ML092870338
| ML092870338 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Watts Bar  |
| Issue date: | 10/06/2009 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-3114 | |
| Download: ML092870338 (35) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title: Environmental Scoping Opportunity for Public Comments: RE Watts Bar Unit 2 Evening Session
Docket Number: 50-391
Location: Sweetwater, Tennessee
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Work Order No.: NRC-3114 Pages 1-34
NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC. Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2 + + + + +
3 ---------------------------------x 4 MEETING ON ENVIRONMENTAL SCOPING 5 OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS Docket No. 50-391 6 WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT UNIT 2 7 ---------------------------------x 8 Tuesday, October 6, 2009 9 10 Andrew Johnson Room 11 Magnuson Hotel 12 1421 Murrays Chapel Road 13 Sweetwater, Tennessee 14 The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m.
15 PANEL MEMBERS:
16 FRANCIS X. "CHIP" CAMERON, Facilitator 17 PATRICK MILANO, Sr. Project Manager 18 DENNIS BEISSEL, Environmental Project Manager 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 P R O C E E D I N G S 1 MR. CAMERON: Good evening, everyone. My 2 name is Chip Cameron, and I work for the Executive 3 Director for Operations at the Nuclear Regulatory 4 Commission, the NRC. And it's a real pleasure to be 5 with you here tonight and to serve as the facilitator 6 for the meeting tonight.
7 And our topic is the going to be the 8 environmental review process that the NRC conducts 9 with it receives an application to construct and 10 operate a new nuclear power plant.
11 The NRC has received an application from 12 Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA, to complete 13 construction and to operate a second unit at Watts Bar 14 2. So tonight we're going to be talking about what 15 the NRC evaluates when it looks at environmental 16 impacts as one part of its decision on whether to 17 grant the license for the new plant.
18 And I just briefly wanted to run through 19 some meeting process issues for you before we got to 20 the substance of tonight's discussion, and first of 21 all the format for the meeting, a two-part meeting.
22 The first part, NRC is going to give you some 23 information on the NRC evaluation process so that 24 you'll know what the context is here.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 Then we're going to go to the second part 1 of the meeting, which is an opportunity for the NRC 2 staff to listen to your advice, your comments, 3 recommendations on what the NRC should look at when it 4 does its environmental review, what types of issues, 5 what types of potential impacts.
6 And the NRC staff will be telling you how 7 you can submit written comments on these issues and 8 the due date for those written comments, but we wanted 9 to be here with you personally tonight to talk with 10 you about this subject.
11 We are going to have some time for a few 12 questions after the NRC presentations and before we go 13 to public comment, and I would just ask you to just 14 hold your questions until you hear both of the NRC 15 presentations.
16 And if we don't have time to cover all the 17 questions, the NRC staff will be here after the 18 meeting to talk with you about those questions.
19 And by the way, besides the two speakers 20 that we have from the NRC, we also brought 21 representatives from our Office of General Counsel and 22 our Office of Public Affairs -- Region 2 Public 23 Affairs, a resident inspector, and various members of 24 the technical staff so that we could make sure that we 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 4could talk to you about whatever might be on your 1 mind. 2 In terms of ground rules, very simple and 3 just aimed at helping us all to have a productive 4 meeting tonight. When we get to the question part, if 5 you have a question, just signal me, and I'll bring 6 you this cordless mike, and just please introduce 7 yourself to us.
8 Second ground rule is only one person at a 9 time speaking, and that's so we can give our full 10 attention to whomever has the floor at the moment, and 11 so that Brenda Thompson is our stenographer court 12 reporter can get a clean transcript, so that she knows 13 who's talking. The transcript is our record and your 14 record of the meeting tonight.
15 And I would just ask you to try to be 16 brief in your comments. Sometimes we have so many 17 people who want to speak that we need to pretty 18 strictly enforce a three- to five-minute time limit.
19 We have about six or seven people who want to speak 20 tonight, so we should have plenty of time, but I would 21 still ask you to watch your time and eventually a 22 gigantic buzzer will go off. I'm kidding on that one.
23 But just watch your time.
24 Final ground rule is to just extend 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 5courtesy to all who are hear tonight. You may hear 1 opinions that are different from your own, and just 2 please respect the person who's doing that, and 3 there's always signs along the road about Drive 4 gently, and maybe just Speak gently tonight would be 5 good. 6 And with that, let me introduce our two 7 speakers. Patrick Milano, and Patrick is the senior 8 project manager at the NRC, and he is in charge of the 9 safety review on the license application for the Watts 10 Bar Unit 2 plant, and he's just going to give you a 11 brief history and an overview of the process.
