ML13247A541
| ML13247A541 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Braidwood  |
| Issue date: | 09/05/2013 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Tran T M, 415-3617 | |
| References | |
| NRC-154 | |
| Download: ML13247A541 (72) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title: Braidwood LRA Public Scoping Meeting Afternoon Session
Docket Number: 50-456 and 50-457
Location: Braidwood, Illinois
Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Work Order No.: NRC-154 Pages 1-69
NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC. Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.
C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1 + + + + +
2 BEFORE THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +
4 NUCLEAR MANAGEMENT COMPANY 5 BRAIDWOOD LRA PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING 6 + + + + +
7 Regarding the License Renewal Application 8 NEPA Required Scoping Meeting 9 + + + + +
10 WEDNESDAY 11 AUGUST 21, 2013 12 + + + + +
13 386 W. KENNEDY ROAD 14 BRAIDWOOD, ILLINOIS 15 + + + + +
16 The above-entitled matter commenced 17 pursuant to Notice before Sheila Ray and Cheryl 18 Hausman, Facilitators 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 www.nealrgross.com 2 1 PRESENT: 2 NRC STAFF:
3 Yoria Diaz 4 Tam Tran 5 Alex Garmo[e]
6 Stuart Sheldon 7 Anita Ghosh 8 Prema Chandrathil 9 Elizabeth Pool 10 Jacob Steff[e]s 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.
C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 P R O C E E D I N G S 1 (2:00 P.M.)
2 MS. RAY: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you 3 for your attendance. We are going to begin this 4 Braidwood license renewal environmental scoping 5 meeting. My name is Sheila Ray and I'm one of the 6 co-facilitators for this meeting. Cheryl Hausman is 7 the other facilitator. And we are here to help the 8 meeting run smoothly, to insure the meeting stays on 9 time, and also to insure that everyone that would 10 like to make a public comment has that opportunity.
11 Before we get started, I did want to 12 mention that this meeting is being transcribed and 13 this will help the NRC have an accurate record of 14 this meeting. And I'd ask that you keep any 15 background noise to a minimum. And if you have any 16 sidebar conversations, please take them outside. I 17 would also ask that you silence all of your 18 electronic devices so it'll help to insure an 19 accurate transcription.
20 I'd ask that everyone please be 21 respectful of others and we can insure that everyone 22 has an opportunity to speak. I'd like to note that 23 the restrooms are out these doors to the left, and 24 there are exits on either side of this hallway. And 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 4 also Security is at this meeting in case you have an 1 emergency. Officer Reed.
2 The purpose of today's meeting is to 3 discuss the license renewal process and to identify 4 significant issues related to the proposed license 5 renewal activity for the Braidwood Station, Units 1 6 and 2. We're also here to determine the scope of the 7 issues to be addressed in the Environmental Impact 8 Statement.
9 The agenda for this meeting will be 10 starting with a brief presentation by the NRC, 11 followed by Q and A session to have any audience 12 members ask any questions regarding the presentation 13 itself, followed by a public comment period for the 14 remainder of the time. And for the public comment 15 period, for those of you who have registered, we 16 appreciate that. If you have not signed a yellow 17 card and would like to speak at this meeting, please 18 sign a yellow card. They are located outside.
19 I'd like to start with introductions. My 20 name is, again, Sheila Ray. I work for the NRC. I'd 21 like to start with Yoira.
22 MS. DIAZ: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm 23 Yoira Diaz. I'm the supervisor or branch chief for 24 the Safety Projects Branch, and basically my staff is 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 5 the one that is in charge of reviewing the license 1 renewal application for the safety site. I'm 2 actually the federal official for this meeting.
3 MS. RAY: Alex?
4 MR. GARMO[E]: Good afternoon, I'm Alex 5 Garmo[e], the acting Senior Resident Inspector at 6 Braidwood, so I'm one of the two people responsible 7 for inspections on a day-to-day basis at the 8 Braidwood Station.
9 MS. RAY: Jacob?
10 MR. STEFF[E]S: Good afternoon. I'm 11 Jacob Steff[e]s. I'm the other member of the team 12 that makes up our inspection process at Braidwood and 13 we report daily and also do emergency response.
14 MS. RAY: Tam?
15 MR. TRAN: Thank you. My name is Tam 16 Tran. I'm the Environmental Project Manager for the 17 license renewal review of the Braidwood applications.
18 MS. RAY: Anita?
19 MS. GHOSH: Good afternoon. My name is 20 Anita Ghosh and I'm with the Office of the General 21 Counsel. 22 MS. RAY: And Prema.
23 MS. CHANDRATHIL: Hi, everyone. My name 24 is Prema Chandrathil. I'm the Public Affairs Officer 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.
C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 6 for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and I'm based 1 here out in Lisle. Thanks for coming.
2 MS. RAY: At this time I'd like to have 3 representatives from other federal agencies introduce 4 themselves. Elizabeth?
5 MS. POOL: Hi, My name is Elizabeth Pool 6 from the U.S. EPA, Region 5 in the Chicago office.
7 I'm in the NEPA Compliance Division and I'm the 8 leader for the EPA's review of the document.
9 MS. RAY: Thank you. At this time we'd 10 like to move into the presentation by the NRC. I'd 11 like to introduce Tam Tran. Also, if you could hold 12 your questions until the end. We'll have a brief Q 13 and A session for any clarifications on the 14 presentation.
15 MR. TRAN: Thank you, Sheila. Good 16 afternoon. My name is Tam Tran. I'm one of the two 17 project managers for the NRC Division of License 18 Renewal associated with the Braidwood Station License 19 and Review. I'm the Environmental Project manager.
20 The Safety Project manager is John Daily. John's not 21 here today.
22 Thank you for taking the time to come out 23 to help us with this public meeting to provide your 24 comments, and we value your comments. Today I will 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 7 provide an overview of the license renewal review 1 process, which includes both a safety review and an 2 environmental review. I will describe in more detail 3 the environmental review process associated with the 4 license renewal for the Braidwood Station.
5 But the most important part of today's 6 meeting is to receive any comment that you may have 7 on the scoping of the environmental review. And we 8 also provide information about how comments can be 9 submitted outside of this meeting. I hope the 10 information will help you to understand the license 11 renewal review process and the role that you can play 12 in helping us to make sure that the NRC Environmental 13 Review considers the relevant information that it 14 should. 15 Before I get into a discussion of license 16 renewal review process, I would like to briefly talk 17 about the NRC in terms of what we do and our 18 missions. The NRC is a federal agency established by 19 the Energy Reorganization Act that regulates the 20 civilian use of nuclear material in the commercial 21 sense. 22 The Atomic Energy Act authorizes the NRC 23 to grant 40 year operating license for nuclear power 24 reactors. [40 year] was made primarily on economic 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 8 considerations and anti-trust factors, not on safety 1 or technical limitations.
2 The Atomic Energy Act also allows for 3 license renewal. The National Environmental Policy 4 Act established the national policy for considering 5 the impacts of federal decisions on human 6 environment. As a matter of policy, the Commission 7 determined that reactor license renewal constitutes a 8 major federal action for which an environment impact 9 statement is warranted.
10 In exercising its regulatory authority, 11 the NRC mission is three-fold; to insure adequate 12 protection of the public health and safety, to 13 promote the common defense and security of the 14 nation, and to protect the environment. The NRC 15 accomplishes its mission through a combination of 16 regulatory programs and processes such as 17 establishing rules and regulations, conducting 18 inspections, issuing enforcement actions, accessing 19 licensee performance, evaluating operating experience 20 from nuclear plants across this country and 21 internationally.
22 The NRC has resident inspect[ors] [at]
23 all operating nuclear power plants. Inspectors [are]
24 considered the eyes and ears for the Agency, they 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 9 carry out our safety mission on a daily basis, and 1 [are] on the front lines of [e]nsuring acceptable 2 safety performance and compliance with regulatory 3 requirements for the plant.
4 Now, turning to the Braidwood Station, 5 Exelon Generation Company filed an application dated 6 May 29th seeking to renew the operating licenses of 7 the Byron and Braidwood plants for an additional 20 8 years of operations. The current operating licenses 9 for the Braidwood expire on October 17th, 2026 for 10 Unit 1 and December 18th, 2027 for Unit 2.
11 Exelon, in submitting a single 12 applications cover both Byron and Braidwood plants 13 cited extensive similarity into the system, 14 construction, and component of each that are analyzed 15 in the license renewal review. The NRC will conduct 16 a separate environmental review for Braidwood because 17 of differences in environmental and cultural 18 resources surrounding the Braidwood Station in 19 comparison to Byron.
20 A license renewal application is required 21 to contain certain set of information. General 22 information such as applicant's name, address, 23 business and administrative information and technical 24 information which pertain to aging management. This 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 10 information is the focus of the safety review.
1 The application also includes a[n]
2 environment report, which is the applicant assessment 3 of the environment impact of continued operations.
