do a quick mic check. So, Jennifer, why don't you check your, test your microphone out. And Lance, please let us know if we can hear her okay.
MR. RAKOVAN: Jen, are you talking? If someone is talking, we cannot hear them online.
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
9 MR. KLUKAN: Yeah, we're going to -- we're going to have the interim speakers use the microphone at the podium that I'm standing at. So just one second, Lance.
MR. RAKOVAN: Yeah, Brett -- Brett, you are -- you are loud and clear. Trish was about a third as easy to hear as you were. And we could not hear Jen.
MS. DAVIS: All right, how's this, Lance?
MR. RAKOVAN: Perfect.
MS. DAVIS: All righty. Okay, thank you, Trish.
Again, my name is Jennifer Davis, I'm one of the technical project managers for this rulemaking.
And in terms of our agenda, first we'll provide a very brief overview of how we got here. Next, we will discuss the purpose of 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 the LR GEIS.
We'll also discuss our methodology for developing the draft revised License Renewal GEIS, the proposed rule, and we'll summarize some of our proposed amendments to the NRC's environmental protection regulations at 10 CFR Part 51.
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
10 Additionally, we'll go over our schedule for this project and review how our public 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 conducted in June of 2013. In August of 2020, the NRC published a scoping notice in the Federal Register notice announcing the NRC staff's intent to potentially review and update the 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 being held on August 19 and 27 of 2020, and the public scoping period concluded on November 2nd.
The staff used the scoping comments to inform and prepare a rulemaking plan, which then 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
11 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 amending Table B-1 and updating 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 25, 2022, the staff submitted a revised rulemaking plan numbered SECY-22-0024 to request approval to proceed with a rulemaking that aligned with Commission orders that were issued in February of 2022. The orders in part concluded that the NRC staff had not conducted an adequate NEPA analysis for subsequent license renewal environmental reviews. Slide 6, please.
On April 5, the Commission approved the rulemaking plan as described in this -- in SECY 0024. The Commission directed the staff to initiate a rulemaking that aligned with their orders issued in February of 2022, remove the word initial from 10 CFR 51.53(c)(3), revise the License Renewal GEIS, update Table B-1 and associated guidance to fully support subsequent license renewal. The documents should also 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
12 be updated to account for changes in applicable laws and regulations, reflect new data, and incorporate lessons learned and knowledge gained for the reviews performed since 2013.
The Commission also directed that the NRC staff complete this rulemaking in 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 environmental impacts considered to be generic for all or a subset of nuclear power plants.
The License Renewal GEIS also identifies and provides information on issues that need to be addressed in plant-specific environmental reviews for individual license renewal applications. The NRC documents these reviews in supplemental environmental impact statements prepared to the 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 Subpart A of Part 51.
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
13 The environmental issues evaluated in the License Renewal GEIS and listed in Table B-1 are characterized as either Category 1 or Category 2.
Category 1 issues are those that are considered 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 further consideration.
Category 1 issues are only reevaluated in plant-specific environmental 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 environmental review must address Category 2 issues. Table B-1 summarizes all of these issues. Slide 9, please.
So, 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 renewal, and to ensure that the analysis and assumptions support subsequent license renewal.
In doing so, the NRC considered the need to modify, add to, or delete any of the 78 issues 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
14 evaluated in the 2013 License Renewal GEIS and codified in the regulations at Table B-1.
The 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 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 effects 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 power plant operations or refurbishment that could affect a resource, identifying the affected resource, evaluating past license renewal reviews, and other available information, assessing the nature and magnitude of effects, characterizing the significance of those effects, and determining whether or not the analysis applies [to] all nuclear plants or to a subset of plants, or whether or not it is plant-specific --
that is, whether or not the issue is Category 1 or 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
15
-and the staff considered additional mitigation measures for adverse impacts.
Most importantly, lessons learned and knowledge gained during previous license renewal reviews provided a major source of information for this review. Public comments from those plant-specific reviews were reevaluated to validate existing environmental issues and to identify new ones.
Since 2013, 15 commercial nuclear power plants have undergone an initial license renewal review. For the purposes of this review, the NRC staff also considered five subsequent license renewal reviews, including two reviews where the NRC staff had issued a draft supplemental environmental impact statement but not a final. Slide 11, please.
In the proposed rule package, the NRC staff identified a total of 80 environmental issues that may be associated with nuclear plant operation and refurbishment during the renewal term. Of the 80 issues, the NRC staff identified 59 as Category 1, which would be codified in the proposed Table B-1 of Part 51.
Applicants and the NRC staff would be able to rely on the generic finding for each Category 1 issue, as supported by the analysis in the draft 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
16 revised License Renewal GEIS, subject to the consideration of any new and significant information.
The NRC staff also identified 20 environmental issues as 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 License Renewal GEIS has identified with a category N/A or not applicable.
