ML110140231
| ML110140231 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Davis Besse  |
| Issue date: | 11/04/2010 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, NRC/OGC, NRC Region 1 |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-524 | |
| Download: ML110140231 (32) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Title: Davis-Besse License Renewal Public Meeting - Afternoon Session Docket Number: (n/a)
Location: Port Clinton, Ohio Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010 Work Order No.: NRC-524 Pages 1-46 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 U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + ++++
4 PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING 5 PROCESS FOR DAVIS-BESSE NUCLEAR STATION 6 LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION 7 + ++++
8 THURSDAY AFTERNOON SESSION 9 NOVEMBER 4, 2010 10 ++ +++
11 PORT CLINTON, OHIO 12 The Public Meeting convened at Camp Perry Lodging 13 and Conference Center, Camp Perry Military Reservation, 14 1000 Lawrence Road, Port Clinton, Ohio.
15 Present on behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
16 RICHARD BARKLEY 17 DAVID WRONA 18 BRIAN HARRIS 19 PAULA COOPER 20 SCOTT BURNELL 21 ALLAN BAKER 22 APRIL BEHAULT 23 JOHN RUTKOWSKI 24 DAN KIMBLE 25 ADAM WILSON NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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2 1 INDEX 2 Welcome and Introductions, Richard Barkley. 3 3 Overview of License Renewal Process, 4 Brian Harris ......... .............. 6 5 Overview of Environmental Review Process, 6 Paula Cooper ..................... 12 7 Closing Comments, Davis Wrona. . ........ 45 8 Adjourn ................ .................... 46
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3 1 P RO C E E D I NG S 2 Afternoon Session 3 1:30 p.m.
4 MR. BARKLEY: My name is Richard-Barkley.
5 I'm the meeting facilitator for the meeting this 6 afternoon, and I'm very pleased to see we have a good 7 turnout this afternoon. We'll probably have a larger 8 turnout this evening for this meeting. This is on the.
9 Environmental Impact Statement for Davis-Besse's license 10 renewal request.
11 And, what I'm going to do is go over to few 12 ground rules of how we conduct this public meeting. We 13 want to get your comments in and everyone gets a fair 14 share of time and the Court Reporter can actually 15 clearly hear your remarks.
16 First of all, if you would like to speak, 17 please sign up on the yellow card up at the front. We 18 have at least ten people who want to speak at this point 19 in time. So, I will call you in the specific order to 20 go through and make sure we cover all the groups that 21 are interested in speaking.
22 To be fair to everyone, please limit your 23 remarks to a reasonable period of time. I normally ask 24 people to keep their remarks to five minutes. Since we 25 only have about ten speakers, we can give you a little NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 1 more latitude than that, and we'll work through and make 2 sure you get a fair share of time but not too much time 3 as we go through..
4 In the interest of efficiency, I will call 5 three people to come up and speak. That seems to be the 6 most efficient, so the first one will come to the 7 microphone, whichever one you feel comfortable at. You 8 can speak from this microphone or you can speak from the 9 podium. And, after we go through three, I will call 10 another three, so you have some time to prepare and are 11 ready to make your remarks.
12 I alternate typically between elected 13 officials and members of the public. That gives the 14 elected officials a chance to speak early but also 15 allows the public a chance to speak earlier as well.
16 So, we'll alternate back and forth.
17 Next item, please silence your cell phones 18 if you have one with you. Thank you very much. Again, 19 please speak clearly into the microphone when you're 20 speaking because we do have a Court Reporter to record 21 these remarks, so we want to make sure we accurately 22 recover all your remarks. If you have it in a written 23 format, you can also turn those in to us as well.
24 I would ask in the interest of courtesy that 25 you do not interrupt the speaker when you're talking and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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5 1' speak only when at the microphone.
2 Again, written comments are welcome. If you 3 don't want to come to the microphone, you can turn in 4 written comments, and then the presenters here today 5 will talk to you about how you can formally turn in 6 written comments by mail between now and the latter part 7 of the month.
