ML19295G527
| ML19295G527 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crystal River  |
| Issue date: | 10/10/2019 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards |
| To: | |
| Hickman J | |
| References | |
| NRC-0594 | |
| Download: ML19295G527 (89) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
NEIMA Section 108 Docket Number: (n/a)
Location: Crystal River, Florida Date: Thursday, October 10, 2019 Work Order No.: NRC-0594 Pages 1-83 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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PUBLIC MEETING NEAR CRYSTAL RIVER 3 NUCLEAR GENERATING PLANT ON THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INNOVATION AND MODERNIZATION ACT (NEIMA) SECTION 108
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THURSDAY OCTOBER 10, 2019
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The Public Meeting was convened in the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce, 915 North Suncoast Boulevard, Crystal River, Florida, at 6:00 p.m.,
Bruce Watson, Reactor Decommissioning Branch Chief, presiding.
PRESENT:
BRUCE WATSON, Reactor Decommissioning Branch Chief KIM CONWAY, Reactor Decommissioning Project Manager JOHN HICKMAN, Reactor Decommissioning Project Manager NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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2 P R O C E E D I N G S (6:00 p.m.)
MR. WATSON: So thanks for coming this evening. We don't have microphones, but we do have these little recorders around because Gretchen over here is going to be transcribing tonight's meeting.
So the transcription will be sent to the NRC and we will review it and we'll put it up on our website for public use. Whatever you want to -- it will be available to the public.
My name is Bruce Watson. I am Chief of the Reactor Decommissioning Branch and I'm from NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland.
All of the 23 power reactors that are currently in decommissioning, are in my branch, my group, for providing licensing oversight, and we also provide support to the regional offices for decommissioning inspections.
To my left is John Hickman. He is the current Project Manager for Crystal River, and he's on my staff, obviously. And this is Kim Conway, she is also in my branch. Kim is a Project Manager. She currently has a number of power reactors that she manages, including Three Mile Island, Unit 1 and 2.
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3 Well, it just shut down. And, let's see, Fermi 1, and?
MS. CONWAY: Indian Point.
MR. WATSON: Indian Point, yeah. So we keep adding more reactors all the time, so unfortunately I guess.
The reason we're here tonight is because of the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act. Section 108 of that Act requires us to collect information from the public so we can provide a report to the Congress on the best practices of citizens advisory panels.
And so it requires to hold a minimum of 10 meetings. This is our 11th meeting, and hopefully final meeting, because we have to get on with writing the report since it's due next July. I'll be going into all this again.
I know there's a lot of issues that you are probably very passionate about. We are here to talk about citizens advisory boards. But we'll be willing to listen to other things and possibly answer some questions if we know the answers. As you can see, we're not here with a full contingent of technical staff to answer all the questions that you NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 might have. So we'll field a few of them maybe, and hopefully, if not, we'll try and get back to you.
So with that, I'll just ahead and begin.
Go to the first slide here. Okay.
This is an NRC Category III meeting. And it's, again, to obtain comments to identify the best practices for the establishment and operation of local community advisory boards, or CABs.
I want you to know around the country they may have different names. Out in California they are citizen engagement panels; in New England they're called nuclear decommissioning advisory panels; there's a variety of names, but they all pretty much are local citizens with a charter that provide information, exchange information with the licensee on the decommissioning.
And generally these are exclusively for decommissioning for nuclear power reactors, and of course we're supposed to collect any lessons learned from existing CABs. And actually we've been fortunate. Some of the older plants that were shut down in the 1990s, we were able to get feedback from members, former members, from Maine Yankee, Connecticut Yankee, Yankee Rowe, and some of the other NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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5 plants that had CABs during that time period. So we've been fortunate that way.
As far as safety issues. There's three doors right there. So if the fire alarm goes off let's calmly walk out. I was at a conference a couple weeks ago and it did go off and the place was filling up with smoke. So we exited promptly. So it is a possibility anywhere you are.
I have a short NRC presentation and then I'll go over the ground rules. We have about eight or nine people who want to speak. We'll just go in the order that people signed up. As I said, the ground rules, and then we'll go to any other comments from the public.
The meeting will be over at 9:00 if not sooner. Some of these go right up to 9:00, some of them are done by 7:30, 8:00 o'clock. So it's all up to you. We're going to be here to listen. Go to the next slide, please.
I have a couple key messages I wanted to give to you, and that is: The NRC regulations are performance based and risk informed. That means there's a lot of flexibility for the licensees, and the risk informed part is that there is a dose NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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6 criteria that has to be met for the license to be terminated.
We have extensive decommissioning experience. And on this chart you can see that we've overseen the decommissioning of almost 80 complex material sites which use radioactive materials in the manufacturing process; about 18 research reactors and 10 power reactors.
So as far as the United States goes, we have decommissioned more power reactors than any other country put together in the world. So we like to think that we have extensive experience.
The other thing I want to mention is that 7 of those 10 plants still have spent fuel on those sites, and it continues to be under a license and managed by the utility or an entity company, and also those are continued to be inspected by the NRC, and will be until they're removed and hopefully a permanent or interim repository is identified for the spent fuel.
So the key point is, there's nothing new with decommissioning to the regulatory body; us, the NRC. Next slide, please.
The Nuclear Energy Innovation and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 Modernization Act, as we call it NEIMA, Section 108, was enacted January 14th of this year. And it basically says the Commission, meaning the NRC, shall submit to the Congress a report identifying best practices with respect to the establishment and operation of a local community advisory board to foster communication and information exchange between a licensee planning for and involved in decommissioning activities and member os the community that the decommissioning activities may affect, including lessons learned from any such board in existence.
And of course you can provide your comments to us by November 15th. And so you still have a little over a month to provide us comments, and we'll go into the details of how to do that at the end of this presentation.
So with that, I'll move on to the next slide.
So what is a community advisory board?
It's an organized group of citizens interested in safe decommissioning practices and spent fuel management at a decommissioning facility. The sponsor is usually a local licensee or mandated by NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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8 State legislature.
We have a new one, which was formed up in New York around Indian Point, and it's basically the local government officials have formed a citizens advisory panel, and they're the sponsors. So it's a little bit different than the rest.
The composition of a committee or the board typically includes local community leaders and elected officials, State representatives and member of the licensee staff. So the licensee participates actively in the CAB. And most CABs have a governing charter to establish roles and responsibilities.
Next slide, please.
So what are those responsibilities?
Well, they review the licensee's plans for decommissioning, they provide insight into potential impact on the local community. They also provide an opportunity for public education on decommissioning, and they can make recommendations to State officials, and they can provide input on site restoration. In other words, what the site will look like after the decommissioning's complete, and they can look at plants for future reuse of the site and also economic development. Next slide, please.
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9 So our report to Congress will entail a description of CAB discussion topics, what the CABs talk about. It will include recommendations from the CAB to inform decision-making processes, CAB interactions with the NRC and other federal regulatory bodies to support the local boards, overall understanding of the decommissioning process, and promote dialogue between the affected stakeholders and licensee involved in decommissioning activities.
And how a CAB could offer opportunities for public engagement throughout all phases of the decommissioning. So next slide, please.
So CAB best practices that we're looking for are: Cab membership composition, the selection process and terms; when the CAB was established and the frequency of CAB meetings; specific logistics required to support the CAB, and; any other identified best practices or activities. So it's pretty broadly open.
The methods that you can supply comments to us, first of all is this meeting, because we are transcribing it and we will be hearing what you have to say.
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10 You can fill out the NEIMA questionnaire online. Here's the web address for that. We also have these little cards, so it's written right here for you so you don't have to scramble to write it, just grab a card.
You can sent your comments electronically to the Federal Rulemaking website, which is regulations.gov, but you're going to need this NRC Docket number so you get it to the right place.
You can scan the completed questionnaires. We have questionnaires out there which we have an OMB clearance to ask the public for.
So you can complete those, you can scan those and send them to us at our NEIMA email address which is:
NEIMA108.resource@nrc.gov. Or you can complete the questionnaires and you can mail them to Kim, right here. So, anyway, next slide. We'll put that slide back up later.
Any questions beyond this meeting we would refer you to David McIntyre, our Office of Public Affairs. There's his phone number. And of course you can get a hold of him through our NEIMA Resource email. Next slide, please.
If you go to our public website, which is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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11 www.nrc.gov and you look at that, it comes up, it will have the NRC's website there, public website.
There's a place on there called Spotlight, and it says, citizens advisor panels or boards. If you click on that link it takes you to everything, so it's real easy to use. I thought we had a slide in here on that.
So, in summary we're here to listen to you about comments on citizens advisory boards.
We're trying to find out what the people consider the best practices are.
And with that I'll just mention that we know there is no C-A-B or CAB here at Crystal River.
But at about probably more than half of the power plants that are in decommissioning there is no CAB.
