ML11235A485
| ML11235A485 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Davis Besse  |
| Issue date: | 11/10/2010 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Division of License Renewal |
| References | |
| Download: ML11235A485 (50) | |
Text
1 Davis-BesseNPEm Resource From: King, Ikeda Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 10:32 AM To: Cooper, Paula
Subject:
FW: WO 524 - Afternoon Session - Correct Cover Attachments:
1104nrca524.doc From: Solomakos, Matina Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 8:31 AM To: King, Ikeda
Subject:
WO 524 - Afternoon Session - Correct Cover
.
Hearing Identifier: Davis_BesseLicenseRenewal_Saf_NonPublic Email Number: 692 Mail Envelope Properties (94A2A4408AC65F42AC084527534CF4161A38557718)
Subject:
FW: WO 524 - Afternoon Session - Correct Cover Sent Date: 11/10/2010 10:31:38 AM Received Date: 11/10/2010 10:31:40 AM From: King, Ikeda Created By: Ikeda.King@nrc.gov Recipients: "Cooper, Paula" <Paula.Cooper@nrc.gov>
Tracking Status: None
Post Office: HQCLSTR01.nrc.gov Files Size Date & Time MESSAGE 160 11/10/2010 10:31:40 AM 1104nrca524.doc 175682 Options Priority: Standard Return Notification: No Reply Requested: Yes Sensitivity: Normal Expiration Date: Recipients Received:
Official Transcript of Proceedings
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title: Davis-Besse License Renewal Public Meeting - Afternoon Session
Docket Number: (n/a)
Location: Port Clinton, Ohio
Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010
Work Order No.: NRC-524 Pages 1-46
NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC. Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
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 U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
+ + + + +
PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING
PROCESS FOR DAVIS-BESSE NUCLEAR STATION
+ + + + +
THURSDAY AFTERNOON SESSION
NOVEMBER 4, 2010
+ + + + +
PORT CLINTON, OHIO
The Public Meeting convened at Camp Perry Lodging
and Conference Center, Camp Perry Military Reservation, 1000 Lawrence Road, Port Clinton, Ohio.
Present on behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
RICHARD BARKLEY
BRIAN HARRIS
ALLAN BAKER
APRIL BEHAULT
DAN KIMBLE
ADAM WILSON 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 I N D E X Welcome and Introductions, Richard Barkley. . . 3
Overview of License Renewal Process, Brian Harris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Overview of Environmental Review Process, Paula Cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Closing Comments, Davis Wrona . . . . . . . . . 45
Adjourn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
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
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 P R O C E E D I N G S Afternoon Session
1:30 p.m.
MR. BARKLEY: My name is Richard Barkley.
I'm the meeting facilitator for the meeting this
afternoon, and I'm very pleased to see we have a good
turnout this afternoon. We'll probably have a larger
turnout this evening for this meeting. This is on the
Environmental Impact Statement for Davis-Besse's license
renewal request.
And, what I'm going to do is go over to few
ground rules of how we conduct this public meeting. We
want to get your comments in and everyone gets a fair
share of time and the Court Reporter can actually
clearly hear your remarks.
First of all, if you would like to speak, please sign up on the yellow card up at the front. We
have at least ten people who want to speak at this point
in time. So, I will call you in the specific order to
go through and make sure we cover all the groups that
are interested in speaking.
To be fair to everyone, please limit your
remarks to a reasonable period of time. I normally ask
people to keep their remarks to five minutes. Since we
only have about ten speakers, we can give you a little 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 more latitude than that, and we'll work through and make sure you get a fair share of time but not too much time
as we go through.
In the interest of efficiency, I will call
three people to come up and speak. That seems to be the
most efficient, so the first one will come to the
microphone, whichever one you feel comfortable at. You
can speak from this microphone or you can speak from the
podium. And, after we go through three, I will call
another three, so you have some time to prepare and are
ready to make your remarks.
I alternate typically between elected
officials and members of the public. That gives the
elected officials a chance to speak early but also
allows the public a chance to speak earlier as well.
So, we'll alternate back and forth.
Next item, please silence your cell phones
if you have one with you. Thank you very much. Again, please speak clearly into the microphone when you're
speaking because we do have a Court Reporter to record
these remarks, so we want to make sure we accurately
recover all your remarks. If you have it in a written
format, you can also turn those in to us as well.
I would ask in the interest of courtesy that
you do not interrupt the speaker when you're talking and 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 speak only when at the microphone.
Again, written comments are welcome. If you
don't want to come to the microphone, you can turn in
written comments, and then the presenters here today
will talk to you about how you can formally turn in
written comments by mail between now and the latter part
of the month.
And, finally, if you have any questions or
concerns regarding how this meeting is being conducted, please come and see me. I will be glad to work through
any issues you may have.
I would like to introduce the NRC staff in
attendance at this meeting.
First, Dave Wrona is a Branch Chief from the
License Renewal Branch.
Secondly, Brian Harris, who is the Safety
Project Manager from NLR who will be making a
presentation coming up.
Paula Cooper, who is the Environmental
Project Manager from NLR, and she will also be making a
presentation this afternoon.
Scott Burnell, the Public Affairs Officer
from our headquarters office.
Allan Barker, the Region III State Liaison
Officer.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 4 April Behault. She's a biologist with our Division of License Renewal.
