ML14097A254: Difference between revisions
StriderTol (talk | contribs) (Created page by program invented by StriderTol) |
StriderTol (talk | contribs) (Created page by program invented by StriderTol) |
||
(3 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
| number = ML14097A254 | | number = ML14097A254 | ||
| issue date = 03/25/2014 | | issue date = 03/25/2014 | ||
| title = | | title = Draft Environmental Impact Statement Public Meeting: Afternoon Session - Corrected. Pages 1-56 | ||
| author name = | | author name = | ||
| author affiliation = NRC/NRR, NRC/NRR/DLR | | author affiliation = NRC/NRR, NRC/NRR/DLR | ||
Line 16: | Line 16: | ||
=Text= | =Text= | ||
{{#Wiki_filter:Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION | |||
==Title:== | |||
Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station Draft Environmental Impact Statement Public Meeting: Afternoon Session Docket Number: (n/a) | |||
Location: Port Clinton, Ohio Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 Work Order No.: NRC-650 Pages 1-56 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC. | |||
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W. | |||
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433 | |||
1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + + | |||
4 DAVIS-BESSE NUCLEAR POWER STATION 5 PUBLIC MEETING 6 DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT 7 + + + + + | |||
8 Tuesday, 9 March 25th, 2014 10 + + + + + | |||
ii Port Clinton, Ohio 12 The Public Meeting was held at 2:00 p.m. at the 13 Camp Perry Conference Center, 1000 Lawrence Road, 14 Building 600, Port Clinton, Ohio, Alison Rivera, 15 Facilitator, presiding. | |||
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. | |||
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 | |||
2 1 APPEARANCES: | |||
2 ALISON RIVERA FACILITATOR 3 JOHN LUBINSKI 4 BRIAN WITTACK 5 BOB HOFFMAN 6 ELAINE KEEGAN 7 JAMNES CAMERON 8 DAVID HILLS 9 VIKTORIA MITLYNG 10 HARRAL LOGARAS 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. | |||
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 | |||
3 1 A-G-E-N-D-A 2 WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS 4 3 OVERVIEW OF DRAFT SEIS 4 ELAINE KEEGAN 7 5 QUESTIONS 33 6 PUBLIC COMMENTS 33 7 CLOSING REMARKS 50 8 | |||
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. | |||
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 | |||
4 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I- |
Latest revision as of 07:59, 5 December 2019
ML14097A254 | |
Person / Time | |
---|---|
Site: | Davis Besse ![]() |
Issue date: | 03/25/2014 |
From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Division of License Renewal |
To: | |
References | |
NRC-650 | |
Download: ML14097A254 (57) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station Draft Environmental Impact Statement Public Meeting: Afternoon Session Docket Number: (n/a)
Location: Port Clinton, Ohio Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 Work Order No.: NRC-650 Pages 1-56 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +
4 DAVIS-BESSE NUCLEAR POWER STATION 5 PUBLIC MEETING 6 DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT 7 + + + + +
8 Tuesday, 9 March 25th, 2014 10 + + + + +
ii Port Clinton, Ohio 12 The Public Meeting was held at 2:00 p.m. at the 13 Camp Perry Conference Center, 1000 Lawrence Road, 14 Building 600, Port Clinton, Ohio, Alison Rivera, 15 Facilitator, presiding.
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
2 1 APPEARANCES:
2 ALISON RIVERA FACILITATOR 3 JOHN LUBINSKI 4 BRIAN WITTACK 5 BOB HOFFMAN 6 ELAINE KEEGAN 7 JAMNES CAMERON 8 DAVID HILLS 9 VIKTORIA MITLYNG 10 HARRAL LOGARAS 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
3 1 A-G-E-N-D-A 2 WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS 4 3 OVERVIEW OF DRAFT SEIS 4 ELAINE KEEGAN 7 5 QUESTIONS 33 6 PUBLIC COMMENTS 33 7 CLOSING REMARKS 50 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
4 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 1:30 p.m.
3 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Good afternoon, 4 everyone. I want to welcome you and thank you for 5 participating in this meeting, to provide comments on 6 the draft supplemental environmental impact statement 7 for the -- prepared by the NRC staff, as part of an NRC 8 independent review of the Davis-Besse application, to 9 renew its operating license, for an additional 20 years.
10 My name is Alison Rivera and I will be the 11 facilitator for this meeting. My role, as the 12 facilitator, is to help in making sure that this meeting 13 runs smoothly, that everyone who wants to speak has an 14 opportunity to do so and to try to keep us running on 15 time. So thank you for taking your seats in a timely 16 manner.
17 This is a category 3 public meeting, to 18 encourage active participation, and information 19 exchange, with the public, to obtain information on the 20 draft supplemental environmental impact statement.
21 Hopefully everyone had a chance to sign in.
22 We had a table out front, in the lobby. But if you 23 didn't have a chance to do so, please do so at the end 24 of the meeting.
25 The agenda, for this meeting, does include NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
5 1 a presentation, by NRC staff, on the preliminary 2 conclusions, on the review of the supplement 3 environmental impact statement, or the conclusions of 4 the supplement environmental impact statement, and the 5 preliminary process.
6 When the presentation concludes we will 7 open the floor for questions and answers, on the 8 presentation itself.
9 Finally, we will move right into the public 10 comment period. There are a few ground rules for this 11 public meeting to ensure it runs smoothly.
12 First, and most important, please be 13 respectful of your fellow participants. We want to 14 make sure that everyone has a chance to be heard, and 15 we are transcribing this meeting.
16 So I ask that you do turn off electronic 17 devices or put them on vibrate. If you do need to take 18 a phone call please go out into the lobby to do so.
19 Logistically, you all may be more familiar 20 with this facility, but the rest rooms are out in the 21 lobby, and to the left. Emergency exits are well marked 22 throughout this area.
23 And if we have to evacuate please follow the 24 directions from the security officers. I would also 25 like to let everyone know, as I alluded to, that this NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
6 1 meeting is being recorded.
2 So we need to ask that everyone keep their 3 side bar conversations, or background noise, to a 4 minimum.
5 When speaking also, because of the 6 recording, we do ask that you use a mic. We have this 7 podium mic up here, or there is a center mic towards the 8 middle of the room.
9 Finally, the NRC is always looking for ways 10 to improve our meetings, and your feedback is important 11 to us. We have some postage paid, pre-addressed, 12 envelopes that were out on the registration table, if 13 you would like to provide feedback at the close of the 14 meeting.
15 You can either provide the feedback form to 16 any NRC staff, or you may mail it in.
17 There are some NRC staff here, at the 18 meeting, today that I'd like to take a moment to 19 introduce. First, from NRC headquarters, we have John 20 Lubinski, the director of the division of license 21 renewal in the office of nuclear reactor regulation.
22 Next we have Brian Wittack the chief of the 23 environmental projects management branch; Bob Hoffman 24 is standing by the door, he was at the registration 25 table. He is an environmental scientist, with the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
7 1 environment review and guidance update branch.