But there are other means to communicate with the public and most of the utilities do that. Some absolutely do nothing. But there's no interest in hearing about it. So they're more concerned about the plants that are still operating than the one in decommissioning.
So with that, we have eight or so speakers. Again I'm going to ask you that when you go up to speak, say your name plainly because Gretchen NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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12 here's got to record it. If you have a more difficult name other than Watson, which can be misspelled, we may ask you to spell it for her. So I think we'll be able to allow each of the speakers up to 10 minutes to talk. That should leave us some time for anybody that decides they want to talk later.
So with that I'd like to start out with any federally elected officials that would either like to be recognized or provide a comment.
MR. WRIGHT: Hello. I'm from the Office of Senator Mark Rubio -- oh, you want me to go up?
MR. WATSON: Just identify yourself.
MR. WRIGHT: Yeah. I'm Brian Wright.
I'm from the Tampa Office of Senator Mark Rubio. I'm sure there's others from different offices. But the State Director from Orlando Office, he sent me here to basically take notes. So that's my purpose of being here, so.
MR. WATSON: Thank you.
MS. WHITE: My name is Victoria White.
Congressman Webster sent me on his behalf with a statement, which I'll go ahead and read for you all.
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13 with all stakeholders and residents throughout this process. You all have done a great job of keeping our office informed. We expect and hope that this level of transparency, engagement and communication will continue throughout the rest of the process.
MR. WATSON: Okay, thank you.
Are there any other federally elected officials or their representatives want to speak?
(No response.)
MR. WATSON: Any State representatives here that would like to speak?
(No response.)
MR. WATSON: No? Going once. Any local officials that want to speak?
MR. FRANK: Yes. Good evening and welcome to the City of Crystal River. My name is Ken Frank. I'm the City Manager of Crystal River. And it's the City that requested this meeting, due in large in part by Mr. Baumstark standing next to me, who have brought this to our attention.
So first I'd like to welcome you to the City. Looking forward to some good dialogue tonight.
I know with the closing of a nuclear power plant had a significant impact on the community, and whatever NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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14 can come out of this I would look forward to in the future helping other communities get through that.
A lot of high-paying jobs left, which understandably -- and we'd just like to see less of an impact in the future for other communities. And again, thank you and welcome.
MR. WATSON: Thank you. Sir?
MR. OLIVER: Charles Randy Oliver, the County Administrator for Citrus County.
Citrus County lost approximately 31 percent of its tax base when this particular nuclear reactor was closed. In fact, there were some very tragic events that led up to it. There was much discussion and ranging (sic) as it related to what the residual value was. But then the Tax Collector, it turns out, committed suicide as a result of it, which was ultimately tragic.
But in addition to the 31 percent loss in the tax base, the jobs that were lost were high paying and not easily replaced. I will say this: Duke has put in a gas generating facility up there, but the quality of those jobs is much less and the tax base from that is also much less.
This occurred roughly at the same time as NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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15 the Great Recession, and the Gulf Oil Spill, which all impacted Florida. So the area here had what I call the triple witching hour, as they affectionately referred to it on Wall Street.
This resulted in a property tax increase, and that was how I got started in Citrus County. I had to do a financial workout plan because the State considered them a troubled county within the State of Florida. And we've been fortunate that we've been able to rebuild our financial house, but our financial house is still not what it was.
We have also been made aware of some legislation that you've probably heard of. Senate Bill 1985 called the Stranded Nuclear Fuel Act, which would provide relief to the jurisdictions that were negatively impacted. Because the area that a nuclear plant takes, particularly here, is much greater and the redevelopment of the surrounding area is also very important. People sometimes are reluctant to relocate to that area with a plant there, but they still express some concerns.
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16 community again to make it a -- we've got a lot of good things happening in the County, I will say that, with the expansion of the Suncoast Parkway, which is going to take some time, but it's going to go all the way to 75, and that will help provide us a north/south connection.
But we've got to get the economy in Citrus County jump started. And we believe the right committee with the right funding can help make that jump start occur. Thank you.
MR. WATSON: Thank you.
Any other local officials want to have an opportunity to speak?
(No response.)
MR. WATSON: No? Are there any Native American tribes represented here that would like to speak or be recognized?
(No response.)
MR. WATSON: It's required. There's 538 Nationally recognized Native American tribes in the country, so we extend that all the time.
So with that, I believe we can go to our first member of the public, which will be Mr. Vernon Lauder.
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17 DR. LAUDER: Thank you, and good evening.
My name is Vernon Lauder. I'm the Vice-President for Regional Campuses at the college of Central Florida.
I'm here tonight as a community stakeholder and as part of the original community stakeholder group that was convened in 2013 as a part of the decommissioning process.
It has been my personal experience in the years since the announcement of the decommissioning that Duke Energy has been transparent, forthcoming and in fact fully engaged in helping the community understand their corporate direction and related decommissioning plans and timetables.
Beyond having a robust and proactive communication strategy, Duke has invested a significant amount of time, money and expertise in helping the community mitigate the significant impact and challenges the decommissioning process created in this community.
Since 2013 I've been the recipient of regular email updates from Duke Energy regarding the status of the decommissioning. I've also been invited to participate in multiple online surveys regarding Duke's operations. During this period of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 time, in the course of my service on the boards of various community organizations, I've been witness to numerous financial commitments by Duke in support of community development initiatives. I've also been witness to regular status update presentations by the Duke Executive Team at various community events.
It's my desire today to be on record as a community stakeholder who feels that Duke Energy has honored its commitment to this community in terms of communicating all along the way a very difficult business decision.
Duke's remained transparent and consistent in communicating challenging and unpopular news, as well as exciting news related to significant new investments in the community. Duke Energy has, in my personal opinion, demonstrated a commitment at the highest level to the current and long term welfare of our community. Thank you.
MR. WATSON: Thank you. The next speaker is Heather Danenhower from, I think Duke Energy?
Yes.
Can you tell her how to spell that?
MS. DANENHOWER: It's D-a-n-e-n-h-o-w-e-
- r. You're welcome.
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19 Well, good evening everyone. My name is Heather Danenhower and I'm a Communications Manager for Duke Energy, and I have spent the last nine years at the Crystal River Nuclear Plant. I am also a second generation native Floridian, and a graduate of the University of Central Florida and the University of Florida.
My mission tonight -- yeah, go Gators. I saw it. Thank you. My mission tonight is to provide you with overview of our stakeholder engagement plans, explain what we did, why we did it and how we know that those plans are effective for Citrus County.
First I'd like to let you know that over the last six years we have developed a structure stakeholder engagement plan based on the well-researched needs and preferences of our local community.
We did not form a community advisory board, as Mr. Watson said earlier, because we felt like we didn't need to based on valid, statistical data from our stakeholders, and also feedback from our stakeholders.
We found that forming a community advisory board wasn't only not only needed, but it NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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20 wasn't in the best interest to serve our local community here. Instead what we do is we use a variety of channels that stakeholders, like you, have told us that are most valuable to you. And as Mr.
Lauder -- Dr. Lauder said earlier, we have an informal community advisory group that we sent communications to pretty frequently.
Before designing our communications plan, starting back in 2013, we first conducted extensive research. And what I mean by that is you'll see an overview of what we've done. We looked at regulatory requirements from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
We looked at industry guidance. We benchmarked other decommissioning plants; Maine Yankee, Kewaunee, San Onofre, Vermont Yankee. We looked at other communication task forces to glean best practices and lessons learned from across the country to understand what other communicators were going through that were also managing decommissioning nuclear plants.
We also surveyed our stakeholders, people just like you in this room. Now, when I say "stakeholder" I want to explain what I mean by that.
Those are the people who live within about ten miles of the nuclear plant in Citrus County and in Levy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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21 County, people in Inverness, the County Seat, people in Levy County, which is just eight miles down the road from the plant, our key leaders, elected officials and also our Duke Energy customers.
We had two opportunities where we surveyed our stakeholder. The one, Dr. Lauder mentioned earlier. We brought about three dozen community stakeholders together, we had a meeting, we provided an update on our decommissioning status. We asked them important questions: Do you want information about the nuclear plant decommissioning and how you want that information.
In parallel we did a statistically valid third-party analysis of our plant neighbors. We hired a third-party independent firm to conduct that for us to further validate that we were on the right track and doing the right things for our community.
And this did two very important things for us. It allowed us to identify the concerns in the community, and it also allowed us to identify the communication preferences of our community.
For example, in Citrus County, Florida, the main way that people want to receive information is through a company newsletter mailed to their house, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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22 or emailed, a website, traditional media, like the Citrus County Chronicle who is here tonight, and also face-to-face interactions, meetings like this one.
And then, in addition to all of those research points, we also looked at local demographics, and we looked at the economic impacts of the nuclear plant decommissioning. We considered the political climate, and just general interest here locally, regionally, and also across the State of Florida. From all of that research we implemented our plan.