12 And then we're going go to Dennis Beissel, 13 and Dennis is the environmental project manager for 14 this license application, and he's going to go into a 15 little more in depth on what's involved in the 16 environmental review.
17 And I just thank all of you for being here 18 tonight and helping us with this decision, and I'm 19 going to turn it over to Patrick.
20 MR. MILANO: Thank you.
21 I'm not here to really provide you with an 22 in-depth discussion of what the NRC does in terms of 23 review of an operating license application; however, 24 I'm going to try to give you some high-level 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 6discussion on what are the major functions and parts 1 of this. 2 The Atomic Energy Act and the Energy 3 Recovery Act provide the basic framework of the 4 regulations for licensing of any new reactor. In this 5 regard the NRC does its reviews and is governed by the 6 requirements in Title 10 of the Code of Federal 7 Regulations; in particular it's Part 50.
8 Unlike the new reactors that you've 9 probably been hearing about, those are done under a 10 new part of the regulations, Part 52. However, Watts 11 Bar Unit 2's application came in in the '70s and will 12 still be governed by the regulations in Part 50 rather 13 than in Part 52.
14 Any applicant for either a construction 15 permit or an operating license needs to submit 16 information which sufficiently describes the design of 17 the facility, presents its design basis and its limits 18 on operation and also describes the systems, 19 structures, and components that are going to go into 20 the plant, as well as the plant as a whole.
21 In addition to that portion, which is is 22 commonly referred to as the safety portion of the 23 review, an licensee or an applicant for a facility is 24 required to submit other information such as the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 7environmental report. And in this regard, for Watts 1 Bar, there was an environmental report, which is 2 currently under review and we'll be discussing in 3 further detail tonight.
4 Before I get started with a description of 5 what has transpired, I'd like to emphasize that the 6 NRC recognizes a continuing obligation to conduct its 7 licensing and regulatory functions in a manner which 8 is both receptive to environmental concerns and also 9 consistent with its responsibility as an independent 10 regulatory agency in its functions to protect the 11 health and safety of the public.
12 The National Environmental Policy Act of 13 1969, commonly referred to as NEPA, directs that all 14 agencies of federal government to comply with NEPA 15 procedures.
16 And under NRC's regulations, an applicant 17 requesting either a construction permit or and 18 operating license must submit an environmental report.
19 Now, TVA, also as a federal agency is also required 20 to submit environmental information its application.
21 And in this regard you'll see up here that 22 in late 1972, TVA submitted an Environmental Impact 23 Statement to cover the construction of Watts Bar Units 24 1 and 2. And that Environmental Impact Statement was 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 8reviewed by the NRC, along with other information, 1 which led to the NRC's findings and authorization of 2 construction permits in January 1973 for both Watts 3 Bar units.
4 In mid-1976 TVA requested an operating 5 license for both Watts Bar 1 and 2. And as part of 6 the information that was required to be submitted, 7 they also provided an Environmental Impact Statement 8 covering the operation of the facility.
9 And what it is does is it supplements the 10 Environmental Impact Statement that was provided for 11 construction, and it focuses more specifically on the 12 operation of the facility. The NRC reviewed that 13 series of documentation, and in 1978 the NRC issued 14 its own environmental statement.
15 However, in the mid-1980s TVA halted -- or 16 ceased construction of both Watts Bar units and a 17 number of its other facilities because of problems 18 with construction deficiencies and other TVA 19 management concerns.
20 And in the early 1990s, when TVA restarted 21 construction, because of the period of time that had 22 transpired between the operating license application 23 and now, being the mid-1990s, TVA supplemented its 24 Environmental Impact Statement, and the NRC also 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 9issued a supplement to its environmental statement, 1 which handled the -- or which supported the operation 2 of Watts Bar Unit 1 only, and in late 1995 the NRC 3 also authorized the operating license for Unit 1.
4 In August of 2007, TVA notified the NRC 5 that it desired to reactivate construction of Watts 6 Bar Unit 2, and in support of that, in July of 2008, 7 TVA supplemented its Environmental Impact Statement 8 for the operation of Unit 2. And in March of this 9 year, TVA updated its overall application for an 10 operating license for Unit 2.
