Text

Transcript of November 5, 2015 Teleconference Re Indian Point Units 2 and 3
	ML15310A133
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	11/05/2015
From:	; Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
To:	;
	SECY RAS
References
	50-247-LR, 50-286-LR, ASLBP 07-858-03-LR-BD01, NRC-2002, RAS 28480
	Download: ML15310A133 (39)
	v • d • e

Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

In the Matter of:

Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.

(Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 2-3)

Docket Number: 50-247-LR & 50-286-LR ASLBP Number: 07-858-03-LR-BD01 Location: Teleconference Date: November 5, 2015 Work Order No.: NRC-2002 Pages 4717-4754 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433

4717 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +

4 ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL 5 + + + + +

6 HEARING 7 ----------------------x 8 In the Matter of: : Docket Nos. 50-247-LR and 9 ENTERGY NUCLEAR : 50-286-LR 10 OPERATIONS, INC. : ASLBP No. 07-858-03-LR-BD01 11 (Indian Point Nuclear :

12 Generating Units 2-3) :

13 ----------------------x 14 Thursday, November 5, 2015 15 16 Teleconference 17 18 BEFORE:

19 LAWRENCE G. MCDADE, Chairman 20 DR. MICHAEL F. KENNEDY, Administrative Judge 21 DR. RICHARD E. WARDWELL, Administrative Judge 22 23 24 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4718 1 APPEARANCES:

2 On Behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 3 Sherwin E. Turk, ESQ.

4 David E. Roth, ESQ.

5 Brian Harris, ESQ.

6 of: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 7 Office of the General Counsel 8 Mail Stop O-15D21 9 Washington, DC 20555-0001 10 301-415-1533 11 sherwin.turk@nrc.gov 12 13 On Behalf of the Applicant, Entergy Nuclear 14 Operations, Inc.

15 Paul M. Bessette, ESQ.

16 Kathryn M. Sutton, ESQ.

17 Raphael Kuyler, ESQ.

18 of: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP 19 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 20 Washington, DC 20004 21 202-739-5796 22 pbessette@morganlewis.com 23 24 On Behalf of the State of New York 25 John J. Sipos, ESQ.

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4719 1 Lisa S. Kwong, ESQ.

2 Mihir Desai, ESQ.

3 Assistant Attorneys General 4 of: Office of the Attorney General of the State of 5 New York 6 The Capitol, State Street 7 Albany, NY 12224 8 518-402-2251 9 john.sipos@ag.ny.gov 10 11 On Behalf of Riverkeeper, Inc.

12 Deborah Brancato, ESQ.

13 of: Riverkeeper, Inc.

14 20 Secor Road 15 Ossining, NY 10562 16 800-21-RIVER 17 dbrancato@riverkeeper.org 18 19 On Behalf of Westinghouse 20 David A. Repka, ESQ.

21 of: Winston & Strawn, LLP 22 1701 K Street, NW 23 Washington, DC 20006-3817 24 202-282-5726 25 drepka@winston.com NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4720 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 1:33 p.m.

3 JUDGE MCDADE: Were now on the record.

4 We are here in the matter of Entergy 5 Nuclear Operations, Inc. Application for License 6 Renewal for the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 7 2 and 3. These are Docket Numbers 50-247-LR and 50-8 286-LR.

9 My name is Lawrence McDade, the Chairman 10 of this Licensing Board. With me are Judges Wardwell 11 and Kennedy.

12 At this point, I would like to go through 13 the parties and ask them to identify who is present 14 for the parties.

15 For the NRC staff?

16 MR. TURK: Good afternoon, Your Honor.

17 This is Sherwin Turk and with me are David Roth, Brian 18 Harris and Michael Wentzel.

19 JUDGE MCDADE: From Entergy?

20 MR. BESSETTE: Yes, Your Honor, this is 21 Paul Bessette and with me I have Kathryn Sutton and 22 Ray Kuyler.

23 JUDGE MCDADE: From New York State?

24 MR. SIPOS: Hi, good afternoon, Your 25 Honor. This is John Sipos. There are five of us NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4721 1 here, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Kwong, K-W-O-N-2 G, Assistant Attorney General Mihir Desai, D-E-S-A-I, 3 Legal Assistant Siobhan Blank, S-I-O-B-H-A-N, and 4 Legal Assistant Theresa Manzi, as well as myself, 5 Sipos, S-I-P-O-S.

6 JUDGE MCDADE: From Riverkeeper?

7 MS. BRANCATO: Yes, Your Honor, this is 8 Deborah Brancato from Riverkeeper.

9 JUDGE MCDADE: And, from Westinghouse?

10 MR. REPKA: This is David Repka for 11 Westinghouse. On a separate line from Pittsburgh on 12 mute are in-house counsel, Rick Coldren and Joe 13 Spadacene and I believe Bart Cowan is on the line 14 separately as well.

