ML100770408
| ML100770408 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png |
| Issue date: | 03/08/2010 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NRC-111 | |
| Download: ML100770408 (50) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
10 CFR 2.206 Petition Review Board RE Vermont Yankee and Thomas Saporito Docket Number:
50-271 Location:
(telephone conference)
Date:
Monday, March 8, 2010 Work Order No.:
NRC-111 Pages 1-48 Q
OR£GNAL]
NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3
.++++
4 10 CFR 2.206 PETITION REVIEW BOARD (PRB) 5 CONFERENCE CALL 6
RE VERMONT YANKEE 7
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8
- MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010 9
.++++
10 The conference call was held at 2:00 p.m.
11 Eastern Standard Time, Thomas Blount, Chairperson of 12 the Petition Review Board, presiding.
13 PETITIONER:
THOMAS SAPORITO 14 PETITION REVIEW BOARD MEMBERS 15 THOMAS BLOUNT, Deputy Director 16 Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and 17 Safeguards 18 JAMES KIM, Petition Manager for 2.206 19 petition 20 TANYA MENSAH, PRB Coordinator 21 MOLLY BARKMAN, Office of General Counsel 22 DAVID ALLEY, Division of Component Integrity 23 DON JACKSON, Region I, Division of Reactor 24 Projects
.25 GREG BOWMAN, Office of Enforcement NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NRC STAFF:
DAVID ALLEY, Senior Materials Engineer, Division of Component Integrity STEVE BAGGETT, Office of Executive Director for Operations PATRICK JEFFERSON, Office of Investigations HEATHER JONES, Resident Inspector, Vermont Yankee SCOTT RUTENKROGER, Acting Senior Resident, Vermont Yankee NANCY SALGADO, Branch Chief in the Division of Operator and Reactor Licensing NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2
(2:03 p.m.)
3 MR.
KIM:
I would like to thank everybody 4
for attending this meeting.
My name is James Kim, and 5
I am the Vermont Yankee project manager.
We are here 6
today to allow the Petitioner, Thomas Saporito, to 7
address the Petition Review Board regarding 2.206 8
petition dated February 20, 2010.
9 I
am the petition manager for the 10 Petition.
The Petition Review Board Chairman is Tom 11 Blount.
As part of the Petition Review Board's review 12 of this Petition, Thomas Saporito has requested this 13 opportunity to address the PRB.
14 This meeting is scheduled from 2:00 p.m.
15 to 3:00 p.m.
The meeting is being record by the NRC 16 operation center and will be transcribed by a court 17 reporter.
The transcript will become a supplement to 18 the Petition.
The transcript will also be made 19 publicly available.
20 I'd like to open this meeting with 21 introductions.
As we go around the room, please be 22 sure to clearly state your name, your position, and 23 the office that you work for within the NRC for the 24 record.
I'll start off.
25 This is James Kim in the Division of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Operating Reactor Licensing in NRR.
2 MS.
SALGADO:
I am Nancy Salgado, the 3
branch chief in the Division of Operator and Reactor 4
Licensing.
5 MR.
BLOUNT:
I'm Tom Blount.
I'm the PRB 6
Chair.
I'm a deputy director for the Division of 7
Policy and Rule Making in NRR.
8 MR.
JEFFERSON:
Patrick Jefferson, 9
operations officer, Office of Investigations.
10 MR.
BAGGETT:
Steve Baggett.
I work in 11 the Office of Executive Director for Operations.
12 MS.
BARKMAN:
Molly Barkman.
I'm an 13 attorney in the office of General Counsel.
14 MR.
BOWMAN:
Greg Bowman.
I'm the senior 15 enforcement specialist in the Office of Enforcement.
16 MR.
ALLEY:
I'm a senior 17 materials engineer in the Division of Component 18 Integrity.
19 MS.
MENSAH:
Tanya Mensah, the 2.206 20 coordinator in the Office of Nuclear Reactor 21 Regulations.
22 MR.
KIM:
At this time, are there any NRC 23 staff from the headquarters or regional office on the 24 phone?
25 MR.
JACKSON:
- Yes, this is Don Jackson NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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2 3
4 5
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 from NRC Region I.
MR.
RUTENKROGER:
Scott Rutenkroger, acting senior resident of Vermont Yankee.
MS.
JONES:
Heather Jones, the resident inspector at Vermont Yankee.
MR.
KIM:
Are there any representatives for the Licensee on the phone?
MR.
DEVINCENTIS:
- Yes, this is Jim Devincentis, licensing
- manager, Entergy Nuclear Operations.
I MR.
KIM:
Mr.
Saporito, would you please introduce yourself for the record?
MR.
SAPORITO:
This is Thomas Saporito.
I'm the executive director for RenewableElectricSystems.com.
MR.
KIM:
Are there any other associated members of the public on the phone?
MR.
AUDETTE:
Bob Audette, Brattleboro Reformer.,
MR MR MR MR emphasize that loudly to mak GRICE:
Owen Grice, Vermont citizen.
KIM:
Would you repeat that, please?
GRICE:
Owen Grice, Vermont citizen.
KIM:
Okay.
Okay.
I'd like to we each need to speak clearly and
.e sure that the court reporter can NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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accurately transcribe this meeting.
.2 If you do have something that you'd like 3
to say, please first state your name for the record.
4 For those that dialed into the meeting, please 5
remember to mute your phones to minimize any 6
background noise or distractions.
If you do not have 7
a mute button, this can be done by pressing the keys 8
- star, six.
To unmute, press star, six --
star, six 9
keys again.
Thank you.
10 At this time, I will turn it over to PRB 11
- Chairman, Tom Blount.
12 MR.
BLOUNT:
Good afternoon.
This is Tom 13 Blount.
Welcome to the meeting regarding the 2.206 14 petition submitted by Mr. Saporito.
I'd like to first 15 share some background on our process.
Section 2.206 16 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 17 describes the petition process, the primary mechanism 18 for the public to request enforcement action by the 19 NRC in a public process.
20 This process permits anyone to petition 21 NRC to take enforcement-type action related to NRC 22 licensees or licensed activities.
Depending on the 23 results of this evaluation, NRC could modify, suspend, 24 or revoke an NRC-issued license or take any other 25 appropriate enforcement action to resolve a problem.
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The NRC staff guidance for the disposition 2
of 2.206 petition request is in Management 3
Directive 8.11, which is publicly available.
