ML020390357
| ML020390357 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Browns Ferry, Watts Bar, Sequoyah  |
| Issue date: | 02/05/2002 |
| From: | Needham M Neal R. Gross & Co. |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| Byrdsong A | |
| References | |
| +adjud/ruledam200506, 50-259-CIVP, 50-260-CIVP, 50-296-CIVP, 50-327-CIVP, 50-328-CIVP, 50-390-CIVP, ASLBP 01-791-01-CIVP, EA-99-234, NRC-223, RAS 3885 | |
| Download: ML020390357 (33) | |
Text
39g 6-DOCKErTED Official Transcript of Proceedings USNRC 2002 FEB-8 AMII: 19 N UCLEAR REGULATORY COMMI&~SFJL CETARY A
OUICIINS SPAFF TVA: Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 1; Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Units I & 2; Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2 & 3 PRE-HEARING CONFERENCE Title Docket Number:
Location:
Date:
ASLBP No.: 01-791-01-CivP EA 99-234 (telephone conference)
Tuesday, February 5, 2002 Work Order No.:
NRC-223 Pages 168-198 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433 lemp/4e& E Cy- 03,'7
168 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
+
ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL PRE-HEARING CONFERENCE
x Docket Nos.
- 50-390-CivP; IN THE MATTER OF:
- 50-327-CivP; TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
- 50-328-CivP; (Watts Bar Nuclear Plant,
- 50-259-CivP; Unit 1; Sequoyah Nuclear
- 50-260-CivP; Plant, Units 1 & 2;
- 50-296-CivP; Browns Ferry Nuclear
- ASLBP No.
Plant, Units 1, 2 & 3
- 01-791-01-CivP
- EA 99-234 x
Tuesday, February 5, 2002 Via telephone conference call The above-entitled matter came on for hearing, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m.,
BEFORE:
CHARLES BECHHOEFER, Chairman RICHARD F. COLE, Administrative Judge ANN MARSHALL YOUNG, Administrative Judge NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
169 1
APPEARANCES:
2 On Behalf of the Licensee, Tennessee Valley 3
Authority, 4
BRENT MARQUAND, ESQ.
5 Office of General Counsel 6
Tennessee Valley Authority 7
400 West Summit Hill Drive 8
Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 9
(865) 362-4251 10 11 On Behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
12 DENNIS C. DAMBLY, ESQ.
13 JENNIFER M. EUCHNER, ESQ.
14 Office of General Counsel 15 Nuclear Regulatory Commission 16 Room 15 E2 17 One White Flint North 18 Rockville, Maryland 19 (301) 415-1578 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.corr I
170 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10 1 1 12 13 14 1 5 1 6 17 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 22 23 24 2 5 ALSO PRESENT:
NICHOLAS HILTON, NRC/OE WIL KEYSER, ESQ., NRC/ASLBP MICHELLE McKOWN, ESQ., NRC/ASLBP NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
171 1
2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S (10:12 a.m.)
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
This is Judge Bechhoefer.
The remainder of the Licensing Board is with me also.
Would you identify yourselves?
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE: Richard Cole, C-O-L-E.
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Ann Marshall Young.
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
With several of the legal attorneys for Michelle McKown and Wil Keyser.
Would identify themselves for benefit of the nothing else?
Hi.
This is me also are the Panel:
other people reporter, if MR. MARQUAND: This is Brent Marquand with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
MR. DAMBLY:
And this is Dennis Dambly with the Office of General Counsel, NRC staff, along with Jennifer Euchner, E-U-C-H-N-E-R, and Nick Hilton, from the Office of Enforcement.
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Are there any other TVA attorneys here or not?
MR. MARQUAND: No. My two co-counsel have been in trial for the last four weeks in Birmingham, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealraross.com
1 2
3 172 and they're still in trial.
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
This conference is mostly to confirm previous schedules and 4
5 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 make sure with, has arising?
have been Marquand.
or of any issues.
our end a reference that they're adequate.
