ML14213A328
| ML14213A328 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Aerotest |
| Issue date: | 08/01/2014 |
| From: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| To: | |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| 50-228-LT, ASLBP 14-931-01-LT-BD01, NRC-957, RAS 26280 | |
| Download: ML14213A328 (14) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Aerotest Operations, Inc.
Aerotest Radiography and Research Reactor Docket Number: 50-228-LT ASLBP Number: 14-931-01-LT-BD01 Location: teleconference Date: Thursday, July 24, 2014 Work Order No.: NRC-957 Pages 23-35 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
23 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +
4 ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL 5 + + + + +
6 SCHEDULING PREHEARING TELECONFERENCE 7 -------------------------x 8 In the Matter of: :
9 AEROTEST OPERATIONS, INC.: Docket No. 50-228-LT 10 (Aerotest Radiography : ASLBP No.
11 and Research Reactor) : 14-931-01-LT-BD01 12 -------------------------x 13 Thursday, July 24, 2014 14 15 Teleconference 16 17 BEFORE:
18 E. ROY HAWKENS, Presiding Official 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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24 1 APPEARANCES:
2 3 Counsel for the Applicant 4 Kimberly Harshaw, Esq.
5 of: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 6 2300 N Street, N.W.
7 Washington, DC 20037-1122 8 Tel: (202) 663-9410 9 Fax: (202) 663-8007 10 Email: kimberly.harshaw@pillsburylaw.com 11 12 On Behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
13 Anita Ghosh, Esq.
14 Catherine Kanatas, Esq.
15 Susan Uttal, Esq.
16 Jeremy Wachutka, Esq.
17 of: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 18 Office of the General Counsel 19 Mail Stop O-15D21 20 Washington, DC 20555-0001 21 Tel: (301) 415-4113 (Ghosh) 22 (301) 415-2321 (Kanatas) 23 (301) 415-1582 (Uttal) 24 (301) 415-1571 (Wachutka) 25 Fax: (301) 415-3725 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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25 1 Email: anita.ghosh@nrc.gov 2 catherine.kanatas@nrc.gov 3 susan.uttal@nrc.gov 4 jeremy.wachutka@nrc.gov 5
6 7
8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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26 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you, Jean. Good 3 afternoon, my name is Roy Hawkens. I'm the Presiding 4 Officer in this case entitled Aerotest Operations, 5 Incorporated, Aerotest Radiography and Research 6 Reactor, Docket Number 50-228-LT.
7 I'm joined in Rockville Headquarters by 8 the Board's law clerk, Ms. Kathy Schroeder and by the 9 panel's administrative assistant, Ms. Sarah Culler.
10 Would counsel for the parties please introduce 11 themselves for the record?
12 MS. GHOSH: For the NRC staff this is 13 Anita Ghosh, with me I have co-counsel, Susan Uttal, 14 Catherine Kanatas, and Jeremy Wachutka.
15 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you.
16 MS. HARSHAW: On behalf of Aerotest and 17 Nuclear Labyrinth this is Kim Harshaw with Pillsbury 18 Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
19 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you, Ms. Harshaw. As 20 stated in this Board's Notice of July 18th the purpose 21 of a teleconference is to discuss scheduling and 22 procedural matters relating to the hearing that will 23 take place on August 12th in the panel's Rockville 24 hearing room.
25 I have a list of seven items to address NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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27 1 and after that I'll give the parties the opportunity 2 to discuss any additional items they'd like to raise.
3 First, regarding timing on the day of the 4 hearing, I propose we commence the hearing at 10:00 5 and if practicable continue that day until we're 6 complete, taking any breaks that are compatible with 7 that goal.
8 To the counsel, are counsel agreeable with 9 that and think that's a reasonable projection? Ms.
10 Harshaw?
11 MS. HARSHAW: That sounds reasonable to 12 us. We just have two witnesses so that seems 13 reasonable.
14 MR. HAWKENS: All right. And your 15 witnesses, Ms. Harshaw, would remain available 16 throughout the day and if necessary into the early 17 evening?