The 4
purpose of today's meeting is to give the Petitioner 5
an opportunity to provide any additional explanation 6
or support for the petition before the Petition Review 7
Board's initial consideration and recommendation.
8 This meeting is not a hearing, nor is it 9
an opportunity for the petitioner to question or 10 examine the PRB on the merits or the issues presented 11 in the petition request.
No decisions regarding the 12 merits of this petition will be made at this meeting.
13 Following this
- meeting, the Petition 14 Review Board will conduct its internal deliberations.
15 The outcome of this internal meeting will be discussed 16 with the Petitioner.
17 The Petition Review Board typically 18 consists of a chairman, usually a manager at the 19 senior executive service level at the NRC.
It has a 20 petition manager and a PRB coordinator.
21 Other members of the Board are determined 22 by the NRC staff based on the content of the 23 information in the petition request.
At this time, I 24 would like to introduce the Board.
25 I am Tom Blount, the Petition Review Board NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Chairman.
James Kim is the Petition Manager for the 2
petition under discussion today.
Tanya Mensah is the 3
office's PRB coordinator.
4 Our technical staff includes Dave Alley 5
from the NRC's Division of Component Integrity, Don 6
Jackson from NRC's Region I Division of Reactor 7
- Projects, and Greg Bowman from the Office of 8
Enforcement.
We also obtain advice from our Office of 9
General Counsel, represented by Molly Barkman.
10 As described in our process, the NRC staff 11 may ask clarifying questions in order to better 12 understand the Petitioner's presentation and to reach 13 a reasoned decision whether to accept or reject the 14 Petitioner's request or review under the 2.206 15 process.
16 I would like to summarize the scope of the 17 petition under consideration and the NRC activities to 18 date.
On February 20, 2010, Mr. Saporito submitted a 19 petition to the NRC under 2.206 requesting a cold 20 shutdown mode of operation for Vermont Yankee Nuclear 21 Power Station due to leaking radioactive tritium.
22 In this request, he requested that the NRC 23 issue a confirmatory order modifying the Licensee's 24 NRC issued license authorizing operation of a nuclear 25 reactor at the facility known as Vermont Yankee NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Nuclear Power Station in such a manner to cause the 2
Licensee to bring the nuclear reactor to a cold 3
shutdown mode of operation until such time as the 4
Licensee can provide definitive, reasonable assurance 5
to the NRC under affirmation that the nuclear reactor 6
in question will be operated in full compliance with 7
the regulations of 10 CFR Part 50 and under Appendix A 8
to Part 50, general design criteria for nuclear power 9
plants Criterion 60 and 64, and in full compliance 10 with other NRC regulations and authority.
11 Allow me to discuss the NRC activities to 12 date.
The PRB met on February 25, and denied your 13 request for immediate action to bring the Vermont 14 Yankee to a cold shutdown mode of operation because 15 the PRB did not identify any immediate public health 16 and safety concerns that would warrant an immediate 17 shutdown.
18 On March 1, you were informed of the PRB's 19 decision on the immediate action, and you requested an 20 opportunity to address the PRB prior to its initial 21 meeting to provide supplemental information for the 22 Board's consideration.
23 Currently, there are two other 2.206 24 petitions against Vermont Yankee from Mr. Mulligan and 25 Mr. Shadis, Mr. Shadis representing New England NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Coalition, that are under PRB's review and with the 2
concurrence of NRR office management, the PRB has 3
decided to consolidate your petition with the other 4
two petitions, along with any future petitions that 5
may be submitted which meet the following criteria per 6
7 Generally, all requests submitted by 8
different individuals will be treated and evaluated 9
separately.
When two or more petitions request action 10 against the same licensee, specify essentially the 11 same basis, provide adequate supporting information, 12 and are submitted at about the same time, PRB will 13 consider the benefits of consolidating the petition 14 against the potential of diluting the importance of 15 any petition and recommend whether or not 16 consolidation is appropriate.
The assigned office 17 director will determine whether or not to consolidate 18 the petition.
19 As a reminder for the phone participants, 20 please identify yourself if you make any remarks as 21 this will help us in the preparation of the meeting 22 transcript that will be made publicly available.
23 Additionally, please mute your phone when not speaking 24 in order to help everyone hear the comments provided 25 clearly.
Thank you.
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Mr.
Saporito, I'll turn it over to you to 2
allow you to provide any information that you believe 3
the PRB should consider as part of your petition.
You 4
will have about 30 minutes to provide additional 5
information to the PRB.
6 MR.
SAPORITO:
First of all, I was told I 7
would have 40 minutes by Mr.
Kim, and I requested an 8
hour.
So, I'm going to take the 40 minutes, and we'll 9
probably have to meet again if we don't finish today.
10 Introduction.
For the record, it is 11 2:14 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
For the record, my 12 name is Thomas Saporito, and I am the executive 13 director for RenewableElectricSystems.com, or RES, 14 based in Jupiter, Florida.
15 I represent RES and the interest of myself 16 as a pro se litigant, as well as the interests of the 17 general public in this legal proceeding.
RES is a
18 not-for-profit organization with a dual mandate to 19 educate the public about renewable energy and to 20 monitor and oversee U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory 21 Commission, or NRC, regulatory activities with respect 22 to the Agency's oversight of 104 commercial nuclear 23 plants licensed for operation by the NRC.
24 For the benefit of those who may read this 25 public record, the NRC was created through an act of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Congress *in 1974 known as the Energy Reorganization 2
Act of 1974, or ERA.
Through the ERA, Congress 3
mandated the Congress to act to protect public health 4
and safety by ensuring the agency's licensees like 5
Entergy Nuclear Operations, or
- Entergy, operate 6
nuclear reactors in strict compliance with NRC safety 7
regulations under 10 CFR Part 50 and other NRC 8
regulations.
9 Where a licensee is found to have violated 10 NRC safety regulations, the NRC is authorized to take 11 enforcement
- action, including issuance of a
12 confirmatory order to require the licensee to bring 13 its nuclear reactor to a
cold shutdown mode of 14 operation to protect public health and safety.
15 The NRC can be held accountable by filing 16 a
complaint with the NRC Office of the Inspector 17 General in Washington, D.C.
The NRC Inspector General 18 can be held accountable by filing a complaint with the 19 Integrity Committee at the Federal Bureau of 20 Investigation in Washington, D.C.
