ML24284A344

11/7/2024 - Public Meeting Transcript for Generic Environmental Impact Statement for Licensing of New Nuclear Reactors Proposed Rule

ML24284A344
Person / Time
Issue date:	11/07/2024
From:	Stewart Schneider NRC/NMSS/DREFS/RRPB
To:
References
NRC-2020-0101, RIN 3150-AK55, NRC-0079
Download: ML24284A344 (44)

Text

Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

Public Meeting on Draft New Reactor Generic Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Rule Location:

Rockville, Maryland Date:

11-07-24 Work Order No.:

NRC-0079 Pages 1-40 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 DRAFT NEW REACTOR GENERIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT AND PROPOSED RULE

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2024

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The meeting convened in the Commission Hearing Room, One White Flint North, Rockville, Maryland, at 1:00 p.m., Lance Rakovan, Facilitator, presiding.

PRESENT:

LANCE RAKOVAN, Facilitator DANIEL BARNHURST, NMSS/REFS/EPMB3 STACEY IMBODEN, GEIS Project Manager, NMSS/REFS/EPMB2 CHRISTOPHER REGAN, NMSS/REFS STEWART SCHNEIDER, Rulemaking Project Manager, NMSS/REFS/RRPB LAURA WILLINGHAM, GEIS Project Manager, NMSS/REFS/EPMB3

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 C O N T E N T S Page Welcome and Introductions..........................3 Opening Remarks....................................5 Presentation.......................................8 Clarifying Questions..............................20 Public Comments...................................29 Closing Comments..................................37 Adjourn...........................................40

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

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 P R O C E E D I N G S 1:02 p.m.

MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Lance Rakovan. And, it's my pleasure to facilitate today's public meeting hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or NRC, on the proposed Rule Generic Environmental Impact Statement for Licensing of New Nuclear Reactors, or the NR GEIS.

Go to slide two, please.

So, our objectives today are to discuss the proposed Rule to amend the NRC's Environmental Protection Regulations involving environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, or NEPA, specifically to talk about the development of the new reactor GEIS, otherwise known as NUREG-2249, to describe how you can provide your comments, and to gather those comments. Slide three, please.

Our meeting will essentially have two parts. First, we'll hear a presentation from our NRC staff on the topics at hand, information that we think is important for you to understand.

We're going to try to keep the presentations short and to the point so we can get to the real reason that we're here this afternoon, which

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 is to collect comments.

Slide four. This is a comment gathering meeting by the NRC's definition. So, we will be actively seeking your input after we complete our presentation.

We'll be going over the various ways that you can provide your comments later in the meeting.

And, we'll go through how you can provide your comments at this meeting once we have finished the presentation.

So, please hold any questions or comments you have until we've finished our presentation. Keep in mind that we are transcribing today's meeting to make sure we fully capture your comments. You can help us get a clean recording by identifying yourself and any group that you are with when you do speak.

And, a few other things you can do to help minimize distractions and make sure that we keep background noise down to a minimum here in the room.

First, if you're going to have a private discussion, please make sure, or if you're going to participate in a discussion and give a comment, please make sure you use one of the microphones.

Also, let's try to keep one main

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 conversation going at a time. Side conversations make that more difficult. So, please leave the room if you need to have a side discussion.

You can also help us cut down background noise by turning off or silencing electronic devices at this point and leaving them off or silenced for the duration of the meeting. Oh, and I'd also like to stress that no regulatory decisions will be made at today's meeting.

So, I'd like to take a moment to introduce the NRC staff who are sitting at the table today.

Chris Regan is the Director of the Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support.

Stewart Schneider is the Rulemaking Project Manager for this project. Stacey Imboden and Laura Willingham are the PMs for the NR GEIS Project.

And, finally, Dan Barnhurst is the Chief of the Environmental Project Management Branch Three.

You can see by looking around the room that exits are essentially on the four corners of the room, if there would be any sort of emergency.

Restrooms are out the door to my right and then make a left-hand turn and they're both right there.

With that, I'm going to turn things over

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 to Chris Regan for some opening remarks and then we'll move onto our main presentation.

MR. REGAN: All right, thanks. Thanks, Lance. Thanks very much. Good afternoon folks.

Again, my name is Christopher Regan. I'm Director for the Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support here at the NRC.