First, to start out discovery been completed or are any problems We had heard earlier that discovery should completed by this time anyway.
MR. MARQUAND:
Your Honor, this is Brent I don't know of anything that's outstanding outstanding requests or of any outstanding 1
MR. DAMBLY:
I believe so, Your Honor.
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE that's true from YOUNG:
Some I think that the staff was raising a 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 question about the response time.
that out?
Did you all work MR. MARQUAND: Yes, Your Honor. We had an agreement on what was due when, and it was all provided.
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Great.
Wonderful.
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Okay. That's great.
Now we note that a motion for summary disposition has been filed by TVA on the schedule we set previously.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
173 1
Staff --
under that same schedule, the staff response 2
is due February 20, so does the staff --
- well, I
3 guess, absent any request for change, that schedule 4
will hold.
Can the staff meet that?
5 MR. DAMBLY: That shouldn't be any problem 6
at all, Your Honor.
7 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
Very good.
8 Then we still want legal briefs on various legal 9
issues to be filed on March 1. Any problems with that 10 from the various parties?
11 MR. DAMBLY:
None from the staff, Your 12 Honor.
13 MR. MARQUAND: TVA doesn't have a problem 14 with that.
15 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
And then a 16 list of witnesses and documents are supposed to be 17 filed by March 29.
Any problems with that?
18 MR. DAMBLY:
None from the staff, Your 19 Honor.
20 MR. MARQUAND:
We don't have a problem 21 with that.
22 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
And then we 23 have provided that the hearing would commence on 24 Tuesday, April 23 in Chattanooga.
Now, we've looked 25 for hearing rooms, and so far the only one we've found NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005.3701 www.nealrgross.com
174 1
available for the projected three weeks of hearings is 2
3 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: We've got the 4
court reporter on the line?
5 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Oh, yes.
The only 6
one we found it supposedly holds only 30 people.
It's 7
at the Technical Training --
the TTI, or whatever it 8
is, in Chattanooga.
Now --
9 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
How many?
10 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Thirty, 30. I don't 11 know that that's big enough, and that's my inquiry.
12 How many people are likely to attend?
I might say 13 that for at least substantive witnesses, we're likely 14 to sequester witnesses.
15 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: Before we go 16 any further, can I --
do we have the court reporter 17 with us?
18 COURT REPORTER:
Yes, Judge.
19 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: Okay. Great.
20 Thank you.
21 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: That was on before.
22 I did that before. Anyway, the room we have I'm told 23 will hold 30 people, and my question is, is that big 24 enough?
Are there likely to be public attendees at 25 the hearing?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
175 1
MR. MARQUAND:
I can't say whether there 2
will or will not be.
My experience trying Department 3
of Labor cases is when there are public attendees 4
there's rarely more than --
if there are any, there's 5
rarely more than two or three.
6 MR. DAMBLY: And from the staff side, I do 7
believe that the Office of Enforcement and various 8
other regions may send people for a day or two here or 9
there since this is the first discrimination hearing, 10 but I wouldn't anticipate anything close to running up 11 over the 30 limit.
12 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
- Well, the 30 13 includes the judge, the reporter, counsel, et cetera.
14 MR. DAMBLY-But I wouldn't think any part 15 of the permanent group that would be there 16 representing the staff would be more than five people 17 at a time.
18 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Mr. Marquand, do you 19 have any thoughts on that?
20 MR. MARQUAND:
Well, assuming that we do 21 sequester witnesses, which we would request and expect 22 23 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
We think that's 24 appropriate.
25 MR. MARQUAND:
I do too.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005.3701 www.nealrgross.com
176 1
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: I might say if there 2
are witnesses on essentially non-controversial items, 3
they would not have to be sequestered.
But anything 4
controversial we think they probably should be 5
sequestered.
But the question is are there going to 6
be any panels of witnesses who do not testify on 7
substance but on organizational matters, how thinas 8
were organized.
