"Draft Meeting" is not in the list (Request, Draft Request, Supplement, Acceptance Review, Meeting, Withholding Request, Withholding Request Acceptance, RAI, Draft RAI, Draft Response to RAI, ...) of allowed values for the "Project stage" property.

Text

Transcript of Nov 14, 2024 Public Meeting on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2
	ML24346A024
Person / Time
Site:	Diablo Canyon
Issue date:	11/14/2024
From:	Gross N; NRC/NMSS/DREFS/EPMB1
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References
	NRC-0102
	Download: ML24346A024 (91)
	v • d • e

Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

Public Meeting to Receive Comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the License Renewal of Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 Location:

Teleconference Date:

11-14-24 Work Order No.:

NRC-0102 Pages 1-88 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 TO RECEIVE COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE LICENSE RENEWAL OF DIABLO CANYON UNITS 1 AND 2

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2024

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The meeting was convened via Videoconference, at 1:00 p.m. EST, Brett Klukan, Facilitator, presiding.

PRESENT:

BRETT KLUKAN, Facilitator KIM CONWAY, Environmental Review Lead, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS)

BRIAN HARRIS, Safety Review Lead, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR)

STEVE KOENICK, Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 1, NMSS

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 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S (1:00 p.m.)

MR. KLUKAN: Okay. It is 1:00 p.m., so we are going to get started. Welcome to everyone, and whether it be this morning or this afternoon, depending on where you are, to the NRC's public meeting to receive comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the license renewal of Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2.

My name is Brett Klukan. I will be acting as the facilitator for the meeting this afternoon or this morning again. With that, here is the agenda for our meeting.

We're first going to cover the introduction and purpose, why we're gathered here today. We're going to have some opening remarks from the NRC staff. They will discuss the environmental review process and then that will flow into the findings associated with the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statements, otherwise known as the SEIS.

And then we will put up on the screen the Draft SEIS participant contact information. And then we'll roll right into public comments, for your

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 participation in receiving comments from you today.

So again, this is a comment-gathering meeting. What does that mean? It means that we are here specifically to engage with you and to accept your comments on -- everyone, I'm just want to -- I'm sorry. I got a note that we are not on Slide 3. Is everyone -- can anyone tell me what slide is showing up on the screen right now? It should be "Meeting Logistics"?

PARTICIPANT: Yes. It's still on the first slide.

MR. KLUKAN: Okay. Still on the first slide. All right. I'm going to stop sharing. I apologize for this. On my screen, it looks like it's on 3, so let's try that again. Okay. Okay. Do you all, well, I'll go back since the agenda didn't show up. Do you see the Agenda slide on the screen?

PARTICIPANT: Yes.

MR. KLUKAN: All right. Great. I don't know, I apologize again for the inconvenience there.

I'm not sure what happened, a little hiccup in the system. But again, this is our agenda, which I just discussed. So next we're going to turn on to meeting logistics. We are on Slide 3. I will let you know

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 what slide we're on for those of you following along at home.

Again, this is a

comment-gathering meeting, we are actively soliciting your comments on the Draft SEIS to aid the Energy staff environmental review. However, just to be clear, no regulatory decisions will be made at today's meeting.

For the virtual meeting, participants will be in listen only mode until we get to the comment section of the meeting. When we do get to the comment portion of the meeting, those of you on Teams can use the raise your hand function to let me know that you would like to offer a comment.

For those of you participating via phone, you will have to press star-5, again that's star-5, to raise your hand within the Teams app. And then, once called upon, you have to hit star-6, again, that is star-6 to unmute yourself within the system.

Note during the comment portion of the meeting, if you do have a process question, meaning I'm not quite clear on what the next steps are or where we are in the process, anything related to the environmental review, when the final FEIS will be published or planned to be published, you can ask

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 those questions during the comment period.

But again, the primary focus of our conversation we hope to have with you today is to gather -- to be in a listening mode, to mostly hear or gather as many of your comments as we can.

Please note, as I mentioned before the outset or the start of the meeting, that this meeting is being recorded. We ask that you, to help us get a full and clear accounting of the meeting, that you please stay on mute if I do unmute you before it is your turn to speak.

It would also help us greatly for the sake of the transcript, if you could -- all speakers could identify themselves before they begin their remarks.

This is especially true for those of you participating via the phone today.

For the sake of simplicity, the speaking order will be turning simply by those who have their hands raised first, or the order in which Teams shows me that individuals have raised their hands.

One other item before I turn it over to the NRC staff, that I hope you'll help me with the public meeting feedback form. You can find this form on the NRC's public meeting schedule page associated

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 with this meeting.

Your opinion on how this meeting went greatly helps us to improve the conduct -- the way in which we conduct our future meetings. So with that, I will turn it over to Steve Koenick from the NRC staff.

Thank you very much, everyone.

MR. KOENICK: Thank you, Brett. And good afternoon or evening, depending -- or morning, depending where you are. As mentioned, I am the Branch Chief of the Environmental Project Management Branch 1, in the Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support Division at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Welcome to today's meeting on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, or DSEIS, for the Diablo Canyon License Renewal Application.

The purpose of today's meeting is to inform you about our results of our review and to seek your input on the DSEIS for the Diablo Canyon license renewal.

This is the first of two public meetings we will hold on the DSEIS. The second meeting will be next Wednesday at the Courtyard San Luis Obispo. The NRC's process encourages public participation and transparency.

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 As you may know, public participation, openness, and transparency are key to the NRC activities, including licensing of nuclear facilities.

After Kim Conway describes the preliminary results of the Agency's environmental review, we'll solicit your comments on the DSEIS.

Our goal is to hear from you and collect any comments that you may have, so that we may fully consider them during the process when we finalize the environmental impact statement. And for your awareness and information, the public comment period is open for a 45-day period, which concludes December 16th, 2024.

And before I get into the next slide, I should introduce the speakers. Brian Harris, you will hear from him, he is the safety review lead in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. And Kim Conway, she is the environmental review lead for the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards. Next slide, please.

So before we move on to today's presentation, I would like to briefly introduce you to the NRC. The NRC regulates commercial nuclear plants, research, test, and training reactors, nuclear fuel

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 cycle facilities and the use of radioactive materials in medical, academic, and industrial settings.

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

You can scan the QR code on the slide to access the NRC's current strategic plan. If you have some time, I encourage you to take a look.

The plan's three strategic goals are the key to the Agency successfully fulfilling its mission.

The goals are to ensure safe and secure use of radioactive materials, to continue to foster a healthy organization, and to inspire stakeholder confidence in the NRC.

For the third

goal, stakeholder confidence, we use meetings like this to involve you in the regulatory process. We learned during the pandemic that webinars or virtual meetings make our work accessible to a broad audience.

As we continue learning about conducting these types of meetings, we've learned that meetings during work hours may limit attendance. To increase

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 access to participation, we have scheduled this and our meeting next week to receive comments on the Diablo Canyon DSEIS.

The first meeting, virtual, is held during work hours, while the second meeting will be in-person and scheduled in the evening. One additional note before we get started, given the breadth of the NRC's licensing and oversight functions, we have many different actions handled by other specialists throughout the Agency at any given time.

As many of you are aware, a 2.206 petition was filed in March by several groups related to the risk of seismically-induced severe accidents at Diablo Canyon.

The petition is currently under review by the NRC staff and that review is not within the scope of today's meeting. There is a web page on the NRC's public website that provides updates on the petition, so I would encourage you to follow that for any updates.

I look forward to hearing your insights and feedback on the staff's preliminary findings in the Diablo Canyon DSEIS. Thank you in advance for your participation. With that I will turn it over to

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 Kim.

MS. CONWAY: Good morning and good afternoon. My name is Kim Conway. I'm the environmental project manager for the Diablo Canyon license renewal environmental review. While many of you attending today's meeting are quite familiar with Diablo Canyon and the license renewal process, we'd like to start off the meeting by providing you with some brief background information.

Pacific Gas & Electric, or PG&E, submitted its current license renewal application to the NRC on November 7th, 2023. The current license expiration dates for Units 1 and 2 are November 2nd, 2024, and August 26th, 2025, respectively.

In March 2023, the staff granted PG&E an exception from 10 CFR 2.109(b), regarding timely renewal protection that would allow for PG&E to submit a sufficient license renewal application for Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 by December 31st, 2023.

And the existing licenses will not be deemed to have expired until the NRC has made a final determination on the license renewal application.

The staff performed its acceptance review and found the application to be acceptable for

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 docketing last December, and as such, these licenses are now in timely renewal. This means that they will remain valid until the NRC has made a final determination on the application.

If a license renewal is granted, it will be for an additional 20 years beyond the expiration dates listed on this slide. Next slide, please?

Our environmental review considers the impacts of continuing to operate the plant for an additional 20 years and any proposed mitigation of those impacts as warranted.

We also consider the impacts of reasonable alternatives to the proposed action of license renewal, including the impacts of not issuing a renewed license.

The staff documents its environmental review in an Environmental Impact Statement.

The staff has developed a

Generic Environmental Impact Statement that addresses a number of issues common to all nuclear power plants.

The staff is supplementing that generic EIS with a supplemental EIS, or SEIS, in which we address issues that are specific to Diablo Canyon.