Studies have not uncovered consistent evidence linking harmful effects with field exposures. Because the state of the science is currently inadequate, no generic conclusion on human health is possible. If in future the Commission finds that a general agreement has been reached by appropriate federal health agencies that there are adverse effects from electromagnetic fields, the Commission will then treat this issue in a manner similar to a Category 2 issue.
But until such time, applicants are not required to submit information on this issue.
As indicated on this slide, no environmental issues were eliminated, but certain issues were consolidated for clarity. And one issue 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
17 was subdivided into three separate issues.
Next, we will summarize the key changes to the 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 or updated technical and regulatory information as described in the draft revised GEIS. The proposed changes are also intended to enhance the effectiveness of the NRC staff's license renewal reviews conducted under NEPA.
And now I'll turn the presentation over to Kevin Folk, who will discuss the detailed changes that the staff is proposing to make to Table B-1. Thank you.
MR. FOLK: Thank you, Jennifer. Good evening, everyone. My name is Kevin Folk, and I'll summarize the major technical revisions in the proposed rule package.
For this first issue, the staff proposes to combine two closely related environmental issues, shown on the left side of your -- of your slide into a consolidated Category 2 issue. This revised issue is named, Groundwater quality degradation, plants with cooling ponds. The scope of this combined issue 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
18 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 or surface water quality in coastal areas as well as at inland sites, depending on such site-specific differences as cooling pond construction, operations, and in water quality, and site hydrogeologic conditions.
This proposed change is based on new and significant information identified by the NRC staff during the 2019 environmental review at the Turkey Point plant in Florida. Slide 13, please.
This renamed consolidated Category 2 issue is titled, Impingement mortality and entrainment of aquatic organisms, plants with once-through cooling systems or cooling ponds.
The issue pertains to cooling water intake effects on aquatic organisms, including finfish and shellfish at operating nuclear plants with once-through, also called open cycle cooling systems.
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
19 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 environmental impacts. The staff is renaming the combined issue to consider impingement mortality rather than simply the total impingement of aquatic organisms.
This change is consistent with United States Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water Act, Section 316(b) regulations and revised impacts methodology. Slide 14, please.
This next issue has the same underlying and -- underlying regulatory and technical basis as the previous issue. It combines two existing Category 1 issues on the left of your slide into a new Category 1 issue, named Impingement mortality and entrainment of aquatic organisms, plants with cooling towers.
The consolidated issue pertains to nuclear plants using cooling towers, which are closed-cycle cooling systems. For this combined issue, the staff determined that no significant impacts on populations of aquatic organisms have been reported at any existing nuclear power plants that rely on cooling towers.
Therefore, this combined issue is 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
20 generically resolved with an impact 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, or BTA, for cooling water intake systems where cooling towers are recognized as best technology for minimizing impacts on aquatic resources. 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 discharges on aquatic organisms.
These various combined effects include, for example, cold shock, thermal barriers for migrating aquatic species, the accelerated maturation of aquatic insects, and effects on dissolved oxygen and other 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 in receiving water bodies. These impacts have been of small significance to date.
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
21 The NRC staff also projects that these effects or impacts would be, continue to be, small for all nuclear plants during any license renewal term.
Therefore, the combined issue is generic in nature, or Category 1. Slide 16, please.
Here, the staff proposes 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.
The proposed change will promote clarity and consistency with the separate federal statutes and interagency consultation requirements that the NRC staff must consider in its environmental reviews.
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 the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The last issue concerns essential habitat for regulated marine fisheries under National Marine 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
22 Fisheries Service jurisdiction, pursuant to the 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 potential effects of nuclear power plant operation on protected resources.
Currently, five operating nuclear power plants -- are located near existing or proposed 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 any 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 these resources and would consult, as appropriate.
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
23 The remaining two issues are closely linked and will facilitate the NRC staff's environmental reviews regarding greenhouse gas emissions, or GHGs, as well as climate change.
The NRC staff has been addressing GHGs and climate change in its licensing reviews in accordance with Commission direction since 2009, but such issues were not explicitly included in the 2013 License Renewal Generic Environmental Impact Statement and the rule.
Now, a new Category 1 issue, named, Greenhouse gas impacts on climate change, would be added that will evaluate 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 power 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.
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 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
24 be added titled, Climate change impacts on environmental resources. This issue would address the impacts of climate change on those environmental resources that may also be directly impacted by continued nuclear power plant operations during the license renewal term.
Changes in resource conditions, such as water temperature associated with climate change, could result in environmental changes that would interact with the incremental impacts of nuclear power plant operations.
The impacts of climate change on environmental resources are location-specific and cannot be resolved generically. The NRC, therefore, proposes to perform a plant-specific impact assessment as part of each site-specific license renewal environmental review. Slide 18, please.
The proposed rule package reclassifies 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, also called a SAMA, if not performed previously for the nuclear plant.
