ML20138H988
| ML20138H988 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | South Texas  |
| Issue date: | 07/17/1985 |
| From: | NRC |
| To: | |
| References | |
| OL-I-CCANP-091, OL-I-CCANP-91, NUDOCS 8510290203 | |
| Download: ML20138H988 (8) | |
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1374 Goldbera - Cross 17cj2*
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A That is correct.
I move Exhi${[,Elnto evidence.
2 MR. SINKIN:
3 MR. COWAN:
No objection, Your Honor.
'85 CCT -4 All :14 4
MS. RYAN:
It's admitted.
GFFCE Or EECROA :-
5 00C.4LTNG.ThdVexhibit identified M [s "STCC-4" was 6
received in evidence. )
I BY MR. SINKIN:
8 G
Mr. Goldberg, I want to return to something you 9
were discussing with Mr. Boyle as far as Brown & Root leaving 4
10 the project.
11 You stated that on April 10th, 1981, you personally 12 decided that Brown & Root had to go.
13 A.
No, that's not quite correct.
14 O
Okay.
15 A.
I think we'll have to go back and review the 16 transcript as to what I exactly said.
I don't think I i
phrased it the way you just said.
17-3 t
t 18 G
Okay.
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l 19 Maybe rather than take the time to find the 1
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l 20 transcript, let's talk about that April period, when you 21
. decided--I believe there was a discussion with 22 Jordan and a discussion with Mr. Oprea -if you would Mr.
l just describe that once again.
23 24 A.
Following the April 10th meeting, I had identified
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Goldberg - Cross 1375 t
I was not going to be able to complete the project and we i
2 ought to investigate alternatives.
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3 And I stated that my greatest concern was the i
4 fact that they did not have in place a knowledgeable i
5 l
executive to run the nuclear business of Brown & Root.
6 As a matter of record, the person in charge of it 1
7 i
had zero nuclear experience.
1 i
1 8
On that basis, the first information or direction 9
I received was rather than proceed to look at alternatives, l
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10 our first priority is let's identify the specific things i
i 11 that Brown & Root needs to do in the way of personnel 12 change or additions.
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13 And I prepared information for Mr. Jordan, who
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j I4 in turn had a ntimber of meetings with Mr. Feehan to review 15 those matters.
16 As a result of those exchanges, it was my 17 understanding that Brown & Root was amenable to some i.
18 of the improvements that we suggested but resisted rather 19 strongly the notion of putting in charge of.the South 20 Texas Project a knowledgeable nuclear executive.
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j 21 And that subsequently, in my opinion, was the 1
l 22 Achilles heel and when we reviewed the situation in i
23 June of.1981, as I mentioned earlier, that formed the 24 basis of my conviction that Brown & Root would never 25 successfully finish this project.
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Goldberg - Cross 1376
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1 g
Let me understand.
When you were discussing this 2
with Mr. Boyle, you said basically it was apparent within 3
two weeks following the Corpus Christi meeting that Brown &
4 Root was not going to be your choice for this job.
Do 5
you remember that statement?
A Yes.
It was apparent to me personally.
6 I
g It was apparent to you personally apparently 6
because they had refused by that time to make the changes 9
that you had requested.
10 A
They had consistently resisted the most important 11 change.
12 O
The most important one.
13 And at the end of that two weeks, you had 14 discussions with Mr. Jordan about your conclusion?
15 A
No.
There were a series of ongoing discussions.
16 O
And with Mr. Oprea about your conclusions?
1h A
That's right.
IS O
Mr. Goldberg, you were present for much of the 19 licensing hearings in Phase 1 of the NRC licensing proceedings 20 for the South Texas Nuclear Project, were you not?
21 A
Yes, I was.
22 0
Are you aware that Mr. George Oprea was called 23 as a witness in those licensing proceedings?
24 A.
Yes, I am.
25 0
I believe you were even present during some of the KENNEDY REFTRTING SERVICE INC.
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I days when he was testifying.
2 2
A Some of them.
)
3 0
If you'll give me just a second here.
4 Mr. Goldberg, what I've placed in front of you i
5 is the transcript of those hearings.
