ML093641011
| ML093641011 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Watts Bar  |
| Issue date: | 12/22/2009 |
| From: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| To: | |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| 50-391-OL, ASLBP 09-893-01-OL-BD01, NRC-7, RAS JJ-1 | |
| Download: ML093641011 (26) | |
Text
-I Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Tennessee Valley Authority Docket Number: 50-391 -OL DOCKETED USNRC December 30, 2009 (8:30am)
OFFICE OF SECRETARY Location: via Teleconference RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Date: December 22, 2009 Work Order No.: NRC-7 Pages 1-24 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
I (1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION N
3 /
4 ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL 5
6 TELECONFERENCE 7 --- ----------------------- x 8 IN THE MATTER OF: Docket No.
9 TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY, 50-391-OL 10 (Watts Bar Nuclear Power ASLBP No.
1i Plant - Unit 2) 09-893-017OL-BDO1 12 - ------------------------ x 13 14 Tuesday, December 22, 2009 15 16 BEFORE:
17 LAWRENCE G. McDADE Chairman 18 PAUL B. ABRAMSON Administrative Judge 19 GARY S. ARNOLD Administrative Judge 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.com
2 1 APPEAPANCES:
2 3 On Behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 4 Commission:
5 JEREMY SUTTENBERG, ESQ.
6 CHRISTINE JOCHIM BOOTE, ESQ.
7 SUSAN UTTAL, ESQ.
8 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 9 Office of the General Counsel' 10 Mail Stop: 0-15D21 11 Washington, DC 20555-0001 12 (301) 415-2842 13 14 PATRICIC MILANO 15 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 16 Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 17 One White Flint North 18 11555 Rockville Pike 19 Rockville, MD 20852-2738 20 (301) 415-1457 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
3 1 On Behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority:
2 PAUL M. BESSETTE, ESQ.
3 KATHRYN M. SUTTON, ESQ.
4 of: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP 5 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 6 Washington, DC 20004 7 (202) 739-5738 8
9 EDWARD J. VIGLUICCI, ESQ.
10 CHRISTOPHER CHANDLER, ESQ.
11 Tennessee Valley Authority 12 Office of the General Counsel 13 400 W. Summit Hill Drive, WT 6A-K 14 Knoxville, 10+2 37902 15 16 On Behalf of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy:
17 DIANE CURRAN, ESQ.
18 of: Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, 19 LLP 20 1726 M Street NW, Suite 600 [?]
21 Washington, DC 20036 22 (202) 328-3500 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
4 1 RO C E E D I NG S 2 (3:00 p.m.)
3 CHAIRMAN McDADE: We are here in the 4 matter of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts Bar 5 Unit 2. This is ASLBP Number 09-893-01-OL. This is 6 Lawrence McDade. With me here are Judge Arnold and 7 Judge Abramson.
8 Is the NRC staff on the line?
9 MR. SUTTENBERG: Yes.
10 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And would you please 11 identify yourselves please?
12 MR. SUTTENBERG: Jeremy Suttenberg, and 13 that's spelled S-U-T-T-E-N-B-E-R-G.
14 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And, Mr. Suttenberg, who 15 is with you for the NRC staff?
16 -MS. UTTAL: This is Susan Uttal. I'm with 17 OGC. My last name is U-T-T-A-L.
18 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And who else?
19 MS. JOCHIM BOOTE: Christine Jochim Boote.
20 That's two last names. Jochim is J-O-C-H-I'M and 21 Boote is B-O-O-T-E. I'm also with OGC.
22 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And who else?
23 MR. MILANO: Patrick Milano, M-I-L-A-N-O 24 and I'm with the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
25 CHAIRMAN McDADE: I believe that's all for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
5 1 the NRC staff. Am I correct?
2 MR. SUTTENBERG: That's correct.
3 CHAIRMAN McDADE: For the Applicant, Ms.
4 Sutton, Mr. Bessette?
5 MR. BESSETTE: Yes, Your Honor, this is 6 Paul Bessette, B-as in boy-E-S-S-E-T-T-E with Morgan, 7 Lewis. And we have Kathryn Sutton, S-U-T-T-O-N, also 8 with Morgan, Lewis.