2 Elaine Keegan will be delivering the 3 presentation. She is a senior project manager for the 4 Davis-Besse environmental projects. From Region 3, we 5 have Jamnes Cameron, the reactor projects branch chief, 6 in the division of reactor projects.
7 David Hills, the chief of the engineering 8 branch, in the division of reactor safety; Victoria 9 Mitlyng is the senior public affairs officer, she is in 10 mid-room. And Harral Logaras is the regional 11 governmental liaison specialist.
12 With that I would like to turn the meeting 13 over to Elaine Keegan, project manager in the division 14 of license renewal, for a short presentation.
15 Please hold any questions you have, on the 16 materials you hear, until the end.
17 MS. KEEGAN: Thank you, Alison. I thank you 18 all for taking the time to come to this meeting.
19 My name is Elaine Keegan, I'm the 20 environmental project manager for the Davis-Besse 21 Nuclear Power Station, license renewal review.
22 I hope the information we provide, today, 23 will help you understand what we have done so far, and 24 the role you can help in making sure that the Final 25 Environmental Impact Statement is accurate and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
8 1 complete.
2 I would like to emphasize that the 3 environmental review is not yet complete. I'd like to 4 start by briefly going over the agenda for today's 5 presentation.
6 I will discuss the NRC's regulatory role, 7 the preliminary findings of our environmental review, 8 which addresses the impacts associated with extending 9 the operating license, at Davis-Besse, for an 10 additional 20 years, and the current schedule for the 11 remainder of the environmental review and how you can 12 submit comments outside of this meeting.
13 The NRC was established to regulate 14 civilian use of nuclear materials, including facilities 15 producing electric power. The NRC conducts license 16 renewal reviews for plants whose owners wish to operate 17 them beyond their initial license period.
18 NRC license renewal reviews address safety 19 issues related to managing the effects of aging on the 20 plant, and the environmental issues related to an 21 additional 20 years of operation.
22 In all aspects, of the NRC's regulation, 23 our mission is three-fold; to ensure adequate 24 protection of public health and safety, to promote 25 common defense and security, and to protect the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
9 1 environment.
2 License renewal involves two parallel 3 reviews, the safety review and the environmental 4 review. Safety review focuses on the aging of the 5 components and structures that the NRC deems important 6 to plant safety.
7 The staff's main objection, in the safety 8 review, is to determine that the effects of aging will 9 be adequately managed by the Applicant.
10 The results of the safety review are 11 documented, in a safety evaluation report. The 12 environmental review considers, evaluates, and 13 discloses, the environmental impacts of continued plant 14 operation for an additional 20 years.
15 As part of our environmental review, the 16 staff considers the scoping comments, submitted by the 17 public, reviews the licensee's environmental report, 18 conducts an environmental site audit, and consults with 19 its other federal and state agencies.
20 The staff then prepares a supplement 21 environmental impact statement, or SEIS, to document 22 its environmental review.
23 We are here, today, to discuss the 24 potential site-specific impacts of license renewal for 25 Davis-Besse.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
10 1 The Generic Environmental Impact 2 Statement, or GEIS, which was first published in 1996, 3 and updated in 2013, examines the possible 4 environmental impacts that could occur as a result of 5 renewing licenses of individual nuclear power plants 6 under the regulations in 10 CFR Part 54.
7 The GEIS, to the extent possible, 8 establishes the bounds and significance of these 9 potential impacts. The analysis, in the GEIS, 10 encompasses all operating light water power reactors.
11 For each type of environmental impact the 12 GEIS established generic findings covering as many 13 plants as possible.
14 For some environmental issues the GEIS 15 found that a generic evaluation was not sufficient, and 16 that a plant specific evaluation was required.
17 The site specific findings, for 18 Davis-Besse, are contained in the draft SEIS, which was 19 published on February 26th, 2014.
20 The draft SEIS contains analyses of all 21 applicable site specific issues, as well as a review of 22 issues covered by the GEIS, to determine whether the 23 conclusions in the GEIS remain valid for Davis-Besse.
24 In this process the NRC staff also reviews 25 the environmental impacts of potential power generation NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
11 1 alternatives, to license renewal, to determine if the 2 impacts expected from license renewal are unreasonable.
3 For each environmental issue, identified, 4 an impact level was assigned. The NRC standard of 5 significance for impacts was established by the White 6 House's Council on Environmental Quality, a term for 7 significant.
8 The NRC established the three levels of 9 potential impacts, small, moderate and large, as 10 defined on the slide.
11 This slide provides a summary of our 12 findings with respect to cumulative impacts in the area 13 where Davis-Besse is located. Cumulative impacts are 14 defined, by the Council on Environmental Quality, as the 15 impacts on the environment which result from the 16 incremental impact of the action, when added to other 17 past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions, 18 regardless of which agency, federal or none, or person, 19 undertakes other actions.
20 NRC's review of cumulative impacts include 21 the effects, on the environment, from other past, 22 present, reasonably foreseeable, human actions.
23 These effects not only include the 24 operation of the plant but, also, impacts from 25 activities unrelated to the plant.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS.
1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
12 1 Activities such as future urbanization, 2 other energy producing facilities in the area, and 3 climate change.
4 Future actions are considered to be those 5 that are reasonably foreseeable, through the end of 6 plant operation, and including the period of extended 7 operation.
8 It is possible an action, by itself, can 9 have an impact which is small, but when the other 10 actions, in the area, are considered the impact could 11 be large or moderate.
12 For aquatic resources, when the cumulative 13 impacts, from historical condition, on Lake Erie's 14 western basin, the impacts from invasive species, 15 fishing, energy development, urbanization, and 16 shoreline development, and climate change, are taken 17 into account.
18 The staff has determined there would be 19 likely a large cumulative impact. For surface water 20 there are a number of active and proposed energy 21 projects in the area, which have the potential to impact 22 large volumes of lake water to be used for cooling 23 systems at power plants.
24 Other sources of pollution, such as 25 sanitary landfills, urbanization, forest management, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
13 1 livestock, agricultural production, also have the 2 impact, the potential to impact tributaries and Lake 3 Eyre.
4 Based on this information, plus potential 5 impacts from climate change, the cumulative impact to 6 surface water resources, from all past, present, and 7 reasonably foreseeable actions, would be small to 8 moderate.
9 For terrestrial resources, taking into 10 account the historical conditions, at the Davis-Besse 11 site, protected species, invasive species, 12 urbanization, habitat fragmentation, and climate 13 change, the staff has determined there would likely be 14 a moderate impact.
15 With respect to cumulative human health 16 impacts, related to microbiological organisms, the 17 current operation of Davis-Besse has not been linked to 18 the presence or growth of cyanbacteria in lake area.
19 However, the staff concludes that the cumulative impact 20 would be moderate for Lake Erie.
21 In all other areas considered the staff, 22 primarily, concluded that cumulative impacts are small.
23 This slide lists the site-specific issues 24 NRC staff reviewed for the continued operation of 25 Davis-Besse, during the proposed license renewal NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
14 1 period.
2 With the exception of historic and 3 archeological resources, the direct and indirect 4 impacts, for license renewal, on all of these issues, 5 were found to be small.
