ML23331A789
| ML23331A789 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Summer  |
| Issue date: | 11/09/2023 |
| From: | NRC/NMSS/DREFS/ELRB |
| To: | |
| References | |
| Download: ML23331A789 (5) | |
Text
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Summary of Public Meetings
Title:
Environmental Scoping Meetings Related to the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Subsequent License Renewal Application Meeting Identifiers: 20231214 and 20231215 Date of Meetings: Thursday, November 9, 2023, and Tuesday, November 14, 2023 Locations: Webinar (11/9) and McCrorey-Liston School of Technology, Blair, SC (11/14)
Type of Meeting: Comment-Gathering Meetings Purpose of the Meetings:
To gather information necessary to prepare an environmental impact statement to evaluate the environmental impacts for the potential subsequent license renewal of the operating license for Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (V.C. Summer).
General Details:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held two environmental scoping public meetings as part of the V.C. Summer subsequent license renewal environmental review.
The first meeting was a virtual meeting held via Microsoft Teams on 11/9, which started at 2:00 p.m. eastern standard time (EST) and ended at approximately 2:49 p.m. EST. The second meeting was an in-person meeting at the McCrorey-Liston School of Technology on 11/14, which started at 6:00 p.m. EST and ended at approximately 6:26 p.m. EST. Both meetings followed the same agenda, beginning with a review of meeting ground rules and an introduction of the NRC staff, followed by a presentation by the NRC staff on the license renewal process with a focus on the environmental review and scoping process. The presentation emphasized that scoping comments were welcome to help NRC define the scope of its environmental review for the V.C. Summer subsequent license renewal application. There was an opportunity for attendees to ask questions about the NRC staffs presentation followed by an opportunity for members of the public to provide oral scoping comments.
Approximately 40 people attended the meeting on 11/9 and approximately 15 people attended the meeting on 11/14. These numbers include the NRC staff in attendance.
Participants included members of the public, local representatives, as well as representatives of Dominion Energy and several non-governmental organizations.
Summary of Presentation:
The NRC staff presented an overview of its review process for the V.C. Summer subsequent license renewal application, beginning with the safety review and then going into greater detail on the environmental review. Dominion Energy South Carolina submitted its subsequent license renewal application for V.C. Summer on August 17, 2023, (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) ML23233A179). V.C Summer was first licensed in November 1982 and was granted an initial renewed license in 2004. The Enclosure 1
current renewed license expires in August of 2042. If a license renewal is granted, it will be for an additional 20 years.
Marieliz Johnson, the safety review project manager, noted that the focus of the safety review is to identify aging effects that could impair the ability of systems, structures, and components within the scope of license renewal to perform their intended functions, and to demonstrate that these aging effects will be adequately managed during the period of extended operation. A single, complete Safety Evaluation Report will be issued prior to the NRC staff meeting with the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Subcommittee on Plant License Renewal.
Kim Conway, the environmental review project manager, explained that the NRC conducts its environmental review in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). NEPA requires federal agencies to follow a systematic approach in evaluating the potential impacts from the proposed action and alternatives to the proposed action. The environmental review begins with the scoping process. Scoping is the process by which the NRC staff identifies the specific impacts and significant issues to be considered within the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Kim Conway noted that public participation is an important aspect of scoping and that gathering comments was the purpose of these public meetings. The NRC staff considers all scoping comments provided during the public meetings, as well as written comments received during the scoping period in preparing the draft EIS. At the conclusion of the scoping process, NRC will prepare and issue an Environmental Scoping Summary Report that describes comments received during the scoping period and includes significant issues identified as a result of the scoping process.