9 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And there are also 10 direct representatives of TVA on the line?
11 MR. VIGLUICCI: Yes, there are. This is 12 Edward Vigluicci, that's V-as in Victor-I-G-L-U-I-C-C-13 I.
14 MR. CHANDLER: And Christopher Chandler, 15 C-H-A-N-D-L-E-R.
16 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And for the Southern 17 Alliance for Clean Energy?
18 MS. CURRAN: This is Diane Curran, C-U-R-19 R-A-N.
20 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And is there anybody 21 else on the line who has not yet identified 22 themselves?
23 MS. CURRAN: There is no one else for 24 SACE.
25 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Let's get started then.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
6 1 I would ask that when you speak up that you state yourf 2 name so that the Court Reporter is able to identify 3 the statement with the correct person.
4 I don't anticipate this is going to take 5 very long this afternoon. I certainly hope not.
6 The first issue we have has to do with the 7 scheduling and I want to address a question to the NRC 8 staff. As far as your best estimate as to when the 9 environmental impact statement and safety evaluation 10 report, the final, will be published.
11 MR. SUTTENBERG: This is Jeremy 12 Suttenberg. We expect that the draft EIS will be 13 published in September 2010. And then we expect that 14 the final ETS will be published in January 2011. And 15 we also expect that the last supplement to the SER 16 will be published around January 2011.
17 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. So the draft, 18 September of 2010, the final, January of 2011, 19 relatively short period of time before that. Am I 20 correct that from the standpoint of all of the 21 participants here that we could not go to a hearing 22 prior to the issuance of the environmental impact 23 statement? Is there any objection to that? Basically 24 what I'm asking is there anyone who believes that we 25 would be able to go to a hearing on this prior to the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
7 1 filing of the environmental impact statement?
2 (No response.)
3 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Apparently no.
4 Let me ask to TVA, the contentions that 5 were admitted in this particular cases both appear to 6 be contentions of omission. Is it the intent of the 7 TVA to endeavor to correct the alleged deficiencies or 8 is it the intent of the TVA to litigate it based on 9 the contentions as submitted?
10 MR. BESSETTE: Your Honor, we're still 11 developing a strategy. But we would hope to at least 12 cure one of them through supplying the necessary 13 information. And with regard to the broader one, the 14 environmental aquatic issue, we're just developing our 15 strategy currently.
16 CHAIRMAN McDADE: When do you think you 17 would have that developed? And, again, please 18 identify yourself on the line.
19 MR. BESSETTE: I'm sorry. This was Paul 20 Bessette, Your Honor.
21 With regard to one of the contentions, we 22 have some outstanding questions from the NRC on one of 23 them. So we would be hoping to have that strategy 24 addressed within the next 30 to 60 days. And also we 25 would be -- have a strategy on the second aquatics NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
8 1 contention in about that same time frame.
2 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. What I would like 3 to do then is to schedule another status conference.
4 What I would like you to do is within 60 days, and 5 just to be on the safe side, within 90 days if you 6 would please notify the Board what the status of those 7 are, whether or not it is, your intent to, again, 8 attempt to correct the alleged deficiencies on the two 9 contentions or whether or not it is your intent to 10 litigate either or both of them as they are currently 11 articulated and admitted.
12 , The next has to do with discovery. I was 13 iyery pleased to see that the parties were able to 14 enter into an agreement with regard to the mandatory 15 discovery. And the initial phase of the mandatory 16 discovery should be complete by January the 15th 17 pursuant to theagreement. Is that agreement working 18 to the satisfaction of the parties? And at this point 19 in time, do you believe that the January 15th date 20 remains realistic?
21 First, the NRC staff.
22 MR. SUTTENBERG: Yes, we -- the agreement 23 is working to our satisfaction. And we will be able 24 to meet the January 15th date.
25 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. From Morgan, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
9 1 Lewis?