Is there going to be anything like, 9
that? On occasion, in other cases, the staff has used 10 such panels.
It's just my inquiry in terms of size of 11 the room and that kind of thing.
12 MR. DAMBLY: Your Honor, for the staff, we 13 would not intend to have any panels of witnesses; 14 they'd be one at a time.
So I don't think that will 15 be a problem.
We have no problem with sequestering; 16 in fact, we would support that also since 95 percent 17 of the witnesses are TVA personnel anyway.
18 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: So the staff doesn't 19 intend to put a panel on for such things as how the OI 20 investigation was initiated, et cetera.
21 MR. DAMBLY:
No, Your Honor.
In fact, we 22 weren't even intending to get into that, period.
The 23 only witness that I really, at this point, anticipate 24 from the staff would be a member from the Office of 25 Enforcement to explain how you got to the penalty that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 177 was arrived at, which is one of the things that we all need to look at.
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Oh, okay. And that would be one witness.
MR. DAMBLY:
Yes.
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
No problem then.
So you think maybe the 30-person hearing room, which is at the Technical Training Center, would be adequate, because it's available and we can have it.
MR. MARQUAND: Aside from the size of it, what are the logistics coming and going into the building and the room?
Is it going to be something that is going to require all of our people to be under escort and the like or will they be free to come and go as they would in a federal courthouse downtown?
MR. DAMBLY:
Yes.
This is Mr. Dambly.
Having been in there, and I'm sure Mr. Marquand's been in there a few times for some public meetings, the Discrimination Task Force, I'm certain that that room, in and of itself, the big hearing room that they have there, they could turn off, if you will, the key card thing that goes in and out of that, because that's separate from the rest of their offices.
MR. MARQUAND:
Well, I mean, my question is from a logistics standpoint, if in order to enter NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
178 1
the --
and I assume these are in NRC offices over 2
there in Eastgate, Eastridge --
that it would be --
if 3
we have to go check in every day we come in and have 4
to be escorted to the room, it's going to make it very 5
cumbersome for the attorneys for TVA and TVA witnesses 6
to marshall our witnesses and to deal with the 7
documents and the like that are involved in this case.
8 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Well, I think we'll 9
have to check that out.
10 MR. MARQUAND: Well, my concern is that it 11 is a burden that's placed upon us that's not placed 12 upon opposing counsel and the opposition party.
I 13 would request --
if that's the case, I would request 14 a neutral forum.
15 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
If that's the case, 16 we would certainly look elsewhere for hearing space.
17 MR. DAMBLY:
Your Honor, the building is 18 a publicly accessible building.
The NRC has several 19 offices in there, and there are different entrances to 20 different sections of the NRC offices. The restrooms 21 are in public space, and the hearing room is an 22 isolated room by itself, as I recall, which I'm sure 23 they can turn off the card key access to that and 24 leave that an open room for purposes of the hearing.
25 There wouldn't be any, if you will, burden on Mr.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
179 1
Marquand and his people coming in and out of the 2
building and in and out of the hearing room.
3 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: I even think members 4
of the public, if they want to attend, and maybe one 5
or two from what I hear, they should be able to walk 6
in as well.
7 MR. DAMBLY:
And they would.
8 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Which they're able 9
to do, for instance, at the NRC hearing room here, but 10 you have to make sure that people are aware that can 11 happen.
12 MR. DAMBLY:
Yes.
There are no guards, 13 and there are no magnetometers or anything else to get 14 into the building or into the space.
You don't have 15 a guard desk to go by and sign in.
16 MR. MARQUAND: I don't have a problem with 17 a guard desk or metal detectors as long as that burden 18 is on both parties or any other parties equally.
19 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Well, we will make 20 sure that essentially the room we use has public 21 access.
22 MR. MARQUAND:
All right.
23 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
People may have to 24 go through various detectors of sorts, but that's --
25 well, that would apply in a courthouse too.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
180 1
MR. MARQUAND:
Certainly.
