ML23108A313
| ML23108A313 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Monticello  |
| Issue date: | 04/18/2023 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-2298 | |
| Download: ML23108A313 (1) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant Subsequent License Renewal Public Meeting Docket Number: (n/a)
Location: Monticello, Minnesota Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2023 Work Order No.: NRC-2298 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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
+ + + + +
Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant Subsequent License Renewal
+ + + + +
Wednesday March 22, 2023
+ + + + +
The Public Meeting was convened at the Monticello Community Center, 505 Walnut Street, Room 4, Monticello, Minnesota at 6:00 p.m.,
Brett Klukan, Facilitator, presiding.
Present:
BRETT KLUKAN, Facilitator JOHN MOSES, Deputy Division Director of Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support JESSICA UMANA, Environmental Project Manager JESSICA HAMMOCK, Safety Project Manager VALERIE MYERS, Senior Health Physicist, Region 3 VIKTORIA MITLYNG, Office of Public Affairs 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 TAMMY BLOOMER, Deputy Division Director, Radiological Safety and Security, Region 3 NANCY MARTINEZ, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 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: Hello everyone. Welcome to the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Environmental Scoping Meeting relating to the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant Subsequent License Renewal, what we are going to call SLR application.
My name is Brett Klukan. Normally I serve as the regional counsel for Region 1 of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. However, tonight or this evening I will be serving as a facilitator for this meeting.
Our goals tonight are twofold. One, to provide you with an overview of the SLR process, both relating to safety and environmental for the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant.
And two, to get your input on the environmental issues that the NRC should address as part of its environmental review.
Now, a term you're going to hear a lot tonight during the NRC presentation is scoping.
Scoping simply means determining the scope of the environmental review, in this case for the continued operation of the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant.
Tonight is just one meeting or tonight 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
4 just one opportunity that you can participate in that process. And we will go into more detail regarding the other ways in which you can provide comments as part of the -- or for consideration as part of the environmental scoping process.
Tonight we will hear a presentation from the NRC staff on the topic at hand, information we think is important for you to understand and then we will transition to comments from you.
A link to the meeting slides can be found on the public meeting schedule page for this meeting on the NRC website, and I think we also still printed copies on the table outside.
However, before I go any further, I want to let you know in response to your interest, as well as in the press releases and news reports issued last week, the NRC staff will first address the tritiated water leak at Monticello before turning to its discussion and presentation of the SLR review.
This is a comment gathering meeting, which means by the NRC's definition that we will be actively seeking your input as we complete or after we complete our presentation.
We are going to go over, again, the various ways you can provide your comments later in 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 the meeting, and we will go through, again, how you can provide your comments here tonight once we've concluded our presentation.
Keep in mind, that we are being transcribed and recorded, as well as the multiple cameras in the room tonight, so when it is your turn to provide public comments, please state your name and if you wouldn't mind spelling your last name, that would greatly help our court reporter this evening. It would also help us get a clean -- it will also help us get a clean recording by identifying a group affiliation you have as well.
And, if you wouldn't mind, at this time please silence any devices you have on you.
If you would like to offer comments this evening and have not already done so, please step outside at any point to fill out one of the green cards. That lets us know you would like to speak this evening.
Now, for a basic ground rule. I just ask that you adhere to civil decorum. Just as you wouldn't want to be interrupted during your opportunity to speak, I ask that you not interrupt others. However, as to this point, let me be very clear, frightening gestures or statements will not 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 be -- will under no circumstances be tolerated and will be cause for immediate rejection from the meeting.
If you feel that you have been threatened, please let me know or one of the local law enforcement agents stationed around the room know and we will take appropriate and immediate action.
If you have something you would like to give to the NRC staff, whether it be information, an object, please hand it to me and I will take care of it.
Other than that, we would like you at the end of the meeting to please fill out the public feedback form. There are copies of it on the table outside. It greatly helps us in figuring out how to improve upon the conduct of our meetings as we move forward.
Now, at this time I would like to offer our elected officials or official representatives of any federal, state, or local or tribal entities an opportunity to stand up to be recognized at this time.
There will be a later opportunity for public remarks.
Are there any elected officials or local representatives or state -- federal, state or local representatives who would like to stand and be 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 recognized at this time? And I will bring the mic to you.
