ML19240B044

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26 August 2019 Hearing Transcript
ML19240B044
Person / Time
Site: Seabrook NextEra Energy icon.png
Issue date: 08/28/2019
From:
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
To:
SECY RAS
References
50-443-LA-2, ASLBP 17-953-02-LA-BD01, NRC-0540, RAS 55215
Download: ML19240B044 (27)


Text

Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Title:

Nextera Energy Seabrook Seabrook Station Unit 1 Docket Number: 50-443-LA-2 ASLBP Number: 17-953-02-LA-BD01 Location: teleconference Date: Monday, August 26, 2019 Work Order No.: NRC-0540 Pages 188-213 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.

Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433

188 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 + + + + +

4 ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL 5 + + + + +

6 PRE-HEARING TELECONFERENCE 7 -----------------------------x 8 In the Matter of:  : Docket No.

9 NEXTERA ENERGY SEABROOK, LLC : 50-443-LA-2 10 (Seabrook Station, Unit 1)  : ASLBP No.

11  : 17-953-02-LA-BD01 12 -----------------------------x 13 Monday, August 26, 2019 14 15 Teleconference 16 17 BEFORE:

18 RONALD M. SPRITZER, Chair 19 NICHOLAS G. TRIKOUROS, Administrative Judge 20 DR. SEKAZI K. MTINGWA, Administrative Judge 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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189 1 APPEARANCES:

2 Counsel for the Applicant 3 Paul M. Bessette, Esq.

4 of: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP 5 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

6 Washington, DC 20004 7 202-739-5796 8 paul.bessette@morganlewis.com 9

10 On Behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 11 Jeremy Wachutka, Esq.

12 of: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 13 Office of the General Counsel 14 Mail Stop O-14A44 15 Washington, DC 20555-0001 16 301-287-9188 17 jeremy.wachutka@nrc.gov 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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190 1 On Behalf of C-10 Research & Education 2 Foundation 3 Natalie Hildt-Treat 4 44 Merrimac Street 5 Newburyport, Massachusetts 01950 6 978-465-6646 7 natalie@c-10.org 8

9 Diane Curran, Esq.

10 of: Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg LLP 11 1725 DeSales Street, N.W., Suite 500 12 Washington, D.C. 20036 13 240-393-9285 14 dcurran@harmoncurran.com 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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191 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 2:03 p.m.

3 JUDGE SPRITZER: Good afternoon. We are 4 here in the case -- in the matter of NextEra Energy 5 Seabrook, Seabrook Station, Unit 1. This is our 6 docket No. 50-443-LA-2. We're here holding a 7 prehearing teleconference related to the evidentiary 8 hearing that will start on September 24th at 9:30 a.m.

9 My name is Ron Spritzer. I'm the Chairman 10 of this Board. With me, although not physically 11 present here, also on the line are Judges Trikouros 12 and Mtingwa. Let me make sure you're both --

13 Judge Trikouros, are you there?

14 JUDGE TRIKOUROS: I am here.

15 JUDGE SPRITZER: And, Judge Mtingwa?

16 JUDGE MTINGWA: Yes, I'm -- yes, sorry.

17 I am here.

18 JUDGE SPRITZER: All right. And our end 19 we also have our law clerk Taylor Mayhall. And we 20 have a technical person if there are any issues that 21 come out about how we're handling the technology at 22 the hearing, at the evidentiary hearing. That's Joe 23 Deucher.

24 All right. We'll go ahead and identify 25 who's present for the -- representing the parties to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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192 1 the hearing. Why don't we start with the Intervener?

2 MS. CURRAN: Hello, this is Diane Curran 3 representing C-10, and I think on the phone is Natalie 4 Hildt-Treat also.

5 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Good afternoon. Yes, 6 this is Natalie.

7 JUDGE SPRITZER: All right. And, NextEra?

8 MR. BESSETTE: Hi, this is Paul Bessette 9 representing NextEra. Also on the line are Steve 10 Hamrick from the NextEra and Ryan Lighty, my 11 colleague.