8 And, finally, if you have any questions or 9 concerns regarding how this meeting is being conducted, 10 please come and see me. I will be glad to work through 11 any issues you may have.
12 I would like to introduce the NRC staff in 13 attendance at this meeting.
14 First, Dave Wrona is a Branch Chief from the 15 License Renewal Branch.
16 Secondly, Brian Harris, who is the Safety 17 Project Manager from NLR who will be making a 18 presentation coming up.
19 Paula Cooper, who is the Environmental 20 Project Manager from NLR, and she will also be making a 21 presentation this afternoon.
22 Scott Burnell, the Public Affairs Officer 23 from our headquarters office.
24 Allan Barker, the Region III State Liaison 25 Officer.
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6 1 April Behault. She's a biologist with our 2 Division of License Renewal.
3 John Rutkowski, he's the Senior Resident 4 Inspector at Davis-Besse, and Dave Kimble who I believe 5 will be replacing him in the near term.
6 And, finally, Adam Wilson, who is the 7 Iresident inspector.
8 At this point in time, I would like to turn 9 the meeting over to Brian Harris to make his 10 presentation.
11 MR. HARRIS: Good afternoon. My name is 12 Brian Harris, and I would like to thank you all for 13 coming. out to this public information session today.
14 I'm NRC's Project Manager in charge of the Davis-Besse 15 license renewal application for Davis-Besse.
16 This meeting serves two purposes: To explain 17 the license renewal process and to gather your comments 18 on the environmental scoping. This slide points out two 19 parts of the meeting where you can get involved. We'll 20 have a question and answer session on the license 21 renewal process, and later we'll officially record your 22 environmental scoping comments.
23 Next slide, please. So, our first topic on 24 the agenda is the license renewal process overview. As 25 I said earlier, we're here to help you understand the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 1 license renewal process. I'll describe the safety 2 review, and Ms. Paula Cooper will do the environmental 3 review.
4 So, before I get into the discussion of the 5 license renewal process, I would like to take a minute 6 to tell you about NRC, what we do and what our mission 7 is. We protect the public health and safety, promote 8 common defense and security and protect the environment 9 from radioactive materials that are used for civilian 10 purposes.
11 We accomplish this mission by establishing 12 rules and regulations, conducting inspections, issuing 13 enforcement actions, assessing licensing performance, 14 and evaluating operating experience for nuclear plants 15 across the country and around the globe.
16 So, one of the ways that we protect public 17 health and safety is through our ongoing oversight of 18 nuclear power plants. The NRC's power plant oversight 19 covers topics such as emergency planning, security and 20 current safety performance every day through our 21 resident inspectors and additional staff at our Regional 22 Headquarters Offices.
23 For example, the NRC continues to evaluate 24 how First Energy is addressing the emergency 25 preparedness issue at Davis-Besse. The Agency issues a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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8 1 report on Monday of our inspection activity to this 2 point. And, because we address security emergency 3 planning and current performance every day, we do not 4 reevaluate these issues in license renewal.
5 Another example of ongoing oversight is the 6 recent NRC mandated inspection of Davis-Besse's reactor 7 vessel head which reveal cracks in nozzles on the head.
8 While the cracks do not affect safe plant operation, the 9 NRC oversaw First Energy's repairs of the head and 10 ensured that the plant did everything necessary to keep 11 the plant operating safely before Davis-Besse started 12 this summer.
13 The NRC will continue to oversee these sorts 14 of inspection, maintenance and repair activities for 15 every operating plant regardless of whether the plant 16 has entered a new license period.
17 So, the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station was 18 originally licensed on April 22, 197.7. The Atomic 19 Energy Act authorizes the NRC to grant a 40-year 20 operating license to nuclear power reactors. The plant 21 has been operating for 32 years under its 40-year 22 license, and Congress decided on the 40-year term for 23 economic considerations and antitrust factors, not on 24 safety or technical limitations. If the license is 25 renewed, it will then be valid until April 2037.
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9 1 License renewal involves two parallel 2 reviews: A safety review and an environmental review.