One other thing I want to point out is we have two people who are responsible for implementing this plan. I am one of those people, and we also have a community relations manager who helps implement the plan.
We have exceeded the regulatory requirements. We align with best public relations practices. Our approach reflects the needs and the preferences of the local community, and it has measurable objectives.
So let's look at the numbers. So I've said a lot in just the few minutes that I've been up here. Let's look at the numbers and break those NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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23 down.
Over the last six years we have had 117 touch points with our local community. That includes 11 written communications. We have a website that we maintain 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> a day; you can go on there and you can submit your questions or your concerns. We had 32 opportunities for face-to-face interaction with the public through various events, and I'll show you some of those in just a moment. 18 proactive opportunities reaching out to the media, and 55 community-giving opportunities. I'm going to show you some of those pictures as we move through.
Here are some examples of our written communications. 11 written communication to community stakeholders. These are what we call Messages from Terry that highlight key decommissioning milestones. And Terry is in our audience today.
Terry, if you'll just raise your hand.
He'll be available to answer questions after the meeting if you have any.
Here is our website screen shots. At any time you can get an update on our decommissioning status, the timeline, the process, we have fact NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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24 sheets. And we have this over here, the Contact Us, two-way communication channel. So any time if you have questions or concerns you can engage with us.
When you push that Contact Us button it comes to me, and then I work with our nuclear plant team to get the answers to your questions.
Here are some pictures from our various events. We've had 32 events. And when I say face-to-face interaction what I mean is, open house events, meetings, presentations and a variety of tours. And many people in this room I recognize you. I am so glad that you're here tonight. I want to thank you for being here tonight, because you will see yourself in many of these pictures.
Nine of these opportunities have included State and federal offices and elected agencies.
Here are some of the headlines from a proactive media, 18 opportunities. So when we have a decommissioning milestone that we've met, we will proactively reach out to the media, both locally and regionally to provide an update. And that does a couple things for us. It allows us to open our doors, demonstrate transparency, give the media a tour so that they can put their eyes firsthand on the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 decommissioning activities, interview our staff.
And in turn what that does for us is it provides a much needed update to the public using a channel that stakeholders said was most valuable to them.
And here's the community giving and other investments that we've made.
So I want to point out something. Duke Energy has been a vital part of the Citrus County community for more than 50 years, and that commitment has continued despite the nuclear plant's decommissioning. It is true that the nuclear plant decommissioning team is smaller, but they are mighty and they are engaged, and the numbers really speak for themselves.
55 individual community giving opportunities in the community during the last six years alone, either participating in them or hosting them. So this one is removing Lyngbya from Kings Bay. Over here we sponsored children every year through the Citrus County Family Resource Center.
And you will always find out teammates doing a variety of drives, whether it's food or clothing or back-to-school supplies. They are very much engaged in the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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26 local community.
Now regarding the investments. Our plan set out to do a couple things: Provide updates about decommissioning milestones; address community concerns; and build goodwill and trust in the community. And this is one way that we do that.
Now those two community concerns that came up, some of the speakers have already talked about; the economic impact and also the loss of jobs, high wage jobs.
We've been able to address both of those issues in two major ways. One is through the financial contributions that we have made. In 2013, that's the year that the decommissioning was announced, our Duke Energy Foundation donated $1 million to Citrus County organizations that focus on economic development and workforce development.
And then in the years of the decommissioning, we invested $1.5 billion -- and that's B as in Bravo -- to build a new combined cycle and natural gas plant at the Crystal River Energy Complex where the nuclear plant resides.
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27 and the investments that we've made and the employee volunteerism that has continued, it really sets Duke Energy and the Crystal River Nuclear Plant apart from other decommissioning plants across the country.
So during the height of construction of the new combined cycle natural gas plant, we estimate that it was more than 600 million in economic benefits to the local community. We estimate about 3,000 temporary construction jobs created during the height of that construction. And the increase to the tax base. We heard a little bit about that earlier.
In 2019 alone Duke Energy paid $29 million for facilities that we have here in Citrus County. Of that $29 million, 13.5 million of it was a direct result of our investment in that new natural gas plant.
So with those three elements, the financial contributions, the employee giving, and also that significant investment in the local community, we feel that Duke Energy and the Crystal River Nuclear Plant is set apart from many other decommissioning plants across the country.
So tonight I had a lofty goal. I had a goal of providing you an overview of our stakeholder NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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28 engagement plan, explain what we did and why we did it, why we think it's effective for our local community.
Over the last six years we have provided eight different surveys. Two of those surveys were formal, statistically valid surveys conducted by third parties. "Third parties" meaning not by the nuclear plant directly. We also did six different informal surveys to continue to gauge the effectiveness of our decommissioning plan.
Just this summer we conducted another survey. We had 1600 people participate in that to validate that what we're doing is right for the community. And some of the results from that survey you can see up here. We're doing what's right. What the respondents largely said is that Duke Energy communications, the ones that they're receiving from us directly, is a trusted source of information.
That written communications, traditional media, and also our website are some of the preferred methods of communicating. And also that we are a good neighbor and trusted to continue to contribute to the vitality of the local community.
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29 everything that we've discussed here tonight, we did not form a community advisory board because we didn't feel like one was necessary based on all the data and all the feedback that we received from the community.
You will find several examples of effective community engagement across the nation, and Duke Energy's engagement approach is one of those methods. Each method is unique, and what has worked well in one community might not work well in another community. What works well here in Citrus County, Florida, might not work well in San Onofre, California, or Vermont.
So we understand that and we believe that nuclear plants should continue to have the flexibility to tailor their approach to meet specific community needs. We believe that we have done that with ours. And we also believe that a one-size-fits-all approach is not what's in the best interest of the local community.
For Duke Energy we developed and implemented a structured stakeholder engagement plan based on the well-researched needs and preferences of the local community and our feedback and our statistically valid data, has continued to validate NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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30 that it is effective and it is successful for our local community.
I really appreciate your time and your attention tonight. Thank you very much.
MR. WATSON: Thank you.
Captain Jim Baumstark. Do you want to sit or do you want to stand?
MR. BAUMSTARK: No, no. I'm fine. I'm hobbling because I have my knee being replaced on the 1st of November, and so the apex of the pain is going to get me. I'm anxious to get to that.
MR. WATSON: Get you through it?
MR. BAUMSTARK: Yes. I entitle my presentation an example of not so good practices and the subsequent result. I've been listening to what Heather was saying. She's a very eloquent speaker, I will not be nearly so eloquent, but I disagree with a lot of what she had to say.
I've never been invited to participate in one single Duke council board advisory, whatever whatever, and I think that's because they feel I have a very biased view against what Duke has done here in Crystal River.
I've been a Crystal River resident for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 more than ten years. I'm an Annapolis graduate who served 28 years in the Navy's nuclear submarine program commanding two nuclear submarines during the cold war. Following military retirement in 1992 I spent 15 years in the nuclear power industry working at nuclear plants in Tennessee, Florida and New York.
I retired from Con Edison in 2007 as a VP of Engineering and returned to live in Crystal River.
As most of my career was spent in the growing nuclear environment, I was somewhat surprised when Duke bought Progress Energy in January of 2011.
In retrospect I believe that Progress nuclear assets in North Carolina, where Duke is headquartered, presented Duke with an all or nothing expansion opportunity, even if it included CR3. Two months later, in March 2011, CR3 containment failed for the second time during a pre-critical pressurization test prior to CR3 startup.
Duke then spent two years evaluating repair options involving many what-if scenarios including complete containment replacement, which drove repair costs from 2 billion to over 4 billion dollars, before announcing in February 2013, the closure of the plant because of excessive repair NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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32 costs.
The community was shocked, but understood Duke would continue to build two nuclear plants in nearby Levy County. They were again shocked when these plants were subsequently cancelled and replaced with two gas-fired cogen plants employing only 70 workers long term where 600 used to work.
The impact on Crystal River and Citrus County of the CR3 shutdown was and continues to be devastating, in terms of local businesses, City and County funding, property values, property taxes, city and County funding and educational funding.
Few, if any, big box chain stores or restaurants remain. Strip malls have mostly shut down. New startups have been limited to gas stations, car washes, convenience stores, and fast food drive through restaurants.
In 2012 before announcement of the closure in 2013, 43 percent of the County residents lived below the poverty level. By 2017 that number had grown to 50 percent and is still rising.
Additionally, our unemployment rate is currently the third worst in Florida.
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33 powerhouse of Citrus County economy for many years, took away salaries of some 600 nuclear workers averaging $100,000 a year or $60 million annually, replacing them in 2018 with some 70 workers with incomes averaging 70,000 a year or almost $5 million annually.