12 JUDGE SPRITZER: And the NRC staff?

13 MR. WACHUTKA: This is Jeremy Wachutka for 14 the NRC staff along with Anita Ghosh-Neighbor, who is 15 on the line.

16 JUDGE SPRITZER: Very good. All right.

17 Let's start with our list and then I will open things 18 up for any questions any of you may have.

19 I think for item 1 we have -- thank you 20 for enlightening us that we do actually do have a --

21 the docket version of Intervener's 1R. That's 22 Intervener's 27. So that's been taken care of.

23 As I understand it you all are working on 24 a redacted version of Intervener's 7?

25 MS. CURRAN: Yes, that's correct. We're NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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193 1 working on a redacted version of that and also of the 2 rebuttal testimony that we just filed and some time 3 soon we'll sending a copy of the rebuttal testimony to 4 NextEra's counsel, to both of them to make sure that 5 we're on the same page on that.

6 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. So that would be 7 Intervener's 28, the rebuttal?

8 MS. CURRAN: Yes, that's right.

9 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. We've been through 10 the exhibits. As far as we can tell we don't need 11 redacted copies of anything besides those two:

12 Intervener's 7 and Intervener's 28.

13 So unless there are any questions about 14 that, we'll move on to the next issue which is closing 15 the hearing. Our thought would be -- well, certainly 16 some time -- and we may wait and see how things go on 17 Tuesday, whether -- probably the morning of Wednesday 18 would be the most likely, but depending on how things 19 go we might want to push it off to the afternoon. And 20 we would -- hopefully two hours or so would be 21 sufficient, two, two-and-a-half hours. So we'll 22 probably close the hearing on the morning of the 27th 23 and do all the questions related to proprietary 24 information at that time, hopefully.

25 Does anybody have any thoughts about that?

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194 1 Does that sound like a reasonable approach or would 2 you prefer something different?

3 MR. BESSETTE: Your Honor, this is Paul 4 Bessette. You said the morning of the 27th. I 5 believe you mean the 25th.

6 JUDGE SPRITZER: Yes, I'm sorry. That's 7 right. Morning of the 25th. Wednesday the 25th.

8 MR. BESSETTE: No comments from us.

9 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. Anybody else, the 10 staff or Interveners have any thoughts about that?

11 (No audible response.)

12 JUDGE SPRITZER: hearing no takers --

13 MS. CURRAN: This is Diane Curran. I 14 think -- for us, I think Tuesday the -- a public 15 hearing is probably the most important thing because 16 I would guess that the most people will be coming on 17 Tuesday, so that makes sense to me.

18 And, Natalie, did you have any thoughts 19 about --

20 MS. HILDT-TREAT; No, that's fine. It's 21 just helpful to know when the hearing will be open.

22 Thank you.

23 JUDGE SPRITZER: Right. I mean, you 24 should prepare for your membership to the extent 25 they're interested in coming. I mean, we're going to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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195 1 aim for the morning of the 25th. It could be the 2 afternoon. But we'll certainly let you know. We'll 3 know for sure by Tuesday afternoon if that's going to 4 change.

5 So there will be some flexibility, but 6 we're going to -- our preference would be the morning 7 of the 25th.

8 Okay. As far as the question about the 9 hearing, does anybody have any -- why don't we start 10 with the Interveners? Do you have any comments or 11 other -- simultaneously versus -- sorry. Go ahead.

12 MS. CURRAN: Yes, the only question that 13 I have about it is that we're going to need some time 14 to -- usually you're -- I'm sitting with the expert 15 listening to the witnesses and we get a chance to 16 discuss the answers and what we think might be missing 17 or what might need to be asked or kind of follow-up 18 stuff, and you're listening together while you're 19 sitting there at the table. And this situation is 20 that our witness will be up there with the panels, all 21 the witnesses. So I guess I would just ask to build 22 in some breaks for us to talk in between segments of 23 the hearing because the expert is the person I'm going 24 to have to consult with as to, well, does the last 25 batch testimony require us to propose some questions NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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196 1 to the Board kind of thing?