4 This information serves as a starting point for the 5 staff to review the environmental aspect of the 6 license renewal of the Braidwood Station.
7 This diagram illustrates the safety and 8 environment review process[e]s. It also features two 9 other considerations in the Commission's decision of 10 whether or not to renew the [operating] license. One 11 of these considerations is the independent review 12 performed by the Advisory Committee on reactor 13 safeguards.
14 The so-called ACRS is a group of 15 scientists and nuclear safety experts who serve as a 16 consulting body to the Commission. The ACRS report 17 [its] finding [and] recommendation directly to the 18 Commission. The ACRS review would also include a 19 public meeting.
20 Hearings may also be conducted[.] before 21 September 23, 2013[,] Braidwood interest stakeholders 22 may submit concerns or contention and request a 23 hearing. A panel from the Atomic Safety Licensing 24 Board will be established to review the contentions 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 11 for admissibility.
1 If hearing is approved, the Commission 2 will consider the outcome of the hearing process in 3 this decision of whether or not to issue a renewal 4 operating license.
5 License renewal involves two parallel 6 reviews; the safety review and the environmental 7 review. The safety review focuses on the aging 8 effects of passive and long lived components and 9 structures that the NRC deems important to plant 10 safety. The staff main objective in this review is 11 to determine whether the effects of aging will be 12 adequately managed by the applicant.
13 The review also considers generic and 14 site specific operating experience relating to the 15 effect of aging. The result of the safety reviews 16 are documented in the safety evaluation report or 17 sometimes we may refer to it as an SER.
18 For an environmental review, the staff 19 considers, evaluates, and discloses the environmental 20 impact of continued plant operation for an additional 21 20 years. The staff also evaluates the environmental 22 impacts of alternatives to license renewal.
23 The objective of the review is to 24 determine if the environmental impact of license 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 12 renewal are so great that license renewal would not 1 be a reasonable option. Or more plainly, is license 2 renewal acceptable from an environmental standpoint?
3 The staff prepares an environmental impact statement 4 to document its review. And you may hear us refer to 5 that as the EIS.
6 Before I go to more depth about the 7 safety and environmental reviews, I want to mention a 8 few areas that are very important [and] parts of the 9 NRC [oversight] process. These are emergency 10 planning, security, and current safety performance.
11 The NRC addresses this area of 12 performance every day as part of the ongoing 13 regulatory oversight provided for all currently 14 operating reactors. Current license issues [are]
15 addressed on an ongoing basis under the current 16 operating licensing term. License renewal issues 17 [are] addressed separately [a]s a part of the license 18 renewal review.
19 Now, I will cover a little bit more 20 detail about the safety review. The regulation 21 governing license renewal for the safety review has 22 two guiding princip[le]s. The first princip[le] is 23 that the current regulatory process is adequate to 24 [e]nsure the licensing basis of all operating plants, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 13 and it provides acceptable level of safety.
1 The second principal is that the current 2 plant's specific licensing basis must be maintained 3 during the license renewal in the same manner and to 4 the same extent as during the original licensing 5 term. In other words, the same rules that [apply]
6 under the current license will continue to apply in 7 the renewal term for the additional 20 years of 8 operations.
9 In addition, a renewed license will 10 include condition that must be met to [e]nsure aging 11 of structure and components [important] to safety 12 [are] adequately managed so that the plant's current 13 licensing basis is maintained during the period of 14 extended operations. For safety, the staff 15 performs [multi] level reviews. First, the staff 16 reviews the license renewal application and 17 supporting documentation. This review includes an 18 evaluation of new and exist[ing] programs and 19 surveillance activity to determine with reasonable 20 assurance that effective aging of certain plant's 21 structure and components will be adequately managed 22 or monitored.
23 Second, the staff performs site audits to 24 verify the technical basis of the license renewal 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 14 application and to confirm that the applicant aging 1 management program and activities conform with how 2 they are described in the applications.
3 The staff documents the basis and 4 conclusion of its review in the safety evaluation 5 report, which is publicly available. In addition, a 6 team of specialized inspector from NRC Region III 7 will travel to reactor site to verify that aging 8 management programs are being implemented, modified, 9 or planned consistent with the license renewal 10 applications.
11 Finally, as I have mentioned, the 12 environmental and reactor safeguards perform an 13 independent review of the license renewal 14 applications and [the] staff safety evaluation 15 report, and makes a recommendation to the commission 16 regarding the proposed action to issue a renewal 17 operating license.
18 For the environmental review, the staff 19 will perform an environment review in accordance with 20 the National Environmental Policy Act, or so-called 21 NEPA. NEPA provides the basis architecture for the 22 federal environmental review requirements. It 23 requires that all federal agencies follow a 24 systematic approach in evaluating potential impacts 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 15associated with major federal actions and 1 alternative[s] to those actions. The NEPA process 2 involves public participation and public involvement 3 as well as public disclosure.
4 The NRC environmental regulations 5 contained in 10CFR Par 51 are largely based on other 6 environmental regulations for NEPA. NRC 7 environmental review considers impact associated with 8 the licensing renewal and any mitigation for those 9 impacts we consider to be significant. We also 10 consider the impact of alternatives [to] license 11 renewal, including the impact of not issuing a 12 renewal license.
13 In conducting the review, the NRC staff 14 will look at various impacts to the [a]ffect[ed]
15 environments. This review involves a wide range of 16 expertise illustrated on this slide. The expert[s]
17 will examine environmental justice, ecology, land 18 use, regulatory compliance, climate change and so on 19 to develop the environmental impact statement.
20 As illustrated on this slide, some of the 21 agencies that we work with include U.S. Fish and 22 Wildlife Services, Environmental Protection Agency, 23 State's Historical Preservation Offices as well as 24 many local and state agencies and any effected Indian 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 16 tribes. 1 The NRC staff, we also review 2 accumulative impacts associated with the continual 3 operation of the Braidwood Station. For cumulative 4 impacts, the staff will look at the effects on the 5 environment from the past, present and reasonably 6 foreseeable future human actions.
7 The cumulative impacts include both from 8 the Braidwood Station operations and other activities 9 near Braidwood. In other words, the cumulative 10 impact analysis considers potential impacts through 11 the end of the 20 year renewal term.
12 For the term beyond the 20-year period of 13 extended operations, the NRC waste confidence 14 addresses the environmental impact of the management 15 of the [used] fuel after the license's life, 16 including renewal. Previous license renewal EIS 17 noted that environmental impacts of temporary storage 18 of spent nuclear fuel for the period following the 19 reactor operating license term were addressed by NRC 20 Waste Confidence Rule. The waste confidence 21 environment impact statement is expected to be issued 22 in 2014. 23 In August 2012, the Commission decided 24 that the agency will not issue a final licensing 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 17decision for reactors, including license renewal.
1 Until the waste confidence regulatory activities are 2 completed, at that time any license renewal related 3 site specific issues at Braidwood Station remain 4 unresolved, they will be addressed separately.
5 The environmental review begins with the 6 scoping process, which is where we are today. The 7 purpose of the scoping process is to identify 8 significant issues that should be considered in the 9 environmental review. We are now gathering 10 information that we will use to prepare the EIS for 11 the Braidwood Station license renewal, that is the 12 environmental impacts that are local to this area and 13 that are important to the staff to consider.
14 The staff has developed a generic 15 environmental impact statement that addresses a 16 number of issues common to all nuclear power plants.
17 The staff is supplementing that generic EIS with a 18 site specific supplemental EIS for the Braidwood 19 Station. The staff will also re-examine the 20 conclusions reached in the generic EIS to determine 21 if there are any new and significant information that 22 would change the conclusions in the generic EIS. The 23 scoping period starts on July 31st and we will 24 continue to take comments until September 27th.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 18 In general, we are looking for 1 information about environment impacts from 2 continu[ed] operations of the Braidwood Station 3 during the extended period of operations. You can 4 assist us in that process by telling us, for example, 5 what aspect of your local community we should focus 6 on; what local environmental social and economic 7 issue that the NRC should examine; and what 8 reasonable alternatives are most appropriate for this 9 region. 10 This slide illustrates the NRC various 11 considerations for deciding if a renewal operating 12 license will be issued. It's a rigorous review 13 involving the EIS, the safety evaluation report, 14 regional inspection, and so on. But what's important 15 to point out here is that the public comments are an 16 important part of the license renewal process. We 17 consider all comments that we receive today and 18 throughout the scoping period. And the comments help 19 us to inform and to shape the supplemental 20 environmental impact statement.
21 In addition to providing comments at 22 today's meeting, there are other ways that you can 23 submit comments on the environmental review. You can 24 provide written comments by mail to the NRC Chief of 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 19 Rules [and] Direct[ive] at the address provided on 1 this slide. And there are copies of this slide for 2 your use. Or you can send your comment 3 electr[oni]cally by going to regulation.gov website.