3 These reviews evaluate separate aspects of the license 4 renewal application. The safety review focuses on the 5 aging of components and structures that the NRC deems 6 important to plant safety.
7 The staff's main objective is to ensure the 8 applicant can adequately manage the effects of aging on 9 the plant and will document results of our safety review 10 in our safety evaluation report, or SER.
11 For the environmental review, the staff 12 considers, evaluates and describes the environmental 13 impacts of operating the plant for an additional 14 20 years. The objective of the review is to determine 15 if the environmental impacts of the license renewal are 16 so great that license renewal would not become a 17 reasonable option. The staff prepares an Environmental 18 Impact Statement, or EIS, to document its environmental 19 review.
20 So, this diagram lays out the two review 21 paths as well as three other inputs to the Commission's 22 decision on whether or not to renew an operating 23 license, and one of their considerations is an 24 independent review of the staff's safety report by the 25 Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, or ACRS.
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10 1 The ACRS is a group of scientists and nuclear 2 safety experts who provide professional advice to the 3 Commission. Now, after reviewing the application, the 4 safety evaluation report and inspection findings, the 5 ACRS reports their findings and recommendations directly 6 to the Commission.
7 Hearings may also be conducted if interested 8 stakeholders submit concerns or contentions, and their 9 request for a hearing is granted. The Commission 10 considers the outcome of the hearing process in its 11 decision on whether or not to issue a new operating 12 license.
13 As part of the environmental review, the 14 staff consults with local, state, federal and travel 15 officials.
16 Now, I'm going to describe the license 17 renewal process in a little more detail with the safety 18 review, and Ms. Cooper will describe the environmental 19 review later.
20 So, the regulations governing a license 21 renewal are based on two principles: The first 22 principle is that the current regulations ensure that 23 the current licensing basis for all operating plants 24 provide and maintain an acceptable level of safety.
25 The second principle is that the plant's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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11 1 current licensing basis must be maintained during the 2 renewal term. In other words, the same rule that 3 applies under the current license will apply to a 4 renewed license. In addition, a renewed license will 5 include conditions that must be met to ensure aging is 6 adequately managed so that the plant's current licensing 7 basis is maintained during the extended period bf 8 operation.
9 The staff performs rigorous reviews of the 10 applicant's application and supporting documents, and 11 this review includes evaluating new and existing 12 programs and surveillance activities to determine 13 whether the effects of aging concerning plant structures 14 and components will be adequately monitored and managed.
15 The safety review also includes on site 16 audits to verify the applicant's technical basis and to 17 verify and confirm that the application accurately 18 describes the applicant's aging management programs and 19 activities. The staff documents the basis and 20 conclusions of its review in a public safety evaluation 21 report.
22 In addition, a team of specialized inspectors 23 travel to the site to verify that aging management 24 programs are being implemented, modified or planned 25 consistent with the license renewal application.
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12 1 The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards 2 independently reviews the license renewal application 3 and the staff's safety evaluation report before making a 4 recommendation to the Commission regarding a proposed 5 action to a renewed operating license.
6 So, that concludes the safety review, and 7 I'll now hand it over to Ms. Paula Cooper.
8 MS. COOPER: Good afternoon. My name is 9 Paula Cooper. I'm the NRC's Environmental Project 10 Manager for Davis-Besse, and as Brian Harris described 11 previously in the safety review, I'm going to do the 12 bottom leg of the diagram and do the environmental 13 review.
14 The environmental review follows guidelines 15 set by the National Environmental Policy Act, also 16 referred to as NEPA. NEPA provides the basic 17 architectural review format for federal environmental 18 reviews requiring a systematic approach and advising the 19 potential impact of major federal action.
20 At the NRC, the license renewal application 21 is classified as a major federal action. The 22 environmental review considers the impact of the 23 proposed action and any mitigation for those impacts be 24 considered to be significant. We consider alternatives 25 to proposed action, even the impacts associated with not NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 1 issuing a renewed license, referred to as a no action 2 alternative.