That's why I 2
said I don't have a problem with that.
3 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Okay.
I think that 4
will be arranged.
As long as the 30-person room is 5
big enough, that's the one we will use.
6 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE:
This is Dr.
7 Cole.
The problem that comes in my mind is if we are 8
going to sequester witnesses where we're going to 9
station those witnesses.
And we'll try to make some 10 arrangements so that they would be equal 11 accommodations for both NRC witnesses and for TVA 12 witnesses. We'll contact them at the Training Center, 13 see if we can maybe get a room where the sequestered 14 witnesses would be able to take seats and wait their 15 turn.
16 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: And wait their turn, 17 right.
18 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE: We'll let you 19 know about that.
20 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
21 MR. DAMBLY:
This is Mr. Dambly.
I had 22 one question on sequestration, and I don't know if TVA 23 intends to have MacArthur or McGrath sit the whole 24 thing on some basis or otherwise, because I would 25 object to that.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 2344433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
181 1
MR.
MARQUAND:
We will designate a
2 corporate representative to sit through the hearing, 3
and I haven't determined who that will be yet.
4 MR. DAMBLY:
Again, if it's --
5 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
I assume that that 6
would not be a witness.
7 MR.
MARQUAND:
- Well, I think we're 8
entitled to designate who we need to designate as a 9
corporate representative regardless of whether they' re 10 a witness or not.
And in light of the fact that the 11 NRC staff has indicated that they intend to drag 12 everybody and their brother into this, I don't know 13 how we could avoid designating a witness as a 14 corporate representative who would be effective in 15 assisting us at the counsel table.
16 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
You're 17 entitled to have a corporate representative there.
18 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Well, I'm not sure 19 if he or she is a witness.
20 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Yes, they 21 are.
Yes, they are.
22 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Well, I don't think 23 so.
I don't think so.
24 PARTICIPANT:
Well, we'll have to settle 25 that.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
182 1
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Yes.
Because if 2
that witness is hearing other people and then gets up 3
to testify --
4 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: This is Judge 5
Young.
Let me suggest something.
If there's any 6
dispute over who will be the corporate representative, 7
whether they can be a witness, and also if there are 8
any motions in limine with regard to any of the 9
testimony or witnesses or evidence, it might be a good 10 idea to just set a deadline for those to be filed.
11 Right now we have a date for witness and exhibit lists 12 of March 29, and I think that probably we could set a 13 deadline within one week after that for both parties 14 to file any objections, motions in limine, any similar 15 types of motions or objections by April 3 with 16 responses due by April 5.
17 MR. MARQUAND:
Judge, I'm going to be out 18 of the country. Can we go for a week --
the next week 19 to the 10th?
20 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
I'm not sure we 21 should have any of this.
22 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Till the 23 10th, that's --
it might be a better idea to actually 24 move back the deadline for witness and exhibit lists 25 to March 22 and then have maybe the deadline --
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
1 83 1
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
We're tied up for 2
that.
3 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Give us a 4
minute to confer, would you, please?
5 MR. MARQUAND:
Sure.
6 (Judges confer.)
7 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Well, after some 8
discussion, the Board would first inquire when --
- now, 9
this is apart from the full list of witnesses and 10 documents -- when TVA would know whether its corporate 11 representative, or however you term it, will be a 12 witness and would otherwise be sequestered.
If 13 there's no conflict, then there's no issue.
14 MR. MARQUAND:
I would not imagine it 15 would be before the 1st of March.
I will know before 16 I'll have a pretty good idea before we do our 17 witness and exhibit list. Frankly, I haven't sat down 18 to think about it.
I know Mr. Dambly objected to Dr.
19 MacArthur.
I don't anticipate calling him as 20 corporate representative.
I have not ruled out 21 whether I would call Mr. McGrath as a corporate 22 representative or possibly somebody from the Human 23 Resource Department, but I haven't really crossed that 24 bridge yet.