Before we move onto today's formal or the technical part of the presentation, I'd like to briefly introduce you to the NRC as a whole. As you expect, as I expect you are aware, the NRC regulates the civilian use of nuclear materials. Fundamentally, that's our target.

This includes nuclear power plants, research test and training reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities that produce the fuel for nuclear power plants, and the use of other radioactive materials in

medical, academic and industrial settings.

The NRC has been regulating the civilian and commercial use of nuclear materials in the U.S.

for more than 50 years. We just had an anniversary celebration about a month ago, so 50 years was a major milestone for us.

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 The NRC was created by the Energy Reorganization Act in 1974, which separated the former Atomic Energy Commission into the regulatory body, the NRC, and the more promotional body, which became the Department of Energy.

And, the NRC is not part of the Department of Energy. And, our role and function is performed independent of the Department of Energy.

To guide implementation of our mission, the NRC establishes a four-year strategic plan that is periodically updated. NRC's current strategic plan can be located by scanning the QR code on the slide.

If you have some free time, I encourage you to take a look. There are three main aspects of the strategic plan goals, which are key to the agency successfully fulfilling its mission.

The goals are, goal number one, ensure the safe and secure use of radioactive materials. Goal number two, continue to foster a healthy organization that is more inward focused.

And, goal number

three, inspiring stakeholder confidence in the NRC, which is one of the fundamental reasons we are here today.

We very much look forward to hearing your

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 insights and ideas today. And, we thank you in advance for any comments and feedback that you may be able to provide for us.

And, with that, I'll turn it back over to Lance who will launch us in our presentation.

MR. RAKOVAN: Yep. I'll go ahead and turn it over to our main presenters over at the table.

MS. IMBODEN: The draft New Reactor Generic Environmental Impact Statement, or GEIS, analyzes environmental impacts from construction, operation, and decommissioning.

The New Reactor GEIS analyzes issues common to many new nuclear reactors that can be addressed generically.

This allows staff and applicants to focus on site and facility specific issues to be addressed once an application is submitted, improving efficiency in our licensing reviews.

Project specific issues would be addressed in a supplement to the New Reactor GEIS. Next slide.

We began developing a New Reactor GEIS in 2019, by exploring how useful a GEIS would be for advanced reactor licensing. We concluded a GEIS would generically resolve many environmental issues, save

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 resources, and provide predictability for applicants.

In 2020, the Commission approved the development of the GEIS and directed staff to codify the results of the GEIS in NRC regulations. Earlier this year, the Commission approved the proposed Rule and draft GEIS for publication.

The notice of availability of the draft GEIS was published in the Federal Register on October 4, and the public comment began on that day. The Commission's approval of the proposed Rule and draft GEIS included a few changes to the Rules language.

The Commission directed the staff to change the applicability of the GEIS to any new nuclear reactor application that meets the values and assumptions of the plant parameter envelope, PPE, and the site parameter envelope, SPE, used to develop the GEIS.

Due to this Commission direction, staff changed the title of the GEIS from Advanced Reactor GEIS to New Reactor GEIS.

The Commission's direction also clarified that any applicable site-specific and conditionally site-specific issues identified in the NRC's separate decommissioning GEIS will need to be addressed in

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 project specific environmental reviews.

The Commission's direction also removed references to fusion reactors, which are being considered under other NRC regulations and required review of the New Reactor GEIS every ten years, identical to the provision for the License Renewal GEIS.

Slide nine. The New Reactor GEIS was developed using an approach to set performance standards applicable to any reactor technology. The GEIS uses a PPE with values and assumptions related to the design and operation of the nuclear reactor, such as building height and water use.

The SPE contains values and assumptions relating to the siting of the plant, such as the site size and size of water bodies supplying water to the reactor. The New Reactor GEIS evaluates the environmental impacts of a proposed nuclear reactor that fits within the bounds of the PPE on a site that fits within the bounds of the SPE.

Staff developed a set of bounding values and assumptions for each of these plant and site parameters based on the following: regulatory limits and permitting requirements, other NRC generic EISs,

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 such as the License Renewal GEIS and the Continued Storage GEIS, evaluations and analyses for previous new reactor and operating reactor reviews, values and assumptions from other documents using the plant and site parameter envelope approach, and subject matter expertise and experience in specific resource areas.

