ML15121A803
| ML15121A803 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Braidwood  |
| Issue date: | 05/07/2015 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Division of License Renewal |
| To: | |
| Baum R, 415-0018 | |
| References | |
| NRC-1513, NRC2013-0169 | |
| Download: ML15121A803 (34) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
DSEIS RE Braidwood Station, Units 1 &2 Public Meeting: Evening Session Docket Number: NRC2013-0169 Location: Godley, Illinois Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2015 Work Order No.: NRC-1513 Pages 1-32 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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Category 3 Public Meeting to Discuss the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
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EVENING SESSION EXELON GENERATION COMPANY BRAIDWOOD STATION UNITS 1 AND 2 Regarding the Renewal of Facility Operating License No. DPR-20 for a 20-Year Period Docket No. NRC2013-0169
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TUESDAY APRIL 21, 2015
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GODLEY PARK DISTRICT 500 SOUTH KANKAKEE ROAD GODLEY, ILLINOIS
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The above-entitled matter commenced pursuant to Notice before at 7:00 p.m.
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2 PRESENT:
CHERYL HAUSMAN, NRC Region 3 Facilitator TAM TRAN, NRC HQ Environmental Project Manager RICHARD BAUM, NRC HQ Environmental Project Manager BRIAN WITTICK, NRC HQ Branch Chief STUART SHELDON, NRC Region 3 Senior Reactor Inspector ERIC DUNCAN, NRC Region 3 Branch Chief JAMIE BENJAMINE, NRC Region 3 Senior Resident Inspector VICTORIA MITLYNG, NRC Region 3 Public Affairs Officer NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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3 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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4 P R O C E E D I N G S (7:00 p.m.)
MS. HAUSMAN: Good evening everybody.
Thank you for coming this evening to the public meeting.
I would like to welcome everybody and thank you for participating in the public meeting to provide comments for the U.S. NRC's draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement for license renewal of Braidwood Station Units 1 and 2.
My name is Cheryl Hausman, and I will be the facilitator for the meeting this evening. My role as a facilitator is to help the meeting run smoothly, to insure that everybody who wishes to speak or has a comment has the opportunity to do so, and to keep us on time.
At this time I would like for the NRC staff to introduce themselves.
MR. TRAN: My name is Tam Tran, I'm the project manager for the license review, specifically the environmental review for Braidwood Station license renewal.
MR. BAUM: I'm also, I'm Richard Baum, I'm also with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, I'm working with Tam as a project manager.
MR. WITTICK: Good evening, my name is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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5 Brian Wittick, I'm the Chief of the environmental project at the NRC.
MR. SHELDON: Hello, I'm Stuart Sheldon, I am the Lead License Renewal Inspector for the NRC in this region.
MR. BENJAMIN: Good evening everybody, I'm with the NRC, I'm Jamie Benjamine, I'm the Senior Resident for Braidwood.
MS. MITLYNG: It's my turn I guess, my name is Victoria Mitlyng, and I'm a Senior Public Affairs Officer with the NRC --
MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Are there any elected officials who like to introduce themselves?
Okay. This is a Category Three public meeting to encourage active participation and information exchange with the NRC and members of the public to obtain comments for the draft environmental impact statement.
The NRC invites and encourages members of the public to present all and written comments on the appropriate scope of issues to be considered in and for the content of the draft environmental impact statement.
I'm going to cover a few details about the meeting this evening. The Exelon Generation Company has applied to the NRC to renew the operator licenses NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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6 for Braidwood Station for an additional 20 years.
The NRC is reviewing that application and will decide whether to renew the license. As part of that review, the NRC is reviewing the environmental impact of the licensing renewal. Today the NRC staff will tell you about the preliminary findings of that review.
They'll tell you that the results of the environmental review have been documented in the draft supplemental environmental impact statement. And they'll refer to that document as the DSEIS. They may also refer to the supplemental environmental impact statement, known as the SEIS. So if you hear the terms SEIS or DSEIS, try and remember that those terms refer to the supplemental environmental impact statement and the draft supplemental environmental impact statement.
And they'll also ask for your comments on the DSEIS, since that's the primary purpose of the meeting this evening.
Before we begin, I'd like to go over a few ground rules for the meeting. Just so everyone knows, this meeting is being transcribed, so please keep any background noise to minimum so that the transcriber can produce an accurate recording of the meeting.
There are two security officers outside the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 room, which is standard practice for everybody's safety.