John Rutkowski, he's the Senior Resident
Inspector at Davis-Besse, and Dave Kimble who I believe
will be replacing him in the near term.
And, finally, Adam Wilson, who is the
resident inspector.
At this point in time, I would like to turn
the meeting over to Brian Harris to make his
presentation.
MR. HARRIS: Good afternoon. My name is
Brian Harris, and I would like to thank you all for
coming out to this public information session today.
I'm NRC's Project Manager in charge of the Davis-Besse
license renewal application for Davis-Besse.
This meeting serves two purposes: To explain
the license renewal process and to gather your comments
on the environmental scoping. This slide points out two
parts of the meeting where you can get involved. We'll
have a question and answer session on the license
renewal process, and later we'll officially record your
environmental scoping comments.
Next slide, please. So, our first topic on
the agenda is the license renewal process overview. As
I said earlier, we're here to help you understand the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 5 license renewal process. I'll describe the safety review, and Ms. Paula Cooper will do the environmental
review.
So, before I get into the discussion of the
license renewal process, I would like to take a minute
to tell you about NRC, what we do and what our mission
is. We protect the public health and safety, promote
common defense and security and protect the environment
from radioactive materials that are used for civilian
purposes.
We accomplish this mission by establishing
rules and regulations, conducting inspections, issuing
enforcement actions, assessing licensing performance, and evaluating operating experience for nuclear plants
across the country and around the globe.
So, one of the ways that we protect public
health and safety is through our ongoing oversight of
nuclear power plants. The NRC's power plant oversight
covers topics such as emergency planning, security and
current safety performance every day through our
resident inspectors and additional staff at our Regional
Headquarters Offices.
For example, the NRC continues to evaluate
how First Energy is addressing the emergency
preparedness issue at Davis-Besse. The Agency issues a 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 report on Monday of our inspection activity to this point. And, because we address security emergency
planning and current performance every day, we do not
reevaluate these issues in license renewal.
Another example of ongoing oversight is the
recent NRC mandated inspection of Davis-Besse's reactor
vessel head which reveal cracks in nozzles on the head.
While the cracks do not affect safe plant operation, the
NRC oversaw First Energy's repairs of the head and
ensured that the plant did everything necessary to keep
the plant operating safely before Davis-Besse started
this summer.
The NRC will continue to oversee these sorts
of inspection, maintenance and repair activities for
every operating plant regardless of whether the plant
has entered a new license period.
So, the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station was
originally licensed on April 22, 1977. The Atomic
Energy Act authorizes the NRC to grant a 40-year
operating license to nuclear power reactors. The plant
has been operating for 32 years under its 40-year
license, and Congress decided on the 40-year term for
economic considerations and antitrust factors, not on
safety or technical limitations. If the license is
renewed, it will then be valid until April 2037.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 7 License renewal involves two parallel reviews: A safety review and an environmental review.
These reviews evaluate separate aspects of the license
renewal application. The safety review focuses on the
aging of components and structures that the NRC deems
important to plant safety.
The staff's main objective is to ensure the
applicant can adequately manage the effects of aging on
the plant and will document results of our safety review
in our safety evaluation report, or SER.
For the environmental review, the staff
considers, evaluates and describes the environmental
impacts of operating the plant for an additional
20 years. The objective of the review is to determine
if the environmental impacts of the license renewal are
so great that license renewal would not become a
reasonable option. The staff prepares an Environmental
Impact Statement, or EIS, to document its environmental
review.
So, this diagram lays out the two review
paths as well as three other inputs to the Commission's
decision on whether or not to renew an operating
license, and one of their considerations is an
independent review of the staff's safety report by the
Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, or ACRS.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 8 The ACRS is a group of scientists and nuclear safety experts who provide professional advice to the
Commission. Now, after reviewing the application, the
safety evaluation report and inspection findings, the
ACRS reports their findings and recommendations directly
to the Commission.
Hearings may also be conducted if interested
stakeholders submit concerns or contentions, and their
request for a hearing is granted. The Commission
considers the outcome of the hearing process in its
decision on whether or not to issue a new operating
license.
As part of the environmental review, the
staff consults with local, state, federal and travel
officials.
Now, I'm going to describe the license
renewal process in a little more detail with the safety
review, and Ms. Cooper will describe the environmental
review later.
So, the regulations governing a license
renewal are based on two principles: The first
principle is that the current regulations ensure that
the current licensing basis for all operating plants
provide and maintain an acceptable level of safety.
The second principle is that the plant's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 9 current licensing basis must be maintained during the renewal term. In other words, the same rule that
applies under the current license will apply to a
renewed license. In addition, a renewed license will
include conditions that must be met to ensure aging is
adequately managed so that the plant's current licensing
basis is maintained during the extended period of
operation.
The staff performs rigorous reviews of the
applicant's application and supporting documents, and
this review includes evaluating new and existing
programs and surveillance activities to determine
whether the effects of aging concerning plant structures
and components will be adequately monitored and managed.
The safety review also includes on site
audits to verify the applicant's technical basis and to
verify and confirm that the application accurately
describes the applicant's aging management programs and
activities. The staff documents the basis and
conclusions of its review in a public safety evaluation
report.