6 Which means the effects are not detectable, 7 or are so minor, that they will neither destabilize, nor 8 noticeably alter any important attribute of the 9 resource.
10 For historic and archeological resources, 11 the staff determined that based on consultation with the 12 Ohio State Historical Preservation officer, a review of 13 the Davis-Besse resource management plan, and the 14 potential for additional archeological resources to be 15 located on the Davis-Besse property, the impact to 16 historic and archeological resources would be small to 17 moderate.
18 There would be no adverse impact to 19 historic properties, in accordance with the National 20 Historic Preservation Act.
21 This slide lists the federally protected 22 species and habitats in the vicinity of Davis-Besse. The 23 level impacts, from the Endangered Species Act, are 24 different from the small, moderate, large, as seen on 25 the previous slide.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
15 1 Under the Endangered Species Act, the 2 impact to each species must be identified and 3 determined. The Endangered Species Act has three 4 determinations.
5 Lowest is no effect, means that there are 6 no impacts, positive or negative, to listed or proposed 7 resources.
8 May affect but unlikely to adversely 9 effect, means that all effects are beneficial and 10 significance, or discountable.
11 May affect and is likely to adversely 12 affect, means listed resources are likely to be exposed 13 to the action, or its environmental consequences, and 14 will respond in a negative manner to the use exposure.
15 Staff consulted with the Fish and Wildlife 16 Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, to identify 17 any federally listed endangered species or habitats.
18 No species, under the jurisdiction of the 19 National Marine Fishery service are present on the 20 Davis-Besse site or within Lake Erie.
21 The Fish and Wildlife Service identified 22 four federally listed species that occur in Ottawa 23 County. And of those only the Indiana bat was 24 determined to have an impact rating of may affect, but 25 is unlikely to adversely affect.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
16 1 The National Environmental Policy Act 2 mandates that each Environmental Impact Statement 3 consider alternatives to any proposed major federal 4 action.
5 A major step in determining whether a 6 license renewal is reasonable or not is comparing the 7 likely impacts of continued operation of the nuclear 8 power plant, with the likely impacts of alternative 9 means of power generation.
10 Alternatives must provide an option that 11 allows for power generation capability, beyond the term 12 of the current nuclear power plant operating license, 13 to meet future system generating needs.
14 In the Draft SEIS, the NRC initially 15 considered 17 different alternatives. After this 16 initial evaluation the staff then chose the most likely 17 and analyzed these in depth.
18 The three on the slide are the most likely 19 to be reasonable alternatives. Some of the 20 alternatives, considered but rejected, because they 21 could not produce sufficient actual electricity 22 production, include wind power, solar power, wood 23 waste, conventional hydroelectric.
24 Finally the staff considered what would 25 happen if no action is taken, and Davis-Besse shuts down NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
17 1 at the end of its current license, without a specific 2 replacement alternative.
3 This alternative would result in no power 4 generation capacity, and would not meet the needs 5 currently met by Davis-Besse.
6 NRC's preliminary conclusion is that the 7 environmental impacts of renewal, of the operating 8 license for Davis-Besse, would be smaller than those 9 feasible and commercially viable alternatives.
10 The no action alternative would have a 11 small environmental impact in most areas, with the 12 exception of socioeconomic impacts, which would be 13 small to moderate.
14 The staff concluded that continued 15 operation, of Davis-Besse, is the environmentally 16 preferred alternative.
17 The preliminary conclusion, that we have 18 reached, based on a review of likely environmental 19 impacts from license renewal, as well as potential 20 environmental impacts of alternatives to license 21 renewal, the NRC's staff preliminary recommendation, in 22 the Draft SEIS, is that the adverse environmental 23 impacts, of license renewal for Davis-Besse, are not 24 great enough to deny the option of license renewal for 25 energy planning decisionmakers.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
18 1 For the term beyond the 20 year period, of 2 extended operation, the NRC addresses the management of 3 spent nuclear fuel and the waste confidence decision and 4 rule.
5 Previous license renewal SEIS noted that 6 environmental impacts of temporary storage, of nuclear 7 power, of nuclear fuel, for the period following the 8 reactor operating license term were addressed by the 9 Rule.
10 This Draft SEIS does not address potential 11 environmental impacts of storing spent fuel for an 12 extended period. That issue will be addressed in the 13 NRC's Waste Confidence Environmental Impact Statement 14 and Rule.
15 The Draft Rule, and EIS, Environmental 16 Impact Statement, was published on September 13th, 17 2013. Public comment period was from September 13th, 18 2013, through December 20th, 2013.
19 NRC staff is now reviewing, and working to 20 resolve, all the public comments that were received.
21 The final Rule and EIS are expected to be published in 22 the Fall of 2014.
23 Additional information, on the Waste 24 Confidence Rulemaking and EIS can be found on the NRC 25 public website, that is at the link at the bottom of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
19 1 slide.
2 And in August of 2012 the Commission 3 decided that the Agency will not issue licenses 4 dependent upon the Waste Confidence Decision until the 5 Waste Confidence Rule is completed.
6 However, the Commission directed the staff 7 to proceed with license renewals if the result of the 8 Waste Confidence EIS, and Rule, identify information 9 that impacts the analysis in the SEIS for Davis-Besse, 10 the NRC staff will perform the appropriate review for 11 these issues, and may supplement the SEIS before the NRC 12 makes a final decision as to whether or not to review 13 Davis-Besse's license.
14 I would like to re-emphasize that the 15 environmental review is not yet complete. Your 16 comments today, as well as all written comments, 17 received by the end of the comment period on April 21st, 18 will be considered by the NRC staff as we develop the 19 Final SEIS.
20 We currently plan to issue the Final in 21 September of 2014. Those comments that are within the 22 scope of the environmental review, and provide new and 23 significant information, can help to change the staff' s 24 findings.
25 The Final SEIS will contain the staff's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
20 1 final recommendation on the acceptability of license 2 renewal, based on the work we have already performed, 3 and any new and significant information received in the 4 form of comments during the comment period.
5 I am the primary contact for the 6 environmental review. Juan Uribe is the primary 7 contact for the safety review. There are a limited 8 number of copies of the Draft SEIS available on CD in 9 the entryway.
10 In addition the Ida Rupp Public Library in 11 Port Clinton and the Toledo Lucas County Public Library 12 in Toledo, have paper copies available for review.
13 You can also find electronic copies of the 14 Draft SEIS, along with other information, about the 15 Davis-Besse license renewal, on-line.
16 Please be aware that any comments that you 17 provide, to the NRC, will be considered public records, 18 and entered into the Agency-wide documents access and 19 management system, or ADAMS.
20 Do not include any information, address, 21 telephone number email, that you do not want made 22 public.
23 The staff will address written comments in 24 the same way we address the spoken comments received 25 today. You can submit written comments, either on-line, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
21 1 or via convention mail.
2 To submit comments on-line visit the 3 website regulations.gov. Search for docket ID 4 NRC-2010-0298.
5 If you have written comments, today, you 6 may give them to me, or any other NRC staff member. And 7 that concludes my presentation.