3 As you can see, you have several 4 opportunities to participate in the license renewal 5 process. A Federal Register notice and press release 6 will be issued for most of these opportunities. The 7 environmental review begins today with the scoping 8 activities that reveal important issues that need to be 9 analyzed. During the scoping, we want your comments on 10 the scope of the environmental review.
11 The public input is the second half of our 12 meeting today and will be discussed later in this 13 session.
14 After studying the range of environmental 15 impact, we will publish a draft Environmental Impact 16 Statement for public comment. At that time, we will 17 come back and have another public meeting and issue and 18 request your comments on that draft. Once we collect 19 your comments on that draft, we will then issue our 20 final Environmental Impact Statement.
21 The opportunity for a hearing permits those 22 who are directly affected by the licensing 23 qualification. A hearing will be conducted by the panel 24 of administrative law judges who are called the Atomic 25 Safety and Licensing Board, also referred to as the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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14 1 ASLB.
2 This is the important milestone to the 3 license renewal application process. The notice of 4 opportunity for hearing was published on October 25th, 5 followed by the notice of intent for hearing, the EIS, 6 and conduct scoping on October 29th.;
7 The period for making comments or contentions 8 for a hearing closes on December 27th. If you have 9 comments regarding the environmental~review, if you 10 would like to see a copy of today's meeting, you will 11 have the opportunity to do so until December 27th as 12 well.
13 In summary, before deciding to issue a 14 renewed operating license, the Commission considers the 15 following factors:
16 The staff safety review which is documented 17 in the safety evaluation report, the staff environmental 18 review which is documented in the Environmental Impact 19 Statement, NRC's findings and conclusions from the 20 sections, and the recommendation by the committee on 21 reactor safeguards, these hearings.
22 If a hearing is conducted, the absence of 23 that process is also taken into consideration. The 24 typical time frame for renewing a renewed license is 25 22 months for review, provided that no hearing is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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15 1 involved. If a hearing is involved, it could take 2 30 months or more.
3 We have made available hard copies of the 4 license renewal application at the (indiscernible) 5 public library and the Toledo Lucas County Public 6 Library. When the draft Environmental Impact Statement 7 is available, it will also be available at those 8 libraries as well.
9 Several documents have been previously 10 gathered and can be found on the CD located on the table 11 here to my right. They include the generic 12 Environmental Impact Statement, the license renewal 13 application, the three Federal Registers that have been 14 published to date and a copy of the frequently-asked 15 questions for license renewal. You can also access all 16 these documents on the NRC website. The LRA can be 17 found on the website as well.
18 For information relating to the scoping 19 comments, you can review the regulations on site and 20 additionally to keep informed on aspects related to the 21 NRC at the website.
22 This concludes this presentation, and I'll 23 turn it back over to the facilitator.
24 Thank you.
25 MR. BARKLEY: Thank you. At this point in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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16 1 time, we would like to ask the audience if there are any 2 questions regarding the license renewal process. This 3 is not an opportunity for you to provide comments on the 4 Environmental Impact Statement but, rather, an 5 opportunity for you to ask questions regarding this 6 process of the staff. If you have any questions, please 7 go ahead and move to the center microphone and staff 8 will answer them; and if not, we'll move into the 9 comment period.
10 (No Response) 11 MR. BARKLEY: No questions? Okay, how 12 about we move right into the comment period then.
13 MS. COOPER: All right, previously, we 14 had presented the license renewal process, and now we're 15 going on to the second stage of the presentation and 16 that's the environmental scoping.
17 This completes the previous presentation, and 18 I would like to highlight that we're on the second step 19 followed by the public scoping meeting.
20 Scoping meetings started on October 29th with 21 the notice of intent to prepare an EIS and to conduct 22 scoping was published.
23 In general, we were looking for sources of 24 information about the environmental impact of continued 25 operations at Davis-Besse that we should consider when NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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17 1 we prepare our EIS.
2 You can assist us in that process by telling 3 us, for example, what aspect of your local community we 4 should focus on, what local environment and economic 5 aspect that the NRC should examine during our 6 environmental review and what reasonable alternatives 7 are most appropriate for the area.