In addition, a team of specialized inspectors
travel to the site to verify that aging management
programs are being implemented, modified or planned
consistent with the license renewal application.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 10 The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards independently reviews the license renewal application
and the staff's safety evaluation report before making a
recommendation to the Commission regarding a proposed
action to a renewed operating license.
So, that concludes the safety review, and
I'll now hand it over to Ms. Paula Cooper.
MS. COOPER: Good afternoon. My name is
Paula Cooper. I'm the NRC's Environmental Project
Manager for Davis-Besse, and as Brian Harris described
previously in the safety review, I'm going to do the
bottom leg of the diagram and do the environmental
review.
The environmental review follows guidelines
set by the National Environmental Policy Act, also
referred to as NEPA. NEPA provides the basic
architectural review format for federal environmental
reviews requiring a systematic approach and advising the
potential impact of major federal action.
At the NRC, the license renewal application
is classified as a major federal action. The
environmental review considers the impact of the
proposed action and any mitigation for those impacts be
considered to be significant. We consider alternatives
to proposed action, even the impacts associated with not NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 11 issuing a renewed license, referred to as a no action alternative.
As you can see, you have several
opportunities to participate in the license renewal
process. A Federal Register notice and press release
will be issued for most of these opportunities. The
environmental review begins today with the scoping
activities that reveal important issues that need to be
analyzed. During the scoping, we want your comments on
the scope of the environmental review.
The public input is the second half of our
meeting today and will be discussed later in this
session.
After studying the range of environmental
impact, we will publish a draft Environmental Impact
Statement for public comment. At that time, we will
come back and have another public meeting and issue and
request your comments on that draft. Once we collect
your comments on that draft, we will then issue our
final Environmental Impact Statement.
The opportunity for a hearing permits those
who are directly affected by the licensing
qualification. A hearing will be conducted by the panel
of administrative law judges who are called the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board, also referred to as the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 12 ASLB.
This is the important milestone to the
license renewal application process. The notice of
opportunity for hearing was published on October 25th, followed by the notice of intent for hearing, the EIS, and conduct scoping on October 29th.
The period for making comments or contentions
for a hearing closes on December 27th. If you have
comments regarding the environmental review, if you
would like to see a copy of today's meeting, you will
have the opportunity to do so until December 27th as
well.
In summary, before deciding to issue a
renewed operating license, the Commission considers the
following factors:
The staff safety review which is documented
in the safety evaluation report, the staff environmental
review which is documented in the Environmental Impact
Statement, NRC's findings and conclusions from the
sections, and the recommendation by the committee on
reactor safeguards, these hearings.
If a hearing is conducted, the absence of
that process is also taken into consideration. The
typical time frame for renewing a renewed license is
22 months for review, provided that no hearing is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 13 involved. If a hearing is involved, it could take 30 months or more.
We have made available hard copies of the
license renewal application at the (indiscernible)
public library and the Toledo Lucas County Public
Library. When the draft Environmental Impact Statement
is available, it will also be available at those
libraries as well.
Several documents have been previously
gathered and can be found on the CD located on the table
here to my right. They include the generic
Environmental Impact Statement, the license renewal
application, the three Federal Registers that have been
published to date and a copy of the frequently-asked
questions for license renewal. You can also access all
these documents on the NRC website. The LRA can be
found on the website as well.
For information relating to the scoping
comments, you can review the regulations on site and
additionally to keep informed on aspects related to the
NRC at the website.
This concludes this presentation, and I'll
turn it back over to the facilitator.
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you. At this point in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 14 time, we would like to ask the audience if there are any questions regarding the license renewal process. This
is not an opportunity for you to provide comments on the
Environmental Impact Statement but, rather, an
opportunity for you to ask questions regarding this
process of the staff. If you have any questions, please
go ahead and move to the center microphone and staff
will answer them; and if not, we'll move into the
comment period.
(No Response)
MR. BARKLEY: No questions? Okay, how
about we move right into the comment period then.
MS. COOPER: All right, previously, we
had presented the license renewal process, and now we're
going on to the second stage of the presentation and
that's the environmental scoping.
This completes the previous presentation, and
I would like to highlight that we're on the second step
followed by the public scoping meeting.
Scoping meetings started on October 29th with
the notice of intent to prepare an EIS and to conduct
scoping was published.
In general, we were looking for sources of
information about the environmental impact of continued
operations at Davis-Besse that we should consider when NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 15 we prepare our EIS.
You can assist us in that process by telling
us, for example, what aspect of your local community we
should focus on, what local environment and economic
aspect that the NRC should examine during our
environmental review and what reasonable alternatives
are most appropriate for the area.
These are just some examples of the input
we're look for, and they represent the kind of
information we are seeking through the environmental
scoping process. Your comments today should be helpful
in providing insight of this nature.
Through the environmental review, the NRC has
established a team of staff and contractors who are
experts in various fields and disciplines. This slide
gives you an idea of the various areas we're looking at
during the environmental review. They include
terrestrial and aquatic policies, environmental justice, hydrology and radiation.
For license renewal review, NRC's
environmental staff looks at a wide range of impact. We
consult with various federal, state and local officials
as well as leaders in Indian nations, gathering
pertinent information from these sources ensuring that
it is considered in our analysis. Examples include the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 16 Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish and Wildlife and State Historic Preservation Offices.