21 On February 20,
- 2010, RES and myself 22 jointly filed a petition under 10 CFR 2.206 seeking 23 enforcement action on the part of NRC against the 24 Agency's Licensee Entergy Nuclear Operations related 25 to circumstances surrounding Licensee's operation of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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a nuclear reactor at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 2
Station.
3 Specifically, Petitioners requested that 4
the NRC issue a confirmatory order modifying the 5
Licensee's NRC-issued license DPR-28 in such a manner 6
to cause the Licensee to bring the nuclear reactor to 7
a cold shutdown mode of operation until such time as 8
the Licensee can provide definitive reasonable 9
assurance to the NRC under affirmation that the 10 nuclear reactor in question will be operating in full 11 compliance with NRC federal safety and reporting 12 standards as set out under NRC regulations at 10 CFR 13 Part 50 and under Appendix A to Part 50, General 14 Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants Criterion 60 15 and 64, and in full compliance with other NRC 16 regulations and authority.
17 For the record, prior to the filing of the 18 February 20, 2010 petition, Mr.
Rob Williams, who is 19 associated with Entergy, was contacted by Petitioners 20 via email requesting that Entergy voluntarily bring 21 the subject nuclear reactor to a cold shutdown mode of 22 operation to protect public health and safety.
23 The Licensee never responded to the 24 request.
To the extent that the NRC continues to 25 allow the Licensee to operate the Vermont nuclear--
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the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station at some level 2
of power, Petitioners contend that the health and 3
safety of the public is in grave danger and that the 4
environment is unnecessarily being contaminated from 5
radioactive effluent discharge from the Licensee's 6
nuclear power plant.
7 Therefore, Petitioners hereby request, on 8
the
- record, that the NRC provide a
copy of 9
Petitioner's February 20, 2010 petition along with a 10 copy of the transcript record created today to the NRC 11 Office of the Inspector General for review in 12 determining whether the NRC's actions to date in 13 allowing the Licensees to continue operation of the 14 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station is consistent 15 with the Agency's congressional mandate to protect 16 public health and safety and to protect the overall 17 environment in the circumstances.
18 In addition, Petitioners request that the 19 NRC also provide the same documents to the Integrity 20 Committee at the Federal Bureau of Investigation at 21 Washington, D.C. to enable that agency the means to 22 oversee the NRC Inspector General in these 23 circumstances.
24 For the record, Petitioners state that the 25 NRC's website at www.nrc.gov under Specific Plants of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Interest states that the NRC staff has developed web 2
pages for selective power reactor facilities where 3
heightened public interest is expected due to special 4
licensing or performance issues.
5 Petitioners advised the general public 6
that for whatever reason the Vermont Yankee Nuclear 7
Power Station is not listed by the NRC under Specific 8
Plants of Interest on the Agency's website.
9 Given the circumstances centered around 10 the events occurring over the last few months at the 11 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power
- Station, the NRC's 12 failure to list this particular nuclear plant on the 13 Agency's website under Specific Plants of Interest is 14 of significant concern to Petitioners where the NRC 15 appears to be misleading the public by specifically 16 not listing the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station 17 in this category.
18 Petitioners believe that such conduct and 19 behavior on the part of the NRC leaves the general 20 public with a false and misleading perception that the 21 Licensee has operated the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 22 Station in full compliance with NRC authority and 23 federal safety regulations under 10 CFR Part 50.
24 Petitioners aver here that the NRC's 25 conduct and behavior in this instance warrants NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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investigation and a review by the NRC Office of 2
Inspector General.
3 Petitioners contend that for reasons set 4
out in their February 20, 2010 Petition as 5
supplemented with their testimony provided here today 6
the Licensee can no longer provide definitive 7
reasonable assurance to the NRC that the Vermont 8
Yankee Nuclear Power Station will be operating in full 9
compliance with NRC regulations and authority 10 previously identified in their February 20, 2010 11 Petition as supplemented by Petitioners' testimony on 12 the record today.
13 Preliminary discussion and overview.
For 14 the benefit of the general public who may be listening 15 to this presentation or who' may later read the 16 transcribed record of this proceeding, I am going to 17 briefly describe the process which takes place inside 18 the nuclear reactor at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear 19 Power Station with respect to the processing of 20 radioactive tritium.
21 The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station 22 operates as a boiling water nuclear reactor system, or 23 BWR.
In a BWR, the water which covers the reactor 24 core is complemented with a creation of radioactive 25 tritium during the fission process.
When water boils, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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it becomes steam composed of H20, or water, and HTO, 2
or water with radioactive tritium.
3 The steam leaving the nuclear reactor, 4
which now contains H20 and HTO along with non-5 condensable gasses, flows to the turban generator to 6
create electrical power.
The steam mixture then flows 7
to a big condenser to be cooled back to a liquid and 8'
sent to the nuclear reactor to continue the process.
9 It is imperative that the big condenser 10 maintain the sufficient vacuum at all times.
11 Otherwise, the nuclear reactor safety protection 12 systems would engage in trip or scram the nuclear 13 reactor to an offline mode of operation.
14 Therefore, the Licensee must remove 15 hydrogen and oxygen from the condenser to maintain the 16 vacuum in the condenser.
Since the hydrogen/oxygen 17 mixture can explode, tritium-laced steam is mixed with 18 the mixture to prevent an explosion.
19 The gaseous mixture then flows through a 20 hydrogen re-combiner where the hydrogen/oxygen are 21 reconverted to steamy water.
The steam is then cooled 22 and condensed to water in a small condenser or off gas 23 system.
24 The water effluent from the off gas system 25 contains radioactive tritium and other radioactive NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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isotopes which are believed to be currently leaking at 2
the Licensee's Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station 3
into the environment, including the Connecticut River.
4 To the extent that the integrity of the 5
Licensee's off gas system must be maintained to 6
prevent a nuclear reactor trip, Petitioners contend 7
that the advanced off gas system is a nuclear safety 8
related system in these circumstances and subject to 9
the NRC's safety regulations and requirements.
10 To the extent that the NRC failed to 11 recognize Petitioners' nuclear safety concerns as 12 described above is cause for significant concern to 13 the public and warrants investigation and review by 14 the NRC Inspector General.