8 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you, Elaine 9 and, thank you for your attention, everyone. Before we 10 do move into the public comment period, we are going to 11 go ahead and open the floor up, for about ten minutes, 12 of question and answer on the materials you just heard, 13 or if you need a clarification on the presentation.
14 If you raise your hand we will recognize you 15 and you can move to the mic. Yes, sir. And I ask, as 16 you approach the mic, when you get there, could you 17 please introduce yourself so we can get your name on the 18 record. Thank you.
19 PARTICIPANT: Can we be anonymous?
20 FACILITATOR RIVERA: I'm afraid not.
21 MR. PUBLIC: John Q. Public. As I'm 22 listening to this, it sounds like a boilerplate that 23 came out of a Wordperfect file.
24 And I'd like to know what the premise of 25 this was. Am I to believe that you are assuming in this, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
22 1 and it looks like you are assuming, but you don't always 2 assume, that the plant will discharge nothing more than 3 heat.
4 And that is how it looks. You are looking 5 at the impact of fish, of people, and things like that.
6 Is --
7 MS. KEEGAN: We would --
8 MR. PUBLIC: -- that -- am I correct to 9 believe that, that you are not even addressing a 10 radiation discharge?
11 MS. KEEGAN: No, we look at all, 12 everything. We look at all the radiological, 13 environmental data. We look at radiological effluent 14 data, we evaluate that, make sure that it is within the 15 regulations. We look at everything.
16 MR. PUBLIC: Okay, a second part of this 17 question, there are a couple of parts. You made no 18 mention of the condition of the structures, the 19 compromised structures, and what the level of 20 compromise is.
21 And should that be in this?
22 MS. KEEGAN: That is on the safety side.
23 That is being evaluated.
24 MR. PUBLIC: But if that structure fails 25 you are going to be too late.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
23 1 MS. KEEGAN: But the safety of -- the 2 safety evaluation is looking at all the safety part of 3 the plant. If it is not deemed safe we are going to look 4 into it further.
5 Our review isn't complete until our staff 6 is satisfied that we have all the answers that we need.
7 MR. PUBLIC: Okay. Since this is an 8 environmental impact, somewhere in the middle of your 9 briefing, there was a matrix of impact of entities, 10 people, socioeconomic, the fish.
11 The biggest one was missing, if you can go 12 back to that.
13 MS. KEEGAN: I'm trying. That slide?
14 MR. PUBLIC: Well, it could be that one.
15 Okay, let's say it is that one. You are talking about 16 the fish, you are talking -- I don't know, aquatic 17 resources.
18 The biggest impact, I would believe, would 19 the aviary resources, because they are going to have the 20 quickest emission, and quickest exposure to the 21 facility, here, if there is a leakage or a release of 22 radiation, because they are going to be airborne.
23 And we are on the Black Swamp, which is one 24 of the biggest flyways in North America. I mean, North 25 America, South America, the butterflies come through NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
24 1 here, the birds come through here, many, many other 2 organisms come here.
3 And I think you are missing the boat, 4 literally, on this slide right here, not considering 5 that.
6 MS. KEEGAN: Well, it is not on the slide, 7 but our staff looked at the impacts on aquatic and 8 terrestrial species in the whole evaluation.
9 This is just a brief summary. In the 10 document it lists everything that was looked at, and 11 everything that was reviewed. And they looked at the 12 swamp, I forget the name of it.
13 But they looked at that, they evaluated the 14 impact to it. So our staff looked at as much as they 15 could, they did an environment, or an independent 16 review.
17 MR. PUBLIC: Okay, because that impact 18 goes from the Arctic Circle to the tip of South America.
19 And that is a serious impact.
20 MS. KEEGAN: Our biologists looked at all 21 the species that are in this area, and the impact that 22 would be to these. We had people look at the 23 radiological impact from the site releases.
24 It was a very thorough review. We looked 25 at a lot of independent information, not just what was NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
25 1 provided by the licensee.
2 MR. PUBLIC: Well, your next slide, or it 3 was the next one after that, it talked about the 4 organisms that are here. It should really talk about 5 any organism that comes through here.
6 MS. KEEGAN: Well, these are only the ones 7 that are threatened and endangered, that is what this 8 slide is.
9 MR. PUBLIC: Right, residents.
10 MS. KEEGAN: Right. And in the 11 Environmental Impact Statement, and we have a copy out 12 there, they look at the bald eagles. There are other 13 species that are identified. I don't remember them 14 off-hand, but it is looked at, it is reviewed.
15 MR. PUBLIC: Okay. I guess the key word is 16 fly-way. That is all I got to say.
17 MS. KEEGAN: We will look into that and 18 evaluate it.
19 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you, sir. Are 20 there any other questions, or clarifications, needed on 21 the presentation? Yes, ma'am?
22 Could you please approach the mic and 23 introduce yourself? You can come up here, if you want, 24 it is closer.
25 MS. KEEGAN: It is closer, feel free.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
26 1 MS. KLINE: This is just procedural. And 2 I just wanted to be on the record.
3 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Could you just 4 introduce yourself?
5 MS. KLINE: My name is Connie Kline. I 6 attend a lot of NRC meetings. I have, and I will put 7 this in my comments, too.
8 I have never attended one where there has 9 not been a copy of the powerpoint information that is 10 presented. And I have also attended one where there 11 haven't been name plates.
12 I know that you are wearing name tags. I 13 was just at a Perry meeting last week. That is a big 14 major oversight. I know it is going to be available 15 after the meeting, but you know we should all have it 16 right in front of us.
17 I will have that information.
18 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Do you all have 19 cards? Thank you. Thank you, that is great feedback.
20 MS. KLINE: That is not everything.
21 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Okay.
22 MS. KLINE: I didn't get, on the slide, the 23 800 number for Juan Uribe.
24 MS. KEEGAN: We will go ahead and put that 25 slide back up.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
27 1 MS. KLINE: Okay, good, thank you.
2 MS. KEEGAN: I will just leave that slide 3 up for a while.
4 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Does anyone else have 5 questions on the presentation?
6 MS. JODLOWSKI: Yes, ma'am. My name is 7 Janet Jodlowski and I just wanted some clarifications 8 on a couple of things that were said.
9 When you are talking about the Waste 10 Confidence Decision, and there were comments that, I 11 believe if I understood correctly, to be the NRC staff 12 that would be working to resolve all public comments 13 received.
14 And under the environmental review that the 15 staff continues to consider all public comments because 16 they are not all in yet.
17 And I was wondering if you could define 18 resolve, and consider what depth will it be? Will it 19 be to resolutions and considerations?
20 MS. KEEGAN: With respect to the Waste 21 Confidence Rule a large number of public comments were 22 received during the public comment period.
23 NRC staff is reviewing the comments now, 24 and they are working to address each comment. And the 25 actual responses to the comment will be published in the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
28 1 Final Environmental Impact Statement for Waste 2 Confidence.
3 So you will be able to see how staff 4 actually answered your comments.
5 MR. LUBINSKI: Elaine, if you don't mind, 6 if I could add to that? This is John Lubinski. And I'm 7 the Director of the Division of License renewal at NRC 8 Headquarters.
