ML24346A026
"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.
| ML24346A026 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon  |
| Issue date: | 11/20/2024 |
| From: | NRC/NMSS/DREFS/EPMB1 |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-0082 | |
| Download: ML24346A026 (153) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement Meeting for License Renewal of Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 Docket Number:
50-275; 50-323 Location:
San Luis Obispo, California Date:
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Work Order No.:
NRC-0082 Pages 1-147 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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DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE LICENSE RENEWAL OF THE DIABLO CANYON UNITS 1 AND 2
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2024
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The meeting was convened at the Courtyard San Luis Obispo, 1605 Calle San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, California, at 6:00 p.m., Lance Rakovan, Facilitator, presiding.
PRESENT:
LANCE RAKOVAN, Facilitator KIM CONWAY, Environmental Review Lead, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS)
MICHELLE ROME, Chief, Environmental Technical Review Branch 1, NMSS Department/Office MICHELE SAMPSON, Director, Division of New and Renewed Licenses, NRR BRIAN HARRIS, Safety Review Lead, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR)
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
(6:06 p.m.)
2 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Welcome, 3
everyone. Good evening. My name is Lance Rakovan, 4
and I'd like to welcome you to the U.S. Nuclear 5
Regulatory Commission's, or U.S. NRC's, public 6
meeting.
7 Tonight, we're here to receive comments 8
on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact 9
Statement for the license renewal of the Diablo Canyon 10 Units 1 and 2. It will be my pleasure to facilitate 11 this evening's meeting.
12 Our goals tonight are to provide you with 13 the results of the NRC staff's environmental review 14 of the license renewal environmental report for, 15 again, Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 16
- 2. As documented in its Draft Supplemental 17 Environmental Impact Statement and provide an 18 opportunity for public comment on the NRC staff's 19 findings.
20 Go to the next slide, please.
21 As far as our agenda tonight, after some 22 logistics and opening statements, we are providing 23 a report that focuses on the license renewal process 24 and the preliminary findings of the Draft 25
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 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. We're 1
going to try to keep that presentation short, so we 2
can get to the real reason that we're here tonight, 3
which is to listen to you and to receive your comments.
4 I will go through how that will happen later on, 5
and once we get to that point, we will open the floor 6
to your comments. But in the meantime, we ask that 7
you hold any questions that you may have.
8 Slide three, please.
9 So this is a comment-gathering meeting 10 by the NRC's definition. So we're here, again, to 11 receive your comments and actively seek your input.
12 Keep in mind that we are transcribing this evening's 13 meeting, so that we can fully capture those comments.
14 You can help us get a clean recording by identifying 15 yourself and any group that you are with when you 16 do come to the microphone. You can also help us keep 17 background noise to a minimum by turning off or 18 putting your electronic devices on vibrate right now.
19 Actually, I'm going to do that myself, because I 20 think I forgot to.
21 Also, if you're going to have any side 22 conversations, please go out into the hallway or 23 outside to have those. Please try to keep the 24 background noise to a minimum in the room.
25
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 On the registration table outside, we 1
had a sign-up list for public speakers. If you 2
registered to speak, you should have received a 3
ticket, the other half of which we put into a fishbowl.
4 And once we get to the part of the meeting where 5
we are going to accept comments, we are going to 6
randomly take numbers and call people by their number, 7
so hopefully you saved your ticket. We do have those 8
sheets, so if we do call a number, I should have the 9
sheet and should be able to call you up as well.
10 Just so you have an advanced warning of 11 when it'll be your turn to speak, we'll be posting 12 the numbers on the screen as they are selected.
13 Kim, in advance, thanks for helping with 14 that.
15 If you'd like to speak this evening --
16 see, it's already happening. If you'd like to speak 17 at this meeting and you haven't already done so, 18 please step outside and sign up so you can get a 19 ticket, and we can get your name in the fishbowl.
20 Those who registered late will have an opportunity 21 to speak only once we've finished up with all the 22 tickets in the container.
23 Just some basic ground rules. Please 24 adhere to civil decorum out of respect for each other, 25
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 that you don't disrupt the speaking of others even 1
if you don't agree with their opinions. Just as you 2
wouldn't want to be interrupted during your 3
opportunity to speak, please respect the time of 4
others.
5 Threatening gestures or statements will 6
under no circumstances be tolerated and be cause for 7
immediate removal from the meeting. If you feel 8
you've been threatened, please let me know or please 9
tell one of the NRC personnel that are here tonight.
10 And if you have something that you would 11 like provided, a written copy, as part of the official 12 transcript for the meeting, please flag me down and 13 I will take that or hand it to me when you come up 14 to speak.
15 One additional note before we get 16 started. Given the breadth of NRC's licensing and 17 oversight functions, we may have different actions 18 handled by other specialists throughout our agency 19 at any given time. As a number of you are probably 20 aware, what the NRC refers to as a 2.206 Petition 21 was filed in March by several groups related to the 22 risks of a seismically induced severe accident at 23 Diablo Canyon. That petition is currently under 24 review by NRC staff and that review is not within 25
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 the scope of today's meeting.
1 There is a webpage on the NRC's public 2
website that provides updates on the status of 3
petitions. So if you are interested in that, I 4
encourage that you go to that page and follow for 5
any updates.
6 Next slide, please.
7 So we do have a number of NRC staff that 8
are here with us tonight that I wanted to introduce 9
the four individuals who are seated at the table here.
10 Brian Harris is the safety review lead for Diablo 11 Canyon Relicensing. Michele Sampson is our director 12 of the Division of New and Renewed Licenses at the 13 NRC. Michelle Rome is the chief of Environmental 14 Technical Review Branch 1. And Kim Conway is the 15 environmental review lead for Diablo Canyon 16 Relicensing.
17 So with that, I will turn things over 18 to Michelle Rome for some opening remarks and I will 19 be back when we transition to public comments. Thank 20 you.
21 MS. ROME: Awesome. Thanks, Lance.
22 I will stand up because I like to get 23 as much height as I can. Thank you, everyone, for 24 joining us this evening. We realize your time is 25
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 valuable and important and we really appreciate that 1
you have decided to spend part of your evening with 2
us to provide your comments and your thoughts on the 3
proposed project.
4 I'm personally excited to be back. It's 5
a beautiful part of the country. I was part of the 6
technical team in 2016 that was looking at license 7
renewal back then. And then I was also here in 8
February for the scoping meeting. So I'm excited 9
to be back and to hear from everyone, their thoughts.
10 As Lance mentioned, we have several other 11 team members that are here. Hopefully you had a 12 chance to talk to some of them. They were in the 13 back. They're sprinkled around the room. But 14 they're also here to listen to you. And as Lance 15 said, the most important people that are here are 16 you. So we are here to get your comments. We realize 17 that you live here, and you have specialized and 18 unique perspective since this is your city, your town, 19 and your land. So thank you again for taking the 20 time to come and provide us your thoughts on the 21 proposed project.
22 With that, I will turn it over to Kim.
23 MS. CONWAY: Good evening. My name is 24 Kim Conway. I'm the environmental project manager 25
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 for the Diablo Canyon License Renewal Environmental 1
Review.
2 While many of you here today are quite 3
familiar with Diablo Canyon and the license renewal 4
process, we'd like to start off the meeting by 5
providing you with some brief background information.
6 Pacific Gas and Electric Company, or 7
PG&E, submitted its current license renewal 8
application to the NRC on November 7, 2023. The 9
current license expiration dates for Units 1 and 2 10 are November 2, 2024, and August 26, 2025, 11 respectively.
12 In March of 2023, the staff granted PG&E 13 an exemption from 10 CFR 2.109(b) regarding timely 14 renewal protection that would allow for PG&E to submit 15 a sufficient license renewal application for Diablo 16 Canyon Units 1 and 2 by December 31, 2023. And the 17 existing licenses will not be deemed to have expired 18 until the NRC has made a final determination on the 19 license renewal application.
20 The staff performed its acceptance 21 review and found the application to be acceptable 22 for docketing on December 19, 2023. As such, these 23 licenses are now in timely renewal. This means that 24 they will remain valid until the NRC has made a final 25
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 determination on the application. If a license 1
renewal is granted, it will be for an additional 20 2
years beyond the expiration dates listed on this 3
slide.
4 Next slide, please.
5 Our environmental review considers the 6
impacts of continuing to operate the plant for an 7
additional 20 years and any proposed mitigation of 8
those impacts as warranted. We also consider the 9
impacts of reasonable alternatives to the proposed 10 action of license renewal, including the impacts of 11 not issuing a renewed license. The staff documents 12 its environmental review in an environmental impact 13 statement.
14 The staff has developed a generic 15 environmental impact statement that addresses a 16 number of issues common to all nuclear power plants.
17 The staff is supplementing that generic EIS with 18 a supplemental EIS, which you'll hear referred to 19 as a SEIS, in which we address issues specific to 20 Diablo Canyon.
21 The staff also reexamines the 22 conclusions reached in that generic EIS to determine 23 if there is any new and significant information that 24 would change those conclusions.
25
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 Next slide, please.
1 This slide is a good illustration of the 2
different resource areas the staff reviewed and 3
considered as part of preparing its draft SEIS. Some 4
of the topics that we look at as part of our 5
environmental review include surface and groundwater 6
use and quality, radiation protection and postulated 7
accidents, air quality and meteorology, and a number 8
of other areas.
9 As part of our review process, we 10 describe the affected environment or baseline 11 conditions for each resource area, determine the 12 impacts of continued operation, analyze cumulative 13 impacts from past, present, or reasonably foreseeable 14 future actions, and analyze alternatives to the 15 proposed action.
16 We have a team of experienced technical 17 reviewers with extensive experience in their fields 18 who help prepare the EIS, and many of them are here 19 today.
20 Next slide, please.
21 In general, the impacts are defined as 22 either small, moderate, or large in the EIS. A small 23 impact would be effects that are not detectable or 24 are so minor that they will neither destabilize nor 25
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 noticeably alter any important attribute of a 1
particular resource.
Moderate effects are 2
sufficient to noticeably alter but not to destabilize 3
important attributes of a resource. And finally, 4
large would be that effects are clearly noticeable 5
and are sufficient to destabilize important 6
attributes of a particular resource.
7 Next slide, please.
8 There are some special topics that don't 9
follow along with that categorization of small, 10 moderate, and large for defining impacts. I'll walk 11 through those quickly.
12 For federally listed species in critical 13 habitats, we use the language of the Endangered 14 Species Act, which has three categorical definitions 15 for impacts. Those are "no effect," "may affect, 16 but is not likely to adversely affect," or "may affect 17 and is likely to adversely affect."
18 For essential fish habitat, we use the 19 language of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which in this 20 case has four categorical definitions for impacts.
21 "No adverse impacts," "minimal adverse impacts,"
22 "more than minimal but less than substantial adverse 23 impacts," and "substantial adverse impacts."
24 Next slide.
25
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 For sanctuary resources, we use the 1
language of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act.
2 For impacts to sanctuary resources, they include "no 3
effect," "not likely to destroy, cause the loss of, 4
or injure sanctuary resources," or "likely to 5
destroy, cause the loss of, or injure sanctuary 6
resources."
7 Impacts on historic and cultural 8
resources use the language of the National Historic 9
Preservation Act to define impacts, which would be 10 "no effect," "no adverse effect," or there would be 11 an adverse effect.
12 Next slide, please.
13 And for environmental justice, those 14 impacts use the language of Executive Order 12898 15 to make a determination whether said impacts, if any, 16 have disproportionately high and adverse human health 17 or environmental effects on minority populations and 18 low-income populations.
19 Next slide, please.
20 This slide shows a list of resources 21 where impact was determined to be small. You can 22 see that they include air quality and noise, 23 terrestrial and aquatic resources, socioeconomics, 24 waste management, and so on. I tried to list the 25
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 applicable section numbers in the slides if you are 1
particularly interested in any of those areas.
2 For the most part, we found that the 3
impacts on the various resource areas, due to 20 4
additional years of operation of Diablo Canyon, we 5
would estimate as being small on the environment.
6 Next slide, please.
7 Going into some of the more specialized 8
topics that use different categorizations, as we 9
covered just a few moments ago, for historic and 10 cultural resources, our preliminary finding is that 11 license rental would not adversely affect known 12 historic properties.
13 For environmental justice, there are no 14 disproportionately high and adverse human health and 15 environmental effects on minority and low-income 16 populations as a result of the proposed action.
17 For greenhouse gas emissions and climate 18 change, these impacts are discussed in Section 3.15.3 19 of the draft SEIS, and cumulative impacts are 20 discussed in Section 3.16 of the draft SEIS. This 21 section considers the continued operation of the 22 plant, along with other things going on in the general 23 vicinity of the plant.
24 Next slide, please.
25
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 This slide outlines the staff's 1
preliminary findings related to special status 2
species and habitats. These findings, and those on 3
the next few slides, are discussed in Section 3.8 4
of the SEIS, and I think there are about 60 pages 5
in that section to outline the staff's evaluation, 6
if you're interested.
7 This slide specifically discusses 8
preliminary findings for species and habitats that 9
are under jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 10 Service. The NRC found that license renewal may 11 affect, but is not likely to adversely affect, the 12 species listed on this slide, which are the California 13 red-legged frog, California condor, California least 14
- tern, Hawaiian
- petrel, marbled
- murrelet, 15 short-tailed albatross, and southern sea otter.
16 The NRC staff found that license renewal 17 would have no effect on other federally listed species 18 of critical habitats identified in 3.8.4.1 of the 19 draft SEIS.
20 Next slide, please.
21 This slide lists the preliminary 22 findings for species and habitats under jurisdiction 23 of the National Marine Fisheries Service.
24 The NRC staff found that license renewal 25
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 may affect, and is likely to adversely affect, the 1
green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, leatherback 2
sea turtle, and Pacific olive ridley sea turtle.
3 License renewal may affect, but is not 4
likely to adversely affect, black abalone, gray 5
whale, and humpback whale. And license renewal may 6
affect but is not likely to destroy or adversely 7
modify the critical habitats of the black abalone 8
and humpback whale.
9 Next slide, please.
10 This slide shows our preliminary 11 findings for essential fish habitat and sanctuary 12 resources, which are that under the Magnuson-Stevens 13 Act, license renewal would have no more than minimal 14 adverse effects on the designated essential fish 15 habitat of the species listed on this slide.
16 Under National Marine Sanctuaries Act, 17 license renewal may affect, but is not likely to 18 destroy, cause loss of, or injure sanctuary resources 19 of the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine 20 Sanctuary.
21
- Again, I
know that's a
lot of 22 information, so please take a look at Section 3.8 23 of the draft SEIS if you're interested in those 24 preliminary findings and the NRC staff's supporting 25
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 evaluation.
1 For alternatives, no new and significant 2
information was identified regarding replacement 3
power alternatives, which included purchase power 4
and a renewables combination alternative.
5 Also, in all NEPA evaluations, we have 6
a no-action alternative, which evaluates the impact 7
of not renewing the operating licenses.
8 Next slide, please.
9 This brings us to our preliminary 10 conclusion.
The NRC staff's preliminary 11 recommendation is that adverse environmental impacts 12 of license renewal for Diablo Canyon for an additional 13 20 years beyond the current expiration dates are not 14 so great that preserving the option of license renewal 15 for energy planning decision makers would be 16 unreasonable.
17 In simpler terms, what this slide says 18 is that from the analysis that the NRC staff 19 performed, there is not an environmental reason for 20 energy planning decision makers to not allow the plant 21 to continue to operate for an additional 20 years.
22 23 Again, the NRC does not make this 24 decision. We can only provide the analysis and 25
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 recommendation, and it's up to energy planning 1
decision makers to decide whether they wish to 2
continue to operate the plant or not.
3 Next slide, please.
4 The draft SEIS was published and filed 5
with the EPA on October 25th. A notice of 6
availability was published in the Federal Register 7
on November 1st, which began our 45-day public comment 8
period. We're currently in the middle of our public 9
meeting weeks. We held a virtual meeting last 10 Thursday, and we're currently here tonight to hear 11 your comments.
12 The deadline to provide comments on the 13 draft SEIS is December 16th. If you provide comments 14 after that date, we may still be able to include them.
15 However, we can only guarantee consideration for 16 those received during the public comment period.
17 Our current schedule has us issuing the final SEIS 18 in June of next year.
19 Next slide, please.
20 If you'd like to look at or obtain a copy 21 of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, like 22 a hard copy, I do have a few here tonight, so just 23 find me afterward and I'm happy to send you home with 24 one. There are also a couple of hard copies available 25
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 at the San Luis Obispo Library.
1 If you wish to take a look at an 2
electronic version, you can go to the project website 3
at the link on this slide, or you can look at our 4
agency-wide documents access management system, or 5
ADAMS, and you can find that through accession number 6
on this slide, ML24299A167. These slides are linked 7
on the public meeting notice for this meeting on the 8
NRC's public website, if you need to find those links.
9 Next slide, please.
10 Here are a couple of ways to find out 11 additional information on the NRC's Diablo Canyon 12 License Renewal Review. The project website is 13 listed here, and that is where we try to put links 14 or information in general about the work we are doing 15 involving the license renewal. You can find links 16 to all sorts of documents, such as the license renewal 17 application, the environmental report, our current 18 schedule. When we get our meeting summary and 19 transcripts for this meeting, those will be available 20 on that website as well. You can also sign up for 21 the Diablo Canyon Listserv to receive correspondence 22 on a wide range of operational activities or reviews.
23 24 Next slide, please.
25
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 There are a number of ways to submit your 1
comments. We have our meeting here today, where in 2
a few moments we'll switch gears to our 3
comment-gathering portion of the meeting, but I want 4
to emphasize that there are a few other ways you can 5
provide comments, and you still have about a month 6
left to do that.
7 You can send your comments by mail if 8
you prefer to do it that way. There's an address 9
listed on the slide. If you visit the website 10 regulations.gov and search for the docket ID NRC 11 2023-0192, that will bring up this particular action 12 in the Federal Register, and you can provide your 13 comments through that website, or you can provide 14 them by email, which may be the easiest method, to 15 DiabloCanyonEnvironmental@NRC.gov.
16 Any comments you provide here today will 17 be given the same standing as anything that you send 18 in either electronically or by mail.
19 And a meeting summary will be issued 20 covering our two public meetings maybe a month from 21 now. It will contain a full participant link -- sorry 22
-- full participant list, links to NRC presentations, 23 and the transcripts of both this meeting as well as 24 last Thursday's virtual meeting.
25
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 If you would like to receive this meeting 1
summary, as well as a copy of the final SEIS when 2
it goes out in June, there is a sign-up sheet on the 3
table outside, or you can send me an email at the 4
address listed on the
- screen, 5
Kimberly.Conway@NRC.gov. That final SEIS will have 6
an appendix, and that appendix will discuss how we 7
disposition all of the comments that we receive as 8
a part of this public comment period.
9 And with that, I can turn it over to Lance 10 and find out the status of our tickets.
11 MR. RAKOVAN: Well, we're going to take 12 some folks, some representatives first, and then 13 we'll get the fishbowl out. So thanks for the 14 presentation, and I don't know how much trouble I'm 15 going to get in for touching the thermostats, but 16 I did try to turn the temperature down in here, so 17 keep your fingers crossed. I'm sure it'll be far 18 too cold in probably like 15, 20 minutes, and then 19 you're all going to be, you know, looking at me like, 20 "Why is it so cold in here?"