Today, six years later, this roughly 55 million annual disposable income loss, when coupled with the loss of Duke's 20 percent share of total property tax revenue, is still devastating the local economic base.
As an immediate result in 2013, for example, the County was forced to raise property taxes 31 percent and let go 100 County workers. Further, the closure affected the entire Tampa Bay region. In 2014, the year following CR3 closure, the region saw it's GDP drop by 7.5 percent. The biggest loss in the 382 metro areas included in the U.S. Department Commerce's 2014 annual report.
Writing at that time Tampa Bay business columnist Robert Trigaux stated, quote, "Only now are we starting to see the profound economic impact of closing a nuclear plant before its time." Clearly this was Crystal River 3.
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34 Two weeks ago, on 3 September, another Times columnist, Gordon Bench, in an article entitled Why We Miss The Crippled Crystal River Nuclear Plant opined, quote: "That Progress Energy took a reckless approach to what should have been a routine maintenance outage. As a result the concrete containment was cracked in 2009," unquote.
Though repairs were completed following the steam generator replacement, refueling outage and were considered satisfactory for restart, in April 2011 the reactor containment pressure test failed again, this time with much more significant damage.
I am assuming Duke, who by then owned the plant, through their due diligence process prior to purchasing Progress, was well aware of significant issues associate with CR3's containment.
In contrast, several other communities have been proactive in addressing nuclear plant shuttering situations. One in California is being provided $85 million in impact funds from its owners directed by the Governor. This initiative was driven by local governments through the representatives in a state legislature.
Another in Massachusetts is being NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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35 provided in a payment in lieu of taxes agreement or a PILOT agreement, $13 million in impact funds. An agreement negotiated between the plant owner and local elected officials.
The State of New York has a generation succession mitigation fund with $80 million available to help communities such as Buchanan, 35 miles north of New York City, home of the two reactor Indian Point energy complex, and scheduled to shut down within three years.
Unlike California, Massachusetts and New York, no community impact funds, PILOT agreements, or economic impact mitigation funds have been made available to Crystal River or Citrus County. There is, however, no legal requirement that such socioeconomic assistance be provided to impacted communities.
Community advisory boards or CABs have been and are continuing to be instrumental in moving issues forward in areas where plants have been shuttered, comprised of informed members of the community, local public interest groups, reps of the plant owner, local elected officials and the NRC, CABs have been a sounding board for a variety of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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36 stakeholders. Though not required by the NEIMA of 2019, they have been required in bringing up issues for resolution.
In summary, I recommend that the NRC make the establishment of a CAB mandatory on or before plant shutdown, as most plants have long-range shutdowns 20 to 30 years in the future, there's plenty of time to establish a CAB. Whereas a shutdown versus repair decision, in Crystal River 3's case was made on short notice, it is a real burden for the community to survive without a CAB.
I further recommend it's discussed in the August 8th webinar decommissioning funds be made available for CAB support. In a rural community, and we are certainly a rural community, where appropriated funds or something as a CAB are hard to find, and where different perspectives may exist between views of the plant owner, elected officials, informed citizens and other stakeholders, a similar common forum is even harder to find. Having a CAB would have afforded us such an opportunity.
I have one comment. I want to note that there are no elected officials here tonight, I don't believe. If I missed one, he stood up. But none of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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37 the City Councils are here, none of the Board of County Commissioners are here tonight.
In yesterday's paper Duke said that instead of a CAB they created an informal stakeholders' group. Ms. Danenhower covered that previously. And "that a formal advisory board" --
this is a quote -- "was not necessary for us as this was not the best way to meet the needs of our community."
And she keeps calling herself a 50-year member of our community. They have been here for about eight years now, maybe nine years since they bought the plant. That's not a 50-year relationship.
The 50-year relationship was driven by Florida Progress first and then by Progress Energy.
And to continue her quote: "A formal advisory board was not necessary for us and not the best way to meet the needs of the County community."
And my final statement is, what you see here today is certainly not the best way.
And in closing, thanks to the NRC for this forum. I hope you will find our information useful. Thank you.
MR. WATSON: Yes. Thank you very much.
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38 Mr. Jeffrey Anderson.
MR. ANDERSON: I am going to decline. I think I'm going to save my comments for a better use of the time. I may have some comments, maybe some questions later.
MR. WATSON: Okay.
MR. ANDERSON: Thank you.
MR. WATSON: Mr. Will Bryant.
MR. BRYANT: That's a tough act to follow, Captain. Thank you for your service.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Oh, you're welcome.
MR. BRYANT: I'm Will Bryant, the Director of Environmental Health at the Florida Department of Health here in Citrus County. I'm a fourth generation native Floridian born and raised here in Citrus County.
I understand the purpose of this meeting is to collect information about the community advisory boards and that Duke or we didn't form one.
And I think it's important for me to share my experiences with you throughout this process.
So in my 20 years at DOH Citrus, working on our public health mission to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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39 integrated State, County and community efforts.
I've interacted with the Duke personnel by phone and in person and email. My staff and I frequently inspect storage tanks and collect groundwater, drinking water well samples around the Crystal River facility, and additionally I receive quarterly environmental monitoring reports about the site.
Since about 2013 Duke has informed me, and I believe other stakeholders like me, of key decommissioning milestones using several modes of communication; emailed newsletters, newspaper articles, the website postings. And as a result I attended the NRC's January 2014 public meeting where the post-shutdown activities and cost estimates were discussed.
I attended the Duke's open house at the Plantation and was informed about the decommissioning process; things like nuclear security, emergency preparedness, environmental protection and the radiological monitoring programs.
I toured the Crystal River nuclear plant along with elected officials and representatives from other agencies.
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40 So those experiences, I believe, personally as a citizen of Citrus County and professional as the Environmental Health Director, gave me the information that I wanted to know and the information that I needed to know. So that's all I have to say. Thank you.
MR. WATSON: Thank you very much.
Mr. Josh Wooten. Chamber of Commerce CEO.
MR. WOOTEN: Yes, sir, yes, sir.
MR. WATSON: Thank you.
MR. WOOTEN: Josh Wooten, President and CEO of the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce. That's W-o-o-t-e-n.
And I want to start out as all good Chamber CEOs do, is welcome you to our beautiful community. And we hope that you are staying overnight in one of our wonderful lodging facilities and having dinner.
If you happen to be staying at the Plantation it's Diva night, and we're not always that nuts. So I just want to point out that there will be women dressed in various costumes.
But we appreciate that you-all came here.
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41 We appreciate that we were able to host in our building.
And I've been thinking a lot about what I would tell you, because there was some contentious times, as you can imagine, as you can certainly imagine with the plant decommissioning. So I won't tell you that we were happy that the plant closed, and I won't tell you that we were happy that the two plants weren't built in Levy County. I won't tell you we were happy that we lost 600 jobs and all that went with that, or that taxes were raised. None of those things.
But if the issue that you're here to hear about tonight is communication, I can tell you I have zero complaints. In fact, I was a member of the community working group and I don't want to diminish the work that was done by those three dozen people because we met several times over lunches and talked about economic development and talked about things that would benefit our community.
In fact the group that I was involved in, one of our issues was we need a welcome center in town to correlate our visitors and help increase the economy. You-all are sitting in the Welcome Center NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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42 that Duke Energy donated $50,000 to us to install the infrastructure.
Of course we were always lobbying for the gas plant to take place and it did. So while we weren't always liking the message that we were being communicated, there's a difference between communication and not liking the message. I didn't always like what my father had to say to me, but I understood very well what he was trying to tell me.
So that's what I'm here to talk about, is the communication I believe was superb from my standpoint and my members, the emails, the being invited to various groups and open houses and being kept abreast. And even my Board taking a bus tour and being explained what the next process was, all the way through the process.
So if tonight is about communication, I will give them an A-plus from my standpoint. I don't know that others were communicated with as well.
But, no, we didn't always like the message. And the Chamber's game is always the long game. So we continue to partner with Duke to play the long game.
Get that gas plant reopened. Invest. Make suggestions to where they should make investments.
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43 So that's kind of what I wanted to tell you-all. And it is Thursday, so you might as well just stay till Sunday and spend a little bit of money in Citrus County, because that will help.
MR. WATSON: Thank you very much. Yes, we are staying in local hotels.
MR. WOOTEN: Very good.
MR. WATSON: And we've had two very enjoyable dinners at local restaurants.
MR. WOOTEN: Excellent.
MR. WATSON: Let's see here. That actually concludes all our people that wanted to speak, and it's not even 7:00 o'clock yet.
So, Mr. Anderson, would you like to make some comments now?
MR. ANDERSON: Well, my question is, all this is going on and we're getting all this input.
Is it going to really influence or change any of things that are already set in place to where they go forward?
MR. WATSON: Yeah. We need to get you in through the microphone so we can --
MR. ANDERSON: That's all right. I'm going to just have come comments.