11 The NRC has held several meetings with the 12 public that describe the overall process that it's 13 going to use to review the Watts Bar 2.
14 In this regard, as I'd indicated, the 15 review is not just a single review; it's a number of 16 reviews. As we've indicated here, there's a safety 17 review of the design and operation of the facility.
18 There's the environmental review that's going on, and 19 also there's reviews of other areas, such as security 20 and emergency preparedness, and a couple other 21 ancillary-type functions.
22 The NRC, on the safety side, will prepare 23 a report that's called the safety evaluation report.
24 This report was initially issued by the NRC for Units 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 0 1 and 2 and has been supplemented over the years.
1 At the time that Unit 1 was licensed in 2 1995, there were 20 supplements to the original safety 3 evaluation report, and that process will continue to 4 be utilized for Watts Bar Unit 2. Also, as you're 5 going to hear shortly, there will be the environmental 6 review that will be separately documented.
7 When both the environmental review and the 8 safety reviews are completed, the NRC staff will 9 present its findings to an independent advisory 10 committee to the commissioners, and that committee, as 11 noted up on the slide, is he Advisory Committee on 12 Reactor Safety, commonly referred to as the ACRS.
13 If the ACRS makes a determination that 14 they agree that the operating license should be issued 15 for the facility, they make their recommendation 16 directly to the Commission, since it is a Commission 17 support staff.
18 Along with that, the construction of the 19 facility continues to be inspected by the Region 2 20 staff, by the inspectors and others, and finally the 21 Commission -- there's a presentation made to the 22 Commission, and if the Commission should, after 23 hearing all the information from these -- in these 24 various reviews and from their advisory committee, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 1makes a determination that an operating license should 1 be issued to -- for the operation of Watts Bar, it 2 will authorize the director of the Office of Nuclear 3 Reactor Regulation to issue the operating license.
4 With that brief summary of what takes 5 place overall, I'd like to now to turn it over to 6 Dennis Beissel, who will go into the environmental 7 review, which is the true function of today's meeting.
8 Thank you.
9 MR. BEISSEL: Thank you.
10 My name is Dennis Beissel; I'm a 11 hydrologist and project manager with NRC, the 12 environmental branch at headquarters.
13 The evaluation that we do for the 14 operating license application is governed by NEPA, and 15 NEPA requires that all federal agencies follow a 16 systematic approach in evaluating potential 17 environmental impacts associated with certain actions.
18 We at the NRC consider the environmental impacts of 19 the proposed action, which in this case is issuing or 20 not issuing an operating license.
21 The process is specifically structured to 22 involve public participation and obtain public 23 comment, and this meeting is part of that public 24 participation activity.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 2 We're going to prepare an Environmental 1 Impact Statement which will actually be a supplement 2 to the existing ones. During this review we will look 3 for and evaluate any new and significant information 4 that might call into question the conclusions that 5 were previously reached, and we will search for new 6 issues not necessarily addressed in the original FES 7 from 20 years ago. We'll consider, analyze, and 8 evaluate all the environmental impacts of issuing the 9 operating license.
10 The purpose of the EIS -- as you can see 11 in these bullets, the primary thing here I want to 12 emphasize is that we provide full and fair discussion 13 and disclosure of the impacts and environmental 14 matters, and we'll focus on significant issues and 15 alternatives.
16 During our evaluation the staff will 17 evaluate the impact to resources such as aquatic and 18 terrestrial ecology, which is fish and wildlife; 19 groundwater and surface water hydrology, which will be 20 water resources; cultural resources, human health and 21 land use.
22 As far as information gathering, we will 23 use information that was in the environmental report 24 that was submitted by TVA as part of their license 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 3application. This week we're conducting an onsite 1 environmental audit, where we tour the facility; we 2 observe plant systems and evaluate the interaction of 3 plant operations with the environment.
4 We talk to plant personnel and review 5 specific documentation of plant operations. We will 6 speak to -- and have done so -- and consult with 7 federal, state, and local officials, permitting 8 authorities, and social services. We also, obviously, 9 will consider the comments received during the public 10 scoping period from these meetings and from now until 11 October 30, as you'll see later, in writing.
12 And all of this information together will 13 form the basis of our conclusions that will be 14 presented in a Draft Supplemental EIS.
