NRC-2017-0002, NRC-2017-000292, Request for All Records Relating to Exelons Appeals Dated December 8, 2015 (ML15342A112) and June 22, 2016 (ML16154A254) of the NRC Staffs Backfit Order of October 9, 2015 (ML14225A871) That Was Directed to Braidwood S
| ML19228A206 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Braidwood  |
| Issue date: | 01/25/2017 |
| From: | Miranda S - No Known Affiliation |
| To: | NRC/OCIO |
| References | |
| FOIA, FOIA/PA-2017-0292, NRC-2017-000292 | |
| Download: ML19228A206 (4) | |
Text
From To Cc SubJect Date Attachments Samuel Miranda FOIA Resource Dave Lochbaum
[External_Sender] Freedom of Information Act Request Letter Wednesday, January 25, 2017 3 57 20 PM P-2206wx docx Freedom of Information Act Request Letter Via E-Mail January 25, 2017 U S Nuclear Regulatory Comm1ss1on Ms Tina Ennis, FOIA/Pnvacy Officer Ma1lstop T-5 F09 Washington, DC 20555-0001 FOIA resource@nrc gov Dear Ms Ennis CASE NO 2017-0292 DATE REC'D 01/26/2017 SPECIALIST RELATED CASE Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (5 U S C § 552), Samuel Miranda requests that the U S Nuclear Regulatory Comm1ss1on (NRC) produce all correspondence, memoranda, documents, reports, records, statements, audits, lists of names, applications, letters, expense logs and receipts, calendar or diary logs (especially with respect to "drop-in" v1s1ts), facs1m1le logs, telephone records, call sheets, notes, examinations, presentations and slides, opinions, folders, files, books, manuals, pamphlets, forms, drawings, charts, photographs, electronic mail, and other documents and things that refer or relate to the following in any way, within twenty (20) business days Exelon's appeals, dated December 8, 2015 (ADAMS Accession No ML15342A112), and June 22, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No ML16154A254 ), of the NRC staff's backfit order of October 9, 2015 (ADAMS Accession No ML14225A871) that was directed to the Braidwood Station, Units 1 and 2, Facility Operating License Nos NPF-72 and NPF-77, located in Will County, llhno1s, and the Byron Station, Urnt Nos 1 and 2, Facility Operating License Nos NPF-37 and NPF-66, located in Ogle County, llhno1s (These plants are also known by their docket numbers STN 50-454 through STN 50-457 ) The NRC 1s requested to produce all the specified information for the period from October 9, 2015 to the date of this request This information 1s requested, especially, but not exclusively, from the records of the following persons Victor M Mccree Gary M Holahan Theresa V Clark
Thomas G Scarbrough Sehm Sancaktar John Lane Michael A Spencer Don Helton Michael Johnson K Steven West James Chang Wilham H Dean If any responsive record or portion thereof 1s claimed to be exempt from production under FOIA, sufficient 1dent1fying information (with respect to each allegedly exempt record or portion thereof) must be provided to allow the assessment of the propriety of the claimed exemption Vaugh v Rosen, 484 F 2d 820 (D C Cir 1973), cert denied, 415 US 977 (1974) Add1t1onally, any reasonably segregable portion of a responsive record must be provided to me after redact1~n of any all allegedly exempt material, as the law requires In order to help you to determine my status for purposes of determining the appllcab1hty of any fees, you should know that - - - - -
I am an ind1v1dual seeking information for personal use and not for a commercial use Furthermore, I am a retired nuclear engineer, with a PE license in mechanical engineering, and more than 40 years of professional experience in nuclear safety analysis and licensing, 25 years of which were in Westinghouse's Nuclear Safety Department, and almost 15 years ofwh1ch were in the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, as a Reactor Systems Engineer A significant part of my experience has been in the design and analysis of the very equipment that 1s the subject of the NRC's review and approval I intend to use the requested information to advocate for a public review of how licensees are adopting Westinghouse's flawed advice, and they are succeeding in their licensing applications, based upon that advice I expect that most or all of the requested information will be provided in electronic form Items that are publicly accessible in ADAMS can be supplied simply by noting the documents' titles, authors, dates of issue, and 1dent1fying their correspondent ADAMS accession numbers I request a waiver of all fees for this request under the terms of 5 U S C Section 552(a)(4)(A)(m)
Disclosure of the requested information to me 1s in the public interest because 1t 1s llkely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the NRC's respons1b1llt1es and its performance as the nation's regulator of commercial nuclear plants, and 1s not primarily in my commercial interest I believe I meet the criteria for a fee waiver recogni:.;ed by the US Justice Department-in its policy guidance of April 1987 -
and by the federal courts, See Project on Military Procurement v Department of the Navy, 710 F Supp 362 363, 365 (D C D 1989)