I would like for you 6
to turn to the very front of the book that you are looking 7
at and read us the date that that' transcript covers.
i j
8 A
It looks like it's June 2nd, 1981.
9 j
G And would you read the question and answer at 4
j 10 the top of the right-hand page?
II MR. COWAN:
Excuse me, Your Honor.
I would l
l 12 object to that question.
It's not shown that this is
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13 Mr. Goldberg's question and answer.
It's Mr. Oprea's i
14 j
questions and answer.
It's not proper to cross-examine I
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i 15 one witness with reference to what another witness said.
i 16 If Mr. Sinkin wanted to cross-examine Mr. Oprea 17 about that, he could have appeared at Mr. Oprea's deposition 18 and done so.
1 i
19 We object to this as improper cross-examination.
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20 MS. RYAN:
Are you planning to' cross-examine-21 the witness or have him read the statement into the record?
22 MR. SINKIN:
I'm having him read the statement i
l j
23 into the record and then I wish to ask his opinion of the 24 i
statement from his own personal knowledge.
l 25 MS. RYAN:
Whether he agrees or disagrees i
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Goldbera - Cross 1378 1
with the statement?
2 MR. SINKIN:
Exactly.
3 MS. PYAN:
All right.
4 Your objection is overruled.
5 BY MR. SINKIN:
6 0
You might read the page number in the upper right-I hand corner of the transcript.
8 A.
It looks like Page 3473.
9 G
And the question and answer at the top of that 10 page.
11 A.
At the top of the page it starts with an answer.
12 0
Right.
The next line.
13 A.
"Have you had any discussions with any of 14 your staff or other individuals after the show 15 cause order regarding removal of Brown & Root?"
16 g
And the answer.
17 A.
"No, I have not."
18 0
Thank you.
19 Now, would you say that based on the testimony 20 you have just given us that that is a complete and accurate 21 answer on the part of Mr. Oprea?
22 A.
Well, obviously Mr. Oprea's recollection and 23 mine differ.
24 I would add, however, because I think it's 25
. pertinent to the point that you--
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Goldberg - Cross 1379 1
O I'm not sure.
1--
2 MR. COWAN:
We object, Your Honor.
3 Certainly, the witness should be allowed to 4
explain before being cut off.
5 MS. RYAN:
I agree.
6 0
Go ahead.
7 A
The most important issue, as I recollect, before 8
the licensing board was when did Houston Lighting & Power 9
Company--when did its management decide to go forward 10 with replacing Brown & Root.
And that decision was made 11 on June 29th, 1981.
And any discussions that preceded that 12 decision were strictly discussions of the state of the union 13 and how various people saw them.
14 4
But they were discussions about the removal of l
15 Brown & Root from the project, were they not?
l 16 A
There were discussions, if you wanted to poll 17 individual members of the project that might have gone back 18 before that.
When I first arrived at the project, there 19 were young engineers who said, "Well, we ought to get rid 20 of those fellows."
21 It's a matter of personal perception as' to how they 22 saw a situation and what they saw were their options.
23 And clearly, there were a lot of options available 24
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to'try to deal with the problem short of removing the I
25 contractor.
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Goldberg - Cross 1380 1
Removal of a contractor on a project of this complexity is one of the most difficult things that 3
has ever been undertaken.
That's why it was never 4
undertaken before South Texas.
5 It's no coincidence that we were the only nuclear 6
project who felt it necessary to remove its contractor.
7 And you had to believe that there were no other viable 8
solutions available in order to undertake such a complex 9
and difficult measure.
10 0
That's all well and good, Mr. Oprea, but it does 11 not change the simple fact that between April of 1981, and 12 June of 1981, you had discussions with Mr. Oprea about the 13 removal of Brown & Root, and probably Mr. Jordan as well 14 had discussions with Mr. Oprea about the removal of Brown & Ibot.
It 15 was a topic of major concern to you after the April meeting 16 in Corpus Christi.
You made it a point to bring that to 17 the attention of the top management, did you not?
18 A
I distinctly pointed out that that is an option 19 that we may have to undertake.
Yes, I did.
20 21 22 23 24 25 i
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