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Transcript of LaSalle Draft Supplemental EIS, Public Meeting March 22, 2016, Pages 1-39
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Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIONTitle:LaSalle County Station Draft Supplemental EISDocket Number:(n/a)Location:Ottawa, Illinois Date:Tuesday, March 22, 2016Work Order No.:NRC-2254Pages 1-39 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433 1UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2+ + + + +

3LaSALLE COUNTY STATION 4DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL EIS (DSEIS) 5PUBLIC MEETING 6+ + + + +

7TUESDAY8MARCH 22, 2016 9+ + + + +

1011 12 13The Public Meeting was convened at the 14LaSalle County Emergency Management Agency, Emergency 15Operations Center, 711 East Etna Road, Ottawa, 16Illinois at 7:00 p.m., David Drucker, Facilitator, 17presiding.

18 19PRESENT:20DAVID DRUCKER, Facilitator 21 22 23 24 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 2P R O C E E D I N G S 1MR. DRUCKER: Good evening. Thanks for 2coming out tonight. I'm David Drucker with the U.S.

3Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and I'm --

4THE OPERATOR: Mr. Drucker, I have to join 5you to the main conference. I'm sorry. One moment.

6MR. DRUCKER: Sure.

7THE OPERATOR: Welcome, and thank you for 8standing by. At this time, all participants are on 9listening mode. During our Q&A session, you may press 10*1 on your touch tone phone if you would like to ask 11a question. Today's conference is being recorded. If 12you have any objections, you may disconnect at this 13time. Now I'd like to turn the meeting over to Mr.

14David Drucker, so you may begin.

1516 17 18 19 20MR. DRUCKER: Thank you, India. This isDavid Drucker. I'm Nuclear RegulatoryCommission. I'm project manager for th eenvironmental review of the LaSalle County Stationlicense renewal application. Hereafter, I will referto the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as the NRC.

21There are two primary purposes for this 22meeting. The first purpose is to discuss the contents 23of this document that I'm holding up, the draft 24supplemental environmental impact statement for 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 3license renewal of LaSalle County Station. Hereafter, 1I will refer to this document as the draft SEIS. SEIS 2stands for Supplemental Environmental Impact 3Statement.

4The second purpose of this meeting is to 5obtain comments on the draft SEIS. This meeting is 6available by teleconference and, India, I just want to 7make sure. Can you ask the folks on the line, or 8actually, folks on the line, can you hear me? Because 9I'm speaking at a distance from the speakerphone.

10THE OPERATOR: Everyone, your lines are 11now open, and you can respond.

1213MR. MAHRS: David, this is SteveMahrs, and I can hear you just fine.

14 15 16 17 18 19MR. DRUCKER: Okay. Good, if one personcan hear me, the rest of you all can hear me.

Before going further, I want to introduce NRC staffhere tonight. St u Sheldon is an NRC Region IIIlicense renewal inspector, and Robert Ruiz is thesenior resident at the plant.

2021 22 23 24I'd also like to point out that on thephone we have or will have a few NRC staff folks. Mysupervisor, Jim Danna is the chief of theenvironmental review and project management branch.

Michele Moser is the technica l reviewer for aquatic25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 4resources.

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4 5Kevin is the technical reviewer forservice water resources. Bill Ford is the technicalreviewer for ground water. And you hear earlier SteveMaharris is the consultant from Pacific NorthwestLaboratories for the high burn-up fuel section.

6Next, I'd like to cover a few details 7about this meeting. Exelon applied to the NRC to 8renew the operating licenses for LaSalle County 9Station units one and two for an additional 20 years.

10The NRC is reviewing that application, and will use 11the results of that review to decide whether to renew 12the licenses.

13Tonight I will tell you the preliminary 14results of the environmental review. These results 15are documented in the draft SEIS. And I will also ask 16for your comments on the draft SEIS. The meeting 17tonight will, essentially, have four parts. The 18introduction is the part that we're doing now.

1920 21 22 23he second part I will discuss the reviewprocess and the p reliminary findings of the review. Copies of this presentation are on the table by thedoor and Stu Sheldon, it looks like he handed outcopies to everyone here.

24The next portion will be an opportunity to 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 5ask questions about the material presented, and I will 1answer those questions. And finally, the NRC staff 2will listen to your comments about the draft SEIS.

3Note that the NRC will listen during this time. We 4generally won't respond to what you're saying here in 5the meeting. Instead, we will prepare written 6responses to your comments that will be published as 7a part of the final SEIS.

8Please note that this meeting is being 9recorded,; a transcriber's sitting right up here in 10front. And he's doing that to produce a written 11record of what's said at this meeting. In order for 12the transcript to be accurate, please comply with the 13following.

14First, please silence your phones and any 15other personal electronics you have with you. If you 16must accept a call during this meeting, please step 17outside into the lobby so the other meeting 18participants can hear the proceedings and so your 19phone ringing, nor your conversation is recorded.