2 MR. BESSETTE: Yes, Your Honor, we do 3 appreciate the cooperation of all the parties -- this 4 is Paul Bessette again -- on this agreement. And 5 although we are in the beginning phases of it, we have 6 not encountered any challenges or problems. And we do 7 expect to meet the January 15th date also.
8 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And Ms. Curran?
9 MS. CURRAN: This is Diane Curran. SACE 10 also expects to meet the January 15th deadline and
- 11. we're satisfied with the agreement.
12 CHAIRMAN McDADE: If at some point in 13 time, and we hope that it will not happen, but if at 14 some point in time it appears that the agreement is 15 not working to the satisfaction of the parties, we 16 would ask you to notify the Board, the party that 17 believes that it is not working satisfactorily, so 18 that we would be able to resolve any problems that 19 might arise.
20 Next what I'd like to do is discuss the 21 nature of the procedure. At this point we are 22 proceeding on the assumption that this is going to be 23 litigated, if litigated, under Subpart L. There is 24 also a possibility that it could be Subpart G or 25 Subpart N. And we wanted to raise that with the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
10 1 parties.
2 We believe at this point that it would be 3 premature to file a motion with regard to proceeding 4 under Subpart G because at this point the mandatory 5 disclosures have not been completed nor do you know 6 the names of the witnesses that the other parties are 7 going to be calling. So, therefore, I think it would 8 not be possible to make out an appropriate motion.
9 Are there any of the parties who are 10 present that believe that statement is incorrect or 11 believe that a decision should be made to Subpart L 12 versus Subpart G at this time?
13 From NRC staff?
14 MR. SUTTENBERG: No.
15 MR. BESSETTE: Your Honor, this is Paul 16 Bessette from Morgan, Lewis. We agree. At this 17 point, it is also premature.
18 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And from Southern 19 Alliance, Ms. Curran?
20 MS. CURRAN: We agree it is premature.
21 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And I didn't catch the 22 name of the individual from the NRC staff.
23 MR. SUTTENBERG: This is Jeremy 24 Suttenberg.
25 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And you also agree 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
11 1 it is premature at this point?
2 MR. SUTTENBERG: Yes, we agree that it is 3 premature.
4 CHAIRMAN McDADE: At this point, do any of 5 the parties believe that a Subpart N proceeding would 6 be more appropriate than a Subpart L?
7 For the NRC staff?
8 MR. SUTTENBERG: At this moment we do not 9 believe that. Jeremy Suttenberg.
10 CHAIRMAN McDADE: From Morgan, Lewis?
11 MR. BESSETTE: Your Honor, this is Paul 12 Bessette. Because we haven't developed the actual 13 strategy, we believe that is a bit premature. But we 14 certainly -- we would consider that moving forward.
15 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And from Southern 16 Alliance for Clean Energy?
17 MS. CURRAN: We also agree it is 18 premature.
19 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. If it is 20 premature now, what I would say is that within 60 days 21 after the mandatory disclosures are completed -- in 22 other words, within 6.0 days after January 15 -- if the 23 parties believe that we should proceed under Subpart 24 N on one or both of the contentions, that they would 25 file a joint submission to the Board to so advise.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
12 1 And questions about that from the NRC 2 staff?
3 MR. SUTTENBERG: Jeremy Suttenberg, no 4 questions.
5 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Morgan, Lewis?
6 MR. BESSETTE: Paul Bessette, no 7 questions, Your Honor.
8 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Southern Alliance?
9 - MS. CURRAN: Judge. McDade, will you be 10 memorializing this in an order?
11 CHAIRMAN McDADE: The answer is I doubt 12 it. We do have a transcript. The transcript is going 13 to be very short so I had not anticipated issuing it 14 in an order. What we're saying should be very clear 15 from the transcript.
16 MS. CURRAN: Okay.
17 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. Are there -- at 18 this point, what I would like to do is to put you on 19 hold for a moment and confer with Judge Arnold and 20 Judge Abramson to see if there are other matters that 21 they wish to.take up at this time.
22 While we have you on mute, if perhaps you 23 could also discuss among yourselves whether or not 24 there are other things that you wish to take up at 25 this time. We'll just be off the line for no more NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
13 1 than a minute.