21 Okay. So, yes, before we went ahead and 22 transitioned to the fishbowl, we wanted to allow some 23 of the elected officials to come up and speak tonight.
24 I have a short list here, so we'll ask them to come 25
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 to the microphone. And actually, I need to turn the 1
microphone on, so let's do that first.
2 Okay. So the first person on my list 3
is Debbie Arnold.
4 Debbie?
5 It seems like the crowd knows you, but 6
if you could just introduce yourself quickly, that 7
would be very appreciated.
8 MS. ARNOLD: Thank you.
9 So my name is Debbie Arnold, and I 10 currently serve as the chairman of the San Luis Obispo 11 County Board of Supervisors.
12 So I just wanted to share, I've lived 13 in the county since 1973, so I feel like Diablo Canyon 14 has been a thing my entire adult life. Of course, 15 back at the beginning when Diablo Canyon was in its 16 conceptual stages and pre-construction and on to 17 construction stages, it was a huge project, and it 18 was a new thing. And, of course, any project that 19 big doesn't come without controversy. So, you know, 20 it made the front page of the paper for many years 21 in this county.
22 People were concerned. Would the power 23 plant be able to operate safely? Would the nuclear 24 waste be able to be managed safely? And I do want 25
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 to thank those in this room that work out at Diablo 1
and have helped create a record of 40 years with no 2
safety incidents. That's a pretty important thing 3
to look back on.
4 But anyway, 40 years later, I've worked 5
for other electeds the last 25 years and been elected 6
myself to the Board of Supervisors for the last 12, 7
and so I feel like I can say with confidence that 8
the vast majority of the citizens in this county feel 9
like Diablo Canyon, the plant's been a success. PG&E 10 has been a great community partner. The taxes that 11 have been paid with the plant housed right here in 12 this county have really enhanced the lives of all 13 the citizens in all demographics here in the county.
14 PG&E's the largest private employer in our county, 15 thanks in part to the plant being housed here, and 16 they've been great environmental stewards of some 17 of the most beautiful coastline in the state of 18 California.
19 So today, the Diablo Canyon plant 20 continues to provide
- clean, emissions-free, 21 dependable, affordable energy. On a much smaller 22 footprint, San Luis County seems to be energy central.
23 We have the solar plant, Carrizo Plains, and we have 24 a lot of interest in offshore wind as well. But I'm 25
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 going to say as a plant on a much smaller footprint 1
than many of the other alternative energy sources.
2 And I just wanted to say, you know, 40 3
years ago, the citizens of San Luis Obispo County 4
took a risk or felt like this was a risk. We were 5
really treading in unknown territory. And tonight, 6
I'm here to ask that you support the extension and 7
the renewal of the license. It's been a great 8
success. So thank you very much.
9 (Applause.)
10 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Next I have Steve 11 Lavagnino. Sorry if I slaughtered your name, sir.
12 MR. LAVAGNINO: It's okay. They've 13 done it before. Wow, you can tell when you're on 14 the road. I'm not in Santa Barbara County. Man, 15 Debbie got all the clapping. All right. So, yeah, 16 there we go. No, no, no.
17 Good evening. Thank you for allowing 18 me an opportunity to have my voice heard on this 19 important topic. I'm Steve Lavagnino. I'm chairman 20 of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
21 And I want to be clear, I'm not here tonight as a 22 representative of my entire board, but rather as a 23 single supervisor representing the cities of Santa 24 Maria and Guadalupe. I've served 14 years, and 25
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 actually this is my first time in public comment, 1
so Im a little nervous.
2 There are many reasons why I support 3
license renewal at Diablo, but most important to me 4
is the economic impact it has on our community. Many 5
of the residents I represent live in disadvantaged 6
communities.
Diablo provides not only 7
head-of-household jobs for their employees, but the 8
impact on suppliers,
- vendors, and ancillary 9
businesses cannot be overstated. These are careers 10 which can change the financial generational 11 trajectory of families.
12 I see a lot of young workers here tonight.
13 Welders, electricians, painters, all with hopes and 14 dreams for their families. I appreciate them for 15 being here because, honestly, I could think of a 16 couple more exciting places to be tonight. But it's 17 important to them, and so it should be important to 18 us.
19 Secondly, it seems we're constantly 20 hearing Flex Alerts, warning our residents of power 21 outages. In the era I grew up in, this only happened 22 in third-world countries. Let's not turn off a 23 facility generating 9 percent of California's 24 electrical supply. Thanks again for allowing me the 25
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 opportunity to speak.
1 (Applause.)
2 MR. RAKOVAN: Aaron Hanke?
3 MR. HANKE: Hello. Thank you for the 4
opportunity to speak tonight. Aaron Hanke. You 5
guys have received a letter from Supervisor Bob 6
Nelson, but I am his chief of staff in the 4th District 7
in Santa Barbara County.
8 The purpose of the letter was to express 9
our support for the extension of the current 10 operations of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant and the 11 assurance of clean, reliable electric power for all 12 Californians.
13 Whether it's employment opportunities, 14 clean energy, or safeguards for other critical 15 industries within our district, there are a number 16 of reasons for the support of the facility that has 17 operated safely and reliably for over 40 years, well 18 over 40 years.
19 Not only in the district, but also 20 throughout a majority of the tri-county region, 21 residents are heavily dependent on employment within 22 our district within ag, oil, manufacturing, and the 23 aerospace sectors.
24 It is a working-class community, and it 25
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 depends on working-class opportunities. As the 1
largest employer in San Luis Obispo County, DCPP has 2
not only fulfilled this role as an employer, but also 3
rewarded their employees and third-party vendors with 4
a chance for upward mobility.
5 The business model is critical for 6
attraction and retention of
- young, talented 7
professionals and the long-term success of the 8
Central Coast. Thank you for your time.
9 (Applause.)
10 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Next I have 11 Mike Cordero.
12 MR. CORDERO: Thank you all for being 13 here. Hey, you don't have to give a twofer for one.
14 This is my wife Linda, and she also is an elected 15 official from the San Bernardino School District.
16 I have been attending meetings regarding 17 this for, I don't know, 15 years or so. The very 18 first meeting that I recall attending was many years 19 ago in the county offices building in San Luis here, 20 where they were talking about taking the plant down, 21 and they started the process for eliminating the 22 Diablo Canyon.
23 I was against that. But I was kind of 24 new in the political business, so I didn't have too 25
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 much to say about it. And I'm not here tonight for 1
me or for PG&E. It's more that -- and I'm surprised 2
because I didn't know Steve was going to be here --
3 but we do say the same kinds of things, it's just 4
in a little different way. Steve Lavagnino, the 5
taller, thinner guy that was here just a little while 6
ago.
7 And what I mean by that is that I'm here 8
for the community, for the people, for you folks, 9
for my neighbors, everyone that turns on the switch 10 and the power goes on and you use whatever it is you 11 do to do with electricity.
12 We just had one of those little power 13 outages at our house about three weeks ago or so.
14 And I'm quick on the phone and called my son and I 15 said, "Get over here. We're going to need to light 16 up the generators." And he says, "Calm down, Dad.
17 It's just a power outage. We'll be fine." And he 18 was right. We were fine. And a couple of hours later 19 it came back on, and we didn't have any problems.
20 But the point is that if I can provoke 21 you to do anything, it is to go to and participate 22 in the tour with Diablo Canyon. The tour, I've been 23 on it three times. Every time was different. Every 24 time it seemed to be more modernized. And the tour 25
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 was very enlightening. One of the things that they 1
do, that actually all nuclear power plants do, is 2
they have a self-evaluation system where other 3
nuclear power plants assemble a group of people, and 4
they come and critique a power plant from various 5
places in the world. And they do it with the thought 6
in mind of making things better.
7 It might be just to, well, you know, "We 8
have to have a yellow line parked here," or "This 9
had to be a little bit raised," or "This has to be" 10
-- just, there is nothing they won't comment on.
11 And they -- Diablo opens their doors to this. They 12 open the doors and say, "Come on in and critique us.
13 Tell us what we're doing that we could do better."
14 I don't know of too many companies that do that.
15 My past life was law enforcement. And 16 you would try to tell me that I'm going to have LAPD 17 come in and critique me. And I'm going to say, "Wait 18 a minute. Who do you guys think you are? First off, 19 you're wrong." And that wouldn't be a good 20 relationship. I'm sure it wouldn't be a good 21 relationship. But the NRC welcomes it.
22 Okay. That's one thing. And then the 23 other thing that I want to comment, they talk about 24 fish a little bit. Many years ago -- and there's 25
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 no scientific analysis here -- many years ago, I had 1
my own boat. And my wife and I, we had three sons 2
at the time -- well, we have three sons -- and we 3
used to go fishing right up here.
4 And at that time, you could kind of drive 5
into this little inlet or float into this little inlet 6
and then back out to sea. And I was floating around 7
out there one day. And I found a hole out there in 8
front of Diablo Canyon. This was about 15 years after 9
Diablo was in operation.
10 I can't tell you why or how it happened, 11 but I found a hole. And I didn't mark it. I wish 12 I did. And I caught the largest, biggest, fattest 13 redfish I had ever seen on the Central Coast. I have 14 no idea why. I don't know whether it was a freak 15 thing or whatever. I've never been able to do it 16 again. But that came after they were already in.
17 So I suggest to you that if there would 18 have been any problems with regard to the fish, they 19 would have known it and wouldn't have been hanging 20 around right outside the bay there where Diablo 21 emptied water back into the ocean. So I just really 22 encourage you to look hard into your hearts and 23 support this relicensing of Diablo Canyon because 24 we need it. And as Supervisor Lavagnino said, it 25
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 doesn't make sense to shut down 9 percent of the power 1
that's going to be generated here in California.
2 And with that, I'm going to let my wife 3
talk about the school district just a little bit.
4 MS. CORDERO: I'm really just speaking 5
about education. I, too, was very impressed on the 6
tour of Diablo and as an educator had a whole myriad 7
of questions.
8 But I have known for most of what was 9
my teaching career, I am retired now, that PG&E has 10 a fabulous education program that they will come out 11 to your school sites and provide information and 12 opportunities for our mid-age students, fifth, sixth, 13 junior high, that kind of thing.
14 And while I know we need to be looking 15 at all different kinds of renewable resources, I don't 16 really think we're in a position to do away with the 17 efficiency that nuclear power gives us. So think 18 about how that might affect you personally.
19 Electric cars work wonderfully until you 20 run out of electricity, and where does the electricity 21 come from? So from an educational standpoint, I see 22 it as an avenue for students to pursue careers, for 23 other opportunities. And I know living in Santa 24 Maria, which is in Santa Barbara County, we would 25
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 have loved to have the revenue that PG&E provides.
1 Thank you.
2 (Applause.)
3 MR. RAKOVAN: Dina Lundquist, please.
4 MS. LUNDQUIST: Thank you. My name is 5
Dina Lundquist. I'm here on behalf of the Morro Bay 6
Chamber of Commerce.
7 The PG&E power plant plays a significant 8
role in the economic development of Morro Bay and 9
the broader San Luis Obispo County. As the largest 10 private employer in the county, PG&E provides 11 numerous high-paying head-of-household jobs that are 12 crucial for the local economy. These jobs not only 13 support the employees and their families, but also 14 contribute to the overall economic stability of the 15 region.
16 Moreover, the plant's operations create 17 a substantial economic multiplier effect throughout 18 the extensive network of vendors. These vendors 19 supply goods and services necessary for the plant's 20 functioning, thereby generating additional income, 21 economic activity, and supporting local businesses.
22 Recently, the completion of a refueling 23 outage brought a considerable number of temporary 24 workers into the county, resulting in a significant 25
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 economic boost. This influx of workers increased 1
demand for local services, such as housing, dining, 2
and retail, further stimulating the local economy.
3 With two more refueling outages planned 4
for the coming year, similar economic benefits are 5
anticipated, reinforcing the plant's role as a key 6
driver of economic development in Morro Bay and San 7
Luis Obispo County. Thank you.
8 (Applause.)
9 MR. RAKOVAN: Jenelle Osborne.
10 MS. OSBORNE: My name is Jenelle 11 Osborne, and I'm the mayor for the city of Lompoc 12 in Santa Barbara County, just south of Diablo along 13 the coast next to the Vandenberg Space Force Base.
14 While we are a municipal energy city and 15 produce our own power, PG&E is a partner for both 16 that transmission and energy demand. I am concerned 17 about climate change and the environment, but I also 18 know clean nuclear energy must be a part of our energy 19 future. Diablo is the largest clean energy producer 20 in California, generating over 15 percent of our clean 21 energy.
22 So despite my community producing and 23 owning our own electricity, the city of Lompoc itself 24 cannot afford to lose nearly 10 percent of the 25
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 electricity produced in California from Diablo, as 1
our grids are connected and we all experience those 2
peak demands that cannot power over 3 million homes, 3
no matter where they
- are, without Diablo's 4
contribution for the foreseeable future. In fact, 5
it would take 9 square miles of solar panels to produce 6
the same amount of power, and that solar isn't a 7
24-hour resource.
8 I am very comfortable living near Diablo 9
Canyon for numerous reasons. You've heard much about 10 the 40 years of successful safety track record.
11 Secondly, the plant security is amazing.
12 I have toured it, but I've also toured the federal 13 Lompoc correction complex and Diablo's got better 14 security, frankly.
15 Third, those used fuel on-site storage 16 is incredible and very safe.
17 Finally, its earthquake safety features 18 and construction make it better than most places to 19 be during an earthquake.
20 So to my concerns about the environment, 21 which you have provided tonight, it's so nice to hear 22 that you have seen very little-to-no impact, except 23 on a few things that could be mitigated.
24 Because when I visited, the marine life 25
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 was astounding. The pristine coastline, the tons 1
of sea lions and otters and birds and fish that might 2
otherwise have disappeared from our coast if it was 3
housing or another industry.
4 So in closing, let's consider the 5
following: We are one of 25 countries that have 6
pledged to triple nuclear capacity by 2050.
7 California has committed to 100 percent clean energy, 8
and California also has the largest growth in data 9
centers that demand a function of 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br />, 365 days 10 that currently is depending on diesel generators for 11 that capacity, but soon need to be clean energy.
12 So we need nuclear to accomplish these goals.
13 Why would we get rid of a safe, clean, 14 reliable power plant that is California's biggest 15 source of clean energy? Well, I ask, and I am very 16 appreciative that your environmental review proves 17 it is and can continue for the next 20 years to be 18 a form of safe, environmentally responsible, clean 19 nuclear power. Thank you.
20 (Applause.)
21 MR. RAKOVAN: Stacy Inman.
22 MS. INMAN: Hello. My name is Stacy 23 Inman. I am a council member for the City of Pismo 24 Beach, which is just south of Avila, where the power 25
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 plant is, and I'm speaking on my own behalf, not on 1
behalf of my entire council.
2 I can recall being in college and 3
learning about the Diablo Power Plant. I was up at 4
Cal Berkeley and wanted to know all about it, and 5
I would say that I was scared and concerned at that 6
point.
7 But since owning a home here in 2002 and 8
living here and being on the Council, I have learned 9
so much more. It's so much safer than what the fear 10 is. And so I just want to talk about things like 11 that because there's so much information we've 12 already received about business and impact on the 13 community.
14 I remember when the San Simeon fault 15 earthquake happened in 2003, and everyone was 16 worried, and things were coming off of some shelves 17 and things like that. But it did not do any damage 18 to the high-voltage lines and no damage to the plant.
19 I think that's significant that that has happened, 20 and it did not affect the plant. I know that's a 21 fear everyone has, and we've already talked about 22 the 40 years of safety incidents.
23 Also, in 2015, as you likely know, the 24 Senior Seismic Hazard Analysis Committee had an 25
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 independent company come in and analyze the plant 1
for the key safety systems, and they found that the 2
plant, at that point in time, continued to be safe 3
from
- tsunamis, underwater landslides, and 4
5 I don't have a concern living here. I 6
haven't. It's an amazing plant. I've been on a tour 7
twice, and you see how much safety they put into it, 8
where they put the fuel cells, how protected that 9
is. And I relish the fact that from the opposite 10 side, from Montano de Oro, you can walk all along 11 the land of Diablo's land and see the ocean, and it's 12 gorgeous, and there's tours. I mean, you can walk 13 out far and see many things. It's beautiful that 14 we as a community have that resource to access.
15 I also recall the end of August 2022 when 16 Governor Newsom said, "You know, we really do need 17 to keep this open for five more years." And all of 18 a sudden, right at the time when the critical 19 decisions were being made, what happens? We have 20 a power outage, and people are told to not, you know, 21 put electricity into their electric cars and power 22 down what you're doing and all those kind of things.
23 Right when there was a decision, and many people 24 thought that recommendation wouldn't go through the 25
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 legislature, and it did on the last legislative day, 1
and then Governor Newsom signed it. And that's 9 2
percent of our energy is from Diablo Canyon. How 3
can we lose that to California when we already have 4
fluctuating power that occurs periodically? It 5
powers 3 million homes. You've already heard that 6
for 3 million Californians, and it's small compared 7
to other alternative energies.
8 So small, affordable, huge impact on the 9
community. I don't want to speak to what other people 10 know better than what I do, but I feel safe in my 11 community. It is safe. It's beautiful, and it 12 really impacts our community wonderfully and 13 expansively. Thank you so much.
14 (Applause.)
15 MR. RAKOVAN: Next, Alvaro Preciado.
16 MR. PRECIADO: Good evening, everyone.
17 My name is Alvaro Preciado. I am an elected official 18 in the Central Valley.
19 I spoke to my council regarding coming 20 and speaking on behalf of support of the Diablo Canyon 21 Nuclear Plant continuing operating here in San Luis 22 Obispo County.
23 I actually live in Santa Maria in 1983 24 to 2000. So in that time, I was able to come to Avila 25
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 Beach, swim around. I've been able to go to Montana 1
de Oro over the campground, swim over there. And 2
I did notice in those years the security, the plant, 3
and I was always curious about what was it on the 4
inside.
5 So I was fortunate to come about 10 months 6
ago. I did tour the plant. I was surprised by the 7
security, by the overall work performance, by the 8
employees, foremen, supervisors. And I'm kind of 9
familiar with the operations because I'm a retired 10 water treatment operator and associate plant operator 11 for wastewater treatment plant in the Central Valley, 12 Fresno County, for 27 years. And I am familiar with 13 the protocols that take to make sure that you're 14 making potable water, you rely on SCADA system to 15 check your chemicals, dosage, pH, turbidity, 16 everything that can harm the whole community. When 17 we don't pay attention to what we're doing, we can 18 actually pollute the water or harm the health of the 19 public community we're serving or working for.
20 So I'm also very, very concerned about 21 the environmental issues that arise when communities 22 try to oppose. And I believe in the free speech and 23 people to voice their concerns and protest, but in 24 a respectful manner. I was involved with a local 25
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 assessment committee in Kettleman City in Kings 1
County. This is a waste hazmat facility in the 2
Kettleman Hills. So the county had to actually get 3
this local assessment committee to actually negotiate 4
the expansion of that facility because many concerns 5
like here, many concerns that people take sometimes 6
not seriously.
7 Sometimes they rely on comments or rumor 8
that other people tells them they believe it. But 9
I believe in having the facts and finding the truth.
10 And I do believe that our governmental agencies are 11 the ones responsible to make sure that what is said 12 on paper is done on the grounds, on the workforce.