Seeing none, I would now like to take a quick moment to introduce some of the NRC staff in attendance today.
First, we have John Moses. John is our Deputy Division Director for the Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support.
We have Jessica Hammock, the Safety Project Manager.
We have Jessica Umana, the Environmental Project Manager.
We have Viktoria Mitlyng, our Office of Public Affairs -- from our Office of Public Affairs.
We have Valerie -- we also have with us Valerie Myers, who many of you have spoken with already. She's the Senior Health Physicist in Region 3.
And then we also have with us Tammy Bloomer who is the Director of the Division of Radiological Safety and Security in NRC Region 3.
Now, without any further ado, I would like to turn it over to Tammy.
MS. BLOOMER: Thanks, Brett. Good evening, everyone. Some of you I have already met.
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 Glad that you could join us here today.
So as Brett mentioned, this is really a meeting for public comments on the scoping of the subsequent license renewal for Monticello.
At the same time, we understand that there are some community concern about the report that was issued last week regarding a water leak at Monticello that contained some tritium. We understand that you are concerned and that's why my team is here.
We want to emphasize that you are safe and that your drinking water is safe. As many of you have heard throughout the open forum, our experts in the room are inspectors of the plant. They were at the plant. They were aware of the situation. They assessed the situation, and they determined that the public is safe, the environment is safe, and the plant is safe.
There are information sheets at the back table on the NRC's Environmental Monitoring Process and on tritium. Those can also be found on the NRC website, NRC.gov.
We will have a public meeting in Monticello to discuss plant issues, questions and concerns related to the Monticello facility.
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 At this time I would like to turn it back over to Brett.
MR. KLUKAN: Thank you very much, Tammy, for those remarks.
And now we're going to turn it over to John Moses who will give the opening statement as part of the scoping meeting.
MR. MOSES: Thanks, Brett. So good evening everyone. As Brent mentioned, my name is John Moses and I am the Deputy Director of the Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Services Division at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
And welcome to tonight's environmental scoping meeting for the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant.
The NRC's environmental review process has always encouraged public participation and transparency. In fact, public participation, openness, and transparency are key to NRC's activities, including the licensing of nuclear facilities.
Tonight I am looking forward to hearing your feedback on issues that you feel are significant for our staff to consider and assess as part of our environmental review process and to be included in the review of the applicant's environmental report.
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 Our goal is to hear from you, collect any comments you might have both here, you may have already sent, you may want to submit through regulations.gov. If you haven't picked one up, we have little comment cards with a QR code. You can use your phone to pick up or you can type in the address.
That comment period will continue through April 10th, so about a little more than two weeks, two and a half weeks, and we will keep on considering those comments.
Our team will fold that into their analysis, which you will hear a lot more about shortly.
The second part of our discussion is also to discuss our process, so you will -- once the team concludes its presentation, then there will be some questions about, hey, can you explain what this aspect of the process is or what was that acronym, what is that again.
Once that brief kind of discussion about the process concludes, then we will shift it to hearing your comments and your questions about the environmental process or environmental topics themselves.
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 So with that, I am just going to turn it back to Brett. And thank you very much for joining us tonight.
MR. KLUKAN: Thanks, John. And now I am going to turn it over to Jessica Hammock and Jessica Umana. Afterwards or after the NRC's presentation, I will move, as John mentioned, to the question and answer section or limited question and answer session related to the presentations that Jessica and Jessica are going to present, and then I would ask that you hold any questions you have until after the presentations. After we get through that limited Q and A section, we will open it up to your public comments.
Without any further ado, Jessica and Jessica.
MS. UMANA: Good evening. I'm Jessica Umana. I'm the Environmental Project Manager for the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant subsequent licensing renewal. And I would like to welcome you to the public meeting that is hosted by the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, also known as the NRC.
Jessica Hammock is the Safety Project Manager, and you'll hear from her shortly. And we are here with several additional staff from the NRC.
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 Our goals today, as you heard earlier, are to provide you with an overview of the subsequent license renewal process for safety and environmental and also to get your input on environmental issues that the NRC should consider in our environmental review.
Now, as Brett mentioned earlier, you are going to hear the term scoping a lot, and what that means is basically a determination of the scope of the environmental review, in this case for the continued operation of Monticello.
