ML19224C249
| ML19224C249 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Black Fox |
| Issue date: | 05/29/1979 |
| From: | Davis L NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE LEGAL DIRECTOR (OELD) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7907020010 | |
| Download: ML19224C249 (5) | |
Text
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h NUCLEAR REGULATORY CO EISSION O
9 BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSIt!G BOARD h;,
MAY 311979 7 cws=
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'b In the Matter of
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PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF OLAHOMA,
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ASSOCIATED ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.
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Docket Nos. STN 50-556 AND
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STil 50-557 WESTERN FARMERS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE,
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INC.
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(Black Fox Station, Units 1 and 2)
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NRC STAFF RESPONSE TO BOARD ORDER This pleading is in response to the Licensing Board Order of May 22, 1979 wherein the NRC Staff was requested to respond to submissions by the Applicants on May 17 and 21, 1979 in the above-captioned proceeding.
Those submissions questioned the propriety of the Staff's May 9,1979 letter to the Board and its encloscd Findings of Fact on ECCS matters.
Specifically, the Applicants questioned the Staff's suggestion that because of new info *mation received by the Staff and the lack of confirmatory data forthccmino from General Electric, the Staff's Proposed Findings of Fact on ECCS should be considered draft findings of fact until such time as the Staff has satisfied itself of the accuracy of its conclusicns on ECCS. Applicants ccmplained that the Staff submission was a
" procedural anomaly" wh4_i amcunted to a 7.ction for a stay of the preceedings without a procer legal shaing and suggested that the Staff shculd have either moved for a stay or a reopening of the record, or should have referred the matter to the GESSAR-238 docket for generic consideration. Apparent.ly because the Staff did not submit a motion to stay or reopen, Applicants ask the Board tc " treat the findings enclosed therewith as final _, thereby making the Black Fox record ripe for decisions."
,2 b b y r. nJUu 7907.020Olp
, In response to the Applicants' allegations that the Staff's conduct in making such a submission was improper and impermissable under the NRC's Rules of Practice, the Staff notes at the outset that its comments were indeed furnished as the Applicants suggest, pursuant to the well settled McGuire doctrin 8 which requires the NRC Staff to keep Licensing Boards, Appeal Boards and the Commission informed of any new information bearing on litigated issues. Toward that end, the letter in question was submitted to resolve the dilemma faced by the NRC Staff which was that new information ard the lack of confirmatory material from Applicants and its vendor, General Electric, could have affected conclusions contained in the Findings of Fact on ECCS matters as originally written.
- Hence, the proferred Findings were termed draft findings.
As the Applicants are well aware, the McGuire decision does not set forth the form in which Board notifications are to be given nor does it dictate the sub-sequent procedural steps, if any, needed to implement that notification. That the NRC Staff determined not to move to stay or reopen the proceeding was a judg-mental decision which was dictated by the unique circumstances of this proceeding.
In the Staff's opinion, as we thought was implicit in the notific' tion, the ':ck of receipt of data from Applicants or GE cn these matters merely cast the possibility of doubt on seme of the Staff's former cinclusions and thus did not rise to the level where the tests for a motion to stay or to reopen could be rce t.
The Staff could hardly have been expected to move to reopen the proceeding when it did not have all the facts from GE before it.
1/ Duke Power Comoany (Wiliiam B. McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2),
ALAB-143, 6 AEC 532 (1973).
266 30'
. In regard to Applicants' motion that the Staff's Findings on ECCS be treated as being final, the Licersing Board is, of course, free to accept or reject the profferred findings of any of the parties and thus could do so here as far as the Staff's draf t findings are concerned.
However, the Staff felt it incumbent upon itself to notify thu Licensing Board of the existsnce of extenuating material so that if the Board sbauld choose to follow the course suggested by Applicants, it did so with the knowledge of the facts as they now exist.