_I Please take note of the Office of Management and Budget guidelines published March 27, 1987 (52 FR 10012) that include electronic publications and other nontrad1t1onal publishers as representatives of the news media My most recent publication, on this issue, 1s a peer-reviewed paper in a technical Journal See ICONE24-60472, "Strategies to Prevent Benign Transients from Becoming Senous Accidents",
Samuel Miranda, Proceedings of the 2016 24th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, ICONE24, June 26-30, 2016, Charlotte, North Carolina In your deliberations, please take note of the following cases Campbell v U S Department of Justice, 334 US App DC (1998) (adm1nistrat1ve and seemingly repet1t1ous information 1s not exempt from fee-waiver cons1derat1on), ProJect on Military Procurement (agencies cannot reJect a fee waiver based on the assumption that the information sought 1s covered by a FOIA exemption, and Landmark Legal Foundation v Internal Revenue Service, 1998 U S Dist LEXIS 21722 (D C D 1998) (the fact that the information will soon be turned over to a public body does not exempt the material from fee-waiver cons1derat1on)
Consider, too the following information --
( 1) Describe the purpose for which the requester intends to use the requested information, I intend to use the requested information to understand the rationale behind the NRC's approval of an application for a power uprating for Exelon's Byron and Braidwood plants, which was based upon erronoeus and false information that was copied from certain Westinghouse letters An Enforcement Petition (10 CFR §2 206) regarding Westinghouse Electric Corporation (attached) has been submitted (2) Explain the extent to which the requester will extract and analyze the substantive content of the agency record, I will analyze the substantive content of the agency record with the aid of my 40 years of experience nuclear power plant safety and licensing, to understand the rationale the NRC used to arrive at its conclusions (3) Describe the nature of the specific act1v1ty or research in which the agency records will be used and the specific qualifications the requester possesses to utilize information for the intended use in such a way that 1t will contribute to public understanding, Exelon's licensing rationale employed a circular logic that should have been reJected by the NRC It was not The specific qualifications the requester possesses to utilize 1nformat1on for the intended use are described in the forwarded Pet1t1on for Enforcement Resolution of this petition will contribute to public understanding of the issue, and its potential threat to the public health and safety Future NRC approvals, of s1m1lar applications can pose a threat to the public health and safety (4) Describe the likely impact on the public's understanding of the subJect as compared to the level bf public understanding of the subject before disclosure, The likely impact on the public's understanding of the subJect 1s that the NRC has not obtained evidence, from Exelon, that Exelon's plants can meet all applicable design requirements The level of public understanding of the subJect before disclosure was none Westinghouse, and the NRC shared this lack of understanding (5) Describe the size and nature of the public to whose understanding a contribution will be made, Persons who live in Braceville, IL and Byron, IL, Exelon's plants have been operating for decades, will be 1mmed1ately, and directly affected If other licensees cite the NRC's approval, and obtain s1m1lar
approvals, then the size of the affected population could significantly increase
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(6) Describe the intended means of d1sseminat1on to the general public, The attached Pet1t1on for Enforcement 1s the first public disclosure This was, by the way, copied to the
- Union of Concerned Sc1ent1sts It 1s preceded by another Pet1t1on for Enforcement, which will be discussed in a pubhc meetmg, at the NRC offices, on February 1st The llllno1s Department of Nuclear Safety, and the newspapers in Braceville and Byron, llllno1s will also be informed Pet1t1on review procedures call for another pubhc meetmg, at the NRC offices, regarding the attached Enforcement Petition
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(7) Indicate 1f public access to information will be provided free of charge or provided for an access fee or publication fee, and Public access will be free of charge Most of the requested information should be publicly available, anyway (8) Describe any commercial or private interest the requester or any other party has in the agency records sought I have no private or commercial interest in this matter The requested information has no commercial value to the Pet1t1oner I am willing to pay fees up to the amount of $10 If the fees will exceed this amount, please inform me before fees are incurred I can be contacted at (b) (6)
, 1f necessary to discuss any aspect of this request I look forward to receiving the requested documents and a full fee waiver within twenty (20) business days Thank you for your cons1derat1on of this request Sincerely, Samuel Miranda, PE
{b) (6)