18 MS. HARSHAW: Yes.
19 MR. HAWKENS: All right. Ms. Ghosh?
20 MS. GHOSH: For the NRC staff what would 21 early evening be? Would that be --
22 MR. HAWKENS: I'm hoping early evening 23 will be mid-afternoon.
24 (Laughter) 25 MR. HAWKENS: But as I say if unexpected NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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28 1 questions, inquiries, concerns arise it would be an 2 objective if practicable to complete it on that day 3 and if that requires going into the early evening I'd 4 just kind of like doing what's necessary to finish it.
5 I mean if we get to dinnertime and people 6 think it's going to go much beyond that I'll certainly 7 be open to continuing it the next day, but I 8 anticipate being able to finish it by mid-afternoon.
9 MS. GHOSH: Okay, so staff thinks that's 10 reasonable.
11 MR. HAWKENS: All right. And your 12 witnesses likewise would be available throughout the 13 proceeding on that day?
14 MS. GHOSH: Yes, that's correct.
15 MR. HAWKENS: Is that correct, all right.
16 Second, to the extent counsel would like to make 17 opening and/or closing statements I propose limiting 18 them to ten minutes each, which would not include any 19 time taken to answer questions that may arise during 20 the statements themselves.
21 Does that sound reasonable to both 22 counsel?
23 MS. HARSHAW: That's reasonable for 24 Pillsbury.
25 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. NRC?
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29 1 MS. GHOSH: Yes, that's reasonable for the 2 staff.
3 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. And let me ask 4 each counsel, do you contemplate at this point 5 availing yourself of the opportunity to make both 6 opening and closing statements? Aerotest, or excuse 7 me, Ms. Harshaw?
8 MS. HARSHAW: Yes, we do.
9 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. Ms. Ghosh?
10 MS. GHOSH: Yes.
11 MR. HAWKENS: The order of presentation, 12 I contemplate it would be as follows. First opening 13 statement would be the Companies, the second opening 14 statement the NRC staff, and the first group of 15 witnesses I propose examining would be the Companies 16 followed by staff witnesses.
17 I'd give both parties the opportunity at 18 that point to provide additional suggested questions 19 that might arise as the result of the examination and 20 afterwards closing by the staff followed by closing by 21 Aerotest.
22 Does that sound acceptable to the parties?
23 MS. HARSHAW: This is Kim Harshaw, that's 24 acceptable to the Companies.
25 MS. GHOSH: This is Anita Ghosh, that's NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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30 1 also acceptable to the staff.
2 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. Third, regarding 3 admission of exhibits, I'd like to admit them all at 4 the outset of the hearing by reference to the parties' 5 exhibit lists, which I'll then have the court reporter 6 bind into the transcript.
7 If we want to do that we have to ensure 8 the exhibit lists are accurate, and to that end I have 9 two questions for the counsel. Does either party 10 anticipate revising an exhibit or supplementing its 11 exhibit list? Ms. Harshaw?
12 MS. HARSHAW: We do not intend to revise 13 or supplement our exhibits.
14 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. Ms. Ghosh?
15 MS. GHOSH: No, we do not intend to 16 supplement or revise our exhibits either.
17 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. Second question 18 for both of you, do either of you anticipate 19 challenging an exhibit?
20 MS. HARSHAW: The Companies do not intend 21 to challenge any exhibits.
22 MS. GHOSH: The staff does not either.
23 MR. HAWKENS: All right, thank you.
24 Counsel should be aware that during the hearing the 25 exhibits can be displayed on the hearing room monitors NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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31 1 by the Clerk of Courts if a party wishes, and to avoid 2 delay exhibits should be requested by exhibit number 3 and if possible a PDF page number.
4 Item Number 4 on my list, do counsel 5 contemplate submitting any motions prior to the 6 hearing?
7 MS. HARSHAW: The Companies do not 8 anticipate submitting any motions.
9 MS. GHOSH: The staff does not anticipate 10 submitting any motions either.
11 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. Item 5, based on 12 the issues in this case and the nature of the 13 questions I would propose examining Ms. Lian and Ms.
