Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire (CCSN)...Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Public...

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Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Public hearing December 1 st , 2011 Delta Brunswick 39 King St. Saint John, New Brunswick Commission Members present Dr. Michael Binder Dr. Moyra McDill Dr. Ronald Barriault Secretary: Mr. Marc Leblanc Senior Counsel : Mr. Jacques Lavoie Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire Audience publique Le 1 décembre 2011 Delta Brunswick 39, rue King Saint John (Nouveau-Brunswick) Commissaires présents M. Michael Binder Mme Moyra McDill M. Ronald Barriault Secrétaire: M. Marc Leblanc Conseiller principal: M. Jacques Lavoie

Transcript of Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire (CCSN)...Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Public...

  • Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

    Public hearing

    December 1st, 2011

    Delta Brunswick 39 King St. Saint John, New Brunswick

    Commission Members present

    Dr. Michael Binder Dr. Moyra McDill Dr. Ronald Barriault

    Secretary:

    Mr. Marc Leblanc

    Senior Counsel :

    Mr. Jacques Lavoie

    Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire

    Audience publique

    Le 1 décembre 2011

    Delta Brunswick 39, rue King Saint John (Nouveau-Brunswick)

    Commissaires présents

    M. Michael Binder Mme Moyra McDill M. Ronald Barriault

    Secrétaire:

    M. Marc Leblanc

    Conseiller principal:

    M. Jacques Lavoie

  • (ii)TABLE OF CONTENTS

    PAGE

    Opening remarks 1

    11-H19.A 3 Adoption of the Agenda

    New Brunswick Power Nuclear 4 (NB Power Nuclear):Application to renew the PowerReactor Operating licence for thePoint Lepreau Generating StationAnd request the authorization toLoad fuel in the reactor 11-H12.1B / 11-H12.1C 10 Oral presentation byNB Power Nuclear

    11-H12.B / 11-H12.C 24 Oral presentation byCNSC staff

    11-H12.37 52 Oral presentation byNew Brunswick Department ofPublic Safety

    11-H12.38 59 Oral presentation byNatural Resources Canada on Seismic Events in Canada

    11-H12.14 / 11-H12.14A 91 Oral Presentation byRon Mawhinney

    11-H12.6 / 11-H12.6A 104 Oral Presentation byCouncil of Canadians Saint John Local Chapter

    11-H12.7 / 11-H12.7A 124 Oral Presentation byEnergy Probe Research Foundation

    http:11-H12.7Ahttp:11-H12.6Ahttp:11-H12.14http:11-H12.38http:11-H12.37http:11-H12.1Chttp:11-H12.1B

  • (iii)TABLE OF CONTENTS

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    11-H12.12 / 11-H12.12A 136 Oral presentation by theInternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW),Local 37

    11-H12.8 143 Oral presentation byThe Canadian Nuclear Workers’ Council

    11-H12.10 / 11-H12.10A / 11-H12.10B 145 Oral presentation bySierra Club Canada,Atlantic Canada Chapter

    11-H12.36 191 Oral presentation by theWolastoqewiyik TraditionalCouncil of Tobic (WTCT)

    11-H12.16 200 Oral presentation by theSustainable Energy Group,Carleton Chapter

    11-H12.20 220 Oral Presentation byFundy Baykeeper

    11-H12.25 239 Oral Presentation byAnne Harding

    11-H12.31 248 Oral presentation byCharlene Sheehan

    11-H12.33 / 11-H12.33A / 11-H12.33B / 11-H12.33C 257 Oral presentation byCCNB Action, SaintJohn-Fundy Chapter

    http:11-H12.33http:11-H12.31http:11-H12.25http:11-H12.20http:11-H12.16http:11-H12.36http:11-H12.10http:11-H12.12

  • (iv)TABLE OF CONTENTS

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    11-H12.2 333 Written submission from Timothy L. Curry

    11-H12.3 336 Written submission from Saint John Energy11-H12.4 339 Written submission from The Saint John Board of Trade

    11-H12.5 341 Written submission from The Centre for Nuclear Energy Research

    11-H12.9 344 Written submission from The Environmental Coalition Of Prince Edward Island

    11-H12.11 347 Written submission from J.D. Irving Limited

    11-H13.13 351 Written submission from Atlantic Nuclear Services Inc.

    11-H12.15 355 Written submission from Atlantica Centre for Energy

    11-H12.17 356 Written submission from Candu Energy Inc.

    11-H12.19 357 Written submission from Ms. Marion Pack

    http:11-H12.19http:11-H12.17http:11-H12.15http:11-H13.13http:11-H12.11

  • (v)TABLE OF CONTENTS

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    11-H12.21 360 Written submission from Hon. Craig Leonard, Minister ofEnergy and Minister responsiblefor NB Energy Efficiency andConservation Agency

    11-H12.23 361 Written submission from Ms. Edna Hoddinott

    11-H12.24 363 Written submission from Ms. Elva Waycott

    11-H12.29 363 Written submission from Mr. Gordon Dalzell

    11-H12.30 374 Written submission from Ruth Stewart-Verger

    http:11-H12.30http:11-H12.29http:11-H12.24http:11-H12.23http:11-H12.21

  • MR. LEBLANC: Bonjour, Mesdames et

    messieurs. Bienvenue à l’audience publique de la Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire.

    Mon nom est Marc Leblanc. Je suis le secrétaire de la Commission et j'aimerais aborder certains aspects touchant le déroulement des audiences.

    The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is about to start a public hearing on the applications by NB Power Nuclear for the renewal of the Power Reactor Operating licence for the Point Lepreau Generating Station and for the authorization to load fuel and restart the reactor.

    During today's business, we have simultaneous translation.

    Des appareils de traduction sont disponibles à la réception. La version française est au poste 2 and the English version is on channel 1.

    Please keep the pace of your speech

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    Saint John, New-Brunswick

    --- Upon commencing at 9:07 a.m./ L’audience débute à 9h07

    Opening Remarks

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    relatively slow so that the translators have a chance to keep up.

    L’audience est enregistrée et transcrite textuellement; les transcriptions se font dans l’une ou l’autre des langues officielles compte tenu de la langue utilisée par le participant à l'audience publique.

    I’d also like to note that this proceeding is being video webcast live and that the proceeding is also archived on our website for a three-month period after the closure of the hearing.

    Les transcriptions seront disponibles sur le site web de la Commission dès la semaine prochaine.

    To make the transcripts as meaningful as possible, we would ask everyone to identify themselves before speaking.

    As a courtesy to others, please silence your cell phones and other electronic devices.

    I would like to remind everyone that the Commission is a quasi-judicial administrative tribunal. As such, there are decorum considerations and we ask that everyone contribute to a respectful and orderly proceeding.

    Mr. President. THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Marc. And good morning and welcome to the public

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    hearing of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Mon nom est Michael Binder, je suis le

    président de la Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire. Je souhaite la bienvenue aux gens ici

    présents, and welcome to all of you joining us through our webcast.

    First of all, let me share with you how happy we are to be out of Ottawa and enjoying the hospitality of New Brunswick. And I also would like to thank the hotel staff for making our stay very comfortable and helping us set up this hearing venue.