The staff also re-examines the conclusions reached in

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 that generic EIS to determine if there's any new and significant information that would have changed those conclusions. Next slide, please? And we're on Slide 8 for anyone following along on the phone.

This slide is a good illustration of the different resource areas that the staff reviewed and considered as part of preparing its Draft SEIS.

Some of the topics that we looked at as part of our environmental review include surface and groundwater use and quality, radiation protection and postulated accidents, air quality and meteorology, just a lot of areas covering a broad range of the environment.

As part of our review process, we describe the affected environment or the baseline conditions for each resource area, determine the impacts of continued operation, and analyze cumulative impacts from past, present, or reasonably foreseeable future actions, and we analyze alternatives to the proposed action.

We have a team of experienced technical reviewers with extensive experience in their fields to help prepare this EIS and many of them are listening today. Next slide, please?

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 In general, the impacts are defined as either small, moderate, or large in the EIS. A small impact would be effects that are not detectable or are so minor that they will neither destabilize or noticeably alter any important attribute of a particular resource.

Moderate effects are sufficient to noticeably alter but not to destabilize important attributes of a resource. And finally large would be effects are clearly noticeable and sufficient to destabilize important attributes of a particular resource, excuse me. Slide 10, please?

There are some special topics that don't follow along with that categorization of small, moderate, or large for defining impacts, and I'll walk through those quickly.

For federally listed species in critical habitats, we use the language of the Endangered Species Act which has three categorical definitions for impacts: no effect, may affect but is not likely to adversely affect, or may affect and is likely to adversely affect.

For essential fish habitat, we use the language of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which in this

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 case has four categorical definitions for impacts: no adverse effects, minimal adverse effects, more than minimal but less than substantial adverse impacts, and substantial adverse impacts. Next slide, please?

On Slide 11, for sanctuary resources, we use the language of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act for impacts of sanctuary resources which include:

no effect; not likely to destroy, cause the loss of or injure sanctuary resources; or likely to destroy, cause the loss of, or injure sanctuary resources.

The impacts on historic and cultural resources use the language of the National Historic Preservation Act to define impacts: there would no adverse effect or there would be an adverse effect.

An example of historic and cultural resources would be historic properties. Slide 12, please?

And for environmental justice, those impacts use the language of the Executive Order 12898 to make a determination whether said impacts, if any, have disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority populations and low-income populations. Next slide, please?

Slide 13 shows a list of resource areas where the impact was determined to be small. I also

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 listed the associated section of the Draft SEIS, in case you want to read the staff's evaluation in those areas.

You can see that they include air quality and

noise, terrestrial and aquatic resources, socioeconomics, waste management, and so on.

For the most part, we found that the impacts on the various areas due to 20 additional years of operation of Diablo Canyon, we would estimate to be small on the environment for these resource areas. Next slide, please?

Going into some of the more specialized topics that use different categorizations as we covered just a few moments ago, for historic and cultural resources, our preliminary finding is that license renewal would not adversely affect known historic properties.

For environmental justice, there are no disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects on minority and low income populations as a result of the proposed action.

For greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, these impacts are discussed in Section 3.15.3 of the Draft SEIS. And for cumulative impacts, those

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 are discussed in Section 3.16 of the Draft SEIS.

And that section considers the continued operation of the plant, along with the operation of other things going on in the general vicinity of the plant. Slide 15, please?

This slide outlines the staff's preliminary findings related to special status species and habitats. These findings and those on the next few slides are discussed in Section 3.8 of the Draft SEIS. And I think there are about 60 pages in that section outlining the staff's evaluation if you're interested in reading through that.

This slide specifically discusses the preliminary findings for species and habitats that are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The NRC staff found that the license renewal may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect, the species listed on this slide, the California red-legged

frog, California

condor, California least tern, Hawaiian petrel, marbled murrelet, short-tailed albatross, and southern sea otter.

The NRC staff found that license renewal

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 would have no effect on other federally listed species or critical habitats identified in Section 3.8.4.1 of the Draft SEIS. Slide 16, please?

This slide lists the preliminary findings for species and habitats under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The NRC staff found that the license renewal may affect, and is likely to adversely affect, the green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle, and Pacific olive ridley sea turtle.

License renewal may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect, black abalone, gray whale, and humpback whale. And license renewal may affect, but is not likely to destroy or adversely modify the critical habitats of the black abalone and humpback whale. Slide 17, please?

This slide shows our preliminary findings for the essential fish habitat and sanctuary resources which are under the Magnusson-Stevens Act, license renewal would have no more than minimal adverse effects on the designated essential fish habitat of the species listed here on this slide.

And under the National Marine Sanctuaries

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 Act, the license renewal may affect, but is not likely to destroy or cause a loss of or injure, sanctuary resources of the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.

Again, I know thats a lot of information, so I encourage you to take a look at Section 3.8 of the Draft SEIS if you're interested in those preliminary findings and the NRC staff's supporting evaluation. Slide 18, please?

For alternatives, no new and significant information was identified regarding the replacement power alternatives, which included a purchased power and a renewables combination alternative.

Also, a need for alternate evaluations, we have a no-action alternative, which evaluates the impact of not renewing the operating licenses. Slide 19, please?

This brings us to our preliminary recommendation outlined in the Draft SEIS. The NRC staff's preliminary recommendation is that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Diablo Canyon for an additional 20 years beyond the current expiration dates are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision

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 makers would be unreasonable.

In simpler terms, what this slide says, is that from the analysis that the NRC staff performed, there is not an environmental reason for energy planning decision makers to not allow for the plant to continue to operate for an additional 20 years.

Again, the NRC does not make this decision. We can only provide the analysis and recommendation and it is up to energy planning decision makers to decide whether they wish to continue to operate the plant or not. Slide 20?

The Draft SEIS was published and filed with the EPA on October 25th. A Notice of Availability was published in the Federal Register on November 1st, which began our 45-day public comment period as Steve mentioned earlier.

We're currently in the middle of our public meetings weeks with today's virtual and next week's in person meetings to receive comments. Our meeting next Wednesday will be held at the Courtyard San Luis Obispo. The deadline to provide comments on the Draft SEIS is December 16th.

If you provide comments after that date, we will still try to include them, however, we can

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 only guarantee consideration for those received during the official public comment period. Our current schedule has us issuing the final SEIS in June of next year. Slide 21, please?

If you would like to look at or obtain a copy of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, there are a couple options. I will have a few hard copies with me at the Courtyard next week. There are also a couple available at the San Luis Obispo library.

If you wish to review an electronic version, you can go to the project public website at the link on this slide, or you can look at our Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System, or ADAMS. You can find that through the link for the Accession Number listed at the bottom of the page, ML24299A167. Next slide, please?

There are a couple of ways to find out additional information on the NRC's Diablo Canyon license renewal review, the project website listed here and is where we try to put links and information about the work we're doing involving the Diablo Canyon license renewal.

You can find links to all sorts of

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 documents, such as the license renewal application, the environmental report, our current schedule. You can also sign up for the Diablo Canyon listserv to receive correspondence on a wide range of operational activities or reviews. And that information is on Slide No. 22. Next slide, please?

There are a number of ways to submit your comments. We have our meeting here today where in a few moments we'll switch gears to our comment gathering portion of the meeting.

But I want to emphasize that there are other ways that you can provide comments. And you still have about a month left to do that. I guess a little over a month.

You can send your comments by mail if you prefer to do it that way at the address listed on the slide. You can go to regulations.gov and search for the Docket ID, NRC-2023-0192, as listed on this slide.

That will bring up this particular action, you can submit comments to that website or you can email them to DiabloCanyonEnvironmental@NRC.gov.

Any comments you provide here today will be given the same standing as anything that you submit either electronically or by mail, so it's really your

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 preference. And with that, I believe, I will turn it back over to Brett.

MR. KLUKAN: All right. Great. Thank you, so much. So we're now going to turn, as Kim mentioned, to the public participation portion of the meeting.

So as I mentioned earlier, but for those of you who may have joined us after I went through my initial instructions, to register that you would like to make a comment or pose a process related question, again focusing on process and not any of the matter that can be discussed regarding how the environmental review works, the publication of the final SEIS, whatnot, please use the raised hand function, it looks like a little hand. It should be at the top of the screen app if you're within Teams.

And for those of you on phone, to raise your hand within the app, please press star 5, again, that is star 5. Now this is -- for those of you on the phone, once I've called upon you, you will need to unmute yourself. I cannot unmute you directly. You will need to press star 6, again, that is star-6 to unmute yourself if you are participating via phone.

If you happen to have any, like, issues

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 using the Teams app, we recommend that you call in to the bridge line, here is the information from that.

And also, you know, if you want to check to make sure you have the proper device or it's actually picking up your microphone, here then, if you will, the kind of step downs within the Teams app for how we should go more, click on settings, then click on device settings. And the more is under the three little dots you should see at the top of your screen.

Okay. And with that said, we're going to roll into the public comment portion. And I see we already have around seven hands raised. So let me pull those up. So it looks like our first is says there, Eric Greening.

And again, just as a reminder, we are recording this meeting to help us get a clear transcript, please state your name and any affiliation at the outset of your comments or your process-related question.

And please limit yourself to several minutes, it looks like we have eight hands raised.