2 JUDGE SPRITZER: Hold on a moment. We may 3 have just lost Judge Trikouros. We're trying to get 4 him back. He's actually in New Jersey.

5 Nick, can you hear us?

6 JUDGE TRIKOUROS: Yes, I can hear you.

7 JUDGE SPRITZER: Great. All right. We're 8 back.

9 Yes, Ms. Curran was just saying she'd like 10 us to be -- I take you don't have any objection to 11 simultaneous questioning, but you'd like there to be 12 breaks, which there certainly will be. I would 13 imagine we'd typically go an hour to an hour-and-a-14 half at a time and take a break of 15 minutes or so 15 and give you whatever time you need to talk to your 16 witness.

17 MS. CURRAN: Yes, okay.

18 JUDGE SPRITZER: NextEra, do you have any 19 comments on this procedure?

20 MR. BESSETTE: We do, Your Honor. We have 21 no objections to the general idea of simultaneous 22 questioning, but as you saw from our testimony, we 23 really had two pieces of testimony: one on the Large 24 Scale Test Program and one on the Structural 25 Deformation Monitoring Program. Despite the arguments NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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197 1 we believe they're fairly separate issues and have 2 separate witnesses, but we wanted to discuss the 3 logistics of that.

4 We could have all of them up there, but it 5 might get a little crowded, but we also wanted to 6 propose perhaps if you're going to change the topic we 7 would have -- be able to change out the witnesses.

8 JUDGE SPRITZER: Yes, that's sounds like 9 a reasonable approach. I don't know if either of my 10 colleagues have any comments on that, but I think we 11 can -- I guess the only problem is if we get -- if 12 somehow we wound up getting -- crossing over between 13 one issue and the other and we'd have to shuffle 14 witnesses around or put off the question.

15 Will all the witnesses be physically 16 present whether or not they're sitting at our witness 17 table?

18 MR. BESSETTE: They will, Your Honor and 19 they could be -- for instance if they're on the -- if 20 they're -- if you're talking about the Test Program, 21 we'll have those witnesses up there, but the other 22 folks will be sitting behind them. So they could come 23 as necessary. But I just wanted to relate that. It 24 really would probably be not practical and a bit 25 crowded if we had everybody up there at once. So NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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198 1 they'll be available and on site. And if you have a 2 cross-question, I'm sure we could accommodate that.

3 JUDGE SPRITZER: All right. Staff, do you 4 have any further thoughts on this issue?

5 MR. WACHUTKA: The NRC staff is good with 6 simultaneous questioning with breaks. That will work 7 for us and our witnesses.

8 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. Do you have 9 separate witnesses on the two issues that Mr. Bessette 10 mentioned?

11 MR. WACHUTKA: No, all four our witnesses 12 can sit at the table at one time. That would work for 13 us.

14 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. All right. And 15 kind of last but not least, we're working on -- now 16 that we have rebuttal testimony, we're working on 17 getting our final exhibit list to you. If you do see 18 an error on there, please let us know. You can 19 contact either one of our law clerks, Molly Mattison 20 or Taylor. I think you have both -- emails for both 21 of those. Let us know if there's anything either 22 incorrect or omitted on the final list.

23 And then as I've indicated in there we'd 24 like to move all of the exhibits into evidence, 25 subject to any objections, of course, at the start of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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199 1 the hearing. We don't intend to go through each of 2 them separately. We'd like to have them moved into 3 evidence as a group. And then if there are specific 4 objections to particular documents -- to me the only 5 objections that would really come to mind would be a 6 claim a document is not an authentic copy, which I 7 suspect is not going to be an issue.