    So I would like to start by introducing the Members of the Commission that are with us here today. On my right is Dr. Moyra McDill and on my left is Dr. Ronald Barriault.

    We heard from Marc Leblanc, the Secretary of the Commission, and we also have with us Monsieur Jacques Lavoie, Senior General Counsel to the Commission. 11-H19.A Adoption of Agenda

    With this information, I’d like now to call for the adoption of the agenda as described by the Commission Member Document 11-H19.A.

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    Do I have concurrence? For the record, the agenda is adopted.

    THE CHAIRMAN: So let’s proceed with NB Power Nuclear applications. Marc?

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    New Brunswick Power Nuclear (NB Power Nuclear): Application to renew the Power Reactor Operating licence for the Point Lepreau Generating Station And request the authorization to Load fuel in the reactor

    MR. LEBLANC: This is Day Two of the public hearing. The first day of the public hearing, or what we refer to as Day One, on this application was held on October 6, 2011 in Ottawa.

    The Notice of Public Hearing 2011-H-06 was published on July 26, 2011, and revisions were published on August 9 to change the date of the hearing, and on October 13th and October 26th to change the date of the deadline for the public to file interventions.

    Presentations were made on Day One by the Applicant, NB Power Nuclear, under Commission Member

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    Documents, or CMDs, 11-H1.1, 1A, 12.1 and 12.1A, and by Commission staff under H1 and H12.

    The public was invited to participate either by oral presentation or written submission. November 14th was the revised deadline set for filing by intervenors. The Commission received 35 requests for intervention.

    On October 21, 2011, CCNB Action - Saint John-Fundy Chapter filed a letter requesting the adjournment of Day Two hearing until February 2012 to allow additional time for intervenors to review the documentation and finalize their submission.

    This request was denied and a response was sent to CCNB Action.

    To provide more time for intervenors to finalize their intervention, the deadline for filing the submissions was extended by the Commission from November 7 to November 14.

    On November 22nd the Commission also received a letter from the Union of New Brunswick Indians requesting the postponement of the Day Two hearing to next year. This request was also denied and a response was sent to the Union on November 25th.

    November 24th was the deadline for filing of supplementary information. I note that such

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    information has been filed by CNSC staff, NB Power, NB Emergency Management Services, Natural Resources Canada, as well as several intervenors.

    Participant funding was available to intervenors to prepare for and participate in Hearing Day Two. The Commission received four such requests for funding. The Funding Review Committee, which is totally independent of the Commission, reviewed the applications. Funding was provided to three applicants as per a decision issued on September 30th, 2011.

    All documents are available at the reception, either on CDs or in a paper format, as well as the Commission Members’ biographies.

    The way it will proceed today is that we will first hear the presentations by NB Power, CNSC staff, NB Emergency Management Services and NRCan.

    After that, we will go through a first round of questions from Commission Members, and then we’re going to hear from intervenors who have requested to make oral presentations. Commission Members will have the opportunity to ask questions after each presentation.

    The Commission normally allows 10 minutes for oral presentation but this is followed by a question period and this is where we recommend that you highlight the key elements of your presentation during that 10

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    minutes and then allow for time for questioning. The break for lunch will be from 12:45 to

    1:45, approximately, and there will be a short break in mid-morning and one in mid-afternoon.

    We anticipate ending today at approximately 6 o’clock - 6:30.

    Tomorrow we will resume at 8:30 with oral presentations and written submissions from intervenors, and a second round of questioning from Commission Members.

    Mr. President. THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Marc. I would like to start this hearing with a

    few introductory remarks. First of all, it goes without saying that

    the events in Japan where the Japanese people have had to deal with a triple catastrophe -- an earthquake, a tsunami, and a major nuclear disaster -- will have a bearing on this hearing and on the regulation of nuclear activities for years to come.

    The CNSC has initiated a major initiative linked to the Fukushima events, seeking comments from all interested parties which will be culminated with a public meeting of the Commission in mid-February 2012, for which everybody is welcome to participate.

    Those who have read the written submission

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    to this hearing will have noticed that the Japanese nuclear incident is often mentioned. In light of the numerous concerns relating to seismicity and emergency preparedness, the Commission has asked representative from the Natural Resources Canada and Emergency Measures New Brunswick to make presentation -- to make some presentation this morning on this subject.

    As you are aware, we are now in Saint John today and tomorrow to consider the written submissions and oral presentations from a large number of citizens and organizations who wish to express their opinions on the applications by NB Power to reload the fuel and renew the Point Lepreau operating licence.

    I’d like to clarify a few things prior to getting the hearing underway. I wish to emphasise that the Commission is a quasi-judicial administrative tribunal and that, consequently, it is independent from any political, governmental or private sector influence.

    In fact, each Commission Member is independent of one another and also independent of CNSC staff.

    Many interventions to this hearing included recommendations in their recommendations to the Commission in their interventions.

    CNSC staff also make recommendations to the

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    Commission. It is their job to provide the Commission with science-based analysis, observations and recommendations. But it is the Commission Members who will render a final decision based on all the evidence presented in the context of the hearing process.

    The Commission Members are appointed by the Governor-in-Council on the basis of their achievement in their respective fields of endeavour, as well as their excellent reputation among their peers.

    Their mandate is simple; ensure that the use of nuclear is done in a manner that protects the environment as well as the health, safety and security of the workers and the public.

    Several intervenors have raised important questions on the future of nuclear energy in New Brunswick. I trust that you will understand that the Commission, as an administrative tribunal, will not consider questions that are of political nature, and that it is the New Brunswick provincial government that must address these fundamental energy policy questions.

    The CNSC has no economic mandate and will not base its decision on the economic impact of the facility.

    I will repeat it; it is the health, safety and security of the public and the protection of the

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    environment that guides our decision. We are looking forward to a constructive

    and productive hearing. So I would now like to start the hearing by

    calling on the presentation from NB Power, as outlined in Commission Member Document H12.1B and H12.1C.

    I understand that Mr. Blair Kennedy will make the presentation. Please proceed.

    11-H12.1B / 11-H12.1C Oral presentation by NB Power Nuclear

    MR. KENNEDY: Good morning, Mr. Chair, Members of the Commission.

    For the record, my name is Blair Kennedy. I am the Vice-President Nuclear for NB Power Nuclear and the CNO for NB Power.

    I’m pleased to be here today to support our Day Two hearing with respect to the renewal of the operating licence and the fuel load for the Point Lepreau Generating Station.

    I would like to take some time at this moment to introduce some of my team members who will be

    http:11-H12.1Chttp:11-H12.1B

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    supporting the Day Two hearing. I have with me today Rod Eagles, the Deputy

    Chief Nuclear Officer and Refurbishment Director to my right; to his right I have Wade Parker, Station Director. Behind me I Have Charles Hickman, Transition Manager; Paul Thompson, Nuclear Safety & Regulatory Affairs Manager; Kathleen Duguay, Public Affairs Manager; Raz Jaitly, Senior Safety Consultant from CANDU Energy.

    I would like to take this opportunity to, again, to confirm to you the understanding and commitment of our board and executive to the safe and reliable operation of the Point Lepreau Generating Station.

    NB Power’s Board of Directors, the executives, management team and employees are all committed to the -- ensuring the safe and reliable operation of the Point Lepreau Generating Station.

