ML18025A693
| ML18025A693 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Susquehanna  |
| Issue date: | 12/11/1979 |
| From: | Halligan T Citizens Against Nuclear Dangers |
| To: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| References | |
| Download: ML18025A693 (8) | |
Text
Decemb r 11, lo";c?
K~ "T.D ST."-.T S 0:- Al'."..ZCA CL=S'2 H=GL'L."TO;.y CO: ': &SKOAL
'he atter o=
PO"- 8, <' Yi"~T CO Docket 'i%os. 50- ""=7 AL~i="=':=.=.. -L=C';".i C CQO -". T V~ 7~'.C.
( Be;ii ck .~ to.i!ic Po'rie r Plant )
(Sus".ueha. na Units 1 and 2 )
CZ Z ..ilS AG.'.:EST LUCY =AH D."i".G" >rom the outset of. the proceedln" s on Ber wick the Z-.C has sho~in an oosesslon rilth ~vying to place the burden of p.oo:"cr every contention on the ci~izen inter Penevs. The ourden of proof rests primarily with the Applicants, to sho'.s conclus" ve" g ha7 problems identified ln the valid contentions concerging the Ber:iic'=-
ato. ic po:iev plant can 'oe rectified, prior to "ssuance 0 an 0~crating lice".? se ~ i he ."-.ppl leant s a ve not coo'terat n' e'il 4h duhio oojac' i
o: r ~ uGli;3<n t o
Lik <<ise, the NRC has thus far failed in its safety oversight, mandat to probe the Berwick operaiion in a diligent manner. rc or example, the V<BC staf has not submitted. so much as one discovery cuestion before he Board for the Applicants to ans;rer prior o evidential hearings. But the '.TRC has aske" several hundr ed unr asonable cuestions of ihe interveners. incredible as this is, the Board has tolerated this by its acauiescence, and. also attempts to ar'oitrarily r estrict or eliminate the First Amendment rights of the interveners in their or hri~ht and. civic-minded in ervention.
'p rL ~'T he Citizens now urpentlyp tition the United States Senator s from the Common realth of Pennsylvania io oversee i'his federal proceeding in the public interest oy directing the General Accounting O. fice (GAO) to send. a team of investigators io the premises o the 3erwick plant site for an in-depth inspection, and the requisition i,hc relevant documents, and, to take depositions from sclec ed, cmp" 0 j ee s o cont racior s, vendor s, and PP~L personnel assigned to per'rick. There has occurred some very serious construction deficiencies at erwick "rhich have oeen covered-up. Thc ultima e impact of which could possibly make the accident at Three,'.rile k
island look like a church picnic.
Protocol would. dic ate that t'e congressman from the lith District of pennsylvania should, rec'uest any GAO inauiry. ;-:oweve r, that con"ressman:rill be resin~in< from t'e Congress 'n a few weeks.
A vacancy and. a vacuum will be created. Therefore as the at-lar"e elected reprcsentaiives o. the people of Pennsylvania, incl~ din~
the lith District, it is clearly your responsibility Senator Sch'reiker and; Senator Heinz to pre ently look into he N'RC
0 vishandlina of the Berwick licensing case, including the intense
=istreatzent of the int rzeners...your const uents! his s a for=al p tition Senator Schweiker and Senator Heinz to use your "ood off>>ces to initiate a GAO investigation of he Berwick ato>>c
..ower plant construction s>>te, and. the unorthodox and intimidating prel>>-.inaries to public hearings on Berwick conducted oy the l>~C.
o be convinced. o the legitimacy of your constituents'v>>evances, the Citizens su<~est that your administrative aides avr an~a to ~ieet with t'e four separate intevvenev groups sometime
>>n january, 1980, t Bevwick, Pa. to take statements and oota>>n relevan data. =ach intervenev has their ourn story to tell.
Secondly, Senator 'Schweiker and. Senator .=..cinz, you could. each ur~e he .!=.C Commission rs to dive the withholding of anr fuv hev restrictive orders pevt" ining to the intervention on Berwick until your o "i>> ces receive and evaluate these" constituent-intervenev co.;.pla'n.s.
P(PT Qn Cctobev 9, l979, the Cit>> ze..s submitted a ao ion to -he Board t'"..at stated>>n part "C>> tizens -","'a>>nst 'Nuclear 'Dan"evs ~ove ov a votectiv or" ev bv the Board. ="--". inst the m ss've av.ounts of'
~vol ci docu=,entatton demanded by the.~l:".C staff wh" ch is o=pres=>>ve and>> naopvopviately burdensome'nder'he Commission' of procedure." This motion was pveceded, ovev a period of bv 7av>> ous val>> d oo]actions to the Boa 6 froz the Citizens
-.'-..e ot'-.; r intervenin" groups, taken together to ford a litany of oo~ Gct 'ons ~ The Board as of t:.is date has no !ret ssued >>
a e'."'ni 've r: l'n" concernin". ". protective o vd.e v, and we r ecue st t he osv to co -0 'pre sently ~ The Citiz ns believ that this motion ho" ds p scca.ence.