This slide represents the different methods
for the public's scoping comments. It shows how to
mail, fax and submit through the internet on
regulations. The scoping comments are reviewed by
December 27, 2010. In general, we are looking for
information about the environmental impact from
continued operation of Davis-Besse.
We know you are the experts in your community
so your comments today will ensure a thorough review of
the environmental, social and economic issues the NRC
should examine during our environmental review and what
reasonable alternatives are most appropriate for this
region.
You are the primacy contacts for the NRC for
the license renewals for Davis-Besse, the Project
Manager, Brian Harris, and myself. If you have any
questions about today's meeting, we will be around to
answer questions following the meeting. If you have
questions after you leave today, you're more than
welcome to contact any one of us.
This concludes my presentation. Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Okay, thank you.
The first three people I would like to call NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 17 are Mark Stahl of the Ottawa City Commission, and then Jere Witt of Ottawa County, and Fred Petersen of the
Ottawa County EMA.
If you would like to speak from this
microphone, that would be fine. Go ahead and lead
off.
MR. STAHL: Thanks, Mark.
Good afternoon. My name is Mark Stahl, and
I'm the President of Ottawa County Commissioners.
Ottawa County is successful because we surround
ourselves with successful community partners, and
Davis-Besse is one of those community partners, who we
look very favorably upon.
You will hear from some the other agencies, the nonprofits, the contributions that you make back to
our community helps us tremendously, and we greatly
appreciate that.
We also as Commissioners appreciate our NRC
partnership. We have had conversations with you, I
know, through the years, and we appreciate those
unbiased conversations that we've had in regard to
Davis-Besse.
So, I will let these two gentlemen fill you
in, but as President of the the Ottawa County
Commissioners, I'm here to offer our support to you, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 18 Davis-Besse, in your application process.
Thank you.
MR. WITT: Thanks, Mark. I appreciate you
putting Mark before Fred and I because he's our boss.
I'm Jere Witt. Many of you know me. I'm County
Administrator for Ottawa County. I've been with the
County for 32 years, and ironically when I looked at the
dates on there, I started with the County on July 20, 1978, and I believe the plant began operating in on July
31, 1978. So, we're pretty close on our birth dates
there.
I've been involved, as I said earlier, many
years with Davis-Besse and especially within the last
five to ten years. I was part of the restart overview
panel that worked for two years on the head issues. I
got my nuclear degree during that two years. I much
appreciated, and I really got a better feeling for
Davis-Besse and the nuclear industry.
I currently serve on the Company Nuclear
Review Board to ensure that Davis-Besse continues to
operate safely, and there's a bunch of nuclear experts
on there and then there's me, but it's easy for me a use
their expertise to see if Davis-Besse operates safely, and I'm happy to say that every time we've met, we have
concluded that Davis-Besse does continue to operate NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 19 safely.
I attend and participate in the NRC quarterly
exit meetings of Davis-Besse, and those have been
another way for Ottawa County to keep informed on what's
going on with Davis-Besse.
I receive many, many, many more than I really
want to see daily e-mails from the plant, but the most
important one is the morning e-mail that I get every
morning that tells the current status of the plant and
the issues that are going on, and it's an easy way for
me to keep up daily. I'm kept informed by plant
management. I think I get calls in the middle of the
night any time there is an issue, and we appreciate that
because it's showing their concern that Ottawa County is
able to keep inform.
As Mark mentioned, we work closely with the
NRC. We've been meeting with them quarterly just to
bring us up to speed, hear what's going on at
Davis-Besse, and get the NRC's side of that.
I actually have a vested interest in the
plant. I own property that abuts the plant, and it's
very important to me that they keep that plant operating
safely. I have a cottage there that my -- when the head
incident happened, my grandchildren and their mother and
dad were living there, and my wife kept asking me if I NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 20 knew what I was talking about, that it was safe, and I was assuring her that I did.
We continue to watch closely to see that the
plant does operate safely. I have personally witnessed
the transformation of the site personnel in the new
safety culture, and they continue to maintain that
culture, and I think that is one of the most important
things that any nuclear power plant has to do.
I believe that the people who work at
Davis-Besse and have witnessed how they challenge each
other for safe plant operation. I don't think that was
necessarily always true years ago, but today they do, in
fact, and at many of my visits out there, I have
witnessed how they challenge each other.
Many of the Davis-Besse employees live in the
community and are important assets to Ottawa County. I
think it's very important that the corporate structure
that's been put in place to oversee the operations of
Davis-Besse continue, and I think it's a good structure.
Davis-Besse has been a great asset to the
community and are very involved in Ottawa County. We in
Ottawa County will continue to watch and make sure the
plant operates safely, but through my past involvement, I have no concerns for the safety of Davis-Besse.
We look forward to a license renewal. Ottawa NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 21 County wants Davis-Besse to stay, and welcome them in the future and urge the NRC to move forward with this
Thank you very much.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you Jere.
Fred?
MR. PETERSEN: Thank you. My name is Fred
Petersen. I'm the Director of the Ottawa County
Emergency Management Agency. I've been involved in the
EMA for 16 years and ten months.
I want to talk specifically about the Ottawa
County EMA's good working relationship with Davis-Besse
Power Station. Largely because of that relationship we
provide a lot of benefits.
All of our plans and procedures are thorough
and well maintained and are regularly exercised. Those
exercises are conducted specifically on the radiological
side biannually. So, every two years, FEMA comes in and
evaluates our performance plan to keep us in compliance.