Today's meeting is just one way you can participate in the process, in the license renewal process, pardon me, and we'll get more -- into more detail about that later.
All right. Our agenda. So we're going to begin with an overview of the license renewal process. After this staff presentation, as you heard, you'll have an opportunity to ask questions about the information on the slides. And then following that we will start taking your public scoping comments.
We want to maximize the amount of time that we have for that part of the meeting.
So the overall logistics for the meeting.
There is no hybrid counterpart to this meeting today.
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 We will be hosting a public scoping webinar on March 29th from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. central time. There's information on that on NRC.gov under public involvement, so if you would like to participate in that, please look for that information on the public website.
This is a comment gathering meeting, so by the NRC's definition we are actively seeking your input. Please note that we are transcribing today's meeting so the NRC staff will get a full accounting of the comments that you provide.
Okay. Introductions, as if you haven't heard enough of them already, Jessica Hammock, not to be confused, is the safety project manager assigned to the Monticello subsequent license renewal. I'm Jessica Umana. And John Moses is the Division Director -- Deputy Director of the Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support.
Okay. Monticello Unit 1 was first licensed in 19 -- in September 1970. It was granted initial renewed license in 2006. The current renewed license expires in September 2030 and if the license is granted, it will be for an additional 20 years, expiring in 2050.
Okay. Moving on to the contents of 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
14 application. Northern States Power Company filed an application for subsequent license renewal for Monticello in January -- on January 9, 2023. A license renewal application is required to contain certain information. General information such as the applicant's name and address, business and administrative information, technical information which pertains to aging management and -- pardon me, that part of the application is focused on the safety review.
The other information that is included in their subsequent license renewal is an environmental report, which is the applicant's assessment of the environmental impacts of continued operation.
This information serves as a starting point for the staff to review environmental aspects of the subsequent license renewal for Monticello.
Now, I will turn things over to Jessica Hammock so she can cover the safety review process.
MS. HAMMOCK: Thank you, Jessica. Thank you again. My name is Jessica Hammock. I'm the Safety Review Project Manager for the Monticello subsequent license renewal review.
I will now walk us through the NRC subsequent license renewal review process as shown 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
15 the next slide.
Starting from the left, the process begins once the subsequent license renewal application or SLRA has been accepted for review.
Then the process breaks out into two parallel layers; the safety review, which you see on top, the environmental review in the middle, and the two reviews evaluate separate aspects of the license renewal application.
On the safety side of the review, the staff reviews the application, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards or ACRS completes an independent review of the application to make a recommendation to the commission.
At the bottom of the flowchart dotted lines lead to hearings. The dotted lines represent the opportunity for a hearing in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act which establishes a process for members of the public to request involvement in hearings on a variety of nuclear matters, civilian nuclear matters, including subsequent license renewal.
The commission considers the outcome of the hearing process in its decision whether or not to issue a renewed license.
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 Finally, with inputs from the environmental review, ACRS' recommendation on the safety review, as well as the staff's finding in the safety review, a final decision is made by the NRC.
The Atomic Energy Act authorizes the NRC to issue licenses for commercial power reactors to operate for up to 40 years. These licenses can then be renewed for 20 years at a time.
The period following the initial licensing term is known as the period of extended operation.
Now, subsequent license renewals would allow plants to operate beyond the 60 years of the initial license renewal or called the first license renewal. Subsequent license renewals would also be for an additional 20 years.
The purpose of the safety review is to identify aging effects that could impair the ability of systems, structures, and components or SSCs within the scope of license renewal to perform their intended functions.
It is also to demonstrate that these aging effects will be adequately managed during the period of extended operation.
This scope has not changed from original 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 license renewal to subsequent license renewal.
As previously mentioned, on January 9, 2023, Northern States Power Company submitted their subsequent license renewal application for Monticello.
After receiving the application, the NRC conducted an acceptance review, the first step of our review. The NRC determined that Northern States Power Company's application was sufficient and acceptable for docketing on February 23, 2023.
Then we move on to our technical review, which includes an aging management audit. The aging management audit consists of three parts, the in-office technical review audit, the on-site audit here in Monticello, and the breakout audit.
During all phases of the audit, the NRC staff reviews the application, documents, and references in greater detail. As part of this safety review, the staff also reviews the applicant's operating experience for information applicable to aging management.
