0001 1 STATE OF NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 2 PUBLIC HEARING THE NEW JERSEY RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCY 3 RESPONSE PLAN FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS 4 - - - 5 6 7 - - - July 15, 2009 8 - - - 9 Public hearing held at the Cumberland 10 County Administration Building, 790 E. Commerce 11 Street - Route 49, Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302, 12 commencing at 7:00 p.m., on the above date, 13 before Joseph P. Dromgoole, a Professional 14 Reporter and Notary Public in the State of New 15 Jersey. 16 - - - 17 18 19 CLASS ACT REPORTING AGENCY, LLC 20 Registered Professional Reporters 1420 Walnut Street, St. 1200 133H Gaither Drive 21 Philadelphia, PA 19103 Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054 (215) 928-9760 (856) 235-5108 22 23 24 0002 1 MR. DEPIERRO: Good evening, 2 everyone. My name is Nick DePierro. I'm the 3 Supervisor of the Nuclear Emergency 4 Preparedness Section in the Bureua of Nuclear 5 Engineering within the New Jersey Department 6 of Environmental Protection. I will be the 7 Hearing Officer this evening. The purpose of 8 this hearing is to receive testimony, 9 comments, and questions regarding the 10 adequacy and effectiveness of the New Jersey 11 Radiological Emergency Response Plan for 12 Nuclear Power Plants. In order that this 13 hearing may be properly documented, the 14 proceedings are being recorded by a certified 15 shorthand reporter. 16 Everyone attending this meeting 17 is asked to sign the attendance sheet before 18 leaving. The attendance sheets for these 19 hearings are used to update the Bureau of 20 Nuclear Engineering's public hearing mailing 21 list. 22 Public notice of this hearing 23 was published in the New Jersey Register on 24 May 18th and June 1st, 2009. In addition, 0003 1 public notice was published in the Bridgeton 2 Evening News from July 8th through July 14th, 3 2009. Copies of the public notice for the 4 three hearings were mailed in June to other 5 persons who attended last year's hearings. 6 This hearing will proceed as 7 follows: I will provide a brief background 8 on why we are conducting the hearings. Then 9 I will introduce the panel members and ask 10 them to briefly describe the role of their 11 organization in nuclear emergency 12 preparedness and response. Finally, I will 13 open the hearing for comments and questions 14 from the public. 15 The New Jersey Radiation 16 Accident Response Act requires the Department 17 of Environmental Protection, in cooperation 18 with the New Jersey Division of State Police, 19 to conduct public hearings to take comment 20 on, and address questions relevant to, the 21 adequacy and effectivenss of the New Jersey 22 Radiological Emergency Response Plan. 23 These public hearings are held 24 annually in each of the three counties 0004 1 affected by the plan; Ocean County for the 2 Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, and 3 Salem and Cumberland Counties for Salem Unit 4 1, Salem Unit 2, and Hope Creek Nuclear 5 Generating Stations. We are here tonight to 6 listen to your questions and comments on New 7 Jersey's nuclear emergency response plan. 8 Comments on more general nuclear power issues 9 or issues that relate to licensing and 10 regulatory matters at nuclear power plants 11 will not be within the purview of this 12 meeting and hence are not appropriate, and 13 will not be addressed. 14 The purpose of the plan is to 15 coordinate and implement an immediate and 16 comprehensive response at the state, county, 17 and municipal levels to a radiological 18 emergency associated with any power plant 19 affecting the State of New Jersey. Copies of 20 the plan are available for public inspection 21 at the Salem County Emergency Management 22 Office in Mannington Township, the Cumberland 23 County Office of Emergency Management in 24 Bridgeton, the Ocean County Office of 0005 1 Emergency Management in Berkley Township, the 2 New Jersey Office of Emergency Management in 3 West Trenton, and the public libraries in 4 Salem, Cumberland, and Ocean Counties. 5 Now I would like to introduce 6 the members of the panel. To my right, far 7 right, Lieutenant Richard Sensi, and next to 8 him Sergeant First Class Thomas Scardino. 