    We would like to thank all the intervenors for their participating at the hearing here today at the Delta Hotel in Saint John, New Brunswick.

    At this time I would like to turn the presentation over to Wade Parker, our Station Director for the Point Lepreau Generating Station.

    MR. PARKER: Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Good morning, Mr. Chair, Members of the

    Commission. For the record, my name is Wade Parker and I

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    am the Station Director of the Point Lepreau Generating Station.

    The written supplemental material submitted on October 24, 2011 forms a part of this oral presentation.

    We are here today to provide the information requested at the Day One hearing on October 6, 2011 and answer additional questions that may arise.

    Today, we will briefly discuss on our outline as presented, information requests from Day One, seismic margin assessment, refurbishment status update, and the conclusion.

    From information requested from Day One, we’re providing updates on a number of the items.

    Number one, New Brunswick Power Nuclear has submitted the final reports for seismic verification of pipe supports.

    Number two, the root cause assessment report regarding the calandria tube inspection has been sent to the CNSC staff for review.

    Number three, our equipment reliability index performance graph was updated to include feedback provided by Commissioner McDill and submitted to the CNSC staff.

    Number four, the actual dose assigned

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    compared to the dose estimates for the refurb project did not change from our earlier submission on Day One.

    Number five, an update of work status for the nine individuals who were off work from lost-time accidents was provided. All of the NB Power employees have since returned to work.

    Number six, our comprehensive fire protection program work and response team protocol milestones are on schedule.

    Also, New Brunswick Power has noted that the CNSC staff presentation recommends a new licence and licence condition handbook condition. Our understanding is that this protocol does not create any new obligations but rather is a confirmation of the legal requirements in place today.

    NB Power Nuclear Corporation has no concerns with the condition as proposed based on this understanding.

    For seismic margin assessment, we have noted that there were questions in the interventions relating to earthquake probability and seismic design for the station.

    The following information is presented to address these concerns.

    In summary, Point Lepreau Generating

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    Station is not located in a high seismic hazard region. The additional seismic margin in the design has been assessed using internationally accepted methods and demonstrated to be acceptable.

    The latest seismic hazard information continues to support this conclusion.

    The following details are key in this summary. Point Lepreau Generating Station is not located at a subduction tectonic plate boundary as is the case in Japan.

    Earthquakes were considered in the original design of the station. Based on review of earthquake history a design basis earthquake was selected. The effects of a design basis earthquake on the site are described by the design basis earthquake round response spectra. This specifies a response spectra for horizontal directions, together with a special definition for vertical direction.

    The design basis earthquake value for structures at the Point Lepreau Generating Station results in a peak round acceleration of 0.2 G in the horizontal direction.

    For the components, this is also 0.2 G at the higher frequencies and 0.15 G at the intermediate and lower frequencies. This is an earthquake that has a

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    probability of occurrence of one in a thousand years. In preparing for the refurbishment and as

    part of the overall probabilistic safety assessment, the additional seismic margin built into the design was assessed using internationally accepted approach referred to as a probabilistic safety assessment-based seismic margin assessment.

    This approach is selected to avoid the debate over the precise probability of a very large, very low probability event.

    The selection of a peak ground acceleration of 0.3 G for the review level earthquake to demonstrate with high confidence that severe core damage will not occur is consistent with that recommended by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission for plants in Central and Eastern United States and Canadian Standards Association Standard in 289.1 Rev 2008.

    While an earthquake that would result in a peak ground acceleration of 0.3 G at the Point Lepreau Generating Station site is estimated to occur at frequency of about 1 in 10,000 years, the exact frequency is not fundamentally important using this approach, other than it relates to a significantly larger earthquake than used in the original design basis.

    Similar arguments apply to the case where

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    it has been demonstrated with high confidence that an even larger earthquake, one that would result in a peak ground acceleration of 0.4 will not lead to a large release of fission products from containment.

    The approach also takes into account the potential of consequential damage that could lead to either fires or breaks that could cause flooding.

    Where necessary, as supported by international experts and more detailed calculations, specific equipment upgrades were performed.

    Earlier this year, New Brunswick Power performed a technical assessment using the latest seismic hazard information from Natural Resources Canada. This is the information supporting the 2010 National Building Codes of Canada. The assessment concluded that there remained significant margin to the design basis earthquake and that the review level earthquake and seismic capacity screening criteria chosen for the probabilistic safety assessment based SMA was appropriate.

    This assessment has been reviewed by Natural Resources Canada. They conclude that the probability of 0.2 peak ground acceleration design basis earthquake is considerably lower than 0.001 event per annum or one in a thousand years and the revised Natural Resources Canada seismic hazard values for the 2010

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    National Building Code of Canada do not provide any basis for modifying the 2002 seismic margin assessment.

    In summary, Point Lepreau Generating Station is not located in a high seismic hazard region. The additional seismic margin in the design has been assessed using internationally accepted methods and demonstrated to be acceptable. The latest seismic hazard information continues to support their conclusions. Based on the review to date, we can say our safety case remains strong. Point Lepreau Generating Station is well equipped to manage external hazards and severe accidents. We operate the station in a safe and responsible manner.

    I will now turn the presentation to Mr. Rod Eagles, our Deputy Chief Nuclear Officer and Refurbishment Director.

    MR. EAGLES: Good morning, Mr. Chair, and Members of the Commission. For the record, my name is Rod Eagles, the Deputy Chief Nuclear Officer and Refurbishment Director for the Point Lepreau Generating Station at NB Power Nuclear.

    This portion of the presentation will be an update to the refurbishment project and activities since our last presentation at the Day One hearing in October. Since that time the project has completed a key milestone on the road to completion of the project work.

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    Before I get to that, I would like to provide you with an update on changes with our project execution contractor. As you may know, the Federal Government completed the sale of AECL’s commercial organization to SNC-Lavalin. While the sale encompassed staff in the organization currently working on our project, AECL as a Federal Crown Corporation continues to maintain commercial responsibility for the completion of the refurbishment.

    As a part of the sale, AECL have subcontracted the remaining refurbishment work to Candu Energy Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin, to complete this work on AECL’s behalf. The transition to execution from AECL to Candu Energy Inc. was completed seamlessly on October the 2nd, 2011.

    Regardless of this change in execution, NB Power Nuclear’s relationship with AECL and their responsibilities for managing the commitments for overall completion of the refurbishment project remain unchanged.

    In the photograph, you can see workers on the fuel channel platform during the early phases of fuel channel installation. The top three rows and a portion of the fourth row in this photograph are shown as completed.

    The project team is extremely pleased to have recently completed the installation of all of the 380

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    fuel channels as shown in this photo. The completion of this work allows the project team to remove the large fuel channel platforms from which the majority of re-tubing activity was conducted over the course of the project. Once these platforms are removed, the installation of 760 lower feeder pipes will commence; that is, one inlet and one outlet pipe for each of the 380 fuel channels which, when in operation, will carry the heat transport system heavy water coolant to and from the reactor.

    The upper sections of these feeder pipes were completed in an earlier phase of the project.