2 (Whereupon, the foregoing matter went 3 off 'the record at 3:10 p.m. and went 4 back on the record at 3:12 p.m.)
5 CHAIRMAN McDADE: This is Lawrence McDade 6 again.
7 Ms. Curran, are you still on the line?
8 MS. CURRAN: Yes, I am.
9 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Mr. Bessette, Ms.
10 Sutton?
11 MR. BESSETTE: We're here.
12 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And the NRC staff?
13 MR. SUTTENBERG: We're here.
14 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. At this point, we 15 don't have anything else specifically that we want to 16 cover. I would refer you, however, to page thr~e of 17 our order. And just ask that you take those matters 18 into consideration, seeing whether or not there are, 19 you know, as mandatory discovery is completed, whether 20 or not there are opportunities for stipulations, 21 whether or not there are opportunities for narrowing 22 the issues in this particular case.
23 What I would propose to do is to schedule 24 another status conference probably about two weeks 25 after the mandatory discovery -- mandatory disclosures NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
14 1 should be completed. So sometime about the beginning 2 of February to see if there is anything further that 3 needs to be taken up at that time.
4 We will also, after that telephone 5 conference, issue a scheduling order. At this point, 6 it is somewhat premature, in my view, to issue a 7 scheduling order since everything hinges on when the 8 environmental impact statement will be issued, which 9 is now, you know, approximately a year away.
10 When we have that conference, what I would 11 be looking for from the parties is their input on, 12 first of all, when any motions for summary disposition 13 should be filed in this particular case. I want to 14 avoid having summary disposition motions filed at the 15 last moment.
16 As we get towards the time for the 17 hearing, the filing of the summary disposition, 18 particularly in a Subpart L proceedings tends to delay 19 rather than expedite the proceeding. So, therefore, 20 after the mandatory discovery is completed, we would 21 want the parties to be taking into consideration the 22 timing for any motions for summary disposition and 23 whether or not those motions could be handled prior to 24 the issuance of the environmental impact statement.
25 From the standpoint of Southern Alliance NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
15 1 for Clean Energy, Ms. Curran, is there anything 2 further that you think we should handle at this 3 particular conference? Any issues that you wish to 4 raise?
5 MS. CURRAN: Nothing. No issue that I 6 want to raise. First, I do appreciate your concern 7 about the timing of the motions for summary judgment 8 because that can sometimes adversely effect the 9 ability of interveners to prepare their main case. So 10 that is much appreciated.
11 And also I just wanted to let you know 12 that SACE is contemplating submitting a waiver 13 petition to the Board sometime in early January 14 relating to the issue of need for power and cost of 15 energy alternatives.
16 CHAIRMAN McDADE: All right.
17 From the standpoint of Morgan, Lewis for 18 TVA, anything further that we need to handle at this 19 conference?
20 MR. BESSETTE: Just a point of 21 clarification, Your Honor. This is Paul Bessette.
22 You know our initial disclosures are due on January 23 15th but as the agreement between the parties 24 indicates, we do expect that there will be necessity 25 for supplemental disclosures.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
16 1 And also, in the initial disclosures, 2 because we may not have the exact strategy planned 3 out, we may not have our witnesses listed. So I do 4 think if maybe even after the initial disclosures, it 5 might be a bit premature for the parties to submit 6 within 60 days of January 15th a request for Subpart 7 G and Subpart F. So I would just hope there would be 8 some flexibility on that. That would allow for any of 9 those -- I just wanted to make sure that you 10 understood that there would be additional disclosures 11 ongoing.
12 CHAIRMAN McDADE: No, I anticipate based 13 on the agreement that you have that those would be 14 continuing at least through the publication of the 15 environmental impact statement and safety evaluation 16 report.
17 But I also would anticipate that the vast 18 majority of the mandatory disclosures would be made on 19 or before the 15th of January and that your 20 supplementation would have to do with new events that 21 were occurring, for example any requests for 22 additional information that the staff would file, any 23 responses that TVA would respond with. So the vast 24 majority should be completed by the 15th.