9 And they're representing the New Jersey 10 Division of State Police. Lieutenant Sensi 11 is the Supervisor of the Radiological 12 Emergency Response Planning and Technical 13 Unit, and Sergeant First Class Scardino is 14 the Assistant Supervisor of the Radiological 15 Emergency Response Planning and Technical 16 Unit. To my left is Mr. Pat Mulligan, and 17 he's representing the New Jersey Department 18 of Environmental Protection. Mr. Mulligan is 19 the Manager of the DEP's Bureau of Nuclear 20 Engineering. Representing the New Jersey 21 Department of Health and Senior Services to 22 my far left is Mr. Jim Langenbach. 23 Mr. Langenbach is the Operations Program 24 Manager. If questions arrise that involve 0006 1 the responsibilities of the Department of 2 Health and Senior Services, I will call upon 3 Jim to respond. 4 Now I will ask Lieutenant Sensi 5 to briefly describe the role of the State 6 Police in the plan. 7 LIEUTENANT SENSI: Thank you. 8 For the record, I'm Lieutenant Richard 9 Sensi. I'm representing the State Office of 10 Emergency Management within the Division of 11 State Police. 12 Our office, as you may know, 13 has the responsibility for administering and 14 implementing the radiological emergency 15 response plan for incidents at power plants 16 in New Jersey. In addition to the 17 preparation of the radiological emergency 18 plans, the New Jersey State Police is the 19 lead agency in the following functional 20 areas; notification and communication, 21 command and coordination, protective actions, 22 which include evacuation, shelter, and place, 23 access control, food, water and milk control, 24 and parallel actions that include traffic 0007 1 control, decontamination, exposure control, 2 mass care, law enforcement, fire control, 3 public health, reentry and recovery. 4 And for the record I'd also 5 like to introduce Sergeant First Class Tom 6 Scardino who is the Assistant Supervisor for 7 the Radiological Emergency Response Plan and 8 Technical Unit, and Sergeant Brian Evingham 9 is the county regional representative 10 assigned to the South Region Office of 11 Emergency Management. Thank you. 12 MR. DEPIERRO: Thank you. Now 13 I will ask Mr. Mulligan to briefly describe 14 the role and responsibilities of the 15 Department of Enviromental Protection. 16 MR. MULLIGAN: Good evening. 17 My name is Pat Mulligan. I'm the Manager of 18 the Bureau of Nuclear Engineering. And for 19 the record, the staff that we have here 20 tonight is Mr. Elliot Rosenfeld who's a 21 nuclear engineer is our enginnering section, 22 and Mr. Paul Schwartz, who is a nuclear 23 engineer in our enviromental section, and 24 Ms. Carol Shepard, who is a physicist in our 0008 1 emergency preparedness section. 2 And now I'm going to briefly 3 discuss the role of the Department of 4 Environmental Protection in New Jersey's 5 Radiological Response Plan. 6 The New Jersey Radiological 7 Emergency Response Plan includes the plan, 8 standard operating procedures and annexes. 9 The Plan identifies all responsibile state 10 agencies and outlines their specific roles in 11 in the event of a nuclear emergency. It is 12 based on five primary functions that outline 13 the actions to be performed in the event of a 14 radiological emergency at one of the four 15 nuclear power plants in New Jersey or at a 16 plant in a neighoring state. These actions 17 are: Notification and Communication; Accident 18 Assessment, Command and Coordination; 19 Protective Actions; and Parallel Actions. 20 Since agency roles and 21 responsibilities don't change often, the plan 22 essentially does not change. The Standard 23 Operating Procedures are specific 24 instructions and guidelines used by each 0009 1 agency when performing their specific 2 duties. Procedures are reviewed and tested 3 annually, and revised whenever necessary in 4 order to enhance emergency response. The 5 Annexes, A and B, are the Radiological 6 Emergency Plans for the Salem/Hope Creek and 7 Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Sites. 8 Respectfully, each annex describes the 9 planning basis and concept of operation for 10 each of the municipalities within the 11 ten-mile Emergency Planning Zonez around each 12 site. 13 Under the New Jersey Radiation 14 Accident Response Act, the Department of 15 Environmental Protection has the lead role in 16 Accident Assessment and control of food, 17 water, and milk following an incident. 