13 Make sure that everything complies with the intent 14 is and make sure that those regulations are met and 15 there's any violation on any of those regulations 16 to be recorded, to be fixed, to be proactive and move 17 to the next level of expertise.
18 You know, like I mentioned, I toured the 19 plant about 10 months ago. I actually was impressed 20 with the overall operation, but also I was walking 21 next to the waste pallets section. I actually took 22 the boat tour also to the open sea where there's life 23 there, there's sea lions, you know, all kinds of fish.
24 You know, so it makes you realize, you know, if 25
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 there's harm to the environment, it'll happen right 1
there. Whether you're discharging the water that 2
you're using to cool the reactors, if there will be 3
an impact, it will be right there. And Avila Beach 4
swimmers are so close to it, too.
5 So I think the fact is that I do believe 6
and support to continue, not only because the reason 7
I gave, but blackouts, too. You know, in my 8
community, we do get blackouts. And sometimes 9
because, as we know, the infrastructure of California 10 energy is not 100 percent. We import a lot of power 11 grid into California.
12 And we do have 10,000-volt transmission 13 lines going through our community, going through 14 natural gas pipelines, going through the main lines 15 that go across the, you know, the whole state from 16 north to south. And there's danger everywhere you 17 look at. There's a danger about something going bad 18 and impacting a
community, especially rural 19 communities or disadvantaged communities that get 20 impacted the most.
21 But I would like to say that it's not 22 only the closure of Diablo Canyon will not only impact 23 this area, it will impact the whole state. And I 24 believe that's something that we need to work together 25
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 to find renewable energy that is not affecting our 1
environment, but also at the same time is helping 2
us to live our daily life.
3 Water and electricity are two things that 4
most people won't survive for too long. And I believe 5
all these, you know, examples make it something 6
serious to take into consideration because it will 7
affect the whole state. And I believe that is very 8
important. Thank you.
9 (Applause.)
10 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. I've got two 11 more names to call up. We'll do a quick check just 12 to see if anyone had any clarifying questions about 13 the presentation, and then we will go to the fishbowl.
14 So, Andrea Seastrand.
15 MS. SEASTRAND: Well, good evening.
16 I'm Andrea Seastrand. I'm a former congresswoman 17 and state assemblywoman for this area, and I've always 18 strongly supported Diablo Canyon Power Plant. And 19 now I'm requesting that you extend its renewal.
20 I've resided in San Luis Obispo County 21 for over 30 years, and my home is just a few miles 22 south of the plant. But I've always felt comfortable 23 living because of the safety and the security. It's 24 been comfortable and no problems, as you have noted, 25
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 over the last 40 years. And I thank you, and I thank 1
PG&E.
2 I appreciate PG&E's efforts also in 3
caring for the power plant lands, the hiking trails, 4
and also the marine wildlife areas. It's the 5
largest, as was stated, energy producer in California 6
and provides, last I read, 3 million-plus people, 7
Californians, with electricity.
8 I might add that many times I've received 9
phone alerts about losing possible power, and 10 sometimes I hadn't received the phone call, and 11 usually, you know, you're in the middle of a document 12 at the computer and it goes down. But for all these 13 reasons, we need Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
14 Another important factor, and probably 15 beside the electricity the most important, is the 16 economic impacts. We need jobs. It's the largest 17 private employer in San Luis Obispo County. It 18 provides head-of-household and high-paying jobs, and 19 boy, do we need them now. And let's not forget the 20 many vendors, as was stated earlier, too, that PG&E 21 works with. And they all depend on this. They're 22 the economic multiplier. San Luis Obispo County 23 would really be a loss without Diablo Canyon Power 24 Plant.
25
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 California needs 100 percent clean 1
energy power, and we need nuclear power to accomplish 2
this goal. And I would hope that not only Diablo 3
Canyon Power Plant, but other nuclear power plants 4
in the state. Right now, we need the licensing 5
renewal, and I ask you to definitely see that that 6
happens. Thank you for being here.
7 (Applause.)
8 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Last speaker 9
I have to call up, Karen Tillman.
10 MS. TILLMAN: Good evening. My name is 11 Karen Tillman. I am a special advisor to Cal Poly 12 President Jeff Armstrong.
13 Through the lens of economic development 14 and the community impact that PG&E and Diablo Canyon 15 have on San Luis Obispo, I deeply understand the vital 16 role that the power plant plays in our local community 17 in terms of economic development, energy reliability, 18 and environmental stewardship. PG&E and the 19 contractors who work at Diablo Canyon are a critical 20 piece of the economic well-being of the Central Coast, 21 and we've shared at previous NRC hearings how 22 important their population is in terms of household 23 jobs they provide and the community impact of their 24 workers who contribute thousands of hours 25
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 volunteering at our nonprofits, coaching our kids' 1
sports teams, and giving their time, energy, and 2
talents to better our community.
3 And it's more than just our community.
4 The importance of the plant extends well beyond Cal 5
Poly -- beyond San Luis Obispo. Diablo Canyon is 6
one of the largest producers of clean energy in 7
California, as we've noted, providing over 15 percent 8
of the state's clean energy and nearly 9 percent of 9
California's total electricity.
10 California has incredibly ambitious 11 goals for 100 percent clean energy and the 12 electrification of cars, appliances, and just about 13 everything, and not even to touch on what the impact 14 of AI will bring from a data center perspective.
15 All of this will dramatically increase the 16 electricity demand, and Diablo Canyon is beyond 17 essential in meeting these goals.
18 The U.S., in fact, has pledged to triple 19 nuclear power by 2050, and we simply cannot achieve 20 the ambition of the U.S. and the state if we 21 prematurely shut down existing plants.
22 While Cal Poly does not take a position 23 on generation licensing, the university is here to 24 lend our voice in support of PG&E and Diablo Canyon 25
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 because Diablo is a critical part of our local 1
community and is a large source of clean energy in 2
California. Our state needs Diablo, our country 3
needs Diablo, and so does our planet. Thank you.
4 (Applause.)
5 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Again, before 6
we transition to calling up folks from the fishbowl, 7
I just want to do a quick check to see if anyone had 8
any clarifying questions about our presentation 9
tonight. Again, just looking for something that was 10 in the presentation that maybe you didn't quite 11 understand or wanted just a little more detail on.
12 If anyone has a clarifying question, please come 13 up to the microphone at this time, and we will take 14 a few questions before we transition to the fishbowl.
15 Please, if you could. And if you could 16 introduce yourself and let us know any group you're 17 with.
18 MS. LEWIS: My name is Sherry Lewis, and 19 I am a part of San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace.
20 I was thinking this was an environmental impact group.
21 That's what we're supposed to be talking about, not 22 economic impact. There are so many people, a large 23 percentage of the people here are talking about what 24 a great thing it is to have PG&E here, what a good 25
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 employer they are, and all that may be true, but we're 1
talking about environmental impact and safety and 2
health. Why are you allowing all of the economic 3
information?
4 MR. RAKOVAN: So, okay. Let me see if 5
I can address that as best I can. Yes, we are here 6
to collect comments on the Draft Environmental Impact 7
Statement. However, the microphone is here, and I 8
can't screen everybody coming up to make sure that 9
that's what they're going to provide. We ask that 10 people stick to the scope of the meeting and, again, 11 provide environmental comments, but if a person 12 wishes to have time at the microphone, we're going 13 to give them a chance to speak. So I apologize that 14 I am not going to cut -- actually, no. I'm not going 15 to apologize that I'm not going to cut everyone off 16 if they don't stick to that scope.
17 It's a public meeting, and folks are 18 allowed to put their time on the microphone. I am 19 encouraging folks right now. You heard me say it.
20 We can look at the transcript. We are here to collect 21 comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
22 That is what we're here to do. Environmental, yes, 23 but I can't guarantee you that when we call these 24 numbers up here that every person is going to do that.
25
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 I cannot do that, and I'm not going to ask them to 1
step away from the microphone if they start talking 2
about something else.
3 Now, I will ask that folks be respectful 4
if somebody gets up there, and I will ask that folks 5
stick to maybe around 3 to 5 minutes to start with 6
so we can try to get as many people up here as possible.
7 But that's -- sorry, I'm not going to remove people 8
from the microphone.
9 Okay. Let's go ahead and go to the 10 fishbowl.
11 Kim, are you going to give us a number?
12 Oh, you're already putting numbers up there. Okay.
13 MS. AGER: I have one question.
14 Oh, sure, please. If you could let us 15 know who you are real quick.
16 MS. AGER: My name is Marni Lynn Ager, 17 and I grew up here. I've lived here for a long time, 18 so I'm well familiar with all of the history of Diablo 19 Canyon. So my question is about the environmental 20 impact statement, the draft.
21 Was there -- what kind of calculations 22 or algorithms were in play to look at future 23 extrapolations from what's happening? So what I mean 24 by that is, okay, so we have global warming. The 25
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 seas are warming. So if Diablo increases the 1
temperature of the ocean by 20 degrees in that area, 2
was there a formula applied to see how this will impact 3
the environment over the next several decades? And 4
that was just one example I could think of. So I'm 5
just looking for information to see if that was part 6
of your calculus, looking at future climate change 7
realities that are impacting in combination with 8
what's happening now. Thanks.
9 MS. CONWAY: And I'll start off by saying 10 our EIS is a snapshot in time. It's based on what 11 we know now. However, our subject matter experts 12 did look at a lot of recent data, which includes 13 trending and forecasting and tried to use the best 14 available information from other agencies and sources 15 of information that would help provide that kind of 16 context to their review. And there are a lot of 17 references throughout.
18 And so if you were looking at the 19 greenhouse gas emissions and climate change section, 20 there are probably at least 50 references in there 21 that refer to different reports that were used. And 22 that kind of outlines our assumptions and the 23 information that we reviewed and cited throughout 24 that evaluation.
25
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 And it'll have a pointer after a 1
sentence, like in a parenthetical reference. And 2
in our references section, you can go in and look 3
up that information for yourself from those same 4
sources.
5 MS. AGER: Okay. So it's a snapshot in 6
time now. There's no projection for --
7 MS. CONWAY: There are projections. We 8
account for the period of extended operations, which 9
is that 20-year period. But it's based on the 10 information we know right now and past information 11 that would help inform.
12 MS. AGER: Okay. Thank you very much.
13 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. So it looks 14 like Kim has already put some numbers up here on the 15 board. I'm assuming I'm starting at the top and going 16 down?
17 MS. CONWAY: Yep.
18 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. So number 3 is what 19 we're starting with, and number 32 is on deck.
20 Okay.
21 So if you have number 3, I assume it's 22 this gentleman. If you could introduce yourself.
23 MR. SIMONIN: Good evening. My name is 24 Mark Simonin. I'm a resident of San Luis Obispo 25
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 County. I sure appreciate the NRC coming out and 1
spending your time doing these open forums, so we 2
have some public comment. A lot of my prepared 3
comments were going to be about, you know, the 4
economics.
5 I'm a third-generation Diablo Canyon 6
worker. It's been a big deal to my family and my 7
livelihood. But environmentally, I am an electrical 8
construction worker. I've had the privilege of 9
working in power plants throughout the state, 10 throughout the country. Diablo Canyon has always 11 been held in such high regard. I've worked in the 12 fossil fuels. You'd come out looking like you worked 13 at a coal mine. That's not the case at Diablo Canyon.
14 It's clean. It is safe.
15 My current job, I'm an electrical 16 representative. I brought a few folks with me.
17 Maybe we get the folks from Local 639 to stand up.
18 These are all electrical construction workers.
19 (Applause.)
20 MR. SIMONIN: And with my current 21 position, I send a lot of these folks, and a lot of 22 these are younger folks, apprentices, journeymen as 23 well. And I feel very comfortable sending any one 24 of these folks into work at Diablo Canyon at any time 25
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 for the construction, the refueling outages, whatever 1
the case is. There's such a high level of safety.
2 I personally have worked throughout the 3
plant, inside containment, inside the regulated 4
areas, inside the protected areas, and I've always 5
felt safe. My father was here. He was here in 1973 6
building Diablo Canyon. He felt comfortable with 7
me being his son. I have a brother that works at 8
Diablo Canyon. My father was fine with him working 9
there as an operating engineer. And now I currently 10 have a nephew that works at Diablo Canyon as a pipe 11 plumber and pipe fitter. So there's a big legacy 12 here with Diablo Canyon.
13 Supervisor Arnold stole most of my 14 comments with the 1973. That's when I came to San 15 Luis Obispo, and I really appreciate all the support 16 of all the elected officials that came from San Luis 17 in particular. Debbie Arnold is a big part of our 18 community here, as well as some of our neighbors from 19 Santa Barbara County. But we definitely appreciate 20 you folks and paying attention and being -- with your 21 study. So thank you.
22 (Applause.)
23 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Just to let 24 you all know, we're not planning on taking a break 25
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 this evening, so if you need to take a break, please 1
take it on your own time. We want to try to get 2
through as many speakers as possible.
3 Speaker 32, if you could introduce 4
yourself, and Speaker 46, you're on deck.
5 MS. LOVERING: Yeah, hi, thank you.
6 My name is Jessica Lovering, and I'm the 7
co-founder and executive director of Good Energy 8
Collective. We're a small nonprofit that works at 9
the intersection of clean energy and environmental 10 justice.
11 I will say that I've toured Diablo Canyon 12 several times, and I've also toured a lot of nuclear 13 power plants around the world, and the environment 14 surrounding the plant really makes it special and 15 makes it unique.
16 Actually, this little guy toured the 17 plant in utero back in March, so he's also got to 18 experience it. My comments will focus on the 19 environmental impacts of the plant, specifically 20 Section 3 of the SEIS, the evaluation of alternatives 21 to the proposed action, purchasing power and the 22 renewable combination.
23 So I think it's an oversight in the report 24 to assume that PG&E can purchase power from existing 25
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 in-state generators and that the electricity will 1
match the average emissions of the grid today because 2
Diablo Canyon is 9 percent of the grid today, so 3
emissions will definitely go up if Diablo Canyon goes 4
offline.
5 We've seen this in the past happen with 6
San Onofre in Southern California, plants in the 7
Northeast closing. So living in California, we 8
already have experience with power capacity 9
shortfalls. A lot of people have already mentioned 10 Flex Alerts. And what that means is that the state 11 does not have enough capacity on the grid now to meet 12 peak demand, and taking Diablo Canyon offline will 13 only exacerbate that, because it's 9 percent of the 14 electricity.
15 We'll need to import more. We'll need 16 to burn more natural gas, is the most likely. Even 17 though we can't build new natural gas plants in the 18 state, we can run them at higher loads than they are 19 today from excess capacity.
20 So I think to replace Diablo Canyon 21 ignores the reality of our already constrained grid.
22 So my suggestion for improving this EIS would be 23 to include some modeling of California's grid under 24 scenarios with and without nuclear, going out through 25
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 2045 to meet California's 100 percent carbon-free 1
mandate.
2 For example, one study I recommend, in 3
2020, the Clean Air Task Force and Environmental 4
Defense Fund both have good records on environmental 5
policy. They commissioned three teams of modelers 6
from Princeton, E3, and Stanford to explore how 7
California can meet this mandate. They did a lot 8
of different technology scenarios. It's a really 9
detailed study.
10 Similarly, for the renewable combination 11 alternative, I also think the environmental impacts 12 are underestimated. So for lifecycle emissions, 13 much of the impact for renewable energy and batteries 14 occurs outside the U.S. So it is outside the scope 15 of the NRC's evaluation. But if we're thinking a 16 little more holistically, it's important for us to 17 be conscious of those impacts either way, from 18 manufacturing of solar panels or processing lithium 19 for batteries in China, mining cobalt in the Congo, 20 those sorts of things. I think we should keep them 21 in mind even if they don't have a local impact.
22 The land-use impacts for renewables are 23 also likely underestimated, I think, in the draft 24 size. So estimates from DOE, which were cited, tend 25
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 to rely on older projects and idealized hypothetical 1
projects, future technologies. When you measure the 2
land-use from real-world operating renewables 3
projects, the land-use is much higher.
4 So based on research that I did, it was 5
co-authored in 2022 in the journal PLOS ONE, we found 6
that to generate a terawatt-hour of electricity, it 7
takes about six times the land if you use wind power, 8
and 300 times the land to rely on solar PV compared 9
to nuclear. And that includes the full lifecycle 10 of nuclear, including mining.
11 However, to maintain reliability, you 12 need to significantly overbuild renewables capacity 13 by 5 to 10 percent, so the land impact could be much 14 larger.
15 Now, we obviously have a lot of land in 16 California, maybe not in downtown San Luis Obispo, 17 but we do have a lot of land. But more land 18 consumption means more communities are impacted and 19 there's more opportunity for opposition. Okay.
20 I'll try to wrap this up.
21 So a survey of wind and solar developers 22 by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab found that 1/3 of 23 renewables projects that applied for siting permits 24 in the last five years were canceled, and public 25
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 opposition was one of the top three reasons for 1
cancellation.
And beyond this grassroots 2
opposition, 15 percent of counties across the U.S.
3 have effectively prohibited new utility-scale solar 4
or wind development. About half of these bans came 5
in just in 2023.
6 So these are the sorts of real-world 7
constraints on renewable energy that I think are going 8
to affect the emissions of the alternative scenarios.
9 And I think they should be included in some way, 10 even if it's just a rough estimate, in the draft SEIS.
11 So thank you.
12 (Applause.)
13 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Speakers 46 and 14 Speaker 2, you're on deck.
15 MS. RENEAU: Hi. My name is Mary 16 Reneau, and I'm a resident of the county of San Luis 17 Obispo. I'm not an official spokesperson for PG&E 18 nor Diablo Canyon Power Plant. I am here as a citizen 19 who has lived in this area for over 46 years, and 20 I have personal experience through my occupation at 21 the Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
22 Diablo Canyon exists to produce clean 23 power, and it emits no greenhouse gases and produces 24 power for over 3 million customers. I thank God for 25
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 the Diablo Canyon Power Plant because this is my 44th 1
year working here.
2 I started in 1980. I didn't know 3
anything about nuclear power when I started over 44 4
years ago. But I can honestly say this is how I have 5
supported my beautiful family. They are now adults.
6 I truly take pride in my work and what we, PG&E, 7
do for our communities and our customers at the Diablo 8
Canyon Power Plant.
9 I not only work at the Diablo Canyon Power 10 Plant; I am your neighbor. And as a result of working 11 there, I go to work safely every single day. Whether 12 I'm on the freeway, in the supermarket, or wherever 13 I may go, safety has been ingrained in my heart as 14 a result of working at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
15 And if there's anybody that has doubts 16 about the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, don't take 17 anybody's word for it. Don't even take my word for 18 it. I encourage you to take a tour of the plant and 19 to decide for yourself. Thank you for your time and 20 have a very blessed evening. Thank you.
21 (Applause.)
22 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 2 with 23 Speaker 23 on deck to provide comments on the Draft 24 Environmental Impact Statement.
25
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 Speaker number 2.
1 Okay. Do you know if he's coming back?
2 Okay. Let's keep Speaker number 2 off to the side.
3 We can call back. All right.
4 Speaker 23, please, with Speaker 7 on 5
deck. Again, if you could identify yourself and any 6
group you're with, looking for comments on the Draft 7
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
8 MS. SUMMER: My name is Liz Summer, and 9
I've lived here for 30 years. I am going to comment 10 on when I first moved here, I was kind of skeptical 11 having a nuclear power plant. I had three small 12 children. I didn't know much about it, but I soon 13 learned the safety of the plant and what a partner 14 Diablo has been to this community. But I also have 15 concerns about mandates that the State of California 16 has put into effect, that we're all to drive 17 emission-free vehicles when we purchase them new in 18 10 years that they will be electric.