    Also with the completion of the fuel channel installation, NB Power Operations staff are now able to commence transfer of the moderator system heavy water to the calandria vessel and moderator auxiliary systems. This is a key step in the return of plant components and systems to service. When all of the regulatory -- I’m sorry, when all of the feed pipes are installed and the required completion assurances and regulatory approvals are received, the new fuel will be loaded and the Restart Program will continue. The details of the restart activities, plateaus, and approvals were covered in the Day One hearing.

    As mentioned in the Day One hearing, activities identified in Appendix J of the power reactor

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    operating licence have been constructed and commissioned to the extent possible at this time based on the plant state. As we continue the restart activities, the remaining commissioning and completion assurance activities will be completed at the appropriate plant state.

    During the Day One hearing, there was discussion of the need for three concessions relating to material testing of the calandria tubes, pressure tubes and end fittings. The CMD submitted by CNSC staff has provided a concise summary of these issues leading to the approval by both our design staff and CNSC staff.

    To provide additional clarity on the issue, we’ve brought with us today a calandria tube calibration standard used in the manufacturing testing of these tubes which I have here on my desk and which, at a suitable time, would be happy to have the Commission Members take an observation. And I also have a section of pressure tube for comparison in your interest.

    This calibration standard is an actual section of calandria tube material with small defects of known size machined into the tube. These defects are measured to validate the calibration of ultrasonic testing equipment used for inspection of the entire lengths of the calandria tubes during their manufacture. As mentioned in

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    the CNSC submission, minor discrepancies in the size of these calibration standard machining defects were identified in the tube manufacturing requiring a nonconformance record to be raised.

    Earlier in the presentation, Mr. Parker indicated that the formal root cause assessment has been delivered to CNSC staff to follow up on the summary of the root cause assessment recommendations that were provided to CNSC staff prior to the Day One hearing. I can also confirm that the recommendations from this root cause assessment are now complete including a vendor audit of the new Candu Energy Inc. quality organization.

    NB Power is confident that all of the materials used in this refurbishment will ensure the safe, reliable operation for the station.

    Since the start of the Point Lepreau Refurbishment Project, our communications have been open and transparent. Information has been made available to the public about station performance, refurbishment outage, and future operations. The materials have been available through the licence renewal hearing in January 2011, through CNSC annual report meetings, and through refurbishment updates presented annually at Commission meetings every year since 2007. We are pleased to see that these hearings are being held in our home province of

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    New Brunswick and it is encouraging to see so many interventions -- intervenors taking the opportunity to participate in this hearing process.

    We continue to provide opportunities for communities, stakeholders, and First Nations to have dialogue regarding the activities being undertaken as part of the project and as well as providing them with updates on our station operations. This standard of communication is important to NB Power as a part of the local community and it was in place prior to the project and will continue long after the project is complete.

    The opportunity to share our information and listen to the individuals, groups, and First Nations has provided value to all. We recognize that there are various opinions about nuclear power and, as a result, we continue to reach out to interested parties and providing them information as well as tours of the station.

    Many of those individuals and groups are present today and have submitted interventions at this hearing have had opportunities to visit our station. As always, we are committed to make ourselves open and transparent. This concludes my update to the commission. Thank you and I’ll now turn the presentation to Mr. Blair Kennedy, our Vice-President.

    MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Eagles. For

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    the record, my name is Blair Kennedy. I am the Vice-President of NB Power Nuclear and the CNO. I would propose that NB Power Nuclear is qualified to operate the Point Lepreau Generating Station, and our team will take all the necessary actions to protect the health and safety of persons, preserve the environment, take measures required to implement international obligations to which Canada has agreed, and maintain our National Security.

    Over the course of this past year, the Point Lepreau Refurbishment Project has consistently met new schedule milestones for completion of activities. Continuing with the focus of safe quality and timely execution will result in a project team being ready to load fuel in the reactor in March, 2012.

    Point Lepreau is a base load unit, and it is expected to produce in excess of 30% of the electricity requirements in the Province of New Brunswick over the next 25 to 30 years. The station continues to provide domestically secure energy for New Brunswick. It is also a sound environmental choice in the available energy mix.

    We respectfully request that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission renew the NB Power reactor operating license for a period of five years, grant us the approval to load fuel into our reactor, and grant the authority to a designated CNSC officer to approve,

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    MR. JAMMAL: Bonjour Monsieur le président et membre de la commission.

    Pour l’enregistrement je suis Ram Jammal, premier vice-président et chef de la règlementation des operations.

    Avec moi aujourd’hui, Monsieur Greg Rzentkowksi, directeur générale de la directions de la règlementation de centrale nucléaire et à côté de lui Madame Lisa Love-Tedjoutomo, directrice par intérim de la division du programme de la réglementation de Point

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    proceeding past each of the CNSC regulatory hold points in our progress towards a return to full power.

    This concludes our oral presentation at this time. Thank you, again, for the opportunity to come before today. We are now open for questions.

    THE CHAIRPERSON: Thank you very much. I’d like to move now to a presentation of CNSC staff as outlined in CMD H12.B and H12.C, and I understand, Mr. Jammal, you will make the presentation?

    Go ahead please.

    11-H12.B / 11-H12.C Oral presentation by CNSC staff

  • However, before I pass on the presentation to CNSC staff, I would like to inform the Commission that the CNSC is undergoing an integrated regulatory review services under the IAEA, and this is a follow-up mission, to 2009 mission, that was conducted for the CNSC. This follow-up mission encompasses 16 international experts, and they will review the commitments and the implementation of the recommendations provided to the CNSC in 2009. In addition, there is a dedicated team of specialists from around the world who are verifying the CNSC action for the Fukushima and the CNSC Task Report as it relates to the Fukushima incident. Those experts are from Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Romania and Israel. They are spending two weeks in total in Canada. The experts relating to Fukushima. They will be visiting Point Lepreau to do onsite field verification for the improvement carried out under the Refurbishing Project of Point Lepreau.

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    Lepreau et à côté d’elle Monsieur Jeff Ramsay chargé d’affaire principale pour le projet de réfection pour Point Lepreau, or the senior program officer for the refurbishment of Point Lepreau.

    En outre monsieur le président, on est appuyer par notre personnel ici à Saint-John et à Ottawa.

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    So, Mr. President. CNSC staff, we will be presenting to you the information regarding the Day Two hearing for the license application of NB Power for the license renewal and authorization for the fuel load of the reactor.

    Mr. President, I would like to provide you the conclusion that was given by the IRRS team in 2009, where it declared that the CNSC is effective in ensuring the safety and health of Canadians and the environment.

    Et maintenant je passé la parole à monsieur Rzentkowski.

    MR. RZENTKOWSKI: Thank you very much, Mr. Jammal. Good morning, Mr. President and members of the Commission.

    CNSC staff presentation will begin with some background to set the context for later discussion on New Brunswick Power’s requests for license renewal and approval to load fuel. The background will include a brief history of the Point Lepreau Generating Station, followed by an update on the current status of the Refurbishment Project and an overview of the hearing process.

    The background will also include a follow-up on findings from the CNSC Task Force Report on Fukushima events and how it relates to Point Lepreau, as

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    well as the latest information on Aboriginal consultation and the Participant Funding Program. To conclude the background, we will summarize CNSC staff conclusions and recommendations from the Day One hearing.