Over the years that I have been associated
with the agency and even prior to that, we have had no
significant issue on our exercises, and they perform
very well.
Our emergency operation center and our risk
management agency are generally better equipped, more NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 22 well maintained and larger and larger staffed than most counties of our size throughout the State of Ohio. And, that is because of our partner.
We feel like we're very well prepared for
anything that happens here in the county, specifically
radiological rescue emergency preparedness. But, some
of the things that we do on the radiological side that
really benefit us are lot of spill-over benefits on
preparedness work review at Davis-Besse. Those would
include, we have a great relationship with our fire, EMS, law enforcement, private response orientation in
the county, and that's because we regularly exercise
training and work with them.
So, all the events that have happened in the
county, we have been very successful with our response, and a lot of that is because of everything we do with
Davis-Besse, and how it helps with our relationship.
An example of that would be the tornado this
past June. Everyone that was involved had some sort of
role in the radiological response program. A lot of the
response procedures that we use for Davis-Besse are very
applicable to some of the things that we had to do like
The tangible things that we have is because
of Davis-Besse. One of the things that is very NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 23 noticeable in the county is we have county-wide siren system. A large part of that is at the Davis-Besse
plant, and is available to us for any number of outdoor
notifications that need to be relayed; specifically, weather, very, very important to the community.
We also do a brochure calendar for our
particular State of Ohio, Lucas County, that goes to all
of our residents and provides them a plethora of
information about all types of emergency response and
what they can do in response to tornadoes, floods, HAZMAT and radiological emergency.
So, really, all this adds up to the fact that
our relationship in Ottawa County with Davis-Besse is a
benefit to the residents of Ottawa County.
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you.
The next three people I would like to call
are: Chris Galvin of the United Way; followed by Jackie
VanTress of OPEIU, Local 19; and following, Kimberly
Kaufman of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory.
Thank you.
MS. GALVIN: I'm Chris Galvin, Director of
the United Way in Ottawa County. The Davis-Besse
Nuclear Power Station and on a larger scale the First
Energy Corporation are a tremendous community partner to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 24 the local United Way. Since 1993, First Energy has contributed more than 13.5 Million Dollars to United Way
of Greater Toledo which serves Ottawa, Wood and Lucas
Counties. 3.1 Million came from corporate gifts, 10.4
Million from its incredibly generous employees.
First Energy has also earned United Way's
Pillar Award each year since at least 1992. Our data
doesn't go back any further than that. It seems they
consistently give more than a hundred thousand dollars
each year to the Greater Toledo campaign.
Not only does this community consistently get
solid financial support from First Energy and its
employees, but executive leadership has also
demonstrated exceptional personal commitment to our
work.
In 1993, Don Saunders chaired the local
United Way campaign, raising 12.5 Million Dollars.
In 2005, Jim Murray, now retired, but
formerly First Energy President of Ohio Operations, chaired the local United Way campaign. Under Mr.
Murray's leadership, the campaign raised 13.3 Million
Dollars. We also presented Mr. Murray with our
Prestigious Caring Award in 2006 for demonstrating value
and concern for our community through vision, leadership, service and commitment to the people of our NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 25 community.
In 2009, Trent Smith, Regional President of
Toledo Edison First Energy, became chairman of the
United Way of Greater Toledo's Board of Trustees and has
drawn to a close on his second year of service. Mr.
Smith has gone above and beyond the level of service, dedication and commitment we typically see from board
chairs. He has become involved in virtually ever level
of our work, digging in and helping find real solutions.
In addition to these executive leaders, numerous upper-level management have supported United
Way by using their voice and relationships to help
secure financial and volunteer support as well as
advocating on behalf of the United Way and the Northwest
Ohio Region.
In addition to Don Saunders, Jim Murray and
Trent Smith, some of the stand-out employees include
Debbie Paul, Mike Adams, and Mel Lomack. Additionally, in the 1990's Jennifer Schreiber served five years as
the chair of our community impact cabinet, the highest
level of community impact volunteers who decide how
money is allocated in this community. Also joining her
on the cabinet was Jenny Ammadon. Both are now retired.
First Energy also demonstrates incredible
commitment to the communities through sponsorships and/
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 26 or participation in programs and events.
In 1993 and 1994, Davis-Besse sponsored our
loaned executive program. Jim Ferris, now retired from
Davis-Besse, was the loaned executive in those
two years. First Energy has also sponsored loaned
executives over the years, from 1996 continuing for
11 years.
Employees consistently contribute to and
participate in Stamp Out Hunger and/or Scouting for Food
efforts each year. They were a major sponsor of our
Family Food Fund in 2008.
First Energy was the sponsor of our Community
Building event in 2005, and was the initiator and
sponsor of the Veterans Appreciation Event in 2006, which continued until 2009.
Davis-Besse and First Energy are a valued
community partner, both philanthropically and
economically. They have been incredible contributors to
our community over the past 20 years, and we only hope
that this will continue for at least another 20 years.
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Chris.
Jackie?
MS. VANTRESS: Good afternoon. My name is
Jackie VanTress, and I am representing OPEIU, Local 19.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 27 "OPEIU" stands for Office and Professional Employees International Union, and we represent the clerical
support staff at Davis-Besse.