Please turn off all electronic devices or put them on vibrate. And if you need to take a phone call, please do so outside the room so that it doesn't interfere with the meeting or with the transcriber recording proceedings. There is one exit here and the restrooms are outside in the hall to the left.
The agenda for the meeting this evening includes a presentation by NRC staff to present an overview of the NRC's role and mission, a summary of the draft environmental review, and upcoming milestones.
Following the presentation we'll take a few minutes to answer questions from the audience about the presentation and then open the floor for questions and comments. Please keep your questions and comments relevant to the topic.
Hopefully everybody has signed in and received copies of the agenda and the material.
The NRC is always looking to improve our meetings and your feedback is important to us. There are some postage paid public meeting feedback forms available, and you can fill them out today and give it to any NRC staff or drop it in the mail.
Any questions about the logistics?
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8 Okay, with that I'm going to turn the meeting over to Tam Tran for the presentation.
MR. TRAN: Thank you, Cheryl. And thank you for all to take the time to come to this meeting.
My name is Tam Tran, I'm the project manager for the development of the draft environmental impact statement related to the Braidwood Station license renewal review.
I hope the information we provide with this presentation will help you to understand the process that we're going through, what we have done so far, and the role that you can play in helping us make sure that the final environmental impact statement is accurate.
I would like to start off by briefly going over the agenda for today's presentation. I will explain the NRC license renewal process for nuclear power plants with emphasis on the environmental review process. Then I'm going to present the preliminary findings of our environmental review which assesses the impact associate with the, expanding the operating licenses of the Braidwood Station for an additional 20 years.
Then I will give you some information about the schedule for the balance of our review and how you can submit comments in the future after this, outside NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 of this meeting.
And then finally, really the most important part of the meeting is where we would receive your comments that you may have either today or after this meeting.
Before I get into the discussion of the license renewal process, I would like to take a minute to talk about the NRC, in terms of what we do and what our mission is. The Atomic Energy Act authorized the NRC to regulate civilian use of nuclear materials in the United States, including the use of nuclear material for power productions.
In exercising that authority, the NRC mission is three-fold. To insure adequate protection of public health and safety. To promote the common defense and security, and to protect the environment.
The NRC accomplishes its mission through a combination of regulatory programs and processes such as reviewing the license applications, conducting inspections, issuing enforcement actions, assessing licensee performance and evaluating operating experience from nuclear power plants across the country and internationally.
The Atomic Energy Act is the legislation that authorizes the NRC to review, to issue licenses.
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10 The Atomic Energy Act provides for a 40 year license term for power reactors. This 40 year term is based primarily on economic consideration, and anti-trust factors, not on safety limitation of the plant. The NRC conducts license renewal reviews for plants whose owner wish to operate beyond the initial license period.
This slide gives an overview of the Braidwood Station license renewal process. The reviewing process involved two parallel paths. The safety review and the environmental review. For the purpose of today's meeting, we will discuss the environmental review.
This slide provides information on how to find out about the status of the license renewal review for Braidwood Stations. As a part of the license renewal process, the advisory committee for reactor safeguard will provide independent review for the safety review. The members of the advisory committee for reactor safeguards consists of nuclear experts from the industry and academics. There will be renewal meetings by the committee which are open to the public.
This slide shows important milestones for the environmental review process. The highlighted dates indicate opportunity for public involvement in the environmental review. We received the Braidwood NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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11 license renewal application on May 29, 2013. A public meeting was held on August 21, 2013 as a part of the scoping process. Some of you may have attended that meeting and provided us with comments. And the comments that were given at the scoping meeting and then our in-scope of the review are in Appendix A of the draft SEIS.
As plant comes in for a license renewal, we publish a plant specific supplement to generic EIS.
The draft supplemental EIS for Braidwood Station was published on March 18, 2015 and also known as the Supplement 55 of the generic EIS. And we are currently accepting public comments on this document until May 12, 2015.
Today's meeting is being transcribed and comments provided will be considered in the same way as written comments submitted to the NRC. Once the comment period closes, we will give out the final supplemental EIS, which we expect to publish in September 2015.
The NRC provides energy planning decision-makers other than the NRC, with information about power producing alternatives. For the period of extended operation, the environmental review is designed to provide and environmental impact assessment NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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12 of the Braidwood Station license renewal and alternative energy sources.
The staff environmental review consists of the generic environmental impact statement and the supplemental environmental impact statement. The generic EIS, examines the possible environmental impact that could occur as a result of renewing licenses of --
nuclear power plants. The generic EIS, established the bounds and significance of this potential impact.
