ML19261B371
| ML19261B371 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 01/29/1979 |
| From: | Ahearne T, Bradford P, Gilinsky V, Hendrie J, Kennedy R NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| REF-10CFR9.7 NUDOCS 7902210028 | |
| Download: ML19261B371 (12) | |
Text
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NUCLE AR REGUL ATO RY COMMISSION-IN THE MATTER OF:
PUBLIC MEETING MEETING ON TARRAPUR (XSNM-1222)
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Place - Washington, D. C.
Octe.
Monday, 29 January 1979 Pages 1 - 11 Telecturte:
(202) 347 37C0 ACE - FEDER.H. RE?ORTF35. INC.
OfficalRr=oners q902g100
.u4 sens c =irei ser. r Wcshing n. C.C. ICC01 NATICNWICE COVERAGc. C ALLY
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R2481
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DISCLAIMER This is an unofficial transcript of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Reculatory Cccaissicn held on 29 Januarv 1979 in the Commission s offices at 1717 H Street, N. W., wasnington, D. C.
The i
meeting was open to public attendance and observatica.
This transcript has not been reviewed, corrected, or edited, and it may contain inaccuracies.
. The transcript is intended solely for general informa'ticnal purposes.
As provided by 10 CFR 9.103, it is not part of the formal or inforr:al record of decision of the matters discussed.
Expressions of opinion in this transcript do not necessarily reflect final determinations or beliefs.
- to pleading or other paper may be filed with the Ccmmission in any proceeding as the result of or addressed to any statement or argument contained herein, except as the Cos.ission may authorize.
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2 CR2481 l
1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA l
2 j-NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION O
3i ll PUBLIC MEETING s'
MEETING ON TARRAPUR (XS NM-12 22 )
5 6
l Room 1130 1717 H Street 7
Washington, D. C.
84
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Monday, 29 January 1979 9i The Commission met, pursuant to notice, at 2:15 p.m.
10 BEFORE:
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DR. JOSEPH M. HENDRIE, Chairman 12 VICTOR GILINSKY, Commissioner 13 RICHARD T. KENNEDY, Commissioner 14 !
PETER A. BRADFORD, Commissioner 15 JOHN F. AHEARNE, Commissioner 16 17 l PRESENT:
I Messrs. Becker, Bickwit, Devine, and Gossick.
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24 Ace Fecersi Reporters, Inc.
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I CR 2481 3
HOFFMaN t-1 mte 1 I
P RQQEEELEQE 2
(2 : 15 p.m. )
3 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Okay, if we could come to order, i
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The Comrission reets this afternoon, for a first item,'
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on the Tarapur license to export material for. the Tarapur 6
station, XSUM-1222.
The subject of this af ternoon's meeting 7
is limited to the question of whether the Commission desires,
in addition to having the written submissions on this proceeding!
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which it has requested and which have been received, whether it i
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wishes also to have oral presentations from the interested II parties.
12 There was a previous Commission order that noted 13 that, should oral presentations be desired by the Comm
- sion, Id they would be accomplished within 14 days of this date, and 15 that the record of the Commission's proceeding would close at 16 that point.
17 The order also prescribed that, should the Commission l 18 feel that it does not need oral presentations to aid it in a I
I9 decision on the license, that the record will close on the 1
20 pro ceeding, th en, today; and that the statutory times in the 21 Nuclear Nonproliferation Act will then bec;in to run again.
22 The Commission has examined the matter through its l
23 own reading and documents provided to it by the General Counsel 24 and the Of fice of Policv Evaluation.
Four Commissioners have Ace Federal Reporters, Inc.
l 25 already indicated by notational vote that they do not feel that
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1 oral presentations would aid them in coming to a decision on i
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the case, but there is a feeling, I judge, daat there is ample i
3 j material in the record and recently received in writing from 4
the parties.
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The General Counsel has a draf t order in hand which 6
reflects that decision.
I would ask, Len, do you want to 7
outline that for us?
And then I will simply ask the Commis-I8' sioners to affirm their votes.
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MR. BICKWIT:
Chank you, Mr. Chairman.
l 10 1 MR. STOIBER:
Mr. Chairman, the order we have draf ted 11 f alls within three parts.
It's a short order, a page and a 12 half in length.
The first part recites the Tarapur background, 13 noting the Commission's December 8th order, which indicated 14 that unless it felt the need for oral hearings, that the 15 proceeding would be deemed closed from this date.