8 These are just some examples of the input 9 we're look for, and they represent the kind of 10 information we are seeking through the environmental 11 scoping process. Your comments today should be helpful 12 in providing insight of this nature.
13 Through the environmental review, the NRC has 14 established a team of staff and contractors who are 15 experts in various fields and disciplines. This slide 16 gives you an idea of the various areas we're looking at 17 during the environmental review. They include 18 terrestrial and aquatic policies, environmental justice, 19 hydrology and radiation.
20 For license renewal review, NRC's 21 environmental staff looks at a wide range of impact. We 22 consult with various federal, state and local officials 23 as well as leaders in Indian nations, gathering 24 pertinent information from these sources ensuring that 25 it is considered in our analysis. Examples include the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 1 Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish and Wildlife 2 and State Historic Preservation Offices.
3 This slide represents the different methods 4 for the public's scoping comments. It shows how to 5 mail, fax and submit through the internet on 6 regulations. The scoping comments are reviewed by 7 December 27, 2010. In general, we are looking for 8 information about the environmental impact from 9 continued operation of Davis-Besse.
10 We know you are the experts in your community 11 so your comments today will ensure a thorough review of 12 the environmental, social and economic issues the NRC 13 should examine during our environmental review and what 14 reasonable alternatives are most appropriate for this 15 region.
16 You are the primacy contacts for the NRC for 17 the license renewals for Davis-Besse, the Project 18 Manager, Brian Harris, and myself. If you have any 19 questions about today's meeting, we will be around to 20 answer questions following the meeting. If you have 21 questions after you leave today, you're more than 22 welcome to contact any one of us.
23 This concludes my presentation. Thank you.
24 MR. BARKLEY: Okay, thank you.
25 The first three people I would like to call NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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19 1 are Mark Stahl of the Ottawa City Commission, and then 2 Jere Witt of Ottawa County, and Fred Petersen of the 3 Ottawa County EMA.
4 If you would like to speak from this 5 microphone, that would be fine. Go ahead and lead 6 off.
7 MR. STAHL: Thanks, Mark.
8 Good afternoon. My name is Mark Stahl, and 9 I'm the President of Ottawa County Commissioners.
10 Ottawa County is successful because we surround 11 ourselves with successful community partners, and 12 Davis-Besse is one of those community partners, who we 13 look very favorably upon.
14 You will hear from some the other agencies, 15 the nonprofits, the contributions that you make back to 16 our community helps us tremendously, and we greatly 17 appreciate that.
18 We also as Commissioners appreciate our NRC 19 partnership. We have had conversations with you, I 20 know, through the years, and we appreciate those 21 unbiased conversations that we've had in regard to 22 Davis-Besse.
23 So, I will let these two gentlemen fill you 24 in, but as President of the the Ottawa County 25 Commissioners, I'm here to offer our support to you, NEAL, R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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20 1 Davis-Besse, in your application process.
2 Thank you.
3 MR. WITT: Thanks, Mark. I appreciate you 4 putting Mark before Fred and I because he's our boss.
5 I'm Jere Witt. Many of you know me. I'm County 6 Administrator for Ottawa County. I've been with the 7 County for 32 years, and ironically when I looked at the 8 dates on there, I started with the County on July 20, 9 1978, and I believe the plant began operating in on July 10 31, 1978. So, we're pretty close on our birth dates 11 there.
12 I've been involved, as I said earlier, many 13 years with Davis-Besse and especially within the last 14 five to ten years. I was part of the restart overview 15 panel that worked for two years on the head issues. I 16 got my nuclear degree during that two years. I much 17 appreciated, and I really got a better feeling for 18 Davis-Besse and the nuclear industry.
19 1 currently serve on the Company Nuclear 20 Review Board to ensure that Davis-Besse continues to 21 operate safely, and there's a bunch of nuclear experts 22 on there and then there's me, but it's easy for me a use 23 their expertise to see if Davis-Besse operates safely, 24 and I'm happy to say that every time we've met, we have 25 concluded that Davis-Besse does continue to operate NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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21 1 safely.