Following the audit, an audit report is issued.
At the very end, the staff will document its review in a safety evaluation, also called an SE.
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 This slide shows the regulatory process.
The NRC ensures the adequate protection of public health and safety and the environment through the regulatory process, which is shown on this slide again.
The regulatory process consists of five major components. We develop regulations and guidance for applicants and licensees. We license or certify applicants to either use nuclear materials, operate nuclear facilities, or decommission.
We oversee licensee operations and facilities to ensure that licensees comply with safety requirements. We evaluate operational experience at licensed facilities or involved license activities.
In support of regulatory decisions, we conduct research. We hold hearings to address the concerns of parties affected by the agency decisions, and we obtain independent reviews.
With license renewal, the regulatory process now considers aging management, as represented by the red block and arrow.
Now, I will turn the meeting back over to Jessica Umana who will discuss the environmental 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 review.
MS. UMANA: It's me again. I want to draw attention to -- I'm sorry, I want to draw focus on the environmental review.
The National Environmental Policy Act obligates federal agencies to consider environmental impacts in federal actions. The NRC's specific environmental regulations are contained in 10 CFR Part 51.
The objective of the environmental review is to determine the environmental impacts of subsequent license renewal -- pardon me -- are to determine if the environmental impacts of the subsequent license renewal are so great that the subsequent license renewal would not be a reasonable option. Or more plainly stated, if subsequent license renewal is unacceptable from an environmental standpoint.
Our environmental review considers the impacts of continuing to operate the plant for an additional 20 years and any proposed mitigation of those impacts as warranted. We would consider the impacts of reasonable alternative to the proposed action of subsequent license renewal, including the impacts of not issuing a subsequent license renewal.
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 The staff documents its environmental review in an environmental impact statement or from here forward referred to as an EIS.
The staff has developed a generic EIS that addressed a number of issues common to all nuclear power plants. The staff is supplementing the generic EIS with a site-specific EIS in which we will address issues that are specific to Monticello.
The staff also reexamines the conclusions reached in the generic EIS to determine if there are any new or significant information that would change those conclusions.
For a subsequent license renewal, the NRC looks at a wide range of environmental impacts as part of the -- of preparing the environmental impact statement. We look at fish and wildlife, water, air and terrestrial resources, historical and cultural resources, socioeconomics, environmental justice, human health, and land use.
We also conduct our -- when we conduct our environmental review, we coordinate and consult with various local, state, federal, and tribal agencies and gather pertinent information from these sources to ensure it is considered in our analysis.
As illustrated in this slide, examples of 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 our consultation and coordination through the Minnesota Department of Administration State Historic Preservation Office, EPA, Fish and Wildlife, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
As part of our environmental review, the staff may hold a public meeting to receive comments on the draft EIS.
I will now discuss the environmental scoping process in more detail. The environmental review begins with the scoping process, which is what we're here to do today.
The purpose of the scoping process is to identify any significant issues that should be considered in the environmental review.
We are now gathering information that will be used to prepare the EIS for license renewal.
As part of that process, we are here today to collect your comments on the scope of the environmental review, that is the environmental impacts that the staff should consider.
The scoping period started on March 10th when a notice of intent to prepare an EIS and conduct scoping was published. The NRC will be accepting comments on the scope of the environmental review until April 10th, and you will hear that date many 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 times over.
In general, we are looking for information about environmental impacts from the continued operation of Monticello during the period of extended operation.
You can assist us in that process by telling us, for example, what aspects of your local community we should focus on, what local environmental, social and economic issues the NRC should examine during the environmental review, and what reasonable alternatives are most appropriate for your region.
These are just some examples of the input that we are looking for and they represent the kinds of information we are seeking through the environmental scoping period.
Your comments today would be helpful providing insights of this nature for our environmental analysis.
Here are some important milestones to keep in mind throughout the environmental review process. If you have any -- here we go. April 10th.
If you have any environmental scoping comments you would like to submit, please do so. You have until April 10th to do it.
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 Please note that we plan to issue a draft supplemental environmental impact statement for public comment by February 2024. This is another way you can stay involved in the process.
Members of the public will have an opportunity to provide comments on the draft supplemental EIS.
While this slide lists milestones for the environmental review and opportunities for public environmental, the safety review will be performed on a separate schedule. That's important to keep in mind.