But again, our goal here is to hear from as many people as possible, so please limit yourself just to a couple minutes if you wouldn't mind, for your question

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 or your comments. Okay.

And with that, we'll turn it over to Eric Greening. I have allowed your microphone, so feel free whenever you are ready to unmute yourself and begin by stating your name and any affiliation. And again, we're going to Eric Greening.

MR. GREENING: There we are. Now can you hear me?

MR. KLUKAN: Yes. We can hear you, sir.

Thank you.

MR. GREENING: Okay. Good. I am Eric Greening, E-R-I-C, G-R-E-E-N-I-N-G. And I note that this report characterizes itself as generic, which I don't think is adequately ambitious for the scope of the impacts. Given the time limitations, I'm going to stick to two issues that need to be covered and are not now.

One is the sourcing of the uranium, the sourcing of the fuel. If you're aware of the current controversy over uranium mining in the Grand Canyon area or the health issues that afflicted the Navajo

nation, you know that there are significant environmental impacts to the sourcing of 20 years' worth of fuel.

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 Even if those are not impacts directly in the location of Diablo, they are impacts and they need to be considered, they need to be mitigated, they need to be in the background of the decision making process.

The other issue where I think there is very inadequate coverage, and I'll be raising a lot more in

writing, but transportation, the characterization of the transportation network is based on these very uninformative averages and do not

-- does not mention the very endemic congestion issues in the Avila area. Obviously it's not congested all the time, but it frequently is.

And these are likely to be exacerbated in the event that the Port San Luis becomes a staging area for offshore wind, a lot more people commuting in and out.

And then you should also be aware that the managed lane project in the 101, in the Shell Beach area, is likely to cause considerable congestion during years of construction coming up in the near future. And that has not yet been taken into account.

And overlooking all of this, the section on transportation needs to look at the adequacy or

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 inadequacy of the transportation system in an evacuation scenario.

This isn't just about daily, routine use, which already looks to be overused in terms of the cumulative impact of 20 more years plus other things coming online.

But in addition, it's already clear that the ability to evacuate people from the area that might be affected by an incident. And an incident can happen for all sorts of reasons.

A tsunami does not have to reach the plant to cause criticality, it only has to dislocate the cool water intake feed, which is at sea level.

So there are all sorts of risks that would be prolonged for 20 years, meaning the possible need for a possible evacuation to save lives could be extended for 20 years. And the adequacy or inadequacy of the transportation network in relation to evacuation desperately needs to be evaluated. There's a lot more but I've used a couple of minutes, so I guess I will stop there and listen to what others have to say. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you very much.

We appreciate you joining us today and for sharing

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 your comments. Again, if we have time at the end of our meeting or within our allotted time, we will come back for a second round. So thank you very much.

Next we are going to turn to Rachel Whalen. Rachel Whalen, I have allowed your microphone, please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready. And begin with your name and any affiliation.

MS. WHALEN: Thank you. Good morning. My name is Rachel Whalen, and I am the Governmental Affairs Coordinator at the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest and oldest business organization on the central coast.

I'm here today to support the NRC in moving the review of this permit extension request forward, and hopefully an approval of their permit to follow.

On behalf of SLO Chamber, I want to sincerely thank the NRC team for the extensive work that went into this environmental review. As a voice for business, we know that it is imperative that we provide a stable electric grid for our state.

Diablo provides nearly 10 percent of the State's power and carbon-free power at that. So

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 allowing that to go away would be devastating to our entire economy. As temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, the demand for electricity continues to rise alongside that as there is more of a need for cooling systems than ever before.

This increased demand is posing a huge challenge to maintain the stable electric grid.

Renewable energy has the potential to help us meet the ever growing demand for power in the State, but it's just not there yet.

It's important to note that while renewable energy sources are great in helping minimize the need for burning more fossil fuels, the output from any renewable energy sources fluctuate with the time of day and the weather. Therefore they are not a direct solution in helping create a stable grid.

It will take many years and many battery energy storage facilities to eventually create a stable grid based on 100 percent renewable energy.

Nuclear energy has no carbon footprint and it is consistent, which is key in maintaining a stable grid.

We trust Diablo's ability to operate a safe and effective operation due to their nearly 40-year track record of amazing work providing energy

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 to our State in a safe manner.

The additional proposed mitigation measures that are in included in the environmental impact statement ensure that Diablo Canyon will continue to operate safely and be an integral part of the state's power source long into the future.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the extreme economic value that Diablo Canyon brings to our region and the State by providing over 1000 highly skilled jobs.

The level of workforce Diablo brings to the Central Coast is undeniably a huge contributor to the success of our economy and community. And for all those reasons, we all should do everything we can to see this continue in our region. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Thank you, very much for participating in our meeting today and for offering up your comments. We are next going to turn to Gary Kirkland, again, that is Gary Kirkland. I have allowed your microphone, so please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready and begin with your name and any affiliation. Thank you. Again, we are going to Gary Kirkland.

And Gary, you will need to hit the

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 microphone button on your screen to unmute yourself as well. And again, that looks like the microphone button on the screen you see on this slide.

Okay. Gary, I have promoted you to a presenter to hopefully see if that helps you unmute yourself. Giving you another minute here to see if you can work that out. And then, we will absolutely come back to you. Okay. All right. Gary, we will come back to you after our next speaker, hopefully you are able to work that out.

And again, I will put up the audio or the bridge line information if you want to try potentially calling into the bridge line. Sometimes that helps.

So our next speaker we're going to turn to is James Hopf, H-O-P-F, again, that's James Hopf.

I've allowed your microphone, please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready and begin with your name and any affiliation.

MR. HOPF: Hi. My name is James Hopf. I live in Tracy, California. That's J-A-M-E-S H O P F.

I fully concur with NRC's conclusions presented in Table 2.1 and Section 4 of the Draft EIS.

The conclusions are consistent with the consensus among formal scientific bodies that nuclear

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 power's environmental impacts are similar to those of renewable sources and are much smaller than those of gas generation.

If Diablo Canyon, its power will be replaced by renewable generation, gas generation or both. Thus the environmental impacts of keeping Diablo Canyon open will be similar to or lower than those associated with closing the plant. That said, I do have some recommendations to improve the EIS.

First of all, presenting the no-action case as defined in the EIS, as an alternative is confusing and misleading. It's not an actual alternative because it does not evaluate the impacts of the power generation that would replace Diablo Canyon's power.

NRC acknowledges that Diablo's power would have to be replaced with something in Sections 2.3.1 and 4.2. Thus, I recommend redefining the no-action case, perhaps the purchased power alternative could be used.

Secondly, the logic behind the greenhouse gas evaluation discussed in Section 3.15.3 is flawed and thus some of the CO2 emissions estimates shown in Tables 3.34 are inaccurate.

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 The no-action case is meaningless, as I discussed earlier. And the CO2 emissions associated with the renewable combination alternative are not negligible.

Only considering operation of existing renewable sources is not appropriate. To replace Diablo's power with renewables, renewable generation will have to be built. Thus, the renewable alternative should include CO2 emissions associated with renewable energy construction.

Also, the analysis does not include the gas generation that will replace some of most of Diablo's power, while the replacement renewable generation is being built. Renewable generation that would be used to replace Diablo's power will not instantly appear after the plant closes. It will take a significant amount of time to build.

More generally, as long as there is gas generation on California's grid, the net effect of closing Diablo will be its replacement with gas because any new renewable generation could have been used to replace gas instead of Diablo.

The fact that gas generation will not be allowed after 2045 is not relevant to this license

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 extension evaluation, which covers the 20-year period between 2025 and 2045.

Thus, the renewable combination alternative case should assume a mixture of gas and renewable generation over the course of the 20-year extended license period.

If it did so, its emissions would be much higher than the emissions associated with continued operation of Diablo Canyon.

Finally, I recommend that the greenhouse gas emissions estimated for each alternative should be included in Table 2.1. Given the level of concern about climate change, that evaluation should be given a high profile. Thank you, very much.

MR. KLUKAN: Thank you for participating in our meeting today and for offering your comments.

Again, thank you, very much. And again, to all of those who have spoken thus far. It looks like, Mr.

Kirkland, that you've been -- have been able to unmute yourself. And I can see you on the screen as well.

So whenever you are ready, please feel free to begin your comments by stating your name and any affiliation.

MR. KIRKLAND: Hi. This is Gary Kirkland.

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 I'm a member of the Libertarian party and I'm a biologist. What I comment on is that nuclear power is the most efficient and effective way to produce electricity that we know of right now, at least I know of.

And there's -- the only way to get electricity is to produce it, you can't go out and dig it up or find it, you have to produce it. And Diablo Canyon has been operating safely for forty-something years. And I could -- and know that it can operate safely for the next 45.

But if there's a problem with one of the units, when Diablo Canyon was first built or proposed, they were going to build eight plants there and they cut it down to two. The plumbing from the people who work out there claim that it's plumbed for four.

If the current plants need to be replaced, and I'm looking forward a long time, not just the 40 years, we could replace Units 1 and Unit 2 with two new units that would take in the current technology and development in the field. And therefore, we keep going -- this keeps going for a long time.

For those of you who are afraid of nuclear energy, the universe is full of nuclear radiation

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 everywhere you go, there's no way to get away from it.