2 I attend and participate in the NRC quarterly 3 exit meetings of Davis-Besse, and those have been 4 another way for Ottawa County to keep informed on what's 5 going on with Davis-Besse.
6 I receive many, many, many more than I really 7 want to see daily e-mails from the plant, but the most 8 important one is the morning e-mail that I get every 9 morning that tells the current status of the plant and 10 the issues that are going on, and it's an easy way for 11 me to keep up daily. I'm kept informed by plant 12 management. I think I get calls in the middle of the 13 night any time there is an issue, and we appreciate that 14 because it's showing their concern that Ottawa County is 15 able to keep inform.
16 As Mark mentioned, we work closely with the 17 NRC. We've been meeting with them quarterly just to 18 bring us up to speed, hear what's going on at 19 Davis-Besse, and get the NRC's side of that.
20 I actually have a vested interest in the 21 plant. I own property that abuts the plant, and it's 22 very important to me that they keep that plant operating 23 safely. I have a cottage there that my -- when the head 24 incident happened, my grandchildren and their mother and 25 dad were living there, and my wife kept asking me if I NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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22 1 knew what I was talking about, that it. was safe, and I 2 was assuring her that I did.
3 We continue to watch closely to see that the 4 plant does operate safely. I have personally witnessed 5 the transformation of the site personnel in the new 6 safety culture, and they continue to maintain that 7 culture, and I think that is one of the most important 8 things that any nuclear power plant has to do.
9 I believe that the people who work at 10 Davis-Besse and have witnessed how they challenge each 11 other for safe plant operation. I don't think that was 12 necessarily always true years ago, but today they do, in 13 fact, and at many of my visits out there, I have 14 witnessed how they challenge each other.
15 Many of the Davis-Besse employees live in the 16 community and are important assets to Ottawa County. I 17 think it's very important that the corporate structure 18 that's been put in place to oversee the operations of 19 Davis-Besse continue, and I think it's a good structure.
20 Davis-Besse has been a great asset to the 21 community and are very involved in Ottawa County. We in 22 Ottawa County will continue to watch and make sure the 23 plant operates safely, but through my past involvement, 24 1 have no concerns for the safety of Davis-Besse.
25 We look forward to a license renewal. Ottawa NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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23 1 County wants Davis-Besse to stay, and welcome them in 2 the future and urge the NRC to move forward with this 3 license renewal.
4 Thank you very much.
5 MR. BARKLEY: Thank you Jere.
6 Fred?
7 MR. PETERSEN: Thank you. My name is Fred 8 Petersen. I'm the Director of the Ottawa County 9 Emergency Management Agency. I've been involved in the 10 EMA for 16 years and ten months.
11 I want to talk specifically about the Ottawa 12 County EMA's good working relationship with Davis-Besse 13 Power Station. Largely because of that relationship we 14 provide a lot of benefits.
15 All of our plans and procedures are thorough 16 and well maintained and are regularly exercised. Those 17 exercises are conducted specifically on the radiological 18 side biannually. So, every two years, FEMA comes in and 19 evaluates our performance plan to keep us in compliance.
20 Over the years that I have been associated 21 with the agency and even prior to that, we have had no 22 significant issue on our exercises, and they perform 23 very well.
24 Our emergency operation center and our risk 25 management agency are generally better equipped, more NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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24 1 well maintained and larger and larger staffed than most 2 counties of our size throughout the State of Ohio. And, 3 that is because of our partner.
4 We feel like we're very well prepared for 5 anything that happens here in the county, specifically 6 radiological rescue emergency preparedness. But, some 7 of the things that we do on the radiological side that 8 really benefit us are lot of spill-over benefits on 9 preparedness work review at Davis-Besse. Those would 10 include, we have a great relationship with our fire, 11 EMS, law enforcement, private response orientation in 12 the county, and that's because we regularly exercise 13 training and work with them.
14 So, all the events that have happened in the 15 county, we have been very successful with our response, 16 and a lot of that is because of everything we do with 17 Davis-Besse, and how it helps with our relationship.