20When you speak, please use a microphone.

21And I'll bring it around for the question and answer 22period to you guys. That's how we will ensure that 23what you say is recorded. When you speak, identify 24who you are and, if you represent a group, what group 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 6you represent. Also, if you have an uncommon name or 1if your name has an unusual spelling, please spell 2your name. And to ensure the recording is clear, 3please don't hold side conversations, and do not 4interrupt the speaker. Thank you.

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8 910When you signed in tonight, you may havenoted yellow cards, like the one I'm holding up, o nthe table. Several of you have alreadyfilled them out, and that's a speaker. So if youwant to speak, let me know. I'll bring a cardaround to you, and you can fill that out now.

11When we get to the public comment portion 12of this evening, I will give each public commenter 13three minutes to speak. And then, after everyone's 14had a chance to speak, we can, if you haven't finished 15your comments, you can certainly have more time. So 16far I only have four folks who are signed up to speak.

17 18 19 20 21 22 23Also on the table outside is a stack ofpublic meeting feedback forms. Please fill one outand provide it to me or leave it on the table, or youcan drop it in the mail; it's postage free. our assessment of this meeting tonight will helpimprove future meetings.

24And finally, for those who don't know, the 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 7restrooms are out the hallway to the left. Emergency 1exit is out the hallway to the right. And security is 2located at the LaSalle County Sheriff's Office. It's 3just across the parking lot, if we should need 4security.

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8Okay, do you have any ques tions on thisbrief introduction before I go any further, and startdiscussing the environmental review? . 91011 12 13 14 15 16 17I'm going to theenvironmental review and preliminary results from thedraft SEIS. First, I would like to emphasize that theenvironmental review is not yet complete. I hope theinformation provided in this presentation will helpyou understand what we've done so far, and the roleyou can play in helping to make sure that the finalenvironmental impact statement is accurate andcomplete.

18I'd like to start off by briefly going 19over the agenda for this portion of my speech. First 20of all, I'll comment on the NRC's regulatory role, 21then I'll provide the preliminary findings of our 22environmental review, and then I will present the 23current schedule for the remainder of the 24environmental review, and tell you how you can submit 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 8comments outside of this meeting.

1At the end of the presentation, there will 2be time for questions and answers on the comments of 3my briefing and, most importantly, time for you to 4present your comments on the draft SEIS.

5The NRC was established to regulate 6civilian use of nuclear materials, including 7facilities producing electric power. The NRC conducts 8license renewal reviews for plants whose owners wish 9to operate them beyond their initial license period.

1011NRC license renewal reviews address safety 12issues related to managing the affects of aging and 13environmental issues related to an additional 20 years 14of operation. In all aspects of the NRC regulation, 15our mission is thre e-fold.

To ensure adequate 16protection of the public health and safety, to promote 17common defense and security, and to protect the 18environment.

19 20 21 22 23 24 environmental review potential site-specific impacts of license renewal ofthe LaSalle County Stations nits and . Ageneric environmental impact statement, or GEIS,examines the possible environmental impacts that couldoccur as a result of renewing licens es of individual 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 9nuclear power plants.

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6The GEIS es thesignificance of these potential impacts. The analysisin the GEIS pertains to operating power reactors. Foreach type or environmental impact, the GEISestablishes generic findings, covering as many plantsas possible.

78 910 11 12 13For some environmental issues, the GEISfound that a generic evaluation was not sufficient,and that a plan t-specific analysis was required. he 2013 revision to the GEIS issitting here on the table; these three vo lumes. TheGEIS was originally done in 1996. Its r thanthese three volumes, and there was an addendum in 141999.15 16 17 18 19 gives you an idea of the effortthat went in to looking nuclear power plants acrossthe country, and determining which impacts,environmental impacts were generic, and which requiresite-specific analysis.

20The site-specific findings for the LaSalle 21County Station are contained in the draft SEIS 22published in February, 2016. This document contains 23analyses of all possible site-specific issues, as well 24as a review of issues covered by the GEIS, to 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 110determine whether the conclusion in the GEIS are validfor LaSalle County Station.

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7In this process, the NRC staff alsoreviews environmental impacts of potential powergeneration alternatives to license renewal.

Finally,I want to mention that on March 10th of las t year,March 10th of last year, I was here conduct ing theenvironmental scoping meetings.

8910 11 12During those meetings and the scopingperiod, the NRC coll ected comments formed thescope of the environmental review. Those comments,and the NRC responses to those comments, are found inthe scoping summary report.

13 14 15 16 17Hard copies and CDs of the scoping summaryreport are available on the t able by the door. Andalso, that same CD that has the scoping summary reportcontains a copy of the draft SEIS.