15 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. There was a Motion 16 from Westinghouse to appear specially. The Motion was 17 somewhat vague as to whether it included just this 18 status conference or also the hearing.

19 We grated the Motion and Westinghouse is 20 here appearing specially at this status conference.

21 We also want to note that Westinghouse is 22 not required to but may be present appearing specially 23 during the course of the hearing in the event that 24 they wish to protect proprietary rights of any 25 documents that, hopefully, will not be an issue, but NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4722 1 could be.

2 So, you are invited to be at the hearing 3 and to participate to the degree of offering 4 objections with regard to any public discussion of 5 documents or data that you view as to be proprietary.

6 MR. REPKA: Thank you, Your Honor and Mr.

7 Coldren does plan to be at the hearings.

8 MR. SIPOS: Your Honor, this is John Sipos 9 for the State of New York.

10 I would like to, if I may on behalf of the 11 State just briefly address that issue, if I may?

12 JUDGE MCDADE: Yes. Before you do, let me 13 just say one thing a little bit out of the order I had 14 planned to discuss it in.

15 We recognize that there is a pending 16 Motion with regard to certain proprietary documents of 17 Westinghouse. The Commission has indicated theyre 18 planning to have an affirmation session this coming 19 Monday that will address the pending appeal.

20 And, we think it would be imprudent for us 21 to rule on the pending New York Motion at this time 22 until whatever guidance we might receive from the 23 Commission on Monday is received.

24 So, although that Motion, we had hoped to 25 be able to resolve that at this particular status NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4723 1 conference, were not going to. We are going to hold 2 off on that.

3 We will allow the parties to make any oral 4 discussion they think would be helpful at this time, 5 but also allow the parties 48 hours after the 6 Commission rules to submit any supplemental briefing 7 on that issue. And, we will then rule on the Motion 8 of New York prior to the beginning of the hearing, 9 hopefully, that prior week, but if not, at the 10 beginning of the hearing.

11 That said, Mr. Sipos?

12 MR. SIPOS: Thank you.

13 And, I understand what I -- that Im going 14 to bring up some issues. But, right now, they will 15 only be focused on Westinghouses Motion to Specially 16 Appear that was filed last Thursday.

17 And, the State was planning on submitting 18 a response to that. We do recognize at the State that 19 Your Honors have issued a ruling.

20 Nevertheless, we felt that the Motion by 21 Westinghouse was not accurate in its discussion of the 22 consultation process and New Yorks position. And, we 23 were in the process, as I said, of preparing a written 24 response and the State is interested in going forward 25 in submitting that and would like to do so and we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4724 1 would be able to do so by tomorrow, Friday, which 2 would be within the time that would ordinarily be 3 permitted.

4 We recognize that Your Honors would like 5 to resolve that issue and, in fact, from your 6 perspective, have resolved that issue. But, the State 7 has not been able yet to present its position on that 8 given the Boards ruling.

9 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Go ahead and file 10 that by close of business tomorrow. In face of what 11 New York files, which is basically going to be asking 12 us to reconsider that decision, any replies would be 13 due at the same time as any additional information 14 based on the Commissions ruling on Monday would have 15 to be in within 48 hours5.555556e-4 days 0.0133 hours 7.936508e-5 weeks 1.8264e-5 months after the Commissions 16 ruling.

17 So, wed anticipate just a single 18 submission that would offer the parties views on 19 whether Westinghouse should be allowed to participate 20 specially and also whether or not theres anything 21 additional that they want us to take into 22 consideration based on whatever guidance the 23 Commission give us this coming Monday.

24 MS. SIPOS: Thank you, Your Honor.

25 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. The next thing is we NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4725 1 have a list of individuals who are going to represent 2 the parties at the hearing. I think theres four from 3 the staff, six from Entergy, five from New York, three 4 from Riverkeeper and now two from Westinghouse. We 5 also have a list of the witnesses.

6 At the earlier hearing, there were other 7 individuals that the parties wanted to have present 8 who not necessarily would be on the proprietary list, 9 people who have signed the nondisclosure agreement.

10 But, we have no idea how many people are 11 going to show up as spectators. Last time, at the 12 beginning of the session, it was quite full. But, if 13 any of the parties have a list of people that they 14 think it is important for them for their jobs to be 15 present, whether NRC staffers, Entergy employees or 16 members from employees of the State of New York or 17 members of the Riverkeeper organization, if you can 18 put them on a list, we will have one or two rows at 19 the front of the spectator area reserved for them.

20 And, if their names are on the list, they can enter 21 the special entrance that will be marked.

22 And, it may be that we dont have a large 23 crowd the way we did at the earlier hearing in 2012 24 and that wont be necessary. But, if you do want to 25 have anyone on that list, please supply us with those NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4726 1 list of names by the end of next week.

2 Now, if it is necessary for us to have a 3 in camera session to discuss proprietary information, 4 those people would not be present. It would be only 5 those individuals representing the parties that we 6 just listed and the witnesses who will be present at 7 those sessions.