    In section two of the presentation, we will address New Brunswick Power’s request to renew their operating license, a new license format, additional license conditions; and updated regulatory requirements related to this request will be discussed. Program updates will be provided for safety in control areas where there is something new to report from the Day One Hearing. These updates were provided in the CNSC Supplemental CMD 11-12B and C.

    Section Three of the presentation will address New Brunswick Power’s request to load fuel and restart the reactor. This includes information on regulatory hold points and the status of the prerequisites required to load fuel. Most of the information provided in Section Two and Three are in response to questions raised by the Commission members in Day One hearing.

    In Section Four of the presentation, CNSC staff will give brief responses to key issues submitted in written public interventions.

    Finally, in Section Five and Six, CNSC

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    staff will re-iterate their conclusions and recommendations on New Brunswick Power’s requests for license renewal, and to load fuel and restart Point Lepreau.

    Point Lepreau Station was constructed from 1975 to 1981 and began commercial operation in 1983. The refurbishment of the facility started on March 28, 2008, after New Brunswick Power conducted an integrated safety review as a comprehensive self-assessment to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current operation, inspection and maintenance practises, and to define the scope of the refurbishment project. A detailed condition assessment of plant systems, structures and components also identified necessary and sufficient modifications to address safety issues, aging effects and obsolescence. Safety upgrades were implemented to the extent practicalable to meet modern codes and standards.

    In the 2010 CNSC staff report on the safety performance of Canadian nuclear power plants, New Brunswick Power’s performance was satisfactory in all safety and control areas except for emergency management and fire protection, which was rated below expectations as a result of issues relating to emergency response. A protocol (phonetic) between New Brunswick Power and CNSC staff was put in place, requiring a satisfactory rating

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    before the authorization to remove the reactor from its guaranteed shut down state. A program update on this safety and control area will be provided later in the presentation.

    The refurbishment project at Point Lepreau is currently on schedule and is expected to be complete by the end of May, 2012 with the return to service in the fall of 2012.

    Major milestones recently completed include the calandria tube installation in August 2011 and the pressure tube installation in November 2011. The calandria tubes and pressure tubes are key components in the core of the reactor, as shown in this sketch of a cross-section of the reactor provided on the right side of the slide.

    The reactor is comprised of a horizontal cylinder called a calandria enclosed at each end by end shields which support the horizontal fuel channels that span the calandria.

    The calandria is filled with heavy water moderator. Each fuel channel consists of an inner pressure tube which contains the fuel bundles and the heavy water primary coolant and is protected by an outer calandria tube. Garter spring spacers maintain a gap between the calandria tubes and the pressure tubes which is filled with a circulating gas to insulate the moderator

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    from the high temperature in the pressure tubes. The sketch shows only two of the total of

    380 fuel channels for simplicity. Feeder pipe installation is one of the last major milestones remaining in the refurbishment project and is currently scheduled to be completed by the end of May 2012.

    Public hearings give interested parties and members of the public an opportunity to be held before the Commission. The decision on New Brunswick Power’s request for licence renewal, fuel load, and restart of the reactor are to be made through a two-day hearing process.

    Day One of the hearing took place in Ottawa on October 6, 2011 where New Brunswick Power and CNSC staff presented written and oral submissions to the Commission and responded to questions from the Commission.

    Today is the start of Day Two of the hearing process which is taking place in the community most affected by these decisions. On hearing Day Two, which usually takes place about 60 days after Day One, registered intervenors have an opportunity to make their views known to the Commission and to respond to any related questions from the Commission Members.

    Usually 30 days before hearing Day Two, intervenors may file their intervention requests and submissions. This means that intervenors generally have

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    30 days to review the information presented during hearing Day One and submit their request before hearing Day Two.

    For this hearing, the time was extended by a week to allow intervenors more time to review the Day One material and submit their requests.

    CNSC staff’s main objectives for this Day Two hearing are as follows: provide information on Day One questions from the Commission, respond to public interventions, and provide and respond to questions and information provided in the CNSC staff CMDs.

    CNSC staff committed in Day One hearing to provide a follow-up on the Fukushima events in relation to Point Lepreau and more specifically on the CNSC task force report issued on September 30th, 2011 and posted for public comments on October 28th, 2011.

    Based on the review of the Fukushima events, the CNSC task force confirms that Point Lepreau is safe and has a strong design relying on multiple layers of defense. The design ensures that there will be no impact on the public from external events that are regarded as credible.

    The design also offers protection against more severe external events that are much less likely to occur. It should be noted that the threat of a major earthquake at Point Lepreau site is negligible and that an

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    earthquake followed by a tsunami is a non-credible event. The CNSC task force report also confirmed

    that the current status of on-site and off-site emergency preparedness and response measures are adequate.

    New Brunswick Power maintains and operates comprehensive, well-documented emergency plans which are regularly tested through drills and exercises. As previously noted, fire protection response performance issues are being addressed and will be discussed in more detail later in the presentation on the program updates.

    The CNSC, as an agent of the Government of Canada and as Canada’s Nuclear Regulator, recognizes and understands the importance of consulting and building relationships with Canada’s aboriginal people.

    As part of the aboriginal consultation process, CNSC staff sent notification letters on June 13, 2011 to aboriginal groups with potential interest in the Point Lepreau and the decisions to be made in these hearings.

    These letters included details regarding the licence renewal and fuel load and restart request from New Brunswick Power, information on how the public and aboriginal groups can participate in Day One public hearings as well as general information on the participant funding program.

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    CNSC staff followed up with phone calls to ensure the letters were received and offered to answer questions. Following a request to meet from the Passamaquoddy Recognition Group Incorporated, CNSC staff met with Chief Hugh Akagi on August 3rd, 2011 in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.

    No other request for meetings were received from other aboriginal groups who were sent notifications letters. Based on information to date, this decision is not expected to cause adverse impacts to any potential or established aboriginal or treaty rights.

    The participant funding program gives the public, aboriginal groups, and other stakeholders the opportunity to request funding from the CNSC to participate in this regulatory process. This allows them to bring related information before the Commission through informed and topic-specific interventions. The CNSC’s participant funding program guide provides more details on who is eligible, what specific expenses may be funded, and how the program works. Funding was provided to three applicants for this hearing.

    CNSC staff conducted regulatory review and inspection activities and concluded that New Brunswick Power is qualified to operate Point Lepreau Station and will make adequate provision for the health and safety of

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    persons, protection of the environment, and maintenance of national security and measures required to implement international obligations to which Canada has agreed.

    Specific to New Brunswick Power’s requests to renew their operating licence and to load fuel and restart the Point Lepreau Station, CNSC conclude that the regulatory frame work and hold points are in place to ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements, and continuous safety improvements have have been implemented through new regulatory requirements imposed in the new licence.

    In regards to New Brunswick Power’s request for licence renewal, CNSC staff recommend that the Commission issue the proposed operating licence with an expiry date of June 30th, 2017, revoke the current licence, and delegate authority for approvals of lower significance issues to CNSC designated officers in the regulatory operation branch.

    In regards to New Brunswick Power’s request to load fuel and restart the reactor, CNSC staff recommend that the Commission grant permission to proceed with fuel load and restart of the reactor and delegate authority for release of regulatory hold points to CNSC Executive Vice President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer, Regulatory Operations Branch.