1819 20 21 22 23 24For each environmental issue identified animpact level is assigned. The NRC's standard significance for impacts was established using theWhite House counsel on environmental qualityterminology for signi ficant. The NRC establ ishedthree levels of significance for potential impacts,small, moderate and large, as defined on the slide.

25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 11For a small impact, the effects are not 1detectible or are so minor that they will neither 2destabilize nor noticeable alter any important 3attribute of the resource. For a moderate impact, the 4effects are sufficient to alter noticeably, but not 5destabilize important attributes of the resource. And 6for a large impact, the effects are clearly noticeable 7and are sufficient to destabilize important 8attributes of the resource.

9While these impact level designations are 10used for most of the resource areas that we looked at 11in the draft SEIS, there are three areas that have 12their own impact level designations. And these are 13discussed on the next slide.

14So for special status species, the impact 15significance determination language comes from the 16Endangered Species Act. And choices to describe the 17impacts are no effect, may affect but not likely to 18adversely affect, and may affect and is likely to 19adversely affect.

20For cultural and historic resources, the 21National Historic Preservation Act requires Federal 22agencies to consider the effects of their undertakings 23on historic properties. And for environmental 24justice, under Executive Order 12898, Federal agencies 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 12are responsible for identifying and addressing 1disproportionately high and adverse human health and 2environmental impacts on minority and low-income 3populations.

4This slide lists the issues the NRC 5reviewed for the continued operation of the LaSalle 6County Station during the proposed license renewal 7period. So in this one slide, this is basically a 8very quick summary of what you would find in that 9larger document, the draft SEIS.

10For all issues, except aquatic resources, 11the impacts of license renewal were found to be small, 12which means the effects are not detectible, or are so 13minor that they will neither destabilize nor 14noticeably alter any important attribute of the 15resource.

16Thermal impacts would be small for aquatic 17resources in the Illinois River, and small for aquatic 18resources in the cooling pond, except for gizzard and 19threadfin shad. Gizzard and threadfin shad would 20experience moderate thermal impacts in the cooling 21pond. 22The NRC staff also considered cumulative 23impacts. Cumulative impacts are the effects on the 24environment from other past, present and reasonably 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 13foreseeable future human actions, other than LaSalle 1County Station. The effects not only included 2operation of LaSalle County Station, but also impacts 3unrelated to LaSalle, such as future urbanization, 4other energy producing facilities in the area and 5climate change.

6The analysis considers potential impacts 7through the end of the current license term, as well8as the 20-year license renewal term. The NRC staff 9determined that most cumulative impacts would be 10small, and the analysis is provided in section 4.16 of 11the draft SEIS.

12The National Environmental Policy Act 13mandates that each environmental impact statement 14consider alternatives to any proposed major Federal 15action. A major step for determining whether license 16renewal is reasonable or not is comparing the likely 17impacts of continued operation of a nuclear plant with 18the likely impacts of alternatives means of power 19generation.

20Alternatives must provide an option that 21allows for power generation capability beyond the term 22of the current nuclear power plant operating license 23to meet future system generation needs. In the draft 24SEIS, NRC staff initially considered 17 different 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 14alternatives, and then we narrowed those 17 down to 1five, and looked at those five in detail.

2Additionally, the NRC staff considered 3what would happen if no action is taken and LaSalle 4shuts down at the end of its current licenses without 5a specific replacement alternative. This alternative 6would not provide power generation capacity nor would 7it meet the needs currently met by LaSalle.

8The NRC's preliminary conclusion is that 9the environmental impacts of renewal of the operating 10licenses for LaSalle would be smaller than those 11feasible and commercially viable alternatives.

12Continued operation would have smaller environmental 13impacts in almost all areas. The staff concluded that 14continued operation of the existing LaSalle County 15Station is the environmentally preferred alternative.

1617Based on review of likely environmental 18impacts from license renewal, as well as potential 19environmental impacts of alternatives to license 20renewal, the NRC staff's preliminary recommendation in 21the draft SEIS is that the adverse environmental 22impacts of license renewal for LaSalle County Station 23are not great enough to deny the option of license 24renewal for energy planning decision makers. And that 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 15preliminary conclusion shows up several places in the 1draft SEIS, but chapter five is the conclusion 2chapter.

3I would like to re-emphasize that the 4environmental review is not yet complete. Your 5comments tonight, and all written comments received by 6the end of the comment period on April 4th, will be 7considered by the NRC staff as we develop the final 8SEIS, which we currently plan to issue in August of 92016.10Those comments that are within the scope 11of the environmental review and provide new and 12significant information can help change the staff's 13findings. The final SEIS will contain the staff's 14final recommendation on the acceptability of license 15renewal based on the work we've already performed and 16any new and significant information we receive in the 17form of comments during the comment period. I just 18want to emphasize that the comment period closes on 19April 4th, the second to the last line here on this 20slide. 2122 23 24As many of you know, I am primarycontact for the environmental review, and JeffMitchell is the primary contact for the safety review,and our information is on the handouts that I provided 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 16you tonight, our contact information. Copies of the 1draft SEIS are available on CD on the table near the 2door. In addition, the library shown on this slide 3has a copy available, current copy available for 4review.5You can also find electronic copies of the 6draft SEIS, along with other information about the 7LaSalle County Station license renewal review online 8at the website shown. And finally, additional 9information can also be obtained by contacting the 10representatives of NRC's Region III office of public 11affairs, as shown on the slide.