8 Is there any question with regard to that?

9 MS. BESSETTE: Yes, Your Honor. This is 10 Paul Bessette.

11 Some of the folks who we would provide the 12 names for who would be attending are Entergy employees 13 and have access to proprietary. So, we would like to 14 add them to the authorized access list. We could 15 provide that as soon as tomorrow, if that would help.

16 JUDGE MCDADE: Yes, its my understanding 17 we already received a list of people who would be, you 18 know, present during any closed session. But, if you 19 wish to augment that, you know, you may do so. And, 20 its only people who are on those lists who will be 21 present. Now, and this would only be people who have 22 signed the nondisclosure agreements.

23 MR. BESSETTE: We will supplement that 24 list. Thank you, Your Honor.

25 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. And, again, Entergy NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4727 1 has indicated that they want six seats at the table.

2 Hopefully, I dont know if youre going to have 3 additional individuals, you know, paralegals or 4 associates who would be present as well, but we will 5 try to set up seating directly behind your counsel 6 table, you know, in the event that you are going to 7 have additional people. And, if so, you know, please 8 give us an idea of how many those might be.

9 And, the same goes for the NRC staff, New 10 York, Riverkeeper.

11 MR. BESSETTE: Its greatly appreciated, 12 thank you.

13 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. The next, there was 14 an issue with regard to a request by New York for a 15 white board to be present.

16 Mr. Sipos, who wants the white board and 17 why?

18 MR. SIPOS: Yes, Your Honor, John Sipos 19 with the State of New York.

20 Dr. Richard Leahy has suggested and asked 21 -- has suggested that a white board be available and 22 has requested that we raise this issue with Your 23 Honors.

24 There may be occasion, there may likely be 25 occasions during his testimony where Dr. Leahy may NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4728 1 feel that it is helpful to the parties and to the 2 Board if he could, you know, graphically present 3 something on a board to, you know, illustrate some 4 aspect of his testimony. And, we think -- or the 5 State of New York would join in that request.

6 We could also, you know, if possible --

7 Im sorry, thats it. Thank you.

8 JUDGE MCDADE: Let me interrupt at this 9 point, Mr. Sipos, and make a suggestion here.

10 One of the problems with the white board 11 is our ability to then capture that for the record.

12 And, a question arises, we do have the ability that he 13 can have a mouse and he can draw any diagrams directly 14 on the computer which can be displayed on everybody 15 elses monitor as well as on the screens and then we 16 would be able to mark that as an exhibit and have it 17 captured in the record.

18 Is that something that you think would 19 work? And heres an alternate suggestion that I have 20 and if it is agreeable to the parties, if anybody 21 objections, then, you know, we wont do it that way.

22 We could either have Mr. Sipos or Dr.

23 Leahy contact Mr. Welkie, our technical expert, 24 directly so that they can understand exactly how our 25 technology works, how it would be available and how it NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4729 1 could be used in a way that would then preserve the 2 drawing, the sketch, whatever as an exhibit.

3 And, only if they would not be discussing 4 any substantive aspect of the case, only that 5 technical aspect of how he could make those drawings 6 and they can be preserved.

7 Is there any objection to that procedure 8 from New York?

9 MR. SIPOS: No, we will, on behalf of the 10 State, we will ask Dr. Leahy that.

11 And, one other just logistic issue --

12 JUDGE MCDADE: Before you go on, Mr.

13 Sipos, what about from the other parties. Does New 14 York, Entergy or Riverkeeper have an objection to 15 that, to have either Dr. Leahy or counsel for New York 16 contact Mr. Welkie directly to discuss the technology, 17 again, not substance, just technology?

18 MR. BESSETTE: Your Honor, this is Paul 19 Bessette.

20 We dont have an objection, but we would 21 just foreshadow that we would object to any 22 handwritten drawings that we havent seen being 23 entered as an exhibit. We could call it a 24 demonstrative, whatever we want to call it, but 25 because we will have not seen and will not have been NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4730 1 presented in any testimony, we would certainly object 2 to any spontaneous drawings as an exhibit.

3 JUDGE MCDADE: Well, the evidence that 4 would be received would be the testimony of Dr. Leahy 5 and thats going to be on the record. But, any 6 drawing that he has would be, you know, an exhibit for 7 identification, you know, just so that, you know, for 8 the record, people would be able to know what it is 9 the Board looked at while he was testifying.

10 It wouldnt be received as an exhibit in 11 evidence, but it would be marked as an exhibit for 12 identification and made part of the record. Would 13 that --

14 MR. BESSETTE: Thank you, Your Honor, as 15 long as that technology would be available to others, 16 I imagine thats a good solution. Thank you.

17 JUDGE MCDADE: And, the technology would 18 be available to others and, in that regard, after the 19 status conference, we will send to the parties how to 20 get in contact with Mr. Welkie and if any of the other 21 parties have a witness who they believe would want to 22 make use of any of this technology, that, you know, 23 have, you know, contact Mr. Welkie directly with 24 regard to it.