9 And your question was specific to the Waste 10 Confidence Decision, and the Waste Confidence Rule.
11 And let me, also, clarify one difference in between what 12 we are doing here, today, and the Waste Confidence 13 Decision.
14 This is a plant specific supplement 15 environmental impact statement, with respect to 16 Davis-Besse. And we are having this public meeting to 17 gain input.
18 As part of the Waste Confidence Decision 19 that is, actually, a rulemaking that is being done under 20 the Administrative Procedures Act, and the rules that 21 are required to follow for amending our regulations, and 22 developing a rule.
23 So we will be addressing the comments, as 24 Elaine said, each of the comments received will be 25 specifically addressed, to determine its NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
29 1 applicability, to determine its impact, whether there 2 would be changes needed to that Rule.
3 And once the Rule is published those 4 comments, as well as the NRC's response to those 5 comments, and how they were handled, whether they were 6 accepted, whether changes were made to the Rule, or 7 whether the Rule was sufficient, even based on the 8 comment, will be documented as part of the requirements 9 of the Administrative Procedures Act.
10 MS. KEEGAN: Does that answer your 11 question?
12 We will be around after the meeting if you 13 would like to talk further.
14 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Any other? I see one 15 more hand.
16 MS. CLEMONS: Victoria Clemons, and I'm a 17 resident in Port Clinton.
18 I want to ask, first, about the slide on the 19 threatened and endangered species. What date did the 20 Ohio DNR provide that information to you? Do you know 21 the date that that information was provided?
22 You have listed four species. Today there 23 are actually six endangered species in Ottawa County and 24 there is, actually, evidence of two more. With this new 25 information I believe a Generic Environmental Impact NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
30 1 Statement would not be adequate.
2 I think NRC, EPA, Fish and Wildlife 3 Service, need to do a new survey, an actual full scale 4 survey and a new full scale impact statement.
5 The shoreline and marshes, I would add to 6 the statement that John Q Public made. The shoreline 7 and marshes of the western basin of Lake Erie are of 8 global importance.
9 Davis-Besse rests on the crossroads of two 10 major migration pathways, both east and west, from the 11 Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the North Pole to the 12 South Pole.
13 Some of these new identified species are 14 migratory. So, thank you.
15 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. It 16 sounds a little bit like we are moving into more comment 17 type feedback. So does anybody have questions on the 18 presentation, or the materials you heard?
19 If not we can go ahead and move -- sure, hold 20 on one second.
21 MR. LUBINSKI: Actually, I'm sorry, you 22 did start with a question about the date of the survey.
23 What we can do is we do have the document here, and there 24 are a whole list of references in the back.
25 And if you catch us afterwards, during the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
31 1 break, we can specifically tell you that. Sorry, we 2 would have to look that back in the references. And if 3 not we can get that for you.
4 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Are there any 5 questions before we move on to the public comment 6 portion of the meeting?
7 (No response.)
8 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Okay, seeing none we 9 are going to go ahead and move into the public comment.
10 This is the part of the meeting where you have an 11 opportunity to provide your comments on the Draft 12 Supplement environmental impact statement.
13 As I said, earlier, there are a number of 14 things that we can do to make sure that this part runs 15 smoothly. I will go ahead and remind you of that now.
16 First, as I mentioned earlier, we are 17 recording the meeting, so we do need you to speak at 18 mics, and keep conversations down to a minimum, to avoid 19 the background noise.
20 We do have yellow cards that those who 21 pre-registered to sign up I have them. If you do, while 22 you are hearing other people's comments, feel compelled 23 to speak, please feel free to go ahead and get a yellow 24 card.
25 We are asking that everyone who speaks puts NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
32 1 their name down on a yellow card, so that we can give 2 them to the reporter, so that they have your official 3 name for the transcript.
4 If you have written comments, as Elaine 5 mentioned, you can give them to any NRC staff member, 6 or we will ensure that they get into the transcript, or 7 submit them through the methods she mentioned.
8 Finally, for those, when you are making 9 your comments, I will apologize in advance if I 10 mispronounce your name, when I call you to the mic.
11 But please do begin by identifying 12 yourself, with your name. And if you would like to 13 mention an affiliation, you may do so at that time.
14 And, finally, because we do want to make 15 sure that everyone has an opportunity to be heard, we 16 would appreciate it if you would keep your comments to, 17 approximately, five minutes.
18 If you start going over you will start 19 seeing me giving you some signals, or maybe I might start 20 moving toward your personal space a little bit.
21 Please forgive me. Again, it is all in the 22 interest of trying to make sure that everyone who would 23 like to speak has an opportunity to do so.
24 So with that, our first speaker is going to 25 be Guy Parmigian.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
33 1 MR. PARMIGIAN: Good afternoon. My name 2 is Guy Parmigian, P-A-R-M-I-G-I-A-N. And I'm the 3 Superintendent with the BEnton-Carroll-Salem local 4 school district.
5 Our school district's geographical 6 boundaries include more than 100 square miles. And our 7 school district includes the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power 8 Station.
9 I know I speak for the educators across 10 northwest Ohio when I say that Davis-Besse serves an 11 important role supporting the educational backbone of 12 our communities.
13 In fact the plant provides more than 5.8 14 million dollars, locally, in annual property taxes 15 which provide a direct and substantial benefit to our 16 school districts.
17 Benton-Carroll-Salem school district is 18 unique in that approximately 20 percent of our revenues 19 are the results of Davis-Besse's operations within the 20 boundaries of our school district.
21 Given the unique relationship between our 22 school district institution, and the Davis-Besse 23 Nuclear Power Station, I would be remiss if I did not 24 discuss how Davis-Besse has been a good neighbor, 25 community minded, and invested in the success of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
34 1 kids of Benton-Carroll-Salem schools.
2 For example, site vicepresident Ray Lief, 3 and some of his key staff members, have committed to 4 ongoing communications for the benefit of both of our 5 institutions.
6 In our discussions we have talked about 7 working together to install light poles, to illuminate 8 our soccer field. The donation of computers, and the 9 partnering on educational and mentoring opportunities 10 for our students.
11 We are eager to continue to work together 12 on projects that benefit our kids. But Davis-Besse 13 commitment to the community goes much farther than 14 simply contributing to the tax base.
15 The plant's young nuclear professionals 16 have taken on a highly active role in public and 17 educational outreach about nuclear power generation.
18 For example, over the past year, 19 Davis-Besse hosted two Teach the Teacher events for 20 middle and high school teachers across northwest Ohio.
21 About 85 teachers attended these events to learn more 22 about the fission process, nuclear power plant electric 23 generation and distribution, and careers in nuclear 24 power.
25 This program has helped us develop enhanced NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
35 1 curriculums that embrace science and technology, two 2 subjects of ever-increasing importance in our world 3 today.
4 Davis-Besse employees also reached out to 5 more than 1,000 families, through Bowling Green State 6 University Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math 7 Fair.
8 At the Davis-Besse booth children learned 9 about nuclear power by dressing in radiation worker 10 clothing, generating electricity by cranking a wheel, 11 and operating a steam turbine.