15 Licensee's background information.
In 16 order for the NRC to properly consider the grave 17 jeopardy posed to public health and safety related to 18 the continued operation of the nuclear reactor at the 19 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station, it is paramount 20 that the NRC review the Licensee's prior history of 21 conduct in direct violation of NRC authority and 22 federal safety regulations.
23 The Licensee Entergy's nuclear operations 24 operates several nuclear reactors on permissive 25 licenses issued by the NRC including Vermont Yankee NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Nuclear Power Station, the Palisades Nuclear Plant, 2
the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, and the Indian 3
Point Nuclear Generating Station.
4 As you will learn from the following 5
discussion, the Licensee on numerous occasions 6
deliberately and willfully provided inaccurate, false, 7
and misleading information to the NRC directly related 8
to operation at one or more nuclear reactors within 9
the jurisdiction and oversight of the NRC.
10 Petitioners contend that the Licensee's 11 history of violating NRC authority and federal safety 12 regulations related to operation of nuclear reactors 13 under the jurisdiction of the NRC is compelling 14 evidence that the Licensee can no longer provide the 15 NRC with definitive reasonable assurance that will 16 fully comply within our authority and federal safety 17 regulations related to operation of nuclear reactors 18 on 10 CFR Part 50, including, but not limited to, 19 operations of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.
20 The following is a
- brief, but not 21 inclusive, history of the Licensee's failure to adhere 22 to NRC authority and federal safety regulations under 23 10 CFR Part 50 related to the Licensee's operation of 24 nuclear reactors under the NRC's jurisdiction and 25 oversight.
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Petitioners ask the NRC to take note of 2
the number of times the Licensee was found to have 3
provided the NRC with false, misleading, or inaccurate 4
information or simply failed to provide required 5
information to the Agency related to operation of its 6
nuclear reactors.
7 On August 2,
- 1996, NRC took enforcement 8
action under EA-09-269 against the Licensee related to 9
a violation during operations at the Palisades Nuclear 10 Plant.
The violation involved Appendix R violations 11 related to fire prevention.
The Licensee was fined 12
$50,000 for the violation.
13 On August 28,
- 1996, the NRC took 14 enforcement action under EA-00-165 against the 15 Licensee related to a violation during operations at 16 the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.
The 17 violation involved the failure to analyze emergency 18 cooling system equipment to be free from a single 19 failure criteria.
20 On May 27, 1997, the NRC took enforcement 21 action under EA-96-509 and 97-031 and 97-113 and 97-22 191 against the Licensee related to a violation during 23 operations at Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station.
24 The violation involved Appendix R, fire 25 protection issues involving hot shorts of loss NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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instrumentation, inadequate corrective actions, and 2
feedwater regulating valve that failed to open due to 3
sandblasting grits and a failure to identify actuation 4
of fire dampers.
The Licensee was fined $205,000 for 5
the violation.
6 On July 6,
- 1997, NRC took enforcement 7
action under EA-97-576 and 97-028 and 98-056 and 98-8 192 against the Licensee related to a violation during 9
operations at the Indian Point Nuclear Generating 10 Station.
11 The violation involved inaccurate 12 information.
Inaccurate information, I repeat.
DB-50 13 breaker, its technical specifications and containment 14 atmosphere controls.
The Licensee was fined $110,000 15 for the violation.
16 On August 19,
- 1997, the NRC took 17 enforcement action under EA-97-294 against the 18 Licensee related to a violation during operations at 19 the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station.
The 20 violation involved design and control problems.
The 21 Licensee was fined $55,000 for the violation.
22 On October 7,
- 1997, NRC took enforcement 23 action under EA-97-367 against the Licensee related to 24 a violation during operations at the Indian Point 25 Nuclear Generating Station.
The violation involved NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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inoperability of the reactor re-circulation pump.
The 2
Licensee was fined $110,000 for the violation.
3 On April 2,
- 1998, NRC took enforcement 4
action under EA-97-567 and EA-97-569 against the 5
Licensee related to a violation during operations at 6
the Palisades Nuclear Plant.
The violation involved 7
work control staff operations.
The Licensee was fined 8
$55,000 for the violation.
9 On April 14,
- 1998, the NRC took 10 enforcement action under EA-97-531 against the 11 Licensee related to a violation of operations at the 12 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.
The violation 13 involved violations of design control.
Correct action 14 and reporting -- here again, and reporting, reporting 15 to the NRC.
16 On June 11, 1998, NRC took enforcement 17 action under EA-98-221 against the Licensee related to 18 a violation or operations at the Peach Bottom Atomic 19 Power Station.
The violation involved inoperable 20 containment sump pump.
The Licensee was fined $55,000 21 for the violation.
22 On August 19,
- 1998, NRC took enforcement 23 action under EA-98-336 and 98-344 against the Licensee 24 related to a violation during operations at the Indian 25 Point Nuclear Generating Station.
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The violation involved the failure to have 2
adequate design measures to ensure that the emergency 3
diesel generator auxiliaries were performed within the 4
design basis.
The Licensee was fined $55,000 for the 5
violation.
6 On February 25,
- 2000, the NRC took 7
enforcement action under EA-99-319 against the 8
Licensee related to a violation during operations at 9
the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station.
10 The violation involved number one, failure 11 to translate design basis requirements into procedure 12 of the 480-volt vital bus degraded voltage relays, 13 which led to a loss of offsite power to the vital 14 buses.
15 And two, failure to ensure that procedures 16 used to calibrate the breaker trip units for the 17 emergency diesel generators were adequate, which led 18 to the inoperability of one of the diesel generators.
19 And three, failure to take corrective 20 action for significant condition adverse to quality 21 involving repetitive problems with reactor protection 22 system over-temperature/delta-temperature circuitry 23 which led to initiation of a reactor trip.
The 24 Licensee was fined $88,000 for the violation.
25 On August 3,
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enforcement action under EA-00-125 against the 2
Licensee related to a violation during operations at 3
the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.
The violation 4
involved improper classification of radioactive waste 5
for shallow land burying.
6 On August 9,
- 2000, the NRC took 7
enforcement action under EA-00-155 against the 8
Licensee related to a violation during operations at 9
the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station.
The 10 violation involved failure to meet NRC emergency 11 planning standards for number
- one, the timely 12 augmentation by the emergency response organization; 13 and two, the timely accountability of onsite radiation 14 emergency' workers; and
- three, the factual and 15 consistent dissemination of information to the media 16 and a local official.