Slide 11. The staff identified issues corresponding to environmental impacts that could potentially result from construction, operation, or decommissioning of a new nuclear reactor.

Category One issues are environmental issues for which the NRC staff has been able to make a generic finding of small adverse environmental impacts for a reactor facility and site that falls within the PPE and SPE that support that generic finding. In addition, beneficial impacts are Category One issues.

Category Two issues are those environmental issues requiring consideration of project specific information. Category Two issues will be addressed in a project specific evaluation that tiers off of the New Reactor GEIS and may result in small, moderate, or large impacts.

And, in addition, there's a third group of

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 issues for which the environmental impacts are uncertain. The NRC subject matter experts identified 122 specific issues across 16 environmental resource areas such as land use, water resources including surface and groundwater, terrestrial and aquatic

ecology, and radiological and non-radiological hazards.

Out of the 122 issues identified, 100 are Category One issues, 20 are Category Two issues and two are uncertain. Table 4-1 in the GEIS includes a list of all 122 issues identified and the plant and site parameter envelope values and assumptions for each issue. Appendix G of the GEIS contains the basis for these values and assumptions.

The proposed Rule would codify the New Reactor GEIS findings into 10 CFR Part 51, the NRC regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act.

Slide 13. This chart lays out the issues addressed for the resource areas along with the categories of those issues.

Most of the issues are Category One issues as shown here in blue. Category Two issues are orange, and the uncertain issues are green.

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 The other issues at the bottom of the slide include issues that apply across resource areas such as climate change and cumulative impacts. These are Category Two issues.

Other issues also include project specific issues that are not tied to any specific environmental resource, including purpose and need for the project, the need for power, energy alternatives, and system design alternatives.

On this slide, we can see that onsite land use is a Category One issue resulting in a small environmental impact, if the PPE and SPE in the right-hand column are met. This is how the individual issues appear in the GEIS. And, this is from Table 4-1 of the GEIS.

Slide 15. Here's an example of a Category Two issue. Surface water quality degradation due to chemical and thermal discharges is a Category Two issue, because project specific information must be analyzed to determine impacts once a site and facility are identified.

The applicant can adopt Category One findings if the PPE and SPE values and assumptions are met and there is no new and significant information

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 that changes the generic finding.

NRC staff would verify that the applicant has demonstrated it meets the PPE and SPE for Category One issues and audit the applicant's new and significant process for those issues.

Staff would produce a

supplemental environmental impact statement to the New Reactor GEIS that focuses on Category Two issues and any Category One issues that do not meet the PPE and SPE values and assumptions.

And now, I will turn the presentation over to Stewart Schneider, the Rulemaking Project Manager.

MR. SCHNEIDER: Thank you, Stacey. Good afternoon and welcome. I'm Stewart Schneider, the Rulemaking Project Manager for this rulemaking activity.

The proposed amendments to Part 51 would establish new requirements for environmental reviews of applications for an early site permit, or construction permit, or an operating or a combined license for new nuclear reactors.

The specific changes proposed by this rulemaking are as follows: One, add a new Appendix C to Subpart A to codify the generic findings of the New

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 Reactor GEIS.

Number two, would be to require review of the new Appendix on a ten-year basis and update it if necessary. Three, would be to revise application requirements so applicants can choose to use the New Reactor GEIS to prepare their environmental reports.

Number

four, would be to revise requirements so that the NRC staff must use the New Reactor GEIS to prepare its draft EIS if an applicant uses the New Reactor GEIS.

And, lastly, number five, would be to add new requirements on NRC staff directions to prepare a final EIS.

Slide

18.

We've also issued two supporting guidance documents for public comment. The proposed revision to Regulatory Guide 4.2 would assist applicants relying on the New Reactor GEIS in preparing their environmental report.

The draft interim guidance known as COL-ISG-030, would apply to NRC staff environmental review of an application that relies on the New Reactor GEIS's findings.

And, we will incorporate draft ISG supplements into NUREG-1555, known as Environmental

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 Standard Review Plan, in a future update to that NUREG. Next slide.

You can find the key supporting documents for this rulemaking in our electronic database known as ADAMS, by searching for the accession number on this table for each document. Next slide.

The regulatory analysis. Our draft regulatory analysis determined the expected quantitative costs and benefits of this proposed Rule and its associated guidance.