25 But, frankly, you know, unless we use NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
184 1
somebody as a corporate representative who has some 2
knowledge of the case, that corporate representative 3
wouldn't do us any good,
- and, like I said, Mr.
4 Dambly's indicated that he anticipates calling a lot 5
of people, so all I can tell you is I will let him 6
know as soon as I can figure out who that would be.
7 MR. DAMBLY:
Your Honor, this is Mr.
8 Dambly for the staff again.
Since this is causing 9
some consternation, whatever, we're not going to 10 object to whoever they want to put down there as their 11 corporate rep as long as we know who it is before the 12 hearing.
13 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Even though that 14 person would be a witness who would be otherwise 15 sequestered.
16 MR. DAMBLY:
That's right, Your Honor.
17 Depending on the witness, if it's somebody that I 18 think that's a major issue for, I'll just call him 19 first.
I mean there are plenty of corporate people 20 they can bring in that wouldn't make any difference to 21 me if they sat through the whole thing or not because 22 they have a small part.
If it's some central person 23 and I think it will be an issue, I could call him 24
- first, and then they won't hear anybody else's 25 testimony till afterwards.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
\\ _, _...
185 1
MR.
MARQUAND:
That's a
reasonable 2
approach.
3 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
- Yes, that is a 4
reasonable approach. Let me ask, what about the staff 5
representative?
6 MR. DAMBLY: Well, you know, obviously, it 7
wouldn't be bad to have Mr. Kaiser, but I don't how he 8
could be a representative of the staff, so I would 9
assume that the only staff person we would have with 10 us at the table would be somebody from the Office of 11 Enforcement. Whether or not that would be the person 12 who would testify as to the metro map and how did he 13 get to the various fines and severity levels, I don't 14 know.
15 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Then there's no 16 problem.
So I think if the matter is resolved, as 17 we've just heard, that would be satisfactory.
- Well, 18 do we have any other things?
19 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
We're all on 20 the board for the hearing dates that we've set, right?
21 MR. MARQUAND:
I am, Your Honor.
22 MR. DAMBLY:
No problem for us, Your 23 Honor.
24 MR. MARQUAND: And, Mr. Dambly, I need to 25 let you know I've got --
you know, obviously, you're NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
186 1
going to want to call some TVA people as witnesses.
2 If you could let us know ahead of time, and I'm not 3
talking now, but I'm talking like towards the end of 4
March, what their sequence is, we can sequence their 5
work.
Dr. MacArthur is on a church mission trip, and 6
he told me he was not available the week of April 23.
7 I hope he's available the next week.
8 MR. DAMBLY:
I'm sure we can work around 9
whatever anybody's schedules are.
10 MR. MARQUAND:
Okay.
11 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE: Mr. Marquand, 12 this is Judge Cole.
13 MR. MARQUAND:
Yes.
14 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE: I think in our 15 last pre-hearing conference you had indicated you 16 estimated it would take two weeks; is that correct?
17 MR.
MARQUAND:
That was Mr. Dambly's 18 estimation.
19 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE:
That was Mr.
20 Dambly, okay.
21 MR. MARQUAND: And I don't have any reason 22 I think, actually, he said three weeks.
I hope 23 it's not three weeks.
24 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE:
Okay.
Mr.
25 Dambly, do you have any reason to modify your previous NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234.4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
187 1
estimate?
2 MR. DAMBLY: Well, I think what I had said 3
was two to three, and I don't know that I would modify 4
that.
I think it would be wise to have the space 5
should it go to the third week. Hopefully things will 6
go faster, but, again, there are a substantial number 7
of witnesses.
There winre a substantial number of 8
depositions taken, as the Board's aware, I think, and 9
given that, most of those people have relevant 10 information.
And the way the depositions went, I 11 would expect that it's not going to be over in two or 12 three days, by any means.
13 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE: You gentlemen 14 are pretty efficient, I'm sure.
All right.
Thank 15 you.