12 The Davis-Besse facility has also extended 13 a welcoming, and transparent, hand to college students, 14 and other professional development groups. These 15 groups are invited to tour the plant on a regular basis.
16 And Davis-Besse representatives often 17 visit schools, and other organizations, to provide 18 presentations on nuclear power.
19 Recently the plant has hosted groups from 20 Ohio State University, Bowling Green State University, 21 and the University of Toledo.
22 Davis-Besse employees have organized 23 several fundraisers, earning more than 5,000 dollars, 24 to benefit local schools through events such as a golf 25 outing and a chili cook-off.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
36 1 Continued, long-term operation, of the 2 plant will allow the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, 3 to maintain its commitment to education in Ottawa 4 County, and beyond, both through annual tax 5 contributions and the public outreach activities 6 conducted by its dedicated professionals.
7 This is an invaluable contribution to our 8 communities that will benefit students for generations 9 to come.
10 Thank you for the opportunity to share my 11 perspective on the benefits of license renewal for the 12 Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station.
13 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. For the 14 future speakers I will give a list of three so that you 15 will know when your turn is coming.
16 Next we are going to have Brad Goetz, 17 followed by Jodi Regal, and then Larry Tscherne. Brad?
18 MR. GOETZ: Good afternoon. My name is 19 Brad Goetz, I'm the business manager of International 20 Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1413. We 21 represent the security folks at Davis-Besse.
22 I have been the business manager for 24 23 years. I have been an employee for 30 years, and I have 24 been a life-long resident of Ottawa County, and raised 25 my family nine miles from the plant.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., NW.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
37 1 The IBEW and local 1413 has a long history 2 with First Energy, and our experience with safety has 3 been positive.
4 As all of you know, as a parent, you 5 wouldn't allow your family to come in harm's way, and 6 I do not believe that is the case with Davis-Besse, nor 7 as a business manager would I let any of our members go 8 into a plant that was not safe.
9 Our members have worked millions of hours, 10 at the facility, since it began its operations in 1977.
11 Failing to approve the new 20 year operating license for 12 Davis-Besse would eliminate good paying union jobs.
13 And it would also be devastating, I 14 believe, to Ottawa County. IBEW 1413 believes that the 15 approval of the additional 20 year license for 16 Davis-Besse is not an option, but a must.
17 The Draft Environmental Impact Statement 18 supports this position and indicates that the impact, 19 from extending the life of the plant is minimal, at most.
20 Thank you.
21 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. Jodi 22 followed by Larry Tscherne, and then Ron Donnal.
23 Again, I'm very sorry if I mispronounce your name.
24 MS. REGAL: Good afternoon, I'm Jodi Regal, 25 president of the Board of Ottawa County Commissioners.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
38 1 I appreciate the opportunity to comment on 2 the environmental impact of continued operations for 3 the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, through an 4 extended license period.
5 The NRC has concluded, in its Draft 6 Environmental Impact Statement, the adverse 7 environmental impacts of license renewal for 8 Davis-Besse are not great enough to deny the option of 9 license renewal for energy planning decisionmakers.
10 From my viewpoint, as a county 11 commissioner, adverse impacts don't arise from the 12 continued operation of the plant, but would result from 13 the shutdown of the plant at the end of its current 14 licensing period.
15 Our nuclear energy facilities provide 16 substantial economic benefits to the state, and the 17 local community, including high paying jobs, and tax 18 revenue, that help to fund local services, and help to 19 keep property taxes much lower than they otherwise would 20 be.
21 Locally the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power 22 Station is one of Ottawa County's largest employers, 23 with more than 700 full-time employees. The plant 24 contributes more than 13 million dollars, annually, in 25 local and state taxes.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
39 1 In addition, because of supplier demand, 2 created by the plant, and consumer demand created by its 3 employees, an additional 1,100 jobs are supported.
4 Most of these are small businesses that 5 rely on this support to remain successful. We also 6 appreciate the personal contributions the employees of 7 Davis-Besse bring to our community.
8 Many are involved in civic organizations 9 and educational endeavors, as well as providing many 10 hours1.157407e-4 days <br />0.00278 hours <br />1.653439e-5 weeks <br />3.805e-6 months <br /> of community service. They are a good neighbor 11 and friend to all of us.
12 From the safety standpoint, as life-long 13 residents of Ottawa County, the Board has confidence in 14 the safe long-term operation of Davis-Besse. We also 15 have confidence in the ability, of the plant leadership, 16 to keep the best interest of the public in mind.
17 Our communications with the plant are 18 frequent and transparent. And we are aware of the 19 investment and enhancements that have been made at the 20 plant, including the 2011 reactor head replacement, and 21 the steam generators being installed with this current 22 outage, and believe they will support a period of safe 23 extended operations.
24 We urge the NRC to continue its strong 25 independent oversight of commercial nuclear NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
40 1 facilities, the operation of existing plants, the 2 licensing of new reactors, and the renewal of existing 3 facilities, including the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power 4 Station.
5 We also believe it is important that the NRC 6 continue its efforts to resolve, in a timely fashion, 7 the outstanding issues that have placed a hold on 8 license renewal approvals nation-wide.
9 I would like to thank the NRC for hosting 10 this public meeting and for providing the opportunity 11 for comments. Thank you.
12 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. Next we 13 will have Larry, followed byRon, and then Bill Buckles.
14 MR. TSCHERNE: Good afternoon, and thank 15 you for the opportunity to speak to you this afternoon 16 about the license renewal for Davis-Besse.
17 My name is Larry Tscherne, and I'm the 18 business manager of IBEW Local 245. A position that I 19 have held for over 17 years.
20 Local 245 has a service territory of 22 21 counties here in northwest Ohio, including Ottawa 22 County. In addition to the 22 counties, we represent 23 over 200 physical employees, at the plant, from the 24 operation, maintenance, chemistry, warehousing, 25 radiation protection.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
41 1 The plant, as you know, has provided a solid 2 tax base to the area, has kept the economy moving, and 3 has employed hundreds of workers, in outages, in 4 addition to the regular full-time employees.
5 You know, with these full-time employees, 6 I don' t think there are very many others out there, that 7 have their hands on, like the members of IBEW Local 245.
8 From the reactor operators, right on down 9 to maintenance services, the warehousing, all the 10 maintenance activities, we are very, very familiar with 11 the safety culture.
12 The labor-management meetings that we 13 hold, on a regular monthly basis, in addition to the work 14 that we have done together, both here locally, and in 15 Washington, through our labor-management committees, 16 and through the IBEW's Code of Excellence.
17 Again, the safety culture, the dedication, 18 and the craftsmanship, I could tell you, is second to 19 none. First Energy has been very open and honest.
20 Davis-Besse has been very open and honest on all issues 21 with us.
22 I'm here to tell you that we test them, and 23 we question them, on everything that goes, and there 24 isn't anything that goes unturned.
25 And I think it is imperative that you go NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
42 1 along with this process. Local 245 supports the 2 approval of the license renewal, and we ask for your 3 approval, also. Thank you.
