ML20140F164

Forwards Memo to IE W/Ltr from Gap Referred for Treatment as Petition Per 10CFR2.206.GAP Alleges Improper Conduct by Region II

ML20140F164
Person / Time
Site:	Catawba
Issue date:	09/22/1983
From:	Stephen Burns NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE LEGAL DIRECTOR (OELD)
To:	Jamarl Cummings NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTOR & AUDITOR (OIA)
Shared Package
ML20140B822	List: ML20140B818 ML20140F148 ML20140F153 ML20140F158 ML20140F164 ML20140F170 ML20140F180
References
FOIA-85-584 NUDOCS 8603310108
Download: ML20140F164 (2)

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September 22, 1983

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(([t Note to Jim Cummings, OIA _-

Enclosed is a memorandum from our office to IE enclosing a letter from GAP lh to the Commission which has been referred to the Staff for treatment as a petition t' 7

under 10 CFR 2.206. GAP's letter (pages 28-34) alleges improper condu.bt by [

I Region II ersonnel p which. may be the subject of a pending OIA injury. Please J.

note that the draf t acknowledgment letter to GAP attached to our memorandum states '

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that a copy of GAP's letter has been forwarded to your office. I can provide h

[.L a copy of the attachments to the petition if you need a copy.

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Steve Burns, OELD

Enclosure:

as stated p/

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- formal contacts between commissioners tnd r ny party to the formallicensing hearings during a tImporary license proceeding.The commission originally proposed no contacts be barred (Inside NRC,18 April,5).The fm' al rule,in an apparent compromise, bans private contacts between commissioners and officials of utilities applying for operating licenses o* intervenors in licensing hearings, but the rule allows commissioners to meet ,

behind closed doors with NRC staffers as long as a summary of the meeting is placed in the record, in a memo to the commissioners, NRC Executive Director for Operations William Dircks said the staff still believed no restrictions were legally necessary, but recognized,"as a practical matter (that) the commis-sion's proposed position would have presented a substantial risk ofits informal actions in the te nporary oper-ating licensing proceediag contaminating the formal, on the-record licensing proceeding."  ;

Asselstine wrote in his dissent,"Even though a written summary of these private contacts would be made,I believe that this approach with respect to the NRC staff has the real potential to create at least the appearance of unfairness in the commission's role as ultimate judge on the contested issues in the opereting license proceeding." That perc?ption, he wrote,is likely to lead to more court challenges to NRC decisions, bringing "a new source of uncertainty and unpredictability" to licensing. Gilinsky said he believes changes

. are needed in the current nJes governing commissian contacts in all adjudicatory proceedings, bin he thinks the rules, whatev.r they are, should be applied uniformly to alllicensing proceedings.

Dircks said many of those commenting on the proposed rule objected that no specific mention was made of emergency planning that would be required for a temporary license. Dircks said the staff believes that, since the law allowing temporary licenses requires the commission to make a m f' ding that the licensed opera-tion won't harm public health, review of emergency planning is already covered.

The rule cannot take effect until 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register,and that publica.

tion was not expected untillate last week. NRC cannot formally process any application for a temporary license until the 30 days expire, according to Dircks's memo, and any petition for an operating license must itself be noticed in the Federal Register and the public given 30 days to comment before the commis-sion can vote. Before publishing a petition, NRC must determ.ne that it meets the rule's requirements. As a result, the earhest any temporary license could come to the commission for a vote is late December, right before the commission's current authority to grant a temporary license expires.

Extension of that authority for one year has been narrowly approved b) a Senate subcommittee but its fate is considered uncertain in the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee where no vote has yet been scheduleJ (Nucleonics Week,29 Sept.,2). One of the llouse committees ove:seeing NEC has appmved a 21-month extension of that authority but another passed out an authorization bill without the language because neither NRC nor industry had asked for an extension at that time. A compromise is considered pos-sible in the package being put together by two committees to go to the llouse Rules Committee, but there is some doubt. Capito' liill sources say industry lobbyists are now behind the provision and it will not die with-out a fight,but some environmentalgroups are uncomfortable with the idea of temporary licensing and some members of Congress and their staffs feel they were " duped" by industry on the provision last time around.

Industry speakers argued that r dozen plants were ready for licensing and hearings were delaying them, but so far no plant has been ready for a temporary license.

Possible applicants, according to the latest count on Capitol 11i11, include Duke Power's Catawba 1, Philadelphia Electric's Limerick 1, Texas Utilities Generating Co.'s Comanche Peak.1, and Long Island Light-ing Co.'s Shoreham, though diesel generator problems at Shoreham may well delay fuelloading there beyond the time the licensing board concludes its hearing. - Margaret Ryan CATAWBA BOARD WILL KEEP WORKERS ALLEGATIONS CONFIDENTIAL Workers at Duke Power's Catawba.1 can report safety concerns in confidence to the Atomic Safety &

Licensing Board, the board has ruled. In an unprecedented ruling fought both by the NRC staff and Duke Power, the licensing board said it will consider statements from workers dehvered by Oct. 21 and could hold, a closed hearing to take confidential worker testimony if serious problems are uncovered. No board has ever solicited worker testimony directly before, though workers have been witnesses for intervenors.

The ruling. issued last week,was a victory for intervenor Palmetto Alliance and the Govemment Ac-countability Project (GAP) who have been claiming workers have told them of construction practices amounting to coverup of unsafe conditions, charges Duke has been denying. The board required Duke to post notice of the ruling at the Catawba site.

GAP has been maintaining that workers with complaints can't trust NR* Region 11 inspectos not to violaMdences, and wants a special investigator assigned to hear their complaints. GAP made the request iliaridcHIEer'to' NRC Cha'irmaa Nunzipfalladino, asking that he either name a special investigator to .

conduct or supervise the investigation of worker allegations or I'md some way ofinsuring workers that thuir allegaiions will remain confidential. GAP has also asked Rep. Morris Udall(D Ariz.), chairman of the llouse INSIDE N.R.C. - October 17,1983 5

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