MEEETING MINUTES
Yankee Rowe Community
Advisory Board April 29, 1998
Brad C. Councilman, Chairman of the Yankee Rowe Community Advisory Board (CAB) opened the CAB's first meeting at the Rowe Town Hall at 7:15 p.m. He suggested the CAB members introduce themselves and speak about their affiliations and backgrounds. Mr. Councilman said he would like to keep things informal and suggested members refer to each other by first name. He also addressed CAB members' potential concerns about their qualifications to serve on the Board stating that although there is a lot to learn, their willingness to participate is the most fundamental qualification.
13 members of the 18-member board, including Vice-Chair Brien Locke, attended the meeting. Three seats on the board had not yet been appointed. Each member introduced themselves and gave information about their role in the organization or town they represent and any community service involvement. Also attending the meeting were representatives of the media, Yankee Atomic Electric Company, and the public. The meeting was videotaped by Yankee Atomic Electric Company.
YANKEE PRESENTATION
Don Davis, President and CEO of Yankee Atomic Electric Company, spoke briefly to CAB members thanking them for agreeing to participate on the Board. He said Yankee Atomic was looking for a better mechanism to interact with the community and decided to establish the Board partly because Connecticut Yankee had a community board that was working quite well. Yankee sees its role as one of getting information to and from the CAB. Don said the Board will be able to provide input and advice regarding remaining decommissioning issues and Yankee will be responsive to the Board's needs and suggestions. Don discussed a list of potential activities for the CAB to consider then introduced Jane Grant and Ken Heider who made presentations on the decommissioning of the Yankee Rowe plant.
Jane Grant, Decommissioning Manager for Yankee Atomic, thanked the CAB members for their participation on the Board and expressed Yankee's commitment to work with the CAB and sincerely address recommendations. Jane presented a schedule for Dismantlement and Decontamination, Spent Fuel Disposition and License Termination. The schedule called for completion of dismantlement and decontamination and Phase I of the Final Status Survey in 1999. If necessary, construction of a dry cask storage facility for the plant's used nuclear fuel and transfer of the fuel from the spent fuel pool building to the facility, would occur in 2001. Decontamination and dismantlement of the spent fuel pool building is scheduled for completion in 2002. Phase 2 of the Final Status Surveys and Nuclear Regulatory Commission verification of the surveys is scheduled for 2003. Site restoration would be completed in 2004. The used fuel would be stored in the dry storage facility on the Yankee Rowe site until 2018 when transfer of the fuel to the Department of Energy is expected to be completed. The dry storage facility would be decommissioned in 2018 and the plant's Part 50 license terminated in 2019. Jane emphasized that the Spent Fuel Disposition schedule is contingent upon the DOE's action or inaction regarding removal of the fuel. The following questions were raised by CAB members after Jane's presentation:
Q. Nina Newington:
Are there any provisions for problems with the dry cask storage facility
if the spent fuel pool is removed?
A. Jane Grant: If Yankee does decide to build dry cask storage, the design
provides for either an extra over pack or a transportation cask on site
that the fuel could be transferred to incase of a problem.
(At this point Brad Councilman interjected and said someone should be
on "Jargon Watch" because of the terms and acronyms being used by Yankee
representatives. He also suggested that Yankee personnel provide definitions
of terms they use. )
Q. Lenny Laffond: It seems like Yankee has given up on the Department
of Energy (DOE)taking the fuel?
A. Don Davis: Yankee has sued the DOE in two different courts trying to
force DOE's hand in meeting its legal obligation to take the fuel. I met
with Energy Secretary Pena and for various reasons the DOE doesn't want
to take the fuel at this stage even though they are taking fuel from foreign
countries. It's in everybody's interest to move the fuel to centralized
storage. Yankee put together a booklet (also in the CAB members' binders)
to be used to help Yankee lobby legislators to support pending legislation
that provides a solution to this problem.
Q. Nina Newington:
What is a Part 50 license?
A. Jane Grant: The Code of Federal Regulations is used to regulate many
industries. Title 1O of the Code of Federal Regulations addresses energy.
Part 50 of Title 1O of the Code of Federal Regulations applies to operation
of nuclear power plants. Yankee has a Part 50 license.