17 These failures contributed to the 18 emergency response efficiencies that were exhibited 19 during the course of a steam generator tube failure 20 alert.
This means that one of the tubes in the steam 21 generator failed causing the Licensee to declare an 22 emergency situation, and they provided inconsistent 23 factual --
and some information where they misled the 24 public through the media and they misled a local 25 official concerning that event.
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On October 18,
- 2000, the NRC took 2
enforcement action under EA-00-165 against the 3
Licensee related to a violation during operations at 4
the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.
The 5
violation involved a former mechanical maintenance 6
manager deliberately causing a violation of procedure 7
implementing the requirement to control contracted 8
service during the 1998 refueling outage.
9 On November 20,
- 2000, the NRC took 10 enforcement action under EA-00-179 against the 11 Licensee related to a violation during operations at 12 the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station.
13 The violation involved the Licensee's 14 failure to identify and correct a
significant 15 condition adverse to quality involving the presence of 16 primary water stress corrosion cracking flaws in the 17 steam generator tubes despite opportunities during the 18 1997 refueling outage.
19 As a result, one of the tubes failed on 20 February 15, 2000 when the reactor was 100 percent 21 power.
In this scenario, we have a breach of 22 integrity; radioactive water transgressing into the 23 un-radioactive water at the plant.
Very serious 24 violation.
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enforcement action under EA-02-262 against the 2
Licensee related to a violation during operations at 3
Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station.
The 4
violation involved Entergy's failure over a 24-year 5
period from the time of initial construction in 1978 6
to August 2002 to implement and maintain in effect all 7
provisions of NRC approved fire protection program.
8 On June 27,
- 2001, NRC took enforcement 9
action under EA-01-088 against the Licensee related to 10 a violation during operations at Palisades Nuclear 11 Plant.
The violation involved the Licensee's failure 12 to provide complete and accurate information in 13 letters to the NRC.
The Licensee was fined $55,000 14 for the violation.
15 On October 23, 2001, NRC took enforcement 16 action under EA-01-188 against the Licensee related to 17 a violation during operations at the Peach Bottom 18 Atomic Power Station.
19 The violation involved the willful 20 creation of inaccurate and incomplete fire testing and 21 maintenance records by two former maintenance 22 technicians and deficiencies with the ability to 23 provide early notification to the populace surrounding 24 the facility in event of an emergency.
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action under EA-04-174 against the Licensee related to 2
a violation during operations at the Vermont Yankee 3
Nuclear Power Station.
The violation involved the 4
failure to issue tone alert radio to the entire 5
populace within the emergency plan.
6 The violation cited Licensee's failure to 7
follow its emergency plan to establish means to 8
provide early notification and clear instruction to 9
the populace within the plume exposure pathway and 10 emergency planning zone.
11 On June 22nd, 2005, NRC took enforcement 12 action under EA-04-174 against the Licensee related to 13 a violation during operations at the Vermont Yankee 14 Nuclear Power Station.
The violation involved the 15 Licensee's failure over a 24-year period between 16 January 1980 and July 13, 2004 to ensure that two 17 irradiated fuel rods were in the spent fuel pool as 18 detailed in the Licensee's inventory.
19 The Licensee also failed to conduct 20 adequate inventories of the location of the two fuel 21 pieces.
Very serious violation.
Everyone knows the 22 placement of those spent fuel assemblies can, in fact, 23 cause a nuclear reaction in and of itself.
Very, very 24 serious.
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enforcement action under EA-06-253 against the 2
Licensee related to a violation during operations at 3
the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.
The 4
violation involved a shipment of a package containing 5
radioactive material in an opened transport vehicle.
6 The package containing radioactive 7
material was not designed and prepared to assure that 8
radiation level on any point on the external surface 9
of the package would not exceed 200 millirems per 10 hour1.157407e-4 days <br />0.00278 hours <br />1.653439e-5 weeks <br />3.805e-6 months <br />.
11 On April 23,
- 2007, NRC took enforcement 12 action under EA-07-092 against the Licensee related to 13 a violation during operations at the Indian Point 14 Nuclear Generating Station.
The violation involved 15 the failure of Licensee to meet the requirements of a 16 confirmatory issue on January 31, 2006.
17 The order required the Licensee to 18 maintain backup power supply for the emergency --
for 19 the Indian Point emergency notification system.
The 20 Licensee was fined $130,000 for the violation.
21 On January 24,
- 2008, the NRC took 22 enforcement action under EA-006 -- or, excuse me, EA-23 08-006 against the Licensee related to a violation 24 during operations at the Indian Point Nuclear 25 Generating Station.
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The violation involved a
continuing 2
violation of the NRC's January 31, 2006 confirmatory 3
order, which required Entergy to install backup power 4
for the Indian Point alert and notification system by 5
January 1, 2007.
The Licensee was fined $650,000 for 6
the violation.
7 On January 6,
- 2009, the NRC took 8
enforcement action under EA-08-298 against the 9
Licensee related to a violation during operations at 10 the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.
The violation 11 involved multiple security officers at the nuclear 12 plant that were deliberately inattentive on multiple 13 occasions or sleeping on the job.
14 In addition, multiple security officers 15 deliberately, deliberately failed to report 16 observations of inattentiveness or sleeping to their 17 supervision.
The Licensee was fined $65,000 for the 18 violation.
19 On December 1,
- 2009, the NRC took 20 enforcement action under EA-09-007 against the 21 Licensee related to a violation during operations at 22 the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.
The violation 23 involved the deliberate failure of a former reactor 24 operator to report an arrest in a timely manner and 25 the deliberate failure of a
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supervisor to provide complete and accurate 2
information on a personal history questionnaire.
3 Summation.
- Clearly, in review of the 4
Licensee's dubious record over the last 14-year 5
period, it is apparent that the Licensee was found to 6
have provided inaccurate, misleading, or false 7
information to the NRC related to operations at its 8
nuclear facilities within the jurisdiction and 9
oversight of the NRC.
10 In one or more instances, the Licensee was 11 found to have deliberately engaged in wrongdoing in 12 direct violation of NRC authority and federal safety 13 regulations under 10 CFR Part 50 and under other NRC 14 regulations.
15 Discussion on recent events related to the 16 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power System.
On March 1, 17
- 2010, Mr.
James Kim, project manager, Division of 18 Operating Reactor Licensing for the NRC, authored an 19 email letter to Petitioners in which Mr.