And the sun produces a tremendous amount of nuclear energy and nuclear radiation. This is an effective and efficient way to keep California from going in the dark permanently.

And as far as climate change goes, global warming is good for humans. Without global warming, we'd have no civilization, because after the last ice age, global warming made it possible to grow crops in Iraq, Mexico, China, and Egypt; and therefore, civilization developed.

And Canada, the USSR and Russia, Alaska and Greenland, will become wonderful places to live, they have arable land, plenty of fresh water, and if the earth warms up, those places will become nice places to live. And that's where the most land mass on earth is. So don't fight global warming, enjoy it, but also keep nuclear power going. Thank you, very much.

MR. KLUKAN: Oh, thank you. I was on mute, that's the first time today. Thank you, very much for your comments and for participating in the meeting.

We are next going to turn to Jessica

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 Lovering -- Jessica Lovering. I have allowed your microphone so please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready and begin with your name and affiliation. Again, Jessica Lovering.

Jessica, I'm going to try to promote you to make you a presenter, see if that helps. Oh, it looks like you were able to unmute yourself.

MS. LOVERING: Yes. I can now.

MR. KLUKAN: Okay. Great.

MS. LOVERING: I wasn't able to unmute before you made that second change, so just for future attendees.

Well, thank you. My name is Jessica Lovering, and I am the Executive Director of nonprofit called Good Energy Collective.

We work on environmental policy and clean energy policy.

I'm also a nearby resident, I live down in Santa Barbara, California. So I am going to talk about climate change. California is definitely at the forefront of progressive polices to reduce the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change.

The landmark bill, SB 100, requires that California get 100 percent of its electricity from carbon free sources and also achieve net zero

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 emissions economy-wide by 2045.

That's very ambitious and we are not on track, even with the impressive development of renewable energy sources. So I think that needs to be considered when we are thinking about the continued operation of Diablo Canyon of what the alternative is and how we're going to meet those goals with or without Diablo Canyon.

So to understand how the State can meet that goal in 2020, the Clean Air Task Force Environmental Defense Fund commissioned three teams of modelers from Princeton, the consulting firm, E3, and Stanford to explore pathways for the steep decarbonization targets.

And the teams found that 100 percent renewable system is possible, technically possible but very challenging, because you have to significantly over build the system.

So for example, if peak demand for power in the summer is 50 gigawatts, to reliably meet that with renewables and storage, you would need to build 500 gigawatts of renewables on the grid. That's huge.

That has significant impacts on land use, and also mining, as was mentioned, for uranium. For

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 nuclear, of course, we still have to mine a lot of materials, even more materials for renewable energy.

We just don't do it in the U.S. That mining is in China, it's in the Congo, it's in other vulnerable places without good governance.

And so beyond that, these modeling teams found that if you included nuclear, other clean form power sources like hydro, in your scenario, that then it was actually easier and faster to fully decarbonize and with lower rates, electricity rates for consumers, which also has a lot of benefits in making decarbonization more feasible.

So this is a really important in the light of the environmental impacts of the continued operation of Diablo Canyon, because it generates 15 percent of California's clean energy.

As I said, California is not on track to meet its climate targets. In 2023, California still generated almost 50 percent of its electricity in state from fossil fuels.

And we know that when San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant closed in 2012, the State's use of fossil gas jumped as did greenhouse gas emissions, as has local public impacts from air pollution as well as

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 impacts on exacerbating climate change. So we cannot afford a similar increase in emissions if Diablo Canyon were to close.

While the environmental impacts of Diablo Canyon are minimal, as stated in NRC's findings, the impacts of closing the plant will be immediate and significant.

Our State is already facing catastrophic impacts of climate from drought and heat waves to increased risk of wildfires. Closing Diablo Canyon will only slow down our reduction in CO2 emissions at a time when we really need to be accelerating the development of carbon-free power generation. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Thank you, very much. And thank you for participating in the meeting today. So we are next going to turn to, looking at my lists.

Nelson -- or excuse me, Chloe Nelson, again, that is Chloe Nelson.

I've allowed your microphone. Feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready. It looks like you were able to, so again, please begin with your name and any affiliation.

MS. NELSON: Hi. My name is Chloe Nelson.

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 I'm associated with the EPA. And I'll be providing written comments, but I have a clarification question if we're also able to do questions?

MR. KLUKAN: Uh-huh.

MS. NELSON: So the DSEIS included that the once-through cooling systems would cease operations in 2030, sooner than the proposed relicense term of 20 years.

And I'm just wondering if someone on this call could expand on that sequencing, if the license renewal were approved, would the cooling system also be like grandfathered in with that? Or is there some connection there that I might have missed from my first read-through?

MR. KLUKAN: Thank you for the question.

Let me see if there is anyone who can help with that?

MS. CONWAY: I can -- I can try, at least at a high level.

MR. KLUKAN: Yes.

MS. CONWAY: I think the 2030 date is tied to the statutory, you know, what SB-846 allowed for continued operations through 2030. There's a bit of a disconnect between what's been allowed by the State of California for continued operations and our license

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 renewal actions for that 20-year period.

Obviously, if it's not allowed by the State, you know, by law, then Diablo Canyon would most likely cease operations in 2030. However, we evaluated for that full 20-year timeline.

So I think it would most likely be a case where if updates are made to those statutory requirements in that 2030 time frame, we would follow that closely as well.

MS. NELSON: Okay. Thank you. That's all.

MR. KLUKAN: All right. Well, thank you, very much for your question and for participating in the meeting today. So next, we are going to turn to, if my Teams screen will obey me, which it doesn't want to do right now. We're now going to turn to a phone caller.

So the last four digits are 3125, again, this is for the phone caller with the last four digits 3125. I've allowed your microphone, so press star-6 on your phone, again, that is star-6 on your phone to unmute yourself. It looks like you have, so again, feel free to begin with your name and any affiliation.

MS. GALE: Okay. You can hear me now,

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 right?

MR. KLUKAN: Yes. We can hear you.

MS. GALE: Okay. My name is Daryl Gale, that's G-A-L-E, my last name. So I just wanted to say, and I'll be brief, that this proposed extension is a big, dangerous mistake.

Considering extending to 20 years, an ancient plant on a vertical thrust fault that hasn't been tested with a metal coupon or monitored, is leaking radionuclides into the air and ocean, is a horrible idea. Don't run the risk of turning San Luis Obispo into Chernobyl. That's it.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you, Ms. Gale, for participating today. We very much appreciate you joining the meeting with us and sharing your thoughts and comments. So next we are going to turn to Van Snyder, again, that is Van Snyder. I have allowed your microphone.

Please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready and begin with your name and any affiliation. Again, we are going to Van Snyder.

Okay.

I'm going to make you a presenter, see if that helps you out. And again, Van Snyder, feel free

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 to unmute yourself hitting that microphone button.

Okay. We will come back to you after our next speaker, hopefully you can work that out. But again, we'll try back here in a minute.

We're next going to go to Walter French, Walter French. I've unmuted you, please feel free, or I've enabled your microphone. Please feel free to unmute yourself by hitting the microphone button on your screen of the Teams app.

And begin with your name and any affiliation. Again, we are now seeking to hear from Walter French. I will make you a presenter as well, see if that helps. All right. Walter, can you unmute yourself at this time?

Again, there should be a little microphone button somewhere on your interface that you need to hit to unmute yourself. All right. How about Mr. Van Snyder. Van Snyder, are you able to unmute yourself?

All right.

Again, if you're having trouble with the system, I recommend calling in. That often avoids a lot of these technical difficulties that sometimes are experienced for callers. And again, I have the bridge line information up on the screen. And again, I

44 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 apologize for any inconveniences.

So hopefully, third time will be a charm here. We're going to go to Michael Cannon. Michael Cannon, I have allowed your microphone. Please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready, and begin with your name and any affiliation.

MR. CANNON: Hi. I'm Mike Cannon, and I'm speaking as a concerned community member. My family and I lived in Arroyo Grande for over 25 years. I've lived on the Central Coast for 45 years.

Our home is located directly downwind from the Diablo Canyon power plant. And I mean, if you look at the prevailing winds on Central Coast, we are right downwind.

I think it's important, and it's sometimes hard to find boots on the ground data points. So here's one for the record. We have enjoyed living in this location with a complete sense of safety and security being served by the DCPP the entire time we've been here.

Personally, I feel strong contempt for alarmist who have swayed public in favor of preventing a global use of nuclear power using scare tactics and belittlement. I believe PG&E has established

45 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 themselves as a competent, capable, and safe operator of this facility.

My family and I strongly not only support the continued operation of Diablo Canyon nuclear power facility, not just for 20 years, but indefinitely.

And we would be upset if this facility is ever closed.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment, I appreciate it very much.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you for your comments and thank you for participating today. Next, we are going to turn to Brendan Pittman, Brendan Pittman. And then we will come to Van Snyder and Walter French.

But next we are going to go to Brendan Pittman. I have allowed your microphone, please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready and begin with your name and any affiliation.

MR. PITTMAN: All right. Thank you. Can you hear me?

MR. KLUKAN: Yes. We can hear you.

MR. PITTMAN: Great. Good morning. My name is Brendan Pittman and I live in Berkeley, California and I am representing myself. I would first like to thank the Commission for hosting this

46 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 public meeting in accordance with NEPA and for your time and effort in preparing this Draft SEIS.