The analysis in the generic EIS, encompasses all operating light water power reactors.
For each type of environmental impact, this analysis attempts to establish generic finding covering as many plants as possible. For some environmental issues, the generic EIS, found that generic evaluations were not sufficient, and that a plant specific analysis was required.
To supplement the generic EIS, the staff conducted a site specific review of the Braidwood Stations. The site specific findings for Braidwood Station are contained in the draft supplemental EIS.
These documents contain analysis of all appropriate site specific issues.
The staff also reviewed generic issues covered by the generic EIS, to determine whether the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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13 conclusions in the generic EIS are valid for Braidwood Stations. In addition, NRC staff reviewed the environmental impact of potential power generation alternatives to license renewal to determine whether or not the impacts expected from license renewal are unreasonable.
Together the generic EIS, and supplemental EIS, form the staff analysis of the impact of license renewal for Braidwood Stations.
This slide shows the approach that the staff used for environmental analysis. The NRC evaluated impacts of all plants across the entire country to determine if there were impacts that were common to all operating plants. NRC looked at separate impact areas and found that for 60 issues the impacts were the same for plants with similar features. NRC called these category 1 issues and made the same generic determination about the impact in the generic EIS, for license renewal. The NRC was not able to make generic conclusions about the remaining 18 issues. 17 of these issues for which NRC called category 2 issues. The NRC decided to prepare site specific supplements to the generic EIS, for these issues.
For example, electric shock hazard associated with the electrical lines at Braidwood NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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14 Station is a category 2 issue, and for Braidwood Station the impact is small. The supplemental EIS, for Braidwood Station license renewal is being discussed today. The NRC did not rule out the possibility that the generic conclusion in the generic EIS may not apply to any specific plants in all cases.
If new significant information is found that would change conclusions in the generic EIS, then the staff would perform a site specific analysis on that issue in the supplemental EIS.
Now we're going to discuss in more detail about the results of the review. For each environmental issue identified, an impact level is assigned by the reviewer who are subject matter experts.
For a small impact the effect is not detectable or too small to destabilize or noticeably alter any important attribute of the environmental resource being reviewed.
For a moderate impact, the effect is sufficient to alter noticeably but not destabilize important attributes of the resource. And then finally for an impact to be considered large, the effect must be clearly noticeable and sufficient to destabilize important attributes of this resource.
For example, the operation of Braidwood Station may cause loss of adult and juvenile fish at the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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15 impact structure. If the loss of the fish is so small that it does not appear to have noticeably altered population of the species, the impact will be small.
If the loss causes certain population to increase or decrease and then stabilize at a different level, then the impact will be moderate. If losses at the intake cause the fish population to decline where it cannot be stabilized and continually declines then the impact will be large. For Braidwood Station the impact to fisheries are small to moderate.
For special status species, the impact significant determination language comes from the Endangered Species Act. The classification to describe the impacts are no affect, may affect but not likely to adversely affect, or may affect and is likely to adversely affect. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would make the determination of whether or not the impact jeopardizes a listed species. A listed species is any species of fish or wildlife or plant which has been determined to be endangered or are threatened under Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act. The staff has been consulting with the Fish and Wildlife Service for, with the government on the supplemental EIS.
For cultural and historic resources, the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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16 National Historic Preservation Act requires Federal Agencies to consider the effects of the Agency in protecting our cultural and historic resources. An example of a historic resource are national landmarks, or historic bridge sites. For environmental justice, Federal Agencies are responsible for identifying and addressing disproportionately high adverse human health and environmental impacts on minority and low income populations. The staff followed the Commission's guidelines on the environmental justice review to make this determination. And it is specified in the standard review plan.
In conducting the review, an environmental review team from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, specifically the Northwest Laboratory and Ecology and Environment, Incorporated analyzed the various impacts to the environment. This review involves a wide range of expertise that reviews data on this slide. The team examined environmental justice, ecology, land use, technology, climate change and so on for the Braidwood Station's supplemental EIS.
The staff reviewed the cumulative impact associated with the continued operation of Braidwood Station. For cumulative impacts, the analysis that looks at the effects on the environment from past, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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17 present and recently foreseeable future human actions.
The impact concludes both from the Braidwood operation and from other activities near Braidwood Station. For example, Joliet Station would be considered in that cumulative impact, same thing for Prairie View landfill, we even looked at climate change on the resource for example rainfall. And what would that do to the river and so on.