12NRC staff will address written comments in 13the same way we address spoken comments received 14today. You can submit written comments either online 15or via conventional manner. To submit written 16comments online, visit the website regulations.gov and 17search for docket ID NRC-2014-0268. If you have 18written comments today, you may give them to me or any 19other member of the NRC staff.

20Please note that if you provide verbal 21comments tonight, you don't need to submit them in 22writing since your verbal comments are part of the 23transcribed record, and they will be responded to. So 24this concludes my formal presentation.

25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 1712 3

4 5So now we enter the question and answerportion. his is distinct from the comment portion. questions specific to the material that Ipresented here tonight. perator?6THE OPERATOR: Yes.

7MR. DRUCKER: If there's anyone on the 8phone that has questions about the material I 9presented, can you please go ahead and let them ask 10their questions one at a time, and I'll do my best to 11answer them.

12THE OPERATOR: Certainly. If you would 13like to as a question on the phone line, please press 14*1 and record your name when prompted. Please make 15sure your phone is not muted when you r ecord your 16name. Once again, that's *1 and record your name.

17One moment for our first question. And no questions 18have come in.

19 20 21 22 23 24MR. DRUCKER: Okay , thank you. Most of the folks here in the room have been apart of the license renewal process. They're familiarwith the scoping process we did last year. But I justwant to emphasize, for anyone who's listening, thatyou know, this is not a hearing. This is a public25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 18meeting.

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6And the goal of this meeting is two-waycommunication; for me to provide information about theenvironmental impact statement that we've been workingon and have developed, and then to receive comment onthat document. So

. 7With that, I'm going to go to questions.

8Does anyone have any questions about the material I 9presented here in the room? If there are no 10questions, I just want to --

1112 13MS. SNYDER: I have a question.

MR. DRUCKER: Gail, go ahead.

MS. SNYDER:

My first question is you said 1415 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24this is a public meeting.

There's not re ally manymembers of the public here, so I'm just wondering whatdoes the NRC do to promote this? I find it hard tobelieve in an area where th ere's thousands of peoplewho could be impacted by this decision that nobody'sshown up, no elected officials, unless there'ssomething here I don't know about.

I'm justwondering, you know, why there's such a poor turnout.MR. DRUCKER:

G question. Certainly, certainly, let me answer tha t first; your first partof the question was ho w do we advertise, b asically,25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 12 319this public. This meeting is advertised through manymeans. he first place that it's advertised is we putout a Federal Register notice, NRC does, announcingthe meeting.

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9And then the Enviro nmental ProtectionAgency, it a Federal Register notice thatannounces the release of the draft SEIS, and then howto contact me if you're interested in learning moreabout that. So there's two Federal Register noticesthat go out.

10The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's 11website also has actually several places where we talk 12about the meeting. We have a public meeting web page 13that speaks to all the meetings that we have. We have 14a license renewal web page that talks about this 15meeting. There's also the regular LaSalle operating 16license web page, which also points to my license 17renewal web page. So there's those web pages.

18 19 20 21 22 23We also have advertisements in localnewspapers. I can get those for you if you'reinterested. But we did advertise in the localnewspapers, announcing thi s meeting. I also reachedout to everyone who attended the scoping meetings lastyear through e-mail

. 24I either sent them a hard copy of the 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 20draft SEIS, along with a copy of the Federal Register 1notice, which provided the information on when and 2where this meeting would be held. Either hard copy, 3or I provided them a CD of the draft SEIS.

4Off the top of my head, I actually used to 5carry a list of all different ways that we advertised 6the meetings; off the top of my head, that's how we do 7it. There were e-mails, too. For example, e-mail 8reminders I sent out to the EPA via Region V folks so 9they may be on the phone tonight.

1011 12 13 14 15So those are the basic ways. If I missedanything, and my boss is listening feel free to chimein, Jim, and let me know what I missed. But those arethe major ways. Oh, a; the fliers. Iasked the resident inspector to post fliers locall yaround.

16Good question and, yeah, sometimes we get 17a big turnout at these meetings, and sometimes we 18don't. Personally, I was at one down in Mississippi, 19Grand Gulf. There were a few flakes of snow, and the 20Governor basically told everyone to stay in. And I 21flew own with my boss at the time, and we had no 22trouble. There was no snow on the roads; didn't 23understand what the problem was.