25 And, again, what were talking about is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4731 1 just if they need to do something, you know, as you 2 know from our previous hearing, if theres an exhibit 3 and someone wants to highlight it, it is very easy for 4 Mr. Welkie to do that.

5 Now, if they say, New York Exhibit 25, 6 page 14, first paragraph, he can click on that 7 immediately and then yellow highlight the section that 8 the person wants to make reference to or to draw our 9 attention to.

10 But, if theres any other kind of 11 technology that wasnt used at the previous hearing, 12 that any of the parties want to discuss, you know, 13 rather than doing it, you know, formally, you know, 14 with the witness talking to counsel, counsel talking 15 to the Board, the Board talking to Mr. Welkie and then 16 going back through that chain, just have the parties 17 contact Mr. Welkie directly. And again, not to talk 18 any substance whatsoever, all youre going to be 19 talking about is the use of the available technology.

20 MR. TURK: Your Honor, this is Sherwin 21 Turk for the staff.

22 JUDGE MCDADE: Yes, Mr. Turk?

23 MR. TURK: I would note that all the 24 parties have had an opportunity to submit testimony in 25 advance. And, any drawings or graphs or charts that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4732 1 a party felt were necessary to illustrate their case 2 could have been and should have been put into the 3 testimony. Im --

4 JUDGE MCDADE: Well, what were 5 anticipating, Mr. Turk, is the Board is going to be 6 asking the witness questions.

7 MR. TURK: Yes.

8 JUDGE MCDADE: If all of our questions 9 were answered by the testimony that was submitted, we 10 wouldnt need to have the hearing. Wed just write up 11 our initial decision and move on.

12 So, what I anticipate is that Dr. Leahy, 13 having spent years as a professor, may think that in 14 responding to our questions, it would be helpful for 15 him to be able to what professors tend to do which is 16 scribble. And, if he does, you know, we want him to 17 be able to answer our questions and we want to be able 18 to preserve for the record anything that comes before 19 us.

20 So, I agree with you, this is not 21 suggesting that this is an opportunity to introduce 22 new exhibits that could have and should have been 23 presented earlier. We have a number of graphs that 24 are already in the record that was submitted along 25 with the pre-filed testimony. And, it may be NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4733 1 unnecessary for any of the witnesses to use any of 2 this technology because theyll be able to verbally 3 respond to our questions in a way that both they and 4 we feel is adequate.

5 But, this is just an option that is 6 available or may be available and may be utilized, not 7 necessarily will be.

8 MR. TURK: I appreciate that, Your Honor.

9 And, I certainly would support any need that the Board 10 has for clarification of answers to their questions.

11 But, I would not look at this as an opportunity for 12 Dr. Leahy to stand upon his testimony unless theres 13 something that the Board has asked him and the answer 14 that he gives by itself is not clear enough and that 15 only an illustration could help.

16 So, I ask New York to keep that in mind 17 because I dont want to be in a position of objecting 18 for the first time. I want them to understand the 19 position that we will take.

20 JUDGE MCDADE: Well, it isnt really up 21 for New York to object. The Board will take control 22 of it and we anticipate we ask questions, the 23 witnesses will answer them. Its not going to be like 24 the presidential debates where a question just sort of 25 opens it up for a new area to explore.

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4734 1 The next question, New York had raised 2 with regard to Dr. Duquettes availability.

3 Mr. Sipos, whats the problem with Dr.

4 Duquette?

5 MR. SIPOS: Yes, some background. Dr.

6 Duquette has been working with United States Navy in 7 connection with power systems, fuel and refueling of 8 certain ships. And, in fact, there was a Presidential 9 class ship that was -- an event for that was moved 10 from the week of Thanksgiving up to the week of the 11 hearing and the Navy had asked him to be there in 12 Virginia.

13 But, I can also report to the Board and 14 the parties that Ive spoke to Dr. Duquette this 15 morning and he has informed the Navy that, given the 16 importance of this hearing and the fact that it was 17 scheduled before the Navys schedule change that Dr.

18 Duquette has informed the Navy that he will be unable 19 to attend that event in Norfolk.

20 So, I think we have --

21 JUDGE MCDADE: Is that event only on 22 Wednesday afternoon?

23 MR. SIPOS: I dont know the precise time 24 of the day. I think it is -- I dont know if it 25 starts in the morning -- its a change of command NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4735 1 ceremony and I do not know how long that would be.

2 JUDGE MCDADE: But, in any event, Dr.

3 Duquette is now planning to be there for this because 4 hes only going to be a witness on 38, not 25 and 26, 5 correct?

6 MR. SIPOS: That is correct. And, that 7 actually ties into another question that I was 8 thinking about in terms of scheduling. And, I know 9 the Board has said that its going to take the 10 contentions in numerical sequence, and I realize that 11 it is, having gone through this before, I know all of 12 us have gone through this before, its difficult to 13 predict when a contention might start, but any insight 14 that the Court could share with the State of New York 15 and others about when 38 might start, given that Dr.

