ML20205A079
| ML20205A079 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png |
| Issue date: | 08/01/1986 |
| From: | Dignan T ROPES & GRAY, VERMONT YANKEE NUCLEAR POWER CORP. |
| To: | NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| References | |
| CON-#386-241 OL, NUDOCS 8608110298 | |
| Download: ML20205A079 (5) | |
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_v 9,y,p Dated:, August 1, 1986
.W 85 -7 P2:46 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA {IC r SECUTAgy g
BR d'"SESYlCI' BEFORE THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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In The Matter Of
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h VERMONT YANKEE NUCLEAR
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Docket No. 50-271 POWER CORPORATION
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(Vermont Yankee Nuclear
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Power Station)
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LICENSEES' RESPONSE TO NEW ENGLAND COALITION ON NUCLEAR POLLUTION'S OBJECTION TO PROPOSED FINDINGS OF NO SIGNIFICANT HAZARDS CONSIDERATIONS, REQUEST FOR COMPLIANCE WITH NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT, AND REQUEST FOR OPPORTUNITY TO COMMENT ON APPLICATION TO INCREASE SPENT FUEL STORAGE CAPACITY AT VERMONT YANKEE NUCLEAR POWER STATION on July 21, 1986, New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution (NECNP) filed an " Objection to Proposed Finding of no Significant" Hazards Consideration, Request for' Compliance with National Environmental Policy Act, and Request for Oppo.rtunity,to Comment.on. Application t~o..increas,e Spent. Fuel.,.
i, Storage Capacity at Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station" (NECNP Objection).
The NECNP Objection was filed in response.t_o a notice set forth in the June 18, 1986 Federal Register.
Bi-Weekly Notice; Applications and Amendments to y%
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Operating Licenses Involving No Significant Hazards Considerations, 51 Fed. Reg. 22226 et. sec. (June 18, 1986).
That notice, as applied to the docket herein, called for members of the public to file, by July 18, 1986, comments on the proposed no significant hazards consideration with respect to the pending license amendment application by Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation (Vermont Yankee) for the expa sion of the capacity of the spent, fuel pool at.
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (VYNPS).
51 Fed. Reg. 22246 et. seg. (June 18, 1986).
The notice also called for persons, who so desired, to file by July 18, 1986 requests for hearing on the proposed amendment.
Three days after July 18, 1986, on July 21, 1986, the NECNP Objection was filed.
It is not entirely clear what the NECNP Objection really is.
It clearly is not intended as comments on the proposed "no significant hazards" determination except insofar as it contains a legal argument that such determinations cannot be made with respect to spent fuel pool expansion amendments.
That argument is based upon two scraps of legislative history which, it is claimed, demonstrate that Congress intended Section 189a of,the Atomic Energy Act, as. amended s,
1983, not to' apply to by P ; L. '97'-415',
approved January 4, such amendments.
The argument is without merit.
The Senate Report which NECNP quotes from, S.
Rep. No.97-112 (May 15, 1981), accompanied a bill which differed from that finally I.
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i approved by both Houses of Congress.
In the House Conference Report, H.
Conf. Rep. No.97-884 (Sept. 28-1982) 1982 USCCAAN 3603, 3606-09 there is a conspicuous absence of any comnent as to whether spent fuel pool expansion amendments were or were not to be viewed as ones which, per se, involve significant hazards considerations, Certianly the language of the statute, which is what the Congress a
. votes on,.contains no. basis for making any per se exception.s to the general rule for this kind of amendment.
- Moreover, the per se argument from legislative history has been twice rejected by the Commission; once in a rulemaking context,
- 51. Fed. Reg. 7744, 7749-50, 7753-55 (March 6, 1986) and once in an adjudicatory context.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
(Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2),
CLI-86-12, 24 NRC Slip Op. at 7-10 (July 22, 1986).
The NECNP Objection is not, according to the covering fil'ing letter, a request for an adjudicatory hearing.
Letter Diane Curran, Esq. to Samuel J.
Chilk, Secretary (July 21, 1986) page 1, 1st E What it may be is an attempt t,o assure a right to gain j.udicial reli.ef in the' future despite the fact that the filing deadline was not complied with and the fact that NECNP simply could not. satisfy the
'five faclor'lat'e'fiiings test under.10 CiF.R. S 2.714 as seen below.
The reason for missing the deadline rings wholly hollow.
The existence of the issue of whether the no significant '
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m ha ards consideration determination should be made was apparent the day the notice was printed in the Federal Register.
Similarly, the question of whether NEPA has been complied with to date has been ascertainable from the date of filing.
All that is left is the allegation of receipt by
'NECNP "recently" of unspecified "information which leads it
<to believe that the expansion of the Vermont Yankee spent fuel pools (sic) could significantly increase the risk and consequences of an accident at that plant, NECNP Objection at 4.
This too is unpersuasive.
CONCLUSION The NECNP Objection.is not authori=ed by the Notice it purports to respond to.
It appears to be a procedural device designad to create standing to seek later judicial relief wher,e none would otherwise be available.
The Commission should not countenance it and the NECNP Objection should be rejected for the specific reason that it was late filed.
Respectfully submitted,
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( DE;hY3:W
.;" Thomas G.
Digrafi,' Jr.
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g Ropes & Gray 225 Franklin Street Boston, Massachusetts 02110 (617) 423-6100
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b CERTIFICATE OF_ SERVICE I,
Thomas G.
- Dignan, Jr.,
hereby certify that on August 1, 1986, I served the within document according to the Commission's Regulations upon the following:
Lando W.
- Zech, Jr.,
James K.
Asselstine, Chairman Commissioner U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commission Washington, D.C.
20555 Washington,'D.C. 20555 Thomas M.
- Roberts, Frederick M.
- Bernthal, Commissioner Commissioner U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commission Washington,.D.C.
20555 Washington, D.C.
20555 Myron Karmen, Esq.,
Diane Curran, Esq.
Senior Supervising Trial Harmon & Weiss Atterney 2001 S Street, S.W.
Hearing Sector I Suite 430 Office of the. General
. Washington, D.C.
20009-1125
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Counsel U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.
20055
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