ML14316A335
| ML14316A335 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png |
| Issue date: | 11/06/2014 |
| From: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| To: | |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| 50-271-LA, ASLBP 15-934-01-LA- BD01, RAS 26912 | |
| Download: ML14316A335 (11) | |
Text
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Title:
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station Docket Number:
50-271-LA ASLBP Number:
15-934-01-LA-BD01 Location:
teleconference Date:
Thursday, November 6, 2014 Work Order No.:
NRC-1191 Pages 1-10 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.
Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433
1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2
+ + + + +
3 ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL 4
+ + + + +
5 HEARING 6
x 7
In the Matter of: : Docket No.
8 ENTERGY NUCLEAR VERMONT : 50-271-LA 9
10 ENTERGY NUCLEAR : 15-934-01-LA-BD01 11 OPERATIONS, INC. :
12 (Vermont Yankee Nuclear :
13 Power Station) :
14
x 15 Thursday, November 6, 2014 16 17 Teleconference 18 19 BEFORE:
20 E. ROY HAWKENS, Chairman 21 DR. MICHAEL F. KENNEDY, Administrative Judge 22 DR. RICHARD E. WARDWELL, Administrative Judge 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
2 APPEARANCES:
1 Counsel for the Applicant 2
Susan Raimo, Esq.
3 Of:
Entergy Services, Inc.
4 101 Constitution Ave., NW 5
Washington, DC 20001-2133 6
(202) 530-7300 7
8 On Behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 9
Beth Mizuno, Esq 10 Jeremy Wachutka, Esq.
11 of:
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 12 Office of the General Counsel 13 Mail Stop O-15D21 14 Washington, DC 20555-0001 15 (301) 415-4126 16 17 On Behalf of Vermont Department of Public 18 Service 19 Aaron Kisicki, Esq.
20 Vermont Department of Public Service 21 112 State Street - Drawer 20 22 Montpelier, VT 05620-2601 23 (802) 828-2332 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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3 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staff 1
Jim Kim 3
Daniel Straus 4
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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4 P R O C E E D I N G S 1
2:02 p.m.
2 JUDGE HAWKENS: My name is Roy Hawkens. I'm 3
the Licensing Board Chairman in this case which is 4
entitled Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee LLC and 5
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Incorporated, Docket 6
number 50-271-LA.
7 I'm in the Rockville headquarters joined 8
by my fellow Board Members, Dr. Mike Kennedy, and Dr.
9 Rich Wardwell. Also with us is the Board's law clerk, 10 Nicole Pepperl, and the Board's Administrative 11 Assistant, Karen Valloch.
12 Would counsel for the parties please 13 introduce themselves for the record.
14 MS. MIZUNO: Good afternoon. Beth Mizuno 15 with the NRC Staff.
16 MS. RAIMO: This is Susan Raimo for 17 Entergy.
18 MR. KISICKI: And Aaron Kisicki on behalf 19 of the State of Vermont.
20 JUDGE HAWKENS: Thank you. To assist the 21 court reporter, I'd request that individuals identify 22 themselves before speaking.
23 The Board has read the pleadings. We 24 determined that oral argument would assist us in 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
5 deciding the admissibility of Vermont's proffered 1
contention. The purpose of this teleconference is to 2
discuss the location for the argument and the 3
potential dates.
4 First, let's talk about location. To 5
conserve resources and to facilitate expediting the 6
argument, the Board has concluded that we could 7
conduct the argument by teleconference. We recognize, 8
however, that counsel for Entergy, as well as NRC 9
Staff are here in the area. Is that correct, Ms.
10 Raimo, you're in D.C.?
11 MS. RAIMO: That's correct, sir.
12 JUDGE HAWKENS: So, it would not be 13 difficult for either of them to appear in Rockville.
14 However, we don't want to -- knowing the expenditure 15 of resource that would be involved we don't 16 necessarily want to require Mr. Kisicki to travel from 17 Vermont to come down to participate in oral argument, 18 but we would leave that option open to him. So, Mr.
19
- Kisicki, would you prefer to have everybody 20 participate by teleconference? Would you be amenable 21 to spending the resources to come down to have oral 22 argument here in Rockville, or would you be amenable 23 to participating yourself by teleconference and 24 allowing the other two counsels to appear in person 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433
6 here in Rockville? And I want to emphasize that 1
whether an individual is present or not present will 2
not create an advantage or a disadvantage.
3 MR. KISICKI: I appreciate that, sir. So, 4
I've looked at the options. I think the State would 5
prefer either have all participants participate by 6
teleconference, or to have all present. The State is 7
willing and able to come to Rockville, if needed. But, 8
obviously, if we don't need to make that expenditure 9
that would be helpful to us because we are a State 10 agency and we're under certain budget constraints. I'm 11 sure most people on the phone can understand that.