Past actions are those related to the environmental resources at the time of the Braidwood Station licensing and construction. Present actions are those relating to the resource of current operation and future actions are considered to be those that are reasonably and foreseeable to the end of the Braidwood operation including the period of extended operations.
In other words, the cumulative impact analysis considered potential impacts through the end of the current license term as well as the 20-year renewed license term. From a regional perspective, so to speak, the staff delivered a conclusion is that the cumulative impacts are small to large and is listed on this slide.
This slide lists the site specific issues that the NRC staff reviewed for the continued operation of Braidwood Station during the proposed license NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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18 renewal period. The issue is assigned a level of environmental impact of small, moderate or large by the reviewers. In addition, there is one uncategorized issue associated with the electromagnetic fields chronic effect. For this issue the staff considered generic EIS finding of uncertain impact is still appropriate. No further review was performed on the chronic affect from exposure to electromagnetic fields, basically radio waves, beyond those discussed in the generic EIS. This is because currently there's still no scientific consensus on this issue.
The staff's conclusion is that the site specific impacts related to the license renewal for Braidwood Station, are small except for the impact of impingement and entrainment and thermal effects on the aquatic resources which are small to moderate.
Examples of moderate impact to aquatic resources are listed on this slide. As discussed in the supplemental EIS, impingement of the State-endangered pallid shiner at the river's screen house may create a noticeable effect on pallid shiner population in Illinois. Which is also a low population species.
Similarly, impact from larval entrainment would also be noticeable for low population species as listed on this slide. As discussed in the supplemental NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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19 EIS, Exelon has mitigation measures for aquatic resources and the national pollutant discharge elimination system permit, the so called NPDES permit.
And in engineering control and operational controls to operate Braidwood Station. The NPDES permit issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection controls the discharge from Braidwood Station. An example of the engineering and operational control considered at the Braidwood Station is the reduction of water intake.
This is an agreement with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Another example is having flow reduction to slow down the intake velocity that has been shown to be less than the Environmental Protection Agency recommended flow velocity to protect the aquatic organisms.
Another example of moderate impact to aquatic resources discussed in the supplemental EIS, is listed on this slide. Under the Clean Water Act, the cooling pond is considered as a waste water treatment facility. Based on information on fish kills, the thermal impact to the cooling pond aquatic community are noticeable and adverse. Exelon has consulted with experts for mitigation and concluded that there are no practical or simple solutions that could prevent an occurrence of fish die off at the Braidwood Lake.
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20 For the purpose of the supplemental EIS, the staff uses the term cooling pond and Braidwood Lake interchangeably. Cooling pond is a term listed in the staff standard review plan and the standard review plan contains the staff review procedure and review criteria.
The staff addressed spent nuclear fuel management in the Braidwood supplemental EIS, for the period of extended operation. The staff concluded that there is no impact related to this issue, beyond those discussed in the license renewal generic EIS. For the term beyond the 20-year period of extended operation, the supplemental EIS, incorporates conforming environmental impacts from the continued storage generic EIS, and Rule.
In the rule, for onsite storage, the Commission has generically determined that the environmental impact of continued storage of spent nuclear fuel beyond the license life for operation of a reactor, those impacts are identified in the generic environmental impact statement for continued storage of spent nuclear fuel.
For radiological impacts of offsite spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste disposal. The impacts are addressed in the license renewal rule for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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21 environmental review. In the rule the Commission concludes that the impact would not be sufficiently large to require the conclusion that the option of extended operation for nuclear power plants should be eliminated.
The National Environmental Policy Act mandates its environmental impact statement to consider alternatives to any proposed major Federal actions. A major step in determining whether license renewal is reasonable or not, is to compare the likely impacts of continued operation of the nuclear power plant with the likely impacts of alternative means of power generations. In the draft supplement, the NRC staff initially considered 17 different alternatives to license renewal. After this initial consideration the staff then chose the five most likely alternatives and analyzed those in depth.
Finally the NRC staff considered what would happen if no action is taken and Braidwood Station is shut down at the end of its current license without a specific replacement alternative. This alternative would not provide power generating capacity, nor would it meet the needs currently met by the Braidwood Station.
The preliminary results indicate that the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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22 environmental effects of alternatives in at least some impact categories reach moderate or large significance.
The staffs preliminary finding is that there is no clear environmentally preferred alternative to license renewal. All alternatives capable of meeting the needs currently served by the Braidwood Station entail impact greater than or equal to the proposed action of license renewal for Braidwood Station.
