ML24284A354
| ML24284A354 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 11/14/2024 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-2020-0101, RIN 3150-AK55, NRC-0080 | |
| Download: ML24284A354 (32) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Public Meeting on Draft New Reactor Generic EIS and Proposed Rule Docket Number:
(n/a)
Location:
teleconference Date:
Thursday, November 14, 2024 Work Order No.:
NRC-0080 Pages 1-30 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 14, 2024
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The meeting was convened via Videoconference, at 6:00 p.m. EST, Lance Rakovan, Facilitator, presiding.
PRESENT:
LANCE RAKOVAN, Facilitator CHRISTOPHER REGAN, Director, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support STEWART SCHNEIDER, Rulemaking Project Manager STACEY IMBODEN, GEIS Project Manager LAURA WILLINGHAM, GEIS Project Manager DANIEL BARNHURST, Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 3 ANDY KUGLER, PNNL
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 ALSO PRESENT:
DONALD PALMROSE, Senior Reactor Engineer MALLECIA SUTTON, Environmental Project Manager, NRC PEYTON DOUB, NRC ROBERT HOFFMAN, NRC SCOTT BURNELL, Office of Public Affairs, NRC SOLY SOTO LUGO, NRC DEB LUCHSINGER, Preferred Licensing Services MARTHEA ROUNDTREE, EPA AARON SANDERS, NRC RICHARD PEASE, Sargent&Lundy SHELDON CLARK, Office of the General Counsel, NRC JENNIFER DAVIS, Technical Project Manager, NRC CAROLYN WOLF, Congressional Affairs Officer, NRC
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 C O N T E N T S Page Welcome and Instructions...........................4 Opening Remarks by Christopher Regan...............6 Presentation by Stacey Imboden.....................8 Presentation by Stewart Schneider.................14 Questions and Comments............................21 Next Steps........................................28 Closing Remarks...................................29 Adjourn...........................................30
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 6:00 p.m.
MR. RAKOVAN: All right, I've got 6:00 Eastern, so let's go ahead and get started. Welcome to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or NRC public meeting on the proposed rule, generic environmental impact statement for licensing of new nuclear reactors, otherwise known as the NR GEIS.
My name is Lance Rakovan and it's my pleasure to facilitate today's event. 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, otherwise known as 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 also of course to gather your comments.
Slide three, please.
Essentially, our meeting will have two parts. First, we'll hear a presentation from NRC staff on the topics at hand, and you can see the greater details here on slide three, information we
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 think that it's important for you to understand.
And, we're going to try to keep the presentation fairly short so we can get to the real reason we're here, which is to listen to you and to collect your 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 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 presentations.
So, participants will be muted until we finish our presentation. And, at that point I'll go through how you can provide your comments.
Keep in mind that we are transcribing our meeting today to make sure that we fully capture your comments.
You can help us get a clean recording by identifying yourself and any group you are with when you speak and minimizing potentially distracting noises while you do provide your comments. And, I'd like to stress that no regulatory decisions will be made at today's meeting.
There are a
number of NRC staff
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 participating in our meeting today, but I wanted to take a moment to introduce a few, including our presenters. Chris Regan is the Director of the Division of Rulemaking, Environmental and Financial Support.
Stacey Imboden is one of the Project Managers for the NR GEIS Project, as well as Laura Willingham. Stewart Schneider is the Rulemaking Project Manager for this project. And, Dan Barnhurst is the Chief of the Environmental Project Management Branch Three.
With that, I'll go ahead and turn things over to Chris for some opening remarks and then we will transition to our main presentation. Chris?
MR. REGAN: Very good, thanks, Lance.
Good evening folks. My name -- again, my name is Christopher Regan, I'm the Director for the Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support at the NRC.
Before we move on to the technical content of today's presentation, I'd like to briefly introduce you to the NRC.
As I expect you're aware, the NRC regulates the civilian use of nuclear materials.
This includes nuclear power plants, research test and
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 training reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities that produce the fuel for nuclear power plants and the use of other radioactive materials and 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. The NRC was created by the Energy Reorganization Act in 1974, which separated the former Atomic Energy Commission into a regulatory body, the NRC, us, and a more promotional body, which later became the Department of Energy.
The NRC is not part of the Department of Energy, and our role and function is performed wholly 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 scan the QR code on this slide. And, if you have some free time, I encourage you to take a look.
The plan's three strategic goals are key to the agency successfully fulfilling its mission.
And, these goals are firstly, to ensure the safe and secure use of radioactive materials.
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 Secondly, continue to foster a healthy organization, and this is our inward looking goal to help ensure a healthy environment. And, our third goal, inspiring stakeholder confidence in the NRC.
For the third goal, for this third goal, inspiring stakeholder confidence, we use meetings like this one to involve you in the process.
