ML18025B428
| ML18025B428 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Browns Ferry  |
| Issue date: | 04/07/1981 |
| From: | Swartz L NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE LEGAL DIRECTOR (OELD) |
| To: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8104100304 | |
| Download: ML18025B428 (20) | |
Text
1 UNITED STATES OF AilERCIA; NUCLEAR REGULATORY CO)1MISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY (Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos.
1, 2, and 3)
Docket Nos.
5 - 59, 50-260 and 0-(License amendment to permit onsite storage of low level radioactive waste)
NRC STAFF
RESPONSE
TO INTERVENORS'UPPLEMENTAL PETITION TO INTERVENE DATED MARCH 16 1981 I.
Introducti on Pursuant to a notice published in the Federal Re ister on December 11, 1980, the NRC Staff received six identical "Petition/s] for Leave to Intervene and RequestsLsj for Hearing" (Petitions).
Ihe first Petition was signed by David R.
and Uvonna J. Curott, the second by Thomas W.
Paul, Richard W. Jobe, and Marjorie L. Hall, the third by Betty L.
Martin, Gregory R. Brough, Michael D. Pierson, David Ely, and Debbie
- Havas, the fourth by Nancy Muse, Richard L. Freeman, and Alice N.
Colock, the fifth by John R. Martin, Noel M. Beck, and Robert W. Beck, and the sixth by Hollis Fenn, Rebecca
- Hudgins, and Tom Thornton (Petitioners).
These timely filed Petitions requested that a hearing be held and that Petitioners be admitted as parties to such hearing on the 810 4100 3o'/
~g07
application of the Tennessee Valley Authority (Licensee) for authority to store onsite the low level radioactive waste generated from operation of the Browns Ferry Plant for a period of five years.
On March 10, 1981, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Licensing Board or Board) assigned to the proceeding issued an order scheduling a prehearing conference in the matter for April 10, 1981.
The Licensing Board's March 10 Order provided that Petitioners must supplement their petitions to intervene not later than fifteen days prior to the special. prehearing conference.
In accordance with the Board's Order and as permitted by 10 C.F.R.
g 2.714(b), Petitioners filed on March 26,
- 1981, an "Amendment and Supplement to Petitions to Intervene of Intervenors, Noel M. Beck, et al.", which sets forth the contentions they wish to have admitted as issues in the proceeding.1/
The NRC Staff's response to the Supplement and position on the admissibility of the proferred contentions is set forth below.
2/
In addition to the "Amendment and Supplement to Petitions to Intervene of Intervenors, Noel M. Heck, et al." filed by attorneys for the Intervenors on March 26, 1961, the Staff also received letters purporting to set forth contentions from Nancy Muse, Betty L. Martin, John R. Martin, and Alice N. Colock.
Upon inquiry by Counsel for the Staff on April 2, 1981, Mr. Leroy J. Ellis, III stated that he had the authority to represent all of the named Petitioners and that the filing of March 26, 1981 would constitute the proposed contentions in this proceeding.
Thus the Staff is not responding to the allegations contained in the letters from Petitioners Muse, Martin, Martin, and Colock.
The Licensing Board's March 10 Order established April 7, 1981 as the due date for the Staff's and the Licensee's responses.
II.
Discussion A.
Standards for Admissibilit of Contentions As a general matter, for proposed contentions to be admissible they must comply with the requirements of 10 C.F.R. 5 2.714 and applicable Commission case law and raise genuine issues applicable to the facility under consideration.
- See,
~e Du uesne Li ht Com an
, et al.
(Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1), ALAB-109, 6 AEC 243, 245 (19/3);
Iowa Electric Li ht 8 Power Com an
, et al.
(Duane Arnold Energy Center),
ALAB-108, 6 AEC 195, 196 (1973); Northern States Power Com an (Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 5 2), ALAB-107, 6 AEC 188,
- 194,
<<'d, 1 12, 6
AE 241 7
27 7,
<<'d.
I
. ~d.i E
Commission, 502 F.2d 424 (D.C. Cir. 1974).
Section 2.714(b) of Volume 10, Code of Federal Regulations, requires that a list of contentions which an intervenor seeks to have litigated be filed along with the bases for those contentions set forth with reasonable specificity.
A contention must be rejected where:
(a) it constitutes an attack on applicable statutory requirements; (b) it challenges the basic structure of the Commission's regulatory process or is an attack on the regulations; (c) it is nothing more than a generalization regarding the intervenor's views of what applicable policies ought to be;
(d) it seeks to raise an issue which is not proper for adjudication in the proceeding or does not apply to the 3/
fac i 1 ity in ques tion; or (e) it seeks to raise an issue which is not concrete or litigable.
Phi ladel hia Electric Com an (Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2
81 3), ALAB-216, 8 AEC 13, 20-21 (1974).
The purpose of the basis requirement of 10 C.F.R. 5 2.714 is to assure that the contention in question does not suffer from any of the infirmities listed above, to establish sufficient foundation for the contention to warrant further inquiry of the subject matter in the proceeding, and to put the other parties sufficiently on notice "so that they will know at least generally what they will'ave to defend
- against, or oppose."