15 Just a little bit of summary of the 16 background: The original Final Environmental Statement 17 that NRC produced was in 1978, and the current review 18 will be an update to that. There have been I think 19 one or two other updates in the interim for different 20 activities, but this one's for the operating license.
21 The regulatory requirements are found in 22 10 CFR Part 51. And the guidance we use for our staff 23 and contractors to conduct our review is in the 24 environmental standard review plan, which is NUREG-25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 41555. It describes in pretty detailed guidance what 1 we are supposed to look at, but it's nonprescriptive; 2 it is just a guidance document, but a very important 3 one. 4 The environmental review process -- the 5 first two bullets show that we're in the scoping 6 process with the public meeting and our own scoping 7 activities. We'll perform a review and evaluation of 8 the information we gather. From that we'll produce a 9 Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and then we'll 10 have another series of public meetings, two of them, 11 probably, where we will seek comments on the Draft 12 Environmental Impact Statement.
13 Then we'll go through the same 14 consultation procedures, and then when all is said and 15 done and all the comments and everything has been 16 taken care of, we'll publish the Final Environmental 17 Statement.
18 As far as the comments that are due in 19 this case for scoping, we need to have them by October 20 30, and that's by mail. Of course, the email you can 21 see here, and I think there are copies in the back, so 22 I won't try to read this off. Also I think you can 23 comment by telephone, too, if you call any of us at 24 our office, and then obviously today you can give 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 5 written comments or speak and we'll transcribe them.
1 And that's the general summary of what we 2 intend to do. So I'll turn it back to Chip.
3 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much, Dennis.
4 Thank you, Patrick.
5 And we always say that if you don't want 6 to mail your comments in or submit them by email, that 7 you can actually physically come to the NRC building, 8 but the important thing is they have to be on the 9 record; that's why we're taking a transcript.
10 So if you call in -- and Dennis and 11 Patrick will always be glad to talk to you, or respond 12 to emails, but if you call in, it probably be won't be 13 on the record, so we couldn't make an official 14 comment, but feel free to visit.
15 Okay. Thanks, Dennis.
16 Are there questions about the process at 17 this point?
18 Yes, Ann. And could you just introduce 19 yourself to us, please.
20 MS. HARRIS: Yes. My name's Ann Harris, 21 and I want to know at what point will the ACRS visit 22 here at the site and hold a local public meeting?
23 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Let's -- Patrick?
24 MR. MILANO: Well, the ACRS, as part of 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 6its normal yearly functions, visited Watts Bar Unit 2 1 this past July, and that was noticed in the Federal 2 Register by the ACRS itself, and there was a public 3 meeting that took place coincident with their visit.
4 In part I think -- not to put words in 5 your mouth, but there is a -- there will be a major 6 meeting that's held -- if the staff should find, from 7 its safety and environmental and other reviews, that 8 the plant -- that they recommend that the plant should 9 be given an operating license, near the time that that 10 would take place, there will be a major meeting that 11 occurs in the vicinity that will be led by the 12 director of the Office Nuclear Reactor Regulation and 13 the regional administrator from Region 2, along with 14 other senior members of their staffs.
15 And that meeting will take place near the 16 station; you know, I can't say exactly, you know, 17 when; probably within a couple months of the -- of a 18 recommendation going to the Commission. It's a final 19 step in trying to determine if everything has been 20 accomplished that needs to be accomplished in the 21 review. 22 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Thank you, Patrick.
23 Does that -- does the NRC or the ACRS ever 24 hold a public meeting discussion on the SER in the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 7 vicinity of the site, or is that usually in Rockville?
1 MR. MILANO: In Rockville.
2 MR. CAMERON: Okay. So it's usually 3 there. 4 MS. HARRIS: They don't want anybody 5 there. I mean, this is quite obvious that the 6 public -- this is another way to shut out the public, 7 and it's a constant thing that we have going here. I 8 mean, you're talking about computer usage. Does 9 anybody see any big overwhelming public libraries over 10 there in Spring City that people can go and pull up 11 on -- the Federal Register? I mean, I get notices 12 because I have hounded you people for years to stay on 13 the mailing list, but not everybody knows to do that, 14 or people suddenly find out things, and things --
15 And this visit by the ACRS in the Federal 16 Register -- do you all not all work together? Is this 17 another group of people that's got their own little 18 fiefdoms hanging around through the agency?