Ken Heider, Site Manager for the Yankee Rowe nuclear plant, gave a slide presentation on Yankee Rowe's history, decommissioning activities and fuel storage. Ken said Yankee has two missions- to store the used fuel safely until the DOE removes it - and to safely decommission the plant and return it to a green field condition. He defined decommissioning as decontamination and dismantlement and said that decommissioning at Yankee Rowe is about 80% complete. The slide presentation consisted of pre-construction, construction, component removal, fuel pool, and final status s urvey photos.
The following questions were raised after Ken's presentation:
Q. Anita Barker: I thought I had read that the Barnwell low-level waste
disposal facility was closing
. A. Ken Heider: Barnwell has closed before. The South Carolina legislature voted to re open the facility to waste generators, but it has indicated it could revisit the closure issue again
. Q. Nina Newington: What about leaking at Barnwell. They have found tritium in the groundwater.
A. Ken Heider: There are questions about where the tritium is coming from. One of DOE's facilities, Savannah River Site is 1O miles away.
A. Don Davis: A representative from Barnwell made a presentation to Connecticut Yankee's advisory board and discussed this issue. Those tapes are available or we could have the representative come and talk to this Board.
Brad Councilman announced a 15-minute break and asked members to think about whether they would be interested in serving as Secretary of the CAB so that a Secretary could be appointed when the meeting resumed.
NEW BUSINESS
Secretary: Following the break, Brad announced that Doris Lewis had agreed to serve as the CAB's Secretary. He asked the members to please check their addresses and phone numbers listed in their manuals and provide any corrections to Doris. He also asked attending members to sign the sign-in sheet.
Committees/Activities: Brad suggested that CAB members think about possible committee structure before the next meeting, as well as what activities the board may want to look at and how they may want to look at those activities. He discussed the potential activities list provided by Yankee and asked if anyone thought anything was missing from the list. Lenny Laffond asked if the list could be added to and Brad responded the list is a place to start. The Board can determine its own direction. Nina Newington questioned the fact that the charter did not allow alternates. She said many people have difficult schedules and particularly with the "three strikes your out" language in the charter it made it more difficult. Brad suggested they both read the charter more carefully regarding the "three strikes your out" language before addressing the issue. Anita Barker then asked if the DOE mandated that every nuclear plant have an advisory board. Brad answered, with concurrence from Don Davis, that the Board was created by Yankee because they thought it would be an effective way to communicate with the community and it was not mandated by any regulatory agency. Bruce Lessels asked why did Yankee form the Board so late considering most of the decommissioning is completed. Don Davis responded that public interest in the Final Status Survey portion of Yankee's License Termination Plan (LTP) and the DOE's failure to take Yankee's fuel in a timely manner were key reasons. In addition, one public meeting was not enough to satisfy the public's need for information. Don said the members' willingness to accept positions on the Board sends a signal to Yankee that there is an interest in remaining decommissioning activities at Yankee Rowe.
Plant Tour: Brad initially suggested that instead of arranging a group tour of the plant, members be allowed to arrange their own individual tours. That was agreed to by Yankee and members were asked to call Stan Gawle at 413-424-2394 to make arrangements. Members were given information forms to complete that will expedite the tour process. It was later decided to also arrange a group tour before the next CAB meeting and to hold the next meeting at the plant.
Training: It was agreed that Greg Babineau, Radiation Protection Manager, provide a 15-minute radiation protection overview at the next meeting and Jane Grant would provide a 15-minute overview on the regulatory process.
Meeting Location: Brien Locke suggested that the Board alternate meeting locations. Although the Rowe facility is nice, it would be difficult to get to during winter months. The CAB agreed to discuss the issue at the next meeting because it had already been decided to hold the May meeting at the plant because of the plant tour.
Agenda Items: Brad asked if anyone had any specific items they would like to see on the agenda for the next meeting and suggested everyone take a closer look at the material in their binder before the next meeting. Nina Newington said she would like to have someone come to talk to the CAB about dry cask storage and that perhaps it could be scheduled for the June meeting.
Meeting Day/Time: The CAB agreed that Thursdays were the best night to meet and that two hours, from 7 to 9 p.m., was enough time to conduct business. The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday, May 28 at 7:00 p.m
Public Comment: Brad opened the meeting to comment from the public. No hands were raised.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted, Doris Lewis Secretary