4 You can also make your comments in person 5 if you happen to be in Rock[ville], Maryland. We ask 6 that you get in touch with the NRC project manager[s]
7 beforehand so that we can set up appropriate 8 arrangements. Again, the comments should be 9 submitted by September 27th.
10 This slide shows some important 11 milestones for environmental review process. The 12 petition to request for a hearing [du]es on September 13 23rd, 2013. We plan to issue the draft of the 14 environmental impact statement in 2014. Once the 15 draft is issued, there will be a comment period where 16 again there will be an opportunity for the public to 17 read through the draft EIS and to comment on the 18 draft. 19 The contact information for licensing 20 renewal and environmental review for Braidwood 21 Station is myself, Tam Tran; John Daly is the contact 22 for safety review; and John's contact information is 23 listed on this meeting handouts.
24 The Fossil Ridge Library has agreed to 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 20 make the licensing renewal applications available for 1 public review. And when it is published for comment, 2 the draft supplemental environmental impact statement 3 will also be available at the library. In addition, 4 these documents will be on the NRC website listed on 5 the slide.
6 As you came in, you were asked to fill 7 out a registration card at our reception desk. If 8 you have included your address on that card and 9 indicated you would like to be on the distribution 10 list, we will send you a copy of that draft and the 11 final EIS for your information.
12 If you didn't have an opportunity to fill 13 out that card, please feel free before you leave to 14 fill out a card and add your address to it.
15 This concludes my presentation. I will 16 turn it over to Sheila.
17 MS. RAY: Thank you, Tam. At this time, 18 we'd like to have a Q and A session if there are any 19 questions regarding the presentation or if you'd like 20 any clarifications on that presentation. Any 21 questions?
22 I'd actually ask you to come to the 23 microphone and please introduce yourself.
24 MR. VICKERS: My name is Justin Vickers.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 21 I'm an attorney with the Environmental Law Associate 1 Center. I just wanted to know whether there would be 2 the need for power analysis under the AIS, for the 3 renewal, license renewal?
4 MR. TRAN: I'm sorry?
5 MR. VICKERS: About whether there's going 6 to be a need for a power analysis for the license 7 renewal under NEPA?
8 MR. TRAN: No.
9 MR. VICKERS: No, okay.
10 MR. TRAN: Yes, this is Tam Tran. I'm 11 project manager for environmental review. The 12 answer is, no. Our standard review plans do not 13 include that.
14 MS. RAY: Thank you. In order to have an 15 accurate transcription, we'd like everyone to 16 introduce themselves. Are there any other questions 17 on the presentation? Yes, sir, if you could come to 18 the microphone and please introduce yourself.
19 MR. BAWCUM: Dwayne Bawcum. I'm local.
20 I wonder what would be the harm in asking Exelon to 21 wait another ten years for a renewal request. Their 22 license doesn't end for 13 years. I understand it 23 takes two years for the process, renewal process.
24 So, if judging by their last 10 years or 15 years 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 22that they've been in operation, and the mistakes that 1 have been made, the impact that has happened to the 2 area, and what is done to us residences, would it 3 harm Exelon to wait another ten years, three before 4 the license expires. And then say, hey, look at what 5 I've done in the last ten years. Look at my 6 improvement. Look at my record.
7 I don't know what they're going to do in 8 the next ten years. I don't know if I'll be here.
9 My wife isn't since we've moved here. Neither is my 10 father-in-law. Various canines that didn't make it.
11 I've got four fused disks now. I don't know if I'll 12 be here in ten years. Maybe their request for 13 renewal will go through quicker with less people 14 around. 15 Anyway, that was my request, that Exelon 16 look back and say, I'll wait for ten years. Thank 17 you. 18 MS. RAY: Thank you. Were there any 19 other questions regarding the presentation? Yes, 20 ma'am, if you could please come to the microphone.
21 MS. LEWISEN: Yes, Linda Lewisen. I'm a 22 Sierra Club member and a member of Nuclear Energy 23 Information Service. I would like to ask two 24 questions. One, given all of the history that has, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 23 the episodes that have happened with the tritium 1 releases in the past, is Exelon going to address the 2 environmental impact now and talk about how that is 3 going to impact in the future in terms of the 4 environment in your new environmental impact 5 statement? And, well, I'll just stop there for now.
6 MS. RAY: Thank you. This is a meeting 7 for the environmental impact statement and any 8 questions you have for Exelon, I would refer you to 9 Exelon representatives. There are communication 10 representatives here that you may talk to after the 11 meeting. 12 Are there any other questions on the 13 presentation itself? Seeing none, we will move into 14 the public comment period. Just to remind everyone, 15 if you would like to speak, please fill out a yellow 16 card and this will help the transcription to be 17 accurate. And the yellow cards are located outside.
18 And, again, once you get invited to the podium, 19 please introduce yourself.
20 And at this time, I'd like to start with 21 the first public comment from Bill Rulien, the mayor 22 of Braidwood.
23 MR. RULIEN: Bill Rulien, the mayor of 24 Braidwood, as she said. I was about ten years old, I 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 24used to get my dad's newspaper and read it. And I 1 started to learn about the first commercial nuclear 2 power plant in the whole country that started 3 producing power. And it was just an amazing thing to 4 me with no fuel and no pollution. And that plant was 5 started by Commonwealth Edison. That's our little 6 Dresden plant over there. They were on the cutting 7 edge of this technology.
8 Now, when I was about 20, I built my 9 first solar collector. And I also decided to build 10 and experimented with some wind generators. Didn't 11 take me too long to figure out when the wind don't 12 blow, it would make great supplemental power, but 13 could never be reliable as a source of power.
14 In the 43 years since then, almost 15 nothing has changed. If you want reliable, safe, 16 massed produced pollution free power, you're going to 17 get it from a nuclear power plant. So, as far as we 18 can see in the future, that's what our future holds 19 for us. 20 Now, not too long, probably about 1980, I 21 was doing a little bit of construction in the Goose 22 Lake area, which is near the Dresden power plant. I 23 was working for a construction company. And I 24 noticed that people were building houses nearby. And 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 25 I wondered about that, how that would work out.
1 Well, all I can tell you is for 25 years, 2 we have lived side by side with nuclear power plants 3 in Braidwood now that are operated. A benefit from 4 that is good jobs. They contribute to our tax base 5 for our library, our schools, and our fire 6 department. It's been really good for our economy 7 from that point of view.
8 They've been generous to our communities.
9 And Godley, they've spent millions of dollars to 10 build a water system for the people at Godley. And 11 Braceville, they've spent millions of dollars that 12 subsidize that city. Our food pantry, they 13 contribute thousands of dollars of help to our food 14 pantry and many other projects in our communities.
15 Last year they helped out our city with $15,000 to 16 buy an electronic sign and to help out with our 17 little tourist attraction we're trying to build for 18 Route 66 to improve our economy here in Braidwood.
19 So, we believe here that license renewal 20 is in the best interest of our city. And I thank you 21 for that comment.
22 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 23 Larry Walsh of the Will County Executive.
24 MR. WALSH: Thank you very much. Good 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 26afternoon, everyone. I am Larry Walsh and I am a 1 Will County executive, Chief Executive Officer of 2 County Government.
3 I'm here to stand in strong support of 4 supporting Braidwood Nuclear Generation Station's 5 renewal policy. As the Mayor has said, Braidwood 6 Nuclear Generation Station has been a good neighbor.
7 We've had our ups and downs and we've had our bumps 8 in the road. And issues like tritium that we never 9 maybe even knew of ten years ago became a part of our 10 vocabulary.
11 But with that came the willingness when 12 we brought this issue forward to the station, 13 Braidwood, their willingness to work with us, to work 14 with the community. It opened the door of 15 transparency that wasn't there before, that opened 16 the door of communications that wasn't there before, 17 meaningful communications, meaningful transparency.
18 And as the Mayor said, a nuclear power 19 plant located here in the southwest portion of Will 20 County in Braidwood, 800 to 900 good paying jobs.
21 Jobs that can support a family. Jobs that can 22 support a community. Jobs that can support the other 23 governmental entities such as schools, fire 24 protection district, police departments; all of those 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 27 are beneficiary of having a neighbor like the 1 Braidwood Generation Station.
2 So, I think that their record, even 3 though not one hundred percent, has been more than 4 satisfactory. We continue to work. We continue to 5 work together in a partnership that only makes it 6 better for all concerned, for the plant and for our 7 communities. But I strongly support, strongly 8 support the re-licensing of the Braidwood Nuclear 9 Generation Station.
10 And the speaker of the Accounting Board 11 will be up here to speak in a few minutes. But I do 12 have the resolution, Resolution No. 13187 that was 13 past on July the 24th, just last month, in regards to 14 a unanimous support from the county board on 15 supporting the re-licensing. So, thank you.
16 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 17 Herbert Brooks, Jr., the Speaker of the Will County 18 Board. 19 MR. BROOKS: Thank you, Sheila. Good 20 afternoon, everyone. My name is Hebert Brooks, Jr.