But it was a local 24thing. 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 21I was paying attention to the news this 1morning, and I heard the terrible, terrible news of 2what was going on in Belgium, but I doubt that that 3somehow would impact people showing up here. I did 4read the local paper to see there were a couple other 5meetings.

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910 11 12There was a board of education meeting inone of the schools, but I didn't think it would impactattendance at t his meeting.

And I did work with thefolks at the plant, and I work ed with our residentinspector trying to pick a night that wasn't busy withother activities. elected official 13 14: Yes, I'm a member of theLaSalle County board.

15 16MR. DRUCKER: : Chair of legislative 17rules. 1819 20MR. DRUCKER: Great.

County board member.MR. DRUCKER: Good questi on. Any other21questions from folks in the room?

22MS. SNYDER: I have more questions.

23MR. DRUCKER: Please.

24MS. SNYDER: Slide number 10, which is 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 22titled environmental review of LaSalle County Station 1has the resources areas and the impacts listed. On 2the bottom it says waste management, and the impact is 3small. And I'm just wondering can you define what 4waste management is in this?

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8 910 11MR. DRUCKER: Yes, that's a greatquestion. And there's a section on wastemanagement. . ear with me just for a moment, and I will flip toit. It's section 4. --

12MS. SNYDER: Does it refer to nuclear 13waste, or is it waste from the plant, other than?

14 15 16 17 18 19 20MR. DRUCKER: the spent fuel

. low level waste storage and disposal,. So this is the section that doescover the spent nuclear fuel.

21 22 23 24So there's five s thatare looked at. 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 23 talked about

.1MS. SNYDER: And when you say the impact 2is small, do you mean that it's small in comparison to 3what's already there, or that 20 years of additional 4waste will have a small impact?

5MR. DRUCKER: Yeah, this is, this section 6is talking to 20 years of additional operation.

7MS. SNYDER: The small impact.

8MR. DRUCKER: Yes.

9MS. SNYDER: I have another question.

10MR. DRUCKER: Please.

11MS. SNYDER: I don't want to hog the 12questions. Slide number 12, alternatives; and you're 13talking about citing alternatives and the criteria 14required to replace the energy. If you nuclear plant 15had shut down, you said somethi ng about what would 16happen if the nuclear plant shut down, and you found 17that there wouldn't be an alternative power source 18that would replace that power.

19And I was just wondering if you had, or 20the committee had, whoever drafted this, whatever 21group drafted it had looked at the report from the 22State of Illinois? There were a number of agencies; 23there was a bill, HR, a resolution, HR1146, which was 24looking at nuclear power in the state.

25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 24And state agencies drafted a report, and 1they came out with the opposite finding of what you're 2saying. So maybe we will e-mail that r eport to you.

3I think that would be informative to what their 4position is, is not the same as your conclusion.

5MR. DRUCKER:

.6MS. SNYDER: And that's a state study by 7state agencies.

8MR. DRUCKER: All right. I appreciate 9that very much. Thanks, Gail. Okay, if there are no 10other questions, then we're going to move right along 11to the comment portion of tonight's meeting. And as 12I stated at the beginning, primarily the NRC staff 13will be listening, and we will respond to any comments 14in written form in the final SEIS.

15So let me go to the operator.

India, is 16there anyone on the phone that wants to provide a 17comment?18THE OPERATOR: If you do have comments, 19please press *1 and record your name when prompted.

20Once again, that's *1 -- and no comments have come in 21over the phone.

22MR. DRUCKER: Thank you. Thank you, very 23much.24THE OPERATOR: You're welcome.

25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 2512 3

4 5MR. DRUCKER: Okay, I have yellow cardsfrom three, from four folks. I'll shuffle them andpull them out randomly. I matter. I would appreciate, would the speakers comeup to the front here, and you can use this microphone.

Gail, are you available first?

6MS. SNYDER: Sure.

7MR. DRUCKER: And the next speaker will be 8Doug O'Brien, so Doug if you want to prepare yourself 9and move up to the front to save some time. In fact, 10there's only four of you. It'll be Gail, Doug, Steve 11and Tom.12MS. SNYDER: I don't know if this makes 13your life easier.

14AUDIENCE MEMBER: Oh great, thank you.

15MS. SNYDER: Good evening. My name is 16Gail Snyder, and I'm here representing Nuclear Energy 17Information Service. I serve as the president of the 18board. Our comments tonight are really directed, 19maybe, not specifically at environmental issues, but 20the licensing renewal.

21And one of our first comments is that the 22analysis of socioeconomic impacts are incomplete. No 23analysis of impacts for early or unexpected closures 24were considered or provided.

The Exelon safety 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 26evaluation report documents a significant tax impact 1for the presence of the LaSalle County Station, yet 2only addresses the positive impacts.