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    I will now pass the presentation over to Ms. Lisa Love-Tedjoutomo, who will discuss New Brunswick Power’s request for license renewal.

    MS. LOVE-TEDJOUTOMO: Good Morning, Mr. President, and Members of the Commission.

    For the record, my name is Lisa Love-Tedjoutomo. I am the Acting Director of the Point Lepreau Regulatory Program Division.

    The proposed operating license follows a new format for an operating license. The new format includes standard license conditions that are aligned with the licensee’s programs under the CNSC safety and control areas.

    References to licensee documents have been removed and replaced with documented policies or programs and industry standards and regulatory documents, as well as tables of numerical limits such as, for example, release limits.

    In addition, the new format for the license is accompanied by a license conditions handbook, or LCH, which documents CNSC requirements and expectations for each license condition, agreements, administrative processes, deviations approved by the Commission and CNSC staff, and version control of documents referenced in the license.

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    Annual reports are made to the Commission on license amendments, revisions to the LCH and safety performance.

    CNSC staff recommends to the Commission the addition of three new license conditions to the proposed license since Day One. These new conditions add clarity to the licensing basis requirements with respect to other applicable federal and provincial laws, and enhance a regulatory framework for security through the addition of new security requirements as described in regulatory documents RD-321 and RD-361.

    The addition of these new license conditions reflects a continuous nature of safety improvements for Canadian nuclear power plants.

    CNSC staff concludes that NB Power has adequate measures in place to comply with these new license conditions. As such, an implementation plan is not required. The revised license was attached to supplemental CMD 11-H12.C.

    In the Day One Hearing the Commission requested that a table be provided with the implementation dates for new industry standards and regulatory documents in the license. A listing of the new standards and regulatory documents is shown on the slide with the detailed tables, including implementation dates provided

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    in the Day Two CNSC CMD 11-H12.B. The new industry standards incorporated in

    the license represent further enhancements to the CNSC regulatory framework and raise the level of safety through improvements to NB Power’s programs.

    NB Power is working to assure compliance with these new standards by the dates required in the license. The implementation plans and dates are acceptable to CNSC staff. The new regulatory documents increase the prescriptiveness of the regulatory framework and, as with the new industry standards, their implementation plans and dates are acceptable to CNSC staff as adequate safety measures are in place to proceed with license renewal and fuel load.

    On this slide there is a table showing the request for clarification raised by the Commission during the Day One Hearing related to specific safety and control areas. In total there were nine requests or topics for clarification under six safety and control areas. The details of each request will be discussed on the following slides along with the requested clarifications. Further information on program updates can be found in CNSC CMD 11-H12B.

    At the Day One Hearing CNSC staff committed to provide an update on the compliance of NB Power’s

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    Nuclear Management Manual with CSA Standard N286-05 on management system requirements for nuclear power plants. CNSC staff was in the process of completing their review of the NB Power Manual at the time. CNSC staff has since completed their review and have concluded that NB Power’s Nuclear Management Manual is compliant with the CSA Standard.

    In the Day One Hearing the Commission requested an update on the deterministic safety analysis of the design modification of the fuel channel annulus spacers implemented during refurbishment. This modification enhances reactor safety under accident conditions and will ensure pressure tube integrity following a hypothetical dual-failure event of a large loss of coolant accident with loss of emergency core coolant injection.

    CNSC staff have now received and accepted the deterministic analysis and conclude that NB Power maintains an up-to-date deterministic safety analysis.

    CNSC staff committed in the Day One Hearing to provide an update on the probabilistic safety analysis or PSA reports as required by CNSC Regulatory Standards S294 or PSA for Nuclear Power Plants.

    The last reports to be received and accepted by CNSC staff included analysis of design

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    upgrades implemented during refurbishment. As required by S294, NB Power submits PSA reports in a step-wise manner through a three-year cycle. An updated version of the PSA reports is due by the end of June 2012.

    CNSC staff conclude that NB Power meets the requirements of S294 and that there are no outstanding issues that would impede license renewal or fuel load.

    An update on whether NB Power’s engineering chain control process document meets all the requirements for the nuclear management system standard was requested by the Commission in the Day One Hearing.

    Specifically, CNSC staff had concerns with the scope of the quality assurance program for vendors of design services. NB Power corrected this deficiency by updating its process documentation. The revised documentation was reviewed and accepted by CNSC staff.

    In the Day One Hearing the Commission requested further information on NB Power’s seismic verification of pipe supports and the seismic margin assessment. NB Power completed a re-evaluation of the pipe supports and demonstrated the design meets original site requirements for a design basis earthquake. This assessment was reviewed and accepted by CNSC staff.

    As a result of these assessments, NB Power made a number of changes and/or improvements during the

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    refurbishment outage. The design and installation of these modifications was reviewed and accepted by CNSC staff.

    As a result of an intervenor’s questions regarding the seismic margin assessment, it was noticed there was a grammatical error in the text of CNSC CMD 11H12.B presented for this Day Two Hearing. A Supplemental CMD, 11-H12.C, was issued to clarify that the probability quoted in Section 3.4.1 of one in 100,000 years corresponds to the large release frequency probability and not to the return frequency of the 0.4G earthquake.

    CNSC staff committed in the Day One Hearing to provide an update on NB Power’s remaining repair and inspection activities on the concrete ring beam and dome of the reactor building. NB Power’s revised schedule indicated that all concrete repairs and remaining inspections would be completed by the end of October 2011.

    CNSC site staff confirmed by inspection on October 18th, 2011 that the concrete repairs are complete and acceptable.

    The Commission requested further details in the Day One hearing on the calibration standards used for ultrasonic testing, or UT equipment for retube components, including pressure tubes, calandria tubes and N-fittings.

    CNSC staff have reviewed the technical and

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    root cause assessments submitted by NB Power, and found them acceptable. CNSC staff agree with the results of the technical assessment, which conclude there is no effect on the integrity of the component since the UT was proven through analysis and tests to be conservative.

    CNSC staff conclude that the corrective actions taken by NB Power and its contractors should prevent recurrence of a similar problem in the future.

    In the Day One hearing, CNSC staff committed to provide an update on fire emergency response team drills performed in the fall. These drills are part of the requirements to fulfil the CNSC and NB Power protocol on fire emergency response team improvements. This protocol was required for NB Power to improve their rating in this safety and control area to "satisfactory" from "below expectations" prior to releasing shutdown guarantees on the reactor.

    CNSC staff have observed several crews perform a live fire drill and drill inside the protective area. Each drill continues to show improvement in fire response.

    Current status indicates the development of an acceptable fire response capability will be reached and that a “satisfactory” rating in this safety and control area will be achieved prior to the removal of shutdown

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    guarantees. We're compliant with CSA Standard N293-07

    on fire protection for CANDU nuclear power plants, which includes emergency response. NB Power is implementing compensatory measures to ensure an acceptable level of risk is maintained until permanent solutions are implemented.

    CNSC staff have reviewed and accepted NB Power's plan for compensatory measures, which must be in place prior to releasing shutdown guarantees. CNSC staff have also reviewed and accepted NB Power's plan to become fully compliant with N293-07 by the end of December 2014.