18 Accident Assessment involves two separate 19 analyses, an engineering analysis of the 20 event at the plant as it unfolds, and an 21 analysis of the amount of radiation to which 22 the public may be exposed in the event of a 23 release. 24 Depending upon the severity of 0010 1 the even, the Department provides Protective 2 Action Recommendations to the Governor, who 3 will make a final decision on actions to be 4 implemented to protect public health and 5 safety. Protective Action Recommendations 6 for the public may include the administration 7 of potassium iodide, evacuation, sheltering, 8 and access control within the affected, or 9 potentially affected, area. The Act also 10 specifies that the Department develop and 11 implement a comprehensive monitoring strategy 12 that includes the daily monitoring of levels 13 of radioactivity in the environment. The 14 Department also provides public health, 15 safety, and technical guidance with respect 16 to the preparation and implementation of the 17 Plan. The Department's final responsibility 18 under the Act is to conduct, in cooperation 19 with the State Police, annual public hearings 20 in each of the designated counties to 21 determine the adequacy and effectiveness of 22 the Plan. Thank you. 23 MR. DEPIERRO: Thank you, Pat. 24 Now we will proceed with the public's 0011 1 questions and comments. Those individuals 2 who wish to speak should complete a speaker 3 registration card like this one here 4 (indicating). Carol in the back has them. I 5 will call the speakers' name in the same 6 order as I have received the registration 7 cards. Please be certain to clearly print 8 your name and address on the registration 9 card so that we may contact you if we need to 10 respond to your comments and questions more 11 fully in writing. When I call your name, 12 come forward, face the panel, and make 13 yourself comfortable. Before you begin 14 comments, please state and spell your name 15 for the reporter. Speakers will be limited 16 to five minutes, five minutes each. If time 17 still remains after everyone has spoken I 18 will invite additional comments for those 19 people who have already spoken. Okay. So we 20 have one speaker here. And we'll being with 21 Mr. Joseph Mangano. 22 MR. MANGANO: Good evening. My 23 name is Joseph Mangano. I'm here in my role 24 as Associated Coordinator of the UNPLUG Salem 0012 1 Campaign, a network of organizations, local, 2 state, and national, which acts as a safety 3 watchdog for PSEG's three nuclear power 4 plants at Salem 1, 2, and Hope Creek. I'm 5 also Executive Director of the Radiation 6 Public Health Project, a research and 7 education organization based in New York. 8 I'm the author or co-author of 24 medical 9 journal articles and three books documenting 10 high cancer rates near nuclear plants. I'm 11 here representing Norm Cohen and Unplug 12 Salem, as Norm finds it difficult to drive to 13 and attend evening meetings due to an ongoing 14 medical condition. 15 I told Norm that at the Salem 16 meeting two weeks ago you left the door open 17 to allow a representative from Unplug Salem 18 to observe an evacuation exercise. Norm 19 wanted me to tell you that allowing us to 20 observe in person might go a long way in 21 resolving some doubts we've had about the 22 plan over the years. 23 I spoke at the Salem County 24 meeting and stand by my remarks. I'd like to 0013 1 take this time to comment on issues that 2 concern residents of Cumberland and Cape May 3 Counties. 4 To reiterate from the Salem 5 meeting: Our position, as stated every year 6 by Norm Cohen continues to be that the 7 evacuation plan, as currently written, will 8 not work, especially in the hopefully 9 unlikely chance of a catastrophic accident 10 that happens quickly, before the evacuation 11 plan could even be put in motion. In respect 12 to Cumberland County, because there are 13 larger population centers such as Millville, 14 Vineland, and Bridgeton, and because, with 15 the exception of Route 55, all of the major 16 evacuation routes are two-lane, evacuation of 17 this area would be extremely difficult. 