On behalf of the Union, I would like to voice
our support in this public meeting. A renewal of this
license will not only promote and maintain employment
for our members who live and shop and send their
children to school in that area, but it will also assure
the delivery of reliable electric service to our
customers.
Research has shown that nuclear power is
clean, is efficient and produces more energy at a lower
cost than any other means of generation. So, it is
important that we keep this plant in operation.
Local 19 is proud of the safety record and
operations at Davis-Besse as well as the work we do here
and the service we provide to the public. OPEIU, Local
19, would like to continue to be a part of the team for
at least the next 20 years.
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Jackie.
MS. KAUFMAN: Good afternoon everybody. My
name is Kimberly Kaufman, and I'm the Executive Director
of Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and while I understand
the seriousness nature of this hearing, I'm actually NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 28 really pleased to have this opportunity to address this group.
My organization represents a somewhat unique
marriage, if you will, between a conservation
organization and a nuclear power plant. The general
public and, of course, all of you in the room are
certainly familiar with the fact that the nuclear power
plant resides in this part of Ottawa County, but very
few are actually aware that the power plant co-exists
with the thriving marsh that just sort of forms a hub
around the power plant.
Our organization has been conducting
migratory bird regions in this area for more than
20 years, and we really take pride in this marriage, and
we work hard like a good spouse to maintain it.
The marsh represents a critical stop-over
habitat for millions of migratory birds. And, in fact, many the world's leading bird experts consider this
marsh to be one of the most critical areas of stop-over
habitat in the entire western hemisphere.
The observatory in these 20 years have had
the full support of First Energy and Davis-Besse to
conduct this critical research and, in fact, during a
very exciting tumultus time in this country's history, we were very afraid that our consistent effort meaning NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 29 that seven days a week, spring and fall, during song bird migration, our research staff was out at that marsh
in front of the power tank conducting this research
seven days a week for more than 20 years.
When the tragedy occurred on 9/11, we were
very concerned for, of course, the human tragedy, but
also concerned that our research would be interrupted.
And, in fact, Davis-Besse really fully understood the
importance of this research, and the importance of
conserving the integrity of the data set, and we didn't
miss a single day.
And, perhaps nothing else, no other event in
our history or recent history speaks more to how much
they have said they understand the critical role that
they play in local environmental and conservation issues
than that event.
So, based on our long-standing relationship, it is our opinion the Davis-Besse and First Energy have
not only worked to fully understand and fully support
the environmental issues for this local community, but
have also fully embraced the role that they play in all
of these issues.
So, it is opinion of the Black Swamp Bird
Observatory that the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant is
a critical player in bird conservation in the entire NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 30 region of the western hemisphere.
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Kimberly.
The next three people I would like to call
are Steven Inchak, who is representing Congressman
Dennis Kucinich; Beth Leggett with the American Red
Cross; and Brad Goetz of the IBEW, Local 1413.
Welcome, Steve.
MR. INCHAK: Good afternoon.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My
name is Steve Inchak, and I work for Congressman
Kucinich, and what I'm going to do is simply read a
letter that the Congressman sent to the NRC chairman
today, and it reads as follows. And, I would also like
to ask that you consent to include the article
referenced in the official record, which I will provide
after I read the letter. It reads as follows:
"
Dear Chairman Jackstow:
First energy should
not be allowed to continue to operate Davis-Besse
after 2017. The people of Northeast Ohio are
familiar with First Energy's pathetic record in
protecting the safety of people who live in this
region. In a series of recent articles in the
Toledo Blade, which I am enclosing, the people of
our Region are reminded about the 12-minute NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 31 interruption to the feed water flow to the steam generators on June 9, 1985, which was cited as a
'potential catastrophe.'
"The people of our region are reminded of
Davis-Besse's reactor head 'weakened by years of
neglect' which nearly burst in 2002. The people
of our region are reminded that your predecessor, Harold Denton, stated in 2004 that these two
incidents represent 'the nuclear industry's
second and third lowest points after three-mile
Island.'
The people of our region are reminded that
First Energy employees tried to conceal the truth
of the 2002 incident from the Nuclear Regulatory
Agency, using tricks, 'schemes or devices' to
deliberately mislead your Agency.
"The people of our region are reminded that
David Pullman, Chief of the Justice Department's
Environmental Crime Section, said that First
Energy showed 'brazen arrogance' and 'breached the
public trust by withholding information about the
reactor head incident.
"The people are reminded that federal
prosecutors described the reactor head incident as
'one of the biggest coverups in US nuclear NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 32 history.'
"The people of our region are reminded that
First Energy paid a record fine of $33.45 Million
as a result of its actions. Of that amount, a
record $28 Million was a fine that First Energy
paid to 'avoid being criminally prosecuted for
lying to the government about the dangerous
condition of Davis-Besse's reactor head'
according to then US Attorney Greg White in 2006.
"While these fines were record fines at the
time they were imposed, I pointed out then that
the total fine was merely one percent of First
Energy's profit in 2004. While these fines may
have been record fines, they were a mere slap
on the wrist for First Energy and did nothing near
to what would have been necessary to change its
corporate culture.