    In the Day One hearing, the Commission requested the expected implementation timeline for CNSC regulatory documents RD-321 and RD-361. Both documents went through a detailed consultation process and were approved by the Commission in December 2010.

    CNSC staff conducted piloted performance tests to verify the new regulatory document requirements. NB Power complies with all requirements.

    These requirements are being fully implemented as part of this licence renewal process; therefore, the requirements for RD-321 and RD-361 have been added to the proposed licence that was attached to Supplemental CMD 11-H12.C for this Day Two hearing.

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    The remaining operating licences for the other Canadian nuclear power plants will be amended to include these requirements by April 30th, 2012.

    I would now like to ask Mr. Jeff Ramsay to continue with the presentation concerning NB Power's request to load fuel and restart the reactor.

    MR. RAMSAY: Good morning, Mr. President and Members of the Commission. For the record, my name is Jeff Ramsay, and I am a senior program officer in the Point Lepreau Regulatory Program Division.

    This slide shows the four regulatory hold points for commissioning of the reactor, as well as an operational regulatory hold point that has been put into place to ensure required fire protection improvements are implemented by the end of December 2014.

    CNSC staff have aligned each commissioning phase with the appropriate CNSC staff approval that will be sought for each of the established hold points. These hold points will serve as regulatory verification checkpoints to ensure operational readiness of the plant safety systems to support full power and also to satisfy regulatory requirements for staged increases in reactor power.

    The established commissioning hold points include fuel load, releasing reactor guaranteed shutdown

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    state, operating above .1 percent power and operating above 35 percent power.

    Note that during fuel load, the reactor will be in a guaranteed shutdown state.

    All the regulatory hold points, including their prerequisites for release, are clearly specified in proposed licence condition 16.4. The prerequisites for Phase A, fuel load, are also defined in Appendix J of the current licence.

    As previously discussed in the program update for emergency management and fire protection, emergency response improvements and compensatory measures for fire protection have been added to the prerequisite requirements for Phase B, removal and shutdown guarantees.

    Approval to release all regulatory hold points is contingent on NB Power providing confirmation that they have met all established prerequisites. CNSC staff have and will conduct reviews and inspections to verify that the required prerequisites have been met prior to releasing the regulatory hold points.

    The regulatory hold points are shown on this timeline to give some perspective on when they occur relative to refurbishment and restart activities, return to normal service and the expiry of the new licence. All of the commissioning hold points, Phases A through D, will

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    take place in the period between the completion of retube activities, currently scheduled for May 2012, and the reactor's return to service in the fall of 2012.

    The operational hold point for fire protection improvements is in December of 2014.

    Since the requirements for each of the phase hold points all clearly defined both in the licence and the licence condition handbook, and in consideration of the short time frame for the commissioning hold points, CNSC staff are recommending that the Commission delegate authority for release of the regulatory hold points B through D to the CNSC Executive Vice-President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer of the Regulatory Operations branch.

    Release of the Phase A hold point for fuel load will be discussed on the next slide.

    Similarly, as the licence condition handbook also specifies the detailed requirements for the release of the operational hold point for fire protection improvements in 2014, CNSC staff are also recommending the Commission delegate authority for release of this hold point to the Executive Vice-President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer of the Regulatory Operations Branch as well.

    Twenty-one (21) prerequisites for the Phase

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    A hold points for fuel load are listed in Appendix J of the current operating licence. The prerequisites are considered complete when NB Power has submitted a completion assurance report which has been reviewed and accepted by CNSC staff.

    The completion assurance report for each item details the work performed and indicates that all required testing has been successfully completed.

    Currently, 13 of the 21 prerequisites are complete, with their completion assurance reports submitted. For seven of the remaining eight items, fieldwork is complete, with only the completion assurance report documentation pending for review.

    The main task left to be completed for the last item is the installation of the feeders, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of May, 2012.

    For all of the work conducted to date, CNSC staff have reviewed and/or performed inspections to verify regulatory compliance, and any concerns raised have been fully resolved.

    Since the majority of the work has been completed, and the remaining items are considered of low safety significance to CNSC staff, CNSC staff recommend the Commission delegate authority for the final approvals associated with fuel load, Phase A, where the few

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    remaining prerequisites to again the CNSC Executive Vice-President & Chief Regulatory Operations Officer of the Regulatory Operations Branch.

    And now I would like to pass the presentation over to Dr. Rzentkowski who will provide some further details for clarification on several topics raised in public interventions for this hearing, as well as presenting CNSC staff’s final conclusions and recommendations. Thank you.

    MR. RZENTKOWSKI: Thank you very much, Mr. Ramsey.

    At this point in the presentation, CNSC staff would like to provide further details for clarification on common topics which were raised in the public intervention for this Day Two Hearing.

    Regarding the seismic margin assessment, CNSC staff would like to confirm that New Brunswick Power’s technical assessment is based upon the best available information, given our current state of knowledge. The methodology used by New Brunswick Power is internationally accepted for evaluation of existing nuclear power plants and is endorsed by Canadian standards.

    New Brunswick Power’s technical assessment was reviewed by CNSC staff and the seismic hazard input

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    reviewed by Natural Resources Canada. It was concluded that the results of the assessments remain valid. In fact, improved ground motion relationships, that will be used in support of the 2015 National Building Code of Canada, are likely to result in even smaller probabilities that will show even greater or more significant margin between the actual seismic hazard and the Point Lepreau design basis.

    It is important to note here that independent on the actual seismic hazard, the station will be shut down and maintain a safe state, assuming the complete loss of all sources of power and cooling water.

    With regard to fish mortality, CNSC staff would like to stress that the Point Lepreau cooling water intake is located several hundred metres offshore, at a depth of approximately 18 metres. The intake opening also has a velocity cap that reduces the flow rate of intake water. The location of the intake and the velocity cap serve to minimize both impingement and entrainment of fish. A fish guidance system is also available for the purpose of returning light fish that have entered the forebay. The system has not been used recently because so few fish are being captured by the intake water.

    With regards to shipment of radioactive material outside of Canada for waste reduction, it is

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    important to realize that CNSC staff encourage licensees to reduce waste volumes. This is a standard practice for all industries and is considered to be best practice based on sustainability and safety.

    The transport of radioactive nuclear substances is subject to the CNSC’s Packaging and Transport of Nuclear Substances Regulations and Transport Canada’s Transport of Dangerous Goods Regulations. These Regulations set requirements for the safe transport of radioactive nuclear substances throughout Canada.

    Regarding lessons learned from accidents, there is an operating experience, or an OPEX program, implemented by nuclear power plants operators and regulators, to share information regarding events that have occurred at other plants and to prevent similar events from happening at their own sites. By participating in this program, organizations willingly share information for the benefit of other groups throughout the world. In this way information from events are reviewed and lessons learned are applied to Canadian reactors, either from the licensees or the regulators’ perspective. Improvements recommended via OPEX enhance the safety of nuclear power plants in Canada, and reduce the associated risks to as low as reasonably practicable.

    With regard to environmental assessment,

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    CNSC staff concluded that an environmental assessment is not required for licence renewal or fuel load. This conclusion reflects the fact that in 2003 an environmental assessment was performed for the addition of more storage capacity to the solid radioactive waste management facility.