21 and as Sheila said, I am the Speaker of the Will 22 County Board. And what I do, I am the leader of the 23 legislative body by Will County Board as Larry, the 24 Executive.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 28 But I'm here today just to let you know 1 that the Will County Board totally supports the re-2 licensing of the Braidwood Nuclear Plant. And this 3 plant supports many jobs, not only locally here in 4 Braidwood but all over Will County and even outside 5 of Will County, and of that we're very proud.
6 This plant provides consistent and cost 7 effective energy that is reliable for Will County and 8 the entire region. Without this facility, the plant, 9 we would be hard pressed to find a reliable energy 10 source without the Braidwood Nuclear Station. Will 11 County has a good working relationship with this 12 facility and the plant, and our communication with 13 this plant and the County Board has greatly improved.
14 And we're working on further improvement.
15 And ladies and gentlemen, we are in total 16 support of the re-licensing of the nuclear plant here 17 in Braidwood. Thank you so much, Sheila.
18 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 19 Seth Jansen of Congressman Kinzinger's office.
20 MR. JANSEN: Hi, my name's Seth Jansen.
21 I'm a field representative for Congressman Kinzinger, 22 and I have a letter that the Congressman is 23 submitting.
24 I write to express my full support for 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 29 the renewal of the operating license of the nuclear 1 generating station at Braidwood, Illinois. This 2 facility provides lower energy costs for residents 3 and businesses and supports hundreds of high-paying 4 jobs in Illinois, while helping to ensure state 5 compliance with federal Clean Air Act regulations.
6 It will undoubtedly play an important role in meeting 7 the energy needs of Illinoisans well into the future.
8 Nuclear energy production plays a 9 critical role in Illinois, where nuclear energy 10 generates 48 percent of the state's electricity and 11 employs nearly 5,000 skilled workers. I can attest 12 to the value of the Braidwood generating facility has 13 to its local residents and communities, which 14 benefits through reduced energy costs, high-quality 15 jobs and significant tax revenue.
16 While many areas of Illinois struggle to 17 meet clean air standards, the generating station at 18 Braidwood offers affordable, abundant energy with a 19 fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions as other 20 conventional energy sources.
21 As Americans' and Illinoisans' demand for 22 energy rises, nuclear generating stations like 23 Braidwood will be vital to meeting the energy needs 24 of our citizens. I fully support the operating 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 30 license renewal for this generating station and 1 believe it will play a critical role in making 2 America and the State of Illinois more energy secure.
3 Sincerely, Adam Kinzinger.
4 MS. RAY: At this time, I'd like to 5 invite Chief Rich Girof of the City of Braidwood.
6 MR. GIROF: I didn't know. I just handed 7 her a card and she called on me. That's pretty 8 quick. 9 I'm Chief Rich Girof. I've lived in 10 Braidwood for about 25 years. I'm also a former 11 mayor of the City of Braidwood and I've had good 12 dealings with Exelon back in the '90's. We 13 communicate all the time, especially with Mr. Miller 14 back there. We e-mail each other a lot. We have 15 breakfast a lot. I get notifications of anything 16 that goes on in the plant.
17 Since I've lived here, any problems 18 always come up first. They take care of it and I'm 19 glad I'm living here. I see the plant from my 20 backyard, so no problems.
21 It does supply a lot of jobs, helps the 22 school a whole lot in the taxing bodies. I know 23 there's been some issues in the past. But we still 24 have people moving in. It's a great place to live.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 31 Anything that I can do to help people through Exelon 1 is, like I said, we talk back and forth all the time.
2 They invite you out for lunch, dinner, whatever.
3 But, all I want to say it's a great place 4 and the jobs, the support, the family that lives here 5 that are supported. And everybody said everything 6 there is to say, you know? And I appreciate their 7 help. 8 They have donated in the past. They 9 bought two canine dogs for the City of Braidwood.
10 They donated money for equipment for the squad cars.
11 They also donated a lot of ammunition for us. They 12 go out and shoot up. That's hard to get anymore.
13 So, I mean, they're always there as a neighbor. They 14 help us all the time. And even now they have an 15 outage coming up, police department, Exelon, we work 16 together hand in hand for safety reasons.
17 But I believe in Exelon and I hope them 18 the bet for another 27 years, which I won't be living 19 here in 27 years, but I think they'll do good for the 20 community. So, that's all I have to say. Thanks.
21 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 22 Mark Kanavos, the Site Vice President of the 23 Braidwood Station.
24 MR. KANAVOS: Good afternoon. I'm Mark 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 32 Kanavos and I'm the Site Vice President at the 1 Braidwood generating station. I have the overall 2 responsibility for the safe and reliable operation of 3 the facility, including the coordination and the 4 management of personnel and overall station 5 performance.
6 A little bit about my background. I have 7 over 32 years of progressive nuclear plant 8 experience. Before taking on my current role as site 9 vice president, I was the plant manager at Braidwood 10 for over two years. I've been the plant manager at 11 the Clinton station in Clinton, Illinois for over 12 three years, and the Comanche Peak Nuclear Station in 13 Glenrose, Texas. I've also worked in maintenance, 14 project management and engineering.
15 Operating the station safely and reliably 16 is a key responsibility of all the employees at the 17 Braidwood generating station. The ones that we take 18 very, very seriously and our commitment to ourselves 19 and our commitment to our community and to our 20 industry.
21 I'm proud to say that we've been a key 22 part of this community for over 25 years. Braidwood 23 generating station operates in a manner that 24 preserves the environment. We maintain a 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 33 comprehensive radiological monitoring program that 1 extensively monitors the air and the water and the 2 food products around the facility that ensures that 3 we are not adversely impacting the environment.
4 We also have a comprehensive on-site 5 environmental ground water protection program that 6 can monitor and detect the presence of radioactivity 7 in ground water before it has a chance to migrate 8 off-site. This program includes 19 on-site wells 9 designed to detect and alert us of any unusual level 10 of radiation in the ground water so that we can 11 address any changes that we see quickly. We have 12 detailed procedures which outline how we test all 13 water leaving our station.
14 Radiation monitors are staged in over 40 15 locations within a ten mile radius of our station to 16 monitor any radiation of those levels and ensure the 17 safety of the community.
18 We've also had great success in our 19 tritium re-mediation efforts. In the last seven 20 years, Braidwood has made significant progress.
21 Hydro geologists have confirmed that re-mediation is 22 having the intended effect. As of today, the square 23 footage of land effective by tritium has been reduced 24 by 97 percent. And the highest concentrations of 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 34 tritium in the ground have been reduced by 99 1 percent. We will continue to monitor and we still 2 retain the ability to re-mediate via pumping should 3 it become necessary.
4 Braidwood's environmental management 5 systems are certified under the strictest criteria of 6 the International Organization of Standardization or 7 ISO. Specifically, we receive the ISO 14001 re-8 certification which is an industry recognition of our 9 environmental efforts.
10 This is an internationally recognized 11 benchmark for environmental management. The ISO 12 14001 certification requires a commitment to 13 excellence in meeting our regulatory requirements in 14 the prevention of pollution and continuous 15 improvement of our environmental systems.
16 Last year, the Wildlife Habitat Council 17 recognized Braidwood generating station's commitment 18 to the environmental stewardship by awarding us the 19 Wildlife at Work certification. This distinction was 20 awarded for our commitment to ensuring the 21 continuance of healthy wildlife in and around our 22 plant, and our fish habitat restoration project. The 23 project places artificial habitats in the Braidwood 24 lake the greatly benefit the fish throughout their 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 35 life. It has greatly enhanced the fishery.
1 To ensure Braidwood continues to operate 2 for years to come, Exelon continues to invest in 3 Braidwood. We spend millions of dollars each year to 4 improve and modernize our equipment and enhance plant 5 operations and safety systems. Our investment in the 6 future doesn't stop with investment equipment. We've 7 hired 152 new employees in the last two years, and we 8 maintain a workforce of approximately 850 employees.
9 During our annual maintenance and 10 refueling outages, that population grows temporarily 11 to between 1,500 and 2,000 additional workers to the 12 area which brings a significant boost to the economy.
13 We also take pride in our investments in 14 our community. Last year, our employees contributed 15 over $240,000 to the United Way Crusade of Mercy. In 16 our signature event, the Fishing for a Cure at the 17 Braidwood Lake has raised over $300,000 for charity.
18 We also support the Braidwood Summerfest, 19 the Braidwood Shoot Out and other numerous community 20 events. Our employees host blood drives, toy drives, 21 fund drives for various groups and agencies. They 22 also volunteer and in short, we try to become the 23 very best neighbor we can.
24 Over the past 25 years, Braidwood has 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 36 performed reliably and safely and has set numerous 1 benchmarks in the nuclear power industry. We look 2 forward to our license renewal and work hard on it 3 every day through dedication and to continuous 4 improvement.