We learned during the pandemic that webinars or virtual meetings make our work more accessible to a broad audience, so we continue to leverage participation technologies as we engaged with the public.
We look forward to hearing your insights and ideas today, and thank you in advance for your participation in this meeting this evening. And, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Stacey.
MS. IMBODEN: Thank you, Chris. Slide six, please. 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
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 issues to be addressed once an application is submitted, improving efficiency in our licensing reviews.
Project specific issues would be addressed in the supplement to the New Reactor GEIS.
Slide seven.
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 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's 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. Slide eight.
The Commission's approval of the proposed rule and draft GEIS included a few changes to the rule's language.
The Commission directed staff to change
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 the applicability of the GEIS to any new nuclear reactor application that meets the values and assumptions of the plant parameter envelope, or PPE, and site parameter envelope, or SPE, used to develop the GEIS due to the 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 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 New Reactor GEIS uses a PPE with values and assumptions relating to the design and operation of the nuclear reactor, such as building height and water use.
The SPE contains values and assumptions
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 relating to the sighting 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. Slide 10.
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, such as the licensed renewal GEIS and continued storage GEIS evaluations, and analysis 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 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
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 support the 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 from the New Reactor GEIS, and may result in small, moderate, or large impacts. In addition, there's a third group of issues for which the environmental impacts are uncertain. Slide 12.
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
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 would codify the New Reactor GEIS findings into 10 CFR part 51, the NRC's 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.
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, need for power, energy alternatives, and system design alternatives. Slide 14.
On this slide we see 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 visually.
This is from Table 4-1 of the GEIS if you'd like to take a closer look at those values.
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 Slide 15.
And, here's a Category Two issue example.
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. Slide 16.
An applicant can adopt Category One findings if the PPE and SPE values and assumptions are met and there is no new and significant information 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.
Now, I will turn the presentation over to Stewart Schneider, the Rulemaking Project Manager.
MR. SCHNEIDER: Well, thank you Stacey, and good day and welcome. I'm Stewart Schneider, the Rulemaking Project Manager for this rulemaking
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 activity. Slide 17.
The proposed amendments to Part 51 would establish new requirements for environmental reviews of applications for an early site
- permit, construction permit, and an operating or a combined license for new nuclear reactors.
Specifically, the changes proposed by this rulemaking are one, to add a new Appendix C to Subpart A to codify the generic findings of the New Reactor GEIS. Two, to require review of the new appendix on a ten-year basis and update if necessary.
Three, revise application requirements so applicants can choose to use the New Reactor GEIS to prepare their environmental reports. Number four, revise requirements so that the NRC staff must use the New Reactor GEIS to prepare the draft EIS if an applicant uses the New Reactor GEIS.
And, finally, number five, which is to add new requirements on NRC staff directions on how to prepare a final EIS. Slide 18.
We've also issued two supporting guidance documents for public comment. The proposed revision to Reg Guide 4.2 would assist the applicant with relying on the New Reactor GEIS in preparing their environmental report.
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 Second, the draft interim staff guidance known as COL ISG 030, would apply to NRC staff's environmental review of an application that relies on the New Reactor GEIS' findings.
And, we will incorporate draft ISG, that supplement into NUREG-1555, known as Environmental Standard Review Plan, in a future update to that NUREG. Slide 19.
You can find the key supporting documents for this rulemaking in our electronic database known as ADAMS. And, you can search on the accession number of each document as shown in this slide.
Slide 20.
Our draft regulatory analysis determined that expected quantitative costs and benefits of this proposed rule and associated guidance.
The draft analysis concluded that the proposed rule and guidance would save the NRC and applicants up to $40.1 million or $2 million for each application, and that's 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. The NRC staff has assumed in this analysis that 20 applications based on letters of intent that
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 the NRC has received, would be submitted over the ten years following the final rule publication in 2026.
Now, we only analyzed the proposed rule's saving attributes to the Category One issues. Now, since Category Two issues require project specific analysis, the New Reactor GEIS would not result in savings or added costs to the applicant. Slide 21.
The proposed rule contains amended information collection requirements. For this, the NRC 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 $1.9 million. Slide
- 22.
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 public comment 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, and that's for review and approval. Finally, we estimate that the final rule and guidance would be published on June 1,
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 2026. Slide 23.
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.
These topics are specifically, next slide
-- oh, sorry. The first one is topic one, PPE values and assumptions. The question for this topic is, has an inappropriate value been used to result in a small impact?
The second topic covers environmental issues evaluated, and the question is, are there any environmental issues that the NRC omitted?
Topic three, categorization of issues, has the question, are category -- are the Category One and Two issues categorized appropriately? Slide
- 24.
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, the second question, do the proposed revisions adequately address all licensing scenarios associated with evaluating the environmental impacts?
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 Topic five, guidance for applicants specifically, draft Reg Guide 4.2 covers are the methods described in the draft Reg Guide 4.2 for demonstrating values and assumptions appropriate?