19 MR. CAMERON: Ann, we'll consider that as 20 a comment on the process in terms of availability of 21 documents, something for the staff to consider in 22 terms of people who registered for this meeting, 23 whether there's a way to notify them of any future 24 meetings that are going on, because as Ann points out, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 8not everybody's going to read the Federal Register 1 notice. 2 Any other questions before we go to 3 comment? 4 (No response.)
5 MR. CAMERON: Okay. Let's start with some 6 people that we didn't hear from this afternoon, and 7 we're going to go to Stewart Smith and then Sandy 8 Kurtz, and then we'll go to Mayor Jones.
9 Stewart, can you come up -- if you could 10 come up to the podium and address us, that would be 11 great. 12 MR. SMITH: Thank you for this opportunity 13 to address this important issue for our community.
14 First of all, let me say that I'm a resident of McMinn 15 County, and a property owner and part-time resident of 16 Meigs County. My property is within five miles of the 17 plant in Meigs County.
18 As a member of this community or a member 19 of the community that this plant serves, I would just 20 like to speak out favorably for licensing of this 21 plant. Our community is suffering economically, and 22 it's important for future economic development and the 23 future health of our community that we have 24 reliable -- cheap, reliable power so that we can 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 1 9continue to bring industry in to this community.
1 That's one point.
2 The second point is I think that 3 internationally scientists have, for my mind, proven 4 that carbon emissions do have an effect on the 5 environment, and I think that nuclear energy should 6 play an important role in providing the energy that 7 this country and this world needs, particularly this 8 country: clean energy that does not contribute to 9 global warming.
10 And third I'd just like to say that the 11 history of the Tennessee Valley Authority in operating 12 nuclear plants has been very successful. I know that 13 we have in this country had an incident that was 14 certainly a serious incident.
15 I'm getting on up there, a middle-age guy, 16 and I can barely remember when that happened, and with 17 the technology and as far as technology has come, I 18 feel like this -- that we need to follow up with 19 nuclear energy.
20 And I would also like to add that I would 21 like to see more development in recycling of our 22 nuclear waste so that we can use that to the best of 23 its ability. And with that, I will thank you for this 24 opportunity to speak.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 0 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much, 1 Stewart. 2 This is Sandy Kurtz.
3 MS. KURTZ: Hi, everyone. Thank you for 4 this opportunity; I'm glad to be here to talk about 5 the environmental issues in the scoping process.
6 I live in Chattanooga; I'm within the 50-7 mile radius of Watts Bar 2 -- 1 and 2, as well as 8 Sequoyah and Bellefonte. I am a member of the Blue 9 Ridge Environmental Defense League. Our table over 10 here, the Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability 11 Team, has -- is now expanded to address the Watts Bar 12 issues as well.
13 And I am an environmental education 14 consultant, and I was here earlier today, and I have 15 been listening and doing some background work before I 16 came here, reading up, and so I have compiled a list 17 of reasons, that I have just put together, as to why 18 there should not be a second Watts Bar reactor.
19 Here's my list: There are safe and 20 renewable alternatives to nuclear power and 21 opportunities for green jobs for this community that 22 are suitable for this new century.
23 Money being spent for nuclear power could 24 be diverted to providing energy through efficiency, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 1conservation, and alternative energies. There are 1 jobs in all of those places. This would be more 2 economically beneficial in a shorter amount of time, 3 long before a nuclear plant becomes operational.
4 Second, demand for electricity is down.
5 Third, this reactor plan relies on an outdated ice-6 condenser plan that brings with it far more risk than 7 is necessary. Four -- and these are the more --
8 especially the environmental pieces around water: The 9 Tennessee River is stressed already -- the quality of 10 the river. It has fish that are not safe to eat.
11 There is the impact of the Kingston toxic fly ash 12 spill which must be taken into consideration when 13 assessing water quality, because we all live 14 downstream.
15 There is also -- there is radiation 16 already in the river sediment, and another nuclear 17 reactor will only add more. Nuclear plants put 18 radionuclides in the water that no one tests for.
19 Operating Watts Bar 1 nuclear plant 20 requires 188.2 million gallons per day of water drawn 21 from the river. Each day, of that amount, 14.3 22 million gallons is evaporated into the air, not 23 returned to the river.
24 Yet another reactor, a second reactor 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 2 here, drawing out so much water causes me to ask how 1 much can we draw out of the river on any given day in 2 the same reservoir.