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It notes also, in its second portion, that the j
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Commission has received very extensive submissions from the 18 Department of State on behalf of the Executive Branch, the 19 NRC's own staff, and the statement of the petitioners, NRDC, 20 and the Union of Concerned Scientists; and that, having i
21 reviewed these rather extensive proceedings and materials, tha t 22 it has decided that the record on the issue is adecuate for
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23 its consideration of its licensing determination.
i 24 as pa erely a shon mcitadon of de Ace Federst Reporters, inc.1 25 fact that no oral hearing will be called, and that therefore I
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I the public proceeding in this case is deemed complete upon the j
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issuance of the order, and that statutory time limits under 3
the Nonproliferation Act shall recommence as of this date.
And i
4 that is, in short, the order as we have draf ted it.
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CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Any comments from the Commissionerst 6
at this point that they would like to make?
7 (No response. )
8 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
I think a f air way to put the 9
matter before the house, then, is to ask you for your vote on i
10 the order itself, and Chen Chat cou: d execute today, in keeping j l
with our intention to make a decision one way or the other II 12 today and to go forward from here.
If you see no objection to 13 that, I will ask those in favor of the order as draf ted to 14 please signify by saying aye.
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15 (A chorus of ayes. )
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16 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Those opposed?
17 (No response.)
i 18 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Very good.
The order is adopted.
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19 It seems to me that the language is clear and we have approved 1
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20 it as it is drafted.
So let us execute it f orthwith.
I 21 Now that we have dealt with the remaining procedural f
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aspect, we now face the merits of the issue.
It seems to me l
23 that the recent arrival of various staf f papers -- and I 24 discover that several new ones have arrived this morning from Ace Federal Reporters, Inc.
25 various quarters, I haven ' t had a chance to read fully -- it l
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1 seemed to me even before th at, that this af ternoon was a l
2 trifle premature.
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COM1tISSIONER KENNEDY:
Are there more than one?
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CIIAIR"iAN IIENDRIE:
You may keep better track of your l
5 desk top than I have this morning, Dick.
6 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
I'm aware of only one s taff 7
paper on the subject.
8 CHAIRMAN IIENDRIE:
I thought I had two, because it 9
may be because I didn ' t see it Friday af ternoon or some thing 10 I like that.
At any rate, it seemed to me quite clear before the 11 weekend --
12 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
If there 's more than one staf f 13 paper on the subject, would you please let me know what they 14 are?
15 MR. CIIILK:
Yes.
16 CHAIRMAN IIENDRIE:
It seemed to me that this af ternoon 17 was rather too early for d3e Commission to attempt any discussion i
18 on the rerits, and I made it clear to everyone that it was our 19 intention not to move on to a discussion of the merits this 20 afternoon.
So, in looking at the Commission's sdnedule, th e I
i 21 secretary and I have blocked out Friday morning at 9:30, some i
22 res e rve time, anticipating that, because we do need to move i
l 23 on to the issue and make the decision, an d couldn ' t fore j udge 24 how the conclusion on oral presentation was going, we reserved tee Foceral Reporters, Inc.
25 l some time Friday morning.
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1 What I propose to do is announce now that that will i
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be a neeting of the Commission on the Tarapur matter.
It will 3
be a closed reeting, because the Commission will be dealing 4
with an assortment of classified matters.
5 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
How is this meeting to be 6
different, Mr. Chairman, than the previous one on the license 7
earlier this year -- I mean last year.
I'm not clear on why 8
this one is closed and the other one was open.
9 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Because -- I mus t say, I don't i
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remember the circumstances of the other one.
It seems to me l
Il that we did have some closed discussions on those as we came 12 to the issue and needed to discuss an assortnent of aspects of 13 the case.
14 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
But we did have a full, open l
15 meeting on the subject, also, indeed, at which votes were l
16 taken on how to proceed.
l 17 CHAIP21AN HENDRIE:
I think that meeting was in the i
18 context of items befor the Commission in that license applica-l 19 tion matter that were appropriate for discussion in a public l
l 20 meeting.
So I think we do need to move on, and I propose to f
l 21 you that we reserve time on Friday morning.
We have a place 22 on the schedule and I suggest that we go ahead.
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23 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
I ' d j us t like the record to i
24 note that I think the meeting should be an open reeting. If Ace-Feceral Rwrters, Inc.
25 there are matters to discuss which require a closed meeting, I
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I we could certainly then close it and defer those ma tters to a l
2 later time in the meeting; but that, essentially, the meeting 3
should be an open meeting exactly as it has been in the past, i
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4 CIIAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Let me suggest that the Cormission --
5 well, let ne ask if you would like to nake a decision on open 6
and closed now, or if you would prefer to wait and think about 7
it a little bi t.
There will be opportunities during the week.
8 We have a lot.
We'll be in session most of the week, it turns 9
out.
Among other things, there is an acenda olannina session i
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on Thursday af ternoon scheduled.