16 Duquette is an expert only on that, would be greatly 17 appreciated and very helpful for numerous reasons.

18 JUDGE MCDADE: My best estimate would be 19 Thursday, although it could be Wednesday. I cannot 20 conceive, at this point, that we would get to 38 on 21 either Monday, which is a shortened day or Tuesday.

22 But --

23 MR. SIPOS: Thank you, Your Honor.

24 JUDGE MCDADE: You know, thats -- it will 25 depend very much on how the testimony comes out. It NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4736 1 may be that witnesses will answer our questions and 2 everything will be clear in our minds and we will move 3 very quickly.

4 Theres no historical precedent for that, 5 but it could happen.

6 MR. SIPOS: And, Your Honor, a related 7 question, Dr. Duquette did ask me, hes been holding 8 the week of November 30 which was segregated out a 9 long time ago, but I did not want to speak on behalf 10 of the Board, but my personal understanding is that is 11 not a week that we are likely to be in Tarrytown.

12 JUDGE MCDADE: We will finish this by the 13 20th, period. The hearing on the Track 2 contentions 14 will be over by the close of business on the 20th.

15 MR. SIPOS: Thank you. So, Im going to 16 inform the New York expert witnesses that the week of 17 the 30th is available for whatever --

18 JUDGE MCDADE: And, as far as our schedule 19 goes, were planning on starting on Monday at noon.

20 We want to make sure we have all the equipment set up 21 because we cant necessarily get into the room to set 22 it up early and we dont want people arriving only to 23 be told that were still working out technical 24 difficulties. So, were going to be starting late on 25 Monday starting at noon.

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4737 1 We would anticipate going to 6:00.

2 Theres no magic in that number. We would look for a 3 reasonable breaking point around 6:00. We would be 4 taking, you know, at least one or two short breaks 5 during the course of the afternoon.

6 The other days, we would anticipate 7 starting at 8:00, taking an hour for lunch, taking a 8 short break in the morning, a short break in the 9 afternoon and closing, again, about 6:00. No magic to 10 that number, looking for a good breaking point.

11 If we are going slower than anticipated, 12 again, with the concept that we are going to finish by 13 close of business on the 20th, we may have to start 14 earlier or stay later. But, at this point, we think 15 that schedule should work out and allow us to finish 16 by the close of business on the 20th if not before.

17 MR. TURK: And, Your Honor, one point.

18 Sherwin Turk, again.

19 JUDGE MCDADE: Yes, Mr. Turk?

20 MR. TURK: I dont know if youre planning 21 to have all witnesses for all parties together as 22 weve done in the past.

23 JUDGE MCDADE: Yes.

24 MR. TURK: That is going to be plan then?

25 For contention?

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4738 1 JUDGE MCDADE: Yes.

2 MR. TURK: I would ask you when youre 3 scheduling the days, I think 8:00 to 6:00 is a very 4 long time for a witness to be on the stand. I think 5 its going to affect performance.

6 And, if theres any way to make that a 7 much shorter day, I think everyone would appreciate 8 that, maybe from 9:00 to 6:00 or --

9 JUDGE MCDADE: Well, at this point, Im 10 not going to change it. We are going to take breaks.

11 We also advise the witnesses if, at any time, they 12 felt that they needed a break, you know, that they 13 could notify the Board to allow for a short break. We 14 dont want people sitting there in discomfort.

15 At the end of the first day, well 16 probably have a much better idea if were finished 17 with contention 26 by the end of the first day, you 18 know, we may be starting at noon and ending at 2:00 19 each day for the rest of the week. But, I dont 20 anticipate that.

21 So, I realize its a long day, but I also 22 recognize the necessity that we finish this by the 23 20th, that we dont have the option that we would have 24 if the hearing were held here in Rockville at our 25 hearing where we can just have the room available the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4739 1 following Monday and just continue over.

2 You know, here, we need to be out of the 3 room by Friday, on Friday. So, again, we will try, if 4 it is possible and it looks like were going quicker 5 than anticipated, you know, we certainly, you know, 6 can break earlier and would, you know. This is not a 7 test of endurance. We want the witnesses, you know, 8 were looking to them for information, not just to, 9 you know, exhibit endurance.

10 Because, remember, all the Member of the 11 Board are pretty old and we dont have much endurance 12 either.

13 Okay, with the handling of proprietary 14 documents, if anybody calls up an exhibit, Mr. Welkie 15 is going to pull up the public copy of that exhibit so 16 that if its a reference to an exhibit that contains 17 what has been designated as proprietary information, 18 that will not be shown.

19 If, for some reason it is necessary to put 20 up the non-public exhibit, that would be shown only on 21 the monitors in front of the witnesses and counsel and 22 not on the screens that would be viewed by the public 23 or the press.