Kim stated, 20 in relevant part, that in accordance with MD 8.11 and 21 based upon the following, the PRB agrees that there is 22 no need for immediate action since there are no 23 immediate public health and safety concerns in that 24 the Vermont Yankee leak has not resulted in the 25 facility exceeding any public radiation safety dose NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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limits established in 10 CFR 20.1301.
2 The Vermont Yankee leak has not resulted 3
in the facility exceeding any licensed condition 4
related to achieving the 10 CFR 50 Appendix I numeric 5
guidelines for design objectives and limiting 6
conditions for operations to meet the criterion as low 7
as reasonably achievable for radioactive material.
8 There is reasonable assurance that the 9
facility is being operated without undue risk to the 10 health and safety of the public in that the tritium 11 has been only has been found only in onsite 12 subsurface monitoring wells.
13 There has been no tritium detected in any 14 environmental substance was taken from onsite or 15 offsite drinking water wells or/and the river that has 16 been caused by the leak.
There has been no evidence 17 that the integrity of the safety systems related has 18 been affected by the leak, and Vermont Yankee has 19 taken aggressive corrective action to identify and 20 repair the leak in accordance with their corrective 21 action program.
22 In response to the NRC's March 1, 2010 23 email, Petitioners aver that for the reasons stated in 24 their February 20, 2010 petition as supplemented with 25 their testimony given on the record here today that, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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number one, the NRC's assertions and conclusions 2
related to the Licensee's Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 3
System are incomplete, non-conclusive, erroneous, and 4
are absent and devoid of any evidence or fact 5
elaborated by the Agency in their March 1, 2010 email 6
to Petitioners.
7 Furthermore, Petitioners aver here that 8
the failure of the NRC to take immediate action as 9
requested by Petitioners to cause the Licensee to 10 bring the nuclear reactor at the Vermont Yankee 11 Nuclear Power System to a cold shutdown mode of 12 operation continues to place the public health and 13 safety --
continues to place the health and safety of 14 the public in grave danger and presents an unwarranted 15 contamination of the environment from the radioactive 16 effluent leaking from that nuclear facility.
17 Number two, the Licensee cannot provide 18 the NRC with any measure of reasonable assurance that 19 the Vermont Yankee leak has not resolved and the 20 facility exceeding any public radiation safety dose 21 limits, as established in 10 CFR 20.1301; and 22 Number three, the Licensee cannot provide 23 the NRC with any measure of reasonable assurance that 24 the Vermont Yankee leak has not resolved in the 25 facility exceeding any licensed condition related to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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achieving the 10 CFR 50 Appendix I numerical guides 2
for design objectives and limiting conditions for
(
3 operations to meet the criterion as low as is 4
reasonably achievable for radioactive material; and 5
Four, the Licensee cannot provide the NRC 6
with any measure of reasonable assurance that the 7
facility is being operated without undue risk to the 8
health and safety of the public and that the detected 9
tritium has been found only in the onsite subsurface 10 monitoring well or that there has been no tritium 11 detected and environmental samples taken from onsite 12 or offsite drinking water wells on the river has been 13 caused by the leak; and 14 Five, the Licensee cannot provide the NRC 15 with any measure of reasonable assurance that there 16 has been no evidence that the integrity of any safety 17 system related has been affected by the leak; and 18 Six, the Licensee cannot provide the NRC 19 with any measure of reasonable assurance that Vermont 20 Yankee is taking aggressive corrective action to 21 identify and repair the leak in accordance with their 22 corrective action program.
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described on the record as follows.
2 On January 22, 2010, a letter was authored 3
to the NRC chairman, the Honorable Gregory B. Jaczko, 4
by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, U.S. Senator Bernard 5
- Sanders, and U.S.
Representative Peter Welch.
In 6
their letter, the distinguished Congressmen informed 7
the NRC chairman that, "We write to follow up on our 8
letter of January 15 in light of further alarming news 9
regarding contamination on the grounds of the Vermont 10 Yankee plant.
11 "Since our initial letter, the levels of 12 the tritium found in the surface water leak are 13 reported to have tested up to 2 million picocuries per 14
- liter, according to an NRC spokesman, but 100 times 15 the safe drinking water level prescribed by the EPA.
16 "Further, a state investigator reported 17 last night that a trace amount of cobalt-60, a more 18 dangerous radioactive isotope, has been found in an 19 enclosed concrete trench at the nuclear power plant.
20 "These recent developments, coupled with 21 our ongoing concerns about Entergy Vermont Yankee's 22 commitment to safety and forthrightness with public 23 and regulatory and safety agencies force us to 24 reiterate our request for an immediate and thorough 25 investigation.
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"This investigation should only determine 2
whether there was an attempt by Entergy Vermont Yankee 3
to mislead state officials regarding a plant's safety 4
and underground piping, but also a complete and 5
accurate assessment of the full scope of the 6
contamination at and near the plant as soon as 7
possible."
8 Petitioners aver here that the NRC's email 9
letter dated March 1st to Petitioners comes well after 10 the Agency was made aware of significant certain 11 documents to the NRC by two U.S.
Senators and one 12 U.S. Representative related to the discovery of 13 cobalt-60 at the Agency's Vermont Yankee nuclear 14 facility and the concerns expressed by the Senators 15 and Representative regarding the apparent attempt by 16 the Licensee to mislead state officials regarding the 17 nuclear plant safety and underground piping.
18 Petitioners further aver that the concerns 19 raised in the January 22, 2010 letter to the NRC 20 Chairman by the Senators and Representative are more 21 than sufficient to demonstrate that the Licensee 22 cannot provide the NRC with any measure of reasonable 23 assurance that will fully comply with NRC authority 24 and federal safety regulations under 10 CFR Part 50 25 related to the Licensee's operation or the Vermont NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Yankee Nuclear Power System.
2 Despite this material evidence, the NRC 3
has failed to cause the Licensee to bring the nuclear 4
reactor in question to a cold shutdown mode of 5
operation leaving the health and safety of the public 6
in grave danger.
7 Petitioners also note for the record that 8
the NRC failed to identify,
- compare, analyze, or 9
resolve the concerns raised in their February 20, 2010 10 petition against those concerns raised by the Senators 11 and the Representative for which the Agency was well 12 aware.