My comments will pertain to the scope of this meeting. I fully support the preliminary findings from the SEIS that the recommendation that adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Diablo Canyon are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision makers would be unreasonable.

I support the timeline to continue moving forward in the review process, and I fully support license renewal of Diablo Canyon for at least 20 additional years.

I would also like to highlight some items in the SEIS that I support. One, I commend the Commission for highlighting the greenhouse gas impacts of a plant's operation provided in Section 3.15.31.

I think that's really important when we talk about a power plant operation's emissions and cleanliness, which often comes up in these public meetings. A lot of folks say that nuclear power is not clean. And this really gets at the heart of that argument.

Second, given the large raptor population

47 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 in the Diablo Canyon area, I found that Section 3.6.8 wind component to be quite relevant, considering the healthy population of peregrine falcons, eagles, raptors, hawks, and other threatened birds nesting or migrating within the Diablo Canyon study area.

I support the statement that "The NRC staff concludes that the impacts on terrestrial resources from the wind component of the renewable combination alternative would be moderate to large".

It's not an unfair assumption that a wind farm built in this area would require obtaining federal take permits for these birds. And this is quite the opposite of the current land use of Diablo Canyon, which has provided the habitat for these species and other vulnerable coastal species to frankly, flourish. So I'm glad that that's highlighted.

And, you know, just want to highlight the pristine coastline and the environmental stewardship programs that Diablo Canyon and PG&E currently undertakes.

Finally, there is one area that I would like to provide feedback and improvement for the final SEIS. For the no-action alternative, the SEIS does

48 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 attempt to detail the negative impacts of not issuing the permit, but does not address them in regards to decarbonization efforts and mostly about grid reliability. Near-term reliability is ignored.

The State's electricity demand continues to increase and replacing 2.2 gigawatts of reliable power is not possible in the near-term to long term, based on current California Energy Commission staff findings.

In 2023, the CEC issued a statement and staff analysis titled "CEC Determines Diablo Canyon Power Plant Needed to Support Grid Reliability" which recommended the State pursue extending operation of Diablo Canyon based on data showing California risks energy shortfalls and that Diablo Canyon stay online until at least 2030.

I recommend staff review this report and include any relevant information about grid reliability risks that would occur under a no action, not issuing permit scenario. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Oh, I was on mute again.

Thank you, very much for your comments and for participating twice -- twice in one meeting. I apologize.

49 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 next we're going to turn to our -- to Van Snyder and Walter French. Have either of you been able to unmute yourself? It does not show up as you're unmuted. Oh, Walter, it looks like you were able to unmute yourself, so please, go ahead.

MR. FRENCH: Great. Thank you, very much.

My name is Walter French, I'm a long-time resident here in Grover Beach. And I'm here to represent the pipefitters and pipe welders that perform welding and mechanical tasks out at Diablo Canyon.

For years now, we have been supplying very trained craftsmen to Diablo Canyon, which improves the efficiency and safety of the plant. And I -- it's an incredible local economic impact that has been going on for several years now. And we -- we really enjoy the high paying jobs.

PG&E is the largest employer in San Luis Obispo County. And the jobs are head of household jobs, which is very important now. San Luis Obispo County, as you know, is fairly rural. So we don't have a lot of employment opportunities here that young people can get involved with and be able to make a living and buy homes and have children and all that kind of thing.

50 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 It's also, advocating as it is also a huge impact on County taxes that we've relied on for our schools and other County services.

So I am absolutely in favor of the extension Diablo Canyon for a lot of the local people here in San Luis Obispo County and also as a benefit to the State for producing clean power. So thank you, very much.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you very much for your comments and for participating in our meeting today. Thank you. Next, we're going to turn to Van Snyder. Again, we are seeing if you are unable to unmute yourself? Van Snyder? Okay. All right.

Again, we will come back to you.

Next, we're going to turn to Carl Wurtz.

Carl, I have allowed your microphone, please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready and begin with your name and any affiliation.

Again, we are looking for Carl Wurtz, W-U-R-T-Z. Carl, I'm going to try to make you a presenter, see if that helps you out. Again, Carl, you will need to hit the microphone button somewhere on your screen. There we go, it looks like --

whenever you are ready.

51 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com MR. WURTZ: Okay. Very good. Carl Wurtz, I'm Executive Director of Fission Transition. This will be brief. After reading through all 424 pages of the DSEIS, I have to admit, I wasn't expecting such a thorough, meticulous document.

Though in the no-project alternative GHG emissions were significantly lower than in a 2022 study conducted by Stanford and MIT, in general, the DSEIS, I think, exceeded expectations.

We can only hope that when San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors undertakes this Environmental Impact Report for decommissioning, that they are as thorough as you have been here.

In concluding you write that the NRC staff recommends that renewed Diablo Canyon operating licenses be issued and we heartily agree. Job well done, thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you, very much for participating in our meeting today and for offering up your comments. Next, we are going to turn to Jon. I don't have a last name for you, Jon, so it's J-O-N.

I'm going to allow your microphone so please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are

52 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 ready, Jon, and begin your comment. Jon, I will try to make you a presenter, see if that helps. So again, I'm looking for J O N. Whenever you are ready, please feel free to unmute yourself and be --

MR. SCOTT: Yes. Yes, hello. My name is Jonathan Scott. And I will point out that I'm a lifetime member of the Sierra Club, although I do not speak for the Sierra Club and I do not share their opposition to nuclear power.

I own property on Interlochen Road, which is in between the two reservoirs, just north of Paso Robles. And I will point out that I'm experiencing global warming firsthand. The summers are hotter, the grasses are dryer, there's less moisture, the reservoirs are lower.

And just last year, the neighbor on the hill behind the property, the grass caught fire and his house burned down. So I'm convinced that nuclear power is necessary and needed to combat global warming, along with renewables, in fact, I have 24 solar panels on my property there near Paso Robles.

I was fortunate to take a tour of the Diablo Canyon power plant back in September. And among other things what I'll point out is that as we

53 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 stood on the shoreline and took a tour on the water looking back at the plants, how absolutely quiet it was, except for the sounds of the wind, birds, and waves.

Knowing that at that time, that plant was generating, I believe the number's about 9 percent of California electricity, and that's happening 24 hours2.777778e-4 days 0.00667 hours 3.968254e-5 weeks 9.132e-6 months a day, seven days a week.

We could see the outflow from the plants, which I believe outputs water about 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding ocean, which does affect some warm water species, but those warm water species are co-existing with the cold water species.

And we observed lots of bird life, fish, sea lions, which of course, are attracted by the fish.

The tide pools had lots of aquatic life. So I agree with the DEIS which, I believe, concluded that there's very minimal impact, if any, on the aquatic life and other endangered species of the area.

And finally, I will point out that because of the one nautical mile exclusion zone around the plant, which extends into the ocean, it's virtually a de facto wildlife refuge, not only in the water, but in the thousands of acres surrounding the plant so I

54 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 do -- I hope you will approve the renewal license for Diablo Canyon. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Thank you, very much, for your comments and for participating in the meeting today. Next, we are going to turn to, I'm looking at my list here, Joy Jiang. I am going to allow your microphone.

So whenever you are ready, Joy, please feel free to unmute yourself and begin with your name and any affiliation. All right, Joy, whenever you are ready, it looks like you've unmuted, please feel free to begin.

Joy, if you are speaking, we can't hear you, though it does look like your microphone is enabled. Joy, we'll give you another try here, it likes like you muted yourself again, so there we go.

It shows that you're microphone is enabled, but for whatever reason we are not hearing you. And I apologize for this.

So Joy, what I'm going to do is circle back to one of our other speakers. When you figure that out, you may need to go to check in your device settings as you can see on the slide and we have up on the screen and make sure that your microphone is

55 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 enabled, sometimes that's the issue that the ID you employed just is not being recognized by Teams for whatever reasons. So we'll try that, and then we'll go from there.

So next, we're going to go to a phone number which is 8 -- excuse me, 3675, and that is phone number 3675. I have allowed your microphone.

You will need to, 3675, to hit star-6, again that is star-6.

MR. SNYDER: Okay. Am I unmuted?

MR. KLUKAN: Yes. We can hear you. So begin with your name and any affiliation?

MR. SNYDER: Yes. I'm Van Snyder. I tried several times to unmute on my web application and it just absolutely refused to do it, so I called you on the phone.

I had initially wished to comment upon what I

perceive to be the inadequacy of a

consideration of the environmental considerations of the alternatives. But several other people have commented on that already.

So I will just remark on a few of the remarks that others have made. First, a strike slip fault cannot generate a tsunami. And the thrust

56 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 faults of the Diablo Canyon area are very small. And PG&E has certainly learned lessons from Fukushima.

You will remember that there were two nearby power plants, Fukushima Daiichi had their --

their generators and their fuel supply in buildings that were not waterproof and they were flooded.

And the Number 2 power plant a few miles down the beach had their pumps and cooling systems, backup cooling systems, in a waterproof basements and they worked just fine and there was no damage there, whatsoever.

So this, Fukushima and the tsunami, et cetera, is just a red herring as far as Diablo Canyon is concerned.

The second concern was mining of uranium.