The draft analysis concluded that the proposed Rule and the guidance would save the NRC and applicants up to $40.1 million or $2 million per application if the New Reactor GEIS is fully utilized.

This slide also shows the Rule's net benefits when the 7 and 3 percent discount rates are used.

Now, the NRC staff assumes that 20 applications, based on letters of intent we've received, would be submitted over the 10-year period that follows final Rule publication in 2026.

And, we only analyzed the proposed Rule savings that are attributable to the Category One issues. Since Category Two issues require a project specific analysis, the New Reactor GEIS would not

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 result in savings or added cost to the applicant.

Next slide.

The proposed Rule contains amended information collection requirements. The staff has estimated that an applicant who uses the New Reactor GEIS would reduce their reporting burden by 6,500 hours0.00579 days <br />0.139 hours <br />8.267196e-4 weeks <br />1.9025e-4 months <br /> and save about $1.9 million. Next slide.

Our overall rulemaking schedule started with the NRC staff sending the proposed Rule to the Commission during November of 2021. And next, we published the proposed Rule just last month on October

4.

The 75-day comment period will close on December 18, and this figure also identifies where we are regarding the comment period. We expect to provide the draft final Rule to the Commission on December 1, 2025, for review and approval.

And finally, we estimate that the final Rule and guidance would be published on June 1, 2026.

Next slide.

The Federal Register Notice for the proposed Rule identified six topics, which the NRC is specifically interested in comments and supporting rationale from the public.

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 The topics are as follows: Topic One, PPE and SPE values and assumptions. The question for this topic is, has an inappropriate value been used to result in a small impact?

For Topic Two, which covers environmental issues evaluated, the question is, are there any environmental issues that the NRC omitted?

For Topic Three, categorization of issues, the NRC is asking, are the Category One and Two issues categorized appropriately? Next slide.

Topic Four covers scope of proposed rule changes and the New Reactor GEIS. This topic has two questions.

Question One being, is the applicability of the New Reactor GEIS clear? And, for Question Two, do the proposed revisions adequately address all licensing scenarios associated with evaluating the environmental impacts?

Topic Five covers guidance for applicants, and that's specific to draft Reg Guide 4.2. The question here is, are the methods described in draft Reg Guide 4.2 for demonstrating values and assumptions, appropriate? Next slide.

The final topic is Topic Six, and it's

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 called Limited Work Authorizations, also known as LWA.

A limited work authorization allows an applicant for a construction permit or combined license to perform preparatory activities before a final licensing decision.

As proposed, the Rule does not address LWAs. The primary question for this topic is, should the New Reactor GEIS and Rule be expanded to include LWAs for new reactor applications?

Now, regarding that request, the first secondary question is basically, should an LWA applicant be able to reply on the on gener -- rely on the generic findings for a Category One issue?

And, the second question is, should the NRC be able to rely on the generic findings for the Category One issue?

Now, in your response to any of these six questions, we would be most appreciative if you would consider the following aspects: One, please include and explain the basis for your position and conclusion.

Two, specify any proposed regulatory text changes and their basis. And three, regarding draft guidance, please describe and justify any methods that

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 you believe are not appropriate. Next slide.

There are several ways for the public to submit comments, the first being verbally at today's meeting. As described in the Federal Register notice, you can also submit comments online, by email, by using the U.S. mail, fax, and hand delivered.

This slide also gives you the details for each of these ways. As a reminder, the comment period will end on December 18, and your comment should reference Docket ID Number NRC-2020-0101. Next slide.

All of the publicly available documents pertaining to this rulemaking can be found at regulations.gov, by searching on that Docket Number again, which is ID Number NRC-2020-0101.

You can also access the NRC project website to find the project documents and to follow rulemaking activity.

To wrap it up, I'm the Rulemaking Project Manager, and Stacey Imboden and Laura Willingham are the New Reactor GEIS Project Managers. And, we can all be reached at the project information and contact information provided above.

With that, that concludes my presentation.

MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Thank you. Let's go

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 ahead and see if there are any clarifying questions about the presentation.

Again, we just want to make sure that everyone understood what we covered. If you have a question, please raise your hand or you can approach one of the microphones in the two aisles here.