18 An example of that would be the tornado this 19 past June. Everyone that was involved had some sort of 20 role in the radiological response program. A lot of the 21 response procedures that we use for Davis-Besse are very 22 applicable to some of the things that we had to do like 23 HAZMAT.
24 The tangible things that we have is because 25 of Davis-Besse. One of the things that is very NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 I noticeable in the county is we have county-wide siren 2 system. A large part of that is at the Davis-Besse 3 plant, and is available to us for any number of outdoor 4 notifications that need to be relayed; specifically, 5 weather, very, very important to the community.
6 We also do a brochure calendar for our 7 particular State of Ohio, Lucas County, that goes to all 8 of our residents and provides them a plethora of 9 information about all types of emergency response and 10 what they can do in response to tornadoes, floods, 11 HAZMAT and radiological emergency.
12 So, really, all this adds up to the fact that 13 our relationship in Ottawa County with Davis-Besse is a 14 benefit to the residents of Ottawa County.
15 Thank you.
16 MR. BARKLEY: Thank you.
17 The next three people I would like to call 18 are: Chris Galvin of the United Way; followed by Jackie 19 VanTress of OPEIU, Local 19; and following, Kimberly 20 Kaufman of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory.
21 Thank you.
22 MS. GALVIN: I'm Chris Galvin, Director of 23 the United Way in Ottawa County. The Davis-Besse 24 Nuclear Power Station and on a larger scale the First 25 Energy Corporation are a tremendous community partner to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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26 1 the local United Way. Since 1993, First Energy has 2 contributed more than 13.5 Million Dollars to United Way 3 of Greater Toledo which serves Ottawa, Wood and Lucas 4 Counties. 3.1 Million came from corporate gifts, 10.4 5 Million from its incredibly generous employees.
6 First Energy has also earned United Way's 7 Pillar Award each year since at least 1992. Our data 8 doesn't go back any further than that. It seems they 9 consistently give more than a hundred thousand dollars 10 each year to the Greater Toledo campaign.
11 Not only does this community consistently get 12 solid financial support from First Energy and its 13 employees, but executive leadership has also 14 demonstrated exceptional personal commitment to our 15 work.
16 In 1993, Don Saunders chaired the local 17 United Way campaign, raising 12.5 Million Dollars.
18 In 2005, Jim Murray, now retired, but 19 formerly First Energy President of Ohio Operations, 20 chaired the local United Way campaign. Under Mr.
21 Murray's leadership, the campaign raised 13.3 Million 22 Dollars. We also presented Mr. Murray with our 23 Prestigious Caring Award in 2006 for demonstrating value 24 and concern for our community through vision, 25 leadership, service and commitment to the people of our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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27 1 community.
2 In 2009, Trent Smith, Regional President of 3 Toledo Edison First Energy, became chairman of the 4 United Way of Greater Toledo's Board of Trustees and has 5 drawn to a close on his second year of service. Mr.
6 Smith has gone above and beyond the level of service, 7 dedication and commitment we typically see from board 8 chairs. He has become involved in virtually ever level 9 of our work, digging in and helping find real solutions.
10 In addition to these executive leaders, 11 numerous upper-level management have supported United 12 Way by using their voice and relationships to help 13 secure financial and volunteer support as well as 14 advocating on behalf of the United Way and the Northwest 15 Ohio Region.
16 In addition to Don Saunders, Jim Murray and 17 Trent Smith, some of the stand-out employees include 18 Debbie Paul, Mike Adams, and Mel Lomack. Additionally, 19 in the 1990's Jennifer Schreiber served five years as 20 the chair of our community impact cabinet, the highest 21 level of community impact volunteers who decide how 22 money is allocated in this community. Also joining her 23 on the cabinet was Jenny Ammadon. Both are now retired.
24 First Energy also demonstrates incredible 25 commitment to the communities through sponsorships and/
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28 1 or participation in programs and events.
2 In 1993 and 1994, Davis-Besse sponsored our 3 loaned executive program. Jim Ferris, now retired from 4 Davis-Besse, was the loaned executive in those 5 two years. First Energy has also sponsored loaned 6 executives over the years, from 1996 continuing for 7 11 years.