12 I think the one option that we would 13 probably not prefer would be to have Vermont 14 participate by teleconference but have the other two 15 counsel present. I understand that it wouldn't create 16 necessarily an advantage or disadvantage for any of 17 the parties, but we do think that there might be a bit 18 of an asymmetry in terms of presentation and we'd like 19 to just make sure that either -- if everyone is on the 20 phone, everyone is on the phone, or if we're all in 21 person, we're all there.
22 JUDGE HAWKENS: That's fine, and I'm going 23 to put the ball back into your court. I understand the 24 two options that you're open to. The Board is amenable 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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7 to either of those. Sometimes counsel would prefer to 1
be making an argument in person where they can look at 2
the judges eyeball to eyeball. But, again, that's your 3
call whether you want to expend the resources.
4 MR. KISICKI: Yes, I think if -- unless the 5
other parties have a preference, I think our 6
preference would be to just have it telephonically 7
just from a resource perspective.
8 JUDGE HAWKENS: Then we will have it 9
telephonically. Everybody will participate by phone.
10 Let's talk about dates. Do counsel have 11 before them the email from Ms. Pepperl which talked 12 about the potential dates we would be considering?
13 MS. RAIMO: Yes, Your Honor. It's Susan 14 Raimo for Entergy.
15 JUDGE HAWKENS: Thank you.
16 MS. MIZUNO: And the NRC Staff does, as 17 well.
18 JUDGE HAWKENS: And Mr. Kisicki, you do, as 19 well?
20 MR. KISICKI: I do.
21 JUDGE HAWKENS: All right. I'll poll each 22 of the counsel one by one; if you could tell me those 23 dates that you would be available to participate, I'd 24 be grateful. Let's start with Mr. Kisicki.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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8 MR. KISICKI: I would be available December 1
-- all of the dates in December I am available, but 2
there would be a strong preference for the 15th, 16th, 3
or 17th. The State is not available any of the dates 4
in November.
5 JUDGE HAWKENS: All right, thank you. Ms.
6 Raimo, how about you?
7 MS. RAIMO: Yes, Entergy would be available 8
November 18th, the 24th, or the 25th, and in December 9
we are available the 1st, the 4th, 15th, 16th, and 10 17th. Entergy's preference would be to hold the oral 11 argument earlier in December rather than later in the 12 month.
13 JUDGE HAWKENS:
Thank you for that 14 information. Ms. Mizuno, your availability?
15 MS. MIZUNO: Yes, Your Honor. With the 16 understanding that Vermont is not available during the 17 month of November, we polled our people and we are 18 available -- and Staff is available to support us 19 December 1, 2, 3, and 15th, 16th, 17th.
20 JUDGE HAWKENS: Great. I'm going to just 21 repeat back what I heard to make sure I have it down 22 accurately. Vermont is not available in November, is 23 available all the dates in December, but would have a 24 preference for the 15th, 16th, or 17th.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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9 MR. KISICKI: Correct.
1 JUDGE HAWKENS: Is that correct?
2 MR. KISICKI: Correct.
3 JUDGE HAWKENS: Entergy is available some 4
dates in November. Let's rule those out given that 5
Vermont is not available. Entergy then is available on 6
December 1 and 4, 15, 16, and 17, with a preference to 7
have it on the earlier dates rather than the later 8
dates.
9 MS. RAIMO: That's correct, Your Honor.
10 JUDGE HAWKENS: Thank you. And NRC Staff is 11 available December 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 15th, 16th, and 12 17th.
13 MS. MIZUNO: Yes, Your Honor.
14 JUDGE HAWKENS: All right, thank you. The 15 Board will take a look at those dates and the 16 availability of hearing spaces here at headquarters.
17 We'll issue a scheduling order, and in it we'll also 18 include topical areas that counsel should be prepared 19 both to address in affirmative arguments, as well as 20 be prepared to discuss.
21 Any other matters that counsel wish to 22 discuss?
23 MS. RAIMO: Not for Entergy, Your Honor.
24 Thank you.
25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.
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10 JUDGE HAWKENS: Thank you, Ms. Raimo. Mr.
1 Kisicki?
2 MR. KISICKI: No. Thank you.
3 JUDGE HAWKENS: Thank you. Ms. Mizuno?
4 MS. MIZUNO: Nothing from the Staff, Your 5
Honor.
6 JUDGE HAWKENS: All right, thank you very 7
much. We'll, as I say, we'll prepare a scheduling 8
order and endeavor to issue it no later than the end 9
of next week. Thank you very much, and thank you, Mr.
10 Sharp.
11 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 12 off the record at 2:11 p.m.)
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