If you do ask a question, please identify yourself and any group that you are with. If the question is out of scope, we'll most likely try to handle your question outside of this meeting, either afterwards or if you can always send it to us in writing in an email.

But again, if we have any clarifying questions about our presentation today. We'll pause for a moment.

Please, if you can come to the microphone and identify yourself and any group that you're with.

MS. SCHLOSSBERG: My name is Elena Schlossberg, and I'm the Executive Director for the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, a very small nonprofit.

And, just bear with me, because this is my first time at a meeting such as this. I'm normally at public meetings or Dominion meetings.

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 So, this is the first time that I've heard of this. And so, I spoke with Mr. Schneider on the phone, and one of my concerns was, I'm not sure the public understands really what is happening here.

And so, I guess, is there -- my first question, is there plain language to what this guidance is actually altering?

Because, what I'm worried about, is obviously Meta just had an application that was denied for a rare bee, and a nuclear reactor application.

I'm wondering would that denial still happen under these guidelines?

Or, so, I'm in Virginia where we're experiencing significant data center load demand.

And, right now, the industry is signaling that they plan on moving to rely on SMRs and nuclear reactors.

And, we have four new SMR projects planned throughout Virginia on nuclear, on naval bases. So, I want to make sure that the community has an opportunity to participate.

I know Sierra Club is not aware of this, so -- of this meeting. And, I was in a Data Center conference yesterday and in that panel, one of the presenters said that the Data Center coalition is

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 meeting with FERC, NERC, and the EPA to fast-track nuclear reactor approvals.

So, that's my interest. There's 20 applications, and I don't know if you can tell me, are they primarily driven by Data Centers?

Do you -- and, are these appropriate questions? And, I'm just trying to figure out how the community makes sure that what we have experienced is not a lot of transparency.

So, if there's changing of rules here for environmental oversight, I want to make sure that we have an opportunity to engage and that doesn't cut out the community from changes that maybe we would otherwise not anticipate.

I hope that makes sense.

MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. A lot to digest there. I was getting the wave from Scott Burnell, who is with our Office of Public Affairs, who is willing to talk to you about a number of the issues that you brought up.

But, I didn't know if anyone at the table wanted to talk at least a little bit about what exactly the NR GEIS is going to do in terms of licensing or how it works, if that makes sense?

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 MS. IMBODEN: Sure. Stacey Imboden. The, so, the NR GEIS, it allows us to focus on the issues that could have significant environmental impacts.

And so, we have divided the issues into those that are common to many nuclear reactors that can be addressed with a common generic analysis. But then also, the Category Two issues are those that can only be addressed when the site and facility is identified.

So, once we receive an application and the site and facility are identified, there will be an environmental review and a safety review.

And, for any of these Category One issues that the applicant relies on in their application, the NRC staff will go through and make sure that the applicant has demonstrated they met those values that we call plant and site parameter values, so that they could rely on the generic finding. And, to make sure that there is no new and significant information related to that finding.

So, all of the issues are still being reviewed by the NRC staff. And, it would still go through our normal licensing process.

MS. SCHLOSSBERG: Okay.

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 MS. IMBODEN: I hope that helps.

MS. SCHLOSSBERG: That does help. Is there a reason why this is happening now?

I mean, what's the -- did something precipitate this, wanting to fast-track it and the need to save applicants money?

Is there this, I mean, was this always like you needed to do this update anyway, and it just so happens that it happens to coincide with this insane load demand of Data Centers?

Because, I know that Mike Goff from the DOE, has stated publicly that we need 200 new nuclear reactors for the 200 gigawatts that are anticipated for mostly Data Center load demand.

So, is this separate from that? I'm trying, I'm trying to understand a little bit more about, you know, why now?

MS. WILLINGHAM: This is Laura Willingham.

So, we've been working on this specific process since 2019.

So, the Data Centers are, you know, a newer kind of, you know, energy need. So, I would say, you know, that they're not specifically related.

It depends, you know, nuclear power plants

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 can be used for multiple, you know, means. So, it could be used like, for source heat, to be for providing electricity to communities, or to Data Centers.

I mean, it's multiple different, you know, purposes and needs as we call it. So, what is the need for that power, whether it comes from a nuclear power plant or from some other source?

So, you know, as Stacey mentioned, this is really, you know, the government wants to be efficient. We don't want to waste, you know, your public money, taxes.