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44 MR. WATSON: Well, I can answer, I think part of what you said. Okay, you're going to come on up now? Okay.
MR. ANDERSON: Yes, I'm Jeffrey Anderson.
I'm actually over in Marion County.
Anyway, I don't know if anybody remembers, I used to live in Fort McCoy, and there was a billionaire rancher going to put a cattle farm out there. So I guess SWFMWD, I think it was, elicited comments. Well, he's already put an infrastructure out there. I think the deal's already been made.
So what I'm getting back to this meeting is, all this PR going on. Is anything going to change? I mean this input will affect anything? The way they're going to do the decommissioning or how it's going to transpire?
You see my question?
MR. WATSON: Uh-huh.
MR. ANDERSON: How would what anybody says here affect how their operations move forward?
MR. WATSON: Yeah. Like I said, we are required by the Congress to do these meetings, to get feedback from the community. We are required to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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45 provide them a report. What the Congress does with it at that point is up to them. You know, they may use it just as a good model for future citizens advisory panels in other plants that shut down. I mean, we've got eight more now that are shutting down between now and I think 2025. So there's an opportunity there to do that. It's also information for them to work with their local constituents on communications with the local communities.
I know that probably nothing is going to change here. I can't say that because it's all up to Duke and they're the owners of the plant. There is no requirement in the NRC regulations for any site, any nuclear facility that's going to be released for unrestricted release. Which means there's no restrictions on the deed. All the radioactive material's going to be cleaned up to the NRC standards.
And so based on the fact that they're going to clean it up for unrestricted use, meaning they can do whatever they want with the property, there are no NRC requirements to have a CAB. If they were going to leave radioactive material behind, then there is a requirement. I can tell you that.
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46 Because then you have to get engaged with the community to let the people know.
The only other thing I can tell you is I don't know what's going to happen in the future. But we do have an application in for a license transfer to a company that's going to decommission the plant.
They are doing Vermont Yankee right now. I know the company is engaged -- that's doing the decommissioning there -- is well engaged with the local community on there and what they're doing. So you can look that up online at the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Advisory Panel.
MR. ANDERSON: I just got one other thing to say.
MR. WATSON: Okay.
MR. ANDERSON: There's a lot of things about -- I don't live in this County. I know Citrus County is one of the poorest counties in Florida. I don't know about jobs and economics and all that, I'm retired. But I don't have to worry about working, I'm on Social Security.
I heard nothing mentioned about safety, and I have one thing to say. If you can't eat the food, drink the water, breathe the air, none of this NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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47 is going to matter. So safety should be number one.
And another thing, what about this entombment that's not being used?
MR. WATSON: Okay. First of all let me speak to the safety issue.
MR. ANDERSON: Right.
MR. WATSON: The NRC is an independent safety regulator. We report to the President. The Chairman of our Commission reports to the President, and all we're about is safety. Okay.
I think Duke Energy's had a very good safety record. I think they're environmentally responsible. I think the gentleman from the State left. But he samples and also does additional environmental sampling and reviews of the site also, and also the NRC. So I think they are good steward of the environment, and they have I think a very good safety record for the employees, which per requirement.
MR. ANDERSON: Was it 1.25 billion, is that an estimate of the cost to decommission?
MR. WATSON: I didn't bring that number with me.
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48 though. You had it up on the board, wasn't it?
MR. WOOTEN: I believe that was the gas plant number.
MR. WATSON: Oh, that was from Heather's slides, I guess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was in Heather's slide. That was the estimated cost for decommissioning.
MR. WATSON: Yeah. But right now I believe the application that's in from Duke for what's called an ADP is the name of the company, Accelerated Decommissioning Partners. They plan to decommission the site within ten years. And I believe one of the reasons they are giving them the opportunity to do the decommissioning is because there's certain economic benefits to that and there's money to cover the cost of the decommissioning, so -- in the decommissioning fund.
MR. ANDERSON: If it runs over in estimated costs, it won't be the taxpayers' want to hear it. How does that work?
MR. HOBBS: Very unlikely that the trust fund would not be sufficient to complete the decommissioning, based on all our analysis, and we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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49 have a lot of options. From a customer focus standpoint, Duke Energy does not, at this time, intend to ever go back to customers to fund the trust fund.
So we have -- by NRC regulation we have six years. So frankly, if we thought that the project was in trouble we could shut down the project, sit there and store the fuel safely, allow the trust fund investment to grow, defer it 20 years, and then finish decommissioning without having to go back to our customers for money.
So from a customer focus standpoint that is very high on our strategy list.
MR. ANDERSON: Okay, thank you. I appreciate it.
MR. WATSON: Yes, you're welcome.
We'll just open the floor. Captain, you have a few more comments?
MR. BAUMSTARK: Yeah. I gave up Captain 29 years ago, so.
MR. WOOTEN: Always a Captain.
MR. BAUMSTARK: I had a couple other points that I didn't present as part of my formal presentation.
One of them relates to an effort taken by NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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50 the County in 2013. The County Economic Development Council commissioned a five-year strategic economic development plan paid for by Duke. Unfortunately it did not include an evaluation of the economic impact of CR3's closure. A significant flaw when compared with other plant closures I have reviewed.
Completed in 2013 -- correction -- in December of '13 it had 16 goals, each with action strategies and implementation time lines. In my opinion it was a good start to trying to get this community back on track.
The plan was delivered to the County EDC and subsequently presented to the BOCC, the Board of County Commissioners. It has not been routinely updated and has fallen into disuse as a planning guideline.
An economic impact study of the effects of the plant's closure has never been conducted. To me that would be the basis of any impact funds we would be given. And when I say "given," that is exactly what I mean, because of the three examples I gave where literally those communities were given impact funds by their plant owner.
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51 between 2014 and 2016 further diluted the execution efforts of the plan. The only visible result today is a plan to develop the Holder Industrial Park.
And the other thing, which I did mention and I think it's significant, that not a single elected official is here this evening. Thank you.
MR. WATSON: Thank you.
MR. WOOTEN: And you got that on the record, not a single ...
MR. WATSON: Again, we've heard from all the people that requested time to speak. If anybody that hasn't spoken yet, that from sitting here certainly had something they felt they needed to convey to everybody.
So anybody that hasn't spoken that would like to?
MR. BAUMSTARK: Can I have one more shot?
(Laughter.)
MR. WATSON: We got time.
MR. BAUMSTARK: I'm only saying this because the meeting is --
MR. WOOTEN: We've got the room until 9:00, Captain.
MR. BAUMSTARK: I know, I know.
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52 MR. WOOTEN: You might be by yourself.
MR. BAUMSTARK: And I've studied this issue for about the last two, two-and-a-half years.
Okay? Ever since I became interested in what's going on around me, when everybody was leaving and stores were shuttering and everything like that.
And one of the things that I discovered
-- and I'll go back to a sea story, if I may. When I first came down here to Florida, because of my engineering experience and nuclear experience, it was suggested that I apply for the Public Service Commission in Florida. Okay?
I applied three different times, and both times I made the short list, it was sent to the Governor and both times I was not selected. I figured, well, I have certainly no name recognition.
And I don't want name recognition, okay, I want to do the right thing, okay, for this community.
And just before I went up for the third time, I went up for two visits with the Governor, one with Governor Scott and one with Governor Crist.
Okay. And every one of them said, no, three times.
Just before I went up for the third visit, which was with Governor Scott, okay, I was approached NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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53 by one of his handlers, okay. And he said: You know, Jim, we've watched you for the last couple years and you would be a great member of the Public Service Commission because of your experience, blah, de blah, de blah. And he said: But it would really be great if you would contribute 50 to $60,000 to the Governor's Impact Fund. Okay.
I have tried to find information on how much money Duke contributes to the impact funds of our elected representatives. And I think that's why there's nobody here tonight. Boycott this meeting.
Okay. There is no way you can track that down. And Florida is renown I think for that; we'll buy our way into whatever we want.
So I hope this excites some comments from Duke, but I'm not sure it will.
MR. WATSON: Okay.
MR. OLIVER: I have one question, if I may.
MR. WATSON: Could you state your name for us?
MR. OLIVER: Yes. Randy Oliver.
I have one question, if I may. The spent nuclear fuel, when the decommissioning is complete, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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54 will it be removed from the site or be entombed on the site?
MR. WATSON: Oh, I meant to answer Mr.
Anderson's question on entombment.
The fuel is in dry storage right now. It is in a shielded facility. They are several hundreds of tons each, and so they're not going anywhere soon, unfortunately. Our national policy makers have to solve the high-level waste problem, disposal issue.
There are two applications in right now; one in Texas, one in New Mexico, for what's called a consolidated interim storage facilities, where two companies are going to take all the fuel from all the nuclear sites and consolidate them into these two sites. That application is with the NRC.