5 In conclusion, we look forward to working 6 with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the review 7 of our license application. Thank you for this 8 opportunity to address the public.
9 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 10 Mike Gallagher, the Vice President of License Renewal 11 at Exelon.
12 MR. GALLAGHER: Good afternoon, everyone.
13 My name is Mike Gallagher, and I'm Vice President of 14 License Renewal for Exelon. I have overall 15 responsibility for the Braidwood generating station's 16 license renewal application.
17 First of all, I'd like to thank the NRC 18 for this opportunity to speak on behalf of Exelon 19 because this project is very, very important to us.
20 And I appreciate the opportunity to speak.
21 Exelon has a great deal of experience 22 with license renewal as we have already obtained the 23 renewed licenses for Dresden and Quad Cities plant 24 right here in Illinois and we have three of our other 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 37 facilities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, we have 1 renewed licenses also. We've also, an application 2 pending with, under NRC review now, but for our 3 Limerick power plant in Pennsylvania.
4 So, just briefly about myself. I've been 5 working in the nuclear power industry for 32 years.
6 I was a license senior reactor operator and plant 7 manager of the Limerick generating station in 8 Pennsylvania, and I've worked at two of our other 9 nuclear plants and our corporate office.
10 Mr. Kanavos, the Site Vice President for 11 Braidwood, spoke to you about how rigorously we 12 safely operate the plant and about the reasons for 13 renewing the license. I'd like to speak to you about 14 the process for preparing this license renewal 15 application and the amount of work and engineering 16 analysis that was put into preparing the application.
17 Because the Braidwood station can operate 18 safely and reliably, Exelon decided to pursue license 19 renewal. Braidwood's safe, efficient operation 20 promotes a critical supply of carbon-free electricity 21 for Illinois and beyond. Braidwood produces enough 22 power, clean power for more than two million homes.
23 So, in 2011, we announced our intention 24 to seek license renewal for Braidwood and a similar 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 38 plant, Byron, the generating station that's up in 1 Ogle County. So, later that year we started the work 2 necessary to prepare the application. After over two 3 years of work, we submitted the application to the 4 Nuclear Regulatory Commission on May 29th, 2013.
5 Safe and reliable operations has been a 6 hallmark of Braidwood station since it came on line 7 and our goal during the license renewal process is to 8 demonstrate to the NRC and to our neighbors that 9 we'll continue this legacy during the additional 20 10 year operating period.
11 The application, you know, when you print 12 it out, it's very large. It's about 3,500 pages.
13 And when you put it in a binder, it's about four 14 large binders about this thick. It's a huge amount 15 of information. But that only represents a small 16 part of the work that was done for the engineering 17 analysis to prepare the application. The total 18 amount of this engineering analysis, if we printed it 19 all out, would be about 400 binders of that 20 information. We invested over 90,000 engineering 21 man-hours to complete this work. And once we 22 completed our engineering work to prepare the 23 application, we brought in experts from outside of 24 Exelon to review the application to ensure that it as 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 39 complete, thorough and accurate.
1 Our total cost to prepare and get our 2 application reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory 3 Commission for both Braidwood and Byron stations will 4 be approximately $45 million. There are two 5 different parts to this application, the safety 6 review and the environmental review.
7 For the safety review, we took an in-8 depth look at the history and condition of the safety 9 equipment in the plant. We did that to determine 10 whether the necessary maintenance was being performed 11 on that equipment and to make sure the equipment will 12 be able to operate safely for an additional 20 years.
13 So, when you look back at Braidwood when 14 it was built, all the equipment was brand new. It 15 was thoroughly tested to make it would perform 16 properly. But like anything else, equipment does age 17 and therefore we need to do certain activities on 18 that equipment.
19 Preventative maintenance is performed, 20 sometimes equipment is refurbished. Some equipment 21 may be replaced. There may be modifications done to 22 the plant to upgrade the equipment. In fact, Exelon 23 has invested over $230 million in the last four years 24 alone at Braidwood to improve and modernize equipment 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 40 and enhance plant operations and safety.
1 We also reviewed the calculations that 2 were performed as part of the design of the plant 3 that were done to ensure the plant could operate for 4 the initial 40 year license. We analyze those 5 calculations,and we're able to confirm that the plant 6 would be able to operate safely for 60 years.
7 Overall, our conclusion from our engineering view was 8 that Braidwood could operate safely for 60 years.
9 We also took a look at the environmental 10 aspects and impacts of continuing to operate 11 Braidwood. We looked at all aspects of continuing 12 impacts of the plant on the environment. And our 13 conclusion is that the impacts on the environment are 14 small. And I use the term small in the sense of the 15 regulation. The regulations define small as the 16 environmental effects are not detectible or are 17 minor. 18 We also reviewed the alternatives if 19 Braidwood would not have its license renewed and 20 another source of electric generation would have to 21 be installed either here on site or someplace else to 22 generate that replacement electricity. We concluded 23 that any other means of generating the replacement 24 electricity would have more have an impact on the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 41 environment than the continued operation of 1 Braidwood.
2 In conclusion, we operate Braidwood 3 safely and we can continue to operate the plant 4 safely for an additional 20 years. Braidwood will 5 provide approximately 2340 megawatts of Basalo 6 generation that's not only safe but it's clean, it's 7 reliable and it's economical. Continued operation of 8 Braidwood will benefit this community, the state and 9 our nation. Thanks for this opportunity.
10 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 11 John Grueling of the Will County Center for Economic 12 Development.
13 MR. GRUELING: Thank you. Good 14 afternoon. My name is John Grueling and I'm with the 15 Will County Center for Economic Development. The 16 Will County Center for Economic Development is a 17 private non-profit economic development corporation 18 which has served the citizens and business of Will 19 County for 32 years. Our membership includes the 20 major employers throughout the region, most of which 21 are based here in Will County.
22 Our primary mission is to assist the 23 retention, the expansion and the recruitment of new 24 business into Will County, certainly focusing on 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 42 keeping the businesses that are already here making 1 payroll, keep them here and growing.
2 Additionally, we support critical 3 infrastructure, investments and re-investments such 4 as what's been going on at the nuclear plant to make 5 sure that we can support our rapidly growing area in 6 the southern part of Will County.
7 Since 1990, Will County had more than 8 doubled its population to just under 700,000 people.
9 And we have become one of the fastest growing 10 employment centers in the Chicago metropolitan area.
11 Will County is also home to the largest inland 12 container port in North America, supporting global 13 freight movement.
14 The Will County Center for Economic 15 Development is here today to support, in support of 16 Braidwood generating station's license renewal 17 application submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 18 Commission on May 29th, 2013. Since 1993, the 19 Braidwood facility has been producing emission free 20 energy to northeastern Illinois, which is a good 21 thing, The CED believes by granting this renewal, 22 the NRC will allow Exelon Generation to continue to 23 provide over 3,360 megawatts of clean energy to the 24 tens of thousands of businesses in the region.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 43 Adequate, reliable, and affordable energy 1 supply has become one of the most important factors 2 when businesses are considering an explanation or 3 location or relocation. Without it, we cannot here in 4 Will County, successfully compete for good jobs for 5 our residents.
6 The Braidwood facility itself is an 7 economic engine for the region. With over 850 good 8 paying jobs and an annual payroll of $82 million, 9 Braidwood is one of the largest employers in Will 10 County. In addition, the facility made $20.7 million 11 in tax payments in 2012, local tax payments. The 12 significant contributions that Exelon Generation and 13 its employees make to the local community cannot be 14 overstated.
15 Support for the United Way, Fishing for a 16 Cure, local business and specific associations and 17 other very important events are critical to the 18 fabric of the community here.
19 The CED recognizes that a good 20 environmental steward Exelon is at their Braidwood 21 facility. The radiological monitoring and the ground 22 water protection programs in place today give the 23 community a sense of safety and environmental 24 protection that we expect from a world-class facility 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 44 like Braidwood.
1 To reiterate, the Center for Economic 2 Development supports the renewal application for the 3 Braidwood generating station. Thank you.
4 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 5 Tom Wolf from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
6 MR. WOLF: I'm a short guy, there we go.
7 Good afternoon, I'm Tom Wolf, Executive Director of 8 the Energy Council at the Illinois Chamber of 9 Commerce, and I'm here today speaking on behalf of 10 the chamber and its members from across the state 11 from every corner of the state, big and small, to ask 12 you to approve the renewal of the Braidwood 13 generation facility operating license because we need 14 to support the continued operation of this vital 15 component of our energy infrastructure.
16 It's no secret that Illinois continues to 17 face significant challenges to creating and 18 attracting and retaining jobs. But in amid 19 discussions of tax rates, regulation, pension reform 20 and infrastructure improvement, there is one 21 relatively constant asset that helps keep Illinois 22 competitive in the global marketplace; a reliable, 23 abundant, and cost competitive supply of electricity.