16 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Do either of you 17 have --
or either party have any estimate of numbers 18 of witnesses that you will be calling?
19 MR. MARQUAND:
Dennis, do you know how 20 many depositions we took?
21 MR. DAMBLY:
I think, Your Honors, we're 22 talking probably 15, maybe more, maybe a few less.
23 We'll have to weed out stuff in the end.
24 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
That's the staff, 25 what about TVA?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
188 1
MR. MARQUAND:
In addition to the --
2 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Rough guesses now.
3 MR.
MARQUAND:
I mean I think our 4
witnesses are the same ones that Mr.
Dambly 5
anticipates calling.
We've got --
6 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: They don't overlap; 7
they're called separately.
8 MR. MARQUAND: Well, but they're the same 9
people. And in addition to those, there may be two or 10 three more, but that's probably about it.
11 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Okay. Well, that's 12 13 MR. MARQUAND:
Let me ask, in light of 14 your comment, Judge, just a procedural question.
In 15 some of the --
in fact, in many of the courts that we 16 try cases in where there's not a jury, where it's just 17 tried to a judge, frequently the judges like for the 18 parties to deal with all the testimony from one 19 witness the first time they're called to the stand 20 since we're really not involved in a question of 21 sequence of presentation to a jury, it doesn't really 22 disrupt anybody's presentation. My question was what 23 is the Board's pleasure in that?
Do you anticipate 24 having the staff call the witness and have their 25 testimony limited to, at that point, what the staff NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
189 1
wants and then have them recalled later and go through 2
all their testimony, from TVA's standpoint, again?
3 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Let's go off the 4
record for a minute?
5 (Whereupon, the foregoing matter went off 6
the record at 10:48 a.m. and went back on 7
the record at 10:50 a.m.)
8 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
I think the Board 9
would prefer that when a witness is there he or she be 10 able to testify to whatever he's going to testify to, 11 and then there be cross examination, and that would 12 include perhaps matters that were not testified to on 13 direct but the other party wishes the witness to 14 address.
So that I think it would save time and be 15 more efficient to try to handle a given witness at one 16 time.
17 MR. MARQUAND:
I understand, Judge.
I 18 think that's a reasonable approach.
19 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Any view from the 20 staff?
21 MR. DAMBLY: I don't have any problem with 22 that either, Your Honor.
We might run into some 23 questions about who has the right to lead and not lead 24 at various points, but we can cross that when we get 25 there.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
190 1
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
It would 2
probably be pretty clear who are adverse witnesses, 3
and those will be the ones, obviously, that you'll be 4
able to lead on.
5 MR. DAMBLY:
But then if they're putting 6
on their case with the same guy but as part of the 7
cross, I would assume that part of it would have to be 8
without leading if there's something different being 9
discussed.
10 MR. MARQUAND: I understand what the Judge 11 said.
12 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Well, I think we've 13 covered everything we think we wanted to cover.
Do 14 any of the parties have anything else to raise?
15 MR. DAMBLY:
Did we set a date --
this is 16 Mr. Dambly --
for motions and limine?
17 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: We were going 18 to, but I don't think that --
if either party thinks 19 that you are going to file a motion in limine, then I 20 do think we need to go back to the timing of the 21 deadline for motions in limine. Are you thinking that 22 there might be a necessity for any such motion?
23 MR. DAMBLY:
It depends.
I think, as I 24 indicated last time, when we see their witness list 25 and their list of documents, there's a possibility NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
191 1
that we may file a motion on one of the witnesses.
2 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
That's 3
something that I believe we were about to talk about, 4
and there was a problem with the timing. I think that 5
Judge Cole and Judge Bechhoefer are going to be 6
involved in another case in early April.
That's why 7
I was earlier beginning to suggest that we might want 8
to move the witness and exhibit list deadline earlier 9
so that we could resolve any motions in limine prior 10 to everyone being unavailable.
So if you think that 11 there's a possibility of that, does either party have 12 any objection to moving that witness and exhibit 13 deadline back to an earlier date?