So we'll see what happens. But the fuel will remain here until the issue of where to take it is resolved. It will be continued to be inspected by the NRC. There is a separate fund to make sure that the facility gets decommissioned once the fuel's removed. And it is under our license. So we'll be, like I said, continuing to inspect it and also ensuring they're compliant with all the environment and health regulations.
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55 I want to take a second and just everybody know that in the original NRC regulatory guidance, not their laws but guidance, meaning guidance to the licensees, and it's public information.
The NRC was following what was called the
-- I'll say the international standards for decommissioning. And in those criteria there were three different strategies for decommissioning.
The first one is immediate dismantling.
So you would shut the plant down and you would immediately start dismantling it. We call that DECON if you read any of our guidance.
The second option is, in international terms, is deferred dismantling. We call that SAFSTOR. Right now the plant has been placed in a SAFSTOR mothball state where it's ready for decommissioning, systems have been drained, but it's there for the long term storage. The plant has to be complete with the decommissioning within 60 years, and that's what Duke said they were going to do in their PSDAR. Okay.
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56 SAFSTOR to DECON.
But there's a third option that's listed in the guidance. It was never -- we never provided any regulations to allow it to happen, and that's called entombment. And basically, you would remove a lot of the highly radioactive components from the facility and then you would basically encase the facility in concrete, entomb. Make it into a, I don't know, mausoleum or whatever you want to call it.
To date we have never put any rules together on that. No one has asked for that particular type of decommissioning option. And so, it does not exist. As a matter of fact, in the current rulemaking that we started in 2014, we have a number of rules that are pending that are with the Commission right now for a vote. With the plants that first shut down, including Crystal River back starting in 2013, we've had I think it's eight plants that have shut down.
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57 for the licensees, but also for the NRC. And so we would have new rules that would go in and effect that.
Those rules were drafted and provided to the Commission for voting. They haven't voted on them yet.
But one of the rules in that, one of the things we were asked to evaluate was the entombment option. And we said in that, what we recommended to the Commission is we'll just remove it from all the guidance. There's no interest in this country commercially to do that.
I can tell you that the Department of Energy has done that with some of their facilities, but they're on Government property and they monitor and maintain those. But none of the commercial nuclear power plants in the U.S. have gone down that route, or requested it.
Most of the utilities figure it's not a good idea, it's not being good environmental stewards, and they'd like to generally reuse the land for some purpose. And as a matter of fact I was going to mention that of the ten nuclear power plants that have been decommissioned, about one-third of those have new electrical facilities on them, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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58 generating capacities on the facilities; about one-third are parks and one-third are just not doing anything. But they're valuable to the utility.
Obviously here at Crystal River there's a number of fossil plants and there's a grid infrastructure, there's cooling water. There's been an Environmental Impact Statement for all these facilities, including the nuclear power plant, so it's an ideal place possibly to build new plants.
But, you know, that's up to the owner to do that.
So I'm just saying, in the rulemaking we looked at that. We found no reason to even talk about entombment in the future. We want to get it out of the guidance. It was put in there for a specific purpose so we could be consistent with the International Atomic Energy Agency. And quite frankly, the NRC licensees don't want it and we don't plan to authorize it.
So, you have more questions? Sorry, I'm pontificating there.
MR. OLIVER: No, that's okay.
MR. WATSON: But I wanted to be really clear on a couple items, and that's one of them.
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59 utility pays $15 per kilogram per year for spent nuclear fuel that they currently pay on that. And what the Senate Bill 1985 does, says the communities that have that spent nuclear fuel, they're holding it here, okay, during this interim period that that $15 per kilogram should go to those communities because they're acting as the steward of holding those resources. And that's why we would support Senate Bill 1985.
MR. WATSON: What was that number again?
MR. OLIVER: Senate Bill 1985.
MR. WATSON: Okay. Well, thank you.
Sir, you had your hand up?
MR. PATRICK: My name is Eulon Patrick, I've been a lifelong resident here. I started out 18 years old right out of high school. I got the privilege of working the last 30 years doing DND work.
A lot of the places you mentioned that's under Dand D right now I've worked.
I worked the biggest DandD in America at the time was the K25 nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
MR. WATSON: Yeah, I know it.
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60 whole thing, there's no doubt.
One of the things they had there, they talked about re-industrialization. I know where CR3's at, trust me. I know there's limited things we built there.
One of the problems with some of the plants I've seen in the past is re-industrialization where you still have any types of radioactive material on site, which is going to be under the MARSSIM's limits, if you will. Okay.
Lots of times in Oak Ridge I know they said any company come in there -- I was part of the MARSSIM's final set of surveys for years. A lot of companies want to come in there and they don't want nothing. And they have to disclose that. There is some. It's under the criteria of MARSSIM's. But when they hear any kind of activity whatsoever, which I know personally, it's not harmful, I know that.
And I'm 100 percent nuclear.
But that's a lot I've seen in Oak Ridge area and other plants where re-industrialization want to bring new companies in and utilize these facilities or land.
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61 going on, it's already done and over with, which like Yankee Rowe was part of that one. That was a neat plant, but anyways. There's not a lot of area there to do at Yankee Rowe on that facility, alongside of a river bank there.
There's other facilities. Have you looked at the positives and negatives of the re-industrialization with actually the MARSSIM limits on those sites?
MR. WATSON: Well, I can tell you that the NRC's criteria for unrestricted release is 25 millirem per year. The average person will get about 600 millirem per year.
The limit is also 25 millirem plus the practice of ALARA, which means as low as reasonably achievable.
MR. PATRICK: Right.
MR. WATSON: So I can tell you since I was the -- by profession I'm a health physicist. I'm a radiation detection specialist.
MR. PATRICK: That was mine, so yeah.
MR. WATSON: Okay. And I can tell you that all ten of the nuclear power plants that have been decommissioned thus far, the final dose from the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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62 plant was around only a few millirem, 1 to 3 millirem per year maximum, which is basically natural background.
MR. PATRICK: Right.
MR. WATSON: So that's why when we release a site for unrestricted use, you a use it for any purpose the owner wants to. You can build a school on it if you want, it's safe to do that.
MR. PATRICK: Well, we understand that being in the business. But the kids -- I mean, these people out here don't -- when they hear anything, and because they don't really understand that. So just as far as Oak Ridge goes it's a big site and we had just so much of those, not as much the nuclear plant.
MR. WATSON: Right.
MR. PATRICK: But anyways, as soon as they hear that they turn tail and go on back to Colorado or whatever to take their business, so.
MR. WATSON: And that's their choice.
But I'm just saying that the criteria used in the U.S. is -- excuse me -- for the NRC has turned out to be very low at the end point overall. Most of the plants that have shut down already have had other plants put on them, coal plants, combined cycle.
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63 MR. PATRICK: Right, right.
MR. WATSON: And I think Humbolt Bay has 10 peaking natural gas units up there because they have grid stability problems in Northern California.
They got other problems in California, but that's one they've kind of solved. But I'm just saying that the land can be used for any purpose.
MR. PATRICK: Maybe the CA, the CAB or whatever you were talking about, maybe get some input on that just to -- I don't know, just throwing it out there. Maybe get some kind of limits that are safe and maybe looking at instead of 20 showing or something like that, that just something as a model.
MR. WATSON: Yeah. Some of the states have put their own limits on that are lower than the NRC's. But the bottom line, they still come out around 1 to 3 millirem.
MR. PATRICK: Right.
MR. WATSON: If you really want to --
I'll say clean up even more, it just becomes cost prohibitive for no benefit.
MR. PATRICK: Sure, I understand. All right. Thank you.
MR. WATSON: Okay, thank you.
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64 Yes, ma'am?
I'll give you another opportunity, but let's get everyone that hasn't talked yet.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Thank you.
MS. COUSINS: My name is Randy Cousins.
I'm a resident of Marion County, but I own a couple properties in Citrus County.
I'm curious about the three plants -- or plants that you decommissioned and where the waste, that don't know longer have nuclear waste, where those were transported to, the waste isolation project or PILOT project?
MR. WATSON: No, no. The three plants; Pathfinder, Saxton and one more.
MR. HICKMAN: Fort St. Vrain?
MR. WATSON: No, Fort St. Vrain's still got their fuel on it.
MR. HOBBS: Shoreham.
MR. WATSON: Shoreham, yeah. At Saxton and Pathfinder, they were shut down a very very long time ago. They were like one of the first plants built to show that the concept works. And the fuel was taken by the Department of Energy.
MS. COUSINS: Oh, so it's one on the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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65 Government site somewhere?
MR. WATSON: Yeah. The Government did fulfill their promise on those two plants.
For Shoreham plant was a new plant that was built out on Long Island, and it was a boiling water reactor. It's a different type than this one.
But the fuel was actually purchased by Philadelphia Electric at the time, which is now Exelon.