3 The temperature of the water returned is 4 hotter, not good for aquatic life, and in droughts it 5 can't be cooled enough and so has to be shut down, 6 just as has happened summer before last, I think it 7 was. That's not reliable power if you have to shut 8 down the nuclear plants because of droughts and hot 9 weather, an issue associated perhaps with climate 10 change. 11 Nuclear plants do have radioactive leaks 12 into the water, which they say is insignificant, but 13 since radiation is cumulative, how much is too much 14 for humans and other life to absorb without health 15 impacts? 16 Fifth, there is the storage of radioactive 17 waste and the legacy it leaves for the future; there 18 is no solution now, and we hear people say, We're 19 going to figure it out. They've been working on it 20 for a long time, and so far we actually seem to be 21 going backwards.
22 Yucca Mountain is closed and, in fact, if 23 it were open, it would be immediately filled up, as I 24 have heard, because we've already stored enough to 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 3 fill it up. Where does our radioactive waste go?
1 This is a legacy for the future that I am 2 sure my grandchildren and their children are not 3 interested in having. Of course, we all care about 4 our health, that of our children, and the future 5 generations.
6 I read of a study completed in Germany.
7 Since 1991 in fact they have done several studies in 8 Europe regarding the health of children who live 9 within ten miles of nuclear facilities, primarily in 10 England and Wales.
11 And what they found out was that there was 12 a statistically significant increased incident rate --
13 I want to say that right, because these are studies --
14 significant increased incident rate for leukemias 15 among children within the five-kilometer zones around 16 the sites. That is, the closer -- and it seemed that 17 the closer you got to the plant, the more -- the 18 higher the incidence.
19 This is of great concern and I think should be looked 20 into before we add another reactor.
21 Most nuclear accidents happen due to human 22 error. In the light of the Kingston fly ash spill, do 23 you believe that TVA can avoid human error? And do 24 you believe that TVA is choosing to use this old 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 4nuclear reactor design because it's the best 1 technology available or because it's cheaper?
2 Given all those concerns and the fact that 3 things have certainly changed since 1978, when the 4 first Environmental Impact Statement was done and 5 those supplements in 1995, I think NRC should 6 recommend to TVA that they start all over with a new, 7 from ground zero, Environmental Impact Statement.
8 Thank you.
9 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much, Sandy.
10 We're going to go to Mayor Ken Jones of 11 Meigs County at this point.
12 Mayor. 13 MR. JONES: First let me say that I thank 14 you. All of the NRC people that are here, we thank 15 you; we appreciate the opportunity that you give us to 16 come here and make statements about actions that we 17 expect you to take in the future.
18 Let me give you just a very brief 19 background. First, I am the county mayor of Meigs 20 County, which is a 100-percent impacted county for 21 Watts Bar Nuclear Facility. I personally live within 22 the ten-mile radius of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. No 23 one has ever told me, up to this point, that I glow in 24 the dark.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 5 I know that the lady before me made 1 mention of a high incidence of leukemia within a close 2 proximity of the plant. I'm somehow unaware of that.
3 We have children in Meigs County -- I have a son that 4 grew up in Meigs County, went to high school in Meigs 5 County, and I've never heard of a high incidence of 6 leukemia; that's -- but I will investigate that to see 7 if there are.
8 And certainly I'm sure that you people 9 from NRC have been bombarded with environmental 10 issues. I'm here to speak to you about some issues 11 that I deal with every day.
12 Those are the fact that southeast 13 Tennessee probably is one of the fastest growing areas 14 from a standpoint of population in this state. In the 15 last five or six years, we have seen a tremendous 16 spurt of growth. And certainly when we experience 17 those things, then we're going to see a higher demand 18 for energy.
19 I don't believe that we can rely on the 20 coal-fired steam plants of yesterday. We have seen, 21 and it has been spoken about here, the fly ash spill 22 in Kingston, which has absolutely nothing to do with 23 nuclear energy.
24 But I can say this: that I have lived 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 6with it for 35 years. I believe that TVA has proven 1 to us that they can operate a nuclear plant in a safe, 2 environmentally friendly manner.
3 And my recommendation to you folks from 4 NRC is that you give serious consideration to issuing 5 license for Watts Bar Unit 2.
6 Thank you very much.
7 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much, Mayor.
8 And just to alleviate any immediate 9 concern, I think the previous speaker was talking 10 about higher leukemia rates in a German study, around 11 German power plants.