    This environmental assessment also addressed the incremental effect of continued operation of the station and was approved by the Commission. Furthermore, in 2005, CNSC staff reviewed the previously performed environmental assessments to determine if there were gaps that would need to be addressed for refurbishment and continued operation. This review determined ---` THE CHAIRPERSON: Can you ---

    MR. RZENTKOWSKI: --- the environmental assessment was not ---

    THE CHAIRPERSON: Can you please speed up and finish? Many of those issues will be raised again through the intervention, so can you please conclude?

    MR. RZENTKOWSKI: Okay, I will try to close the presentation.

    Mr. President and Members of the Commission, we would like to reiterate the following: CNSC staff conducted regulatory review and inspection

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    activities, and concluded that New Brunswick Power is qualified to operate Point Lepreau and to make adequate provisions for the health and safety of persons, protection of the environment and maintenance of national security, and measures required to implement international obligations to which Canada has agreed.

    Specific to New Brunswick Power’s request to renew their operating licence, and to load fuel and restart the Point Lepreau, CNSC staff conclude that the regulatory framework and hold points are in place to ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements, and continuous safety improvements will be implemented through new regulatory requirements imposed in the new licence.

    And, finally, in regards to New Brunswick Power’s request for licence renewal, CNSC staff recommend that the Commission issue the proposed operating licence with an expiry date of June 30th, 2017; revoke the current licence; and delegate authority for approvals of lower significance issues to CNSC-designated officers in the Regulatory Operations Branch.

    And in regards to New Brunswick Power’s request to load fuel and re-start the reactor, CNSC staff recommend that the Commission grant permission to proceed with fuel load and re-start, and delegate authority for release of regulatory points to CNSC Executive Vice

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    President & Chief Regulatory Operations Officer, Regulatory Operations Branch.

    Thank you, Mr. President and Commission Members for your attention. We are now prepared to answer any questions you may have regarding fuel load or license renewal.

    THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. I would like to turn the floor to Mr. MacGillivray from New Brunswick Department of Public Safety for presentation as outlined in CMD H-12.37. Mr. MacGillivray?

    11-H12.37 Oral presentation by New Brunswick Department of Public Safety

    MR. MacGILLIVRAY: Merci, monsieur le president, membres de la commission, mesdames, messieurs, ladies and gentlemen.

    For the record, Ernest MacGillivray, Senior Advisor with the Department of Public Safety and representing the Province of New Brunswick.

    Public Safety is a New Brunswick emergency measures organization. It is the lead agency responsible for emergency management. It’s responsible for the off

    http:11-H12.37

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    site emergency program, coordinates preparedness activities and is the primary agency for the management of any incidents with offsite implications. The Offsite Emergency Program is a joint program with New Brunswick Power with shared governance.

    Our written submission outlines the current state of our capabilities and our readiness for restart. Our submission covers these items in some detail with emphasis on program design, governance and our Improvement Program. It also describes how we intend to address the issues identified in the CNSC Fukushima Task Force Report.

    At a high level, the program looks like this, has the following elements, and significantly, New Brunswick has committed to improved rigour, transparency and continual improvement in our emergency programs. Our program design conforms to international norms for program management including executive level accountability, performance measures, and has an internal responsibility system. We use CSA Z1600 as a reference standard.

    New Brunswick has and is making significant investments to build additional capacity and improve competencies to manage any offsite emergency.

    We have a governance framework that has these three elements. For statutory authorities, our legislation conveys authority on the Minister of Public

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    Safety, establishes the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization as the provincial coordinating agency and designates the directory MO as the management authority for any emergencies.

    There’s accountability through various bodies; I’ll address these in some additional detail in a moment. And we have defined process for program performance management with both internal and external evaluation.

    Our framework looks like this. We have a Deputy Minister’s level committee comprising all of the line departments with emergency roles. It deals with government’s responsibilities for public safety and security, the continuity of government and government operations, and this group was essential to the effective management of floods in 2008 and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

    There is also a mirror ADM level committee, which is a working committee responsible to deliver on the work plan.

    There is a steering committee which is joint between public safety and NB Power. It includes the program leads, project managers and other technical specialists as required, and it manages all of the program activities.

    The work of the program is organized into

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    these various functional areas. This framework ensures that the work receives the necessary attention and resources and that expectations are met.

    We have a continual improvement policy and our process provides a basis for critical assessment and corrective actions. It’s also used to identify lessons learned from exercises and actual operations and this ensures that deficiencies are addressed and that we act on any opportunities to make improvements, and I have some specific examples.

    In preparation for restart, we’ve reviewed the technical guidance and work with supporting agencies to update our plans and procedures. We’ve improved our technology, our telecommunications and operating systems, and we’ve placed all of our operation centres, including municipal ones, on a common platform. And we have some new systems for shared situational awareness and decision support.

    We have improved and added to our public warning capabilities and, in our written submission, I mentioned three systems; there are, in fact, four. We have a backup. So we have four separate systems for warning the public.

    We’re also working with partners to further refine our evacuee registration and tracking systems so

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    that we can maintain contact and communicate with residents while they’re out of their homes.

    We’re in the midst of our training and exercise activities, which will continue through the winter months, with a validation exercise in the spring of 2012. We also have public information initiatives planned for the coming months to ensure that residents in the emergency planning zone have all of the information they require.

    A few words on our Incident Management System. This slide depicts the provincial IMS or Incident Management System which is structured along commonly accepted, functional lines. This functional approach aligns the provincial emergency organization with the tactical level and with federal partners such as Health Canada, Public Safety Canada and National Defence.

    This is just a screen shot from our operating system. We have a number of tools available to assist us with monitoring and modelling, and we’ve been given access to the federal tools used by Health Canada, National Defence. There’s also a new system which has just been deployed in the last few weeks by the Centre for Security Science called the Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System.

    Such tools enable collaboration across

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    mandates, jurisdictional boundaries and levels of government and this is a screen shot of the MASAS system. This system is actually a service for shared situational awareness and it integrates information from a variety of official sources into a common view.

    I’d like to speak briefly to the Fukushima Task Force Report. And we’ll provide comment under separate cover, but we support the draft recommendations and we will address them through a supplemental work plan and we intend to cover these specific items.

    Some of the recommendations are already being addressed through our existing improvement plan; for example, we’ve conducted a comprehensive risk assessment of a wide area around Lepreau and we’ve looked at conjoined threats such as a nuclear incident combined with tropical weather.

    We have developed a number of scenario-specific evacuation plans and we’re validating our evacuation planning assumptions which, of course, are 30 years old, so we’re updating that.

    We recognize that we need more rigour in our training and we have secured executive support to make training mandatory and participation in exercises mandatory and we’re committing to increase the frequency of our exercises such that all components of our emergency

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    organization will be exercised annually. In conclusion, the Nuclear Offsite

    Emergency Program leverages mature and proven capabilities that can be mobilized quickly to deal with any contingency at the station. We have close and constructive working relationships with the licensee at various levels with shared governance and executive-level accountability for program outcomes. We have considerable practical experience working with NB Power in other areas including continuity of operations, transmission and distribution, restoration operations, dam operations, flow an