The Ci izens inadvertently omitted he inclusion of the Applicants in the October 9th mot"on. Therefore, the Ci 'ens hereoy amend. that motion to read,: "The Citizens Against nuclear Dan"-ers move or a protective orQer by the Board, against the assive -". ounts of discovery documentation demanded. oy the Z=.C sf", snL the ".colic ants, sh1ch 3.s 'concessive ann tnaoonco 1atelg bur" enso .e'nder the commission's rules of procedure.
The Board' ',!emorandum and Order on Discovery <i[otions, dated October >0, 1979, purports to instruct the parties to the intervention w'"..at o do next in the botched-up pre-hearing oroceedin~s. This Order. is also replete with code words. Unfortunately, ihe Citize-..s are not trained the art o cryptography and. have not oeen able o rear the iT.-.C code; anymore than t'hey could. decipher the ci=. t'on-past orders, o restrictive administrative 3<'RC rulings at past unrelated. hearin"s in far flun< corners of the continent; as -.iel1 as, "cali..-- <faith such matter s as floating nu!<es o f the Jersey sho e and presumably all the ships. at, sea.
he Citizens will nevertheless attempt to respond to the "ost recent Order. 7't may appear that .he Board, considers the volu"i-..ous interrogatories relevan't and. meanings.ful ~ This Cit'e.is are inc1i..ed to agree, 'out, they should 'oe answered by the most "s a1so obvious from the correspondence over the va w v
"=uthore" b<< the distinguished and learned attorneys or iI.
~
Cr
.'-.pplican s the N"-.C legal o:- ic that the Board. ca'
=1mos no..-stop o'o'ections at public hearings from them n~g v, w 11 C w~ the credibil itv 0, whatever interrogatory reso ises
'at are ="'led. 'oy in erveners based mostly on their se cond-hand re earch.
There ore, in order to assist the Board. in conductin~ public hearings airly and, expeditiously, the Citizens are oroposin~ that the Board u ilize its ext raorcinary po':Ier o su'opoena and. pose every applicable speci ic discovery cuestion formulated oy the:i>C s a.. f and. the Applicants .o 'oe answered 'oy the appropriate cualified government officials at, the state and federal level;>ho have
. irst-hand expert !:novled~e of these matters in t'e course of their
~ov e rnment ser vi ce: These sworn deposi t ion s accompanied oy technical supportin~ documents, ~~hen applicaole should. be obtained in time to be dupl'ated and distriouted. by the Board to all parties sixty days prior to the start of public hearings. The Citizens iill accept tnese expert factual responses in lieu of their o"n replies a..d. as the basis for their testimony and accozpanyin< back>round information. The Board snould also call as r(i nesses at the he. rings some of the persons;chose a idavits they have obtained.
~ ~
This a te...ative s..oui satis y the NRC staff and, the .'.pplicants bec use
~'ney ~ill obtain the alleged needed information concernin" their inter ro~atories and. be assured of;Rat to expect from the interveners
".'or to the hearin."s.
The per sons the Citizens ~rish he Board to interview at government expense o. course, are those persons such as an execu'e d," rector> )lho have direct responslb litJ for the
~
envi;on;,.ental or health and. sa ety policies and programs of their agency o. government. Yn addition, those persons in these agencies)
':!ho, in the course of their duties, performed the actual tests, surveys, and computer modeling, etc., or prepared on-line re orts.*
r'e levant to tne inter 'rotator ies, should. def initely also oe ide-..tifiec and interviewed under oath.
T'e agencies to he contacted for this information inclu e, OUt not necessarily limited to, are the folio;Iinp:
Con@on;ieaith of :-enns lvania Governor's Zner~y Council Covernor' Of fice o" Sta e Plannin> 8: Dev=-.loonent
=a. Department of ..ealth Bureau of mooratories and =oideaoilogy
- 4. Department o-. Agr cu u.e Bureau 0 f Animal In Ustry Bureau of =oods and Chemistry
?ennsylvania zercency .".Bna"e=:ent Agency
+a. DeQB ri'.Bent of Znvi- on2enta1 ..esources Division of:-:azar ous 'h'aste .--Qa eGlent
'vision of ':1ater Quality bureau of ?Bdiation Protection 8: Occupational:-:eal V,s Divisions of Environs n al ?Bdiation, ?Bdiation Contrcl and. Occu ational .'=.ealth.