24 To maintain an abundant and diverse 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 45 electricity supply and to be able to provide that 1 supply at competitive rates, Illinois relies heavily 2 on its fleet of nuclear generation stations.
3 Illinois has more nuclear power generation than any 4 state in the country. Nearly 45 percent of Illinois' 5 electricity is produced from nuclear power and 90 6 percent of Illinois' carbon-free electricity is 7 produced from nuclear power. If you want to impress 8 your friends at a cocktail party, test that trivia on 9 the number one state for nuclear. They very rarely 10 guess Illinois.
11 Whether or not you agree with President 12 Obama's recent push on making America a leader in 13 reducing carbon emissions, every kind of energy 14 generation is looking to improve its cost, 15 efficiency, reliability, and yes, its carbon 16 footprint. While coal and gas remain viable, an 17 important source of electricity and our renewable 18 sector continues to grow, Illinois' nuclear industry 19 combines capacity, reliability, and efficiency 20 without carbon emissions.
21 At the same time, nuclear generation 22 employs thousands of Illinoisians and ejects billions 23 of dollars into our state's economy every year. In 24 today's political world, it's hard to get any kind of 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 46 serious energy policy going and it's hard to predict 1 how new technologies will affect future electricity 2 generation opportunities, but it doesn't take a 3 nuclear physicist, and I'm not a nuclear physicist, 4 but it doesn't take one to figure out that a diverse 5 reliable supply of electricity will create cost 6 competitive power that our economy and our businesses 7 need to thrive.
8 So, in that light, because Braidwood has 9 been a key part of Illinois' nuclear fleet, which has 10 in turn been a critical part of Illinois' electricity 11 infrastructure, because Exelon has shown itself to be 12 an excellent, responsible owner and operator of the 13 Braidwood generation facility and its other nuclear 14 plants in Illinois and across the country, and 15 because Braidwood is such a benefit for the community 16 in terms of employment, tax revenue, direct and 17 indirect spending and community involvement, for all 18 those reasons and more, the Illinois Chamber of 19 Commerce strongly supports this application and hopes 20 you see fit to grant Exelon the license renewal.
21 I want to end in a personal note that I 22 took my fifth nuclear plant tour this week in LaSalle 23 County. I've taken a tour of the Braidwood facility 24 and I wish every American had a chance to walk 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 47through that facility. There are two reasons that 1 doesn't happen. One is they don't care that much, 2 they just want their lights to turn on. And two, the 3 security guards at Exelon's head would explode if I 4 said all Americans were coming to the plant.
5 But it's too bad that kind of line 6 doesn't happen because if people saw the plant up 7 close and personal, they'd see what the people, what 8 I've seen and what other people that are brought to 9 the plant have seen, professional staff working hard 10 to create electricity in a safe environment and they 11 would even see the NRC working hard as an oversight 12 committee to make sure it's done safely. So, thank 13 you very much.
14 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 15 Don Moran representing a number of entities.
16 MR. MORAN: Good afternoon. From 1985 to 17 1987, I worked at the Braidwood Station as a young 18 construction worker, an apprentice sheet metal 19 worker. Today, I'm employed as a business 20 representative for sheet metal workers and I'll speak 21 not only on behalf of my own local union, but also on 22 behalf of the Will and Grundy building construction 23 trades. 24 Beginning in the fall of 2007, a full 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 48 year before the rest of the country's economy was 1 affected, the construction industry was decimated by 2 the worst case of unemployment it had seen since the 3 Great Depression. Literally thousands of our members 4 lost their jobs, their homes, their families during 5 the next five and-a-half years of economic plight.
6 One bright spot during all of those years 7 has been the construction jobs provided during 8 refueling and upgrading of Braidwood Station. Having 9 been involved in the building and maintenance of the 10 station over the past 30 years, I'm very confident in 11 the continued safe operation of the plant into the 12 future, and I'm thankful for their commitment to the 13 local trades by providing good jobs and benefits to 14 local people.
15 My frustration with high unemployment led 16 me to run for office. And I was elected to the Will 17 County Board last November. Will County Board 18 recently passed a resolution supporting the license 19 renewal for Braidwood Station as well, and I voted 20 for that resolution.
21 As Illinois struggles in today's 22 competitive business market, we cannot afford to 23 ignore any of the things that help us put us on 24 better footing. One of the building blocks to 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 49 economic development is affordable and reliable 1 electricity. The Illinois's diverse network of 2 electricity generation coming from coal, wind, and 3 nuclear gives us an advantage in enticing new and 4 retaining existing businesses to the area.
5 Unlike the rolling blackouts experienced 6 in California during 2000 and 2001, our local 7 electrical generation and transmission systems have 8 provided consistent reliable electricity and have 9 done so with diminishing cost to consumers as 10 compared to the CPI.
11 I remember cooling my first home, a tiny 12 900 square foot house with summer monthly electric 13 bills of over $200 in the mid-80s. Today, I live in 14 a modest town home about three times that large and 15 pay about $150 in summer months to cool it. Quite 16 the bargain compared to nearly 30 years ago, 17 especially when considered next to the cost 18 associated with fueling your car or paying for health 19 care. 20 As the president of the Illinois State 21 Rifle Association, I represent the interest of many 22 outdoors people including fishermen and water foul 23 hunters, many of whom have benefitted greatly from 24 the public access to the Braidwood station's cooling 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 50 lake. 1 In addition of being a source of reliable 2 electricity generation, Braidwood Station has been a 3 benefit to local school districts, fire protection 4 and other taxing bodies and community, not to mention 5 its commitment to local charities and community 6 events. They've been good stewards to our 7 communities and I'd ask that the NRC renew the 8 license for Braidwood Station. Thank you.
9 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 10 James King, the Director of Operations at Custer 11 CUSD. 12 MR. KING: Hi, I'm James King, Director 13 of Operations for the school district. I'm probably 14 the only one that can say that I am a lifelong member 15 of this community. I grew up, I was born eight miles 16 from here and accept for a few years for college and 17 a couple of years working out of state, I've been 18 here ever since.
19 In 1978, I built a house in Custer Park, 20 which is six miles from here. I grew up in Essex, so 21 that's only about eight miles from here. I've been a 22 former member of the Re-Custer Board of Education for 23 16 years. I spent 32 years at Joliet Junior College 24 and the last eight years I've spent as our business 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 51 manager at the school district.
1 I'd like to address what a lot of people 2 refer to, and that is that the school district 3 benefitted from Exelon's presence. Our school 4 district has educated approximately 2,000 three year 5 olds through 18 year olds every year and I calculated 6 approximately 60,000 students since Unit 1 went on 7 board, went on-line.
8 We employ about 300 folks in various 9 capacities, everything from bus drivers and 10 custodians through teachers and administrators. Our 11 current budget is just approaching $25 million a year 12 and 77 cents of every dollar comes from Exelon. At 13 one time, that was closer to 96 cents on the dollar.
14 Our district could not exist without 15 Exelon's presence. Exelon provides our source of 16 funding, the revenue that we need to educate these 17 kids, and a lot of these children have grown up and 18 they are now working at the nuclear plant. I know 19 because I educated them at Joliet Junior College and 20 they're maintenance and IM mechanics at Exelon.
21 In addition to those benefits to our 22 school district, Exelon has also provided a lot of 23 other ancillary benefits, such as providing grants 24 for Gabby Green, environmental grants where our 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 52 students get an opportunity to try to create 1 something that is environmentally sound and gets 2 funded from Exelon, some awards given for that.
3 School supplies that they've purchased 4 over the years, the Bass Fishing Club that we have is 5 a non-profit club that we do not fund in anyway.
6 Exelon has assisted with that. They've provided the 7 cooling lake, they provide whatever assistance. We 8 have a good working relationship between the Bass 9 Club and Exelon.
10 They've also sponsored proms and 11 homecoming dances and a lot of various activities for 12 the school. And I'm forgetting one that was already 13 mentioned earlier, but I don't recall what it was 14 right now but they have just been a great asset to 15 our school district and the students of our 16 community.
17 So, I don't think it's quite surprising 18 if I tell you that we support the license renewal a 19 hundred percent. And I also would like to say on a 20 personal note that the reason I mentioned that I grew 21 up and was born eight miles from here is because I 22 used to play on the spoils for the coal mining that 23 was done there. It's probably illegally but back 24 then nobody said anything about it. We played in 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 53those lakes, we played on those spoils. And when I 1 go back there to this day and visit my relatives, and 2 I see all of the red lights flashing from all of the 3 windmills, it kind of makes me sick to my stomach to 4 see what has happened to some of the environmental, 5 you talk about environmental impact, that to me, when 6 you drive south of DeWitt and you see all of those 7 windmills, and then you realize that the generation 8 from those windmills is slight in comparison to the 9 small footprint of this plant.
10 So, we are in support. Thank you for the 11 opportunity.
12 MS. RAY: Thank you. I would like to 13 invite Doug O'Brien of the Illinois Clean Energy 14 Coalition.
15 MR. O'BRIEN: Thank you. I appreciate 16 the opportunity to be here today. I'm Doug O'Brien, 17 the Executive Director of the Illinois Clean Energy 18 Coalition.