19 I support the renewal of this license 20 because that's a big thing for this state, and if 21 we cut energy production, how are we going to do that?
22 In protecting the environment, this is part of it, 23 and I am a strong supporter of renewing this. Thank 24 you.
25
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 (Applause.)
1 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 7, and 2
I'm waiting for my on-deck. That's okay. Fourteen.
3 MR. BEYMER: All right. So my name is 4
John Beymer, and I'm talking to you as a retired PG&E 5
employee.
6 MR. RAKOVAN: Could you step a little 7
closer? Thank you.
8 MR. BEYMER: I'm speaking as a retired 9
PG&E employee, so these are my comments. I worked 10 at Diablo Canyon for 40 years. I started in 1983, 11 and I retired in 2023, last December. So I'm still 12 kind of getting the retirement vibe going.
13 I live in Arroyo Grande, California, and 14 have lived in the county of San Luis Obispo since 15 1966.
16 My role at Diablo Canyon, I was the 17 industrial safety supervisor, so it warmed my heart 18 that one of the fellow speakers talked about how safe 19 they felt and how they'd like their family works out 20 there. That's a big part of the PG&E family.
21 I'm going to speak to the alternatives 22 if Diablo Canyon isn't re-licensed. Where's the 23 power going to come from? I, too, follow the State 24 of California and the mandates that we're going to 25
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 be driving zero emission vehicles, meaning battery 1
operated cars, and we have to be able to charge such 2
vehicles in the future. I support that because we 3
do have to clean up our environment.
4 You look at all the increases in 5
hurricanes and severe weather throughout the world, 6
especially in the southeastern part of the United 7
States. Clearly, global warming or climate change 8
is upon us. If we shut Diablo Canyon down prematurely 9
by not granting the re-license, we're going to 10 increase CO2 emissions dramatically because the power 11 is going to come from somewhere.
12 I've had the opportunity in my career; 13 I've worked for every plant manager and chief nuclear 14 officer at the plant since about 1988. And I can 15 tell you with unequivocal assertion that every one 16 of those individuals in those chairs really, truly 17 believes in keeping the plant safe from a nuclear 18 safety standpoint, from a radiological standpoint, 19 and from protecting the employees that work there.
20 And a big part of that is keeping the environment 21 safe and well cared for.
22 Many times we came up with a situation 23 that required us to shut down and fix something for 24 keeping the plant safe, keeping an environmental 25
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 event from happening. I saw it firsthand numerous 1
times.
2 I'm here, again, as a retiree. I hope 3
that the plant can stay operational and just let it 4
run for as long as the state of California needs it.
5 Thanks so much.
6 (Applause.)
7 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Going to 8
Speaker 14, and Speaker 30 on deck.
9 MS. BROWN: Good evening. My name is 10 Susannah Brown. I'm a little bit tall actually.
11 Sorry. Thank you.
12 My name is Susannah Brown, and I am a 13 lifelong San Luis Obispo County resident. I was born 14 right here in San Luis Obispo. I am also a data 15 scientist and a parent of two young children.
16 I live seven miles away from the way the 17 crow flies to Diablo, which is within the plume 18 exposure pathway zone, which is a radius of 10 miles.
19 And I have never questioned if that's safe.
20 I also grew up in a socioeconomically 21 disadvantaged town just south of here, Oceano. I 22 went to elementary school about fourth or fifth grade.
23 We did practice drills and things like that in case 24 there was an emergency. We learned early on the 25
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 importance of Diablo. If there was anything to 1
happen, we learned as children what would need to 2
happen. None of us were scared. None of us had that 3
concern ingrained to us. In fact, we were empowered 4
to ask more questions.
5 When we were about fourth or fifth grade, 6
we actually took our first tour of Diablo Canyon Power 7
Plant. Most of the kids in my class, none of us spoke 8
English, or the majority of us didn't speak English.
9 And a lot of their parents, this is their first time 10 they'd even heard about what was happening in our 11 community. And the parents were excited to hear 12 about it, hear what the kids had learned at our local 13 community experiences through our elementary school.
14 I learned a lot about the ecology locally 15 at this first tour. I remember we got to dissect 16 starfish. That's something that I'll always 17 remember. They taught us about the animal wildlife 18 and how Diablo is a steward of protecting that here.
19 That they really want to ingrain that in our next 20 generation of people who are going to also protect 21 this land after the people who are there right now.
22 23 Just like the people before you guys were 24 on this board, there were people who cared about these 25
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 things, making important decisions. That was 1
ingrained in us at a very young age, that there are 2
people who care, and we want people to continue to 3
care.
4 Just about a month ago, I took my youngest 5
daughter on her first tour of Diablo. She's six.
6 She was very excited. My son's nine. He was also 7
there. They had a wonderful day of teaching this 8
next generation about the safety and the evolution 9
of nuclear, things that have changed since I was a 10 kid as well, all about the environmental protection 11 aspects that Diablo is really putting out there and 12 wants to continue to share.
13 It's not a secret. This is something 14 that they want to get out. They want to share what 15 they are doing and how they are protecting the 16 environment through the things that they are doing 17 to solve a lot of our energy problems in California.
18 My daughter, she got to put on a radiation 19 outfit that was similar to the ones they wear in 20 containment. She asked so many amazing questions.
21 After we left this entire day, we went to the fire 22 department. We saw all of their emergency planning 23 trucks and everything that they have out there. They 24 have these huge trucks that have tires taller than 25
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 am. I'm about six feet tall. These are huge 1
trucks. Diablo is not just preparing just in case 2
there was an emergency at Diablo, they are also 3
preparing to protect our community in case there was 4
an emergency. They are there to help us as well.
5 The fire department was talking about 6
how they are cross-working with our local agencies 7
in case there was an emergency. If there was 8
something in Avila, if there was something where they 9
needed to call on them, they are cross-trained and 10 they are partners in our community throughout 11 everything. Their devices and everything that they 12 use is trained on with local communities even if they 13 don't have those. They are sharing information.
14 I hope that people understand that this 15 is not just even a PG&E problem or a solution. This 16 is a community activism problem and solution. We all 17 need to do this together. We all need to think about 18 what can really happen with good decision making.
19 I am here to express my strong support 20 for maintaining the operation at Diablo Canyon Power 21 Plant due to its critical role in clean energy 22 production, energy reliability and safety.
23 Diablo Canyon is unparalleled resource 24 for California generating approximately 18,000 25
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 gigawatts of hours annually. Enough to account for 1
about 9 percent of the state's electricity and 15 2
percent of its clean energy. The plant's operation 3
prevents 6 to 7 million tons of greenhouse gases from 4
entering the atmosphere every year, underscoring its 5
importance in combating climate change.
6 When the San Onofre nuclear generation 7
station closed, its energy output was primarily 8
replaced by fossil fuels leading to increased 9
greenhouse gas emissions. Preserving DCPP ensures 10 we don't repeat this mistake, keeping us on track 11 for our climate goals.
12 Energy reliability.
California's 13 growing energy demands are undeniable. We will need 14 more electricity as we transition to electric 15 vehicles and electrify more homes. The California 16 Air Resources Board estimates that electricity demand 17 could increase in the state by 76 percent by 2045 18 relative to 2022s demand.
19 DCPP provides reliable round-the-clock 20 power, and its output would only be able to be replaced 21 with substantial investments in less reliable energy 22 infrastructure. To match its production, we'd need 23 tens of thousands of acres of combined solar and wind 24 and significant battery storage; costly and not 25
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 nearly as dependable.
1 We already face Flex Alerts, warning of 2
potential shortages on peak demand days. Removing 3
our most consistent energy source would worsen these 4
challenges especially as electricity demands are 5
rising.
6 Safety and community confidence. As a 7
parent of two young children near DCPP, I am deeply 8
reassured by its safety record. Diablo has operated 9
safely for nearly four decades under the oversight 10 of the NRC which has consistently upheld its rigorous 11 standards. The plant is designed to withstand 12 seismic activity and is one of the safest locations 13 in the region during an earthquake.
14 I have confidence in the systems and 15 protocols that ensure the safety of my family and 16 the surrounding community as well as the workers out 17 at Diablo.
18 Environmental and economic stewardship.
19 MR. RAKOVAN: Sorry, but could you wrap 20 it up? You're kind of over your time.
21 MS. BROWN: Yeah. Oh, I'm so sorry.
22 MR. RAKOVAN: That's okay.
23 MS. BROWN: Diablo is more than a power 24 plant. It's part of the fabric of our community.
25
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 The surrounding land is a haven for marine life, sea 1
otters, abundant fish population, and like I said 2
earlier, starfish. My kids love the starfish, and 3
we often go to Avila, and we talk about those things 4
that I also learned once when I was a young girl, 5
from Diablo.
6 It is a linchpin supporting families with 7
high-paying jobs and bolstering the local economy 8
through vendor partnerships, refueling outages, and 9
many things others have said.
10 In conclusion, I recognize that this is 11 an important decision, and I hope that you take it 12 seriously and continue to advocate for safe and clean 13 energy. And please keep Diablo open. Thank you for 14 your time and consideration.
15 (Applause.)
16 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. If we could 17 get Speaker 30 to the microphone.
18 MS. CONWAY: Speaker 30 was our second 19 question, and I just wanted -- she handed us the other 20 half of her ticket. I just want to make sure she's 21 not in the room somewhere waiting to provide a 22 comment, but she may not be here anymore.
23 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Apparently she's 24 departed.
25
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 Okay, Speaker 44 then. If you'd like 1
to approach the microphone, with Speaker 47 on deck.
2 Again, looking for your environmental comments.
3 But we need to keep it to around 3 to 5 minutes, please.
4 MS. BUNK: Hello, my name is Fereshteh 5
Bunk. Thank you for organizing this public comment 6
hearing. I really appreciate this opportunity to 7
provide feedback on this draft report. I'm a recent 8
grad from Cal Poly in physics with a minor in 9
indigenous studies of natural resources in the 10 environment and I'm currently working for Mothers 11 for Nuclear.
12 Thank you for your thorough analysis of 13 the environmental impacts of not only Diablo, but 14 also the alternatives to its energy production. I 15 completely support the final recommendation that the 16 environmental impacts of Diablo are minimal and 17 should not prohibit relicensing. It was reassuring 18 to see no significant information found about the 19 environmental impacts of Diablo stated in section 20 3.14.
21 As a citizen concerned about climate 22 change, I was very pleased to see inclusion of 23 greenhouse gas emissions analysis in section 3.15.3.
24 There are only a few more sections I'd like to comment 25
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 on, mostly due to an incompleteness in the analysis 1
of the negative impacts of alternatives to 2
relicensing Diablo.
3 The no-action alternative analysis 4
assumes that California has an excess energy capacity 5
to fall back on after losing the nearly 9 percent 6
or 15 percent of clean energy Diablo provides. This 7
is incorrect, as evidenced by the rolling blackouts 8
in 2020 and Senate Bill 846's decision to extend 9
Diablo's operation, partially due to energy 10 shortfalls.
11 There also wasn't adequate reporting on 12 the rise of greenhouse gas emissions in the no-action 13 alternative. As natural gas is California's 14 marginal utility, any increase in unmet energy demand 15 will be supplemented with more natural gas. A similar 16 emission increase is well documented after the 17 closure of San Onofre.
18 The purchased power alternative fails 19 to recognize that Californians already pay the most 20 for electricity in the nation and how that would be 21 impacted. It also assumes that there will be no more 22 greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels after 2045 23 because of Senate Bill 100. Although I admit it would 24 be hard to analyze, this is not an accurate 25
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 assumption, proven by Senate Bill 846's license 1
extension of Diablo in part because of how behind 2
schedule we were in decarbonizing our electricity 3
production.
4
- Lastly, the renewables combination 5
alternative incorrectly assumes both that renewables 6
will instantaneously replace lost energy capacity 7
from Diablo and is just as clean if not cleaner.
8 Renewables are not being integrated into the grid 9
at a rate fast enough to replace Diablo at this time, 10 once again evidenced by Senate Bill 846.
11 And existing nuclear power plants have 12 a significantly lower environmental footprint than 13 new solar and wind when factoring in operating 14 emissions, construction emissions and land use. You 15 can also see this data at ourworldindata.com. And 16 also when it comes to renewable replacement, 17 California does not have any additional hydropower 18 capacity.
19 But overall, thank you for your thorough 20 analysis, the recommendation for relicensing, this 21 opportunity for comment and for listening.
22 (Applause.)
23 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you.
24 Going to Speaker 47, with Speaker 8 on 25
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 deck please.
1 MS. CONNER: Good evening. Thank you.
2 My name is Vicky Conner and I'm here for 3
EconAlliance, which is a non-profit in northern Santa 4
Barbara County representing or serving about seven 5
different industries. We serve about five cities 6
and numerous communities.
7 Diablo Canyon Power Plant has operated 8
safely for 40 years as people have mentioned. It's 9
the largest clean energy producer in California and 10 can help also meet the U.S. nuclear capacity promises 11 that were made for 2050. It's also an important 12 source of power for our region.
13 One of the companies in our area 14 mentioned that when one of his large machines is 15 running it actually uses 25 percent of his city's 16 energy. So for economic security we can't afford 17 to have less electricity than we need to run our 18 businesses and industries and homes.
19 It's an important asset for our 20 residential and electric vehicle needs as others have 21 mentioned. We also need to ensure more capacity to 22 allow us to make this transition and Diablo Canyon 23 provides enough electricity to serve 3 million 24 people.
25
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 In doing this it will preserve not only 1
the land that it sits on, but it will also preserve 2
the nearly 10 square miles it would take to replace 3
its electricity with solar panels. Thank you so 4
much.
5 (Applause.)
6 MR. RAKOVAN: I believe we have Speaker 7
- 8. We have Speaker 36 on deck again. If you could 8
keep it at three to five minutes, looking for 9
environmental comments.
10 MR. TYLER: Hi everybody. My name is 11 Robert Tyler and a proud member of PG&E. I was hired 12 January 5, 1985. I was hired to put the plant online.
13 I was hired in electrical maintenance, so my 14 grassroots is the whole foundation of the plant.
15 I made a decision in 1985 to go to a 16 nuclear power after spending 7 years at a General 17 Electric power plant. We built it. I built all the 18 parts. RCPs, containment, you name it, did it. And 19 so when I was hired at PG&E, it was a great honor.
20 It was a great honor because I knew about 21 the safety. I knew about the environmental 22 conditions that it was going to be impacted. It was 23 important for me to be a part of that.
24 I was a proud group of men and women who 25
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 learned, and we carried pride. We ran the standard 1
in the industry. It was good to know when we got 2
these people from the outages how they looked at 3
Diablo Canyon. It was a proud time for me.
4 I spent several years on the primary side 5
learning the environment controls and learning the 6
safety aspects of it. I spent several years on the 7
secondary side growing and learning, continually 8
helping the plant get stronger and better.
9 During that timeframe, I was involved 10 in procedures for everything. Procedures to run the 11 RCPs, take the RCPs apart. You name it, did it.
12 I was involved in looking at the primary 13 and the secondary and making sure that when the intake 14 and the temperature from the intake and the 15 temperature from the discharge was at a certain 16 temperature and it didn't exceed that, we would shut 17 down.
18 I was able to get involved in what PG&E, 19 what Diablo Canyon impacts the grid, and what we do 20 with the energy that is not needed at 2 o'clock in 21 the morning.
22 A lot of people don't realize we're 23 producing 100 percent, 24/7. What are we doing with 24 that power? We're sending it to Helms and using them 25
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 as a backup. Will it affect the environment more 1
than just in the area? Probably the whole state will 2
be affected. That's a hydro plant. It needs the 3
power from PG&E Diablo Canyon for the next day because 4
we turn those generators into pumps at nighttime.
5 That's where we send our energy.
6 It's been a great honor to work for 37 7
years, 34 years with Diablo Canyon and be able to 8
retire with pride. I'm a proud member of Diablo 9
Canyon Power Plant. I heard about this, and I want 10 you to know I've been involved in every aspect, and 11 I know what it does for the environment, not against 12 the environment. Thank you for letting me share this 13 with you guys, and I appreciate it.
14 (Applause.)
15 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 10 is 16 on deck. Go ahead.
17 MS. LEWIS: My name is Sherry Lewis and 18 I'm part of San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace. I 19 do honor all of the employees of PG&E who are here 20 and who are very happy with their jobs. Apparently 21 it's a very good place to work and you're taken care 22 of very well and that's really neat, but I am against 23 having Diablo Canyon continue.
24 It's expensive, it's dangerous, and we 25
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 don't need it. It's expensive because the taxpayers 1
and the rate payers have to cover the costs of 2
refurbishing the plant to keep it active for longer 3
than it was planned. Our electric rates are among 4
the highest in the country, unnecessarily so.
5 It's dangerous not only because of the 6
nuclear waste that it -- the very dangerous lethal 7
waste that it produces that have no place to go except 8
stay where they are at Diablo -- it's dangerous 9
because over the years since it was built numerous 10 earthquake faults have been found near and even under 11 the plant. Some of these appear to be thrust faults 12 which are known to cause more damage at the surface 13 right under the plant.
14 Also Unit 1 is at high risk of already 15 being embrittled and could shatter during a 16 loss-of-coolant accident when emergency core cooling 17 water needs to be added. So it's dangerous.
18 We don't need it because recently added 19 battery storage protects California from blackouts 20 during high usage times. There's enough other energy 21 source to take care of what we up till now have needed 22 from Diablo Canyon.
23 I also want to say that keeping it running 24 at 100 percent 24/7 uses up a lot of the grid and 25
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 that means that renewable sources that are not lethal 1
in any way cannot have room on the grid. It's taken 2
up by Diablo Canyon.
3 And also mentioning that the mining of 4
uranium which needs to carry on as long as Diablo 5
Canyon is working has detrimental environmental 6
impacts on the people involved.
7 So my point is it's expensive. It's very 8
expensive. It's dangerous and we don't need it.
9 Thank you.
10 (Applause.)
11 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 10, 12 with Speaker 51 on deck. Again, if you could 13 introduce yourself. Did we skip somebody?
14 MR. CHAMBERS: I'm Speaker 10.
15 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Sorry. Again, if 16 you could introduce yourself.
Looking for 17 environmental comments. Three to five minutes if 18 you would, please.
19 MR. CHAMBERS: You bet.
20 My name is Jeff Chambers. I'm the CEO 21 of the South County Chambers of Commerce. I 22 represent over 550 businesses with approximately 23 14,000 employees.
24 So I'm here today to express my strong 25
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 support for the initiatives that secure the continued 1
operation of Diablo Canyon Power Plant. In face of 2
the mounting environmental challenges, environmental 3
reliability concerns and economic pressures, 4
maintaining DCPP is not only a strategic choice, but 5
an essential step for our community and state.
6 Clean energy and environmental 7
responsibility. Losing this resource would have a 8
significant repercussions as witnessed with the 9
closure of San Onofre, which resulted in increased 10 greenhouse gas emissions due to the reliance on fossil 11 fuels for energy replacement. The continuation of 12 DCPP helps ensure that we do not repeat the same 13 mistake and instead advance towards California's 14 climate goals.