Again, the project managers assigned to this are myself. I'm Jessica Umana. I'm the Environmental Project Manager. We have Jessica Hammock, the safety project manager, and then Brent Ballard is the current Operating Reactor Project Manager. And our contact information is on the slide above.
Also, the library has agreed to make the license renewal application available for public inspection. The draft supplemental EIS will also be available at the library when it is published.
In addition, these documents are also available on our NRC website.
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 Here are several ways that you can provide comments throughout the scoping process. You can provide them by mail. You can go to our website -- I'm sorry to the regulations.gov website.
Make sure that you -- that is the incorrect docket ID. I will find that and give it to you. It's also on our card. The QR code, if you use that on the cards that are on the table it will take you directly to where you can submit comments on regulations.gov.
And also via email at Monticelloenvironmental@NRC.gov.
Just to close out, this is maybe our fourth or fifth reminder that the comment period closes on April 10th.
Comments will be considered and the staff scoping summary report that should come out, I believe, mid-May. Yes, early May. I was right.
And that is it for the presentation on the safety and environmental review for subsequent license renewal.
With that, I will turn it back to you.
MR. KLUKAN: Thanks, Jessica. So before we open it up to any public comment, again, we're going to allow now for a limited question and answer period regarding any of the information you saw 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
25 presentations here today or any questions regarding the way the NRC conducts its safety and environmental review.
So do we have any questions at this time?
If you do, please come forward to the microphone.
Again, we're just focused on questions related to the scoping process at this time.
MR. LIPPERT: Good evening. My names is Charles Lippert, L-I-P-P-E-R-T.
The question is the comment periods ends April 10th, but according to the letters sent to tribal governments the date was April 12th. Why the discrepancy?
MR. KLUKAN: Okay. We're going to go to Nancy.
MS. MARTINEZ: Thanks, Brett. We wanted to provide a full 30 days for the tribes to comment.
The reason for that is sometimes the FRNs get issued a little bit sooner than the letters do.
It was just a timing issue, so we wanted to provide those additional two days, and that's the reason for the 30 days.
MR. KLUKAN: Thank you very much for your question. And, Nancy, thank you for the response.
Any other questions at this time related 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 to the process? Okay.
MS. LEONARD: Thank you. My name is Rachel Leonard, L-E-O-N-A-R-D.
You had noted that there is a timeline as well for the safety component that is separate from the environmental. I was just curious if those have dates associated with them, as well as if there could be just a little bit more information about how the safety and the environmental audits come together, the way that the NRC looks at both of those components, just because at this point it sort of seems like those two pieces, while they would need to be evaluated separately, that they do influence each other as the NRC goes through the process.
MS. HAMMOCK: Hi, my name is Jessica Hammock, and I will speak to the safety question.
Let me just make sure that I heard the question correctly.
You would like to know if there is a list of milestones and dates attached to the safety review. There is. I maintain a public website for the Monticello SLRA and all of our dates are there.
A lot of the times we will just state a month as we may not have an exact date that we expect a milestone to be completed.
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 I believe we have -- the QR code may bring you there. If not, you can Google Monticello SLRA NRC or Monticello NRC and it should get you to that page.
I would be happy to provide that to anyone if folks are interested in the milestones.
In terms of the safety review and the environmental review, Jessica and I work very closely together and we conduct our reviews separately, but in concert at the same time. I know that sounds a little confusing, but my portion of the safety review will complete before the environmental review because of the site specific evaluation for Monticello. So while we issue -- we expect to issue the safety evaluation for the next year, early next year, we will wait for the final SEIS to be issued and then we will both hit the ground running again to proceed to license issuance.
Did I answer your question?
MS. LEONARD: Yes.
MS. HAMMOCK: Okay.
MR. KLUKAN: Thank you very much for the question. Jessica, thanks for the answer.
Any other questions? Okay. Hearing none, we're now going to transition into the public 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 comment portion of the meeting. I would like to begin with any elected officials or representatives of elected officials or federal, tribal, state or local organizations or entities. You may have been shy earlier, but if you have a prepared statement or a comment you would like to give at this time, please come up to the microphone and do so.
Okay. Hearing none, as far as I know, I have not received any green cards which are the way the staff tell me that people want to make a comment, so at this point I do know that the site vice-president, I hope I am saying that correctly, wanted to give a few comments at this time, so I am going to call the site vice-president up to the microphone.