People are also concerned about nuclear waste, which is not waste, it's valuable 5 percent use fuel.

Diablo Canyon has enough uranium above ground mind milled, refined, to last for about 400 years, if we would only re-process the fuel that's there. We have

$43 billion in the Nuclear Waste Fund, which explicitly prohibits its funds for being used for re-processing.

Another caller remarked about Diablo

57 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 Canyon turning into another Chernobyl. Chernobyl was an inherently unsafe reactor that was built in a country that had neither safety culture nor licensing criteria.

Diablo Canyon reactor is not a

graphite-moderated reactor with a positive temperature coefficient and instability at lower power.

So Diablo Canyon reactor cannot produce the same sort of accident that was produced by the incompetently operated reactor in Chernobyl. And Chernobyl is widely celebrated as a disaster that means nuclear power should be abandoned everywhere.

But if you read the report from the United Nations Scientific Commission for the Effects of Atomic Radiation, you will find that it caused 28 deaths due to radiation exposure. And there were two deaths due to falling debris, and one death caused by a heart attack.

And they also wrote in the report that there is no evidence of increased morbidity or mortality due to increases in cancer or other malignant diseases. And then a few pages later, they speculated that, well, maybe there were 15 excess cases of juvenile fatal thyroid cancer, which of

58 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 course, is imminently treatable in a country that has a competent health system. And so those are also just red herrings. Let me see if there's anything else.

Well, my main concern about the EIS as it stands now, is that the attention to the alternatives environmental impact, especially the 50 some square miles that would be needed for alternative solar power plants and the impact of wind turbines on raptors that others have already remarked is, in my opinion, not adequately addressed. So that's about all I have to say, so thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you very much for joining us for this meeting and for offering your comments. And I apologize again that you had to go through some technical difficulties to make yourself heard. We thank you for bearing with us.

Next we're going to turn to Madison Schroder, again that is Madison Schroder. I am going to allow your microphone, so whenever you are ready, Madison, please feel free to unmute yourself. And again, with your name and any affiliation. Thank you.

And I apologize everyone for --

MS. SCHRODER: I got it.

MR. KLUKAN: There we go. Great.

59 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. SCHRODER: There we go.

MR. KLUKAN: Whenever you're ready.

MS. SCHRODER: Great. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments today. My name is Madison Schroder, and I'm the Policy Coordinator for Generation Atomic. We're a non-profit organization advocating for the use of nuclear power as a means of combatting climate change while also providing a just transition away from fossil fuels.

I want to express our strong support for the NRC's preliminary findings regarding Diablo Canyon's license renewal application. The Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement thoroughly evaluates key environmental considerations and confirms what the scientific evidence has long shown, that nuclear power is one of our most environmentally beneficial forms of electricity generation.

The SEIS findings of small impacts across crucial areas like air quality, water resources, terrestrial, and aquatic ecology and human health demonstrate Diablo Canyon's minimal environmental footprint.

This stands in stark contrast to the significant environmental impacts that would result

60 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 from replacing the facility's 2,200 megawatts of carbon free generation with fossil fuels.

As California works to achieve its ambitious clean energy and climate goals while maintaining grid reliability, Diablo Canyon's continued operation is absolutely essential. This facility currently provides about 17 percent to California's carbon-free electricity and powers approximately 3 million homes. Preserving this vital clean energy resource will help protect the environment and our communities.

The comprehensive analysis in the SEIS combined with Diablo Canyon's safety and operational record, makes it clear that the 20-year license renewal is the right choice for California's energy future.

We commend the NRC staff for their thorough environmental review and strongly encourage the Commission to move forward with approving this critical license renewal application. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you very much for your comments and for joining us for the meeting today. And I have exhausted the queue of speakers at the moment. So if anyone else would like to offer a

61 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 comment, even if you've offered one before.

I see we have one hand up, it would be Adam Stein. Adam, I'm going to allow your microphone.

Whenever you are ready, please feel free to unmute yourself and begin with your name and any affiliation.

And I will make you a presenter to see if that helps.

So Adam, nope, there we go.

DR. STEIN: Thank you. I was only able to unmute my microphone after you made me a presenter for your reference. I am the -- my name's Dr. Adam Stein.

I am the Director of Nuclear Energy Innovation for the Breakthrough Institute.

I appreciate the opportunity to comment on this Draft SEIS related to Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. We commend the staff for their meticulous work in this area and agree with the recommendation to move forward with the licensing process. We agree with the conclusions that there are small impacts from almost every category.

However, we have some concerns about how the staff has implemented new requirements based off of recent amendments to NEPA in this Draft SEIS.

We'll provide detailed written comments on this for your ease of reference. However, one

62 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 consideration has to be that the alternative proposed solutions, including purchasing alternative power or renewable energy generations are considered to be viable alternatives.

However, the recent amendments to NEPA require considerations of negative impacts to alternatives, not taking the proposed action, or the no-action alternative for, and alternatives that meet the stated purpose.

These alternatives proposed in the SEIS, do not necessarily meet stated purpose because the continued operation of Diablo Canyon as authorized by State law as referenced in the SEIS, is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also due to reliability for the grid.

Currently, California has been unable to meet its renewable deployment objective in greenhouse gas reductions, as stated by others, and has been required to meet grid reliability by employing additional natural gas generation.

Therefore, that indicates that the stated purpose of enhancing grid reliability would not be met by the alternatives presented here because renewables, so far, have not been able to replace the capacity at

63 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 Diablo Canyon as intended all the way back from 2016.

And the State has not been able to deploy sufficient additional capacity of any kind to meet grid reliability. As I said, I will provide more detailed comments, and we appropriate the opportunity to comment in this meeting.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you, very much for joining us today and for offering your comments.

And again, just as a reminder, everyone participating today, just because you offered up verbal comments does not mean that you cannot then later make written comments as well, per the instruction provided during today's meeting.

We're next going to turn to a phone number with last four digits 3332, again, that is phone number 3332 are the last four digits. And I have allowed your microphone. You will need to press star-6 to unmute yourself, and again, that is star-6 to unmute yourself. Please feel free to begin with your name and it looks like you are unmuted, so please feel free to begin.

MS. TANNER: Hi, can you hear me?

MR. KLUKAN: Yes. We can hear you.

MS. TANNER: My name is Jennifer Tanner,

64 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'm the leader of Indivisible California Green Team.

We are opposed to Diablo Canyon's extension. Governor Newsom campaigned on shutting it down, and now he has undone that for political reasons that we don't exact know.

We know that Diablo is on a fault line and we are at great risk of an earthquake, regardless of what other people might say, it is true. And like Fukushima, we could have a very bad situation. The containment vessel has serious defects. One reactor containment vessel has been found to have serious weld defects, making it particularly susceptible to even small earthquakes, loss of cooling, et cetera.

An analysis by earthquake expert Dr. Peter Bird shows that the many faults near these plants pose significant safety, security, and environmental threats.

And Diablo's once-through cooling water system is out of compliance with the Clean Water Act.

This facility circulates 2.5 billion gallons of sea water each day, releasing it back into the ocean 20 degrees warmer and killing more than one billion fish in the early life stages.

But most important, the plants are not

65 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 needed to keep the lights on, because California has recently added over 14 gigawatts of battery storage, seven times the two gigawatts of power from Diablo.

The perception that we do not have enough energy and the two almost blackouts that we had in 2022, was a manipulation by CAISO that legally has been stalled and also by the killing of rooftop solar which has been giving us lots of grid energy.

I do believe that when something bad happens from Diablo, not only will all of you be held responsible because you know better, it will be a really bad thing for everyone. And I don't think that it's worth it, there are other things we can do. I'm not saying I'm against nuclear, I'm against this Diablo devil nuclear. Thank you, very much.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you for participating and for offering up your comments today.

So next we are going to turn to Christopher Burnham

-- Christopher Burnham. I've allowed your microphone.

Please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready and begin with your name and any affiliation.

MR. BURNHAM: All right. I unmuted myself. Can you hear me?

MR. KLUKAN: Yes, we can.

66 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. BURNHAM: Okay. So I want to keep my comments brief. First of all, I do not represent anyone, I'm speaking on my own. I do work for Diablo Canyon, so I want to put that out there, just in the interest of transparency.

I wanted to thank you all for the work that you're doing on this report. I want to offer my support for the continued scrutiny that you put us under. Because nuclear power can be done safely, but it's required that in order to do so, it just needs a lot of oversight and a lot of transparency.

And I wanted to sort of reiterate my general point that the environmental impact of climate change is orders of magnitude worse than, for example, the seawater issue that the last commenter brought up or multiple other issues that are brought up about the operation of Diablo Canyon.

And we are not on track to meet the goals set by climate scientists for the increase of sea surface temperature above pre-industrial levels. We need to remember that nuclear and renewable energy sources are on the same team, the goal is to reduce our carbon emissions.

That is the crucial environmental issue we need to put all of our

67 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 attention on. That's all. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you, very much for your comments and for participating in today's meeting. We are next going to turn to Evie Smet, again that is Evie Smet. I have allowed your microphone. Whenever you are ready, please feel free to unmute yourself and begin with your name and any affiliation.

MS. SMET: Hi. May name is Evie Smet. I am just a local resident in Atascadero. I'm not affiliated, I'm just calling as a citizen who is in favor of continuing the operation of the plant.