14 MR. DAMBLY: For the staff, Your Honor, we 15 don't have a problem with March 22.
16 MR. MARQUAND:
I think that's going to be 17 pushing it, but I think we can make March 22.
My 18 problem is that for March 23 until April 1 I'll be out 19 and gone so that even if we move it to March 22, that 20 doesn't mean that I'd be able to turnaround and give 21 you --
digest what the staff had done and give you a 22 motion in limine immediately within two days upon my 23 return.
24 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: Oh, I thought 25 you were going to be gone the first week of April.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
1 92 1
MR. MARQUAND: No, until the first week of 2
April.
3 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Oh, okay.
4 MR. MARQUAND:
I'm sorry.
5 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
- Well, if 6
that's the case, if you could --
I don't know how 7
quickly --
it seems like these motions could be filed 8
fairly quickly, and earlier I was going to suggest 9
April 3 for filing of the motions, April 5 for 10 responding, and then that would give us the week of 11 April 8 to rule on enough in advance of the hearing 12 that people can plan.
Does that sound reasonable?
13 MR. MARQUAND: Well, I'd rather have till 14 April 5 to file the motions.
I'll try not to be wordy 15 in anything I say, but I still think it would take me 16 a couple days to digest what the staff proposes and 17 determine if we have any hard spots with it.
18 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
The problem 19 is if we move it back to the 5th, then we're going to 20 have to get a real quick turnaround on responses, 21 because then we're getting really close to the hearing 22 and times when various ones of us are going to be 23 unavailable.
So, you know, how about the 4th and the 24 8th, the 4th for motions, 8th for responses?
25 MR. MARQUAND: Well, I can live with that.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
1 93 1
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: Can you, Mr.
2 Dambly?
3 MR. DAMBLY:
What dates did we finally 4
settle on?
5 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
We haven't settled 6
on anything yet.
7 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
We were 8
throwing out there, and Mr. Marquand said he had no 9
objections to filing motions in limine on April 4, 10 with responses on the 8th.
11 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: What day is the 4th?
12 MR. MARQUAND:
The 4th is a Thursday.
13 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: And then the 14 8th is a Monday.
15 MR. DAMBLY:
No, that's not a problem for 16 us, Your Honor.
17 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Okay.
Then 18 why don't we go ahead and set those as the dates and 19 then we can have some time to --
20 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
That seems okay.
21 (Judges confer.)
22 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Okay. I guess we'll 23 set those dates:
April 4 for any motions in limine, 24 April 8 for any responses.
25 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Let me just NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
1
- say, just to reflect discussions we were having, 2
obviously we do not encourage filing motions in limine 3
on each and everything that you may conceivably object 4
to, keeping in mind the somewhat flexible evidentiary 5
standard in these hearings. And I think probably both 6
of you are on the same wavelength in terms of any such 7
motions would be on fairly significant witnesses or 8
evidence that you really need an advance ruling on.
9 Does that make sense?
10 MR. MARQUAND:
Yes, Your Honor.
11 MR. DAMBLY:
Yes, Your Honor.
12 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: Great. Okay.
13 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
Is there 14 anything --
we'll set those dates for motions in 15 limine.
Anything further the parties wish us to 16 address today?
17 MR. DAMBLY:
Nothing for the staff, Your 18 Honor.
19 MR. MARQUAND:
Nothing from TVA either, 20 Your Honor.
21 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
Well, we 22 enjoyed talking with you this morning, and I guess 23 we'll see you at the hearing.
24 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: Do we need to 25 talk again before the hearing?
Is there any --
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
195 1
CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Do you think there's 2
any --
yes.
Is there any reason why we should --
3 MR. MARQUAND:
If the parties do file 4
motions in limine, would it be of assistance to the 5
Board after you receive the motion and the response, 6
say, maybe on the 10th or the 11th, to have a status 7
conference, I mean to schedule one in the event that 8
you might want to hear any additional information from 9
the parties on those motions?