8 Relevance. If something's totally 9 irrelevant and could have no conceivable value to 10 issues we have to resolve, that would be appropriate, 11 but otherwise any issue as to the weight of the 12 evidence can be argued and you can have a chance to 13 file -- we'll give the parties a chance to file 14 proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law after 15 the hearing.

16 So hopefully we can -- you can resolve 17 those issues before we get to the hearing and we can 18 limit this part of it to 20 minutes or so, but if 19 there are objections, we'll certainly consider them.

20 Anybody have any thoughts on that?

21 Interveners?

22 MS. HILDT-TREAT: No, nothing to add.

23 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. Mr. Bessette, do 24 you have any thoughts on that procedure?

25 MR. BESSETTE: No, Your Honor, we have NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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200 1 nothing to add.

2 JUDGE SPRITZER: And the staff?

3 MR. WACHUTKA: Nothing to add for the 4 staff.

5 JUDGE SPRITZER: All righty.

6 All right. We said we would give you a 7 chance to ask any questions you may have. I don't 8 know if I -- hopefully I mentioned that Joe Deucher, 9 our technical person, is here, so if you have any 10 questions about where -- how the technology is going 11 to operate. We do plan to have I think two screens up 12 on the stage.

13 MR. DEUCHER: One there and one large in 14 the back.

15 JUDGE SPRITZER: Oh, one large one in the 16 back so people in the audience can see when we're 17 questioning about a specific exhibit. So people will 18 be able to see those. And their individual computers 19 will be --

20 MR. DEUCHER: We'll have individual 21 monitors for the witness tables as well as the 22 attorney tables and the -- and for each Judge.

23 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. So that will be 24 the set up generally. We gave you a diagram, which is 25 not engraved in stone, but that will give you at least NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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201 1 some idea how we propose to set things up. This gives 2 the impression that there would be no seats on the 3 first floor. I think we can -- hopefully we can 4 arrange it so there will be some seats both for extra 5 witnesses who may be testifying, for NextEra, if they 6 have extra witnesses who won't be able to sit 7 comfortably at the witness table, and also for members 8 of the public. But it's possible some people will 9 have to sit up in the mezzanine.

10 Any questions about the technology or 11 anything else?

12 MS. HILDT-TREAT: This is -- go ahead, 13 Diane.

14 MS. CURRAN: Go ahead, Natalie. Oh, I was 15 going to ask, it's very important to C-10 that if 16 possible we have the hearing video cast, web cast. Is 17 that possible?

18 JUDGE SPRITZER: We're not doing that. It 19 may be possible if you want to -- you have someone 20 with a camera or whatever it takes to do your own, but 21 we're not planning to do that. We just don't -- we 22 got to limit our resources and that's not -- this is 23 not on the list for cases for web casting for the NRC.

24 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Right, yes. This is 25 Natalie. So it is permissible for us to have somebody NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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202 1 film during the public parts of the hearing? Whether 2 it's filming, recording or live casting through social 3 media? Are any of those open for the public portions?

4 JUDGE SPRITZER: As far as I know there's 5 no problem with that.

6 MR. DEUCHER: No prohibition? It would be 7 up to the Board. The only thing that we would ask is 8 that the individual who's doing the live streaming or 9 web casting with the camera would need to stay outside 10 the well of the courtroom in the --

11 (Simultaneous speaking.)

12 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Okay.

13 MR. DEUCHER: -- certainly in view that 14 they can get a good video shot. And if they do need 15 any sort of audio assistance and audio feed from us, 16 we would want to know that in advance, unless they're 17 planning on capturing their own audio with their 18 camera device.

19 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Okay. That's helpful to 20 know. I'm not sure what -- we've had a few people 21 inquire about that, but it's just good to know.