We seldom spend much time l
l' on it.
But that would offer an opportunity.
We could take a 12 vote th en.
l 13 COfif1ISSIONER KENNEDY:
Except daat the public should 14 be advised that thev have the opportunity to be present a t th e 15 earliest possible date.
16 CHAIR'UCI HENDRIE:
I'm prepared to deal with the i
17 matter now.
What's your pleas ure?
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18 Yes, sir?
i l9 COMMISSIONER AHEARNE:
Since I wasn't here the other j
l 20 time --
21 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
How fortunate for you.
r 22 CO!21ISSIONER AHEARNE:
-- it appears to me that there 1
23 are a sufficient number of the issues that we have to discuss l
24 daat relate to naterial that we have acquired through sessions ac..Feoer i n. porters. inc. ;
25 that are either closed or through docur.ents that are classified,:
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1 that it would be much more useful to keep it a closed session.
2 CHAIRMAN HEMDRIE:
Other comments?
l 3 11 COMMISSIONER BRADFORD:
I agree with that.
I've jus t '
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been trying to run over in my mind what parts of it, what parts i
5 of the material we have were classified and what not, and 6
whether they divided themselves easily into issues that could i
7 be addressed in an open meeting and then others that we could j
8 go over in the closed.
And I could 'Jhink of enough issues on i
9 which we have classified material to feel that the meetinc i
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10 ! would be a hodge-podge if we tried to do it that way.
So I l
t 11 would vote for the clos ed meeting.
I 12 COMMISSIONER GILIMSKY:
At least to this point, we 13 have classified papers that were submi tted to us.
I don't 14 know how we would deal with them in at open meeting.
15 COMMISSIONER KEMMEDY:
We have always had classified i
l 16 papers on this subject providei. to us f rom the s ame sources,
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17 andve found that no bar in the last occasion.
18 COMMISSIONEP. GILINSKY:
Let's see, was the basic l
19 staff paper classified?
20 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
It seems to ne we had a number f
21 of dis cussions on the last Tarapur license, and some of that 22 was in closed session.
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l 23 COMMISSIONER KENNEDY:
That's corre c t.
1 24 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Ultimately there were several Am.Feeral Reporters, ine.
l 25 sessions that were open, because af ter a while it seemed to us I
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I that we were coming to a discussion of items in which the 2
central points of the discussion had come away from any underly-2l ing classified material, and which it seemed reasonable to 4
discuss in a public meeting.
Now, it's quite possible we'd 5
come to that same route here.
My feeling is that one of the 6
first things that we'll want to grapple with together are the l
7 assorted papers and pieces of information in hand, and that if i
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enough of this is appropriately classified, it's going to be l
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very difficult to get sorted out in an open meeting, in order I
10 I that everyone can know, as you say, Dick, how it's going to comel II down.
12 Why, I'll ask you -- and I hope -- well, le t me just 13 ask, since I proposed that it be closed, how many Commissioners Id would vote to close the meeting on Friday morning?
(A show of hands. )
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16 COffiISSIONER KEIINEDY:
I would vote no.
17 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Ohay.
Will you please record us, l
Commissioner Kennedy agains t, the others for, for closure, for 18 l
19 closing the meeting.
The Commission will meet at 9:30 this 20 Friday on the 1222 license application in a closed session.
21 And I trust that the General Counsel agrees with the judgment i
22 that the cla.c3jfied material provides a basis --
23 (Laugh ter. )
CHAIR'iAN HENDRIE:
As I recall the Sunshine Act, it's Ace. Federal Reporters, Inc.
25 not precisely my prerogative to unilaterally define that t
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situation, but --
2 MR. BICKWIT:
Our reading is, mos t clearly you can 3l close it.
d CI!AIRMMI IIENDRIE:
Very good.
5 I think --
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COMMISSIONER KEMMEDY:
Let me note that I agree with 7
counselor, of course we can close it.
There 's no cues tion in 8
my min d on tha t s core.
It is only a question of what consti-9 tutes what I think to be good public policy, which is to close I
10 I nothing if you can possibly keep it open.
Given the precedent l
l II that we had in the past, it would seem to me tha t that precedent 12 aught to be continued for the f uture.
13 CIIAIRMAN IIENDRIE:
All right.
It seems to me th at Id that ends our discussion on the Tarapur license matter for this l l
15 afternoon.
Thank you very much.
{
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The Commission will be moving ahead in a minute or I7 two to a dis cussion of its proposed authorization tes timony.
i e-1 18 (Wnereupon, at 2 : 30 p.m., the reeting was adjourned. )
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24 Ace Federal Reporters, Inc.
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