25 I realize that none of the parties are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
17 1 going to have their witness lists together at that 2 particular point in time. All that I anticipate doing 3 is just checking in again approximately the beginning 4 of February to see where the parties are.
5 And I believe that we should be in a much 6 better position at that point to make a determination 7 as far as deadlines go for, again, requesting Subpart 8 N or G. We're not doing that at this point in time.
9 Any requests for cross examination, any motion for 10 summary disposition, we would set a schedule after 11 that next status conference.
12 At this point, I don't feel the need to go 13 ahead and be more specific, given the fact that we are 14 not going to be going to a hearing on this matter 15 prior to January of 2011. So we have some time to 16 allow you to-work this out, both from the standpoint 17 of the parties working out their strategies, 18 identifying their witnesses, without delaying the 19 proceeding.
20 It seems that the big issue as far as the 21 timing of going to a hearing is going to be the 22 publication of the environmental impact statement, 23 which we hope will occur, you know, on or before 24 January 2011.
25 MR. BESSETTE: We appreciate that, Your NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
18 1 Honor, we just wanted to clarify that there would be 2 ongoing disclosures.
3 One final issue. I thought it might be 4 worth raising a couple of the issues you mentioned in 5 your conference schedule with regard to the timely 6 filing of any new contentions. And, you know, it is 7 a long time before the EIS and I thought we might 8 address that, whether we could to agree to 30 days 9 from any new issue and response time to any such new 10 contention.
11 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Well, at this point, I 12 am no predisposed to setting a specific time. Let me 13 just make it very clear that as far as this Board is 14 concerned, good cause is considered the primary issue.
15 And, therefore, what we are going to be looking at is 16 when the information became available. And whether or 17 not, in context, the parties responded appropriately.
18 It may well be that 30 days after the 19 material is submitted is too long or too short. I 20 mean at this point in time we anticipate that -- at 21 this point, I have no idea how much material is going 22 to be turned over to the Alliance for Clean Energy.
23 Their response is going to be a function 24 of going through that material and, you know, if we're 25 talking about ten pages of material in the mandatory NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
19 1 discovery, I would anticipate we would have a very 2 strict deadline for them responding to that.
3 On the other hand, if we're talking about 4 tens of thousands of pages for them to go through, 5 then the amount of time that it is going to take for 6 them to do that to determine whether or not a new or 7 an amended contention is appropriate would be longer.
8 So I'm not predisposed at this point in time to set a 9 specific deadline.
10 At the next status conference in early 11 February, we should be because at that point in time, 12 all of you will have an idea of how much material you 13 are dealing with. At this point, I really don't have 14 an idea of how much new material is going to be coming 15 in.
16 MR. BESSETTE: Appreciate that. And we'll 17 just -- it will be on the agenda for the next call.
18 Thank you.
19 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. From the 20 standpoint of the NRC staff, is there anything further 21 that you believe we should take up at this particular 22 status conference?
- 23. MR. SUTTENBERG: This is Jeremy 24 Suttenberg. There is nothing further that we think 25 should be taken up at this conference.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com v
20 1 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. We will be 2 issuing another notice sometime in late January for a 3 status conference in early February. If there any 4 issues that arise by any of the parties prior to that 5 time, if they could notify the Board with copies to 6 all of the other parties, and if there are any matters 7 that you believe should be taken up at the next status 8 conference, again, if you could notify the Board with 9 copies to the other parties so that we can make sure 10 that we cover those and everyone has an opportunity to 11 think about them before the status conference.
12 MS. CURRAN: Judge McDade?
13 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Yes, Ms. Curran?
K14, MS. CURRAN: I was just looking down your 15 list of questions and I noticed one that it might make 16 sense to talk about now. You had had a question about 17 the rules. How one would make. consistent the various 18 rules about filing new or amended contentions because 19 a ten-day limit to respond to motions and I don't 20 know, something like a 25-day limit to respond to 21 contentions --
22 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Yes.
23 MS. CURRAN: -- would that be worthwhile 24 dealing with now? Because I know there are some RAIs 25 out that are going to be answered. And we may be NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 23.4-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
21 1 sending in contentions based on those.