14 Simmons together and to examine the other three 15 witnesses individually.
16 Does either party object to that approach?
17 MS. HARSHAW: The Companies do not object.
18 MS. GHOSH: Can we have one minute to 19 consult?
20 MR. HAWKENS: Yes.
21 MS. GHOSH: Thank you. Your Honor, this 22 is Anita Ghosh for the staff. There might be some 23 crosscutting issues between, I guess the topics that 24 would be covered by Ms. Lian and Ms. Simmons and also 25 Mr. Adams.
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32 1 That would be our only concern in 2 separating the staff witnesses.
3 MR. HAWKENS: Understand, and if I pose a 4 question to either the two individuals and Ms. Lian 5 and Ms. Simmons as a group that they are unable to 6 answer we can follow up at the time if they think it's 7 necessary by bringing Mr. Adams up.
8 MS. GHOSH: Okay.
9 MR. HAWKENS: I think we can handle that 10 as necessary at the hearing.
11 MS. GHOSH: Okay. Then that would be 12 reasonable to the staff.
13 MR. HAWKENS: All right. Does either 14 party see a need for excluding witnesses who have not 15 testified during the hearing?
16 MS. HARSHAW: The Companies do not see a 17 reason to exclude witnesses. The testimony has 18 already been submitted for the most part in writing, 19 so we do not see a need to exclude witnesses.
20 MR. HAWKENS: Ms. Ghosh?
21 MS. GHOSH: No, the staff doesn't see a 22 need to exclude witnesses.
23 MR. HAWKENS: They will not then be 24 excluded. Item Number 6, proprietary information 25 seems to play a significant role throughout many NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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33 1 aspects of this case, which militates in favor of 2 closing the hearing, and I'm wondering if counsel 3 envisioned any approach that would allow a portion of 4 the hearing to be open or whether you think it would 5 be well to close the entire hearing? Ms. Harshaw?
6 MS. HARSHAW: I envisioned that the 7 hearing would be closed. Most of the information like 8 you said is proprietary or relies on proprietary 9 information, so I had not envisioned it being open.
10 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. Ms. Ghosh?
11 MS. GHOSH: It's Aerotest's information so 12 I, you know, to the extent that it's proprietary I 13 think that would cover most of the issues at the 14 hearing, so I think, yes, I would envision it being 15 closed as well.
16 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. In light of that 17 I'd request each counsel to provide a list of 18 authorized attendees to Ms. Schroeder by email by 19 August 5th and we will consolidate the list and we 20 will provide that list to a guard posted at the 21 hearing room to restrict access to those on the list.
22 Is August 5th, is that day a doable date 23 for both counsel to provide?
24 MS. HARSHAW: That's doable for the 25 Companies.
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34 1 MS. GHOSH: And also for the staff.
2 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you. Let me ask both 3 parties this, do either parties have any objection to 4 panel members, either judges or law clerks, being 5 included on the list of authorized attendees?
6 MS. HARSHAW: The Companies do not.
7 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you.
8 MS. GHOSH: The staff does not.
9 MR. HAWKENS: All right, thank you very 10 much. Finally, Item Number 7, convenient parking for 11 Aerotest counsel and witnesses, we will endeavor to 12 provide parking spaces for you to make it a little bit 13 more convenient and Ms. Schroeder will contact you by 14 email to coordinate those details.
15 MS. HARSHAW: That is much appreciated, 16 thank you.
17 MR. HAWKENS: Any matters now that counsel 18 wish to discuss? Ms. Harshaw, let's start with you.
19 MS. HARSHAW: We do not, I don't have any 20 matters to discuss. I haven't thought of any.
21 MR. HAWKENS: All right. Ms. Ghosh?
22 MS. GHOSH: The staff doesn't have 23 anything either.
24 MR. HAWKENS: Thank you very much. We're 25 done then. Let me ask the parties if they'd remain on NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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35 1 line for just a few minutes in case the court 2 reporter, Daniel, has any final follow up questions 3 for them. Thank you very much.
4 MS. HARSHAW: Thank you.
5 MS. GHOSH: Thank you.
6 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 7 off the record at 1:18 p.m.)
8 9
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