13 Petitioners contend that the NRC enjoys 14 too cozy a relationship with the Licensee, which 15 resulted in the NRC failing to protect public health 16 and safety and acting to cause the Licensee to bring 17 the nuclear reactor in question to a cold shutdown 18 mode of operation and leaving the public health and 19 safety and leaving the health and safety of the 20 public and leaving the health and safety of the 21 public in grave danger.
22 Petitioners further contend that in this 23 instance, the NRC placed the economic concerns of the 24 Licensee ahead and above its congressional mandate to 25 protect public health and safety in these NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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circumstances.
2 On February 18, 2010, the State of Vermont 3
Department of Public Service documented that the 4
Agency was contacted and provided in relevant part the 5
following information.
6 On February 16,
- 2010, the Department of 7
Public Service received an email from the public 8
oversight panel that recounted the substance of a 9
February 14, 2010 telephone conversation between an 10 anonymous individual claiming to be an employee of the 11 Vermont Yankee plant and a Mr. Arnie Gundersen, one of 12 the oversight panel members.
13 Petitioners restate the relevant content 14 of that email here for the record.
Mr. Gundersen 15
- writes, "I received a call from a Vermont Yankee 16
- employee, refused to give name or phone number, at 17 3:00 p.m. Sunday, 2/14/10.
18 "The employee wanted to tell me that there 19 had been previous radioactive underground pipe leaks 20 in the AOG system that the employee wanted me to be 21 aware of.
Employee said that in addition to the 22 current tritium leak, there have been other leaks in 23 the AOG, off gas system --
advanced off gas system in 24 previous years.
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approximately two years ago there was an unisolatable 2
radioactive steam leak into the underground AOG drain 3
pit.
Employee said that access to the AOG pit --
4 drain pit was achieved by the staff through an outside 5
access hatch and that a TAP and HEPA filter were used 6
to prevent the spread of airborne radioactive 7
contamination from the drain pit into the environment.
8 "The HEPA filter exhausted air into the 9
area that is presently being evacuated.
Employee said 10 that the access time, stay time, was limited because 11 the radiation and that employees wore full protective 12 clothing to assess and repair the leak.
13 "Employee said that the leak could not be 14 isolated, and a shutdown would have been required to 15 repair the leak.
Employee said that Furmanite, if you 16 can believe that, Furmanite leak sealant was applied 17 to plug the hole until a complete repair --
until 18 complete repair during the next outage.
19 "Employee said the oversight panel needs 20 to be aware of the prior history of the leaking 21 underground radioactive pipes in the AOG system."
22
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described in the letter within days, if not hours, as 2
received by the State.
3 Petitioners contend that in addition to 4
the allegations made in that letter which reflect on 5
the Licensee's apparent failure to timely report those 6
safety issues and maintenance activities to the NRC, 7
that Licensee also appears to be in violation of NRC 8
regulations under 10 CFR Part 50, which require the 9
Licensee to foster and maintain a safety conscious 10 work environment at its nuclear facilities when 11 nuclear workers are free and feel free to raise 12 nuclear safety concerns to Licensee management or 13 directly to the NRC.
14
- Clearly, the February 14, 2010 15 communication between Mr.
Gundersen and an apparent 16 Licensee employee evidences the existence of a hostile 17 work environment at the Vermont Yankee nuclear 18 facility where nuclear workers are killed and 19 dissuaded from engaging in protective activity to 20 identify nuclear safety concerns.
21 This situation should be of grave concern 22 to the NRC, which depends on the eyes and ears of 23 Licensee employees to report nuclear safety concerns 24 for the time and resolution of their safety concerns.
25 In this particular instance, the NRC --
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the Licensee appears to be in direct violation of NRC 2
regulations under 10 CFR Part 50 for an extended 3
period of time dating back to at least 2008 and failed 4
to timely report said violations to the NRC as 5
required as a condition of their operating license, 6
DPR 28.
7 Petitioners once again contend that the 8
NRC is negligent in failing to cause the Licensee to 9
immediately bring the nuclear reactor in question to 10 a cold shutdown mode of operation and thereby placing 11 the health and safety of the public in grave danger.
12 On February 24,
- 2010, Dave
- Graham, a
13 reporter with the Associated Press, documented that 14 Donald Jackson, an NRC section chief, confirmed in a 15 conference call between NRC officials and reported 16 that the 2005 leak occurred in the same pipe system 17 that is the focus of search for the source of the 18 current leak.
19 "In 2005, within the confines of this pipe 20 channel, there was a problem with one of the pipes,"
21 he said.
The newspaper article goes on to state that 22 plant officials admitted last month that they had 23 mislead state officials, sometimes under oath, by 24 saying that the plant did not have the sort of 25 underground pipes that would carry tritium.
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Confirmation that Vermont Yankee found a 2
leak of tritium from an underground pipe in 2005 could 3
provide new evidence that plant officials knew the 4
existence of the pipe before the incorrect statements 5
about them in 2008 and 2009.
6 State Attorney General William Sorrell has 7
launched a criminal investigation to whether plant 8
officials lied under oath. Petitioners aver here that 9
the statement made by the NRC
- official, Donald 10
- Jackson, clearly substantiates the nuclear safety 11 allegation made by the Vermont Yankee nuclear worker 12 to Mr. Gundersen earlier and documented by the State 13 of Vermont related to the leak of radioactive effluent 14 from the nuclear plant in question.
15 Yet, despite this documented evidence of 16 deliberate wrongdoing by the Licensee where the 17 Licensee executive management apparently admitted 18 providing false testimony under oath about the 19 existence of leaking underground piping containing 20 radioactive fluid, the NRC continues to allow the 21 Licensee to operate the nuclear reactor in question at 22 some level of power.
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shutdown mode of operation is negligence on the part 2
of the NRC in direct violation of the Agency's 3
congressional mandate to protect public -- protect the 4
health and safety of the public and to protect the 5
environment.
6 Conclusion.
For the record, Petitioners 7
aver here that based on their February 20, 2010 8
petition as supplemented by the record here today, the 9
Licensee cannot provide the NRC with any measure of 10 reasonable assurance it will operate the Vermont 11 Yankee Nuclear Power System and the Palisades Nuclear 12 Plant and the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and 13 the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station in full 14 compliance with NRC federal safety regulations under 15 10 CFR Part 50 as required under each of the 16 respective operating licenses issued to the Licensee 17 by the NRC authorizing operations of those nuclear 18 reactors.