12 MS. KURTZ: England and Wales.
13 MR. CAMERON: England, Wales, and Germany, 14 but not here around the TVA plant.
15 Let's go to Lou Zeller, Ann Harris, and 16 Bill Reynolds and --
17 Did he have to go? Okay. Well, then 18 let's go to Ann, and then we'll go to Bill Reynolds.
19 This is Ann Harris.
20 MS. HARRIS: My name is Ann Harris, and 21 I'm a former employee of TVA and its nuclear 22 construction program.
23 I'm not going to call out names, personal 24 names, because that makes some people really nervous, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 7and I'm going to submit this seven-page letter which 1 was sent to the Commission last week; specifically 2 it's dated on September 21.
3 And in this letter it talks about this 4 woman who worked at corporate security for TVA. She 5 was drummed out because she asked too many questions, 6 and she wanted to go by the rules.
7 And the bottom line is that after a two-8 year period, the young lady and TVA came to a mutually 9 agreeable settlement, and then the NRC's Region 2 -- I 10 don't know who they are; we keep getting all these 11 different names of who they are, what they represent 12 and what their agenda is.
13 The bottom line is the NRC is going after 14 this woman because they said that she was unauthorized 15 to use documents when she was protesting her 16 termination as retaliation against the issues that she 17 had raised.
18 TVA agreed, and they redacted the 19 documents. Nobody was identified outside; no 20 documents were taken off the jobsite. The bottom line 21 is that the NRC's Office of Investigation, they're 22 still pursuing this woman for criminal charges under 23 federal -- they say federal laws; they can't tell us 24 what they're looking for.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 8 I suspect that it's more of a fishing 1 expedition than it is anything because somebody needs 2 to keep a job, or they're doing something that they 3 don't know what they're doing, or they're just totally 4 incompetent and needed someplace to hide themselves.
5 We went to the NRC's Office of Inspector 6 General to try to stop it, and they told us that as 7 long as there was an allegation against this woman by 8 somebody at TVA, that they would pursue the issue, and 9 they would not do any kind of investigation.
10 Then, whenever we questioned that, TVA's 11 Inspector General, they just didn't do anything. Of 12 course, that's not unusual; that's their record of 13 decision-making. And now we've been forced to file 14 legal documents with the Commission over this issue.
15 There's other security guards at TVA that 16 none of them knew anything about each other until they 17 came to me; one from Browns Ferry, two from Sequoyah, 18 one from Watts Bar, and then this woman out of 19 corporate.
20 This is the beginning of the same pattern 21 that TVA went through back in the late '80s and the 22 '90s, and I don't see why that we have to go over that 23 same road and travel that same absolute harassing, 24 demeaning, humiliating practice again, because the 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 2 9only people that come out on top of this is the media, 1 and the only way that we can get anything done is 2 through the media.
3 NRC doesn't want to listen; TVA won't 4 listen; the Inspector General won't listen, and the 5 only people that we've got to go to is to the media 6 and the Congress, and we're there.
7 We're not going to back down off of this, 8 because the persecution of this -- she's a little, ol' 9 grandmother; she's a clerk. She had a 18-year career 10 in personnel, and nobody ever -- she never made a 11 mistake. She had wonderful -- but the bottom line is 12 that there's two women involved that come through the 13 revolving door from the NRC, and they both lost their 14 jobs and were removed from TVA, but then they went 15 back to work for the NRC in in-house security.
16 Now, what does that say about you, NRC? I 17 can't trust you to do what you need to do, because 18 you've still got the mentality that the workers don't 19 know what we're doing, because management is always 20 right. 21 And what you found out after -- what was 22 it? -- from 1984 to 1996 -- how many years is that? --
23 12 years? You couldn't get it right, and TVA couldn't 24 get it right, because everybody was talking about 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 0somebody; they wasn't talking to anybody, and 1 nobody -- neither one of you were listening, and then 2 the NRC -- I don't know what it's going to take.
3 This gentleman back here from Meigs 4 County, I was born and raised in Meigs County, but I 5 won't live there anymore. There's more to radiation 6 exposure than cancer, and there's a lot of it.
7 We've paid billions of dollars out through 8 DOE at these nuclear facilities to people that are 9 really dying. We have two in our family that's 10 already died from cancer that worked in Oak Ridge.