Kim Conway explained that the NRC also conducts an independent assessment, including an environmental site audit, and documents its findings within the draft EIS. The draft EIS for the V.C. Summer subsequent license renewal will be issued for public comment in approximately November 2024. The staff will consider any comments on the draft EIS in preparing the final EIS. In conducting its environmental review, the NRC staff will be coordinating with other Federal, State, and local agencies, as well as tribal leaders to ensure that local technical resource specialists are involved in the review. Within the EIS, the NRC evaluates impacts from the proposed license renewal for a wide range of environmental resources, such as air quality, human health, wetlands, and threatened and endangered species. Ultimately, the purpose of the environmental review is to determine whether the environmental impacts of license renewal could be so great that preserving the option of license renewal for decision makers would become unreasonable.
Kim Conway informed the attendees that the EIS will be considered in conjunction with the NRC staff's safety review in recommending to the Commission whether to renew the V.C.
Summer operating license for an additional 20-year period.
The staff ended the meetings by reiterating that the closing date for submitting scoping comments is December 4, 2023. In addition to providing comments at the two public meetings, comments can be: (1) mailed to Office of Administration Mailstop TWFN7A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; (2) submitted online using the Federal Rulemaking website at regulations.gov (Docket ID: NRC-2023-0152); or (3) submitted electronically by email to SummerEnvironmental@nrc.gov.
Public Participation Themes:
November 9, 2023, Meeting Four speakers provided comments on a range of topics including the effects of climate change on the subsequent license renewal period and a recent preliminary yellow finding related to the plants emergency diesel generators. Several process-related topics were discussed as well.
November 14, 2023, Meeting One speaker provided comments related to the positive socioeconomic impacts of the V.C.
Summer plants continued operations.
A complete accounting of the comments provided during both meetings can be found in the meeting transcripts which are available in the NRCs ADAMS public electronic reading room under the accession numbers listed below, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
Action Items/Next Steps:
The NRC staff will address the comments received during the public commenting period as part of the review of the V.C. Summer subsequent license renewal application. The NRC staff will include an analysis of comments in the final site-specific environmental impact statement.
Attachments:
November 9, 2023, Meting
- List of Attendees
- Meeting description and agenda - ML23300A117
- NRC staff presentation - ML23312A020
- Meeting transcript - ML23331A787 November 14, 2023, Meeting
- List of Attendees
- Meeting description and agenda - ML23303A193
- NRC staff presentation - ML23313A129
- Meeting transcript - ML23331A788
List of Attendees November 9, 2023, Environmental Scoping Meeting Related to the V.C. Summer Subsequent License Renewal Application NAME AFFILIATION Briana Arlene Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Caroline Hsu NRC Dave Gasperson NRC Ed Miller NRC Jeffrey Rikhoff NRC John Moses NRC John Pelchat NRC Kim Conway NRC Lance Rakovan NRC Leah Parks NRC Lloyd Desotell NRC Mac Read NRC Marieliz Johnson NRC Mitchell Dehmer NRC Nancy Martinez NRC Steve Koenick NRC Ted Smith NRC Zach Turner NRC Allison Stalker Constellation Energy April Rice Audrey Jones Danilyn Bock South Carolina Emergency Management Division (EMD)
Elaine Cooper Gregory Lindamood Dominion Energy Gwendolyn Ashford Jeff Mitman Keith Miller Dominion Energy Kristin Meek Constellation Energy Lindsey Grissom Southern Nuclear Lloyd Generette Environmental Protection Agency Melissa Potter South Carolina EMD Michael Moore Dominion Energy Paul Aitken Dominion Energy Paul Gunter Beyond Nuclear Priscilla Preston Scott Miller Dominion Energy Enclosure 2
List of Attendees November 14, 2023, Environmental Scoping Meeting Related to the Perry Nuclear Power Plant License Renewal Application NAME AFFILIATION John Moses Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Kim Conway NRC Mac Read NRC Marieliz Johnson NRC April Rice Chuck Rice Diane Stover Gladys Hardy Blair Coalition Keith Miller Dominion Energy Pamela Greenlaw Paul Phelps Dominion Energy Peggy Swearingen Fairfield County Council Terry Stover