ML19254D739

Motion Requesting Mod of ASLB 790921 Memorandum & Order Directing Parties to Raise Psychological Distress Issues by 791022.Commission 790809 Order & Notice of Hearing Re Issue Was Misinterpreted.Certificate of Svc Encl

ML19254D739
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	10/01/1979
From:	Jordan W, Sheldon K PEOPLE AGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY, SHELDON, HARMON & WEISS
To:
References
NUDOCS 7910300031
Download: ML19254D739 (7)

Text

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of )

)

METROPOLITAN EDISON )

COMPANY, et al., ) Docket No. 50-289

)

(Three Mile Island )

Nuclear Station, Unit 1 )

PEOPLE AGAINST NUCLEAR ENERGY MOTION TO MODIFY MEMORANDUM AND ORDER RULING ON PETITIONS AND SETTING SPECIAL PREHEARING CONFERENCE On September 21, 1979, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (the Licensing Board) issued its Memorandum and Order Ruling on Petitions and Setting Special Prehearing Conference.

At pages 23-24, the Licensing Board directed the parties intending to raise psychological distress issues to provide the followir by October 22, 1979: (a) a brief on the question of whether the issues are legally relevant to the proceeding, (b) a plan for the presentation of psycholo-gical distress evidence which addresses the expected availa-bility of various types of evidence, and (c) a discussion of "the state of art of stress psychology and whether it can produce reliabic evidence on the subject at hand." The Board established no such threshold requirements for any e

other contentions that intervenors may wish to raise.

People Against Nuclea'. Energy (PANE), which intends to address psychological distress issues, moves the Licensing Board to modify its Order and delete its demand for discus-

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sion of the state of the art of stress psychology and a plan for presentation of psychological distress evidence. This demand is contrary to NRC regulations and. places an Enfair burden on PANE by requiring it to prepare and prove a signi-ficant part of its factual ccse before the hearings have even begun.

Discussion Apparently the justification for the Licensing Board's imposition of special requirements on parties intending to raise psychological distress issues is the Commission's Order and Notice of Hearing of August 9, 1979. At page 13, the Commission stated that it had "not determined whether such issues can be legally relevant to this proceeding,"

and indicated that parties wishing to raise psychological distress contentions should brief the question of whether those issues are relevant to this proceeding under either the Atomic Energy Act or the National Environmental Policy Act. The Licensing Board would then certify the question to the Commission, with or without recommendations, and the commission would rule on the scope of the hearing before the prehearing conference.

PANE objects strenuously to the manner in which the

' Licensing Board has implemented the Commission's briefing requirement. Rather than simply incorporate that require-ment into its own Order, the Licensing Board has also demanded that parties intending to file psychological

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- distress contentions provide a plan for the presentation of psychological distress evidence and a discussion of the state of the art of stress psychology. Neither is relevant to the legal issue of whether psychological distress evidence may be considered in this procr ~.wg. The Licensing Board's requirement that they be provided as a condition of being granted standing to intervene is beyond the scope of the Commission's Order and the NRC's regulations governing intervention.

Furthermore, the Licensing Board may not require PANE to prove its case as a condition of being allowed to inter-vene in this proceeding. The Commission's regulations require only that PANE state its psychological distress contention with reasonable specificity and basis, and that it establish the requisite interest. 10 CFR 2.714. Although neither the Commission nor the Licensing Board has expressed it in these terms, the real question here is whether PANE's interest in protecting the psychological health of its members and their community is within the zone of interests protected by the AEA or NEPA. Portland General Electric Company (Pebble Springs Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2), CLI-76-27, 4 NRC 610 (1976). If it is within that zone of interests, PANE is entitled to intervene since the Licensing Leard has already ruled that PANE has met all of the other requirements. How PANE will present its case and whether the state of the art of stress psychology is such that PANE "8 208

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can present reliable evider e are not relevant to the purely legal issue o' 'he sceae of the AEA or NEPA.

Once the question of se pe of these statutes has been answered, PANE's contention is no different from any other. The presentation of evidence to p- >

contentions is a matter for the hearing. The .ensing Board may not treat PANE differently by requiring it to present any aspect of its case before the hearing itself.

In addition, to compny with the Licensing Board's Order, PANE would have to rely upon expert witnecses and incur substantial expense only to be faced with the possibility that its preparation has been for naught.

This is an unfair burden on PANE when the underlying question of the relevance of the psychological distress contentions does not depend in any way upon how PANE will present its case or upon the state of the art of stress psychology.

Conclusion For the foregoing reasons, PANE moves that the Licensing coard delete from its Order of September 21, 1979, the requirement that parties intending to address psychological distress issues provide a plan for the presentation of psychological distress evidence and a discussion of the state of the art of stress psychology.

Respectfully submitted,

/mjf- b. E' William S. Jordan, III

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. ba..' f A!A ,

Karin P. Sheldon Sheldon, Harmont Roisman & Weiss 1725 I Street, N.W.

Suite 506 Washington, D.C. 20006 (202) 833-9070 Dated: October 1, 1979

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of )

)

METROPOLITAN EDISON )

COMPANY, et al., ) Docket No. 50-289

)

(Three Mile Island Nuclear )

Station, Unit No. 1) )

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that the attached Motion to Modify Memorandum and Order Ruling on Petitions and Setting Special Prehearing Conferences was mailed, postage pre-paid,this 1st day of October, 1979 to the following:

George F. Trowbridge, Esq. Karin W. Carter, Esq.

Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge Assistant Attorney General 1800 M Street, N.W. 505 Executive House Washington, D.C. 20006 P.O. Box 2357 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 1712 Marcia Mulkey, Esq.

Counsel for NBC Staff Walter W. Cohen, Esq.

Office of Executive Legal Director Consumer Advocate U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Department of Justice Washington, D.C. 20555 Strawberry Square, 14th Floor Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 1712 Ms. Marjorie M. Aamodt R.D. #5 Dr. Chauncey Kepford Coatesville, Pennsylvania 19320 Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power Ms. Holly S. Keck, Leg. Chairman 433 Orlando Avenue Anti-Nuclear Group Representing State College, PA .16801 York (ANGRY) 245 W. Philadelphia Street Robert L. Knupp, Esq.

York, Pennsylvania 17404 Assistant Solicitor County of Dauphin Ms. Frieda Berryhill, Chairman P.O. Box P, 407 N. Front St.

, Coalition for Nuclear Power Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 1710 Plant Postponement '

2610 Grendon Drive Mr. Marvin I. Lewis Wilmington, Delaware 19808 6504 Bradford Terrace Philadelphia, PA 19149 Mr. Robert Q. Pollard Chesapeake Energy Alliance Jordan D. Cunningham, Esq.

609 Montpelier Street Fox, Farr & Cunningham Baltimore, Maryland 21218 2320 North Second Street Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 1711

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John A. Levin, Esq.

Assistant Counsel Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission P.O. Box 3265 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120 Mr. Steven C. Sholly 304 South Market Street Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17055 Ms. Kathy McCaughin

-Authorized Representative for Three Mile Island Alert, Inc. (TMIA) 23 South 21st Street Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17104 Ellyn R. Weiss Sheldon, Harmon, Roisman & Weiss 1725 I Street, N.W.

Suite 506 Washington, D.C. 20006 N #d-[M4@

William S. 46rdan, III

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