19 Are group is supported by business, labor, and policy 20 leaders across the state and we promote the 21 development and use of clean energy in a competitive 22 market that benefits both the environment and our 23 economy. 24 And we've heard a lot today about the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 54 positive impacts that Braidwood has on the 1 surrounding communities, the jobs, the economic 2 activity, the millions of dollars that it pumps into 3 the local economy. But the positive impacts reach 4 much further than the areas that benefit directly 5 from the plant operations.
6 Nuclear also brings broad benefits to 7 Illinois by helping maintain a competitive 8 marketplace for consumers. While there are many, 9 many factors that play into the rates that are paid 10 by residential and commercial consumers, the 11 existence of a reliable and abundant base-line energy 12 supply is a significant factor to Illinois' lower 13 energy rates. More than 10 percent lower than the 14 national average, 25 percent lower than Michigan and 15 over 40 percent lower than in the State of New York, 16 according to the U.S. Energy Information 17 Administration.
18 And the benefits derived from Braidwood 19 and the other nuclear plants in Illinois are not 20 limited to the economy. It's an enormous benefit 21 that the generation of 18 million megawatts of 22 electricity at Braidwood last year produced no carbon 23 air admissions.
24 Earlier this year, NASA's Goddard 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 55 Institute sought to quantify the real impact of 1 nuclear power's carbon emissions free operations.
2 The Goddard study found that replacing nuclear power 3 with fossil fuel generation would lead to an 4 estimated 76,000 deaths per year globally, primarily 5 as a result of increased cardio and pulmonary 6 disease. 7 And this is even more important here in 8 Illinois. The Chicago metropolitan area is 9 designated a non-attainment area by the EPA due to 10 air pollution. And this situation would be greatly 11 acerbated without the existence of the Braidwood 12 generating station which produces enough electricity 13 to power two million homes without adding to this 14 environmental problem.
15 And I think it's also important to note 16 we're talking a great deal about two parts of our 17 environment. We're talking about ecosystem and the 18 impacts that we traditionally think of as 19 environmental. We talk about emissions and we talk 20 about impacts on the air and the water.
21 But as was noted earlier in the 22 discussion of the EIS process, a big part of our 23 environment is also our quality of life. So when it 24 comes to jobs that are created, when it comes to 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 56 benefits to the community, when it comes to tax 1 revenues that are generated, those are very, very 2 important parts of the assessment of environment 3 impacts. It does not just go to impacts on eco 4 systems. It's a comprehensive look and that's why 5 everybody's voice here is relevant.
6 And for all these reasons, the Illinois 7 Clean Energy Coalition urges the renewal of the 8 operating license to the Braidwood generating 9 station. Thank you.
10 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 11 Irfan Khan of Exelon.
12 MR. KHAN: Good afternoon. My name is 13 Irfan Khan. I'm an engineer at the Braidwood 14 generating station. I work in the Design Engineering 15 Organization where we're responsible for making 16 design changes to the plant and other plant 17 activities. And our job number one in our 18 organization, our organization at Braidwood is 19 safety. So, every task we perform, we perform it 20 safely and we ensure that it is safely performed.
21 I'm also part of the North American Young 22 Generation in Nuclear, which is an organization that 23 fosters professional development for employees under 24 30. And we also have many activities for community 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 57outreach and for volunteering. And I just wanted to 1 convey my support for the continued operation of the 2 Braidwood Station. Thank you.
3 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 4 Dee deGroh, our resident at Braidwood and also a 5 member of the Community Advisory Board.
6 MS. DEGROH: Thank you, Sheila, and thank 7 you everybody. My name is Dee deGroh. And I moved 8 to this community full time about eight years ago and 9 moved into my grandparents' home. And my parents and 10 grandparents and great-grandparents all grew up in 11 Essex, Braidwood area. So I've, of course, known it 12 all my life.
13 I remember back in about 1976 when they 14 first started construction of the plant. There were 15 committees formed at that time to meet with 16 representatives because no one knew much of anything 17 about the plant, the nuclear power. It was just new 18 to everybody. And no one knew how to even react to 19 it. 20 In '88 when they had their open house for 21 the community, various dates, I was fortunate enough 22 to be able to go through the plant at that time.
23 Currently, I am on many committees in town. I'm on 24 the Library Board. I'm a member of the Community 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 58 Advisory Panel for Exelon; president of the 1 Historical Society in town; and Chamber of Commerce 2 and many other community church groups and even on 3 the school, what is that called? Citizens, no, 4 Community, CIC. What is that called? Community 5 Involvement Committee, that's what CIC is. Anyway, I 6 am very much involved in the community and hope to 7 continue to be.
8 But as a member of Community Advisory 9 Panel, we were allowed to tour the plant a couple of 10 years ago. And we were all amazed at how immense the 11 plant is and all the security. My goodness. I 12 realize it was increased after 9/11, but it's truly 13 amazing and we were all just very impressed with 14 everything we saw.
15 And some of you may have read the 16 Braidwood Journal last week and Tana McKillop wrote 17 an article about her experience having toured the 18 plant a few weeks ago. And it's something that those 19 who live in this area should experience at some time 20 or another because it's absolutely amazing.
21 But to tell you little more about the 22 Community Advisory Panel, there are, I don't know, 23 maybe 15 of us on the committee. And we meet 24 quarterly and we bring questions to Exelon that we 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 59 have ourselves about the plant and nuclear power, as 1 well as questions that other people have stated to us 2 after our experiences.
3 And all of those questions are answered 4 either immediately at those meetings or someone comes 5 and makes a presentation to us at their next meeting.
6 So, we always get an explanation of what has 7 happened, and an answer to our questions.
8 I know one of the things that was 9 interesting to me and shocking to me was that NRC has 10 24/7 office right on the premises at the power 11 station plant. I mean, their offices are right 12 there. They shut the computers and the input and the 13 output and the buttons and all the gadgets on a 14 regular basis. And it was just comforting, I think, 15 to me to know that.
16 Also, the plant, Exelon, has been a 17 really good neighbor to our communities. Many people 18 have told you about schools and the different 19 organizations and they help keep our towns vibrant 20 and workable for all of us.
21 According to the meeting I attended 22 August 8th, the NRC held at the city hall, the 23 Braidwood Station had met and maybe exceeded the 24 expected safety and security performances. And we 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 60welcome a license renewal by the NRC of our Braidwood 1 Station because they really have been a good 2 neighbor. And I thank all of you.
3 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 4 Angie Hutton of the Braidwood Chamber.
5 MS. HUTTON: Hi, I'm Angie Hutton, 6 President of the Braidwood Chamber and I too am a 7 member of the CAP group.
8 Exelon has been here a long time and 9 they've been a good neighbor. And with the exception 10 of the tritium leak, they did take care of it, maybe 11 not like some people want it, but it has been taken 12 care of. It did open the communication up a lot.
13 With that, everyone has said how they've 14 helped with the schools, all the events. The do the 15 Fishing for the Cure. They've helped with the Red 16 Carpet Corridor event. More than they know, they've 17 helped with that.
18 With that being said, helping with all 19 the events, it has had to open the communication 20 because you can't go to an event or talk to them 21 without something coming up about the plant. So, 22 they do have to answer everyone here in town 23 frequently. They definitely made a big difference 24 here in town.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 61 I had not been, as the Chamber President, 1 and I also have, you know, with what I do for work, 2 with people I meet, I have not had anyone say to me 3 that they should not have their license renewed. So, 4 with that, the Chamber would like to see the 5 Braidwood Station's license renewed.
6 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 7 Chris Rosso of Exelon.
8 MR. ROSSO: Thank you. I am a former 9 member of the NYGN, Nuclear Young Generation of 10 Nuclear with Exelon and I work at the plants now 11 about three-and-a-half years, so still a baby 12 compared to everybody else on site. I work in the 13 Project Management Department. And there's been a 14 lot of statistics that have been thrown out, a lot of 15 impressive statistics. Some of them I didn't know.
16 Again, I'm relatively new to the industry.
17 But something that I've noticed being a 18 new member of nuclear society is that it's really the 19 behaviors and the culture behind nuclear that's 20 pretty striking. As a project manager, I see a lot 21 of new workers come on site, as my projects begin 22 flourish and then kind of dwindle back again and we 23 lay people off, primarily labor workers.
24 But really the major piece is the shock 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 62 that you see when folks come from the outside of the 1 nuclear world and they come in and they work with us.
2 And it's really a process of us bringing them up to 3 speed to our culture. And it's the most self-4 critical culture that I've ever been a part of.
5 I went to school for construction 6 engineering and most of the peers that I had, I 7 talked to them about their jobs and the different 8 issues that they have. And almost all of them are 9 stories of other agencies coming in and criticizing 10 them, finding all these issues. And my experience 11 with many different aspects of nuclear is that the 12 majority of our issues, since I've been at Braidwood, 13 are self-identified. And it's really incredible how 14 self-critical we are.