24 And, if it is necessary to have a 25 discussion where the testimony, the questions can only NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4740 1 be answered by discussing proprietary information, we 2 would do that in an in camera session.

3 We are hoping to avoid that as much as 4 possible, speaking in general terms. We would advise 5 the parties to advise their witnesses not to be 6 offering up information that is designated as 7 proprietary when answering the question does not 8 require. And, if they think it does require it, they 9 should note that before they just blurt it out onto 10 the public record.

11 The burden, you know, were allowing 12 Westinghouse tentatively to be present and Entergy, 13 that they would have an obligation to speak up and 14 object. We dont want you to just sit there and be 15 quiet and then file months after the hearing 16 objections. At that point, the cat would be out of 17 the bag and any harm that would be done already would 18 have been done.

19 With regard to pending Motions, at least 20 on my record, we have the Motion to Make Public those 21 documents which weve already discussed and we have 22 the staff Motion to Correct the Record which the Board 23 is going to grant and an Order to that effect will go 24 out today.

25 With regard to the exhibit lists, weve NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4741 1 received the tailored exhibit list from the parties.

2 What we anticipate doing is to admitting all of the 3 documents listed on those exhibit lists that have not 4 previously been admitted so that they will all be part 5 of the record.

6 We realize that the opposing parties have 7 only had a short period of time to review these 8 documents, so we would direct that if you have any 9 objections to the acceptance of any of those exhibits, 10 that you should go ahead and file a Motion to Strike 11 by Thursday of next week so that well have an 12 opportunity to get that and read it and we can move on 13 it at the beginning of the session in Tarrytown the 14 following Monday.

15 So, at this point, we are going to admit 16 NRC Revised Document 1001 and all the exhibits listed 17 thereon, Entergy Exhibit 1000726, all of the exhibits 18 listed thereon, New York Exhibit R25001 and all the 19 exhibits listed thereon and Riverkeeper Exhibit 14001 20 and exhibits listed thereon.

21 And again, the acceptance of those 22 exhibits is subject to a Motion to Strike by any of 23 the parties that we would then rule on at the 24 beginning of the session on the 16th and any of those 25 Motions to Strike should be submitted no later than NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4742 1 close of business next Thursday.

2 Are there any questions or objections to 3 that? Okay, apparently not.

4 As far as the set up of the room, were 5 going to do it a little bit differently at the request 6 of my colleagues.

7 The witnesses are going to be directly in 8 front of the Judges, unlike last time where they were 9 off to the side. So, right across the front, we have 10 the witnesses for NRC, Riverkeeper, New York and 11 Entergy across.

12 That the counsel tables would be 13 perpendicular to the witnesses on the side with 14 Riverkeeper and New York on one side and the staff and 15 Entergy on the other side.

16 All the witnesses tables would have 17 monitors on them to view the exhibits as would counsel 18 table. As I said earlier, we would try to have 19 additional seating behind counsel table so any of 20 staff assistance or paralegals or associates, you 21 know, would be able to be present to be spoken to by 22 the parties, the counsel of record, in the particular 23 case.

24 The transcripts, the Board is not 25 anticipating an expedited copy of the transcript. If NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4743 1 any of the parties to order daily transcripts, you 2 need to contact the court reporter directly.

3 With regard to security for the room, 4 itll be the same as at the previous hearing. After 5 the sessions, the room will be locked and there will 6 be security both -- youre responsible for your own 7 security. You can either leave your equipment and 8 documents in the room or you can take them with you 9 when you leave at the end of each sessions.

10 That we will make the room available for 11 counsel at least 30 minutes before each session in 12 order for you to get set up. If anyone thinks that 13 they need more time, you know, we can be flexible on 14 that and then make sure that the room can be opened 15 for your convenience.

16 If 30 minutes is enough for you all to set 17 up, thats fine. If not, just let us know so we can 18 make arrangements to have the room opened earlier.

19 Judge Kennedy, did you have anything else 20 to be taken up at this status conference?

21 JUDGE KENNEDY: No, I have nothing to add 22 to the conference.

23 JUDGE MCDADE: Judge Wardwell?

24 JUDGE WARDWELL: Nothing.

25 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. At this point, were NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4744 1 not going to set a schedule for post-hearing briefs.

2 We will announce that at the end of the hearing after 3 hearing from counsel. It all depends to a degree on, 4 you know, where we are, you know, mentally at the 5 conclusion of the hearing.

6 Before we go off, I want to go through all 7 of the parties and see if they have anything further 8 to be addressed at this status conference.

9 Mr. Sipos for New York?

10 MR. SIPOS: Yes, yes, Your Honor, John 11 Sipos, State of New York.

12 Last time we -- all the parties brought 13 paper copies of their exhibits for the possible event 14 that there might be some technological glitch, Mandy 15 has reminded me about that and so the State is just 16 raising that issue with Your Honors. How do you --

17 how would you like us to proceed on that?

