ML20069B884

Answer to NRC 820218 Motion to Strike Ucs/Ny Pirg Objections to NRC & Licensee Answers to Commission Questions.Ucs/Ny Pirg Do Not Need Standing to Reply to Pleadings in Nature of Contentions

ML20069B884
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	02/26/1982
From:	Blum J, Holt J, Potterfield A NEW YORK UNIV., NEW YORK, NY, POTTERFIELD, A., PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP, NEW YORK, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS
To:	Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
Shared Package
ML20069B887	List: ML20069B884
References
ISSUANCES-SP, NUDOCS 8203080100
Download: ML20069B884 (4)

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F' UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COPNISSION

'82 im -4 R2 70 BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of )

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CONSOLIDATED EDISON COMPtNY OF NEW YORK ) Docket Nos. 50-247 SP (Indian Point Unit 2) ) 50-286 SP

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POWER AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK )

(Indian Point Unit 3) ) February 26, 198

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s UCS/NYPIRG ANSWER TO NRC STAFF MOTION Q  % i TO STRIKE UCS/NYPIRG OBJECTIONS AND, y- .. ,, '$

IN THE ALTERNATIVE, MOTION FOR LEAVE S '~a JO ^i's . l

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TO RESPOND TO STAFF'S AND LICENSEES' [',

STATEMENTS OF POSITION ,

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In its February 18, 1982 submission, the NRC Staff moves to strike the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the New York Public Interest Research Group, Inc. (NYPIRG) Objections to the answers to Commission Questions oubmitted by the Staff and the Licensees. The motion to strike is based on three grounds:

A) UCS and NYPIRG lack standing to file such objections; B) the objections fail to comply with the Board's Memorandum and Order on Practice and Procedures dated December 21, 1981, in that the title of the objections did not include

,oy@ a reference to requests for the Board to require the nua.

supplementation of the Staff's and Licensees' answers gG3 mn .s o to the; Commission Questions; and o:s:

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$$o Neither Con Edison not the Power Authority of the State of has responded to the UCS/NYPIRG Objections, dated Feb. 11, 1982.

o r C) the objections are premature, since discovery has not yet begun.

UCS and NYPIRG answer the motion to strike pursuant to 10 CFR 2.730(2)(c), discussing the issues of standing and discovery together, and then responding to the complaint about the title of the objections.

UCS and NYPIRC take no position on Staff's request for an extension of l

I' time to respond, as long as such an extension will not delay the Board's

! pending decisions on standing of the proposed intervenors and on the admissibility of contentions.

j A) UCS/NYPIRG Standing to File Objections and C) Premature Discovery As proposed intervenors in this proceeding, UCS and NYPIRG have been required to submit petitions to intervene, cententions and responses to objections to contentions. It is puzzling why the Staff now argues that UCS and NYPIRG must have " standing" to reply to pleadings in the nature of contentions submitted by the Staff and Licensees. UCS v

, and NYPIRG respectfully refer the Board once again to its stated purpose in requiring Staff and the Licensees to submit answers to the Commission Questions:

f to provide on a fair and balanced basis l

a vehicle for the statement of positions.

'(Emphasis supplied.)

Pre-Hearing Conference, December 2,1981, l Transcript, p. 129.

The UCS and NYPIRG objections to the Statements of Positions

' filed by the Staff and the Licensees did not request an early beginning of discovery, but rather simply insisted on further information and specificity in the statements as a matter of notice pleading; in the l

same way, the Staff and Licensees objected to some contentions of

- proposed intervenors by demanding further details. Since the Staff

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and Licensees relied in their Statements of Position upon reports not yet available to the public, it is entirely reasonable for proposed intervenors to request that those reports be released as a supplement to the Statements of Position.

Moreover, even if the request for supplementation of the Statements of Position were considered to be in the nature of discovery, the requests would be appropriate at this time. A pre-hearing conference was held on December 2,1981, and the issues to be considered in this proceeding have been established by *he Commission Questions. Formal commencement of discovery awaits only the Board's ruling on the standing of proposed intervenors.10 CFR 2. 740(b) (1) .

Fundamental fairness requires that UCS' and NYPIRG's short response to the pleadings of the Staff and Licensees be received, just as the lengthy objections of those parties to the contentions of the proposed intervenors have been received. In the alternative, however, if'the Board determines that an opportunity to respond to the Statements of Position does not exist as of right, UCS and NYPIRC respectfully request the Board to treatfthis Answer as a motion for leave to respond to the Statements of Position, and to consider the UCS/NYPIRG objections that were submitted on February 11, 1982.

B) Incomplete Title The title of the UCS/NYPIRG objections to the Statements of Position was not intended to mislead the Staff or Licensees nor to surprise any party. Assumir- for the sake of argument that the title should have contained a reference to the requests made at the end of l

l the three page document, this insignificant oversight is no basis for striking the document. The proposed intervenors consider similar defects in the form of pleadings, such as the Staf f's failure to ctate 1

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.the date of its motion to stri ek on t eh front page, to be a minor inconvenience that should not be the subject of exchanges of objections among the parties to this proceeding.

I New York, New York February 26, 1982 n 4~, ,

l Je[frdyM.Bhum,Esq.

New York University Law School f

423 Vanderbilt Hall 40 Washington Square South

- New York, New York 10012 212-598-3452 Counsel for Union of Concerned Scientists Amanda Potterfield, Esq. U P.O. Box 384 Village Station New York, New York 10014 212-227-0265 Counsel for New York Public Interest Research Group, Inc.

./l 1r&v1 Jo n' Holt,' Project Director N York Public Interest Research Group, Inc.

5 Beekman Street New York, New York 10038 212-349-6460 l

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