I have personally been out to see the plant, learned a lot about it, feel very safe having it in our community. I am so glad that I know that we get clean power 24/7 from the plant.

I've seen where the waste is stored and I would so much rather have the waste stored safely in a small area, than the alternative, which is having emissions go into our atmosphere and cause irreparable damage and never be able to be contained.

Additionally, the investment in the plant has already been made, so let's continue to get our return on that investment. Our need for electricity

68 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 only going to increase with one in two electrified vehicles, appliances, et cetera.

So let's make sure that we have this 24/7 power source as we, you know, ramp up other forms of renewable energy. I think that this is critical to our local economy and our ability to power California in a emission-free way. So thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you, very much for participating in today's meeting and for offering up your comments. Right now, we don't have any hands raised in the queue.

So I will give individuals -- oh, here we go. Ryan Pickering, I am going to allow your microphone. Whenever you are ready, please feel free to unmute yourself and begin with your name and any affiliation.

MR. PICKERING: Hello. My name is Ryan Pickering from Berkeley, California. I'm a solar installer and I'm affiliated with the University of Berkeley -- University of California-Berkeley. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the license renewal for Units 1 and 2.

I'm also an energy policy researcher, it's kind of my main focus is studying the California grid.

69 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 I've extensively studied our State's clean energy plan. And I appreciate the NRC staff's work conducting this review and will focus on staying in the meeting scope, there's so many things to talk about.

But at the end of the day, I support the NRC's preliminary recommendation to move forward with the license renewal for Diablo Canyon. This facility is critical to providing California with reliable low-carbon base load power.

As highlighted, it is essential to preserve energy options for decision makers as California strives to meet our future energy needs. I want to emphasize that Yak Tityu Tityu Yak Tilhini Tribe is the only organization with a legitimate claim to the land surrounding Diablo Canyon, and the appropriate party for a tribal consultation on these matters.

The Northern Chumash Tribal Council, while the non-profit supporting Native American sentiments, does not represent indigenous Californians in this context. It should not be involved in consultation specific to Diablo Canyon, you know.

In my work and studying California's

70 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 energy system, you have to also study tribal groups.

And, you know, that can get a little bit complicated, but at the end of the day, it's not hard to identify the actual tribal groups at stake here and YTT Northern Chumash Tribe is the right people for the NRC to be talking to.

Regarding the no-action alternative, I would like to underscore the significant challenges to achieving California's SB 100 goals without Diablo Canyon.

This nuclear facility's planned retirement pre-dated SB 100, leading to an increased reliance on natural gas, which obstructs the State's clean energy objectives.

Based on my research, I have found that SB 100 cannot realistically reach 100 percent clean energy due to an inherent dependency on natural gas to balance renewable variability, further emphasizing the need for reliable, clean, power from nuclear.

I support SEIS's conclusion that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal are not significant enough to justify foregoing this essential energy resource.

The examination of replacement power

71 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 alternatives also shows that even a combination of renewables and natural gas fails to match the consistent emissions-free power that nuclear energy provides from Diablo.

So thank you for your dedication to a thorough and balanced review of this important decision. And, you know, you have my full support moving forward. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you, very much for your comments, we very much appreciate it. So next we are going to turn to Ingrid Nordby. Ingrid Nordby, I have allowed your microphone. Please feel free to unmute yourself whenever you are ready and begin your comment with your name and affiliation.

MS. NORDBY: Great. Hi. My name is Ingrid Nordby and I work with Deep Fission. I just have a very brief comment. I recently had a chance to visit Diablo Canyon as a guest. And it was clear the team there focuses on safety and environmental stewardship.

I was particularly impressed by the independent spent fuel storage installation and their stakeholder engagement. As an aside, I have visited several nuclear plants in the past, and I got to say,

72 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 Diablo is -- absolutely has the best environmental stewardship that I have seen. That's it. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Thank you for joining us today and for offering up your comments. Next we are going -- well, next I'm going to ask you again, if anyone who has not yet spoken or even if they have and would like to offer additional comments, please feel free to raise your hand and enter into the queue.

Again, if you're on a phone, press star-5 to raise your hand, again, that's star-5. And if you're in the app, just use the raised hand at the top of your screen or somewhere on your screen.

It looks like we have a number, so last four digits 4611, 4611. I have allowed your microphone, you will need to press again, star-6 to unmute yourself. Please feel free to begin whenever you are ready with your name and affiliation.

MS. BABIARZ: Good morning. This is Nina Babiarz down in San Diego. I'm a founding board member and Director of Development with the Public Watchdogs. And I'm compelled to call in this morning for a couple of reasons I will give you in terms of background.

In 1979, I was an engineering news

73 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 reporter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the Three Mile Island meltdown. And I think that something that is often ignored is the human factor, because there was certainly the human factor that participated or contributed to the meltdown of Three Mile Island.

So when people say that something can't --

cannot happen at a nuclear power plant, I don't believe that, because I witnessed then, and was part of millions of people that had an evacuation plan that was deceptive to the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Lieutenant Governor. So that's my background.

Now, down here in San Diego, we had a radiation leak with a new steam generator that was supposed to last 40 years. The lack of the -- it prematurely and abruptly gave us a radiation leak that closed the plant 39 years and one month prematurely.

And that's resulted, of course, we don't have a national repository to put the spent nuclear fuel that still remains. And so that's buried on site at 108 feet to the Pacific Ocean on an earthquake fault in a USGS tsunami inundation zone. What's wrong with this picture? Just about everything.

And, you know, I'd like to point out also that when these risks are ignored, that means that

74 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 we're not prepared for these risks. And that's simply negligent.

I'd like to also address the fact that when you're talking about PG&E, and I believe the woman that concluded the environmental report, her final statement was that the final decision was going to be up to the energy planning decision makers.

Well, if that's PG&E, please let's have a reality check here. PG&E was a convicted felon for both a San Bruno explosion that killed eight people, one of them being an employee of the California Public Utility Commission, as well as 84 people that died in the Paradise fire.

And I bring that up, because not only are they convicted felons in a court of law, but they also

-- PG&E also violated their probation not once, but twice.

And so when you're talking about the stewardship and all these things with PG&E, consider what they really are, that's their MO. And something I was not really planning to address but I -- I can't help it.

The earlier comments of the gentleman that was talking about the consequences of uranium mining.

75 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 may think that that's not a factor, but, you know, I was in a conversation with Ian Zabarte. Ian is the principal man of the bands of the Shoshone nation of Indians.

And his last conversation with his grandfather, who had experienced and exposed to the tailings, et cetera of uranium mining, was passing away, and his last words to Ian were spoken, and the man had no skin. So this is the kind of consequences that we're talking about.

And I'd like to point out this, that 3.6 million pounds of radioactive nuclear waste, according to Scientific America, that will be deadly for 250,000 years, 108 feet from the Pacific Ocean is now being threatened by accelerated sea level rise.

In addition to that, it's on a military installation at Camp Pendleton, so it's now a military target in the middle of a civilian population. And how do I know that, because I presented that as to Congressman Michael Evans, San Onofre task force, at our last meeting.

And I'd just like to remind everybody that this seismic situation at Diablo wasn't even known when Diablo was built. And if we go back to the

76 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 earthquake -- earthquake day that we have every year, you know, it's stated very clearly that any moment of any day, we could have an earthquake.

And I hate to tell you this, PG&E and all these people that are ignoring these risks, that Mother Nature doesn't need your permission to have an earthquake and have a tsunami. There's the human factor with simple human error.

And these risks are all compounded at Diablo with icing on the cake that the 2.206 that we're talking about with the NRC, the NRC has never really approved a 2.206 in the life of that program.

And if we can be candid here this morning, which I appreciate the opportunity to be candid, it's a dirty little secret that the NRC has been captured by the industry that it's supposed to regulate.

And it's been regulating via exemption for years, let's just hope that the recent Chevron decision is going to force them to do their job.

Thank you, very much.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you for participating today and for offering your comments.

Thank you. Next we are going to turn to -- so we have two hands up. Eric, I think you spoke before, so I'm

77 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 going to turn to Dawn Ortiz, who hasn't spoken yet.

And then we will absolutely come back to you, Eric.

So we're going to go Dawn Ortiz-Legg next.

I have unmuted your microphone, Dawn. Dawn, whenever you are ready please feel free to unmute yourself and begin with your name and any affiliation. Again, we are looking for Dawn Ortiz Legg.

MS. ORTIZ-LEGG: Here I am, trying to find the microphone, sir. Thank you so much. Good morning, good morning, everyone. Thank for the opportunity to speak today.

I'm Dawn Ortiz-Legg. I'm a supervisor for San Luis Obispo County's 3rd District and I'm here to express my strong support for Diablo Canyon power plant in operation. As California looks to secure a sustainable, reliable, and affordable energy future, Diablo Canyon must remain a central part of that plan.

First I want to thank the many people at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and at the U.S.

Department of Energy for putting Diablo Canyon back on an operational track. These last few years have required many additional efforts from all of you, the Biden administration, and the California regulators to ensure California's largest clean energy producer,

78 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 supplying over 15 percent of clean energy will continue to operate and operate in a safe manner.