15 I'm not going to go into all the safety 16 and public trust that everybody has already talked 17 about earlier, but they do have in their environmental 18 stewardship, PG&E's stewardship of the land showcases 19 their commitment to the environment. The area is 20 not only maintained with precision, but also provides 21 access to hiking trails that allow residents to enjoy 22 its natural beauty. The adjacent marine environment 23 is thriving, evident from the abundance of sea life, 24 including sea lions, otters, and other various bird 25
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 species. These factors highlight DCPP's presence 1
harmonizes with the local ecological health.
2 Affordability and economic benefits.
3 Furthermore, PG&E is the largest private employer 4
in San Luis Obispo
- County, providing 5
head-of-household jobs. High paying jobs to sustain 6
our local families. The plant's operation fuels a 7
network of local vendors and businesses, creating 8
an economic multiplier effect that benefits our 9
entire community.
10 Planning for our sustainable future, 11 California obviously has ambitious plans for clean 12 energy. As technology advances and the energy 13 demands soar, we must prioritize reliable, clean, 14 and safe sources like nuclear to meet our needs.
15 In conclusion, Diablo Canyon Power Plant 16 is more than just a power plant. It is a cornerstone 17 of clean energy production, economic vitality, and 18 environmental stewardship in our state. Ensuring 19 its operation aligns with California's long-term 20 vision and sustainability and reliability. I urge 21 you to recognize the importance of keeping the plant 22 open for not only the operational benefit of our 23 community, state, and future generations. Thank you 24 for your time today.
25
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 (Applause.)
1 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. We've got Speaker 2
15 on deck, please.
3 MS. SCHALK: Thank you. Good evening.
4 My name is Vidya Schalk, and I'm a faculty at Cal 5
Poly. I taught in the materials engineering 6
department, and I currently teach in the chemistry 7
department.
8 One of the classes I've taught is called 9
Energy for a Sustainable Society, where we explore 10 all sustainable energy sources in great detail, 11 including nuclear energy. I'm also Cal Poly's first 12 sustainability faculty fellow, and I'm also the 13 faculty advisor for the NiCE club, Nuclear is Clean 14 Energy Club, and we have a few students here from 15 our NiCE Club.
16 So, very briefly, I kind of wanted to 17 highlight a few of the things I teach in my classes.
18 One of the things I talk about is the fact that energy 19 change is a long-term shift in Earth's average 20 temperatures and weather conditions, and between 2014 21 and 2023, the world, on an average, was about 1.2 22 degrees centigrade warmer than what it was during 23 the late 19th century, and that's pretty significant.
24 Based on current energy data and 25
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 projection, 2024, this year, is virtually certain 1
to end up as the world's hottest year on record, both 2
on land and in the oceans. The climate has changed 3
naturally throughout Earth's history, but natural 4
causes cannot explain the particularly rapid warming 5
seen in the last century, and this is based on tons 6
and tons of reports, especially IPCC reports.
7 And this warming has been caused by human 8
activities, mainly because of the widespread use of 9
fossil fuels, and we know those coal, oil, and natural 10 gas in homes, factories, and transport systems. So 11 when fossil fuels burn, they release greenhouse 12 gases, mostly carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide 13 acts as a blanket, trapping the energy in the Earth's 14 atmosphere.
15 So the infrared radiation that comes in 16 usually escapes back, and the greenhouse gases trap 17 it, make our Earth a comfortable place to live in 18 if it's a thin blanket. But if that blanket gets 19 pretty thick, it's not good. All the infrared 20 radiation that comes to our Earth is trapped in Earth, 21 and it becomes hot. There's no escaping that.
22 This started during the Industrial 23 Revolution and has been increasing exponentially in 24 the past few years as the population of this planet 25
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 increases. And we are at 8 billion and growing 1
currently. And we know that this is human-generated 2
because this carbon dioxide has a distinct chemical 3
footprint.
4 And the consequences of these are extreme 5
hot days, which we see, sea-level rise, flooding, 6
bleaching, and loss of coral reefs. So the carbon 7
dioxide that goes up along with the other greenhouse 8
gases comes back down as acids, or acid rain, which 9
bleaches the corals and forests and destroys forests 10 and a whole bunch of other things, and destroys lots 11 of life, decreases biodiversity, and so on and so 12 forth.
13 One of the things that people bring up 14 quite often is the safety of nuclear plants. And 15 this is something I talk in my class, and my students 16 are absolutely astounded when they hear the actual 17 statistics. So, in our history, there have been 18 three major accidents at nuclear power plants since 19 their inception in 1951. And these accidents are 20 the Three Mile Island in the U.S., Chernobyl in 21 Ukraine, and Fukushima in Japan. And let's look at 22 the lives lost from nuclear energy with a caveat that 23 no loss of human life should be considered acceptable.
24 And so the IAEA, International Atomic 25
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 Energy Agency, states that 31 people died in the three 1
months following Chernobyl accident. Two of these 2
deaths were due to the initial explosion, while the 3
remaining 29 were first responders who died due to 4
acute radiation sickness.
5 In the Fukushima accident, while the 6
flood and the earthquake claimed about 20,000 lives, 7
only one person is officially recognized to have died 8
because of the radiation exposure. That said, an 9
additional 573 indirect deaths were attributed to 10 the disaster, mostly because of the evacuation 11 stress.
12 And the deaths in Three Mile Island, it 13 was zero. To put these numbers into perspective, 14 in 70 years, with a total of 667 nuclear power plants 15 that have ever operated, only three major accidents 16 have taken place.
Using the officially 17 internationally recognized death statistics for 18 Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, the 19 combined loss of lives from the three major nuclear 20 accidents is 32 people.
21 Compare this to the millions of lives 22 lost due to the direct impact of carbon dioxide and 23 other noxious gases, which are generated as 24 byproducts of energy generated with fossil fuels.
25
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's 32 deaths.
1 We need energy. Of that, there is no 2
doubt. With our population at 8 billion on this 3
planet and increasing, I tell my students that wars 4
would be fought for only two things in the future:
5 water and energy.
6 So, in addition to solar, wind, hydro; 7
nuclear power is a clean energy source because it 8
produces little to no carbon dioxide or other 9
greenhouse gases during its operation. Nuclear 10 power plants are safe and clean.
11 On a personal note, my son graduated from 12 the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and is currently 13 deployed as a lieutenant JG on USS Virginia, a 14 nuclear-powered sub somewhere in the North Atlantic 15 for the past five months. He returns back home in 16 a month.
17 As you may know or may not know -- I'm 18 talking about the audience -- all the U.S. Navy 19 submarines are nuclear powered, as are the aircraft 20 carriers and have been so for several decades.
21 They've been operating safely for 50 years.
22 When my son left Norfolk a few months 23 ago, he got to operate the nuclear reactor on board.
24 That was part of his qualifications. 132 crew 25
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 members in his submarine serve together in a tight 1
space and stay underwater for six months at a time.
2 So my concluding statement is nuclear 3
power plants, nuclear reactors are clean and safe 4
and not only should we keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear 5
plant, we should be building more. Thank you.
6 (Applause.)
7 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 22 on 8
deck.
9 MR. BURNHAM: So thank you very much for 10 putting this meeting together and presenting your 11 initial report and thank you very much for allowing 12 us to offer some commentary.
13 I'll just introduce myself briefly. My 14 name is Chris Burnham. I was in the Navy on the 15 aircraft carrier and actually while I was in the Navy, 16 I visited Morro Bay, and I fell in love with this 17 region, and I became pro-nuclear power because of 18 my experience in the Navy and I became pro-nuclear 19 because of my concern for the environment.
20 So when I found out that Diablo Canyon 21 existed, I wanted to come here and work here when 22 I got out, and it took a little bit of a roundabout, 23 but I eventually did get that job about a year and 24 a half ago. I just bought a house at the end of 25
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 August, and I turned 40 on Sunday. So none of that's 1
really relevant to this scope, I'm just saying I'm 2
a new member of the community and I really want to 3
stick around for a while, so I hope this works out 4
for everyone.
5 But again, kind of beyond the scope, I 6
am not speaking officially for Diablo by the way.
7 This is all personal for me. And I'm very much a 8
proud member of IBEW 1245. I'm not speaking for them 9
either. This is my own personal pro-environment, 10 pro-ecosystem concern for the planet's future that 11 I am sharing today.
12 Every month between July 2023 and June 13 2024 Earth's global average surface temperatures met 14 or exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above the 15 pre-industrial average. Before that, the longest 16 streak was three months in 2016.
17 The scientists are clear. The cause of 18 this warming is carbon emissions. With the push for 19 electric vehicles and the ever increasing deployment 20 of server and data processing centers and other 21 factors, the need for electricity is rising.
22 Relying on renewables like wind and solar 23 to not only make up for the gap which closing Diablo 24 would leave but to help reduce our use of fossil fuels 25
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 for power generation as well is incredibly 1
unrealistic, I fear.
2 The main environmental risk of shutting 3
down Diablo Canyon is already apparent. Heat waves 4
and extreme weather events have increased 5
significantly in severity. And even if we were to 6
cut our carbon emissions by 50 percent 7
instantaneously, that trend would continue for some 8
time before finally leveling off. As it stands, we 9
have a monumental challenge to meet if we are to keep 10 our planet from going over a threshold from which 11 there is no coming back.
12 We need to keep expanding our renewable 13 energy capacity so that we can shut down fossil fuel 14 plants, and we need to keep Diablo Canyon open for 15 as long as we can if we are to have a chance at doing 16 our part in reducing carbon emissions and keeping 17 climate change from destroying ecosystems all over 18 the globe. Nuclear power and renewable energy are 19 on the same team. Thank you very much.
20 (Applause.)
21 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 17 on deck.
22 MS. ZAMEK: Hi, I'm Jill ZamEk. I live 23 in Arroyo Grande.
24 Section 2.1.7 pertains to operations and 25
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 maintenance. Nowhere in this 424-page report does 1
it mention the embrittlement of the Unit 1 reactive 2
pressure vessel. It hasn't been tested for over 20 3
years due to NRC waivers, yet the NRC recommends 4
approval of a 20-year license renewal. I object to 5
that conclusion without evidence that Unit 1 is safe 6
to operate.
7 Section 2.4.3 discusses a no-action 8
alternative. Its conclusion states, quote, "A 9
combination of energy sources discussed in Section 10 2.3.2.2 such as wind, solar and battery backup along 11 with purchase power and demand-side management could 12 complement each other and reduce intermittent 13 electricity generation issues," end quote.
14 I support the no-action alternative.
15 I suggest that our rate payer and taxpayer money be 16 invested in renewable energy with battery backup.
17 Section 3.4.5 focuses on the seismic 18 issue. A quote, "PG&E published the results of that 19 analysis on March 6, 2024. The results were not 20 discussed in the ER because they had not been publicly 21 released when the ER was submitted to the NRC. And 22 further on, new information was developed on slip 23 rates for the Hawkesbury fault and certain other 24 faults. The new slip rate data notwithstanding, the 25
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 NRC staff concludes that none of these tectonic 1
structures will have impacts on the geologic 2
environment." And, end quote.
3 And for such a vital safety element, this 4
process sounds slipshod to me. I would like the NRC 5
to consider Dr. Peter Bird's evidence showing that 6
the earthquake faults that run directly under the 7
plant are vertical thrust faults, meaning they could 8
cause much more ground motion than formerly thought 9
possible. PG&E significantly underestimates the 10 likelihood of a severe earthquake at Diablo Canyon.
11 Section 3.5.1.3.2 deals with the 12 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
13 Diablo Canyon utilizes the once-through cooling 14 system, which violates the Clean Water Act. But 15 again and again, PG&E has been granted waiver after 16 waiver and has been allowed to continue damaging the 17 marine environment. And quote, "The current NPDES 18 permit was issued on May 11, 1990, by the CCRWQCB 19 and had a listed expiration of July 1, 1995. However, 20 the permit has been under administrative extension,"
21 end quote. That's since 1995.
22
- Again, slipshod.
Impingement, 23 mortality and entrainment of aquatic organisms is 24 discussed in Section 3.7.5.1. The SWRCB has 25
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 determined -- this is a quote, "The SWRCB has 1
determined under the OTC policy that BTA for Diablo 2
Canyon is to cease the use of Diablo Canyon 3
once-through cooling water intake system by October 4
31, 2030," end quote. Yet the NRC endorses a 20-year 5
license extension, not five years.
6 So will PG&E really be required to change 7
their cooling system finally? No more waivers and 8
extensions?
9 Let's see. Section 3.10 explains the 10 2016 joint proposal agreement which was to 11 permanently cease operations in 2024 and 2025. And 12 quote, "The community impact mitigation plan included 13 an essential services mitigation fund totaling $75 14 million paid to the county in annual installments 15 through 2025 in the amount of $9,375,000. The second 16 part is an economic development fund one-time payment 17 of $10 million paid to the county intended to fund 18 regional economic development and job creation. As 19 the publication of this draft SEIS legislation 20 regarding a new tax structure for Diablo Canyon has 21 not been introduced," end quote.
22 My question, that money has been spent.
23 Does this mean that the rate payers will be on the 24 hook again for easing the economic losses when the 25
90 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 plant finally closes, if indeed it gets the extension?
1 Unavoidable environmental impacts is the 2
topic of Section 3.17.1. Quote, "During nuclear 3
power plant operations, workers and members of the 4
public would face unavoidable exposure to low levels 5
of radiation as well as hazardous and toxic chemicals.
6 The generation of spent nuclear fuel and waste 7
material including low-level radioactive waste, 8
hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste would be 9
unavoidable," end quote.
10 That's why I assert that we should take 11 no action, close Diablo on schedule, and invest in 12 clean renewable energy and battery backup. We don't 13 need old, dirty, and risky, and costly Diablo. We 14 should remember Santa Susana, Three Mile Island, 15 Chernobyl, and Fukushima, which caused a great deal 16 of environmental damage and likely damage to a lot 17 of our genetic material. Thank you.
18 (Applause.)
19 MR. RAKOVAN: Thank you.
20 Speaker 17, with Speaker 4 on deck.
21 MR. SALAZAR: Hello. My name is Rudy 22 Salazar, and I have an initiative which directly is 23 about the environmental comment of what's going on 24 here.
25
91 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 My initiative is to move the 291 spent 1
fuel canisters that are along the coast of California 2
to my property in Randsburg, California.
3 (Laughter.)
4 MR. SALAZAR: It actually is kind of, 5
it's funny, but it makes sense. I own 58 acres in 6
Randsburg. I'm the largest Randsburg property owner 7
in Randsburg. I don't know if anybody knows where 8
Randsburg is. It's off the 395, just north of the 9
- 58. I'm about 20 miles up from the 58, 4,000 feet 10 in elevation.
11 I've got zero water, zero water table, 12 crystalline rock. I've got 20 shafts in there from 13 the 1800s. It's actually five gold mines that are 14 there. I purchased this property on the Zillow.
15 It sat there for two years, and I watched 16 it for nine months. I go, "Why isn't anybody buying 17 it?" Very risky buying a property that's a patented 18 claim.
19 Anyways, came up with this idea and I 20 had this initiative.
You could go to 21 randsburgproject.com and you could get this flyer.
22 I didn't bring enough of them to pass out. I had 23 no idea this amount of people were going to be here.
24 I go to Edison SONGS meetings. Literally, there's 25
92 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 four people in the audience. Twenty-five on cameras 1
and sound. Four people in the audience after break.
2 It's like, I'm the only one left.
3 So a lot of people don't care about spent 4
nuclear fuel. 291 spent fuel canisters lining our 5
coast. There's some 142 canisters right here 6
somewhere in the backyard. I was hoping to get a 7
glimpse at them when I came up here.
8 I live down in Anaheim. I was raised 9
in Anaheim, but I live in Fullerton, so I'm in Orange 10 County. I also spend a lot of time on my property 11 up there.
12 So I went to Edison and said, "Hey, I 13 went on the tour over there and I said, I want to 14 move those canisters to my property, and they fell 15 off their chair because they need to get those moved.
16 Not only do they need to get moved but the five 17 canisters up in Humboldt Bay that was built on three 18 tectonic plates need to be moved.
19 The 21 canisters in the middle of 20 Sacramento that they shut down that nuclear power 21 plant because of that fire that was the third worst 22 disaster in the United States. It almost took 23 California and put it in half from that fire. They 24 finally shut that down sitting there.
25
93 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 I tell you, I've only heard spent fuel 1
mentioned twice. This young lady over here mentioned 2
it once. Somebody else mentioned it. I'm actually 3
shocked, and everybody should be shocked, that 4
licensing agreements like this can go through without 5
even mentioning what to do with the spent fuel.
6 We were kicking the can down the road.
7 It's been being kicked down the road for over 60 years 8
now and yet nobody's saying anything about the spent 9
fuel or what to do with it. The babies that are in 10 this room and the young engineers that are here and 11 stuff like that. You've got your kids growing up.
12 We're just going to pass it to them? It was passed 13 to us.
14 I only got into this because I happen 15 to have the most promising geological formation for 16 spent fuel in North America, hands down. I don't 17 know why the old-timers that were dealing since the 18 50s with spent fuel didn't say, "Let's go scour the 19 land and find out where there's no water." There's 20 no water table where crystalline rock is. Quartz 21 monzonite sprinkled with gold, which is the best 22 shielding for radiation I'm finding out, but nobody 23 did that.
24 All of a sudden, I'm sitting here with 25
94 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 holy grail, my property. It is kind of funny 1
that this happened, and I cut it off with Zillow.
2 It's actually kind of interesting. I tell you; I've 3
got a good message here. You need to, you know, 4
randsburgproject.com, you can go and get this flyer, 5
but there's 291 canisters that's never going to cross 6
our state lines in our lifetime, ever.
7 I mean, not ever, but we can tee this 8
up, put it in a responsible place far north of the 9
San Andreas Fault. Randsburg population, 50. I 10 call them the "Randsburg 50." We're actively meeting 11 with them, working with them, trying to talk them 12 into this. If you look this up, actually when this 13 flyer went out of town over there, they thought I 14 was a ghost running around passing out this idea, 15 but it's for reals. It's a real initiative.
16 With this licensing, I would like to say, 17 why don't we have a component in here about moving 18 this spent fuel before we relicense this plant?
19 Let's move this to higher ground. Right now, if they 20 open up a place, let's say they open up Yucca Mountain, 21 or an interim storage facility somewhere across the 22 United States to put this, it would take 70 to 100 23 years to move all this spent fuel out of this location 24 because it's all in a queue.
25
95 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com They would go down to San Onofre and say, 1
"Okay, we'll take maybe 10 right now, and we'll take 2
10 from here, we'll take maybe one from Humboldt, 3
take a few from Sacramento, and then we'll be back 4
in another 10 years to go get the rest, or to go get 5
some more." Because all the spent fuel in this nation 6
-- 6,000-plus or whatever the canister is, I don't 7
have the exact number -- but all these canisters are 8
in a queue. It's going to take a long time to move 9
them.
10 I'm saying it would take 5 to 10 years 11 to move them to higher ground on my property, on an 12 interim storage facility, and we'd be a state that 13 would be an example to the world on how to handle 14 spent nuclear fuel.
15 I tell you, in 1978, the Interagency 16 Review Group reported to the President, Jimmy Carter, 17 who was very adamant about trying to solve this 18 problem but couldn't get it done, they said something 19 in there that we still don't do to this day. They 20 said in that report, this is a regional issue. It 21 needs to be handled regionally.
