ML18003A404
| ML18003A404 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Harris  |
| Issue date: | 01/29/1979 |
| From: | Barth C NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE LEGAL DIRECTOR (OELD) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7902030027 | |
| Download: ML18003A404 (6) | |
Text
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE COMMISSION 01/29/79 71@DSdQV In the Matter of CAROLINA POllER AND LIGHT COMPANY (Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Docket Nos.
50-400 50-401 50-402 50-403 NRC STAFF OPPOSITION TO INTERVENORS'OTION TO REMAND THIS PROCEEDING'FOR FURTHER'HEARINGS ON'NEED-FOR-POWER The NRC Staff opposes the Intervenors'otion to remand this proceeding to the Licensing Board to take further evidence on the issue of need for the four proposed nuclear power reactors.
The legal standards for reopening a hearing are quite specific.
There must be a significant unresolved safety issue, Vermont Yankee Nuclear
~PC EY Y
2 8
1 P
22 1
Y,ALA-128, AEC YEA (1977) or a major change in facts material to the resolution of major environmental
- issues, Commonwealth Edison Co.
(La Salle County Nuclear
- Station, Units 1 and 2), ALAB-153, 6 AEC F.2d (1973).
The proponent of such a motion has a heavy burden to bear, Kansas Gas and Electric Com an (Wolf Creek Generating Station, Unit 1), ALAB-462, 7 NRC 320 (1978).
None of the aforesaid affirmative requirements are met in Intervenors'otion.
There has been no change in any material facts since the issuance of the Initial Decision (ID) on January 23, 1978, LBP-78-4, 7
NRC 92 (1978)
, and its affirmation by the Appeal Board on August 29, 1978, ALAB-490,
'I 8
NRC 234 (1978).
The Licensing Board addressed need for the facility at length as it was a contested issue.
In paragraph 153 of the ID (7 NRC 137 and 138) the Licensing Board set forth a table comparing Applicants', North Carolina Utilities Commission's and the NRC Staff's base case forecasts of future power needs in relation to Applicants'rojected installed capacity and found that the four proposed units would be needed in the 1980s (paragraphs 55 and 159 ID, 7 NRC 139).
The Intervenors appealed the need-for-power issue.-
The Appeal Board affirmed the Initial Decision; reciting evidence given at the hearing (Applicant) that the first unit would be needed in 1984 and the last unit in 1990 (8 NRC 235) and specifically gave qreat weight to the NCUC's
- forecast, due to the care and expertise which went into that forecast.
Pursuant to local state law, the NCUC annually reassesses future power needs and generation mix.
The most recent NCUC forecast (NCUC Docket E-100, Sub.
32 December 28, 1978, not in evidence in this proceeding) p rojects a need for the first proposed unit in 1985, a delay of one year and the last unit in the summer of 1991, a delay of 6 months (December 28, 1978 Forecast page 24).
The NCUC recognized inadequacy of currently available data relating to load management and energy conservation and deferred any decision to require Applicant or any other utility to adjust existing construction schedules until completion of hearings planned for mid 1979.
This 1978 NCUC forecast i's a tentative recommendation of the NCUC which would delay the last Harris uni't 6 months past the 1980 decade which the Licensing Board and Appeal Board found to be appropriate.
The postponement of need for the last subject units by only 6 months in the 1978 NCUC study is insignificant considering the inherent problems in both forecasting future demand and construction of a last unit of
-.the facility twelve years from now.
The Intervenors in their latest filing do not dispute the need for the four 'Harris units novi under con-struction, but only the on-line-time of each unit.
At this time the NCUC has not even required any adjustment in CPEL's construction
- schedule, although it certainly has the authority to do so and may do so in the future as it annually reassesses the need and mi'x of electric generating capacity in North Carolina due to a statutory mandate.
The NCUC is presently projecting. a 5.2A growth in electric energy in CPSL's service area.
The NRC Staff's testimony at the hearing presented a range of growth rates from 5% to 7.4A annual compound growth, depending upon various economic and social scenarios.
The present NCUC forecast (52K, 1978 Forecast
page 9) comes close to that given by the Staff at the evidentiary hearing (Spore testimony Fol. Tr. p.
1991} and presents no new or startling facts.
The Intervenors'motion certainly makes-out no case for substantially delaying deferring, or cancelling the Harris project or any one of the four units.
The Appeal Board addressed this very same i'ssue in its opini'on on Cleveland Electric'Illuminatin Com an (Perry Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2)
ALAB-443, November 8, 1977, 6
NRC 741) at pages 750 and 751 where an Intervenor sought to have the need-for-power issue relitigated upon the basis the projections at the hearing had been somewhat higher than later facts proved.
The Appeal Board's discussion there is di'spositive of
-the issue presented by Intervenors'otion here.
Neither the 1978 NCUC forecast, nor CPSL's 1978 forecast, appearing as Table 1 to the January 3,
1978 letter to Mr. Denton, copies of which were served on each Commissioner, materially or significantly change the con-clusions in the Initia'l Decision as to need for the proposed four station facility.
In the Staff's view, a remand and further evidence being enteretained by the Licensing Board upon the need-for-power issues would make no material changes in the Initial Decision as affirmed by the Appeal Board and as now pending before the Conmission.
Therefore, the Staff recommends that the Intervenors'otion be denied.
Dated at Bethesda, Maryland this 29th day of January, 1979 Respectfully submitted, Qt~~
harles A. Barth Counsel for NRC Staff
UNITED STATES OF At1ERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COt~itlISS ION BEFORE THE CONMISSION In the t1atter of CAROLINA POWER AHD LIGHT COt1PANY (Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Docket Hos.
50-400 50-401 50-402 50 403 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of "NRC STAFF OPPOSITION TO INTERVENORS'OTION TO REMAND THIS PROCEEDING FOR FURTHER HEARINGS ON NEED-FOR-POWFR" in the above-captioned Droceeding have'een served on the followinq by deposit in the United States mail, first class, or, as indicated by an asterisk, through deposit in the Nuclear Regulatory Commi'ssi'on's internal mail system, this 29th day of January, 1979:
+Alan S. Rosenthal, Esq.,
Chairman Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
205S5
- Dr. John H. Buck Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
2055S
- Michael C. Farrar, Esq.
Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board U.S. t)uclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
20555
- Ivan W. Smith, Esq.
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555
- t1r. Glenn 0. Bright Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulat'ory Commission Washington, D. C.
20555 Dr. J.
V. Leeds, Jr.
10807 Atwell Drive
- Houston, Texas 77096 Richard E. Jones, Esq.
Associate General Counsel Carolina Power 8 Light Company 336 Fayetteville Street Raleigh, North Carolina 27602 Thomas Erwin, Esq.
115 West t'torgan Street Raleigh, North Carolina 27602 Wake County Public Library 104 Fayetteville Street Raleigh, North Carolina 27601
~
~
George F. Trowbridge, Esq.
Shaw, Pittman, Potts 5 Trowbridge 1800 tl Street, H.M.
llashington, D. C. 20036 Dennis P. Nyers Attorney General's Office State of North Carolina P. 0.
Box 629
- Raleigh, North Carolina 27602
+Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission llashington, D. C. 20555
- Samuel J. Chilk, Secretary Office of the Secretary of the Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.
20555
~Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission klashingtoa, D. C. 20555
- Docketing and Service Section Office of the Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555 Lawrence Brenner Counsel for NRC Staff