So, this is to help us to focus on those issues that are important for, you know, that site.

And, like she mentioned, we're still looking at all of the issues, like, even the generic ones, to make sure that, you know, the application has, you know, addressed them sufficiently, such that they can rely on that generic finding.

And, it allows us to focus on the specific issues for that particular site and that particular facility design.

MS. SCHLOSSBERG: Okay. Thank you.

MS. WILLINGHAM: You're welcome.

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 MR. RAKOVAN: Chris, did you want to add or?

MR. REGAN: Oh, yeah, no. It's Chris Regan. Yeah, Laura kind of stole my thunder a little bit.

But, yes, this question about, you know, why now, in part it is not really a why now type thing. I mean, we have instituted using generic environmental impact statements for many, many years.

There is a heightened interest currently regarding new reactors, obviously, with the shift in industry as a whole. Which is why we are moving forward more vigorously on this New Reactor Generic Environmental Impact Statement initiative.

But, it's not new to the way the NRC operates, and just trying to be more efficient in the way we do our reviews.

If there's something that we can globally disposition in the environmental area and do it in one shot and reduce the cost to the public, to the stakeholders, to the applicant, then we'll do that.

And, this is just, this is one of those activities to help us be more efficient just as a regulator.

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: Dan, you want to add as well?

MR. BARNHURST: Yeah. This is Dan Barnhurst. I just, I was writing down a list of things that you had mentioned.

And, one of the things that you said, was that you had a concern about cutting out the community from the process. And, I just wanted to be very clear, our -- NEPA requires, it's kind of a two-part thing.

We do a

thorough review of the environmental impacts of the proposed action. That's a technical analysis.

And, we've got a team of experts here that performed that technical analysis and that's informed by our experience, 50 years of experience in performing those similar type reviews for reactors here at the agency.

The other important

part, equally important

part, is public engagement, public interaction. And, not just for your awareness, but also for our awareness, as we're preparing these specific NEPA, as we're performing the specific NEPA review and preparing the documentation that informs

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 the agency's decision making process.

And so, getting back to your concern that there will be, because of this, some sort of cutting out of the public or community, we will follow the same process that we follow. And, this allows us, again, to focus on the complex issues and generically disposition ones that are less complex.

And so, you could argue that it gives us the ability to give a greater focus on those things that maybe, you know, again, could be the most complex or relevant to the area.

But again, we typically have scoping, we do public comment gathering. We have meetings such as this. And, those are things that again, are part of that two-part NEPA process that we'll continue.

MR. RAKOVAN: And Don, if you could introduce yourself please.

MR. PALMROSE: Donald Palmrose. I'm a Senior Reactor Engineer in the NRC.

Just to add on to what Dan said, to keep in mind that when we get an application, it will be at a local, in the local area. So then, we would reach out to the local community under scoping, and also under public comments on the draft EIS, at the

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 appropriate times.

So, there is that engagement with the members of the public.

MR. RAKOVAN: Thanks everyone. Any other clarifying questions before we move onto commenting?

(No response.)

MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Then let's go ahead and open the floor to comments. If you have comments that you'd like to share on the NR GEIS.

Again, we've got two microphones in the aisles. Don't be shy if you have, and if you could introduce yourself and any group that you are with, so we can make sure that we get you on the transcript clearly.

Bob, do you want to back up to the slide on how folks can provide their comments in general?

So

again, today is not the only opportunity you have to provide your comments. You can provide them online at the

website, regulations.gov.

And, look for Docket ID NRC-2020-0101.

You can send an email to rulemaking, is that rulemaking.comments@nrc.gov? Yes? Okay. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't just one word.

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 Or, you can send them by mail to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. If people still have fax machines, apparently you can even fax them in. And, you can apparently even hand deliver them here in the building. So, that's a lot of opportunities.

We do have someone at the microphone, so if you could please introduce yourself.

MS. AUSTGEN: Thank you. I'm Kati Austgen from the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Senior Project Manager for New Reactors.

The Nuclear Energy Institute and our members appreciate that the NRC has opted to use a technology-neutral performance-based approach in the New Reactor GEIS.

Specifically, the NRC staff developed plant parameter envelope, site parameter envelope, and related assumptions, as summarized in Appendix G of the NR GEIS.