MR. HOBBS: Exelon.
MR. WATSON: Yeah. And they actually did some radiation of the fuel, they went to a 5 percent power testing or something. And then they shipped the fuel down to Philadelphia Electric and the fuel was used in the Peach Bottom units. So it was like fuel that they could use there, so.
MS. COUSINS: Is it realistic to think about decommissioning and not entombing when there's no permanent site. I know there's the two sites for the temporary. But I mean, is there ever -- Yucca Mountain's not going to happen, not likely, is it?
MR. WATSON: Yeah. I can't speculate on any of that. I mean, we've been waiting.
MS. COUSINS: But I mean, isn't that short sighted to just put it someone where in an NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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66 interim when there's no permanent site, there's no even candidates for a permanent site.
MR. WATSON: Right. And that's why you have to get the national policy people to get on board with solving the problem.
MS. COUSINS: Right. But I mean what I'm suggesting, even though I hate having it in my back yard, entombment sounds like the most safe.
Because the thing is, transporting it. That's a risk too.
MR. WATSON: Yeah. But the canisters are designed to be transported. DOE has designed casks to move it. There's a national transportation
-- I think they call it radioactive something or other board report that just came out a couple weeks ago.
NR -- anyway. It's a DOE report on it. And they actually went around and looked at a number of the different plants and looked at the infrastructure that is available for shipping the fuel out. And so I think they looked at 10 or 12 plants. And so they feel fairly comfortable that most of the fuel will go out by rail, I believe. They're making plans or at least --
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67 goes right by where I live.
MR. WATSON: Well, that will be safe too.
It will be shielded and all that. But my point is, is that we have like 70 or 80 of these facilities around the country and it would just probably be better to have it all in one space, in one spot.
MS. COUSINS: Right. But I mean that's a lot of toxicity and a lot of risk getting there, it seems. I mean, it just seems like entombment, even though I hate to face it, if there's no other option, right.
MR. WATSON: My personal opinion is if I could move it out of my back yard I would move it.
So there's that.
MS. COUSINS: I agree. But what if it's going to somebody else's. You know, you're just pushing the problem.
MR. WATSON: Yeah. But the place is also designed to keep it safe and secure.
MS. COUSINS: With a lot of risk. Well, that's you're putting a lot of ...
MR. WATSON: It's just lesser of two evils, as they say, so. It's really up to the Government then. Thank you.
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68 MS. COUSINS: Right, thank you.
MR. WATSON: Mr. Anderson again?
MR. ANDERSON: You were talking about it being shipped by rail. What's two possible worse case scenarios. What happens if there's a large train derailment or is it possibly be a rogue nation, and that fuel can be reused to make any kind of nuclear weapons.
MR. WATSON: Well, first of all they're going to make sure that the rails are safe.
MR. ANDERSON: There's a lot of train wrecks I heard that happen.
MR. WATSON: Yeah, I understand that.
But these are -- I have to be carful where I go on this. But, no, I'm serious about the security and the plans for the extra trains that are used and other security measures that are taken into place, testing of the rails, et cetera, et cetera, that that would go into the actual moving of the fuel.
You got to remember, we've moved fuel around this country all the time.
MR. ANDERSON: Right.
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69 know that John and I were at Newport News shipyard last year. The Enterprise is there to be decommissioned. Our first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. And it was defueled and that fuel has gone to Idaho, I believe it is, where the Navy keeps the fuel.
So I'm just saying, the transportation of the fuel happens all the time. It's just not --
MR. ANDERSON: There's no such thing as zero risk. Let's say the train derails. Is there any possibility that tank can break open and risk radioactivity in the atmosphere.
MR. WATSON: All I can tell you is that the design of the packages that contain this are well designed, they're tested, there's lot of film you can probably get off the internet showing where they run a full train into brick walls and concrete walls and whatever, and the containers stay intact. So I can just tell you that the design features are there, along with the additional precautions.
While I agree there's no such thing as zero risk. We can get hit by a meteorite driving home tonight.
MR. ANDERSON: Yeah.
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70 MR. WATSON: But I think it's along those lines that we're talking about the safety risk in these things.
As I said, we ship fuel around this country probably a lot more. We just don't make it known. Most of us don't have a need to know, and so they don't tell us about it.
Your Governor probably knows about it if it's in his state. But other than that it's not common knowledge so the bad guys don't find out about it, also, so.
Anybody else? Captain, retired?
MR. BAUMSTARK: No, stop. Stop, stop stop.
I'd like to add something to what you were saying before, based on my Navy experience. I was on a Navy submarine that got refuels in Norfolk Naval Shipyard in the early '70s.
MR. WATSON: Yeah. I grew up in Norfolk, sure.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Okay. And that was an interesting process was how that was done. They just took basically the fuel, put it in a highly contained cask, okay, and then moved it out. And eventually NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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71 it wound up at one of the processing facilities you were talking about.
I've also been involved in decommissioning ships where they take the entire reactor compartment, cut it out of the ship, okay, and ship it across country. And they'll do it barge or rail or something like that. And they bury it in the state of Washington.
MR. WATSON: Right.
MR. BAUMSTARK: And there's a burial ground in the state of Washington that reactor cores for most of the ships, the nuclear ships we've operated over the years. And I've got four cores that I am very familiar with that are out there right now.
MR. WATSON: Yeah. We just signed an agreement with the Navy to provide, I'll call it, regulatory oversight services for a number of their surface ships, including the old refueling barge that they're decommissioning.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Yep, yep. And I think we used that in Norfolk Naval Shipyard when we were doing --
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72 I said, John and I crawled all over the Enterprise.
There's eight reactors on that.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Yes, yes. And the other thing, I had a question, though, and it relates to the decommissioning process.
Okay. As you've mentioned Duke has engaged a decommissioning contractor and he will --
and I think it's ADP you said?
MR. WATSON: Yeah.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Okay. He will take charge of the decommissioning process. Okay. I understand also that the license will transfer when that process starts. So Duke will have no more responsibility for the reactor at Crystal River.
MR. WATSON: Obviously they're going to retain ownership of the land, is the way they're going about this.
MR. BAUMSTARK: yes.
MR. WATSON: There are other sites where we have total asset sales, like at Oyster Creek.
Exelon just sold the plant to a company called Holtec.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Yep.
MR. WATSON: In this case --
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73 contractor.
MR. WATSON: -- this is very much similar to what John has been managing at Zion, where they actually just transfer -- temporary transfer of the license to a decommissioning company, and then the land goes back to the utility for future use.
So ADP is taking on the risk of doing the decommissioning. I say "risk," in the financial risk, the regulatory risk, and making sure they do the job safely. And so they're the experts at doing decommissioning. So it's something that Duke doesn't do, so they're giving it to the experts to do the decommissioning and hopefully they'll do it, I'll say more efficiently and less expensively and they will do it safely, because that's what we'll make sure they do.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Yep.
MR. WATSON: And so that's the model. At the end when they're done, like at Zion, the land is going to be -- once we terminate the license for the footprint of the reactor, then the land will be returned back to Duke Energy for their use of the property.
The only difference in this one is, is at NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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74 Zion the spent fuel goes back to Exelon also. And here --
MR. WATSON: Yeah. And here it's going to stay with ADP to continue to manage the fuel because they also do that also as one of their expertise.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Okay. So issues that occur then are the responsibility of ADP --
MR. WATSON: Right.
MR. BAUMSTARK: -- rather than Duke.
Okay. My problem is with that is, having worked in the nuclear industry, I know that companies that own nuclear plants have very very deep pocket. Okay.
What type of surety does Duke have -- or what type of requirement does Duke have to make sure that if we have issues with what they're doing we can take it to Duke, or I guess we're going to have to take it to ADP.
Well, that's the second part of the question. Who does the CAB report to when that occurs? Do they report to the decommissioning company or do they report to the owner company?
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75 do a thorough financial review of the license application.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Okay.
MR. WATSON: So we have financial experts that will look at the finances and all the financial assurances to make sure that they're adequate.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Okay.
MR. WATSON: For Zion we required the Energy Solutions to put up an extra $200 million bond to make sure they had plenty of money. At Vermont Yankee they put up $140 million bond.
MR. BAUMSTARK: These are surety bonds, right?
MR. WATSON: Yeah, surety bond. And then we required them to put up an additional 30 million for the spent fuel reimbursement.
So that would be part of our evaluation, to make sure that there's reasonable amount of money to complete the decommissioning.
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76 which is the State's way of saying it's okay to sell the plant to, I guess it's called North Star there.
But their partner's Orano, which has a lot of decommissioning experience in France, so.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Okay. The last comment I have. When Duke is finally relieved of all the responsibility and turn it over to the green field or so-called green field. If subsequent problems shows up, who does that go to?
MR. WATSON: Well, first of all there should be no problems. We are there, and the State's there right now looking at the environmental issues.