3No mention or analysis of negative impacts 4resulting from a abrupt planned or unexpected early 5closure of LaSalle is presented. This is a 6significant omission, particularly in light of Exelon 7Corporation's threat of two years ago to close 8reactors in Illinois on economic grounds.

9According to the Exelon SER, LaSalle 10represents a sizeable portion of the county total tax 11base. It also accounts for large portions of the 12school district's adjusted property tax levy. These 13are not insignificant amounts. Their abrupt 14disappearance would wreak economic havoc on the 15affected governmental and essential service entities' 16ability to operate, just as Exelon's predecessor, 17ComEd, did to the community of Zion in 1997, when they 18unilaterally closed the Zion reactors.

19The SER either fails to recognize or 20mention at all some of the possible events that could 21result in such a closure situation, such as an 22unexpected major accident resulting in immediate and, 23presumably, premature closing, NRC-ordered shutdown, 24Exelon unilateral decision to c lose the plant on 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 27economic or other grounds, as it did in Zion, 1resulting in an immediate loss of about 55 percent of 2Zion's tax base.

3Devaluation through sale has occurred at 4the Clinton Station, resulting in enormous loss of the 5tax base, eventual old age, license expiration 6closure, which is the outcome of

-- and I would add, 7in light of what's happening in Brussels today, and 8the fact that they've shut down their nuclear reactors 9and can't provide

security, terrorism is also a 10possible way that a nuclear reactor could shut down 11unexpectedly.

12Exelon's being a business will certainly 13make the calculations it made when it closed Zion and 14decided that LaSalle should continue to operate. In 15this omission, the SER makes the same mistake the U.S.

16Government made when it invaded Iraq. No exit 17strategy. To simply assume that the only 18socioeconomic effects of LaSalle's presence will be 19positive ones is simply irrational.

20Our recommendation: Planning for some 21kind of eventual cl osure must be made long before it 22happens to minimize economic and service disruptions 23to the entities whose tax bases will be affected.

24Debate about the license extension serves as a good 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 28reminder of this fact, and an opportunity to take 1action.

2We recommend that dependent government and 3tax entities begin formal negotiations with Exelon to 4establish an escrow of mitigation funds based on some 5mutually agreeable assessment and payment structure so 6that dependent entities will have some kind of 7temporary funds available to soften the economic blow 8or closure and not radically disrupt essential 9services.

10Our second comment, which is shorter, is 11the inadequate attention paid to water availability at 12the LaSalle Nuclear Power Plant under potential future 13climate disruption conditions. Historically, LaSalle 14Nuclear Power Plant has been one of the Illinois 15reactor sites most sensitive to water availability 16under severe drought conditions; for example, 1998, 172005, 2006.

18It's siting on a portion of the Illinois 19River network that is shallower than other parts has 20brought the reactors close to mandatory shutdowns to 21stay within EPA regulatory limits for thermal 22pollution during extreme droughts on more than one 23occasion over the past two decades.

24Forecast for the future of Illinois's 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 29climate over the next few decades indicate it 1approaching that of current day west Texas. This will 2have severe impacts on the aquatic system in the area, 3and on the a vailability of water for intake and 4discharge at LaSalle.

5A more thorough re-examination of 6LaSalle's ability to safely operate, obtain sufficient 7cooling water, and not thermally and radiologically 8damage the local aquatic ecosystem is in order in this 9re-licensing proceeding. Thank you.

10MR. DRUCKER: The next speaker is Doug 11O'Brien from the Illinois Clean Energy Coalition.

12MR. O'BRIEN: Thank you. My name is Doug 13O'Brien. I'm with the Illinois Clean Energy 14Coalition, and this is another one in a long number of 15these hearings or events that I've been to, talking 16about a lot of the positive impacts that Illinois's 17nuclear generating stations have had on the economy.

1819It's ironic that I'm following somebody 20who came up and posited these impacts, these 21beneficial impacts and somehow turned them into a 22negative. And I think that it's also a little bit 23insulting to the intelligence of local officials here 24and around Illinois to assume that they don't have the 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 30sense to plan for the future. And I know that many 1local governments do just that. They do it 2vigilantly, and they do it effectively.

3But I wanted to talk a little bit about 4the environmental impacts, the positive environmental 5impacts of the plant. As the initial NRC reports 6shows, the overall impacts when it comes to energy 7generation are positive. That the alternative sources 8for energy generation in Illinois would create more 9negative impacts environmentally, particularly in the 10area of CO2 emissions, as it's critically important 11that we always consider the beneficial impact of 12Illinois's nuclear fleet on CO2 emissions here in 13Illinois.