The use of this bounding approach is important as it optimizes the NR GEIS and related rules applicability to new reactor applications and reduces the scope of any necessary site or project specific analysis under NEPA. We agree with the need

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 for and importance of the New Reactor GEIS.

According to DOE's September 2024 Pathways to Commercial Liftoff Advanced Nuclear Report, U.S.

nuclear capacity has the potential to triple from approximately 100 gigawatts electric today to approximately 300 gigawatts electric by 2050.

The growing demand for electricity and need to decarbonize many sectors has led to a resurgence of interest in nuclear power.

There are dozens of companies designing advanced reactors and planning for their construction and operation. Some companies have filed applications with the NRC or are engaged in pre-application activities with the NRC.

While the NRC's estimated net benefit accounts for 20 applications by 2036, NEI's October 2024 Updated Member Survey on the future of nuclear power shows a significant increase in the number of applications anticipated to be prepared over the next ten years. We may see 20 applications in the next five years, with another 20 applications before 2035.

In Section 321 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, or the FRA, Congress amended NEPA to streamline and expedite the federal

34 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 NEPA review process by, among other things, setting page limits on environmental impact statements and environmental assessments, and establishing deadlines of two years for EISs and one year for EAs.

Issuance of the New Reactor GEIS would help the NRC meet these page limits and deadlines for its NEPA reviews of new reactor license applications.

In July 2024, President Biden signed into law the Advance Act, Section 506, Modernization of Nuclear Reactor Environmental Reviews. It directs the NRC to submit a report to Congress within 180-days that describes the NRC's efforts to facilitate efficient, timely, and predictable environmental reviews of nuclear reactor license applications.

Section 506 identifies numerous potential measures for achieving this objective, including, for example, the expanded use of categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, and generic environmental impact statements. The report also must describe how the NRC will implement the FRA amendments to NEPA.

Avoiding undue delays in the license licensing process, including the agency's NEPA review, is essential to fostering technological innovation in new nuclear reactors that have environmental benefits

35 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 relative to other generation sources.

The New Reactor GEIS can play a pivotal role in this regard by leveraging PPEs that are as inclusive of as many new reactor technologies as possible.

We agree that a rulemaking codifying generic findings in the New Reactor GEIS should result in greater transparency, predictability, clarity, and reliability in both the review and hearing process.

NRC's regulatory analysis for the draft New Reactor GEIS and proposed Rule states "the New Reactor GEIS and the issues and findings in Table C-1 of 10 CFR Part 51, will improve the efficiency of the environmental review.

Improving the clarity and efficiency of the regulatory provisions reduces the cost to industry to prepare environmental reports for new nuclear reactor applications and permits the NRC to focus resources on project-specific issues of importance, i.e., project-specific analysis, which also reduces the cost to the NRC.

While the NRC staff currently envisions issuing site-specific supplements to the New Reactor GEIS, that is supplemental EISs, it is conceivable

36 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 New Reactor GEIS could be used to support the use of environmental assessments for certain new reactors, for example, micro reactors via future changes to Part 51 and/or case specific exemption. We look forward to exploring these possibilities with the NRC staff.

Finally, we agree with the NRC's recognition in the proposed Rule that use of a New Reactor GEIS is consistent with NEPA requirements, related legal principles, and longstanding NRC regulatory practice.

NEI and our members thank you for the opportunity to comment, and we will provide more detailed written comments, including responses to the specific requests for comment. Thank you.

MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you. Any additional folks that would like to provide comments on the NR GEIS?

Please, if you could introduce yourself and any group that you're with.

MS. TOOHILL: Hello there. My name is Spencer Toohill and I work for a small think tank called the Breakthrough Institute, also known as BTI.

And, I have a few comments, very high

37 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 level. I just wanted to start off by saying thank you so much for holding this meeting today.

I have only been in this space for about six months. So, I'm very green, very new, and I've attended a lot of the public meetings online and this is my first opportunity to be in person.

So, I just wanted to express my enthusiasm for being here today first of all. Second of all, and getting into the details, I have a few very high level comments.

I just wanted to express on behalf of BTI and the Director of our nuclear team, Dr. Adam Stein, that we are very supportive and very appreciative of the inclusion of the plant parameter envelope and the site parameter envelope.