18 When you add on the population 19 of shore visitors in the summer, one can come 20 up with a number of scenarios, like a 21 combination of an oncoming hurricane and a 22 radiation release at Salem/Hope Creek, that 23 would lead to utter chaos. 24 We have the following 0014 1 questions? One, at the Salem meeting, you 2 indicated there would be no potassium iodide 3 distributions beyond the ten-mile limit. 4 That means in the case of a fast-moving 5 radioactive plume that passes over Bridgeton, 6 residents will not be able to protect 7 themselves from thyroid cancer. Are you 8 willing to do a potassium iodide distribution 9 in Bridgeton? Can residents outside the 10 ten-mile zone go to the site where potassium 11 iodide is stockpiled and pick up on their 12 own? Two, on your "tabletop" exercises, have 13 you done exercises that factor in summer 14 tourist traffic or scenarios like the 15 hurricane one I mentioned? Three, Delaware 16 and Southern New Jersey recently had an 17 earthquake measuring about 2.7 on the Richter 18 scale. What earthquake level can Salem and 19 Hope Creek withstand? Four, because 20 Artificial Island is an artificial island, 21 built with dredge spoils, and because the 22 foundation of pilings for Salem/Hope Creek do 23 not reach bedrock, have there been any 24 studies done on liquefaction due to 0015 1 earthquakes? And in your comments I have 2 attached a letter written by Sidney Goodman 3 who's an engineer who expresses our 4 concerns. And five, has PSEG looked at 5 locations in Cumberland County as possible 6 sites for a proposed fourth reactor? Thank 7 for your attention. 8 MR. DEPIERRO: Thank you, 9 Mr. Mangano. I think we can address most of 10 these questions. We have a copy of it up 11 here. I will read the questions and 12 hopefully the members of the panel will be 13 able to respond. 14 MR. MANGANO: Sure. 15 MR. DEPIERRO: Your first 16 question dealt with potassium iodide, KI. 17 And the question I believe was is KI -- well, 18 we'll just quote it from here. Are you 19 willing to do a KI distribution in 20 Bridgeton? And for that response I'm going 21 to refer that to Jim. I don't know if you're 22 able to comment on that. 23 MR. LANGENBACH: Well, part of 24 it -- I appreciate the question, sir. Part 0016 1 of it -- you know, again, we're basing it on 2 science and we're basing it on guidance from 3 NRC and others, that it's within the ten-mile 4 EPZ. That's where the KI is distributed 5 right now. That's not -- and I think 6 everybody on this panel will tell you that 7 that's not a hard and fast -- you know, ten 8 miles isn't -- we don't draw a line and say 9 ten miles -- 10.1 miles you can't have it. 10 It's more based on population, so it's not a 11 hard and fast line. I'm not 100 percent sure 12 where Bridgeton falls within the EPZ or 13 doesn't, so I don't think I can intelligently 14 answer that question that way. 15 MR. MANGANO: I think it's at 16 least ten miles away, maybe closer to 12, 17 right? 18 MR. DEPIERRO: Bridgeton is 19 more than ten miles. 20 MR. LANGENBACH: So it would 21 not come under the EPZ, the ten mile EPZ. 22 MR. DEPIERRO: And the 23 question -- the follow-up was, can residents 24 outside the ten-mile zone go to a site where 0017 1 KI is stockpiled and pick up their own? 2 MR. LANGENBACH: This I'd have 3 to look into because we never -- I don't 4 think I've ever considered that, you know, 5 could someone come from outside. I know 6 there's sufficient stockpile for that, but I 7 never considered that, that someone would 8 actually come from -- in fact, we probably 9 wouldn't discourage people from driving 10 through a hot zone to come in and pick up 11 their KI. But, you know, I can take that -- 12 take that back to the shop and ask. And I 13 guess if I have your contact information I'll 14 get back to you. 15 MR. MANGANO: Sure. 16 MR. DEPIERRO: Yeah, we'll put 17 that on a written response. Okay. 18 LIEUTENANT SENSI: Mr. Mangano, 19 also Bridgeton High School serves as a 20 reception center for evacuees, so the health 21 department would be on hand at the high 22 school in the event of an evacuation, and 23 they would have KI. 24 MR. LANGENBACH: There's a 0018 1 stockpile at the school. 