MR. CONNER: Good evening. I'm Todd Conner. I'm Vice-President of Nuclear for Excel, and I appreciate the opportunity to have you engage the community the way you are. I think this is a very healthy process and we appreciate the engagement.
I just want to recognize how proud we are as a company of the Monticello plant, having been here and served the community for 50 years. It's a major element to our portfolio in terms of pursuing a carbon-free green energy portfolio here with Excel, 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 so Monticello is vital to that plant.
And at the same time, as many of you know, the Monticello -- our staff, our personnel, they are all part of this community and they are proud to be members of this community, proud with regard to how we serve the community.
And so with that, we really look forward to moving through this process and continuing to be a vital part of the community, as we have been all the way through to 2050, so it's an exciting time for us to be able to move into this process and look into the future. So thank you.
MR. KLUKAN: Thank you very much. All right. So we're just going to do this old school.
Is there anyone who would like to raise a public comment at this time? Just raise your hand or just come straight to the microphone. Please come on up.
And again, state your name, and if you wouldn't mind spelling your last name.
MR. FAIR: My name is William Fair, F-A-I-R, like in the State Fair. You're all invited.
I am a resident of Monticello. I have lived here since 1976.
I would like to say that I am not a public official. I am a retired public official. I have 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 served on the council a term in the '80s and a term in the '90s and a term recently.
And I would just like to say that Excel Energy or NSP, as you're calling it tonight, I don't know why, has always been a good neighbor to the community and I'm assuming that will continue. I trust the Regulatory Commission. I think that their first duty is to see that we have a safe plant.
I would just like to make sure that as this progresses that the term nuclear leak or radiation leak doesn't become a dog whistle to create havoc in the community. I think we need cool heads to look at the issues that are facing us and proceed in a manner that needs to be taken to resolve the issues, so I would just say that I have faith in this system that has been put in place. Many of my neighbors work at the plant. They work in our community on volunteer things and everything else.
And we have always had a good relation -- good relationship with Excel and I hope that can continue, so that's just my comment.
MR. KLUKAN: Thank you much, Mr. Fair.
We appreciate it.
Anyone else in the room this evening?
Again, the staff put up and it's documented 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
31 slides, if you don't have a comment tonight, if you think of one, you do have until April 10th as a member of the public to submit any comment to the NRC through one of the various mechanisms as Jessica described this evening.
Anyone else? This always gets a little awkward for me. All right.
So hearing none, the NRC staff will stay behind and, you know, mingle about. We have the room until 8:00, obviously, so if you want to have additional conversations one-on-one with the NRC staff, ask any other questions related to the environmental review, about anything shown on the posters, they will be here to answer your questions, but if there are none, no one wants to offer a comment on the record at this time -- okay. Raise your hand at the last second.
I am going turn it over to John for closing remarks. Thank you very much.
MR. MOSES: Thanks, Brett. And thanks to everyone here and the hospitality welcoming us to Monticello and to Minnesota.
On behalf of the staff, we want to thank you for taking the time to come to today's meeting.
Right now I am just going to briefly 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 summarize a couple of the next steps you may have heard, but I will just state them anyway.
So the scoping period ends April 10th, and our team is going to gather the comments and the questions that we've heard today, as well as any that we receive from the electronic systems, the emails or even your letters. Specifically, we will look at NRC -- this is the document number and it's also on your little comment card. It's NRC-2003. I'm sorry, 2023, excuse me, dash 0031, and that's at www.regulations.gov. So if you go to www.regulations.gov, type in NRC-2023-0031 and you will get the docket and then you can submit your comments and look at other materials.
We anticipate issuing a draft environmental impact statement in the winter of 2023.
And once we issue that environmental impact statement, we will have another comment period, so that's kind of a second bite at the apple to respond, to share comments or questions. And then at that point then the staff will evaluate those comments, pull them together, put it into a final environmental impact statement, as Jessica showed on the slide of milestones.
And that's kind of all I have. So thank 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 you again for hosting us. As Brett said, we will stay around until 8:00 to answer questions or converse with you, so thank you. That closes the meeting.
MR. KLUKAN: Thanks, everyone.
(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record at 6:40 p.m.)
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