I myself only am just learning about what these things mean. And, we will be providing more detailed comments or written comments to submit.

And secondly, I wanted to flag and comment and urge the NRC staff over next week, the two hybrid meetings that you'll be holding, as well as all the comments I'm sure that will be flooding in, just to shed light on that and remind everybody that the impacts the GEIS really is, impacts of the plant on

38 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 the human environment.

And, I'm learning myself what that means, but not the other way around. Not the effects of the human environment on the plant.

And, I just wanted to bring attention to that as you all may be receiving comments of effects from the human environment on the plant and not the other way around.

But, that is all I have to say. And, thank you so much again.

MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you. And again, just to specify, the two meetings that she mentioned, are essentially identical to the one that we're having here in person, but they're going to be virtual.

There is one on the 13th at 1:00 p.m.

Eastern time. And, one on the 14th at 6:00 p.m.

Eastern time.

So

again, those two meetings are essentially going to be identical. We're going to be giving the same presentation.

We will take the same time to see if anyone has questions, and then we'll be doing what we're doing right now, collecting comments.

So, thank you for mentioning those. I had

39 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 them in my speaker notes too, to get to before we close today.

Anyone else wish to provide comments on the NR GEIS at this time? We will pause to see.

So, I did want to specify per the slide that the comment period officially ends on December

18. So, please try to get your comments in before that time so we can ensure that they are taken into account as part of the process.

I'm going to pause briefly just one more time to see if anyone has comments they'd like to share at this time.

And, seeing no one moving for the microphone, I guess, Chris, I'll turn it over to you to close. Or, who's going to close us today?

Chris? Oh, Dan and Chris. Okay.

MR. BARNHURST: Yep. I've got some things to say and then Chris will close us out. Yep, and I think there's a slide. Yep, Next Steps for the NRC staff.

First, I just wanted to thank everybody for taking time to attend today to review the NR GEIS package and to listen to the staff's presentation, to offer questions and comments.

40 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 The team has worked hard to develop a technically sound useful framework for enabling efficient and defensible NEPA reviews for new reactors.

Our intent in holding these meetings and the comment period is to understand ways that our analysis in the document might be improved. As Lance just mentioned, this is the first of three meetings to be held during the comment period.

So, next steps. After the comment period ends, we'll be working to address those substantive comments we receive, and making any changes, any necessary changes to the GEIS and the associated documents.

Our plan is to complete any changes and finalize the rule package in order to provide it the Commission for review and approval by December 1, 2025.

With that, I'll turn to our Division Director for the Environmental Center of Expertise, Chris Regan, for closeout comments.

MR. REGAN: Well, thanks Dan. I really don't have anything much more to add. I have my appreciation to BTI and to NEI for offering your

41 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 comments today.

Thank you very much for the clarifying questions. We'll follow up with you. Scott is prepared to have a chat with you afterwards and provide you a little bit more information.

But please, if you have more questions or would like to chat with us some more, feel free to reach out to any of us. You have contact information.

We're available here to answer any questions you might have. Just look us up in the NRC phone book. We're here.

So, again, thank you all for those of you who took the time to come here in person today. I look forward to the two meetings next week. And, I'm being, signaled.

MR. RAKOVAN: Yes, sorry. I wanted, there was one thing. I just looked at my notes, there was one thing that I wanted to mention about the meetings next week.

They are virtual and they do require registration. So, we ask that you go to the public meeting schedule page, click on the registration link, and do that.

And then, you will receive the link by

42 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 email to the email address that you put in as part of the registration.

So, that requires an extra step. You may want to do that at least a half an hour beforehand to make sure that you receive that email with the link with enough time.

Although, we do post the call-in number for those meetings, again, on the public meeting schedule page. So, if by some chance you don't get the link once you register, you can always call in to listen to the meeting.

Also, speaking of the public meeting schedule page, for the page for this particular meeting, there should be a link that appeared today to provide feedback. So, if you have any feedback on our meeting today, you can do that electronically by going through that page and clicking on that feedback link.

Okay. Sorry. Thank you, Chris.

MR. REGAN: All right, thanks Lance. And, before we close, I just wanted to say thanks to the staff for preparing the presentation and setting up the logistics for this. I very much appreciate the staff's effort.

With that, we are adjourned. Thanks.

43 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 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record at 1:48 p.m.)