2 I thought it might make sense to just 3 dispose of that.
4 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. And I take it 5 from the standpoint of Southern Alliance, it is your 6 view that motions for leave to file new or amended 7 contentions should have the same timing as filing 8 contentions as opposed to the normal ten days for 9 filing other kinds of motions. Is that correct?
10 MS. CURRAN: Yes. It is. And I would add 11 to that tha~t it doesn't really make sense to us to 12 impose a rule requiring a consultation with opposing 13 parties about whether they would oppose the admission 14 of a contention because, you know, it is a substantive 15 thing. It's not a procedural motion.
16 MS. SUTTON: Your Honor, this is Kathryn 17 Sutton on behalf of TVA. We believe that 2.324(b) 18 should remain in effect for purposes of consultation.
19 The procedural nature of a motion does not really 20 trigger that. There are other considerations as well.
21 And we think that true consultation -- an attempt at 22 it is worthwhile.
23 CHAIRMAN McDADE: From the NRC staff? Mr.
24 Suttenberg?
25 MR. SUTTENBERG: Yes, this is Jeremy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
22 1 Suttenberg. Hold on one second. I'm going to put you 2 on moot.
3 CHAIRMAN McDADE: I think he's going to 4 put you on mute.
5 MS. SUTTON: I think he just did.
6 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Yes, mute, not moot.
7 MR. SUTTENBERG: Hi, this is Jeremy 8 Suttenberg again'. The NRC staff also thinks that a 9 consultation should be required.
10 /CHAIRMAN McDADE: This is Judge McDade, 11 again, quite frankly, I believe the consultation is 12 appropriate as well. It may well be, hopefully if the 13 parties have the appropriate spirit of cooperation, if 14 a contention is identified, it may well be that the 15 staff and the applicant would View that an obligation 16 were a desire to correct the deficiency.
17 But I do think the extra time limit, I 18 think for preparing a contention, from.my standpoint 19 and the standpoint of the Board, when contentions come 20 in, we want them to be thoughtful. We want them to be 21 appropriate. The ten-day period of time, I think is 22- relative short in order to allow that.
23 So basically we would be looking at the 24 time frame for new contentions but we would direct 25 that the parties have the consultation pursuant to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
23 1 324(b) to see whether or not it can be resolved. But 2 we're not going to hold the parties -- the intervener 3 petitioner to a ten day as far as the motion.
4 Anything further from Southern Alliance?
5 MS. CURRAN: No, that sounds fine. We're 6 perfectly -- we're very willing to consult it's just 7 never been my experience that on these substantive 8 questions that it yielded much. But certainly we're 9 always willing to try.
10 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. Anything further 11 from Morgan, Lewis?
12 MR. BESSETTE: No, Your Honor, that 13 clarifies things. This is Paul Bessette. I assume, 14 though, with regard to the -- we would have the normal 15 25 days to respond as well rather than the ten days to 16 a motion.
17 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Yes.
18 MR. BESSETTE: All right.
19 CHAIRMAN McDADE: I mean the extension of 20 time works both ways. (
21 MR. BESSETTE: Thank you for that 22 clarification, Your Honor.
23 CHAIRMAN McDADE: And from the standpoint 24 of the staff, anything further to be taken up at this 25 point?
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com
24 1 MR. SUTTENBERG: This is Jeremy 2 Suttenberg. Nothing further at this point. Thank 3 you.
4 CHAIRMAN McDADE: Okay. Then that should 5 close things for today. We will be issuing an order 6 in later January. What I would ask is the parties 7 advise our Law Clerk, Wen Bu, whether or not there are 8 any days or times within that first week in February 9 when you would not be available. And we will issue a 10 scheduling order accordingly.
11 That's all. Thank you very much. Have a 12 good holiday.
13 (Whereupon, the above-entitled 14 teleconference was concluded at 3:26 p.m.)
15 16 17 18 19 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.com
CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the Ulited Stahes Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of: Tennessee Valley Authority Name of Proceeding: Pre-Hearing Conference Docket Number: 50-391-OL Location: (teleconference) 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.
Eric Moll'n 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