22 So this is Natalie again. I heard you 23 mention monitors. Dr. Sama, our expert, was talking 24 about wanting to have access to a monitor for him to 25 look at materials during the hearing. Is that what NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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203 1 you meant so that there would be monitors for people 2 to be viewing the same documents that would be brought 3 up? How does that work?

4 MR. DEUCHER: That's correct. And to 5 clarify, what we do is we'll have -- I'll have a 6 computer or my counterpart Andy Welky will have a 7 computer. We will have all the exhibits on the 8 computer. And then the image from that computer --

9 bringing up the documents on that computer can then be 10 displayed across all the monitors and projection 11 screens. We are not going to be giving anybody an 12 individual computer that they can look up the 13 documents on.

14 Instead what we're doing is we're 15 providing a monitor so that if a particular document 16 or page or image needs to be referenced or identified 17 or discussed or length, we can go ahead and bring that 18 up on the screen for somebody to look at. But it 19 would be up to the parties if they wanted to bring in 20 a laptop computer say or a tablet with the materials 21 on them for someone to be able to reference at the 22 table. That would be separate from this. Hope that 23 clarifies that.

24 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Yes, so separate but 25 permissible. I know again I our expert; and, Diane NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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204 1 Curran, maybe you know more, but he wanted to be able 2 to see documents. So I didn't know if he meant that 3 he wanted to look at other documents than the one that 4 everyone was referencing, and if so, would he be able 5 to have a laptop and an external monitor, which is 6 what he was asking about.

7 JUDGE SPRITZER: Yes, he can do both of 8 those.

9 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Okay. Thank you.

10 JUDGE SPRITZER: If he wants -- I mean, if 11 he can be -- if he says -- let's say we're asking him 12 a question about Intervener Exhibit 7 and he wants to 13 reference another exhibit, he can ask. If he can give 14 us a specific reference, we can probably -- they'll be 15 able --

16 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Okay.

17 JUDGE SPRITZER: -- to bring up the 18 document.

19 MR. DEUCHER: But it wasn't -- just to 20 clarify, too, it was not our intention that we would 21 be giving each witness at the table or attorneys at 22 the table actual computers with the documents on 23 them --

24 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Sure.

25 MR. DEUCHER: -- for them to be able to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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205 1 reference.

2 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Just a monitor?

3 Everybody's got the same? Got it. Thank you.

4 MR. DEUCHER: Certainly.

5 JUDGE SPRITZER: All right. Anyone else 6 have any issues they want to raise or an questions 7 about the technology?

8 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Go ahead, Paul.

9 MR. BESSETTE: Yes, this is Paul Bessette.

10 We don't have any objections to the video casting, but 11 we'd completely concur with the gentleman who was 12 speaking that they need to stay back and do this from 13 afar. We've been in other hearings where it's quite 14 intrusive and quite a surprise for the parties. So if 15 those are the ground rules where they stay back and 16 not eavesdropping on private conversations, we're fine 17 with that.

18 And just to clarify, I mean, there's most 19 likely going to be examples where the Board asks a 20 question on Exhibit X and our witnesses say, well, 21 that's answered in Exhibit A, B and C. And so the 22 technology from the NRC will be able to pull those up 23 at the request of the witnesses?

24 JUDGE SPRITZER: Yes, I think so. It may 25 take a little while, but we should be able to do it.

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206 1 MR. BESSETTE: Great.

2 JUDGE SPRITZER: That's certainly the 3 plan.

4 Let me say, too, about individuals who may 5 want to, I don't know, broadcast somehow the hearing, 6 I hope we can -- that the Intervener, the C-10 can 7 limit this to one individual or at least a couple 8 people working together. In other words, one camera 9 or device, whatever it is that you're using. We don't 10 want to have multiple people running around the room.

11 Certainly we do not want people coming into the well, 12 as Mr. Deucher mentioned, and sticking their camera in 13 the face of a witness or one of the Judges or lawyers 14 or whatever.