15 So, part of being a part of a nuclear and 16 environmental safety orientated culture, it really 17 starts with a safe work environment. One of the 18 other roles I have the opportunity to be a part of on 19 site is I'm involved with the Safety Committee as 20 well as the VPP Star Re-certification Committee. So 21 for those of you who don't know, OSHA runs a 22 voluntary protection program to which members of the 23 industry can join, be a part of really to go above 24 and beyond the basic OSHA rules. And it's something 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 63 that, as a Star member, is the highest possible 1 certification that OSHA can offer.
2 And where that came from was not 3 necessarily management. It was the workers at the 4 plant drove that process through, brought OSHA on 5 site. Again, we're extremely self-critical, analyzed 6 everything that was going on from primarily and 7 industrial safety aspect and convinced OSHA to give 8 us the certification four years ago, and this year 9 we've just re-certified it.
10 So, it's an industrial safety aspect that 11 really bleeds over into every aspect through --
12 engineering department into the environmental side 13 and really beyond. So, as a new member in nuclear, 14 I'm extremely compressed, excuse me, impressed at the 15 culture that's at Braidwood and it's something that 16 even if I move on in nuclear, I'll always take with 17 me. So, thank you.
18 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to invite 19 David Kraft of NEIS in Chicago.
20 MR. KRAFT: Thank you for the opportunity 21 to speak today. Good afternoon.
22 My name is Dave Kraft, K-r-a-f-t, and I 23 direct a group called Nuclear Energy Information 24 Service. We're a 32 year old nuclear watch dog group 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 64based in Chicago. So we've had considerable 1 experience with formally Com Ed, formerly Unicon, and 2 now Exelon as well.
3 I was at the Byron meeting last night and 4 came today because the environmental portion of the 5 license application's going to be split for the two 6 facilities. So some of the remarks I had given 7 yesterday will apply to the plant today.
8 But the two main pieces I want to get 9 across are first of all, you know, we're not here to 10 say for or against. We're here to find out 11 information and to be a part of the licensing process 12 and examine it. So, our first comment actually goes 13 towards the Nuclear Regulatory Commission itself.
14 And what we urge the Commission to do in 15 the process of re-licensing this and other plants is 16 to take a qualitatively different attitude towards 17 their safety culture, which they are aggressively 18 promotion amongst those of you who work in the 19 nuclear industry.
20 I was at a meeting last December at the 21 Palisades plant in Michigan where then Region III 22 Director Chuck Castro made some remarks about NRC 23 safety culture. And he put up some view graphs and 24 today I brought them with me. I didn't have them 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 65 with my yesterday.
1 I just want to read it to you. The NRC 2 believes that the definition of a nuclear safety 3 culture is the core values and behaviors resulting 4 from a collective commitment by leaders and 5 individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals 6 to ensure the protection of people and the 7 environment. And that sounds great, but it's 8 important to dig a little deeper into what that means 9 so not only I but other people in the audience in 10 Michigan were asking Mr. Castro what would be some of 11 these competing goals? What does this actually mean 12 with the rubber hits the road?
13 And what he ended up saying actually, I'm 14 quoting him here is, we're trying to go beyond what's 15 required. And that is the message I really want to 16 leave with the NRC, is that these exercises in re-17 licensing need to be more than just a check box 18 exercise of got them, got them, don't got them.
19 It has to be an attitude that goes beyond 20 what is merely required. Requirements have to be the 21 floor, not the ceiling, of what goes on these 22 processes. And our organization will be 23 participating in the licensing process with that 24 attitude in mind; that, yes, certain things may meet 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 66 certain very legalistic requirements but in the 1 broader scheme of things, will they actually afford 2 safety over the 20 year extended operating period.
3 So, we urge NRC to take its own advice 4 and approach the licensing process with that kind of 5 attitude towards the safety culture in mind.
6 The second item surprised me last night.
7 It doesn't surprise me today anymore. It's not 8 surprising and it's certainly totally consistent with 9 human nature that people will respond to the positive 10 things we're given and sometimes forget that there 11 are rainy days. And I've heard last night at the 12 Byron meeting and I'm hearing it today. So I wanted 13 to bring this up because I guess since you consider 14 community inputs and some of the impacts of the local 15 community as part of this process.
16 You need to not just look at the benefits 17 of having a nuclear power plant in your neighbor.
18 But perhaps the re-licensing should remind you that 19 it is inevitable that this facility will close some 20 day. Now, I know you're all hoping that that someday 21 will be 60 years in the future and everything's going 22 to fine with the plant and you'll never lose six 23 million gallons of tritium again. But reality 24 doesn't always cooperate.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 67 You know, there are unforeseen incidents 1 that came up. I guess you could ask the Japanese 2 about that and you can probably even ask some of your 3 own people in terms of the tritium issue. That was 4 not a planned release. You know, we could run the 5 laundry list of disasters. You know, everything from 6 Challenger and Columbia down to Chernobyl, Fukushima, 7 Windscale, Fermi 1, Santa Susana, and on and on and 8 on. 9 The point is, the world doesn't always 10 cooperate and at some point in the future, if this 11 plant is closed on an emergency basis, all of those 12 benefits you described will cease with the tax base 13 goes away. So, the message I left with the people in 14 the Rockford and the Byron area yesterday was this 15 may be an opportunity for you to sit down, you the 16 financial planners, you the elected officials, to sit 17 down with Exelon and start examining what closure is 18 going to look like.
19 We didn't have an exit plan for Iraq and 20 it really didn't serve us well. I think now is the 21 time is to begin looking at an exit plan for when a 22 nuclear facility has to close. As I said, our 23 organization, I'm sure everybody in this room wants 24 it to be quietly, peacefully after a long life of 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 68production. But, again, reality doesn't always work 1 out that way.
2 And I brought two examples last night 3 that I think you need to pay attention to and perhaps 4 those of you who are CFO's and elected officials here 5 should talk to the officials in Lake County and down 6 by the Clinton site in central Illinois because in 7 1997 when Exelon, excuse me, when Commonwealth Edison 8 made the executive decision to close the Zion nuclear 9 plant, that community lost $5 million of its tax base 10 overnight.
11 So, I ask you, what will you do when you 12 come in on Wednesday morning and 70 percent of your 13 school budget is gone? Unless there's a plan in place 14 that softens the economic blow of the eventual 15 closure of the nuclear facility, you leave your 16 community open to the pitfalls of the company town.
17 When they pull out, all the benefits go with them.
18 If you don't plan today, it will be devastating for 19 the community of the future. So, now is the time to 20 really start making those plans.
21 And it kind of reminded me of the old 22 Aesop's fable of the grasshoppers and the ants. As 23 long as it's summertime and things are great, the 24 grasshoppers are having a great time. But the ants 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 69 are sweating it out and doing a little bit of drudge 1 work in the advance knowing that things aren't always 2 so great and winter comes along.
3 So, I would like for you in the community 4 to consider making that part of your process of 5 examination of whether this license should be renewed 6 or not. And, you know, that's something you're going 7 to have to sit down and talk to the Exelon people 8 about. 9 Back in 1997, I mentioned to the then 10 state public official, Adeline G. O'Karus in the Zion 11 community that perhaps an escrow fund needs to be set 12 up now for over a period of time some money is put 13 into it. It's kept intact out of general revenues so 14 that when the plant has to close, whether it's from 15 an emergency of some kind, whether it's from 16 government decree in Washington or whether it's 17 normal closure, you have some sort of a fund that the 18 communities can draw on to soften the economic blow.
19 So, that's something I would leave you 20 with to consider and eventually we'll write this up 21 and make part of the official docket as well. So, 22 thank you for listening. Enjoy the day.
23 MS. RAY: Thank you. I'd like to check, 24 is Denise Forrest in the audience? At this time, I 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 70 would like to ask, are there any other comments from 1 members of the audience? We have extra time, so if 2 you'd like to make other comments, please feel 3 welcomed.
4 Okay, at this time I'd like to thank 5 everyone for coming and for their participation. The 6 comments provided here will be addressed in the 7 scoping summary report and for openness and 8 transparency, the scoping summary report will be 9 publicly available on the NRC license renewal website 10 and also the address is on the handouts provided.
11 And if there are any further comments you'd like to 12 make, you can provide them electronically or in 13 writing or in person. And that contact information 14 is provided in the handouts on this table.
15 In addition, on this table there are 16 public meeting feedback forms. The NRC is always 17 looking to improve their public meetings. So, if 18 you'd like to provide feedback, the forms are 19 provided on the table and the postage is paid.
20 Any other comments? At this time I'd 21 like to adjourn the meeting. Thank you for your 22 comments and for your participation.
23 (Whereupon at 3:34 p.m. the meeting was 24 adjourned.)
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