Peach
- Bottom,
~su ra at 20.
From the standpoint of basis, it is unnecessary for the petition "to detail the evidence which will be offered in support of each contention."
Mississi i Power I5 Li ht
~Com an (Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Units 1
6 2), ALAB-130, 6 AEC 423, 426 (1973).
Furthermore, in examining the contentions and the bases therefore, a licensing board is not to reach the merits of the contentions.
Duke Power Com an (Amendment to Materials License SNN-1773 - Transportation of Spent Fuel From Oconee Nuclear Station for An example of an issue which is not proper for adjudication in a pro-3/
ceeding is an issue which is beyond the scope of the proceeding or licensi'ng action in question.
- See,
~e
, Detroit Edison Company (Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant, Unit 2), LBP-78-11, 7
HRC 381
( 1978).
4 ~
Storage at McGuire Nuclear Station),
ALAB-528, 9 NRC 146, 151 (1979);
Peach
- Bottom,
~su ra at 20; Grand Gulf,
~su ra at a26.
This principle was recently reaffirmed in Houston Li htin and Power Com an (Aliens Creek Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 1), ALAB-590, 11 NRC 542, 548 (1980) where the Appeal Board pointed out that, with regard to basis, all that is required at the petition stage is that the petitioner state the reasons for its contention.
In sum, at the petition stage, although a petitioner need not establish the validity of its contentions and the bases therefor, it is incumbent upon the petitioner to set forth contentions and the bases therefor which are sufficiently detailed and specific to demonstrate that the issues raised are admissible and that further inquiry is warranted, and to put the other parties on notice as to what they will have to defend against or oppose.
This is particularly true where, as here, a hearing is not mandatory, in order to assure that an asserted contention raises an issue clearly open to adjudication.
Cincinnati Gas 5 Electric Zi 1
<:
. ('kjg~:g.~. ~~i. c.K ~i Lucinda Low Swartz, Counsel for NRC Staff
e l
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY (Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos.
1, 2 and 3)
)'
)
)
)
)
Docket Nos. 50-259, 50-260 and 50-296 (License amendment to permit onsite storage of low level radioactive waste)
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of "NRC STAFF RESPONSE TO INTERVENORS'UPPLEMENT PETITION TO INTERVENE DATED MARCH 16, 1981," and "NOTICE OF APPEARANCE OF LUCINDA LOW SWARTZ," dated April 7, 1981, in the above-captioned proceeding, have been served on the following, by deposit in the United States mail, first
- class, or, as indicated by an asterisk through deposit in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's internal mail system, this 7th day of April, 1981:
- Herbert Grossman, Esq.,
- Chairman, Administrative Judge U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Washington, D.C.
20555 Mrs. Elizabeth B. Johnson, Administrative Judge Oak Ridge National Laboratory P. 0.
Box X, Building 3500 Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830 Dr. guentin J. Stober, Administrative Judge Fisheries Research Institute University of Washington
- Seattle, Washington 98195 Mr. Ron Rogers Tennessee
\\'alley Authority 400 Chestnut Street, Tower II Chattanooga, Tennessee 37401 H. S. Sanger, Jr.,
Esq.
General Counsel Tennessee Valley Authority 400 Commerce Avenue 3 11B 33C Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 Mr. H. N. Culver 249 HBD 400 Commerce Avenue Tennessee Valley Authority Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 Mr. Herbert Abercrombie Tennessee Valley Authority P. 0.
Box 2000
- Decatur, Alabama 35602
~Mr. Charles R. Christopher
- Chairman, Limestone County Commission PE 0.
Box 188
- Athens, Alabama 35611
Mr. Robert F. Sullivan U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P.
O.
Box 1863
- Decatur, Alabama 35602 Mr. David R. Curott 1201 Ingleside Drive
- Florence, Alabama '5630 Ms. Betty L. Martin Route 1, P.O.
Box 949 SheffieId, Alabama 35660 Mr. John R. Martin Route 1, P.O.
Box 949 Sheffield, Alabama 35660 Mr. Thomas W. Paul 1120 Platt Avenue Huntsville, Alabama 35801 Ira L. Myers, M.D.
State Health Officer State Department of Public Health State Office Building Montgomery, Alabama 36104 Mr. John F.
Cox Tennessee Valley Authority W9-D 207C 400 Commerce Avenue Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 Director, Office of Urban E Federal Affairs 108 Parkway Towers 404 James Robertson Way Nashville, Tennessee 37219 Mr. Hollis Fenn 736 Prospect Street
- Florence, Alabama 35630 Ms. Nancy Muse 205 Edgewood Drive
- Florence, Alabama 35630 "Atomic Safety and Licensing Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.
20555
- Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.
20555
- Secreta ry U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ATTN:
Chief, Docketing and Service Branch Washington, D.C.
20555 Lucinda Low Swartz r
Counsel for NRC Staff
'I
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