15 JUDGE SPRITZER: And I don't know -- we 16 don't even have immediate plans, but people have asked 17 us and I know there are people that might not be able 18 to attend or are -- live out of the region and were 19 curious about it. So we certainly understand that if 20 anybody -- but we have arranged that they will follow 21 these guidelines that you specified. Thank you.

22 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. Does the staff 23 have anything to add, any questions or suggestions?

24 MR. WACHUTKA: No questions on technology, 25 Your Honor. We have other questions when that comes NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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207 1 up though.

2 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. Go ahead.

3 Whatever you have we'll -- let's get to it.

4 MR. WACHUTKA: Okay. Well, our first 5 question was on proposed questions for the Board to 6 ask. Are you accepting those in this proceeding, 7 written and submitted before the hearing? And when 8 would you want those submitted?

9 JUDGE SPRITZER: I guess we didn't have 10 that in our -- among the things we admitted and the 11 orders we've issues. Yes, that's fine. I would --

12 we'd be happy to -- with the understanding that we may 13 or may not give them, but we'll certainly look at the 14 questions you all would like to submit.

15 What would be a good time? I mean, we're 16 getting close to the hearing. How about 10 business 17 days before the hearing? Is that realistic?

18 MR. BESSETTE: Your Honor, this is Paul 19 Bessette. I thought the Board did establish a 20 deadline.

21 JUDGE SPRITZER: And I'm -- I don't have 22 my -- all the collection of orders here. We didn't 23 have one in the most recent order. If there is a 24 deadline in there, let's go with that.

25 MR. BESSETTE: I believe it was September NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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208 1 19th. That's what I have in my records.

2 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. September 19th?

3 Okay. Well, that's what we said, so we'll live with 4 that. If you can get them in any earlier, that would 5 probably make it where we could look at it. We'll be 6 getting a lot of stuff between the 19th and the 24th, 7 but we'll go with our own deadline. And, yes, 8 certainly we'll entertain questions.

9 We'll also give you a chance -- usually 10 what we've done in the past is have -- at least the 11 hearings I've been involved with is to allow people to 12 write up questions on index cards and submit them to 13 us that way during the hearing so you're not 14 necessarily precluded from any questions that may 15 arise as a result of testimony you hear just because 16 they weren't filed by the 19th.

17 MS. CURRAN: Thank you, Judge. This is --

18 that will be -- that's something in my experience 19 that's been very helpful. And that was one of the 20 reasons why we wanted to ask for breaks during the 21 process so that we could propose follow-up questions 22 on some of the oral testimony.

23 JUDGE SPRITZER: Right. Yes. No, that's 24 -- I think that's pretty customary at Board hearings 25 to allow that. Again, that doesn't mean we're going NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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209 1 to ask the question, but we'll certainly give it 2 careful consideration. And maybe rephrase somewhat 3 also.

4 One thing I've had problems with sometimes 5 is reading handwriting, but that may be the only 6 option. I don't know if you don't have a printer with 7 you. Okay.

8 MS. CURRAN: This is Diane Curran. I 9 guess I have a question. Is there any possibility 10 that the Board or some group could bring a printer, 11 because I think we're all going to have laptops. And 12 I agree that it's a lot easier if you can type them 13 out and print them.

14 JUDGE SPRITZER: Yes, our technical expert 15 is shaking his head no, so --

16 MS. CURRAN: Oh, okay.

17 JUDGE SPRITZER: -- we'll just have to do 18 it -- we'll have to make do with your handwriting.

19 MS. CURRAN: Okay.

20 MR. WACHUTKA: Your Honor, this Jeremy 21 Wachutka from the NRC staff. Could it be possible to 22 maybe -- if we all have WiFi or a wireless card we 23 could email the clerks our questions instead of doing 24 just paper cards, handing them up.

25 JUDGE SPRITZER: Yes, that's another NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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210 1 possibility. That would work.