18 JUDGE MCDADE: We were actually discussing 19 that among ourselves immediately before this status 20 conference.

21 Mr. Welkie informs us that there is no 22 possibility that there will be a technical glitch.

23 So, what we are going to do is to allow the parties, 24 if you wish to bring hard copies, you know, go ahead.

25 But we are not going to require it the way we did last NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4745 1 time.

2 Because last time everybody was tasked 3 with bringing those and schlepping them to Tarrytown, 4 not only preparing them in a hard copy and schlepping 5 them there but schlepping them around and we never 6 made reference to them.

7 So, were not going to put that onus on 8 you again. If you want the insurance policy of having 9 it, you can bring them, but were not going to require 10 it.

11 MR. SIPOS: Thank you, Your Honor.

12 JUDGE MCDADE: And, just so you know, with 13 regard to it, that each of the Judges and our law 14 clerks are going to have a laptop that all these 15 exhibits have already been loaded on as will Mr.

16 Welkie.

17 So, the likelihood of all six of our 18 laptops going down at the same time is, given the fact 19 were using government equipment, its less than 20 50/50.

21 We also have the general equipment that 22 were going to have that were going to be using for 23 the display. We can plug any of our laptops in there 24 in case there is a problem and I assume all of you all 25 will have laptops with the exhibits already on them as NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4746 1 well.

2 So, as I said, in an abundance of caution 3 last time, you know, we required the hard copies but 4 we are going to leave it to your discretion for this 5 hearing.

6 Does that answer your question, Mr. Sipos?

7 MR. SIPOS: Yes, thank you.

8 And, Mr. Welkie and Your Honor, so youve 9 made certain people very happy.

10 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Anything further, 11 Mr. Sipos?

12 MR. SIPOS: Not at this time.

13 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Entergy?

14 MR. BESSETTE: Yes, Your Honor, just a 15 couple of follow up matters.

16 We noted that Riverkeeper on their list 17 for access included somebody named Chris Len. Were 18 not aware of that theyve signed a nondisclosure 19 agreement per our records. So, we would ask Deborah 20 Brancato to perhaps follow up on that if theyre going 21 to stay for any proprietary portions.

22 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Ms. Brancato, have 23 they signed the nondisclosure agreement?

24 MS. BRANCATO: Excuse me, Mr. Len has not 25 yet signed that. He is our new Hudson River Program NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4747 1 Director who replaced Phillip Musegaas who previously 2 counseled in this proceeding. And, I will be sure to 3 follow up on that and have Mr. Len sign that and file 4 it and he has to be present for those portions of the 5 hearing.

6 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay, thank you.

7 Actually, while Ive got you, I probably 8 right after talking to New York should have asked 9 Riverkeeper before going to Entergy. But, do you have 10 anything further to be taken up at this status 11 conference, Ms. Brancato?

12 MS. BRANCATO: Oh, youre asking me? I 13 apologize.

14 JUDGE MCDADE: Yes.

15 MS. BRANCATO: I didnt quite follow that.

16 Yes.

17 JUDGE MCDADE: Yes.

18 MS. BRANCATO: I do not. Thank you, Your 19 Honor.

20 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Going back to 21 Entergy, anything further to be taken up?

22 MR. BESSETTE: Yes, Your Honor, one other 23 matter.

24 As we notified the parties yesterday, we 25 intend to file a Motion to File several corrected NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4748 1 exhibits. Westinghouse has updated some reports, so 2 well be filing corrected exhibits, very, very, very 3 minor notations in our testimony and just to perhaps 4 a different page number.

5 We havent heard back from the parties 6 yet, but we just want to alert the Board to that.

7 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. A little bit more 8 information. In the cover letter we had with the 9 exhibits listed from New York, they indicated that 10 Entergy and Westinghouse had disclosed additional 11 calculation documents and that Entergy and 12 Westinghouse informed the parties that they are likely 13 will seek to present those documents to the Board and 14 introduce them into the record.

15 Are those the documents youre talking 16 about?

17 MR. BESSETTE: I havent reviewed the 18 filing of New York, but Im assuming that is correct, 19 yes, Your Honor.

20 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Now, will this 21 require a new exhibit list? If you are going to be 22 filing them, then just file a, you know, it would just 23 be Entergy R1726, I guess it would be. You know, an 24 updated exhibit list that would have those exhibits 25 listed on them.

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4749 1 MR. BESSETTE: Thank you, Your Honor, 2 well do that.

3 And, finally, we appreciate the Board 4 guidance on propriety nature of the documents and to 5 minimize that, we fully support that. But, we would 6 note that the testimony on New York State 26 is 7 largely based on proprietary documents. So, I think 8 out of the three contentions, that one will be the 9 most challenging to avoid that discussion.