This slide reflects the preliminary conclusion in the supplemental EIS. The NRC staffs preliminary recommendation is that adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Braidwood Station are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy-planning decision makers would be unreasonable.
This slide identifies Richard Baum as your primary point of contact with the NRC for the supplemental EIS. It also identifies where documents related to the review may be found in the local area.
All documents relating to the review are also available on the NRC website listed on this slide.
The NRC staff will address written comments in the same way we address public comments received today. To submit written comments online, you can visit the website regulations.gov, and search for the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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23 docket ID: NRC2013-0169.
If you have written comments today, you may give the comments to any of the NRC staff who are here today. This concludes my presentation. I'm turning the meeting over to Cheryl.
MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you, Tam. Before we go into the public comment period is there anybody who has any questions on the slide presentation that you've just seen? Okay, we'll check in with the audio participants. Is there anybody on the phone lines that has a question about the presentation?
FACILITATOR: There are no questions on the phone.
MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Okay, we'll now begin the public comment period of the meeting. This is the part of the meeting where you have an opportunity to give a comment on the scope and content of the draft environmental review. For those making comments, please come to the microphone and state your name and if you would like to mention any organization that you're affiliated with, please do that as well. If you have a question or wish to make a comment outside the scope of this meeting, the NRC staff will be available for approximately 30 minutes following the meeting to answer questions.
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24 And I'll begin on calling on the people who have pre-registered or filled out comment cards. After those folks have spoken we'll open up the floor to anybody else who has a question or comment and then we'll check in with the people on the bridge lines to see if there are any questions or comments from the phone participants.
First I'd like to invite Greg Ridenour.
MR. RIDENOUR: Greg Ridenour with Congressman Kinzinger's office. He was unable to be here today, but he has given a statement that he would like me to share.
Dear Commissioners,
Thank you for allowing my office the opportunity to address this public meeting regarding the license renewal application of the Braidwood Generating Station that is currently pending with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The issue of maintaining our current fleet of clean, affordable energy generation in Illinois is of the utmost importance to residents, consumers, and elected officials throughout the region.
Illinois continues to be a leader in the production of carbon-free electricity with six nuclear plants providing nearly half of the overall electricity generating portfolio, and over 90 percent of the carbon NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 free electricity in the state. Four of those facilities reside within the 16th district alone where they have been a driving force in stabilizing not only the price of power, but also the reliability of the grid overall. If this source of clean base load power generation, approximately 12,000 Megawatts overall, were not available, there is little doubt that prices would rise exponentially, and grid stability would be negatively impacted.
Additionally, the nuclear energy industry has a substantial impact on the economy at the state and local level. These plants are directly responsible for providing thousands of quality, high-paying jobs for high-skilled workers, and in turn provide a huge boost to our economy worth nearly $9 billion annually. The 825 employees of the Braidwood facility earn over $60 million annually in payroll, and given that the majority of those employees reside here in Grundy and Will counties, they are able to provide a foundation in which to support the local tax-base.
We are here today to discuss the license renewal application of the Braidwood Generating Station, which has provided reliable power to the grid for nearly three decades without emitting greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide that we find with other forms NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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26 of energy. Moreover, the amount of carbon-free electricity annually produced by Braidwood Station is comparable to removing 2.9 million passenger vehicles from the road.
In addition to providing clean energy, Braidwood must maintain a radiological environmental monitoring program along with an onsite groundwater protection program to detect any presence of radioactivity in the water. Braidwood's detailed monitoring and consistent compliance with NRC regulations show Braidwood's sincerity and determined work towards ensuring environmental protection.
The process being followed by the NRC is amiable in the transparent manner in which it conducts these hearings. Allowing members of the public the opportunity to provide comments on the environmental aspects of the process shows a level of commitment to transparency that should take place in all aspects of government licensing.
It is also important to note that the NRC also requires the plant's application to include an additional environmental report based solely on the plant's potential impact to the environment should the application be extended beyond its initial release.
This extra step helps to ensure the safety and NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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27 environmental benefits of the facility to the surrounding area.
It is my hope that as this multi-year effort takes place, it will continue to do so in expeditious manner as possible. Extending the life of this facility for 20 years will ensure that a clean source of energy for millions of consumers is able to move forward with certainty in their future operations. Respectfully, Adam Kinzinger, Member of Congress.
MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you. Next I would like to invite Angie Hutton.
MS. HUTTON: Angie Hutton, President of the Braidwood Chamber and I spoke earlier, so I would just like to say that that's on record. But the Chamber would like to say, you know, we do support the renewal of the license for the Braidwood Station.
MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you, Angie. Doug O'Brien.
MR. O'BRIEN: Excuse me, I'm Doug O'Brien with the Illinois Clean Energy Coalition, a coalition of business, labor, and civic leaders who are committed to developing clean energy sources and maintaining a competitive market in Illinois. And I want to echo what was said previously, I spoke earlier today and those comments are on the record. But I think it's critically NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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28 important from an environmental perspective that we maintain our nuclear fleet in Illinois. The potential of replacing any of these plants generation with additional fossil fuel production would devastate our ability to meet clean air targets and to move towards a cleaner environment. Thank you.
MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you, Doug. Dave Schultz.
MR. SCHULTZ: Hi, I'm Dave Schultz, I'm a local resident and I am avid tournament bass fisherman, I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of Exelon and some of the affects it has on the environment, namely fishing and so forth. As we can see, we've got a local pond here, Exelon provides a tremendous amount of sportsmanship and opportunities for local people of all ages, especially the kids, also adult tournament fisherman, adult pleasure fisherman and not only here in the State of Illinois, but also they travel from states like Indiana and would have even had people from Wisconsin come and fish Braidwood Lake. Because it is a well-known lake across the communities.
Anyway, the, Exelon has provided many, many things to improve their environment such as they have a habitat program that we're involved in and they've been doing that for years now. I think there's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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29 something like almost 700 habitat items that have been purchased by Exelon and some of the local fisherman come out on certain days and we actually put them in specific areas in the lake to help with the fish and their habitat and their survival and so forth. Where there's one plan here for, it's coming up here actually in a couple of weeks I believe. But already some people have made plans to come and participate in that. The other thing is Exelon also provides many things for the non-for-profit organizations. And for the last 14 years they have provided, they have put on a charity tournament that I'm personally part of, and I'm considered a charity boat.
So, therefore I fish with a partner that they provide for me and we go out and have a great time and any winnings that we have will be donated back to the charities. There's many charities that they benefitted over the years. And this year they are going to benefit three different hospices which are, I'm sure they're very grateful for, they raise quite a bit of money for them. And actually that's been close to
$400,000, they'll probably hit that this year I would imagine with their thing. The wildlife we, I just locally, I have just recently finished a tournament on Saturday here and there is actually bass that are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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30 spawning and doing their nature thing and they do not seem to be affected whatsoever. You can actually see these fish taking care of their business. So, but it's a good thing and many people in the area just enjoy the lake and so forth. So, that's really probably about it.
So, thank you.
MS. HAUSMAN: Thank you, Dave. Does anybody else have any comments or questions? Anybody in the audience? We'll open it up to general kinds of questions now. Going once, going twice, okay. How about on the bridge line? Does anybody have any questions or comments on the bridge, from the bridge line?
OPERATOR: No questions.
MS. HAUSMAN: Okay, thank you. All right, with that I'm going to turn the meeting over to Brian Wittick, for closing comments.
MR. WITTICK: Okay, thank you Cheryl, for facilitating the meeting and thank you Tam for all of your work in preparing the environmental impact review and for your presentation today. Mostly I'd like to thank all of you for coming out today and being an important part of this process. I'd like to echo what Greg Ridenour said, it's regarding transparency of the NRC, transparency is a value for the Nuclear Regulatory NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 Commission. And we very much value all of the inputs that we've received from the public. Not only today as part of the review of the draft environmental impact statement, but what we've received previously during the scoping of the comment period.
All of the comments that we receive today will be addressed and incorporated into the final environmental impact statement so if you've made comments, or if you still desire to make comments, the public comment period is open through May 12th, so please feel free to provide comments on the environmental impact statement and those comments as well will be addressed in the final environmental impact statements. Appendix A of the EIS will incorporate those comments. So, this evening we heard from Congressman Kinzinger's office, again on the importance of energy generation for the region both economically and environmentally.
We heard from Mr. O'Brien echoing the comments that he made earlier today on the environmental imports of the nuclear fleet in Illinois. We heard from Angie Hutton echoing her comments from earlier today and endorsing the license renewal. And from David Schultz regarding the fishing benefits and habitat programs amongst other things from his experiences with the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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32 Braidwood Station. So with that, again the public comment period closes on May 12th, the members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be available for a while after today's meeting if you want to provide any written comments or if you have any questions or would like to discuss any issues.
And with that we adjourn the meeting.
Thank you for your attendance.
(Whereupon at 7:45 p.m. the meeting was concluded.)
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