22 States should get together to handle it, 23 or a state like ours should say, "Let's just handle 24 this ourselves right now, put it in the desert, watch 25
96 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 forever." That's another term they use in that 1
report. And yet, we continue to do nothing. So 2
that's my comment. Thank you.
3 (Applause.)
4 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 4 and then on deck, 5
Speaker 20.
6 MR. JOHNSON: Hi, my name is Jack 7
Johnson. I'm the President of IBEW Local 639 in San 8
Luis Obispo County and I'm supportive of the continued 9
operations of Diablo Canyon, which is the largest 10 environmentally friendly clean energy producer in 11 California. Thank you.
12 (Applause.)
13 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. We have 14 Speaker 20, with Speaker 5 on deck, please.
15 MR. VERDIN: First, thank you. Thank 16 you very much for your patience. I intended to go 17 to the bar and buy you all a beer and as a thank you, 18 but maybe I'll just buy myself a beer after this.
19 Pardon me.
20 So my name is Adam Verdin. I'm a 21 lifelong resident of San Luis Obispo County. I'm 22 a small business owner. I'm also the vice chair of 23 the South County Chambers of Commerce. And I'm here 24 to strongly support the continued operation of Diablo 25
97 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 Power Plant.
1 Diablo is more than just a power plant.
2 It is part of our community. The folks that live 3
there -- excuse me -- they don't live there. Well, 4
they seem to because they spend a lot of time there.
5 The folks that work there are an important part of 6
our community. They are our friends. And Diablo 7
Canyon provides energy for our state, but also 8
opportunities for our local families.
9 As our largest private employer, it 10 supports high-paying jobs, drives businesses like 11 mine. Its closure would leave a gaping hole, not 12 just in the state's power supply, but in our local 13 economy.
14 Our Board of Supervisors here in San Luis 15 Obispo County voted to support extending Diablo 16 Canyon's operation because they recognize it as 17 critically important to our region and our state.
18 We depend on it for reliable electricity and to keep 19 energy costs manageable for our working families.
20 I visited the plant personally and seen 21 the safety measures and systems in place. From the 22 storage of used fuel to the robust seismic 23 protections, it is clear to me that Diablo Canyon 24 operates with an unparalleled commitment to safety.
25
98 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 Knowing this gives me great confidence as someone 1
who lives 12 miles away.
2 So for the benefit of our community and 3
our future generations, I urge you to support its 4
continued operation. Thank you very much.
5 (Applause.)
6 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 5, 7
with Speaker 34 on deck.
8 MR. FITZER: Hello, my name is Joe 9
Fitzer. I'm a member of IBEW 639, electrician's 10 union in San Luis Obispo. I worked out at Diablo 11 Canyon from 2010 to 2018, and I just want to say that 12 if Diablo Canyon closes, the only thing that's going 13 to fill the void is going to be fossil fuels, 14 unfortunately. So I am for Diablo Canyon staying 15 open. Thank you.
16 (Applause.)
17 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. Speaker 34, with 18 speaker 49 on deck. Again, looking for your comments 19 on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Three 20 to five minutes if you could. And introduce yourself 21 and any organization that you're with.
22 MS. GALE: Hello, I'm Daryl Gale and last 23 Wednesday when I said let's not turn San Luis Obispo 24 into Chernobyl I was not impugning the high-skilled 25
99 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 workers who work there. I was just referring to an 1
unwanted, unintended result, which I desperately hope 2
does not happen.
3 PG&E, your seismic update is deficient.
4 Dr. Bird's vertical fault finding underneath the 5
plant is a major concern. Is anybody studying, 6
monitoring the fault movement? Where is the 7
evacuation plan? Where is the contingency for 8
getting citizens away safely? Why is nobody else 9
worrying about this? The plant is highly embrittled.
10 That was the reactor vessel number one.
11 Why have you avoided -- PG&E, why have 12 you avoided testing it when I know we have sent 13 petitions and petitions and petitions to you to do 14 that? Give the local citizens some better, more 15 concrete updates about safety, and we'll feel more 16 comfortable with your extension renewal. Thank you.
17 (Applause.)
18 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 49 19 followed by Speaker 18.
20 MS.
SWANSON:
I'm Jane
- Swanson, 21 spokesperson for San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace.
22 Thank you. Jane Swanson, San Luis Obispo Mothers 23 for Peace, and I'd like to start by thanking the person 24 who just spoke just now and also my friends Sherry 25
100 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 Lewis and Jill ZamEk who spoke earlier.
1 These comments apply only to the seismic 2
hazards posed by the Diablo Canyon plant. There are 3
many other categories of hazards addressed in the 4
424 pages of the EIS, and Mothers for Peace will submit 5
much longer comments online in the future.
6 The EIS fails to take into consideration 7
the findings of Dr. Peter Bird, professor emeritus 8
of the Department of Earth, Planetary and Space 9
Sciences at UCLA. Dr. Bird's assessment shows that 10 the chances of an earthquake causing core -- meaning 11 a meltdown -- damage at Diablo Canyon is 47 times 12 higher than PG&E's estimate. The NRC needs to 13 seriously study Dr. Bird's findings, which it has 14 failed to do to date.
15 New seismic evidence shows that the 16 earthquake faults that run directly under the plant, 17 as mentioned by a previous speaker, are vertical 18 thrust faults, not strike-slip faults as believed.
19 Vertical thrust faults cause much more damaging 20 ground motion than strike-slip faults. It matters.
21 Mothers for Peace does not accept the 22 conclusion of the EIS that -- and I'm quoting 23 here -- "The adverse environmental impacts of license 24 renewal for Diablo Canyon are not so great that 25
101 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 preserving the option of license renewal for energy 1
planning decision makers would be unreasonable."
2 I find that a slightly contorted sentence. It must 3
be really hard to say, "Yeah, go ahead and do it."
4 It's not that unreasonable. I don't know what's 5
going on.
6 Mothers for Peace submits that a more 7
accurate conclusion would be that, given the 8
impressive rate of additional sources of renewable 9
energy and the recent 500 percent increase in battery 10 storage, the rate payers should not be charged to 11 bail out this outdated and dangerous nuclear plant.
12 It is surrounded by active earthquake faults. It 13 sits on active earthquake faults, and it continues 14 to create lethal radioactive waste with no known way 15 to keep them isolated from the biosphere, not even 16 in the ranch that has no water, for the hundreds of 17 thousands of years that they remain lethal.
18 Or, in short, we can just say, shut it 19 down.
20 (Applause.)
21 MR. RAKOVAN: Thanks, Jane.
22 Speaker 18, with Speaker 6 on deck, 23 please.
24 MS. POPOVICH: Hi, I'm Belinda Popovich, 25
102 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 vice president of marketing with the Santa Maria 1
Valley Railroad.
2 Santa Maria Valley Railroad, we are a 3
shortline located in Santa Maria Valley. We 4
interchange with Union Pacific in the city of 5
Guadalupe, where I'm a resident.
6 We've had various relationships with 7
PG&E over the years. We transport their freight that 8
helps us strengthen the community grid, as well as 9
working together on utility easements that cross 10 along our right-of-way.
11 As a clean and green transportation 12 system, the Santa Maria Valley Railroad wants to do 13 our part with helping the safe transportation if and 14 when Diablo is dismantled, but at the appropriate 15 time when it arises.
16 As California mandates to electrify all 17 modes of transportation systems, and our local, city, 18 and county governments seek to encourage the reliance 19 on renewable energy, such as the City of San Luis 20 Obispo wanting gas appliances and new construction 21 to be switched to all electric appliances. This will 22 require the State to increase the production of 23 electricity, but at this point, the demand for 24 renewable electricity cannot keep pace with the 25
103 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 demands needed by our counties and state to reach 1
these goals.
2 It has been our personal experience with 3
PG&E's Diablo team and the right-of-way contractors 4
teams that they are an exemplary company with 5
excellent safety culture. We have seen for ourselves 6
in working with these teams that safety is of the 7
utmost importance. And with this, we can confidently 8
support their teams and the continuation of the safe 9
operation of the Diablo plant.
10 Decommissioning the power plant would 11 mean that we are able to provide transportation 12 options for the plant, but the need for clean and 13 safe electrical production for our community is by 14 far more important and that is why we wholeheartedly 15 support the extension for the operation of the Diablo 16 Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. Thank you.
17 (Applause.)
18 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 6. Pass? Okay.
19 Speaker 31, with Speaker 21 on deck.
20 Speaker 31? Looks like people are getting tired.
21 Speaker 21. Sir, if you could introduce 22 yourself and any group you're with please.
23 MR. MARVIN: I'm Marv and I live in Shell 24 Beach which is right down the wind line from Diablo 25
104 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 and I'm not a bit scared of it. And I support 1
it and hope it continues, and it's reliable power.
2 Thank you very much.
3 (Applause.)
4 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 19, with Speaker 5
48 on deck.
6 MS. DIONNE: Good evening. My name is 7
Rachel Dionne. I'm an employee of PG&E but I'm not 8
speaking as a spokesperson for the company. I'm here 9
as a Central Coast resident who grew up in this 10 community and is raising my family here.
11 I've been fortunate to spend a lot of 12 time at Diablo Canyon through my employment as well 13 as my previous career in local government. Each time 14 I set foot at the plant I never cease to be amazed 15 by the approximately 1,300 employees and their 16 professionalism and dedication to coming to work 17 every day to operate California's largest supplier 18 of clean energy.
19 Among those employees are the numerous 20 biologists and environmental staff who work 21 tirelessly and passionately to ensure we are 22 protecting the plants, animals and significant 23 cultural sites of the 12,000 acres of the Diablo 24 Canyon lands.
25
105 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've seen firsthand the ecosystem that 1
thrives and is studied and protected because the power 2
plant exists. I don't think I've ever seen happier 3
seals than the ones that sun themselves on the rocks 4
at the Diablo Canyon Marina. I'll never forget the 5
looks on the faces of visitors when they get to take 6
in the view of a great white shark swimming in the 7
discharge cove or the thousands of sea lions and their 8
babies living at Lion Rock.
9 Diablo Canyon provides 9 percent of 10 California's total energy and 17 percent of 11 California's clean energy making our state's dream 12 of a carbon-free energy system closer to a reality.
13 Nuclear energy is an important piece of 14 the puzzle when it comes to fighting global warming 15 and protecting our planet. Diablo Canyon not only 16 provides safe, clean, reliable, and affordable energy 17 to 3 million Californians but is also an important 18 part of our community, our history, our county and 19 our home. Thank you.
20 (Applause.)
21 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. I know it is 22 getting late. We're going to try to get through as 23 many speakers as we're able to and keep pulling names 24 from the fishbowl, and I have a few folks that 25
106 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 registered after we started pulling from the 1
fishbowl, so we'll try to get to them too, depending 2
on how many speakers we can get through.
3 So Speaker 48, if anyone is here with 4
number 48, with speaker 25 on deck.
5 Again, you can introduce yourself and 6
any group you're with. Looking for comments on the 7
Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, 8
hoping to stick to around 3 to 5 minutes per commenter.
9 MR. LINDSEY: Good evening. I'm John 10 Lindsey and I'm a retired PG&E employee retired about 11 2 years ago.
12 It's a clean energy leader, Diablo Canyon 13 is California's largest source of clean energy 14 supplying 17 percent of the state's carbon free 15 electricity. It has been instrumental in helping 16 PG&E deliver some of the cleanest energy in the nation 17 achieving 100 percent carbon-free electricity for 18 its customers since 2023.
19 Environmental stewardship. Located in 20 one of the most scenic and ecologically rich 21 coastlines in the United States, the site is 22 surrounded by 12,000 acres of protected land and 14 23 miles of pristine coastline.
24 PG&E's award-winning land stewardship 25
107 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 program has enhanced the environment through managed 1
grazing, controlled burns, erosion control and the 2
reintroduction of native plants. Today this land 3
is arguably in better condition than when 4
construction began in the 1960s.
5 Additionally, the public has access to 6
two breathtaking coastal trails, the Pecho Coast 7
Trail and, of course, the Point Buchon Trail.
8 Marine Protection. The plant's marine 9
biological monitoring program, which I had the honor 10 of contributing to for many years, is the longest 11 running program of its kind in the United States, 12 possibly the world. Decades of research have 13 constantly shown that no detectable thermal effects 14 beyond the 40-acre discharge cove underscoring the 15 plant's minimum impact on the marine ecosystem.
16 As California's electricity demand grows 17 driven by artificial intelligence data centers and 18 the transformation of used electricity, basically 19 to transform the transportation; clean, reliable 20 energy sources like Diablo Canyon are crucial for 21 reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating 22 climate change.
23 History has shown that conflicts were 24 once fought for shot -- so for salt. So, you know, 25
108 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 a long, long time ago many wars were fought over salt, 1
and, today, they're fought over oil.
2 The profits from oil have enabled bad 3
factors to wage wars in regions like eastern European.
4 Now, having served in the Navy for 24 5
years, including deployments to the Persian Gulf, 6
our mission was to safeguard oil flow through the 7
Straits of Hormuz. I've seen firsthand the 8
consequences of oil dependency.
9 Now both my son and daughter are serving 10 in the United States Navy. In fact, my daughter is 11 a nuke operator on the Harry S. Truman, and I feel 12 the weight of these risks every single day.
13 The employees of Diablo Canyon thank you 14 for your dedication. You have no idea what a 15 difference you all are making. Your efforts have 16 reduced our reliance on oil and made a significant 17 impact in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
18 I know tonight's discussion shouldn't 19 only focus on relicensing Units 1 and Unit 2. It 20 should also explore the possibility of expanding 21 Diablo Canyon to include Units 3 and 4.
22 Let us make oil like salt. Thank you 23 very much.
24 (Applause.)
25
109 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1716 14th STREET, N.W., SUITE 200 (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-4309 www.nealrgross.com MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 25.
1 MS. CONWAY: I thought he was 48.
2 MR. RAKOVAN: It's okay.
3 Speaker 16, with Speaker 40 on deck.
4 MR. MALONE: Hello. I'm Don Malone, I'm 5
retired from PG&E.
6 The first 4 to 6 years at Diablo was 7
setting up all of the instrumentation prior to startup 8
to measure temperatures,
- flows, pressures, 9
radiation, all of that stuff and all were true and 10 accurate in accordance with the quality programs that 11 are fully documented.
12 And then after that, I went into 13 regulatory services where I got the honor of sending 14 in all those wonderful environmental reports that 15 were mandated by the original licensing conditions 16 and the 316(b) and all of the other reports that you, 17 I'm sure, have spent many, many hours reading 18 diligently. I fell asleep many times myself 19 proofreading those before mailing them in, but I can 20 attest they are true, accurate, and correct, and that 21 your conclusions are sound.
22 Some of the things brought up here are 23 quite interesting -- costs, a third of the cost of 24 power in California has nothing to do with who 25
110 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 produces and the wire that it gets to, it has to do 1
with the political structure that puts the taxes and 2
the past events such as the Iran debacle and so forth 3
that we're still paying for, plus another special 4
tax that was imposed in January of this year that 5
many people are enjoying to this day.
6 But as far as the bases that you're 7
working on of all of the environmental effects as 8
documented in past reports which are on file with 9
the NRC, they're true, accurate, and correct, show 10 no major compromises of any system documents all of 11 the temperature profiles outside of the plant, any 12 changes in the environment, and the swimmies and 13 growies, and it's a better place today than it was 14 when I got there 40-some-3 years ago. Thank you.
15 (Applause.)
16 MR. RAKOVAN: Thanks for everyone who's 17 sticking it out with us. Speaker 40, and then, 18 Speaker 11, you're on deck.
19 MR. GUTIERREZ: I'm Thomas Gutierrez, 20 a professor of physics at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
21 I'm representing myself this evening. I thank you 22 for your time, and I thank you for crafting this 23 excellent report. That said, I do have some 24 quibbles.
25
111 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
- example, in Section 379 in 1
particular, the renewable combinations alternative 2
section, I believe that it is incorrectly framed in 3
my opinion. It appears to assume the State has 4
available existing capacity and that renewables have 5
a lower impact than existing nuclear plants.
6 In this context, it is important to note 7
that solar and wind do have impacts and do take up 8
more land resources than an existing nuclear plant.
9 Nuclear has far fewer emissions than solar, wind, 10 and hydro. It is the lowest emitter of all 11 alternative energies.
12 Nevertheless, I thank you for this work, 13 and I advocate moving forward and approving the 14 license renewal process for the Diablo Canyon plant.
15 Thank you.
16 MR. BROWN: Good evening. Thank you for 17 being here. My name is Mike Brown, and I'm the 18 government affairs director of two organizations 19 called COLAB, the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture, 20 and Business. We have one COLAB in Santa Barbara 21 County and one in San Luis County, and we're basically 22 a coalition of coalitions, so we represent ranching, 23 farming, construction, home development and building 24 realtors, equipment suppliers, energy companies, 25
112 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 irrigation, well drilling, trucking; petroleum 1
suppliers, particularly intermediate level ones that 2
service institutions like hospitals; Vandenberg Air 3
Force Base, jails, and basic societal infrastructure.
4 And between the two counties we have 5
about 2,000 members. So this is a broad 6
organization, and we support the relicensing of the 7
Diablo nuclear power plant.
8 In terms of the environment -- and we 9
need constant power of most of our people 24/7 all 10 year, you know, if you're doing some of these things, 11 you know, you got to pump water at night to be able 12 to water the plants and things in your field.
13 So we need that affordable electricity 14 that comes. And so in terms of the environmental 15 impact report, or EIS as you guys call it, one of 16 the things I want to bring to your attention -- and 17 many others have been brought by the speakers tonight 18
-- but the issue of resource adequacy or RA and what 19 we have -- and you can verify this -- the California 20 Public Utilities Commission, the CAISO, which is the 21 grid regulator that tries to balance the grid, and 22 you probably look at their website or whatever, very 23 interesting at different times of day, and the Public 24 Utilities Commission of the state are all pushing 25
113 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 all of the energy suppliers, both the investor-owned 1
companies and the new 17 community aggregators in 2
the state, which are new government energy providers, 3
to increase their resource adequacy.
4 And this is testimony that there is not 5
enough. And they're very worried about it, and 6
they're pushing it up, and it's stressing everybody, 7
the IOUs and the community choice aggregators because 8
one of the things they have to do is also under the 9
state laws increase their percentage of renewable 10 energy.
11 And California, the state government, 12 for whatever insane reason does not count nuclear 13 or large hydro as renewable energy. If they did, 14 PG&E would be 94 percent renewable energy at this 15 point, a startling statistic.
16 And of course as one of the speakers meant 17 earlier this evening, that it saves about 7 million 18 metric tons at Diablo of carbon energy that would 19 have to replace it.
20 So this is a major environmental issue, 21 and it's not going to get better fast. The community 22 choice aggregators are going all over the country 23 to buy renewable energy. There is not enough. They 24 can't meet the state standards. The state is 25
114 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 threatening to fine them for not meeting their 1
required growth in renewable energy, so you need to 2
be aware of that because if you were to turn this 3
power plant off in two years there would be a huge 4
gap.
5 Now, right now these lights that are on 6
in this room, the energy, some of it's coming from 7
Diablo; a lot of it's coming from Arizona; and it's 8
being generated by coal because there's not 9
sufficient renewable energy, particularly at night.