10 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Well, although there 11 is certainly proprietary documents that relate to 12 that, we are hopeful that witnesses will be able to 13 answer the majority of our questions by discussing 14 general concepts and general understandings and, you 15 know, for example, you know, at least in our view, it 16 is perhaps if youre giving very specific tough 17 figures, it may address proprietary information 18 whereas talking about tough figures that are rapidly 19 approaching one, rapidly approaching unity, whatever 20 would not necessarily implicate proprietary 21 information.

22 So, we dont, you know, hopefully, we 23 dont have a significant difference of opinion as to 24 what constitutes proprietary information. And, as I 25 said, we ask that the parties to consult with their NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4750 1 witnesses and advise them that when answering the 2 questions, to do it in the general before the specific 3 and, if the general answers are questioned, that may 4 be enough and, if we need more specifics, we can then 5 do that and wed probably do it at a breaking point, 6 either, you know, at a time coming at the beginning, 7 after a lunch break or at the end of the day, you 8 know, so that, what we dont want to do is to have if 9 there are significant numbers of spectators present, 10 having a, you know, a march in and out and in and out.

11 So, hopefully, we will keep that to a 12 minimum with the nature of our questions. And, as I 13 said, to the degree that witnesses can answer in the 14 general without the specifics and to the degree that 15 we need more specifics, we can do that at a closed 16 session.

17 Does that answer your question?

18 MR. BESSETTE: Yes, Your Honor. And, we 19 have no further matters.

20 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Mr. Turk?

21 MR. TURK: Staff has nothing further, Your 22 Honor. Thank you.

23 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Westinghouse, do you 24 have anything further?

25 MR. REPKA: Yes, one minor administrative NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4751 1 matter.

2 As I mentioned before, Mr. Coldren will be 3 at the hearing from Westinghouse. And, he would be 4 present at both any public and any closed sessions.

5 Our assumption is he would not -- he has 6 not and would not need to file a nondisclosure 7 agreement. Hes cleared by Westinghouse regs with the 8 Westinghouse information. But, if the Board feels 9 otherwise, I wanted to find that out.

10 JUDGE MCDADE: It doesnt appear that it 11 would be necessary for he who has already has access 12 to the proprietary information and I assume uses it 13 every day or on a regular basis for his job at 14 Westinghouse would need to sign a nondisclosure 15 agreement which is designed to protect Westinghouse.

16 So, my initial answer to that is no, he 17 would not need to sign the nondisclosure agreement.

18 That said, if any of the parties has an objection to 19 that, file it, you know, along at that same date, 48 20 hours2.314815e-4 days 0.00556 hours 3.306878e-5 weeks 7.61e-6 months after the Commission rules on the pending 21 appeal.

22 MR. SIPOS: Your Honor, this is John 23 Sipos.

24 On behalf of New York or on behalf of the 25 Protective Order, I would just note that there are NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4752 1 documents in track 2 that are designated as 2 confidential business information from entities other 3 than Westinghouse, such as EPRI. I just note that for 4 the record.

5 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay and thank you for 6 bringing that to my attention and Im embarrassed that 7 I overlooked that.

8 I think it would be appropriate for the, 9 you know, him to sign the Protective Order prior to 10 the hearing.

11 MR. REPKA: Okay, well take care of that.

12 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay, anything further 13 before we cancel, terminate, end this status 14 conference? Okay, apparently, not.

15 Pending issues, one, to the degree 16 appropriate, we will send contact information for Mr.

17 Welkie to all of the parties if they wish to discuss 18 technological issues for presentations with him.

19 That, as far as the pending appeal, the 20 Commission is supposed to rule on Monday. If any 21 parties have anything to add on the pending Motion 22 based on what the Commission rules, they are to do so 23 within 48 hours5.555556e-4 days 0.0133 hours 7.936508e-5 weeks 1.8264e-5 months after that.

24 Any other objections to anything that we 25 have discussed here today tentatively, likewise, NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4753 1 should be done with the exception, I think I gave 2 until close of business Thursday to list any 3 objections to the admissibility of exhibits.

4 Anything further? Any corrections that 5 anyone thinks we need to make or anything further?

6 Mr. Turk?

7 MR. TURK: No, Your Honor.

8 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay, Mr. Sipos?

9 MR. SIPOS: No, not at this time, Your 10 Honor.

11 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay. Anyone from Entergy?

12 MR. BESSETTE: No, Your Honor.

13 JUDGE MCDADE: And, Riverkeeper?

14 MS. BRANCATO: No, thank you, Your Honor.

15 JUDGE MCDADE: Okay, that said, if the 16 parties could remain on the line for a little bit, 17 were going to sign off and if the court reporter has 18 any issues with regard to spelling or any other 19 matters to make the transcript, you know, you can take 20 that up.

21 And also, if anybody wants to order a 22 daily copy, you may want to raise that with the court 23 reporter at this time to find out what the 24 availability and the pricing of that is.

25 That said, this status conference is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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4754 1 terminated. We will see you all on Monday the 16th.

2 Thank you.

3 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 4 off the record at 2:18 p.m.)

5 6

7 8

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