4 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. Next we 5 will have Ron Donnal, followed by Bill Buckles, and then 6 Brian Dicken.
7 MR. DONNAL: Good afternoon. My name is 8 Ron Donnal, I'm with Gem, Incorporated. Gem is a local 9 specialty contractor that provides construction and 10 maintenance services.
11 Gem has a 30-plus year history at the 12 Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. We currently have 13 150 associates working on site.
14 Davis-Besse has provided a clean and safe 15 place for our associates to work, and provide for their 16 families, while providing reliable power for our 17 communities.
18 And I strongly support the extension of the 19 operating license. Thank you.
20 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. Bill 21 Buckles, followed by Brian Dicken. And that is the end 22 of the pre-registered speakers. I have one more card 23 over there. But if anyone else is inspired to speak we 24 do have yellow cards out in the lobby, or we can bring 25 you one if you let us know.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
43 1 MR. BUCKLES: Thank you, IIm Bill Buckles, 2 I'm a business agent with the Plumbers and Steamfitters 3 and Service Mechanics in Northwest Ohio.
4 And bear with me, because I punched this out 5 on my memo pad a little bit ago. Thank you, members of 6 the NRC for providing me the opportunity to speak today.
7 AgaIn, my name is Bill Buckles, and I have 8 been a lifelong resident of Northwest Ohio, living most 9 of the time in the view of Davis-Besse Nuclear Power 10 Plant.
11 I'm here today to support the license 12 renewal application that will allow Davis-Besse to 13 operate through 2037.
14 I would have moved my family out of this 15 area, years ago, if I did not have total confidence in 16 the safety of this facility.
17 My confidence is bolstered, in part, 18 because I have had the privilege of occasionally working 19 at the plant as a member of the Northwest Ohio Piping 20 industry.
21 As regular maintenance is done by well 22 trained, highly skilled men and women, who take great 23 pride in their work, and know the importance of 24 maintaining a safe environment for us all.
25 I also support the license renewal because NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
44 1 I strongly believe that nuclear power has to be part of 2 the energy production mix in America, for both economic 3 and environmental reasons.
4 Finally, as one of the largest employers, 5 in Ottawa County, Davis-Besse is critical to the future 6 economic development of this area. The more than 10 7 million dollars that they pay every year -- sorry, I'm 8 losing my screen.
9 That they pay every year in local and state 10 taxes would be very nearly impossible to replace in the 11 current economic climate in this part of the state.
12 Thank you for your time.
13 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. We will 14 have Brian Dicken, followed by Chuck McCune.
15 MR. DICKEN: Good afternoon. My name is 16 Brian Dicken, I'm the vicepresident of Public Affairs 17 with the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce.
18 I would like to thank the Nuclear 19 Regulatory Commission for this opportunity to share our 20 perspectives on the potential license renewal for the 21 Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station.
22 The Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce 23 represents more than 2,100 businesses, employing more 24 than 140,000 people. Our member companies are located 25 throughout the Toledo Region, including Lucas, Ottawa, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
45 1 and Wood counties.
2 The Draft Environmental Statement examines 3 a number of issues influenced by the operation of 4 Davis-Besse, not just the environment, in the 5 traditional sense of air and water.
6 My comments, today, will focus on the 7 economic impact of the power plant. The economic 8 impact of Davis-Besse can be felt not just in Ottawa 9 County, but across the entire region.
10 A recent economic impact study completed by 11 Applied Economics, paints a picture of Davis-Besse's 12 contributions. More than 700 full-time employees live 13 and work here in the region, with an annual payroll of 14 nearly 61 million dollars.
15 Indirect and local revenues, which 16 includes sales and income taxes, from these employees, 17 are estimated at 5.3 million per year.
18 A sizable portion of the employee payroll 19 is spent at local establishments throughout the region.
20 Through the multiplier effect, that is the spending from 21 the plant employees, at local businesses, an estimated 22 668 additional jobs are produced, with a payroll of 23 nearly 26 million dollars.
24 Besides the value of the production at the 25 plant, the largest component of Davis-Besse's economic NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
46 1 impact is through vendor purchases. Throughout the 2 state Davis-Besse's operations surpass 66 million, 3 annually, with vendors.
4 It supports an estimated 430 jobs, and 5 nearly 19 and a half million dollars in personal income.
6 Taken together, employee and plant spending create 7 1,100 jobs, and another 45 andahalf million in payroll, 8 in the state, each year.
9 The report estimates that the total 10 economic impact, of the Davis-Besse Power Station, is 11 more than 440 million dollars.
12 Members of the Toledo Regional Chamber of 13 Commerce directly, or indirectly, benefit from the 14 operations of Davis-Besse.
15 Our members, nearly 85 percent, are small 16 businesses, of 50 or fewer employees. These 17 businesses, in particular, count on business like 18 Davis-Besse to survive.
19 As your report concluded, we agree that 20 granting an additional 20 year license, to the facility, 21 can be done without adverse impacts to the environment 22 of Northwest Ohio.
23 In fact, we believe it is necessary to 24 preserve the economic stability of our area with the 25 renewal.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
47 1 Livelihoods and jobs depend on affordable 2 energy. Davis-Besse provides that as a resource, and 3 we encourage the NRC to work with First Energy to renew 4 the license. Thank you.
5 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. Our 6 final registered speaker is Chuck McCune. If anybody 7 needs a card brought over to them, please, just raise 8 your hand.
9 MR. McCUNE: Hello, my name is Chuck 10 McCune. I'm an electrician for Local 8 of the 11 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
12 I have been working, in the electrical 13 construction industry for 34 years. My brothers and 14 sisters have built this facility over 35 years ago.
15 This plant has been the livelihood of many of my brothers 16 and sisters for that time.
17 We are tradesmen, and women, who have 18 installed backup systems, the backups to the backup 19 systems, the safety systems, the radiation detection 20 systems, the emergency shutdown systems, and many, many 21 more.
22 These systems have been installed and 23 upgraded, many times, for the safety of this plant, its 24 personnel, the community, and the environment.
25 The work we have done, at this facility, is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
48 1 of the highest quality, because of two things. First, 2 the management has the highest standards for human 3 performance of any work on site and, second, we all live 4 in this area.
5 If we felt there was a problem, at this 6 facility, we would be the first to bring this to the 7 public's awareness.
8 Because of First Energy's high standards, 9 and commitment to excellence, in the nuclear industry, 10 we feel that an extension of the existing license is a 11 positive step forward and should be granted to First 12 Energy.
13 Thank you.
14 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. I didn't 15 see any hands go up, and I haven't seen any more yellow 16 cards be submitted. Sorry. You can put a question on 17 the record. However, you may not get a response from 18 the NRC at this time. But they will be around after the 19 meeting. Okay, go ahead. This is Victoria Clemons.
20 MS. CLEMONS: This is to talk about the 21 economic benefits of having a nuclear power plant, 22 reminded me of the question I forgot to ask, and I have 23 always wanted to ask, and I have never found it on the 24 NRC website.
25 You do socioeconomic studies, you do oodles NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
49 1 of studies on economics. I would like one question 2 answered. What value is used in your calculations for 3 a human life? Can one of you answer that?