10 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
What's the 10th?
11 MR. MARQUAND:
Somewhere in that time 12 frame.
13 MR. DAMBLY: Your Honor, I'm out from the 14 10th until --
I'll be back the 15th.
15 MR. MARQUAND:
Maybe even the next week.
16 MR. DAMBLY:
If you wanted to do --
file 17 them on the 8th and talk on the 9th, that's okay, as 18 long as everybody's e-mailing anyway.
I don't 19 anticipate --
I mean hopefully there won't be any, but 20 if there --
I would anticipate the most the staff is 21 going to deal with is one issue.
22 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
And we can 23 take anything else that comes up, just to sort of get 24 us on track before the hearing.
25 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Well, we don't need NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 wwwnealrgross.com
196 1
a conference unless there's a motion in limine.
2 (Judges confer.)
3 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay. Why don't we 4
set a status conference for April 9, which is a 5
Tuesday at 2 p.m.?
6 MR. MARQUAND: Can I request the Court to 7
set a different time? I've got a doctor's appointment 8
that day that's been scheduled for quite a while, and 9
I don't --
10 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
I know all of these 11 appointments are.
I have a --
12 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: What time are 13 you available, Mr. Marquand?
14 MR. MARQUAND:
Well, the appointment's 15 scheduled at one, and I assume that I probably get 16 seen until two.
17 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Would the 18 morning be better?
19 MR.
MARQUAND:
The morning would 20 definitely be better.
21 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Same time as 22 today, say, nine o'clock your time?
23 MR. MARQUAND:
Sure.
24 MR. DAMBLY:
No problem for the staff.
25 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
And we'll NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
197 1
just talk about motions in limine or anything else 2
that we need to resolve, just to make the hearing go 3
smoothly.
4 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Prior to the 5
hearing.
6 MR. MARQUAND: Did you say nine o'clock or 7
ten o'clock?
8 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Nine your 9
time, ten o'clock our time.
10 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Ten our time.
11 MR. MARQUAND: We're on the same time you 12 are.
13 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE:
You are?
14 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
You are?
15 MR. MARQUAND: We are. So is Chattanooga.
16 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER: Thought you were an 17 hour1.967593e-4 days <br />0.00472 hours <br />2.810847e-5 weeks <br />6.4685e-6 months <br /> difference.
18 MR. MARQUAND:
No, we're on eastern.
19 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE COLE: Ten o'clock's 20 good.
21 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
22 MR. MARQUAND:
And Chattanooga, where 23 you're going to have the hearing, is on the same time 24 too.
25 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Oh, okay.
We had NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234.4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.neairgross.com
198 1
been told otherwise.
2 MR. MARQUAND:
Well, it's only about 15 3
miles west of Chattanooga is the break.
4 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Oh, okay.
5 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG: So April 9 at 6
ten o'clock.
7 MR. MARQUAND:
Right.
8 CHAIRMAN BECHHOEFER:
Okay.
We'll issue 9
an order as soon as we can recording this.
There's 10 not many changes from what we had previously.
Okay.
11 Well, we'll talk with you on the 9th.
12 MR. MARQUAND:
All right.
Thank you, 13 Judges.
14 MR. DAMBLY:
Thank you.
15 ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE YOUNG:
Thank you, 16 everybody.
17 MR. MARQUAND:
Thank you, Mr. Dambly and 18 Jennifer.
19 (Whereupon, at 11:02 a.m., the Pre-hearing 20 Conference was concluded.)
21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of:
Name of Proceeding: Tennessee Valley Authority Pre-Hearing Conference Docket Numbers:
50-390-CivP, et al ASLEP Numbers:
01-791-01-CivP, et ux Location:
(Telephone Conference) were held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript thereof for the file of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission taken by me and, thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under the direction of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing proceedings.
Matt Needham Official Reporter Neal R. Gross & Co., Inc.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
.