11 One of them did not die from -- a third one did not 12 die from cancer; he died from Parkinson's disease, and 13 that was a miserable time to watch.
14 But the other thing is if I can't trust 15 you to keep the security at these nuclear facilities 16 and it's not even up and running, why should I trust 17 you to do right whenever it's up and running? I don't 18 know what you call that.
19 You can't call it bad management, because 20 you've had too many opportunities. The NRC -- when 21 you go to the website, look up the word "tritium," and 22 you go down through there, and you go and see what all 23 the things are.
24 There's a statement there -- it's very 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 1short; I think it's got -- I'll count them in a 1 minute -- like a dozen words in the statement. The 2 NRC does not believe that there's any safe level of 3 exposure to radiation. That's not my words; that's 4 yours. 5 And you're not talking about -- you're 6 talking about continued and elevated exposure, not 7 only to the workers, which they're expendable; we all 8 know that, but you're talking about communities that 9 have no self-protection.
10 Talking about a community, I don't see you 11 taking this up to Farragut and putting the nuclear 12 plant in the middle of Farragut, where the houses all 13 cost like $750,000 or 2 or 3 million.
14 Somehow somebody's got to start stopping 15 and looking, because you haven't dealt with the waste.
16 You haven't dealt with the radiation exposure, and 17 you certainly have not dealt with the mismanagement.
18 And you're not going by your own rules; 19 TVA's not going by the rules, and everybody's got 20 their own story to tell, but none of them matching up.
21 Sometime or other everybody needs to sit down in a 22 room and look around and mark up what you're doing.
23 I appreciate your time.
24 MR. CAMERON: Okay. And I just want to 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 2make it clear to everybody that that letter that was 1 mentioned is a letter that is in the public domain.
2 Bill Reynolds.
3 MR. REYNOLDS: Bill Reynolds, also known 4 as William Reynolds; Chattanooga resident, downriver 5 from here.
6 I've heard a lot of talk by people who 7 have dedicated their lives to involvement -- I'm not 8 talking about just today. For years I've heard a lot 9 of talk by people who have dedicated their lives to 10 involvement in the nuclear power industry who say, 11 flat out, renewable energy sources around the 12 Tennessee River Valley cannot possibly meet the future 13 energy needs of the valley. Heard it over and over 14 and over again.
15 It's easy to say, but there are quite a 16 few highly qualified experts who started from a 17 neutral and objective point of view about nuclear 18 energy and went through to the completion of entirely 19 comprehensive studies and assessments and found the 20 opposite to that claim to be true.
21 The folks who have done these studies are 22 high experts in the fields of energy production 23 technologies and the economics of operating these 24 technologies. They know what they're talking about, 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 3 and their studies have been thorough.
1 The Institute of Energy and Environmental 2 Research is a primary and star example, and this book 3 that they've produced contains excellent documentation 4 of the massive data and analysis that supports the 5 view that alternative sources to both coal-burning and 6 nuclear power can meet out future energy needs.
7 The scope of NRC's Environmental Impact 8 Statement for Watts Bar 2 should therefore include 9 full attention to and genuine consideration of what's 10 in this report, and don't expect it to be an easy 11 read; it's highly technical and deep; but also in 12 addition to this report, the other comprehensive 13 studies that have been done.
14 In particular, in looking at these other 15 studies that started out objective and neutral about 16 nuclear energy, they should look at -- in the EIS 17 process, they ought to look first at the real-world 18 potential for renewals and implementation of more 19 efficient end-use energy practices and conservation to 20 displace the need for a Watts Bar 2. That would be 21 component of a responsible and honest Environmental 22 Impact Statement about the proposed licensing Watts 23 Bar 2. 24 Secondly, in particular this EIS should 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 4fully assess the comparative financial cost of Watts 1 Bar 2 -- capital cost and operating cost over the life 2 of the plant -- in contract to those same costs from 3 meeting future energy needs while protecting 4 environmental health and climate stability through 5 applications of renewable resources and proved 6 efficiencies in end-use energy use and conservation.
7 Thank you very much.
8 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, William.
9 That's our last speaker for this evening, 10 unless anybody else wants to make a comment who hasn't 11 signed up.
12 (No response.)
13 MR. CAMERON: Okay. With that I would 14 thank you all, and the NRC will be here after the 15 meeting to talk with you, and we're adjourned.
16 (Whereupon, at 7:25 p.m., the public 17 hearing was concluded.)
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