2 MS. CURRAN: Yes, that's a good idea.

3 JUDGE SPRITZER: Does the staff have 4 anything else?

5 MR. WACHUTKA: I just wanted to confirm 6 what the plan was for opening and/or closing 7 statements. Are we doing one, both or just -- that's 8 what we wanted to ask.

9 JUDGE SPRITZER: Well, you're not required 10 to do an opening statement, but I think we will allow 11 -- I would hope you could keep it to 15 minutes or so.

12 Closing we won't -- we'll definitely allow closing 13 arguments. We might -- depending on -- let's say we 14 finish late on Wednesday. We would probably let you 15 -- give you time to go home and think over what you 16 want to say Wednesday evening. Or if we finish --

17 let's say we finish at noon on Thursday, give you an 18 hour2.083333e-4 days <br />0.005 hours <br />2.97619e-5 weeks <br />6.849e-6 months <br /> or two to think over what you want to say in 19 closing, because I think that would probably be more 20 helpful to the Board than opening statements.

21 But either way, yes, we'll definitely 22 allow closing argument and opening statements. You're 23 not required do so either one, but I suspect you will 24 want to.

25 MR. BESSETTE: Your Honor, this is Paul NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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211 1 Bessette. When I was talking about the questions to 2 the Board, I would refer everyone to the November 3 29th, 2017 initial scheduling order. There is some 4 additional guidance in there.

5 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay.

6 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Your Honor, this is 7 Natalie at C-10. I just wanted to go over again the 8 process for the limited public comment sessions on the 9 evening before, on Monday evening.

10 So I see that people can either file to 11 make comments ahead of time by the 13th or sign up on 12 site. And we see the requirements for ID and what 13 people can bring. Is there anything more about -- is 14 it a strict public comment period or is there going to 15 be any introduction from anybody at the Board about 16 what the proceeding is? Any opening remarks about the 17 proceeding?

18 JUDGE SPRITZER: Only just to limit --

19 make clear what the time limits are as far as how many 20 people we have. If we have 10 people, we can allow 21 them more time. If we have 50 people, we're going to 22 have to be very tight on time limits. But we're not 23 going to make any general introduction other than to 24 tell what the case -- we'll give a brief summary what 25 the case is about, but I don't think I -- (audio NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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212 1 interference) -- to the limited appearance session 2 they have some idea at least what it's about.

3 MS. HILDT-TREAT: Okay. Thank you.

4 JUDGE SPRITZER: Yes, we want to keep our 5 part to a minimum so we give maximum time for people 6 to comment. I suspect they're not coming there to 7 listen to us.

8 So, okay. Anything else? I guess if 9 anybody had any other comments about the limited 10 appearance session, we could also address those if 11 necessary.

12 (No audible response.)

13 JUDGE SPRITZER: All right. Staff, did 14 you cover all the areas you wanted to mention?

15 MR. WACHUTKA: Yes, Your Honor, that's all 16 we had questions on.

17 JUDGE SPRITZER: Okay. All right. Very 18 good. Thank you for attending. We will be -- so we 19 should be -- and I guess what, in the next week or two 20 Intervener's redacted versions of 7 and 28?

21 MS. CURRAN: Yes.

22 JUDGE SPRITZER: Is that a fair estimate?

23 Okay.

24 MS. CURRAN: It's probably going to be 25 sometime next week because I'm going to be out of town NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.

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213 1 for a couple days this weekend. We're still working 2 on a proposal, but sometime next week I think you 3 should be getting both of those.

4 JUDGE SPRITZER: All right. Yes, in terms 5 of how -- the order on the 24th, I think we would 6 start by moving the exhibits into evidence. That 7 would be the first thing on the agenda followed by 8 opening arguments. And then we'll move into the 9 witnesses.

10 All right. Unless there's anything 11 further, we will conclude the prehearing conference 12 and look forward to seeing all of you in 13 Massachusetts.

14 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went 15 off the record at 2:31 p.m.)

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