ML13079A020

G20130209/LTR-13-0224 - Ltr. Representatives Edward J. Markey, John F. Tierney and Bill Keating Request for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Alter Plans to Hold Open House Style Meetings to Review the 2012 Performance of Pilgrim and Sea

ML13079A020
Person / Time
Site:	Pilgrim, Seabrook
Issue date:	03/18/2013
From:	Keating B, Markey E, Tierney J US Congress, US HR (House of Representatives)
To:	Macfarlane A NRC/Chairman
Shared Package
ML13079A268	List: ML13079A020 ML13079A282
References
CORR-13-0029, G20130209, LTR-13-0224, MN 13-002, MN 13-005
Download: ML13079A020 (8)

Text

ETS SU.S.NRC Ticket No: G20130209 P ,w, Nudg a 11,pdlt,F s,,a ProtectingPeople,antdthle Fniirowment 2188 SF.

b Assigned Office: OEDO OEDO Due Date: 03/19/2013 Other Assignees: SECY Due Date: 03/19/2013 Date Response Requested by Originator: 03/27/2013 Other Parties:

Subject:

Request for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Alter Plans to Hold Open House Style Meetings to Review the 2012 Performance of Pilgrim and Seabrook

Description:

CC Routing: NRR, OCA, OGC, Regioni ADAMS Accession Numbers - Incoming: Response / Package:

he Infrmaio Cross Reference No

LTR-13-0224 SRM\Other: No Action Type: Letter OEDO Concurrence: No Signature Level: Chairman Macfarlane OCM Concurrence: No Special Instructions: OCA Concurrence: No Please prepare response in accordance with OEDO Notice 2009-0441-02 (ML093290179). NRR and Region I to provide input to Roger Rihm, OEDO, if required. Roger Rihm will coordinate response with OGC and OCA. Note: Response should be provided before the Seabrook Meeting scheduled for March 27, 2013 (see background).

Originator Name: Representative Edward J. Markey/Rep. John F. Date of Incoming: 03/18/2013 Originator Org: Congress Document Received by OEDO Date: 03/18/2013 Addressee: Chairman Macfarlane Incoming Task: Letter OEDO POC: Roger Rihm

'-0)

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY CORRESPONDENCE CONTROL TICKET Date Printed:Mar 18, 2013 14:11 PAPER NUMBER: LTR- 13-0224 LOGGING DATE: 03/18/2013 ACTION OFFICE:

ED AUTHOR: REP Edward Markey, et al.

AFFILIATION: CONG ADDRESSEE: CHRM Allison Macfarlane

SUBJECT:

Urges the NRC to alter its plans to hold open house style meetings to review the 2012 performance of both the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station and the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant ACTION: Signature of Chairman DISTRIBUTION: RF, OCA to Ack.

LETTER DATE: 03/1 8/2013 ACKNOWLEDGED No SPECIAL HANDLING: Commission Correspondence NOTES: Response should be provided before the Seabrook meeting scheduled for March 27, 2013. See background.

FILE LOCATION: ADAMS DATE DUE: 03/19/2013 DATE SIGNED:

Received OEDO:

3/18/2013, 4:00PM EDO -- G20130209

( ongriess nf thc U niteb 19.ates.

March 18, 2013 The Honorable Allison Macfarlane Chairman Nuclear Regulatory Commission 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852

Dear Chairman Macfarlane:

We write to urge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to alter its plans to hold "open house" style meetings to review the 2012 performance of both the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station' and the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant 2 , because they enable only small group or one-on-one question and answer sessions rather than a more transparent "public meeting" in which all attendees can hear the responses to all questions that are asked. We additionally request that appropriate NRC technical subject matter experts be present and available at this meeting to answer questions the public may have, and that the NRC presentations provide plant-specific operating, enforcement and safety information and statistics, utilizing plant engineers to supplement headquarters staff to respond to questions as appropriate.

Last year, Reps. Markey and Tierney requested 3 that a public meeting be held regarding Seabrook in response to a similar NRC plan to move to the more restrictive "open house" format.

Then, like now, residents of Massachusetts and New Hampshire contacted our offices to express their strong opposition to this apparent effort to restrict the historically more open nature of NRC meetings. The Commission ultimately decided to hold this safety-related public meeting at Seabrook. However, the "open house" format has been used for the past two years at the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station. According to one attendee, this format is "the equivalent of a cocktail party where folks chat to each NRC official. It is simply a PR event. Perhaps if they served cocktails it may not be a total waste of time!"

We have also learned that even the formats of recent public meetings left much to be desired. For example, we have been informed 4 that last year at Seabrook "no engineers from Seabrook were expected to address the plant's operating experience as a responsible engineer or plant executive. We did not know who was there from the plant in the room. The NRC tightly controlled the proceedings with little reporting as they focused the majority of their time on a slide presentation of safety assurances post Fukushima and not focused on the plant's regulatory compliance or operating experience.... The slide presentation was a canned presentation and not plant specific."

' http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1307/MLI3072A678.pdf 2 http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML 1307/ML13073A186.pdf 3 http://markey.house.gov/press-reease/markey-tiemey-call-local-public-meeting-seabrook-nuclear-power-plant-discuss-safety 4 Email from an attendee at last year's Seabrook public meeting to Rep. Markey's office.

PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

We believe that NRC's failure to conduct a public meeting to assess the 2012 performance of both Seabrook and Pilgrim would further undermine the public trust in the Commission's ability and willingness to assure the safety of these reactors. We urge you to alter the format of the "open house" meetings currently planned, and make every effort to ensure that the sort of reactor-specific information and knowledgeable personnel are included and available.