- 7. +e~nsylvania r ish Co~I~i.ission
=ureau of;laterways Pa. Puolic Utility Cozaission 3u eau of Conserva "on, =conozic and =nervy Planni Sus" uehanna .-.iver 3B sin Coz-.. ission
- -ederal Commissioner--U.S. Secretary of Interior Governors of ice-:I vor'=., 2 Qnsylvania, l<aryland (State Commissioners)
O'P . U. S. Army Cor ps of n-"ineer s 3altinore Regional District Office 2j, S ~ Secu.ities Bnd =-exchange Cozzission
=ederal =nervy ?e~~ulatory Con~ission 1 3t T'. S ~ De'oa rtUent 0
?id~~e ';,'ational Laoo.a ories
~ner~~j'a':
Ar"onne Na~ional Laboratory
~ ~ ~ '.! Ucl ear Re>'ul Btor) Co~mP~ission D ' i sion of Site Sa fetv an" =nv ironL Ienta 1 Analysis Li-ht ',Jater Reactors Division of Systems "-a et<<
Containment Syste.~s of reactor Operations Inspection
~ranch'iv.'ion
.-.eactor Safeguards Licensins Bran'ch
The Citizens 'hereoy rove the "-oars. to aDopt the above recoviaendation to subpoena the responsible government o 'cials to respond to the a"plica'ole interro=atories, rephrased, if necessary so =s not to slant the ouesiiicns, in order to obtain ob]ective and authoritative evoert ans".lers that >>'=ll 'oe ai~issi le oe ore the aboard The Citizens urther vo'ie the aboard. to convene a s"ecial pre-hearin> con erence on this subJect at ':T'Lkes-".-.arre
~
Pa ~
or e'er;iick, Pa. in January or;ebruary, 1960, to arrange the details or the taking o depositions, and setting, the guidelines etc.
The Board. a~ay <<:ish to include additional cuestions of its o:in to s 6 ci ic cont ent ion s at that t ice
~
~ The conf el ence coulG also clarify any other issues outstanding concernin~ the forthcozin>
pu 1" c hearin s.
Respect. ully submit ted.
"atea: December 11, }979- Tho'la s 5 ~ .-.-a 1 ig n Co r respondent
C ..TT:"XC='.TE 0 S:" 1IZC" 0
hereby certify that cooies of Citizens .~against i>uclear Dan~ers
"-etition>> or C overntment zncuirv-. >eolies: o Discover r Order.
1'.otions Gn nterro"atories Before zhe .".tomic Sa ~ etv .'.nd.
loan '-n- =sana have been se."vsn on the folloslno by <<1enoala 'n the United States mail, first class, th "s 11 day o>> December, 1979.
Commissioners: Dr . Joseph ~ end.rie, James M. Cutchin, XV, Esauire James F. 0hearne,. Peter A. Bradford, Office of the Executive Legal Victor Gilinsky, Richa rd T. /ennedy, Director V,.S. ":1ucl.ear regulatory Commission U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Conimission
'washington, D.C. 20555 Washington, D. C. 20555
. Charles Bechhoefer, Esq., Chairman Atomic Safety and Licensing Jay Silberg, Esq.
Board Panel Shaw, Pittman, Potts and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Trowbridge Washington, D.C. 20555 1800' Street, H.!A.
Washington, D.C. 20036 Hr. Glenn 0. Bright Atomic Safety and'Licensing Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud Board Panel Co-Director U.S. Huclear Regulatory Coivmission ,Environmental Coalition on
- Washington, D.C. 20555 Huclear Power 433 Orlando Avenue Dr. Oscar H. Paris State College, PA 16801 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Hr. Thomas H. Gerusky, Director U.S. Huclear Regulatory Commission Bureau of Radiation Protection Washington, D.C. 20555 Department of Environmental Resources Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Atomic Safety and Licensing P.O. Box 2063 Board Panel Harrisburg, PA 17120
,V.S. Nuclear R gulatory Comnission Washington, D.C.. 20555 t<s. Colleen harsh
. Box 538A, RD84 Docketing and Service Section .Mountain Top, PA 18707 Office of the Secretary U.S. Huclear Regulatory Commissioh Washington, D.C. 20555 Susquehanna Environmental Advocates Atomic Safety and Licensing c/o Gerald'chultz, Esq.
Appeal Board Panel 500 South River Street V.S. Huclear Regulatory Commission Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 Washington, D.C, 20555
=.onoraole richard S. Schwei!~er
. onoraloe ego..n .-einz i'nitcd States Senate y('a shin;.ton y D. C.
7 homa s J. i=.a g 1 igan Cog>'e spondent