This requirement would not change. However, as proposed, this issue would be resolved generically for 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
25 the vast majority, if not all, license renewal applicants. This is because it is expected that future license renewal applicants will have previously completed a full SAMA analysis in accordance with the NRC's regulations. All future applicants will still have to 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 and that continued severe accident regulatory improvements have further reduced the likelihood of finding additional beneficial plant safety upgrades.
This new and updated information supports the Commission's expectation that further SAMA analysis would not be necessary for plants that have already completed a 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.
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
26 I will now turn it over to my colleague, Yanely Malave, who will have additional information on our rulemaking. Thank you.
MS. MALAVE: Thank you, Kevin.
I'm Yanely Malave, the rulemaking project 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.
These issues are identified as Category 1 issues in the draft License Renewal GEIS. The Category 1 issues identified and described in the 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
27 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 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 [10 CFR] Part 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.
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
28 The NRC staff submitted the proposed rule package to the Commission on December 6, 2022, and the proposed rule was published on March 3rd. The FR citation is 88 FR 13329.
This is the last of multiple public meetings that have been held during the 60-day public comment period, which ends on May 2. After the conclusion of the public comment period, the NRC staff will respond to comments received on the proposed rule, 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 a 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 the table on the slide shows the corresponding ML numbers for each of these documents. Slide 22, please.
You can submit comments by multiple methods. One of them is at today's meeting. The second one is online via regulations.gov. Be sure to 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
29 search for docket ID NRC-2018-0296.
You can also email comments to rulemaking.comments@nrc.gov. If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming the submission of your comment, please contact us at 301-415-1677.
Slide 23, please.
You can also submit your comments by mail to the address shown on the slide. And as a friendly reminder, the comment period ends on May 2. 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 your rationale with the response. Slide 25, please.
This slide shows the point 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.
MR. KLUKAN: Thank you very much. So as noted in the agenda for this meeting, before we open up to public comments, we'd like to give you an opportunity to ask any clarifying questions regarding 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
30 materials presented to you by the NRC staff tonight.
So, if you have a clarifying question for those of you in the room, and you'd like -- please feel free to come to the microphone and ask it now.
Okay.
If you are participating via Teams on phone, if you're on Teams, you can use the raised hand function. That is a little hand, it should be towards the top of your screen, again, depending upon what version you're using.
If you'd like to ask a clarifying question at this time regarding the presentations or the material covered in the presentations, please raise your hand now.
If you're participating via phone, press
- 5, again, that is *5 to raise your hand. And then you will need to press *6 to unmute yourself when you are called upon. So again, *5 to raise your hand, and then *6 to unmute yourself.
And Lance, we'll wait for your confirmation if we have anyone online who would like to ask a clarifying question.
MR. RAKOVAN: No hands at this time, Brett.
MR. KLUKAN: Okay. We will then move on 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
31 to the public comment portion of the meeting. We will again start with those of you in the room. Is there anyone with us this evening who would like to offer a public comment at this time?
All right, hearing none, Lance, I will turn it over to you. Again, if you would like to offer a public comment, use the raise hand function if you're participating via Teams, or press *5 if you are participating via phone.
MR. RAKOVAN: Not seeing any hands, Brett, so I'll leave it to you how long you want to pause, and I will let you know if any come up.
MR. KLUKAN: Okay, we'll give it one -- a couple, maybe a minute or two more. Again, if you have anything you'd like to offer, please feel free to raise your hand at this time. If you aren't prepared to give a comment now, again, as covered in the NRC slides, there are alternative means of submitting your comment at a later time before the deadline.
Again, if you would like to offer a public comment, for those of you participating online, please press *5 if you are participating in via phone, or if you are participating via Teams, use the raise hand function.
Lance, do we have anyone with their hand 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
32 raised at this time?
MR. RAKOVAN: I see no hands on Teams.
MR. KLUKAN: Okay, well, thank you very much. Again, there are multiple ways of submitting comments for submission to the NRC as part -- for the NRC to take into consideration as part of the rulemaking.
You can refer back to the slides, which are posted to the NRC's public website for additional information regarding those alternative means, whether it be by mail or by email, whatnot.
So, without any further ado, thank you very much for those of you who have joined us, both in the room and those online. And I will turn it over to Trish Holahan for closing remarks. Thank you.
DR. HOLAHAN: Well, thank you very much for everyone who participated or listened in for the meeting, both in the room and on Teams and on the phone. We really appreciate your hearing us out. As I said, this is the last of the public meetings we're going to be holding at this time.
And so please provide comments by one of the means that were listed on the slide. And we'll consider all the comments, and we'll publish a document taking into account all the comments and 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
33 addressing all the comments directly.
So anyways, thank you very much, and I'll call this meeting closed.
(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record at 6:41 p.m.)
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