19 Therefore, Petitioners hereby officially 20 supplement their February 20, 2010 petition submitted 21 under 10 CFR 2.206 and request that the NRC take 22 additional enforcement action against the Licensee by 23 issuing confirmatory orders revoking the respective 24 operating licenses from each of the nuclear reactors 25 identified on this record and operated by the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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Licensee.
2 Petitioners further aver that the Licensee 3
cannot provide the NRC with any measure of reasonable 4
assurance that it will operate any of its nuclear 5
reactors in full compliance with NRC regulations under 6
10 CFR Part 50 as evidenced by the Licensee's numerous 7
acts of deliberate and willful wrongdoing over the 8
years and most recently with respect to the Vermont 9
Yankee nuclear facility in direct violation of NRC 10 regulations under 10 CFR 30.10.
11 Consequently, the NRC must conclude that 12 the Agency lacks the requisite reasonable assurance 13 that licensed activities at Licensee's nuclear 14 facilities can be conducted in compliance with the 15 Commission's requirements and that the health and 16 safety of the public will be protected if the Licensee 17 were permitted at this time to be involved in NRC 18 license activities.
19 Therefore, the public health, safety, and 20 interest require that the Licensee be prohibited from 21 any involvement in NRC licensed activities for a 22 period of not less than one year from the date of the 23 NRC's confirmatory requested by Petitioners.
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individuals who were found by the NRC to have 2
deliberately engaged in wrongdoing to a far lesser 3
degree than did Entergy.
See Federal Register 4
Volume 75, No.
44,
- Monday, March 8,
- 2010, at 5
Pages 10526 to 10529.
6 To the extent that the NRC fails to grant 7
Petitioner's request for enforcement action as fully 8
described on this record, Petitioners request that the 9
NRC Office of the Inspector General initiate an 10 investigation to review --
initiate an investigation 11 and review of the NRC's action and conduct in these 12 circumstances in failing to comply with the Agency's 13 congressional mandate to protect public health and 14 safety and the environment as a whole with respect to 15 operation of commercial nuclear reactors operated by 16 the Licensee.
17
- Finally, Petitioners proffer to the 18 general public this one simple question related to the 19 NRC's oversight of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 20 System.
Is the tail wagging the dog in these 21 circumstances?
This concludes Petitioners' comments 22 on the record today, and I'll answer any questions 23 that the NRC or the Licensee or the public may have.
24 MR.
BLOUNT:
This is Tom Blount.
Thank 25 you very much, Mr. Saporito.
I appreciate the input.
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First of all, Mr.
Saporito, are you aware that there 2
are ways to contact the OIG directly off our NRC web 3
page?
4 MR.
SAPORITO:
Yes.
I've engaged the NRC 5
OIG many times, but I want to officially on this 6
public record request that the NRC do it, that they 7
self-identify and request review by the IG.
8 MR.
BLOUNT:
Okay.
I just wanted to 9
clarify that you are aware, and that if you're making 10 an accusation of staff impropriety that it would be a 11 direct action on your part to contact the IG.
That 1-12 800 number is 1-800-233-3497 or from the NRC's web 13 page, under Contact Us you can report your concern 14 directly.
15 MR.
SAPORITO:
Mr. Blount, as I
have 16 stated
- earlier, I
have contacted and engaged NRC 17 Office of the Inspector General on more than one 18 occasion and I -- again, I'm stating for the record I 19 want this entire record provided to the NRC IG for 20 their decision on whether to investigate and review 21 the NRC's conduct in these circumstances.
22 MR.
BLOUNT:.
I understand,
- sir, and I'm 23 just simply trying to encourage you to reach out to 24 them directly, but I understand your point, and thank 25 you very much for that.
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Let's see.
The one other point that I 2
would make, Peach Bottom, the Peach Bottom facilities 3
that you indicated I believe are operated by Exelon, 4
not Entergy, but I'll share that with you.
5 Other than that, any other questions that 6
anyone here at headquarters has for Mr.
Saporito?
7 No questions here at headquarters.
Anyone 8
from headquarters on the line have a question for 9
Mr.
Saporito?
10 Anyone from the Region have questions for 11 Mr.
Saporito?
12 MR.
JACKSON:
No, I'm fine.
13 MR.
BLOUNT:
Thank you very much.
Any --
14 does the Licensee's representative have any questions 15 for Mr. Saporito?
16 MR.
DEVINCENTIS:
We have no questions.
17 MR.
BLOUNT:
Thank you very much.
Before 18 I
conclude the meeting, members of the public may 19 provide comments regarding the Petition and ask 20 questions about the 2.206 petition process.
21
- However, as stated at the opening, the 22 purpose of this meeting is not to provide an 23 opportunity for the Petitioner or the public to 24 question or examine the PRB regarding the merits of 25 the Petition request.
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47 1
Do any of the members of the public have 2
questions about the process or questions for 3
Mr.
Saporito?
Hearing none, I take that as a no.
4 Mr.
- Saporito, thank you for taking the 5
time to provide the NRC staff with clarifying 6
information on your petition that you submitted.
7 Before we close, does the court reporter 8
have need any additional information for the 9
meeting transcript?
10 COURT REPORTER:
If the parties from the 11 Region and the Licensee could identify themselves, the 12 two people who just spoke three minutes ago.
I didn't 13 catch their names.
Who's the gentleman who spoke from 14 the region?
15 MR.
JACKSON:
16 COURT REPORTER:
Okay.
From the Licensee, 17 who spoke?
18 MR.
DEVINCENTIS:
Jim Devincentis.
19 COURT REPORTER:
Could you spell your last 20
- name, sir?
21 MR.
DEVINCENTIS:
D as in David, E-V as in 22 Victor, I-N-C-E-N-T-I-S.
23 COURT REPORTER:
Thank you very much.
24 That's all the questions I have.
25 MR.
BLOUNT:
Thank you.
With that, this NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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3 4
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 48 meeting is concluded and we will be terminating the phone connection.
COURT REPORTER:
Thank you.
(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter was concluded at 2:55 p.m.)
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CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of:
Vermont Yankee Name of Proceeding:
10 CFR 2.206 Petition Review Board, In Re Thomas Saporito Docket Number:
50-271 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.
Ofv f ca-9grt er Neal R.
Gross & Co.,
Inc.
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