8 Employees consistently contribute to and 9 participate in Stamp Out Hunger and/or Scouting for Food 10 efforts each year. They were a major sponsor of our 11 Family Food Fund in 2008.
12 First Energy was the sponsor of our Community 13 Building event in 2005, and was the initiator and 14 sponsor of the Veterans Appreciation Event in 2006, 15 which continued until 2009.
16 Davis-Besse and First Energy are a valued 17 community partner, both philanthropically and 18 economically. They have been incredible contributors to 19 our community over the past 20 years, and we only hope 20 that this will continue for at least another 20 years.
21 Thank you.
22 MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Chris.
23 Jackie?
24 MS. VANTRESS: Good afternoon. My name is 25 Jackie VanTress, and I am representing OPEIU, Local 19.
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29 1 "OPEIU" stands for Office and Professional Employees 2 International Union, and we represent the clerical 3 support staff at Davis-Besse.
4 On behalf of the Union, I would like to voice 5 our support in this public meeting. A renewal of this 6 license will not only promote and maintain employment 7 for our members who live and shop and send their 8 children to school in that area, but it will also assure 9 the delivery of reliable electric service to our 10 customers.
11 Research has shown that nuclear power is 12 clean, is efficient and produces more energy at a lower 13 cost than any other means of generation. So, it is 14 important that we keep this plant in operation.
15 Local 19 is proud of the safety record and 16 operations at Davis-Besse as well as the work we do here 17 and the service we provide to the public. OPEIU, Local 18 19, would like to continue to be a part of the team for 19 at least the next 20 years.
20 Thank you.
21 MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Jackie.
22 MS. KAUFMAN: Good afternoon everybody. My 23 name is Kimberly Kaufman, and I'm the Executive Director 24 of Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and while I understand 25 the seriousness nature of this hearing, I'm actually NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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30 1 really pleased to have this opportunity to address this 2 group.
3 My organization represents a somewhat unique 4 marriage, if you will, between a conservation 5 organization and a nuclear power plant. The general 6 public and, of course, all of you in the room are 7 certainly familiar with the fact that the nuclear power 8 plant resides in this part of Ottawa County, but very 9 few are actually aware that the power plant co-exists 10 with the thriving marsh that just sort of forms a hub 11 around the power plant.
12 Our organization has been conducting 13 migratory bird regions in this area for more than 14 20 years, and we really take pride in this marriage, and 15 we work hard like a good spouse to maintain it.
16 The marsh represents a critical stop-over 17 habitat for millions of migratory birds. And, in fact, 18 many the world's leading bird experts consider this 19 marsh to be one of the most critical areas of stop-over 20 habitat in the entire western hemisphere.
21 The observatory in these 20 years have had 22 the full support of First Energy and Davis-Besse to 23 conduct this critical research and, in fact, during a 24 very exciting tumultus time in this country's history, 25 we were very afraid that our consistent effort meaning NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W, (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
31 1 that seven days a week, spring and fall, during song 2 bird migration, our research staff was out at that marsh 3 in front of the power tank conducting this research 4 seven days a week for more than 20 years.
5 When the tragedy occurred on 9/11, we were 6 very concerned for, of course, the human tragedy, but 7 also concerned that our research would be interrupted.
8 And, in fact, Davis-Besse really fully understood the 9 importance of this research, and the importance of 10 conserving the integrity of the data set, and we didn't 11 miss a single day.
12 And, perhaps nothing else, no other event in 13 our history or recent history speaks more to how much 14 they have said they understand the critical role that 15 they play in local environmental and conservation issues 16 than that event.
17 So, based on our long-standing relationship, 18 it is our opinion the Davis-Besse and First Energy have 19 not only worked to fully understand and fully support 20 the environmental issues for this local community, but 21 have also fully embraced the role that they play in all 22 of these issues.
23 So, it is opinion of the Black Swamp Bird 24 Observatory that the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant is 25 a critical player in bird conservation in the entire NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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