2 MR. DEPIERRO: Okay. Let's 3 move to question number two. On your 4 "tabletop" exercises, have you done exercises 5 that factor in summer tourist traffic, 6 scenarios like the hurricane one I 7 mentioned? Tom, do you want to respond to 8 that? Speaking for the -- well, Pat, do you 9 want to talk about the various -- 10 MR. MULLIGAN: Which one are we 11 talking about? 12 MR. DEPIERRO: Number two, 13 question number two. When the -- when the 14 Bureau of Nuclear Engineering does their 15 accident assessment and their protective 16 accident recommendations we do have scenarios 17 that we consider, the -- the time of the 18 year, summer traffic, there's a lot more 19 population, and severe and inclement 20 weather. So we do -- we do have exercises 21 based on the scenario where we would take-in 22 summer population and inclement weather like 23 a storm or in the winter a snow storm. So we 24 do -- we do consider those options. Pat, do 0019 1 you want to elaborate on that? 2 MR. MULLIGAN: Yeah. The 3 evacation time estimates -- there are studies 4 that are done. The power companies are 5 obligated under NRC regulations to perform 6 those at least every ten years at this 7 point. And that regulation is changing. 8 They're going to increase that to at -- at 9 least whenever population changes by a factor 10 of ten percent, so that -- that regulation 11 will be implemented relatively quickly. But 12 at the very minimal they do it with each of 13 the national censuses. Those evacuation time 14 estimates on based on a number of different 15 things, you know, summer normal traffic, 16 summer evening traffic, you know. And 17 they -- they do include shore populations and 18 tourists based on my knowledge. And -- and I 19 don't believe that there's a very significant 20 difference in population in Salem and 21 Cumberland County between summer and winter. 22 I know Ocean County there's a big difference. 23 MR. MANGANO: Yes. 24 MR. MULLIGAN: And that is 0020 1 factored in when we're doing the evacuation 2 time estimates. And we should be due for a 3 new study probably -- the census will be done 4 2010, so we probably -- 2011 when the next 5 census will be completed. I think the State 6 Police can talk a little bit better towards 7 hurricane scenarios and -- and the like. And 8 certainly from -- from our perspective when 9 we're doing an accident assessment certainly 10 for a catastrophic event, like a weather 11 event, like a hurricane we certainly have 12 enough notice to prepare in advance of the 13 arrival of that. The nuclear power plants do 14 have emergency action levels that put them 15 into categories to keep the plant safe and 16 shut it down prior to the arrival of a 17 hurricane. So that would minimize the 18 chances that there would be a catastrophic 19 event that would involve a release. So there 20 are actions taken at certain -- at -- at 21 various levels along the way to keep the 22 plant at a safe condition so when a hurricane 23 arrives it's already in a safe condition so 24 that that's not added to the event. And you 0021 1 could probably talk better about evacuation 2 for hurricanes. 3 SERGEANT SCARDINO: Right. We 4 have evacuation plans in place in addition to 5 the radiological evacuation plans for 6 hurricanes as well. And as Pat correctly 7 mentioned, we would have advance lead time of 8 the hazard approaching the coast of a 9 hurricane whereby the plant would take 10 certain precautionary measures and shut down 11 the reactor prior to, so -- but I would 12 mention that there are proposed changes in 13 the exercise methodology that is being 14 implemented by FEMA. And it will include 15 different types of hazards involved with a 16 radioactive release. For example, we -- we 17 drill involving a hostile action at a nuclear 18 plant and things like that. So we're seeing 19 different exercise methodologies being 20 introduced. And I foresee that we will be 21 exercising with additional hazards into -- 22 into the scenarios. 23 MR. MANGANO: These are just 24 proposed changes? 0022 1 SERGEANT SCARDINO: Yes. 2 MR. MANGANO: After Katrina -- 3 I know they shut down the nuclear plant down 4 in Louisiana as Katrina approached. 