10 And so this whole system here is very, very fragile.
11 And so the no-action alternative in the EIS would 12 be a huge disaster. And impoverished, struggling 13 communities aren't good for the environment either.
14 So thank you very much. And I'm available for any 15 questions or clarification.
16 (Applause.)
17 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 45, 18 with Speaker 12 on deck. Again, if you could let 19 us know who you are and any group that you might be 20 with.
21 MR. MOUSHARRAFIE: Hello, I'm Zachary 22 Mousharrafie. I'm a physics student at Cal Poly and 23 a member of the Nuclear is Clean Energy Club at Cal 24 Poly. We have supported the renewal of Diablo 25
115 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's license because we believe that nuclear 1
energy is a key component towards fighting climate 2
change.
3 Every year, the climate crisis has gotten 4
worse and worse, and climate scientists have made 5
it clear that we are running out of time to reverse 6
things. We think Diablo's impact on decarbonization 7
efforts in California should not be understated.
8 Diablo provides 9 percent of California's energy.
9 And replacing that amount of energy with unclean 10 energy would be a tremendous blow to climate change.
11 As mentioned before, it's likely that 12 a lot of that slack left by Diablo, if it were to 13 be shut down, would be picked up by natural gas; as 14 well as burning natural gas, which releases CO2.
15 Methane is also a potent greenhouse gas. And as that 16 leaks from the miles of pipeline, that will worsen 17 the climate crisis.
18
- Also, the amount of uranium is 19 significantly more energy dense than fossil fuels 20 like coal. So a ton of coal has about the same amount 21 of energy density as the amount of uranium that would 22 fit in the end of my pinky right here.
23 And while California doesn't burn 24 coal -- like the speaker before me mentioned -- the 25
116 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 other states we may get it from, get energy from, 1
also burn coal. So mining operations definitely have 2
an environmental impact for coal as opposed to 3
uranium. Thank you.
4 (Applause.)
5 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 12, 6
with Speaker 28 on deck.
7 MR. BOYD: Hello, my name is Daniel Boyd.
8 I'm a member of IBEW 639. I'm also a resident of 9
Morro Bay, which happens to be in PAZ-9, the 10 Protective Action Zone. And I was also a resident 11 of San Diego County and lived within the 160-mile 12 wind rose chart of San Onofre. And I have the KI 13 tablets in my cabinet. I'm not afraid of how Diablo 14 produces their energy.
15 And we're talking about the environment 16 emissions. Diablo doesn't produce the emissions 17 that other forms of energy do. Diablo is not creating 18 fly ash pits. It's not creating a Superfund site, 19 such as what other states have experienced throughout 20 the past four decades.
21 And for the four decades that Diablo has 22 been operating, it's had a great track record of 23 safety. And with that, I would just like to say that 24 I approve the renewal of the license. Thank you.
25
117 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 (Applause.)
1 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 28.
2 Okay. Speaker 43. We have speaker 33 3
on deck.
4 MR. LATHROP: Good evening. My name is 5
Scott Lathrop. I'm a member of the yak titu titu 6
yak tiłhini tribe. The reason we're here this 7
evening is we wanted to show our support for the report 8
and your findings and recommendations.
9 We would consider ourselves the ultimate 10 environmentalists. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant 11 is actually located on one of our ancestral village 12 sites. It's in our homeland. And we wanted to 13 express that so far today, what PG&E has done as far 14 as protecting the environment around the plant has 15 been a great thing.
16 It's a simple question. You don't need 17 that big, thick report. The simple question is, are 18 we better off today in the environment with the plant 19 there or not? And if you had the opportunity to visit 20 the location, the ocean, what's around; you'll see 21 that it's been very well protected. In fact, 22 probably when the plant was originally built, there 23 was probably a lot of questions about how it would 24 affect the environment. But in reality, it's 25
118 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 actually become a real asset to the area as far as 1
protecting the area.
2 I know that when our tribe heard that 3
the plant potentially was going to be decommissioned, 4
we had big concerns on how that would affect the 5
environment because for several years, the plant has 6
been an anchor to protect that overall area. So we're 7
here to support your findings in your report. And 8
we would hope that it would move ahead quickly, and 9
the plant will be there for a long time. Thank you.
10 (Applause.)
11 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 50 on deck.
12 MS. GRIJALVA: Hi, everyone. My name 13 is Ally Grijalva, and I'm a civil project engineer 14 at Cannon Corporation.
15 Over the past few years I've had the 16 privilege of working under the guidance of Mr. John 17 Evans, whose leadership and expertise have been 18 invaluable. He's asked me to share a few words he 19 wrote on his behalf. We've done a lot of work with 20 PG&E and Diablo, so. "My name is John Evans, and 21 I've lived in San Luis Obispo since 1975. I'm unable 22 to attend tonight, but I would like to share a few 23 thoughts about Diablo Canyon license extension.
24 I've visited the power plant several times, and every 25
119 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 time I've been there, I've been struck by three 1
things. First is how small it is in a facility just 2
a little larger than Cuesta College can produce almost 3
10 percent of California's electricity. Second is 4
how clean and well-maintained it looks. And third 5
that it's already built and functioning and that it 6
would be a shame to stop letting it be useful." Thank 7
you.
8 (Applause.)
9 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 50, with Speaker 10 39 on deck. Again, if you could introduce yourself 11 and any group you're with. Looking for environmental 12 comments. Three to five minutes if you would.
13 MS. PARKS: Hi, I'm Linda Parks. I'm 14 also with Mothers for Peace in San Luis Obispo. I 15 would like to give you a letter that Senator Laird 16 sent to the Board of Supervisors in San Luis Obispo.
17 I'll hand that to you. I think it's really important 18 because he specified that going forward for 20 years 19 is completely, you know, he said very premature, and 20 I think that's important to note.
21 He said it will impact -- if we go to 22 20 years -- it has the potential to impact wind energy, 23 something that the state is very interested in 24 promoting. He said it would also impact workers, 25
120 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 they will not be able to get that transitional 1
pay to workers. So that to me is also an impact of 2
going to 20 years, something that's not mentioned 3
in the EIS.
4 He also talked about the fact that to 5
get to the just five years, which is what the state 6
authorized, just five years, and that's what the 7
state's loaning a billion dollars for or whatever, 8
just five years.
9 He said that to do that, first, they have 10 to look at safety and seismic review process and look 11 specifically at the embrittlement of reactor vessel 12 1, and that's for five years. Now, imagine if we're 13 going to go to 20 years.
14 And we know that just to do the five 15 years, it's roughly $8 billion or $10 billion, and 16 a lot of that is coming from rate payers throughout 17 the state of California. What will that mean if it 18 goes to 20 years? What is the impact to the 19 ratepayers then?
20 And where will the money come from?
21 Because right now they're betting on getting this 22 loan from the feds that goes to the state. So there's 23 no real avenue for revenue to fund this 20 years.
24 Now, with Senator Laird talking about 25
121 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 fact that they need to look at seismic safety 1
and do the embrittlement review, the question that 2
arises is let's say they do that review, which is 3
to, you know, go in there and take out the capsule 4
and look at it and find out that, "Oh yes, indeed 5
it is embrittled. We're going to have to shut this 6
thing down."
7 Well, then we have invested all this 8
money for one reactor, one vessel, you know that 9
that's not what the plan is. And then you wonder, 10 what is the financial impact of spending all that 11 money when you're only getting one reactor vessel, 12 not two, you know, two reactors; you're only getting 13 one.
14 So that to me is a potential waste of 15 rate payer money and federal money and state money 16 that's all going into this when you've basically got 17 an old plant. It costs billions of dollars to upgrade 18 it. There's a lot better technology out there now.
19 So that to me is also a concern. Where are they 20 going to get the billions, and is that -- are those 21 billions going to get wasted?
22 So in your appendix F of the EIS, it talks 23 about
- SAMAs, Severe Accident Mitigation 24 Alternatives. And to me, one of those alternatives 25
122 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 should be looking at the mitigation if you have to 1
close a reactor vessel one down because it's 2
embrittled.
3 Well, what do you do? Can you fix that 4
embrittlement? Well, you'd have to build a whole 5
other vessel more than likely and that's going to 6
cost way too much. So that's where I'm saying they'll 7
probably end up shutting it down. But that needs 8
to be looked at.
9 We have, as mentioned previously, Peter 10 Bird, expert, saying that you have these thrust faults 11 that weren't looked at.
12 Something else the EIS doesn't look at 13 is the Noto earthquake in Japan that happened in 2024, 14 which has similar geography to Diablo. And so that 15 really needs to be looked at too.
16 I wonder about the NRC's ability to 17 require, before you get all over into this potentially 18 10, 20
- years, whatever, require that the 19 embrittlement test is done first. You know, that's 20 so simple. You know, the last -- they promised to 21 do one and that they didn't have the right tools, 22 and they couldn't quite get in there, so they didn't 23 do it. And even that one was really late. We need 24 to have that test done.
25
123 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 then the one before that that they 1
did do, they couldn't quite figure it out. It didn't 2
look right, so they didn't use the data. So you're 3
just talking about those little capsules that they 4
looked at, not being tested and having an adequate 5
reading for decades.
6 So this is something the NRC can do and 7
should do, and it should be one of the requirements 8
to ensure safety and that is to make sure and test 9
for embrittlement before you go down this road where 10 we might end up with just one reactor.
11 I think that that's it. I really 12 appreciate the fact that you're here. I hope you 13 will consider the fact that wind energy is important.
14 There's only so much transmission line capacity.
15 That's the deal. So if it all goes to Diablo, you 16 can't put wind energy on those same transmission 17 lines. So they're really counting on five years.
18 So what's the impact to renewable, true renewable 19 energy that doesn't cause, you know, cancer and stuff.
20 What's the true impact of having Diablo go 20 years?
21 And I hope you will look at Senator 22 Laird's letter. The last line reads, "The state 23 legislature and the Governor have only authorized 24 the five-year extension of Diablo Canyon Power Plant 25
124 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 as a state legislator from this region, I would 1
certainly not support any legislation for a further 2
extension until the extension we have already 3
approved is fully permitted and all the attending 4
issues outlined above mentioned those issues. So 5
thank you very much.
6 (Applause.)
7 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. We still have 8
Speaker 39 with us, and Speaker 13 on deck.
9 MS. LUCAS: Hello, my name is Fernanda 10 Lucas, and I am proud to be a resident of San Luis 11 Obispo County. I'm here as a citizen with a personal 12 experience from my work at the Promotores 13 Collaborative of San Luis Obispo County, who works 14 mainly with the monolingual Spanish and Mixteco 15 community.
16 The Promotores Collaborative is a
17 community-based model dedicated to bridge the gap 18 between the private and public organizations in the 19 community.
20 And back in August of this year, the 21 Promotores were honored to be the first group to tour 22 the Diablo Canyon in Spanish. We deeply appreciate 23 the efforts to accommodate our needs in providing 24 an inclusive and accessible experience for our 25
125 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 community. The tour was incredible, informative, 1
and enriching, and we were grateful for the 2
opportunity to participate.
3 During this tour, we learned that the 4
PG&E not only generates electricity but also provides 5
employment opportunities to many residents of the 6
county, scholarships, and funding of non-profit 7
organizations to support community efforts, and 8
support the environmental justice, and also the 9
inclusion of the diversity, equity, and inclusion.
10 I am in support of the keeping the Diablo 11 Canyon open for the economic impact. The Diablo 12 Canyon is a vital source of jobs, significantly 13 boosting the local economy. The educational 14 support, providing the scholarships and education 15 programs to help nurture the next generation of 16 professionals and leaders. The community programs, 17 the initiatives such as the bill assistance programs, 18 are essential for supporting low-income families and 19 ensuring equitable access to energy resources.
20 If the plant closes, it's a bigger 21 increase of cost for the families to pay. So without 22 the plant here, how the families are going to be 23 impacted and the ripple effect that it will have, 24 like, the bills more expensive, the more stress 25
126 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 levels, and then how they affect their lives.
1 And finally, the environmental benefits, 2
as a nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon produces 3
carbon-free clean energy for three million people 4
and aiding California meeting its climate goals.
5 Thank you.
6 (Applause.)
7 MR. RAKOVAN: I swear we did Speaker 13, 8
but, like, all the numbers are starting to blur 9
together. So Speaker 13 is here. Speaker 41.
10 Excellent. We have speaker 26 on deck. Again, 11 appreciate you all hanging out this late.
12 MS. CLAY: Yes, thank you all for giving 13 me this chance to speak. My name is Jennifer Clay.
14 I am a professor and chair of the physics department 15 at Cal Poly, but I'm here speaking on behalf of the 16 environmental group, Mothers for Nuclear, for which 17 I'm a board member.
18 And I first just want to say thank you 19 to all of you for the work you've done on this report.
20 I think we came and provided input and comment at 21 the first public meeting and encouraged you to include 22 the no-action option in the report. So we were really 23 glad to see that that made it into this draft and 24 thank you for that. And for all the work that you've 25
127 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 done to prepare this.
1 We definitely agree with and support the 2
recommendation in the report that 3
relicensing there are not significant 4
environmental impacts to the relicensing, and so that 5
supports the pursuit if the energy policy decision 6
makers would like to go that way.
7 But we do have a few points of feedback 8
and areas for improvement for the report. We plan 9
to submit a detailed written comment by the deadline, 10 so you'll get that there. Here I'll just try to 11 quickly summarize a few of the points where we have 12 some suggestions.
13 First, we want to say thank you for 14 recognizing that no additional -- or that the existing 15 work for the 2016 application is still accurate, and 16 we don't need a significant change, or there's not 17 a need for additional information to address those 18 concerns. We appreciate that you recognized and 19 commented on greenhouse gas emissions and their 20 impacts from plant operation in this report. That's 21 an important improvement and update.
22 And I think on the no-action alternative, 23 a couple of the things where we would like to see 24 some improvement. Although it attempts to detail 25
128 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 negative impacts of not issuing the permit, we 1
don't feel that it adequately addresses those impacts 2
in regards to decarbonization efforts and grid 3
reliability, in particular near-term reliability 4
needs to be a bigger focus.
5 We also feel that in the purchase power 6
alternative that was submitted, it understates the 7
socioeconomic greenhouse gas emissions and 8
environmental justice impacts of increasing energy 9
output from existing generating facilities, while 10 also overestimating the State's ability to procure 11 additional capacity. So we'd like to see that 12 addressed.
13 And in the renewables combination 14 alternative, we agree that with another commenter 15 that we think it's incorrectly framed, assuming that 16 the capacity is available to the State already 17 existing, and that they have a lower impact than an 18 existing nuclear power plant. So we would just 19 encourage you to address those areas in the revision 20 to the report. And thank you for your efforts in 21 this regard.
22 (Applause.)
23 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 26, 24 with Speaker 35 on deck. Again, if you could 25
129 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 introduce yourself and any group you may be with.
1 MR. MEDRANO: Well, good evening. My 2
name is Joshua Medrano. I am the executive 3
secretary, treasurer, principal officer of the Tri 4
Counties Building & Construction Trades Council of 5
San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties; 6
representing over 22 construction trades, crafts, 7
and roughly over 16,000 individuals throughout our 8
counties.
9 We are here this evening to stand firm 10 in the fact that we need to keep Diablo open. Now, 11 it is my understanding that this is about 12 environmental. So let me give you some facts here 13 that everybody can check and make sure that you sign 14 on to energy dot gov. So here are three reasons, 15 okay?
16
- One, nuclear energy protects air 17 quality. Nuclear is a zero-emission clean energy 18 source that generates power through fission, which 19 is the process of splitting uranium atoms to produce 20 energy. The heat released by fission is used to 21 create steam and released that spins a turbine to 22 generate electricity without the harmful byproducts 23 emitted by fossil fuels.
24 Now, according to the Nuclear Energy 25
130 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 Institute, the United States avoided more than 471 1
million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2
2020. That's the equivalent of removing 100 million 3
cars from the road and more than all other clean energy 4
sources combined. Let me repeat that, more than all 5
of the other clean energy sources combined. It also 6
keeps the air clean by removing thousands of tons 7
of harmful air pollutants each year that contribute 8
to acid rain, smog, lung cancer, and cardiovascular 9
disease.
10 Number
- two, nuclear energy land 11 footprint is small. Despite producing a massive 12 amounts of carbon-free power, nuclear energy produces 13 more electricity and less land than any other clean 14 air source. A typical 1000 megawatt nuclear facility 15 in the United States needs a little more than one 16 square mile to operate.
17 This NEI says wind farms require 360 18 times more land area to produce the same amount of 19 electricity and solar rotating plants require 75 20 times more space. To put that in perspective, you 21 would need more than 3 million solar panels to produce 22 the same amount of power as a typical commercial 23 reactor or more than 430 wind turbines capacity factor 24 not included.
That doesn't sound very 25
131 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 environmentally friendly to me.
1 Third, nuclear energy produces minimal 2
waste. Nuclear fuel is extremely dense. It is about 3
1 million times greater than that of their traditional 4
energy sources. And because of this, the amount of 5
used nuclear fuel is not as big as you might think.
6 All the used nuclear fuel produced by U.S. nuclear 7
energy industry over the last 60 years could fit on 8
a football field at a depth of less than 10 yards.
9 Now, I encourage everybody to do their 10 homework. I understand that this is quite the taboo 11 to ask to keep a nuclear power plant open. However, 12 I want to encourage those that are in the room to 13 go past their own convictions and take a look at the 14 data, okay?
15 Now, I know that there's data that 16 opposes everything that I just said, and that's fine.
17 That's why we live in this great nation. However, 18 it is a fact that we need this to stay open. It is 19 a fact that it offers head-of-household incomes to 20 those in the community. It is a fact that you are 21 not only affecting individuals here locally, but 22 you're affecting individuals throughout Southern 23 California as well as the rest of this great state 24 if you take this down.
25
132 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 Now, the building and construction 1
trades, we offer thousands of hours of safety training 2
as well as ways to mitigate installations to make 3
sure that our installations are done safely, on time, 4
and under
- budget, as well as working with 5
environmental impact agencies to make sure that 6
whatever we install, it is done appropriately the 7
first time.
8 So again, the Tri Counties Building &
9 Construction Trades pleads with you to keep Diablo 10 Canyon open. Thank you.
11 (Applause.)
12 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 24, 13 you're on deck if you're still with us.
14 MR. FLEDDERMAN: Good evening, and 15 thanks for hanging in there with us. My name is Jude 16 Fledderman, and I've been a resident of the Central 17 Coast for 42 years. I'm also a retiree from Diablo 18 Canyon, having worked there for 33 years, and then 19 for six years at Cal Poly, subsequent to my retirement 20 at Diablo.
21 During my tenure there, I had various 22 jobs, but I was director of site services, which 23 included security. For a while, I was director of 24 maintenance. In the last nine years, prior to my 25
133 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 retirement, I was the director of strategic projects 1
for Diablo Canyon.
2 As an engineer, I could stand here and 3
talk for hours on the technical aspects and the 4
importance of California to our grid, or the 5
importance of Diablo to our grid, and other technical 6
reasons, but I don't want to do that tonight. I want 7
to rather just discuss a couple of environmental and 8
community benefits that it provides.
9 I strongly believe in protecting our 10 environment. The lands in the coastline of Diablo 11 Canyon are uniquely a rare and pretty much untouched 12 section of our west coast. It deserves, and I feel 13 it's received, excellent stewardship over the past 14 50 years.
