Since the announcement of a borehole nuclear reactor project last December, the people of Parsons and greater southeast Kansas have had numerous questions they have sought answers to. On Thursday, March 12, dozens filled the Wall Family Event Center to hopefully hear from Deep Fission about the project.
However, many were surprised to learn that instead of a question-and-answer forum, Deep Fission held a meetand- greet.
At the door, attendees were directed to ask questions of those with name tags on, seated or standing in various places throughout the crowded room. No formal welcome or introduction was given, and no formal presentation was made to attendees, other than a silent slideshow in the background.
Public response
“I’m not real thrilled with the format,” Lou Martino, a member of the USD 503 Board of Education, said. “It’s pretty crowded.”
Martino added that at times he felt claustrophobic due to the large volume of moving people throughout the space. He said that due to the format, he wasn’t able to get answers to his questions concerning the zoning regulations at Great Plains Industrial Park.
“This is ridiculous,” Esther Grassl, an Altamont resident, said. “It’s wrong, because this is not what we understood was going to happen.”
Members of the Prairie Dog Alliance and PeaceWorks were in attendance and planned to live-stream the meeting.
“I’m here to educate the public on this project, to make sure that everyone in Labette County and the four-state area knows that this is an experimental project that no one voted for. It’s untested, and if there is a contamination or an accident here, we’re going to be living with this forever,” Prairie Dog Alliance Founder Marjorie Reynolds said.
Reynolds also noted that she was not pleased with the format.
“I thought it was going to be where they presented and took questions from the public, but they are not doing that tonight,” Reynolds said. “I’m not exactly sure what the purpose of this meeting was.”
Reynolds said that many in the community, as well as local landowners, are very concerned about the project.
Among her concerns, Reynolds highlighted her concern about the changes to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy.
“They have realigned the regulations associated with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would apply directly to this project. They’ve streamlined them,” Reynolds said. “In some cases, you’ve taken regulations that fill 100 pages and have gotten down to 20 pages with recommendations… There is no teeth in the regulations anymore.”
American Advocacy Initiative Director Taylor Moreland said it’s disappointing that this event wasn’t a question-and-answer forum, but that a meet-and-greet was still acceptable.
“I think if people are bringing this big project to our community, we do need to get to know them, and their goals, and their hopes,” Moreland said.
Moreland previously met with Deep Fission Chief Operations Officer Mike Brasel and said that she hoped some of the information she learned there would be brought to the public.
See FISSION, Page 3.
“I made handouts, we posted them through AAI, but that is not going to reach as many people as a live video with them answering questions,” Moreland said. “So I do hope that they’ll do a true Q&A soon.”
Local leaders respond
District 7 Representative Dan Goddard was present for the meeting and expressed disappointment in the general communication, or lack thereof, with Deep Fission.
“This is not the venue for something like this. We need to have a town hall, where people are seated, they are briefed, and they can ask questions,” Goddard said. “I guess I could say I’m disappointed in the way this has unfolded. People are not able to listen to one another in a quiet environment.”
Goddard said that beyond the meet and greet, he has felt there has been a lack of communication with legislators, and said that he didn’t receive an invitation to the groundbreaking last December, though it did occur the day he and several other local representatives were attending State Senator Virgil Peck’s listening tour.
“I’ve asked for briefings from Deep Fission people, and that has not happened,” Goddard said. “But I talked to the executive from Deep Fission, and she promised me that that would happen here very soon.”
He expects to have a one-on-one meeting to go over the entire project. He said at this time, he can’t answer questions that are brought to him about the project from his constituents. Goddard said that it was important for local legislators to be informed and involved in the process.
“I just hope that in the future, the next public briefing will be a town hall format. I feel that this has been a long time coming. There should have been a town hall meeting back in February.”
During the ground-breaking ceremony, Deep Fission initially said they planned to hold public stakeholder meetings in January.
“I feel that many people have been operating on rumors and not on fact,” Goddard said. “I think the facts need to come out, people need to think about them, and they need to make a decision on how they feel about this whole project.”
Goddard said that he wasn’t concerned about the radioactivity of the reactor, and said he hoped that others weren’t afraid of it.
“It’s highly regulated, both on the federal and the state level,” Goddard said. “We deal with the same type of material at Wolf Creek, but only in a much higher volume quantity.”
Goddard said that he was confident in the general safety of the project and said the safety concerns are minimal.
Labette County Zoning Administrator Mel Hass said his biggest concerns currently were the liability — who would be liable in the case of some type of accident.
“I just want to make sure it’s safe, and that we’ve got liability insurance coverage. It’s not my job, but I feel I owe it to the county to do that.”
Labette County Commissioner Vince Shibi said the Memorial Auditorium would have been a better venue, with more seating and a large screen.
“I don’t care about the cookies. People are here to learn about what they are doing,” Schibi said. “I talked to the CEO of the company, and I said, ‘I’m going to be honest, a lot of people aren’t getting a whole lot.’” Schibi said that part of the process with any big project is letting the public talk, vent, and ask questions.
“I support the concept as long as it is safe,” Schibi said of the project itself.
Neosho County Commissioner Gail Klaassen said she was surprised by the format but enjoyed it.
“It feels more real than when you have somebody up on a platform going through PowerPoint slides,” her husband, Doug Klaassen, said.
Klaassen said that by talking to the various Deep Fission Staff, she got to hear multiple perspectives on the project.
“Different people have different specialities and so it was fun to talk to them,” Gail Klaassen said.
Doug Klaassen said often at events like this, you don’t get to talk to a broad range of people.
“There is going to be a lot to learn here,” he said.
Great Plains and Deep Fission
Great Plains Industrial Park Director Brad Reams said he was glad that community members finally had a chance to have conversations with Deep Fission Staff.
“I think we all wish it was a little sooner, but it is where we are now, and now, as they engage and make future schedules, they can be here more frequently,” Reams said of Deep Fission staff.
Chief Executive Officer Liz Muller spoke with media at the end of the event.
“This is just the first step of what is going to be a long conversation that we’re going to need to have with the people of Parsons and the surrounding communities,” Muller said. “I think we had a good turnout today. I think we had a lot of questions, which is completely what we expected. We expected a lot of questions, and I think we also had the opportunity to do a lot of listening.”
Muller said in addition to answering questions, she wants to better understand the vision for the local community and if that is something Deep Fission fits in with.
“I think we heard the message, “I think it is very clear that this is just a first step and that there is going to be a lot more information sharing to come,” Muller said. “I think it was pretty clear that we need to communicate more information and that we need to be very transparent as we are making progress, and we are committed to doing that.”
She also reiterated that at this time, Deep Fission has only committed to the test reactor as part of the pilot project. They currently lease the land from Great Plains Industrial Park; however, the agreement does allow Deep Fission to purchase the land in the future.
“We hope that the test reactor is going to become a commercial reactor, and we expect that we may have the opportunity to build additional commercial reactors at that same site,” Muller said.
Of progress on the project, Muller said they have recently begun data acquisition drilling on March 6. Muller said they will be drilling down to 6,000 feet.
“It was just great to interact with people,” COO Mike Brasel said. “That’s what I really enjoyed because I think that feels like a more personal touch to it.
Brasel said he agreed there would have to be more conversations in the future.
“We need to do more of this so we can get everybody a chance to talk,” he said.