4 MR. LUBINSKI: This is John Lubinski, the 5 Director of the Division of License Renewal.
6 When we talk about the economic impacts, 7 with respect to the Environmental Impact Statement, we 8 look at it in a variety of ways. The first is we are 9 looking at the economic impacts on the environment.
10 That is the environment around the site, 11 from the continued operation versus one of the 12 alternatives, versus the shutdown of the plant. That 13 economic impact does not consider any impacts on human 14 life, if you will.
15 That has to do with just the impacts of the 16 changes in the economy. So when we talk about those 17 economic impacts, that is the result we are talking 18 about there.
19 When we start to look at the radiological 20 impacts we are looking at the radiological impacts with 21 respect to our current regulations, what the impact 22 would be.
23 A question was also asked, earlier, about 24 do we look at the impacts of the effluence, the radiation 25 effluents? We do look at those, as well, as part of our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
50 1 Environmental Impact Statement, and look at our 2 regulations.
3 Within the regulations themselves, if they 4 meet the regulatory standards, then we consider it 5 acceptable from the standpoint of being small, 6 moderate, large as defined by Ms. Keegan, earlier in her 7 discussion.
8 So we don't do an analysis from the 9 standpoint of the environmental impacts with respect to 10 specific radiation doses, and doing a conversion of that 11 radiation dose, to the value of human life, is part of 12 that study.
13 So, again, it is the economic impacts are, 14 the economic impacts of the environment, and then from 15 the standpoint of the health impacts, we do look at the 16 human health impacts, we look at with respect to the 17 radiation dose.
18 We take that into consideration with 19 respect to the safety standards, to ensure that there 20 is plant safety.
21 Also, with respect to safety, that question 22 has come up a number of times. We don't wait for license 23 renewal to assess the safety of the plant. We do that 24 on a continuous basis.
25 If we identifya safety issue, at the plant, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
51 1 we address that issue when it is identified, and we do 2 consider, at that point, again the radiation impacts, 3 what the dose would be to the members of the public, and 4 whether that would have a negative impact.
5 And we take those actions as they occur. We 6 don't wait for license renewal to address those safety 7 issues.
8 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. Any other 9 yellow cards out there, for speakers?
10 This is Connie Kline.
11 MS. KLINE: Mine is also a question, so I 12 don't know if you will be able to answer it now.
13 Was the recently approved wind farm in 14 Herndon and Logan Counties, I don't see how it could have 15 been factored in to the Environmental Impact Statement, 16 because it was just. approved by the Ohio Power Siting 17 Commission last week, I believe.
18 It is a 300 megawatt wind farm. Are you 19 familiar with this at all, or is this something you are 20 unfamiliar with?
21 MR. WITTACK: This is Brian Wittack, from 22 NRC headquarters.
23 With regards to that particular wind farm 24 application, I would have to say at this point we are 25 not familiar with that. We will have to take that back NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
52 1 and take a look at the specifics of that.
2 But given the recency of it, it was probably 3 not part of the assessment.
4 MS. KLINE: Because it is, actually, it is 5 planned to have a capacity larger than 300 megawatts.
6 And I believe there is 176 turbines. And then Cleveland 7 proper is also going to be building, both on-shore and 8 off-shore turbines, that haven't been approved yet.
9 10 But would that be something that could also 11 be taken into consideraTion?
12 MS. KEEGAN: This is Elaine Keegan, again.
13 The combination alternative that was evaluated did 14 evaluate, it is a combination of wind for 1,500 15 megawatts capacity; with solar for 400 megawatt 16 capacity, along with the natural gas combined 17 alternative.
18 MS. KLINE: Well, why would wind capacity 19 have to be twice as much as the megawatt capacity of 20 Davis-Besse?
21 MS. KEEGAN: That was what was available 22 for this, it wasn't --
23 MS. KLINE: You are saying that that is 24 current capacity?
25 MS. KEEGAN: That was the alternative --
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
53 1 MS. KLINE: Not projected --
2 MS. KEEGAN: Right, that was what was 3 evaluated.
4 MS. KLINE: I 'm sorry, I misunderstood what 5 you were saying.
6 MS. KEEGAN: No, this is what was 7 evaluated.
8 MS. KLINE: So I have only plowed through 9 a very small amount of this. I'm still recovering from 10 plowing through 600 pages of the Waste Confidence Draft 11 Environmental Statement.
12 So 1,500 megawatts of wind power is what is 13 currently available?
14 MS. KEEGAN: That is what is currently 15 available, or projected to be available.
16 MS. KLINE: Okay. It is, probably, more 17 than that, because this hasn't been factored in. And 18 still that wind power, alone, is twice the capacity of 19 Davis-Besse, alone, just wind. Thank you.
20 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Thank you. Are 21 there any other comment cards out in the audience?
22 (No response.)
23 FACILITATOR RIVERA: Okay. With that I'm 24 going to go ahead and turn the meeting over to Brian 25 Wittack for some closing remarks.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
54 1 As was mentioned earlier, the transcript of 2 this meeting will be available on-line, along with the 3 slides, and a meeting summary.
4 MR. WITTACK: Good afternoon. Before I 5 start into closing comments, I would like to provide 6 some follow-up to Ms. Kline's earlier question with 7 regards to the date of the sources that were used in the 8 study.
9 I'm sorry, Ms. Clemons, I'm sorry about 10 that. So I did a quick scan of documents, there are 11 numerous resources, studies, consultations, that were 12 done. The Ohio DNR, most recent study, was dated in 13 2011.
14 The most recent consultations with the U.S.
15 Fish and Wildlife Service was as of May 2013. I think 16 the gist of your question, and correct me if I'm wrong, 17 is that you believe that there is species that are 18 endangered, that go beyond what the study identifies, 19 is that correct? At least two, okay.
20 So we are going to take that particular 21 question as a comment, and feed that back to the 22 reviewers, to make sure that that gets evaluated and 23 incorporated.
24 Also with regards to migratory species, 25 there is a fairly extensive discussion in the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
55 1 environmental impact section, in the Environmental 2 Impact Statement, chapter 2, particularly section 2.8, 3 that discusses migratory species.
4 With that, I would like to step into 5 closing.
6 I'd like to thank everyone for coming out 7 on this somewhat blustery day, and contributing your 8 valuable time to a process that we consider to be very 9 important, and of great value for our licensing process 10 at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
11 We have, in the course of license renewal, 12 as Elaine mentioned, we have two public meetings that 13 are conducted, initially, in the scoping portion.
14 And then, finally, the second public 15 meeting is today's public meeting, to go over a review 16 of the draft supplement environmental impact statement.
17 We value all the comments that we received 18 today, and hope that if you have additional comments, 19 that you take the time to submit those additional 20 comments.
21 The means of communication is via 22 regulations.gov, as well as through the project 23 managers, and the comment period is open through April 24 21st.
25 So with that, thank you again for coming NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
56 1 this afternoon, and the meeting is adjourned.
2 (Whereupon, at 3:15 p.m., the 3 above-entitled meeting was adjourned.)
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 202) 234-4433