15 Luckily for all of us, much of these lands 16 have been made accessible for all of us to enjoy.
17 As was mentioned prior, the Southern Zone Pecho Coast 18 Trail provides its travelers with amazing views of 19 San Luis Obispo Bay, the lighthouse with its grandeur 20 and history, and Rattlesnake Canyon with its 21 botanical majesty.
22 On the northern lands, the Point Buchon 23 Trail gives us access to another three miles of 24 preserved coastal bluffs like there are hardly 25
134 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 anywhere else in California or the United States.
1 If anyone hasn't yet experienced these hiking gems, 2
I strongly recommend going for a visit.
3 And lastly, and more importantly, I want 4
to speak a little bit to the local support that both 5
current and past Diablo Canyon employees provide in 6
our community. Like many of my retiree peers, I am 7
involved with several local nonprofits such as the 8
Red Cross, CASA, and Creek Lands, a local freshwater 9
and nearshore conservation organization. I've also 10 done work with the worldwide disaster recovery team, 11 All Hands and Hearts, in places such as Paradise, 12 California, following the 2018 campfire.
13 Sometimes it can be hard to measure the 14 overall community benefits of the thousands of 15 volunteer hours performed by Diablo employees and 16 retirees. But for those in-need recipients, it is 17 crystal clear, vitally important, and heartfelt 18 welcome.
19 I am very proud to have been a part of 20 the history of both the construction and the operation 21 of Diablo Canyon. Even though I retired there in 22 2015, I still hike its trails, I follow its 23 operations, and I maintain lifelong friendships with 24 many of my colleagues. I want to thank you for the 25
135 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 opportunity to speak tonight and encourage the 1
approval of license renewal of Diablo Canyon.
2 (Applause.)
3 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 24, if you're 4
still with us. Speaker 38, and Speaker 27 on deck.
5 MS. HUANG: Good evening. My name is 6
Julia Huang, and I am not an official spokesperson 7
for PG&E or Diablo Canyon. I have for the past 12 8
years called Atascadero my home, and Diablo Canyon 9
Power Plant my second home. I am currently a nuclear 10 project supervisor.
11 I'm also a disabled veteran, proudly 12 serving seven years in the United States Marine Corps 13 as a generator mechanic and utilities chief. My first 14 civilian job was with PG&E, and I'm proud to say I've 15 worked for the company now for over 22 years.
16 Tonight, I'm here to talk to you about 17 the veterans, employees like myself, and that support 18 and operate this plant.
19 Of PG&E's 23,000-plus employees, 20 approximately 2,000 are self-identified as veterans, 21 and a large contingency of those veterans work with 22 me at Diablo Canyon. Our community cannot be in safer 23 or better hands. I cannot express to you the pride 24 I feel for working for a company that proactively 25
136 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 recruits and values the hiring of our nation's heroes 1
and skilled veterans.
2 Specifically, Diablo Canyon recognizes 3
that our veterans have the required leadership, 4
proficiency, and expertise that drives safe, 5
reliable, and efficient operation of our plant. Of 6
over the 1,000 acres that Diablo Canyon sits on, it's 7
some of the most pristine land in California, and 8
supported/operated by nuclear professionals, and 9
again, a large contingency of us that are veterans.
10 The standard will always be at its highest.
11 Diablo Canyon has afforded me and other 12 veterans the ability to continue our service in a 13 meaningful and personal way. Diablo Canyon has also 14 given me and my fellow veteran colleagues a successful 15 path after service to our country, to financially 16 raise our families and the beautiful Central Coast, 17 and contribute to the communities that we live in.
18 I am proud to be part of this organization and the 19 team at Diablo Canyon. Thank you for the opportunity 20 to speak and semper fi.
21 (Applause.)
22 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. Speaker 37 on 23 deck.
24 MR. NELSON: Good evening. My name is 25
137 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 Dr. Gene Nelson, and I serve as the president of 1
Californians for Green Nuclear Power. I'm going to, 2
first, hand over a letter that I submitted to the 3
NRC in objection to the 2.206 petition from SLO 4
Mothers for Peace. As a physicist, as a scientist, 5
I rebut some of the extraordinary claims of Dr. Peter 6
Bird.
7 I'd like to draw your attention to an 8
advertisement that appeared on page three of today's 9
San Luis Obispo Tribune. It shows a large light bulb 10 half-lit, and it says, "With Diablo Canyon, our 11 state's only operating nuclear facility, we have 12 clean electricity to keep the lights on for more than 13 three million Californians. Without it, we'll have 14 to delay our progress to 100 percent renewable energy 15 when solar and wind can't meet the need." The bottom 16 line is, you can't meet the need with solar and wind, 17 but you can with nuclear.
18 So we concur with the NRC's staff 19 evaluation and preliminary conclusion that no 20 environmental impacts would preclude renewing the 21 Diablo Canyon Power Plant licenses for an additional 22 20 years of operation.
23 Furthermore, cessation of Diablo Canyon 24 operations would cause significant environmental 25
138 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 degradation. When San Onofre Nuclear Generating 1
Station was closed at the end of January 2012 instead 2
of being repaired, the result has been to substitute 3
pollution-laden out-of-state coal-fired generation 4
for the roughly 18 terawatts per year emission-free 5
SONGS generation.
6 State of California legislation and CPUC 7
actions have allowed those coal-fired imports to be 8
hidden behind a California-specific legal euphemism, 9
"unspecified imports."
10 The large fraction of Southern 11 California Edison's power source labeling that has 12 been filled via unspecified imports since February 13 2012 are consistent with the coal-fired power being 14 substituted for SONGS' substantial annual 15 generation.
16 While Warren Buffett has been 17 aggressively lobbying to indirectly force Diablo 18 Canyon to shut down via CAISO grid regionalization, 19 CGNP has continued to oppose this harmful 20 substitution. If CAISO grid regionalization occurs, 21 Buffett will be able to successfully challenge 22 California environmental legislation, such as SB 846, 23 in federal court following the important U.S. Supreme 24 Court decision in 2016 via Hughes v. Talen Energy.
25
139 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 Commerce Clause of the U.S.
1 Constitution grants federal preemption in trade 2
involving interstate commerce.
3 Furthermore, a pair of 2016 FERC 4
decisions, 155 FERC 61101 and 155 FERC 61102, served 5
as bars to Ohio's proposed zero-emissions credit for 6
two Ohio nuclear power plants. Ohio is a member of 7
a multistate grid system operator.
8 So this is the problems that Diablo 9
Canyon is facing. So I strongly urge you to allow 10 this plant to be relicensed for a full 20 years.
11 Thank you.
12 (Applause.)
13 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 42 on deck. 37 14 is up.
15 MR. FOOTE: Hello. My name is Michael 16 Foote. I'm director of economic development and 17 community affairs at REACH, a regional economic 18 impact organization with a mission to support 19 economic planning, unlock economic opportunity for 20 San Luis Obispo and San Barbara counties.
21 We have spent the last few years deeply 22 involved in work related to Diablo Canyon's future, 23 engaging with a broad base of community partners, 24 spanning from private
- sector, government, 25
140 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 non-profit, and tribal representatives.
1 Central Coast has been a long-standing 2
energy and climate leader. Charting the future is 3
a key aspect of our work. We have been coordinating 4
with community efforts to plan for the long-term 5
future of the plant's assets to ensure economic 6
stability and maximize opportunities for the Central 7
Coast to lead on clean energy innovation as our state 8
evolves its energy ecosystem.
9 This work has resulted in a joint vision 10 for fostering CleanTech Innovation Park at Parcel 11 P, which was endorsed by federal, state, and local 12 elected officials, as well as other stakeholders.
13 We have since collaborated closely with 14 state, tribal representatives, land conservancy, and 15 Cal Poly to translate this vision and parallel work 16 on conserving surrounding lands into a concrete plan 17 of action that can coexist with continued plant 18 operations.
19 We support extended operations as 20 outlined in SB 846. The preservation of 15,000 21 good-paying jobs, as well as critical resources and 22 planning for clean energy innovation, land 23 conservation, and tribal celebration provides 24 stability for our region's economy and the foundation 25
141 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 build towards a community future vision.
1 The NRC license renewal process takes 2
place in parallel with wider vision for regional, 3
state, and federal planning efforts, advancing land 4
conservation, developing clean-tech innovative 5
ecosystems, and preparing the development of new 6
energy technologies such as offshore wind.
7 We believe that we can work together 8
towards a shared goal of sustainable and diverse and 9
thriving Central Coast. Thank you for the 10 consideration.
11 (Applause.)
12 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. So Speaker 42 13 is the last number that we have for the fishbowl.
14 I do have some folks that signed up late, so I have 15 some additional numbers that we can call, but is 16 Speaker 42 still here?
17 Okay. We're going to go on to the 18 lightning round. I have five tickets for folks who 19 signed up after we had already moved the fishbowl 20 into the room, so we'll go in order starting with 21 speaker number 52, if you're still with us. And then 22 after 52 we'll go to 53. Let's take them in order.
23 MR. BALDWIN: Hi, good evening. My name 24 is David Baldwin I'm the business manager for the 25
142 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 pipefitters union here in San Luis Obispo County, 1
Local 403, and I'm here speaking in that capacity.
2 I would like to apologize for us being 3
on the lightning round. We had a meeting tonight, 4
so we were unable to be here at the -- when you convened 5
the meeting, but we are happy to get the opportunity 6
to speak.
7 I represent about 350 members here in 8
San Luis Obispo pipefitters many of which work at 9
Diablo Canyon. And I think it's important that they 10 take into consideration, the contractual 11 relationship that we have with PG&E and sort of how 12 that plays out in the real world, sort of way.
13 So, contractually, of course it means 14 the obvious as far as working conditions and wages 15 and the training of apprentices and access to 16 middle-class jobs and the like, and things that I'm 17 sure that you're all well aware of. But it also means 18 that you get a local workforce that's heavily invested 19 in the success of the project.
20 So our members live here, they buy their 21 homes here, they raise their families here, the kids 22 go to school here, and they enjoy and love our central 23 coastline here as much as anyone. And I think that's 24 important to understand.
25
143 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 know for me, I first worked at Diablo 1
when I was still in high school at Morro Bay High 2
School, and I went to work as an apprentice at Diablo 3
Canyon, and I first learned about the environment 4
and how to protect it in the work we do at Diablo 5
Canyon. I learned about engineering controls and 6
how to protect stormwater runoff, and how to use the 7
materials and the techniques that impact, protect 8
the environment. They protect us as well as workers, 9
but also they protect the surrounding community where 10 we work.
11 And I think that is just important. I 12 haven't heard it mentioned quite like that tonight, 13 and I hope that's something that you can take into 14 consideration for the folks that I represent.
15 And also, we think it's clear that the 16 only logical way forward for California to meet its 17 goals for its electrical energy grid, and also for 18 the state's climate goals, is for the continued 19 operation of Diablo Canyon. We urge you to move in 20 that direction. Thank you.
21 (Applause.)
22 MR. RAKOVAN: Speaker 53, with 54 on 23 deck.
24 MR. O'MAHONEY: Hello, I'm Kevin 25
144 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 O'Mahoney. I am a pipefitter out of 403.
1 I support keeping the plant open as well.
2 I feel if you close it, it's taking a bigger step 3
backwards than moving forward. And we don't need 4
to do that with how the state wants to go moving 5
forward. Brings a lot of good work for everybody 6
around here, as you can see PG&E's part of the 7
community. That's it. Thanks.
8 (Applause.)
9 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. 54 and then 10 going to 55.
11 MR. SMID: Thank you everybody for 12 staying as late as you have. My name is Stephen Smid, 13 and I am a member also of Local 403, San Luis Obispo 14 plumbers and pipefitters union.
15 I've been a member of the community since 16 1972. And I want to say right now I'm in support 17 of keeping the power plant open and relicensing unit 18 1 and unit 2 for another 20 years.
19 I've been working at that power plant 20 off and on since 2007, beginning with the first steam 21 generator outage there and, you know, provided me 22 an opportunity to make my first down payment on the 23 first home I ever bought. Since then I've, you know, 24 moved in and moved up and, and it provided me access 25
145 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 funds that I could do that, so I do want to keep 1
it open.
2 You know, other than financial and 3
economic, they operate safely, and the state needs 4
a lot of electricity that the power plant provides 5
safely, reliably, efficiently, and clean.
6 I've worked in other infrastructures 7
like coal and oil, and they are very dirty and toxic, 8
and my experience at the power plant is that it creates 9
a very clean working environment for all of us 10 employees and workers, and it's very safe and it's 11 run very responsibly.
12 So, you know, as the state adds more and 13 more infrastructure like EV charging stations.
14 There's AI coming on that is a great deal of power 15 that it takes, and then there's all these data centers 16 that require more and more power. The state needs 17 this power to stay viable and keep the grid running 18 so that these things can be powered for the future.
19 So with that, please keep that in 20 consideration and keep the power plant going for 21 another 20 years. Appreciate you listening to me 22 and staying up as late as y'all have.
23 (Applause.)
24 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. We'll go to 25
146 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 55, and then 56 on deck.
1 MR. WHITE: Thanks. My name is James 2
White. I'll keep it short.
3 The idea of walking away from billions 4
of dollars of clean, responsibly operated electrical 5
infrastructure is just incomprehensible to me, and 6
I support relicensing the plan. Thanks.
7 (Applause.)
8 MR. RAKOVAN: All right. We'll go to 9
Speaker 56, and then as a twist, Speaker 6 wanted 10 to come back and take his time. So we're going to 11 go to Speaker 6, and then we'll go to close, so please.
12 MR.
PIVOVAROFF:
Thanks for the 13 lightning round. I'm shocked. Good evening. My 14 name is Joe Pivovaroff. I'm a local resident of San 15 Luis Obispo and honorably discharged Coast Guard 16 veteran. I'm honored to speak before you today on 17 behalf of my community to advocate for the continued 18 operation of Diablo Canyon Power Plant.
19 With years of experience in the energy 20 sector, particularly in wind energy, I've seen 21 firsthand both the potential and the limitations of 22 renewable resources. When power is vital to 23 California's future, but it isn't always available 24 when we need it most. When the wind doesn't blow, 25
147 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 need reliable baseload energy sources like Diablo 1
Canyon to ensure grid stability and meet our energy 2
demands.
3 California is a national leader in clean 4
energy, but as we transition we must remain mindful 5
of the need for reliable consistent power. Diablo 6
Canyon has been an essential part of state's energy 7
mix for decades, and its role will only grow more 8
critical as our population increases and our energy 9
needs expand. It provides a reliable source of 10 carbon-free energy, ensuring that we don't face power 11 shortages or escalating costs that could negatively 12 affect our communities and businesses.
13 I've actually personally worked on 14 Diablo Canyon through family construction called XNS 15 out there. I've been out there for site visits.
16 The national security and the personal security they 17 take pride in is extended to the best I've ever seen 18 in my life.
19 Having worked in the energy sector, I 20 understand the importance of balancing renewable 21 energy with stable power generation. While wind and 22 solar are our key to our future, they can't always 23 meet the demand.
24 Diablo Canyon's continued operation will 25
148 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 help ensure that we have a balanced energy portfolio 1
capable of meeting California's growing needs while 2
supporting grid reliability and economic stability.
3 I stand before you today as a proud 4
community member, a veteran, and someone who 5
understands the importance of ensuring that we have 6
a secure and reliable energy future.
7 On behalf of the residents of San Luis 8
Obispo in California, I urge the NRC to support the 9
continued operation of Diablo Canyon.
Its 10 contribution to energy security, economic stability 11 and the well-being of all Californians is absolutely 12 indispensable. Thank you.
13 (Applause.)
14 MR. RAKOVAN: Okay. We'll finish up 15 with speaker number 6, and then we'll go to Michelle 16 Sampson to close for the evening.
17 NUMBER 6: Good evening. Thank you for 18 holding this event tonight. It's great that you're 19 taking this interest in the public.
20 And looking at everybody that's been here 21 tonight and the few who are remaining, I've been 22 extremely impressed by what I've been hearing both 23 on the supportive side as well as the unsupportive 24 side. But you see the great public outpouring.
25
149 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 am a PG&E retiree. I retired in 2021 1
with 35 years' experience, and I had a unique position 2
in the plant, which was very quiet, behind the scenes, 3
that very few people knew about. And that is I 4
reported plant operating performance to the company 5
and locally as well as state and federal agencies 6
and organizations, providing a lot of the numbers 7
that everyone's talking about tonight.
8 I was very proud to do that, and it was 9
very challenging to do. But as I listen to folks 10 tonight, I've heard a few themes that do concern me.
11 And that is number one, I recognize your role in 12 this is purely technical. I highly respect that.
13 And you will do your job as you're supposed to 14 technically to decide whether Diablo Canyon should 15 continue operating or not. And there may be some 16 real technical issues brought up tonight that you 17 have to look into. I can certainly see that.
18 But there's one thing that's concerning 19 me that hasn't been addressed tonight. And because 20 it's something that has just only occurred recently, 21 which very few people are still -- many people are 22 still trying to digest. And that is our future in 23 this nation is very challenged right now. There are 24 a lot of open-ended things right now that may be coming 25
150 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 at us that we just never expected.
1 And obviously, the way we do business, 2
the way the NRC does business and all the utilities, 3
it's all based on how the United States operates.
4 Well, we may have some challenges coming 5
our way. Certainly, California may be having some 6
challenges coming our way. I strongly support the 7
continuation of Diablo Canyon. It's vitally needed 8
in this in this state.
9 And number one, it's to help provide some 10 stability. Now, in the face of your technical work, 11 I understand this, but to help provide some stability 12 in what may be coming our way.
13 Obviously, if you do agree and provide 14 approval for another 20 years of operation, it doesn't 15 mean Diablo will operate another 20 years, but at 16 least we've gotten the technical approval to do so 17 if we can.
18 But bear in mind, there are some things 19 that we may have been hanging our hat on over many 20 years. And recently, one of those is wind 21 generation. Well, our wind generation may be 22 challenged in the coming years. So just bear in mind, 23 there may be some things in your reporting that may 24 come to light as having to be changed in our approach.
25
151 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 all I want to say is thank you for 1
being here. I strongly, strongly support Diablo 2
Canyon. I know how it works inside and out. I've 3
seen many, many meetings that involve environmental 4
operations. And I think keeping Diablo Canyon in 5
operation, from what I'm hearing tonight, it does 6
strongly support environmental operations at the 7
plant and really being pristine. So thanks for being 8
here. Please support moving Diablo forward another 9
20 years.
10 (Applause.)
11 MS. SAMPSON: So I'd like to thank 12 everyone for joining us here this evening to share 13 your comments and perspectives on the Draft 14 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on 15 renewal of the Diablo Canyon license. I recognize 16 that you have taken your time to prepare for this 17 meeting. And a special thank you to all of you who 18 have stayed with us through what was a
19 longer-than-expected meeting.
20 We really benefit from receiving public 21 comments. And I just would like to point out on the 22 screen, we will continue to take comments for about 23 another month. So please feel free to provide us 24 with any additional comments or perspectives on the 25
152 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 draft supplemental report. We welcome that input.
1 The work that we do is really made better by receiving 2
the input from you. So thank you for that.
3 And with that, in closing, I'd like to 4
just, again, tell you how much we appreciate your 5
participation tonight. And I hope that everyone has 6
a safe trip home this evening. Thank you.
7 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 8
went off the record at 9:27 p.m.)
9