In regard to Applicants' suggestion in its May 21, 1979 letter (enclosing off-the-record information from General Electric on the subject ECCS) that these matters are more properly raised in connection with the GESSAR-238 docket because it is a problem faced by all GE reactors, the Appeal Board in the River Bend decision has firmly established that relevant safety items cannot be shunted aside merely because the matter is considered generic. As the Staff recognizes and the Intervenors in this case have forcefully pointed out, a Licensing Board is under a positive duty to ey. amine the safety aspects of generic items which relate to the specific reactor under consideration for licensing and make findings on the feasibility and schedule for resolution of these items.
For this reason, the NRC Staff believes it would be in error for the Board or Staff to follow the course of action suggested by the Applicants in this regard.
Respectfully submitted, Nb;m L. Dow Davis Dated at Bethesda, Maryland Counsel for NRC Staff this 29th day of May, 1979 2] Gulf States Utilities Co. (River Bend Station, Units 1 and 2), ' LAB-414, 6 NRC 760 (1977).
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UtiITED STATES OF AMERICA 11UCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIO:t BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY A :D LICEt; sit G BOARD In the Matter of
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PUBLIC SERVICE COMPAt4Y OF OKLAHOPA,
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Dccket Nos. STil 50-556 ASSOCIATED ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.
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STil 50-557 AtlD WESTERN FARMERS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC.
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(Black Fox Station, Units 1 and 2)
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of "NRC STAFF RESPONSE TO BOARD ORDER", dated May 29, 1979 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 thrcugh deposit in the Nuclear Regulatory Cormission's internal mail system, this 29th day of May, 1979:
- Sheldon J. Wolfe, Esq.
Michael I. Miller, Esq.
Atomic Scfety and Licensing Board Isham, Lincoln & Beale U.S. Nucieer Regulatory Commission One 1st National Plaza Washington, D. C.
20555 1te 240 g
llinois 60606
- Mr. Frederick J. Shon, Member Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Mrs. Carrie Dickerson U.S. iluclear Regulatory Commission Citizens Action for Safe Energy, Inc Washington, D. C.
20555 P
x9 Ci lahcma 74107 Dr. Paul W. Purdom Director, Environmental Studies Group Mr. Clyde Wisner Drexel University NRC Regicn 4 32nd and Chestnut Street Public Affairs Officer Y{0 Philadelpnia, Pennsylvania 19104 Joseph Gallc, Esc.
Arlington, Texas 760i1 Isham, Lincoln & Beale 1050 17tn Street, N.W.
Andrew T. Dal ton, Jr., Esq.
Washington, D. C.
20036 Attorney at Law 143'/ South Main Street, Room 202 Mrs. Ilene H. Younghein Tulsa, Oklahoma 74119 3900 (asnian Place Oklahoma City, Oklanoma 73112 266 30,
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- Atomic Safety and Licensing Mr. T. N, Ewing Appeal Board Acting Director U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Black Fox Station Nuclear Project Washington, D. C.
20555 Public Service Company of Oklahoma P. O. Box 201
- Docketing and Service Section Tulsa, Oklahoma 74102 Office of tne Secretary of the Commission Dr. M. J. Robinson U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Black & Veatch Washington, D. C.
20555 P.O. Box 8405 Kansas City, Misscuri 64114
- Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Jan Eric Cartwright, Esq.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Charles S. Rogers Washington, D. C.
20555 Attorney General State of Oklahoma Lawrence Burrell 112 State Capitol Bldg.
Route 1, Box 197 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 Fairview, Oklahoma 73737 Mr. Gerald F. Diddla General Manager Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc.
P.O. Box 754 Springfield, Missouri 65801 Mr. Vaughn L. Conrad Public Service Company of Oklahoma P.O. Box 201 Tulsa, Oklahoma 74102 Joseph R. Farris, Esq.
Robert Franden, Esq.
Green, Feldman, Hall & Woodard 816 Enterprise Building
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Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103
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Alan P. Bielawski C unsel for NRC Staff Isnam, Lincoln & Beale One First National Plaza Suite 4200 Chicago, Illinois 60603 Mr. Maynard Human General Manager Western Farmers Coop., Inc.
P. O. Box 429 Anadarko, Oklahoma 73005 266
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