Slide 25.
The final topic, Topic six, limited work authorizations, is also known as LWA. A limited work authorization allows an applicant for a construction permit or a combined license to perform any preparatory activities before a final licensing decision.
As proposed, the rule does not address LWAs. For LWAs, the primary question is, should the New Reactor GEIS and Rule be expanded to include LWAs for new reactor applications?
Now, regarding this request, there's a secondary set of questions. The first one being, should an LWA applicant be able to rely on the generic findings for a Category One issue?
And, the second question under the secondary questions, should the NRC be able to rely on the generic findings for that Category One issue?
Further, in your response to any of these six questions, we would be most appreciative if you would consider the following aspects: One, include
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 and explain the basis for your position and conclusion.
Two, specify any proposed regulatory text changes and the basis. And, three, regarding draft guidance, describe and justify any methods that you believe are not appropriate. Next slide. Slide 26.
There are several ways for the public to submit comments. The first way is verbally at today's meeting.
Now, as described in the Federal Register Notice, you can also submit your comments online, by email, U.S. mail, fax, and hand-delivered. This slide provides additional details for each way for providing your comments.
As a reminder, the comment period ends on December 18, and your comments should reference docket number ID NRC-2020-0101. Slide 27.
All of the publicly available documents pertaining to this rulemaking can now be found at regulations.gov by searching on docket ID number NRC-2020-0101.
You can also access the NRC's project website to find the project documents and to follow the rulemaking activity. Slide 28.
To wrap it up, I'm the Rulemaking Project
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 Manager and Stacy Imboden and Laura Willingham are the New Reactor GEIS Project Managers. We can be reached at the contact information provided on this slide.
- And, with
- that, that concludes my presentation.
MR.
RAKOVAN:
All
- right, thanks everyone. Before we transition over to collecting comments, we want to take a brief moment to make sure that everyone understood our presentation.
So, we're going to pause to see if anyone has any clarifying questions. If you have a clarifying question involving the presentation, please use the raise your hand feature on Teams.
I don't see anyone on the phone, so I won't bother going through the instructions on how to raise your hand on the phone.
But, I'll take hands as I see them. Once I activate your audio, you will still need to unmute in order to ask your questions.
So again, just pausing briefly to see if anyone has any clarifying questions specifically on our presentation. And, then we'll go ahead and we will transition to commenting.
And, yeah, let's go ahead and have the
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 next slide up there. There you go.
(No response.)
MR. RAKOVAN: All right, so I'm not seeing any hands, so let's go ahead and transition to public comments.
Again, if you wish to provide a comment, please use the raise your hand feature on Teams.
I'll take hands in the order that they pop up, activate your audio, but you will still need to unmute once your audio is activated.
So, again, please use the raise your hand feature and if you have a comment that you'd like to make, I'll pause to see if we get any takers on that So, Connie, you should be able to unmute and provide your comment. Connie Klein?
MS. KLINE: Can you hear me?
MR. RAKOVAN: We can, please proceed.
MS. KLINE: It's not a comment, it's a question. What about a scenario where a license is about to be renewed, or was renewed in the recent past, and a new reactor is proposed to be built on that site of the existing reactor, do you just use the EIS that was issued for the existing reactor?
Or, how would that work? Do you understand what I'm asking?
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 MR. RAKOVAN: Um-hum. Who wants to take a shot at talking about our combined operating license process?
MS. WILLINGHAM: I can try. So, I think, your question was if you have a new reactor that is proposed at a site that already has an existing reactor.
So, we would look at the impacts of the new reactor, and as part of cumulative impacts, we would look at the impacts of any past, present, or reasonably foreseeable actions, so, in that case or projects.
So, in that case, we would be looking at the existing facility and how it is at, those impacts added with the new reactor would be impacting environmental resources.
So, like, for example, you would be looking at the water use of those two reactors, plus any adjacent projects that might also be looking at water.
And, we would consider those in the cumulative impact section of the new reactor EIS that would be developed. And, if the applicant chose to use the New Reactor GEIS, then that's where that would come in, as Stewart explained.
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 They have the option of using the New Reactor GEIS for their application for their new reactor. So, this is really specifically for new reactors and licensed renewal, which you mentioned.
So, if there was a plant on the site and it came in for a license renewal, then that would use the license renewal GEIS. And, those are two separate GEIS that are for two different review types.
So, new reactors would come in and typically come in for either like, a combined license, which looks at construction and operation, or they would maybe come in for a construction permit and then later come in for an operating license.
And, those two reviews would look at construction and operation.
I hope that answers your question. If you have any follow ups or want clarification.
MR. RAKOVAN: Andy, you wanted to add something to Laura's response?
MR. KUGLER: Yes. I just, I think, part of her question may have also related to the information that was developed, say in renewing a license for the existing reactor. Would we be relying on that information for the new reactor?