14The Illinois Clean Energy Coalition's 15study in 2014 showed that Illinois's nuclear fleet 16prevents the emission of over 92 million tons of CO2 17annually. Now this is a significant contributor to 18global climate change, and something that we can do in 19preserving and protecting our nuclear fleet that will 20have a real, immediate, ongoing positive impact on our 21environment.

22Now, other sources of clean energy are 23vital to our future, as well. But the simple truth is 24we cannot quickly or easily replace nuclear generation 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 31with other clean sources. And a nuclear plant like 1LaSalle would require, for example, thousands of new 2wind turbines to replace its electricity generation.

34And we still can't rely on wind 24/7, nor 5on solar 24/7.

And the process of siting these wind 6farms, the capital and the permitting that is needed 7to begin operating them is daunting. So losing any of 8Illinois's nuclear plants would leave us with no 9short-term alternative but to increase our use of 10fossil fuels and move us in the wrong direction.

11Additionally, I think it's important to 12note that it's vital for the NRC and our national 13government to continue to push forward with practical 14waste storage solutions that will allow for the 15continued safe and secure storage of spent fuel, while 16we wait for the Federal government to put aside 17politics and live up to the commitment it made years 18ago to establish a nationwide solution for spent fuel 19storage.20In the meantime, plants like LaSalle's 21spent fuel is expertly handled, never having produced 22any impact to the surrounding ecosystem. And while 23the plants and the NRC have managed a laudable short-24term solution, we have to continue to push for the 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 32permanent solution promised by our government.

1So I think, in conclusion, the Illinois 2Clean Energy Coalition applauds the NRC and its 3findings. We be lieve that it's accurate in showing 4the LaSalle Station, like other stations across the 5state, has a positive impact on the environment moving 6forward here in Illinois. Thank you.

7MR. DRUCKER: Steve Buck is next.

8MR. BUCK: Good evening. I'm Steve Buck.

9I'm an engineer at LaSalle Station. I just recently 10started back in August. I am a resident of Ottawa, 11Illinois, and I'm a former Eagle Scout, originally 12from Crystal Lake, Illinois. So environmental 13stewardship is something that is very much a part of 14my character. It's something that I developed early 15on in my youth, and I still continue it to this day as 16an adult.

17I'd like to share a couple key points of 18how LaSalle Station is trying to be an environmental 19steward itself through our activities to help conserve 20the environment and leave the environment at least in 21the best, the same condition, if not better condition 22than we came in.

23We had recently installed, last year, a 24couple of charging stations for electrical vehicles.

25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 33So there's four charging ports available, which saved 1about 1,300 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions for any 2of our workers who chose to use their electric 3vehicles instead of a carbon-producing combustion 4engine vehicle.

5We have an annual station earth day 6activity every year. Some of those include electronic 7waste recycling programs where we collect electronic 8waste. And we typically give out green gifts to those 9who participate to bring in their electronics for 10recycling as a thank you for looking out for that so 11that we don't throw electronics just simply into 12landfills.

13There's been a big push for LED lighting 14upgrades, both inside the plant and outside, most 15noticeably in the parking lot. The LED lights were 16replaced. They should last about seven to 10 years 17out in the conditions outside in the parking lot.

18And we're noticing that there's reduced electricity 19usage for those, longer life span, and we've been 20doing studies at other places i nside the plant where 21we can utilize LED lighting.

22We are members of the Wildlife Habitat 23Council certification. We have achieved 24re-certification last year for our efforts. We have 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 34many projects around the site, such as bat boxes, Uber 1boxes, and activities with the fish hatchery in the 2lake. 3Our North American Young Generation 4Nuclear, it's a youth group primarily of those who are 5new to the nu clear industry, which I am a site 6director at LaSalle Station; we have an 7adopt-a-highway program for about a two-mile stretch 8near the facility. And during the summer months, the 9warmer months, we do a highway clean-up where we go 10both sides of the highway, and just pick up any trash, 11litter that might be on the side of the road.

12We have a Gabby Green educational program 13that goes out to our elementary schools. We discuss 14energy conservation, resource conservation. We talk 15about limited use of our water in certain situations, 16turning the lights off when we go to the rooms. Some 17very simple concepts for young children to understand 18so that they can be environmental conscious starting 19at a young age.

20We are starting to develop a program with 21Boy Scouts of America. As I said, I'm a Boy Scout, 22and this is something that's just starting to develop 23in the last month. Developing programs with the Boy 24Scouts to help encourage them with their environmental 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 35practices, some of their merit badges and their rank 1advancements and helping them live up to that 2environmental stewardship themselves.

3We also are firm supporters of the Who 4Haven, which is wildlife rehabilitation center, 5primarily for birds of prey, where we collect food for 6those animals and also participate in bird releases, 7releasing them back into the environment.

8MR. DRUCKER: Thanks. The final speaker 9from the cards, where's Tom, Tom Jackson?