At this point in time, replacing that energy with greenhouse gas emitting sources would be detrimental. In fact, the ability to replace carbon-free base load power is not just as easy as some think.

It is evident to many now how Diablo Canyon is highly considered. The facility is often referred to as the gold standard among the nuclear fleets -- the U.S. nuclear fleets.

The rigorous oversight, the multiple safety commissions that don't exist at other plants and extensive third party peer review activities must be acknowledged.

We appreciate and recognize the role of the NRC to ensure the U.S. nuclear energy is safe and reliable 24 hours2.777778e-4 days 0.00667 hours 3.968254e-5 weeks 9.132e-6 months a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

California is no different than the rest of the world in seeking reliable, affordable, and carbon-free energy generation. This is resulting in clean energy for millions of Californians, their businesses, and powering their busy lives.

79 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 San Luis Obispo County, Diablo Canyon brings a range of benefits, including the stewardship of the pristine coastline. The land surrounding the plant is well-maintained by PG&E, offers scenic trails and open space for public enjoyment.

The area is teaming with marine life and reflecting PG&E's dedication to preserving this beautiful part of our State. Diablo Canyon is a unique asset that balances energy production with environmental responsibility.

It is established fact that the generating facility like Diablo Canyon powers much of our local economy.

PG&E is our largest private employer in our area, providing high paying jobs and supporting many local vendors, subcontractors, small businesses and non-profits.

And the people who run the plant, they're our neighbors, they're my constituents, they are our aunts and our uncles, they are peoples and our families. To note that their concern for safety and operational perfection is part of the culture and that's who they are and we're proud to have them.

With the infrastructure already in place,

80 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 keeping Diablo Canyon online is the best way to maintain that cost advantage on top of the critical duck curve time frame, 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. This demand cannot be easily met.

We are inspired the nuclear renaissance happening around the world, and thanks to the NRC, California woke up just in time to relicense this significant power plant.

Diablo Canyon is the poster child for achieving 100 percent clean power to transitioning for many of the electrification processes that are going on.

In summary, Diablo Canyon is a safe, clean, and reliable energy source crucial to maintaining a resilient energy grid and supporting California's climate, economic, and energy security.

And I thank you and urge you to continue to recognize the critical importance of this and thank you for your oversight. Have a good day.

MR. KLUKAN: Thank you, you too. And thank you for participating and for offering your comments today. Next, we will go to Eric Greening.

Eric, I am -- allowed your microphone. Please feel free to unmute yourself and begin whenever you are

81 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 ready.

MR. GREENING: Thank you. And I realize I already spoke, but you were kind of inviting when you got to the list, and one of the intervening speakers seemed to question two of my issues. So I thought I would clarify what I meant when I raised them.

One, I think relative to the impacts of uranium mining and the fact that they need to be studied, the speaker before Dawn Ortiz-Legg, the speaker from San Diego, I think, was very eloquent in defending that need.

And it simply is a thorough environmental impact statement looks at all of the impacts that are inherent in a further 20 years of operation. And that includes the fuel is going to come from somewhere and its extraction at that somewhere has impacts, and those impacts cannot be ignore in a thorough EIS.

The other issue that the intervening speaker raised was denying that the local faults could create a tsunami, and that may or may not be true.

Obviously, our knowledge of the very immediate local faults is a very steep learning curve.

And five years ago, a lot of that information we didn't even have, and we've been

82 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 learning as we go, which is not the way planning should be done when you have something with this kind of consequence.

But when I was thinking of the risk of tsunamis, it's not restricted to tsunamis generated locally, there's a considerable risk of a major, up to a 9 on the Richter scale, up at the Triple Junction area off Cape Mendocino that could propagate considerable tsunamis down the California coast very swiftly.

And then there is, obviously we don't for sure, but it is most likely that the famous 1812 earthquake that leveled multiple missions, was caused by a fault or some kind of a sea floor slumpage to the south of Diablo.

So again, it wasn't a local fault, but it was some other fault that's either presently known or not yet known. We are in a dangerous neighborhood and an added 20 years of operation extend that danger.

And that goes back to the issue of the ability of our transportation system not only to handle daily commutes, including the commutes of the people keeping the plant open for another 20 years, and including the cumulative impacts of other uses

83 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 may be coming online, but also, the ability of the transportation system to handle an evacuation in the event, for example, that an earthquake and/or a tsunami dislodges the cool water intake and criticality happens.

Shelter in place, the question would be for how long and until what? If you are sheltering in a place that is surrounded by contamination, dependent on water coming from that contamination, running out of supplies, and so shelter in place until what?

And so evacuation and the ability of the transportation system to handle an evacuation absolutely is essential to be fully examined in this EIS. And so again, I'm just calling attention to right now the transportation sections are extremely generic, don't even look at routine congestion events that happen frequently, just at averages. But the congestion in an evacuation absolutely must be looked at. Thank you.

Mr. KLUKAN: Well, thank you for offering those additional comments and again for participating in today's meeting. At this juncture again, I would like to invite anyone who has either offered a comment already or has not yet done so to enter the queue by

84 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 raising their hand by either the raised hand function in Teams or your Teams web based or if you are on the phone pressing star-5, again, that is star-5 to raise your hand if you are participating via phone.

And we have one hand up, oh, we don't.

Okay. It was there for a split second. All right, there we go. All right. Gary, I have Gary Kirkland, I have allowed your microphone. Please feel free to begin whenever you are ready.

MR. KIRKLAND: The warming that people are afraid of is some places may flood. And one of the things that humans have done over the millennia is move. They have found fossils in southern Argentina that are 30,000 years old.

The first humans came out of Africa, it's arguable, 3 million years ago. Africa is a long ways from southern Argentina and they didn't take a cruise ship to make it there.

So if there's a part of the earth that is flooding because of "global warming", move. And so I don't think we should be fighting global warming, we should be encouraging it.

And like I said before, most of the earth's mass is in the northern part of the northern

85 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 hemisphere and people believe that.

But back to Diablo Canyon, it's been operating for 40 years safely. And there's no such thing as a safe reactor on this earth. We're all going to die and so danger is the spice of life. Of course there's going to be danger, but there's danger in everything. So we shouldn't make a decision based on fear. We are brave humans and we should face danger and face it bravely. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Well, thank you very much again for your additional comments. We appreciate you participating in today's meeting as well. Anyone else? Again, please feel free to add in the queue by hitting the raise hand function within Teams or if you're participating via phone, pressing star-5, again, that is star-5. Okay.

I will give individuals there a couple more seconds. All right. I am now -- well, thank you everyone for participating in today's meeting. I'm going to turn it over to Kim Conway for some additional remarks before we close out the meeting today.

MS.

CONWAY:

Thanks, Brett, for facilitating those comments. And thanks for

86 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 everyone's comments as well and taking the time out of your day to provide us comments on the DSEIS.

If you have additional comments, you can send them in through a number of means that we outlined earlier, we put this slide back up just to remind you.

You can submit your comments by mail if you prefer to do it that way at the address listed on the slide. You can go to regulations.gov and look us up under NRC-2023-0192.

And by the way, these slides are also linked to the public meeting notice for today's meeting on the NRC's public meeting website in case you need to go back and revisit these links later. I forgot to mention that earlier.

And the third way to provide comments is by emailing DiabloCanyonEnvironmental@nrc.gov. And again, comments should be submitted by December 16th.

And we can move on to Slide 26.

As far as our next steps, a meeting summary will be issued covering our two public comment meetings, this current meeting as well as our meeting next Wednesday at Courtyard San Luis Obispo.

It will contain a full participant list,

87 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 links to NRC's presentations, the transcript of today's meeting and Wednesday's public meeting. If you'd like to receive this meeting summary as well as a copy of the final SEIS when it comes out in June, feel free to send me an email at the address listed on the screen.

That final SEIS will have an appendix that will discuss how we handled each of the comments you provided here today or through the other means.

Anything we receive as part of the comment gathering period, that will be dispositioned in Appendix A to that SEIS. And with that, I can turn it over to Steve for closing remarks.

MR. KOENICK: Thank you, Kim. And thank you everyone for your participation and for your questions and comments that you provided to us. We will continue those as we work on the final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

As Kim mentioned, our next steps, we are in the midst of this comment period, the 45-day comment period ends December 16th. Her team will be gathering comments that we've heard today as well as the comments that we will receive next week in person in St. Luis Obispo, as well as any other comments

88 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 received via the website, www.regulations.gov, post mail, or email.

Her team will compile all those comments, evaluate them, and disposition those in an appendices to the final Environmental Impact Statement.

We anticipate issuing the final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement in June of 2025. You can access the final SEIS by visiting the NRC website, the Agency's ADAMS system, or providing your contact information to Kim Conway and she will get you a copy.

Finally, I just wanted to thank you again on behalf of the entire staff for your comments, questions, and for taking the time from your valuable schedules during today's meeting. Thank you for your comments, questions and once again. And have good rest of your day. Thank you.

MR. KLUKAN: Thank you, everyone. That concludes today's meeting. I'm going to end the recording. And I want to ask the court reporter if you have any comments, or excuse me, questions about anything you heard before we end the meeting with respect to names or anything like that? All right.

Great. All right. Then I am going to close the

89 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. Everyone have a good rest of your day.

(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record at 2:52 p.m.)

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