We look forward to your prompt response to this request.

Sincerely, Edward J, Markey / eyj John F. Tierney ) Bill Keating

Background

MN No.13-002 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING March 14, 2013 Licensee: NextEra Energy, Seabrook, LLC Facilities: Seabrook Station, Unit No. 1 (Seabrook)

Docket Nos: 50-443 Date/ Time: March 27, 2013, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Location: Best Western Plus The Inn at Hampton 815 Lafayette Road Hampton, New Hampshire, 03842 (603) 926-6771

Purpose:

The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will meet with the public to discuss the NRC's assessment of safety performance at Seabrook for 2012, as described in the annual assessment letter dated March 4, 2013. The NRC will respond to questions on specific performance issues at the plant and our role in ensuring safe plant operations.

NRC Attendees: G. Dentel, Chief, Division of Reactor Projects, Branch 3 M. Marshall, Chief, Aging Management of Structures, Electrical, and Systems Branch R. Conte, Senior Project Manager, Division of Reactor Safety W. Cook, Senior Reactor Analyst, Division of Reactor Safety P. McKenna, Acting Senior Resident Inspector, Seabrook W. Raymond, Operations Engineer, Inspections, Tests, Analyses and Acceptance Criteria Branch M. Jennerich, Resident Inspector, Seabrook Public Participation: This is a Category 3 Meeting. The NRC will host an open house to discuss NextEra's performance at Seabrook during calendar year 2012.

NRC staff will be available, in an informational setting, to answer questions from members of the public and discuss issues or concerns related to Seabrook.

Meeting

Contact:

Glenn T. Dentel, Chief, Projects Branch 3 (610) 337-5233 E-mail: Glenn.Dentelk.N RC.Gov

2 The NRC's annual assessment letter regarding Seabrook's performance during 2012 can be found in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) with Accession Number ML13063A194. ADAMS is accessible from the NRC website at:

http://www.nrc.qov/readinq-rm/adams.html.

Additional information relative to the NRC's annual assessment process and the safety performance of Seabrook can be found on the NRC's website at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/index.html.

The NRC's Policy Statement, "Enhancing Public Participation in NRC Meetings," effective May 28, 2002, applies to this meeting. The policy statement may be found on the NRC website, http://www.nrc.qov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/policy/67fr36920.html, and contains information regarding visitors and security.

The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities where appropriate.

If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this meeting, or need the meeting notice or other information from the meeting in another format (e.g., Braille, large print), please notify the NRC's meeting contact. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. Persons requiring assistance to attend the meeting shall make their requests known to the NRC meeting contact no later than two business days prior to the meeting.

Attendance by other NRC personnel at this meeting should be made known by March 25, 2013 via telephone to the NRC meeting contact.

Meetings are sometimes canceled or rescheduled as a result of unforeseen circumstances.

Please confirm the meeting schedule on the NRC website under public meetings.

IRA/

Approved by:

Glenn T. Dentel, Chief Projects Branch 3 Division of Reactor Projects cc: Distribution via ListServ

Background

MN No.13-005 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING March 13, 2013 Licensee: Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.

Facility: Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Docket No: 50-293 Date/Time: Tuesday, April 2, 2013 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m Location: Plymouth Town Hall 11 Lincoln Street Plymouth, MA 02360

Purpose:

The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will meet with the public to discuss the NRC's assessment of safety performance at Pilgrim for 2012, as described in the annual assessment letter dated March 5, 2013. The NRC will respond to questions on specific performance issues at the plant and our role in ensuring safe plant operations.

NRC Attendees: R. Bellamy, Chief, Division of Reactor Projects, Branch 5 M. Schneider, Senior Resident Inspector T. Setzer, Senior Project Engineer B. Smith, Resident Inspector S. Campbell, Office Assistant Public Participation: This is a Category 3 Meeting. The NRC staff will hold an open house to discuss Entergy's performance at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station during calendar year 2012. NRC staff will be available, in an informational setting, to answer questions from members of the public and discuss issues or concerns related to Pilgrim.

Meeting

Contact:

Ronald R. Bellamy Ph.D., Chief, Projects Branch 5 610-337-5200 E-mail: Ronald.Bellamy@nrc.gov The NRC's annual assessment letter regarding Pilgrim performance during 2012 can be found in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) with Accession Number ML13060A340. ADAMS is accessible from the NRC website at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

2 Additional information relative to the NRC's annual assessment process and the safety performance of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station can be found on the NRC's website at:

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/index.html.

The NRC's Policy Statement, "Enhancing Public Participation in NRC Meetings," effective May 28, 2002, applies to this meeting. The policy statement may be found on the NRC website, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/policy/67fr36920.html, and contains information regarding visitors and security.

The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities where appropriate.

If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this meeting, or need the meeting notice or other information from the meeting in another format (e.g., Braille, large print), please notify the NRC's meeting contact. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. Persons requiring assistance to attend the meeting shall make their requests known to the NRC meeting contact no later than two business days prior to the meeting.

Attendance by other NRC personnel at this meeting should be made known by March 26, 2013, via telephone to the NRC meeting contact.

Meetings are sometimes canceled or rescheduled as a result of unforeseen circumstances.

Please confirm the meeting schedule on the NRC website under public meetings.

IRA Steven Shaffer Acting for!

Approved by:

Ronald R. Bellamy Ph.D., Chief Projects Branch 5 Division of Reactor Projects cc: Distribution via ListServ