"The corrosion of the reactor head started
because the Davis-Besse reactor head was made of
an alloy that would not withstand this kind of
corrosion. All of the other operators and nuclear
reactors with similar heads confronted the
situation by replacing their reactor heads with
new heads of a different alloy that would not be
subject to this kind of corrosion.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 33 "In 2004 First Energy chose cost over safety, and it replaced the corroded reactor head with
another reactor head made of exactly the same
material.
"Six years later First Energy made us shocked
to discover that the corrosion was forming on that
inferior reactor head as well. Still, First
Energy had not learned its lesson. They wanted
to postpone the final replacement of the reactor
head with a new head made with a noncorroding
alloy until 2014.
"First Energy did not abandon that 2014
replacement date until the NRC threatened to
require Davis-Besse to shut down for an inspection
of the old reactor head every year until it was
replaced.
"Only as a result of that threat is First
Energy finally going to install a noncorroding
reactor head in 2011.
"Recent events suggest that First Energy
still has a corporate culture that is more focused
on costs and profits than on its safety.
"In 2009 Davis-Besse suffered an explosion
and fire in the power switching gear located
outside of the reactor building which First Energy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 34 failed to report and did not declare an alert.
"The evidence shows that this culture exists
in First Energy beyond its operation of
Davis-Besse. The NRC has been keeping a 'close
watch' on First Energy's operation at its
Perry reactor in Northeast Ohio as well. The NRC
remains concerned that Perry's safety culture is
not up to industry standards and has maintained a
close watch there for the last two years.
"Davis-Besse has been operating for
33 years. It has experienced two of the
industry's most serious nuclear incidents during
those years. This is not just bad luck. The
problems at Davis-Besse are a direct result of
First Energy's mismanagement and disregard for the
safety of people who live and work in the area and
who would be affected by any nuclear incident.
"The NRC should not grant a license to a
company that only operates safely while a
'special' inspection team is monitoring its
day-to-day activities and when a 'close watch' is
being kept on it.
"The NRC must continue to keep a close watch
on Davis-Besse between now and 2017 and then to
ensure that, first, this aging reactor with a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 35 deplorable history of operations and maintenance be safely shut down and decommissioned at the end
of its current license.
"Sincerely, Dennis J. Kucinich, member of
congress."
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Steven. We will
receive that letter into the record.
Beth?
MS. LEGGETT: My name is Beth Leggett.
I'm the Director of the American Red Cross in Ottawa
County, part of the greater Toledo area chapter which is
a regional chapter for all of Northwest Ohio.
Through my position with the Red Cross, I
have seen cooperation that is envied between the
Emergency Management Agency and First Energy Davis-Besse
amongst the agency's first responders because of the
emergency preparedness that we do, we have been educated
to do over my 22 years in this position.
In Northwest Ohio, we're envied because of
the readiness that we have from the Red Cross standpoint
as well as from the whole county and the agencies that
are involved.
We have a congressional mandate to prepare, prevent and respond to emergencies through the Red NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 36 Cross. I think the Emergency Management Agency, Fred Petersen, spoke to the cooperation with all things that
we do to help us be ready and to protect the citizens of
Ottawa County.
We also because we have the mandate but we do
not receive government funds, I can speak to what Chris
Galvin of United Way said with regards to the money that
comes into the United Way. We are a United Way Agency, but even besides that, we have profited, the Red Cross
organization, from financial support on many levels from
First Energy and Davis-Besse as well as from the
volunteer aspect of the employees that respond through
the involvement of their families.
We have three or four blood drives that we
conduct at Davis-Besse that are very successful. We
have had a lot of leadership that has come out of the
Davis-Besse plant. Chuck Witt was a six-year chairman
for our local advisory board.
Currently, Terry Mortis, who is the Regional
Manager also of the Ottawa County District with First
Energy that provides a lot of leadership, a lot of
guidance to the Red Cross.
And, I'm going to take my Red Cross hat off, and I want to say that May 15, 1979, I became a new mom
for the very first time, and when my daughter was NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 37 two years old, had not the rain storm come the afternoon of the protest march in front of Davis-Besse, I would
have been in it.
And, I sat here today and thought how far
I've come and how grateful I am to have had the
exposure, educationally through the community, through
my friends to see the Davis-Besse plant in a whole
different light. I was young in the Nineties. I'm a
little bit smarter now about how those things work, and
I ask hard questions and I sometimes like the answers, sometimes I'm not so sure about the answers, but I am
confident in the safety of the Davis-Besse plant and the
good that it does in the community for the people that
are involved.
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Beth.
Brad?
MR. GOETZ: Good afternoon. My name is
Brad Goetz, and I'm the Business Manager of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local
1413. We represent security at Davis-Besse.
I just want to say that I'm a 26-year
employee at Davis-Besse, and over the years, the safety
culture has improved greatly and continues to improve
every day. The plant is well protected, not only for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 38 the safety inside the plant but also for the members of 1413.
Davis-Besse over the years has provided a
good living, a good income for many residents of Ottawa
County and surrounding counties and especially now in a
time when unemployment is high.
We support the license renewal, and we ask
the NRC to support it as well.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Brad.
There are three people who are still signed
up to speak. If there are any other people who would
like a speak, please come and see me.
The last three people I would like to call up
are Ann Heckerd of the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, Brian Boles of FENOC, and Larry Tscherne of IBEW, Local
245.
MS. HECKERD: I am Ann Heckerd, the Food
Coordinator for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, and
I'm going to talk more on the economic aspect.