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 And, if that was part of what you were asking about is, we would certainly go back and look at the information that was provided for the license renewal.
So, for example, if in license renewal they had an identified endangered species on the site, we would be able to use the information about the existence of those species.
But, we're still evaluating the specific impacts of the new reactor when we're looking at licensing that reactor.
MR. RAKOVAN: Andy, could you take a moment to introduce yourself please?
MR. KUGLER: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
My name is Andy Kugler. I work for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. I've been supporting the NRC in developing the GEIS and the Rule.
MR. RAKOVAN: Thanks Andy.
MS. KLINE: Thank you.
MR. RAKOVAN: Connie, did that address your question?
MS. KLINE: Yes, thank you. Thank you.
MR. RAKOVAN: All right, looking to see if anyone else has any comments they would like to make. Again, if you would like to make a comment,
26 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com please use the raise my hand feature on Teams.
And, let's go ahead and take a moment to back up a slide or two, to about how folks can provide comment slide, if we could. Thank you.
So, again, tonight is certainly not your only way that you can provide comments on this activity. You can go to regulations.gov and look for Docket ID NRC-2020-0101.
You can email your comments to rulemaking.comments@nrc.gov. If you wish to mail a hard copy, you can send them to the Secretary, U.S.
NRC, Washington, DC 20555.
If you have a working fax, you can fax them to the Secretary of the U.S. NRC at (301) 415-1101. Or if you're in the Rockville area and wish to provide a hand delivered copy, our address is 11555 Rockville Pike in Rockville, Maryland.
Again, we ask that you provide your comments by December 18, that will ensure that they are responded to and looked at as part of this initiative. Any comments received after that date, we will do our best to incorporate into our processes, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to.
So, again, I'll take a pause to see if anyone has any comments they'd like to provide today
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 during the meeting. Again, please use that raise your hand feature and we'll go ahead and activate your microphone.
We'll pause to see if we get any hands.
(No response.)
MR. RAKOVAN: So, just one more item that I'll go ahead and talk about while we have a moment.
If you wish to provide feedback on tonight's meeting, you can go to the public meeting schedule page for this meeting, which you can find on nrc.gov. And, a link appeared today to provide feedback.
So, if you provide feedback that will go into our public meeting feedback system and let us know how we can improve upon our public meetings in the future.
Again, we ask that you only provide feedback on the meeting, how it went, what you thought of the use of Teams, et cetera, if you thought the meeting was effective.
If you have specific comments on the NR GEIS or the content of the meeting, we ask that you provide them through one of the ways that we have highlighted here.
All right, so just waiting to see if we get any hands. I'll pause a little while longer just
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 to see if any of you are shy and just needed a little extra time.
(No response.)
MR. RAKOVAN: While I'm not seeing any hands, Chris, should we go ahead and move or who's going to close this out today?
Am I transferring it to --
MR. REGAN: Well, let's hear from Dan who's going to talk about next steps that may prompt a couple of comments or some clarifying questions.
MR. RAKOVAN: Yes.
MR. REGAN: So, Dan, if you wanted to talk about next steps?
MR. BARNHURST: Yep, absolutely. So, first, just wanted to take a second and thank everybody for making time to attend, to offer your comments, your questions.
Again, this is our third and final public meeting. Our intent in holding these meetings in the comment period is to understand ways that our analyses in the documents might be improved.
And, just as a reminder, again, the comment period goes until December 18. So, if you didn't comment tonight verbally, we'd ask that you feel free to provide written comments in one of the
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 ways that Lance mentioned.
So, as far as next steps go, after the comment period ends, the staff will gather and review the comments that were provided to us either verbally in meetings or written in one of the ways that Lance mentioned earlier.
We'll address the substantive comments we receive, and then we'll use those to make any necessary changes to the GEIS and the associated documents.
So, our plan is to complete any changes and finalize the rule package in order to provide it to the Commission for review by December 1, 2025.
With that, I'll turn to our Division Director for the Environmental Center of Expertise, Chris Reagan, for additional comments and closeout of our meeting today.
MR. REGAN: All right, Lance, you want to give one more shout out for any last seconds of comments? Or, I think, we might be, we might be good for this evening, so.
MR. RAKOVAN: We shall see.
MR. REGAN: Very good. Well, I do appreciate those of you who took the time to attend this evening.
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 I appreciate the comments. Ms. Connie, thank you very much for asking your clarifying question. I appreciate your participation.
This is the third of our public meetings in support of gathering comments. If you happen to attend one of our previous ones, thank you for that participation as well.
But, we look forward to potentially having any other additional comments you submit to us through the other means that were highlighted in our presentation.
And, with that, thank you very much for attending our meeting tonight and I would call us adjourned. Thanks folks.
(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record at 6:35 p.m.)
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