5 MR. MULLIGAN: Yeah. The NRC 6 regulations are based on the interim 7 guidelines they put out since 9/11, which 8 means all the compensatory security measures, 9 and a number of other issues that have come 10 up along the way. And part of it is based on 11 the report that came out following Hurricane 12 Katrina and the federal response. They are 13 making some changes. And one of those 14 changes is to change the scenario 15 requirements so we can be a little bit more 16 liberal in what we can do and test certain -- 17 certain other types of accidents near nuclear 18 power plants. 19 MR. DEPIERRO: Okay. We'll 20 move to the next question. Delaware and 21 South Jersey recently had an earthquake 22 measuring 2.7 on the Richter scale. What 23 earthquake level can Salem/Hope Creek 24 withstand? 0023 1 MR. MULLIGAN: I think we're 2 going to need to get back to you with the 3 exact number. I know that it is a design 4 basis number. I don't know it off the top of 5 my head, so that's something that we can get 6 back to you on. I know it's significantly 7 higher than 2.7. I just don't know exactly 8 what it is. 9 MR. MANGANO: All right. 10 MR. DEPIERRO: And we'll move 11 to question four. Because Artificial Island 12 is an artificial island built on dredge 13 spoils, and because the foundation and 14 pilings for Salem/Hope Creek do not reach 15 bedrock, have there been any studies done on 16 liquefaction due to earthquakes? And I 17 believe we're going to have to get back to 18 you on that one, too. 19 MR. MANGANO: Okay. 20 MR. MULLIGAN: Yeah, we're 21 going to have to look at studies. We'll have 22 to take a look at that. 23 MR. MANGANO: All right. 24 MR. MULLIGAN: I'm not sure. 0024 1 Liquefaction is a phenomenon of sand. I'd 2 have to take a look at dredge spills. I 3 don't know that it's quite the same, but 4 we'll take a look at the engineering 5 reports. I'm sure they're out there. 6 MR. DEPIERRO: And then the 7 last question, number five, Mr. Mangano, was 8 has PSEG looked at locations in Cumberland 9 County as possible sites for a proposed 10 fourth reactor. To your knowledge, PSEG -- 11 MR. MULLIGAN: No, not to our 12 knowledge. And we've had several meetings. 13 They've reached out with the state to -- to 14 give us, you know, their tentative plans. 15 From my understanding they're going to submit 16 a CAO in 2011, but that's for what we 17 understand to be at the same site, nothing 18 beyond that. 19 MR. MANGANO: Same site? 20 MR. MULLIGAN: Same site. 21 MR. MANGANO: Thank you all. 22 MR. DEPIERRO: So just to 23 review, Mr. Mangano, we will get back to you 24 in writing on questions three and four. 0025 1 Okay? 2 MR. MULLIGAN: And the KI. 3 MR. DEPIERRO: And the KI. 4 MR. MANGANO: I appreciate 5 that. Thanks. 6 MR. MULLIGAN: And we'll make 7 sure that Norm gets a copy of that, too. 8 MR. MANGANO: Okay. Thanks. 9 MR. DEPIERRO: That was the 10 only registration card filled out, so what 11 I'm going to do is open the hearing to anyone 12 that may have a question, any additional 13 questions. You're welcome to speak up. If 14 not I think we'll remain -- we'll go off the 15 record with the stenographer so we can talk, 16 but we'll stick around to 7:30 at least. 17 (Whereupon, a brief recess was 18 taken.) 19 MR. DEPIERRO: It's 7:30 and 20 unless anyone has any additional questions or 21 comments we officially will close this 22 hearing then at 7:30. And I thank everyone 23 for coming out, and I hope to see you all 24 next year. 0026 1 (Whereupon, the hearing 2 concluded at 7:30 p.m.) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 0027 1 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 2 3 I, Joseph P. Dromgoole, 4 Professional Reporter and Notary Public, do 5 hereby certify that I reported the hearing of 6 in the above-captioned matter; that the 7 foregoing is a true and correct transcript of 8 the stenographic notes of the testimony taken 9 by me in the above-captioned matter. 10 I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am 11 not an attorney or counsel of any of the 12 parties, nor a relative or employee of any 13 attorney or counsel in connection with the 14 action, nor financially interested in the 15 action. 16 17 ____________________ 18 Joseph P. Dromgoole 19 Professional Court Reporter 20 21 22 DATED: __________________ 23 24