ML20030D080
| ML20030D080 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon  |
| Issue date: | 08/26/1981 |
| From: | Brown H CALIFORNIA, STATE OF, HILL, CHRISTOPHER & PHILLIPS |
| To: | Chilk S NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY) |
| References | |
| ISSUANCES-OL, NUDOCS 8108310365 | |
| Download: ML20030D080 (3) | |
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t "'"'a Mr. Samuel J. Chilk, Secretary U.
S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission V
Washington, D.
C.
20555' jN i
Re:
Diablo Canyon Licensing Proceeding Docket Nos. 50-275 0.L.,
50-323 0.L.
Dear Mr. Chilk:
We wish to take this opportunity (1) to reiterate Governor Brown's objection to any meetings, discussions, or written ex-changes between the Commissioners or Commission-levc1 personnel and members of the Staff that relate to contentions or Subjects that were. rejected by the Licensing Board and are now being ap-
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pealed; and (2) to advise you of certain information that should be conveyed to the Commissioners prior to their scheduled meeting with the Staff on August 27.
For the edi ication of the Commissioners, the following is an explanation of several of the Governor's Subjects, pending appeal, that the Commissioners and Staff discussed on August 10 or are scheduled to be discussed on August 27, or both.
Shift Manning.
The August 10 meeting of the Commissioners and Staff included extensive discussion of shift manning at Diablo Canyon and the results of license examinations given PG&E's per-sonnel.
(See Aug. 10 Transcript, pp. 34-39.)
Staff Counsel has informed us that the August 27 meeting has been called specifically to discuss this issue.
Governor Brown sought to litigate this issue before the Licensing Board.
Thus, the Governor's Su'bject 4 stated:
Subject 4.
Whether PG&E, as alleged in its [ Low Power]
s Motion, has complied with or will comp]y with the re-quirements of NUREG-0694 prior to loading fuel (Motion,
- p. 2), including the following matters specified in the gD3 Safety Evaluation Report ("SER"), Supplement 10, which 3
the NRC Staff has examined but which, as of publication of Supplement 10, were not complete:
[
U 08310365 810826 PDR ADOCK 05000275 G
P&G
/
l HI LL. CH RISTO PH E R A N o PH ILLI PS, P. C.
3.
(a)
Adequacy of the training, experience and procedures for shift technical advisors.
(SER, Suppl. 10, p.
I.A.-2)
(b)
Results of cold license examinations for the 2,1 candidates who were to take examina-tions in August 1980, and results of examina-tions for other licensed personnel.
(Id.
I.A.-6)
The Licensing Board rejected this Subject,1/ and such rejection waschallengedbythepovernorinExceptionstotheAppealBoard, filed August 3, 1981._2 In our opinion, therefore, shift manning constitutes a substantive matter at issue before the Commission.
Relief and Safety Valves.
The Commissioners' August 10 meeting with the Staff included discussion of the EPRI testing program for relief and safety valves.
Transcript, p. 61.
Relief and safety valves and details of the EPRI testing program were litigated before the Licensing Board.
Indeed, EPRI witnesses appeared at the hearing and were cross-examined by the Governor's counsel.
The issue was briefed by all parties, and the Board ruled against the Governor.
See July 17 Decision, pp. 52-60.
The Governor has appealed the Board's ruling.3/
Water Level Indicators.
The August 10 meeting of the Com-missioners and Staff included extensive discussion of the adequacy of the water level indicator system recently installed at Diablo Canyon.
Transcript, pp. 62-65.
The water level indicator system was a Subject of the Governor that the Licensing Board accepted.
The Governor contested the adequacy of the water level indicator system and, in support of that position, submitted the affidavit of an expert consultant.$/
The Board granted summary disposition l
of this issue, and the Governor has appealed.5/
l l
--1/
Prehearing Conference Order, Feb. 13, 1981, pp. 31-32.
-2/
Exceptions of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. to Licensino Board Partial Initial Decision of July 17, 1981, Exception 13.
l 3/
Governor Brown Exceptions, supra, Exceptions 12, 136-37.
1/
Opposition of Governor Brown to NRC Staff and PG&E Motions for Reconsideration and Summary Disposition, April 24, 1981, pp. 29-33 and Exhibit 19.
5/
Governor Brown Exceptions, supra, Exceptions 10, 22.
H I LL. C H R I STO PH E" R A N o PH I L LI P S, P. C.
3.
Finally, we wish to refer to the matter of the positions of the particular Staff personnel who met with the Commissioners on August 10 and who will presumably be present at the August 27 meeting.
Such Staff personnel include supervisors of the Staff counsel and witnesses who are participating in the Diablo Canyon proceeding as advocates of the Staff and PG&E positions on the precise issues being discussed with the Commissioners.
We would thus remind the Commissioners that the matters being discussed with the Staff are Contentions and Subjects that the Board re-jected at the written request and argument of the Staff.
- Indeed, the Staff had, and continues to have, a partisan stake in those very issues.
Moreover, in one instance, a Staff member who par-ticipated in the discussion with the Commissioners on August 10, Mr. Bart Buckley, was a Staff witness at the hearing before the Licensing Beard.
In our view, such participation of the Staff's advocates in the Comnissioners' decisionmaking process er:adicates the separatien of functions that the law contemplates for fair-minded administrative action.
We trust that you will bring this matter to the personal attention of the Commissioners.
Again, as requested in our letter to you of August 17, we would appreciate receiving a transcript of the Staff briefing to Commissioners scheduled for August 27, ar well as any other meetings of Commissioners with parties to the Diablo Canyon proceeding.
Sincerely yours,
.-m /,/r-y /)
<f
~..,.
l
' Herbert H.
Brown Attorney for Governor Brown of the State of California cc:
Gov. Edmund G.
Brown, Jr.
l Byron S.
Georgiod, Esq.
Commissioners i
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Service List l
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