Davis-Besse has been very generous with their
donations to the Food Pantry in the past years. I also
would like to say that if it were to close, they may be
coming to our Food Pantry, and I would hate to see that.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Ann.
Brian?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 39 MR. BOLES: Good afternoon. My name is Brian Boles. I'm the Plant Manager of Davis-Besse.
Our license renewal is a high priority item
for the state and for the county. We have had a number
of people working on this project now for well over a
year -- I see a number of those members are here -- to
put together a good product which we have submitted to
the NRC for their review.
It's a priority for us as a company because
Davis-Besse is a significant asset to our company. It
provides a large source of safe, reliable, environmental
friendly electricity to the surrounding area.
It is also important from a license renewal
aspect, 20 additional years of this asset to provide for
the employment opportunities for the local community, and many of our young engineers are graduating from
college today who wonder if nuclear power is a viable
future and a career path. It's important to know that
plants such as Davis-Besse and others are undergoing
renewal process have a future that they can depend on.
At Davis-Besse we do commit to ensuring the
public safety and protecting the environment. I'm sure
the review as we go through this license renewal process
will bear that out, and as evidenced by a number of the
speakers here, we do enjoy a very good relationship with NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 40 the surrounding community. We look forward to extending that relationship for another 20 years.
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you, Brian.
Finally, Larry?
MR. TSCHERNE: Thank you and good
afternoon. My name is Larry Tscherne. I'm the Business
Manager for IBEW, Local 245, the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
We represent 22 counties here in the
Northwest Ohio, including Ottawa County here. But, in
addition to that, we also represent over 200 physical
workers at Davis-Besse that provide operations, maintenance, chemistry, radiation and protection of the
plant.
Now, what I'm going to talk about here
briefly isn't an opinion. It's a fact. I know that
from our members and the involvement that I have with
the plant, and not only with the plant but with senior
management. I'll go as far as the President of FENOC, Jim Lynch, who includes all the other business managers, the leadership of the local unions from the entire
FENOC. We meet on a regular basis a couple times a year
with the President. We share and open up any type of
discussion that we have. Nothing is held back, open NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 41 communication all the way through.
We do the same thing with the Plant Manager
at Davis-Besse, with the Maintenance Manager at
Davis-Besse.
We have worked over a number of issues, going
into outages, we have heard testimony here about the
head incident. Let me tell you the type of relationship
that we have been able to develop in the goal of working
together in a good labor-management relationship which
is important and critical, especially in this type of
industry.
During that incident, the plant, as you know, was down for, what, two years, maybe a little less.
Over that period of time and the hundreds of man hours
that were involved, multiple shift changes. You can't
imagine what we had to go through to get that plant back
up and running. We had four grievances filed; four out
of the entire period of time.
I only use that as an example because when we
meet, we continue to talk about the safety culture and
good maintenance practices which leads me to my next
point.
The safety culture, the dedication of the
employees, training and the craftsmanship are second to
none. Again, that's not an opinion. That's a fact. We NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 42 had the opportunity to review all of that and we participate not only in the training but in the
development of the training.
So, with that said, I would have to say that
First Energy has been open and honest in all of their
discussions with us. There's never been a time where I
haven't been able to call either Akron or the plant and
get an answer. It's just been terrific.
In addition to that, we not only work out
local issues but something more important or just as
important. We work together on issues in Washington
also through our labor management committee. A lot of
people probably aren't aware of that, but we do that
through our Land Pact Committee.
By extending the license here at Davis-Besse, it would continue to provide good clean power that's
critical. In addition to that also supporting the
much-needed tax base, not only to this area but to the
state, and I'm confident along with our members, that
IBEW, Local 245, that Davis-Besse will continue to be
safe, not only for the employees but also for the area.
Thank you.
MR. BARKLEY: Thank you.
I'll make one last call for anyone who would
like to make a statement.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 43 (No Response)
MR. BARKLEY: Hearing none, what I will do
is invite Mr. Wrona to come up and make some last-
minute remarks, and I very much appreciate your
cooperation in running this meeting very, very smoothly.
Thank you.
MR. WRONA: Thank you, Rich.
I'm David Wrona. I'm the Branch Chief in the
NRC who is responsible for the Davis-Besse license
renewal. I have three or four sentences here at 2:20.
First of all, thank you for allowing us to
come out and briefly explain our process which we'll do
a detailed review of the application to ensure that it
meets all of our requirements.
Secondly, I would like to thank you for
participating in our environmental scoping process.
This meeting is not the only way for you to provide us
comments. As was shown on one of the slides, you can
mail in comments to us, you can provide them to us on
the website. We will take these through December 27th.
So, if you go home tonight and what somebody said
sparked some comments in your head, feel free to use
either one of those methods, all three of those methods
on that slide will get those comments to us.
And, lastly, every comment that we receive, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 44 whether it was spoken tonight or you handed it in a written format to us tonight comes in through any of
those fashions, we're going to address and make
publically available scope and summary report which we
will issue sometime in the future, but it will be on our
website. If you signed up through our list serve, you
will receive a copy of that scoping summary report.
So, with that, I would like a thank you for
coming in again.
MR. BARKLEY: Thanks, Dave. This meeting
the adjourned. Thank you.
(Whereupon, the proceedings were concluded at
2:30 p.m.)