You know, they sample the soil, the groundwater, the vegetation, et cetera. And so we continue doing that until the license is terminated.
In order to terminate the license, when they do decommission the facility, if they do any excavations or if they leave any structures behind, we actually do surveys of that to verify that they have met our criteria for the unrestricted release criteria. All of this will be spelled out in their license termination plan.
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77 who are experts in radiation measurement. And they come out and do an independent survey of the lands and any structures, and then report back to us that any of their findings or issues they found that either it's been cleaned up adequately or not, and then we go back to the licensee and say, you got more work to do or it's fine.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Okay.
MR. WATSON: So I think the process is very good. Like I said, to the slide I showed about there's I think 75 sites, complex material sites that we've terminated licenses on. We've used Oak Ridge, used to be called ORISE. Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education. But now they went to their parent company, which is Oak Ridge Associated Universities. And they maintain a group of people who are radiation experts and they also maintain a world class laboratory that we fund and maintain, do audits of their laboratory.
MR. BAUMSTARK: This is in Tennessee, right?
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78 of Energy to verify that their contractors clean facilities up, and the same thing with us. They come and do check on our licensees to make sure that they have cleaned it up to our standards, and then report to that.
Any of their reports are part of the inspection reports, which are publicly available.
And so you'll be able to see when we do do surveys.
Right now you're doing a partial site release of the lands, I think it's south of --
MR. HICKMAN: South and east.
MR. WATSON: I get confused on direction.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Orientation, right?
MR. WATSON: South and east -- yeah --
of the plant, which has been non-impacted by the plant operations. But we went out and did surveys just to verify that there's no residual radioactivity out there. And so we'll be issuing that -- I think we're still looking at the lab results. We just got those in. But hopefully that will be out here in the next month or so, where we're going to grant removing that land from the license.
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79 extensive process. It works. It works well, actually.
MR. BAUMSTARK: I want to thank you again for accepting my letter and my challenge to come up here and listen to me, because I'm the only one that seems to have bad things to say.
I would like to apologize for our elected officials. I am embarrassed that no one was here.
I was told by the Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners that the County was told not to get involved with this meeting. Okay. That the elected officials wouldn't be, and as a result some of the staff that the county officials have did not help us at all either get ready for this meeting.
And I look again to the ties between Duke and the County officials and their pacts and their lobbyists and everything like that. It's nasty here in Florida. Thank you.
MR. WATSON: I'm only going to comment that in the law I think it was the intent of the Congress for the state to provide us feedback. We did get requests from other states to come and have meetings. And the Congress -- I think the general sentiment, if I'm reading the tea leaves, is that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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80 they really think the states should have a responsible role in the decommissioning.
MR. BAUMSTARK: And I'm sure they'll --
MR. WATSON: I can't offer any judgment as a Government official, but I hear you loud and clear.
MR. BAUMSTARK: I'm sure at a lot of the meetings you've had, you've seen local and state officials at the meeting.
MR. WATSON: Oh yes.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Except for Crystal River.
MR. WOOTEN: Except the Manager. You got to give him that.
MR. BAUMSTARK: He's not an elected official. I want to say that first of all.
MR. WATSON: Mr. Frank and I have talked a few times in the last month or so too.
MR. FRANK: I stood up earlier to welcome you guys to our great, small little city. I just want to speak a little bit as a stakeholder.
You know, back when the decommissioning was announced I was actually with Mr. Wooten on the Community Advisory Panel, and I thought that something pretty good that Duke had put together, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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81 kind of on the spur of the moment. Because we woke up one day and our beloved nuclear power plant was no more. You know, we were not expecting that.
So my advice, you know, to the Congress is, these CABs I can see as very vital to a community if they're establish ahead of time. So what I would suggest, and if it's either the state or the utility itself sponsor these, is that there be a requirement that they be in place. Because I think had ours been in place we would have been a lot more informed during the process had it not happened just overnight.
You know, it was a sequential process, it took several years. But in the big scheme of a 40-year old power plant, it was pretty much overnight to us.
So again, my advice is make these a requirement in the future for other communities. So, thank you.
MR. WATSON: Thank you.
Does anybody else want to offer a comment to us?
(No response.)
MR. WATSON: We're here to listen, so it's your opportunity to take the bully pulpit, as NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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82 they say, and let us know what's on your mind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from the Government and I'm here to help.
MR. WATSON: I've heard that before too.
MR. WOOTEN: I just want to thank you-all -- Josh Wooten. You've been very informative and you put it in layman's terms so that we can understand what's going on.
I want to thank the Captain, too. He's very passionate about protecting our community. But I guess this is the end, and like I say, we want to thank you. Please go out and enjoy our vivacious nightlife.
MR. WATSON: I personally enjoyed the --
MR. WOOTEN: I'll just now turn off the air conditioning so Duke doesn't.
(Laughter.)
MR. WATSON: Well, anybody else have any comments? You know, please. I'm up here, even though I'm from up north it's still warm.
Any other comments from anybody?
(No response.)
MR. WATSON: Please, that's what we're here for. I know your federal elected NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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83 representatives are going to go back with a few messages from here to the local Congressman and the Senator. So hopefully we've given you ample opportunity to speak tonight.
So with that, I was just going to remind everybody. There is no NRC requirement for a citizens advisory panel unless the site is going to leave radioactive material behind that would need to be controlled in some way for the future.
So when all these plants and all the other facilities are decommissioned in this country so far, actually we've only had one company say they wanted to do a restricted release and they've changed their mind. And so everybody's decommissioning for restricted release.
And we've got proof that it can be done.
I said 75 to 80 sites have been cleaned up. We are lucky in this country. And I say "lucky" or fortunate in this country where we do have low-level waste repositories to send the waste to, and so the waste can be disposed of and managed properly.
So there are no, like I said, no requirements for a citizens advisory panel in the NRC regulations.
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84 However, one of the things I heard tonight is that the NRC should require CABs. And the other thing I think I heard is that they should be formed early. And I know that the decision here for Crystal River to shut down was a surprise to me and I'm sure it was a very big surprise to the local community.
I think the same thing happened at Kewaunee in Wisconsin. Fortunately a number of the utilities have taken this to heart and I think --
like Diablo Canyon is an example I'll give you, of shutting down in 2025 or something, and they've already formed a CAB and they're working with the local community on that.
So you didn't have that opportunity because of the circumstances.
I also heard that there should be a committee to plan for economic development into the future. And I also heard that Duke has been engaged in the community and provided good communications.
Based on the feedback I've heard tonight they've done a pretty good job at that.
Again, there has been a significant impact on the economics of the local area, and that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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85 if you had a CAB that would offer an opportunity to serve as a sounding board to help resolve issues. So I think those are all commendable.
With that, I think those are pretty much the high level things that I heard tonight.
MR. BAUMSTARK: One other one that I brought up was the funding for the CAB, okay, from decommissioning talks. And this is one of the things we talked about in the webinar.
MR. WATSON: There should be some kind of funding for a CAB. We've heard that it should come out of the fund, decommissioning fund; it should be funded by the utility; we've heard it should be funded by the Government; it should be funded by the NRC. But I can tell you that the NRC is set up as an independent regulator.
MR. BAUMSTARK: Yes.
MR. WATSON: I don't see that happening.
But just to be honest with you, I don't see that happening. Because we have to be available to hear all sides of all issues, and our basic role is safety.
And I think that's the way the Congress set us up under the Atomic Energy Act, and I don't see any real changes to that. But then again, it could happen.
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86 I can't guarantee anything. My crystal ball only has batteries in that last so long.
I also heard concerns about entombment, but I can assure you there is no entombment. I can assure that the Federal Government obviously has to solve the high-level waste issue, and there's some interim storage going on. Plans, or applications to consolidate the fuel in New Mexico and Texas.
So with that I want to thank you all for coming. I want to thank the Chamber of Commerce for hosting the meeting tonight. They were very generous in offering us this facility, right here, I guess kind of in the heart of town, so to speak.
John and I and Kim toured the plant today.
We can assure you that it is in a safe condition and it is basically prepared to start decommissioning whenever they choose to turn it over to somebody to do that. And it continues to be maintained in a safe condition, along with the spent fuel they recently moved over there to the dry fuel storage. And we will continue to inspect the plant, even if it's in SAFSTOR. If it goes into active decommissioning, our inspectors will be down here more frequently. Once the decommissioning gets into an active phase where NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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87 there's active dismantling and cutting up of the components and placed in waste disposal containers and shipped off site, we'll be here to make sure that's done in accordance with the regulations and done safely.
And then we'll be here ultimately to confirm that the licensee has cleaned up the site with our independent surveys of the facility.
So with that I thank you for coming and have a safe drive home.
(Whereupon, at 7:42 p.m., the meeting was adjourned.)
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