10MR. JACKSON: Good evening. My name's Tom 11Jackson. I'm site superintendent at Illini State 12Park, Marseilles fish and wildlife area in LaSalle.

13I work for the Department of Natural Resources, and 14the IDNR currently has a lease through 2025 with 15Exelon to manage the wildlife area and the fishing 16opportunities.

17LaSalle Lake is a fish and wildlife area, 18along with a public fishing area. We're open to the 19public from March 15th to October 15th every year for 20fishing, providing many varieties of fish species, 21including hybrid striped bass, large and small mouth 22bass, crappie, blue gill and catfish.

23In the months from October 15th through 24March 15th of every year, the site is closed to the 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 36public, and provides a wildlife area for waterfowl 1migrating through the area. IDNR works closely with 2Exelon to provide a great recreational opportunity to 3local resident and visitors from throughout the state 4and even surrounding states.

5LaSalle Lake provides good wildlife 6habitat for the waterfowl, as mentioned before, and 7provides good fishing and outdoor recreation for the 8community. It also provides good economic benefits, 9visitors to the area.

10In my time as site superintendent, Exelon 11management has made themselves available and 12supportive in our efforts to provide site visitors 13with access to the lake, and a rewarding experience 14while visiting the site. I thank you for the 15opportunity to speak on behalf of LaSalle Lake fish 16and wildlife area and the Department of Nature 17Resources.

18MR. DRUCKER: Okay, if there's no one else 19here or on the phone who has comments, and there 20doesn't appear to be, I want to thank everyone who 21provided --

22MS. BOUDART: I have a comment.

23MR. DRUCKER: Oh.

24MS. BOUDART: May I make a comment?

25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 37MR. DRUCKER: Absolutely.

1MS. BOUDART: Okay.

2MR. DRUCKER: Is it easier for me to bring 3you the microphone there?

4MS. BOUDART: Well, if you can so I think 5I can speak loud enough. The person who spoke first, 6who are you? Either the purple shirt or the white 7striped shirt. Anyway, let me see --

8MR. DRUCKER: Can you tell us your name.

9MS. BOUDART: Oh yeah, my name is Jan 10Boudart, and I'm with the Nuclear Energy Information 11Service, and somebody, I guess I didn't get, yeah, I 12asked, Doug O'Brien, the Clean Energy Coalition. Is 13that you?

14Well, I was very interested in the fact 15that you said that until our government keeps its 16promise to take care of the high level nuclear waste, 17it's being handled very efficiently and not being 18allowed to harm anyone. And, in fact, your statement 19was never having produced any impact from the high 20level nuclear waste.

21And I think this is something that, rather 22than say that I, well, I personally don't believe 23that, but I can't prove that it's wrong. Also, you 24can't prove that it's right.

25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 38Recently, the Nuclear Regulatory 1Commission decided not to conduct health studies of 2the impacts of the power plants around the United 3States. And without those studies, you can't say that 4there is no impact, and you cannot say that there is 5an impact because there is no study.

6So to come up with the statement that this 7activity of taking care of the high level nuclear 8waste never produced any impact is a statement that is 9not supported. If I were to say well, I know it has 10produced an impact, that would also be an unsupported 11statement. There has been no study to find out 12whether or not there is an impact. And I think that 13kind of a p ositive statement really exposes the feet 14of clay.

15MR. DRUCKER: Thank you, and I'm going to 16ask you could just fill out a card for me, just with 17your name and e-mail address. All right, thank you 18all. Do we have any other comments from anyone on the 19phone?20THE OPERATOR: If you would like to have 21a comment or question, please press *1 an record your 22name when prompted. Thank you. No questions or 23comments have come in.

24MR. DRUCKER: Okay, thank you. Thanks to 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 39everyone who provided comments during this meeting, 1because that information exchange is what this 2meeting's all about. Also, thanks to all of you for 3giving the speakers your time and attention.

4And I want to thank Connie Brooks who's 5actually across the hallway there and Fred Moore who 6work here for the use of LaSalle County emergency 7operations center. And finally on the table, if you 8want to, please pick up a meeting feedback form if you 9haven't already, and either return it to me or any 10other staff member. Feel free to mail it in. And 11with that, this meeting is concluded.

12I'm going to stick around. If anyone had 13any questions and wants to talk to me one-on-one, I'm 14happy to stick around and do that. So thank you all, 15again, for coming out tonight.

16THE OPERATOR: This concludes your 17conference, and you may disconnect. Once again, your 18conference has ended, and you may disconnect.

19(Whereupon, at 8:00 p.m., the above-20mentioned public hearing was concluded.)

2122 23 24 25NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701(202) 234-4433 Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIONTitle:LaSalle County Station Draft Supplemental EISDocket Number:(n/a)Location:Ottawa, Illinois Date:Tuesday, March 22, 2016Work Order No.:NRC-2254Pages 1-39 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.