ML20236D782

Request for Depositions.* Discusses What Atty General Seeks to Question NRC Witnesses on Re June 1988 Plant Graded Exercise.W/Certificate of Svc.Related Correspondence

ML20236D782
Person / Time
Site:	Seabrook
Issue date:	03/14/1989
From:	Fierce A MASSACHUSETTS, COMMONWEALTH OF
To:	Sherwin Turk NRC OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL (OGC)
References
CON-#189-8301 OL, NUDOCS 8903230266
Download: ML20236D782 (7)

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g c146D & UTIL FAC._ d THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSAC[HNsETSN EE i

't ' 7 pt l DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL  !

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JOHN W. McCoRMACK STATE OFFICE BUILolNG j_

{'a j oNE ASH 8URToN PLACE, BOSTON 02108-1698 c

JAMES M. SHANNoN ~89 IM 17 P138 monuevc wenn RELATED CORRESPONDENCE I Orrp: 1 GE" .,

n' Maren 14, 1989 BY TELEFAX Sherwin Turk, Esq.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the General Counsel 15th Floor 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852 RE: Request for Depositions

Dear Mr. Turk:

Since we have repeatedly advised you what it is we are seeking, I am not pleased at your insistence in having the Mass AG write you a letter stating again what it is we seek to question NCR staff witnesses about. This step is totally unnecessary and has already led to further delay. Nevertheless, here it is.

During the June 1988 Graded Exercise for Seabrook the NRC staff evaluated the performance of the Seabrook Station Emergency Response Organization ("SS-ERO") with respect to a series of exercise objectives that are set forth in the

" Scenario" document for this exercise at Section 2.2.

-those objectives were as follows:

Two of

10. Demonstrate the ability to perform assessments of onsite and offsite conditions to support the formulation of Protective Action Recommendations (PARS).

This objective will be demonstrated by the Control Room, TSC and the EOF. The Control Room will make the initial PAR assessment.

The TSC and the Control Room will monitor plant conditions to support the formulation of PARS and will transfer the responsibility to the EOF upon activation.

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Radiological data generated by the simulator during the development of the scenario, and during the exercise run, will not be used.

This data will be superceded by developed data, the magnitude of which, will effectively drive the exercise. A simulator controller will issue Radiological Data l Management System (RDMS) data to the l

Exercise Shift Superintendent upon request. I

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In order to ensure of level of response l commensurate with the exercise objectives, l certain radiological parameters were I I

artificially elevated and do not necessarily reflect the plant dynamic data.

11. Demonstrate the ability to formulate and communicate PARS to appropriate offsite officials.

Formulation and communication of PARS will be demonstrated by the Control Room, TSC and/or the EOF in accordance with appropriate procedures.

Due to limitations established by the extent of play, PAR action may be controlled by the control organization in order to prevent scenario deviation.

Subsequent to the Exercise, the NRC Staff issued Inspection Report 88-09 which indicated, inter alia, that the Staff had found that the SS-ERO's PARS "were prompt and conservative" and that ETE's "were effectively utilized in determining PARS". I.R. 88-09 at 4.

In December, 1988, MAG EX-19 was admitted as an Exercise contention for litigation. That contention alleges that during the Exercise the SS-ERO demonstrated that it did not have the ability to make and issue appropriate PARS to offsite authorities.

On January 24, 1988, I sent to you by telefax a letter requesting that the NRC staff informally provide us with certain information about the staff's evaluation of the SS-ERO's performance during the Exercise, especially with respect to its offsite PARS. In the second to last paragraph, I stated:

We are interested in conducting depositions in the near future of the key NRC evaluators who were responsible for evaluating the SS-ERO's Exercise performance with respect to (a) asse'ssing conditions to support the formulation 5

of offsite PARS and (b) formulating offsite PARS. Until we receive your answers to requests

$6 and $7 above, we cannot identify these individuals by name. Would you kindly call me at the earliest opportunity with the answers to these requests so that we can select the proper persons to depose without further delay and then try to identify some mutually agreeable dates.

Instead of calling me promptly, however, the NRC staff elected te make no call at all and instead conducted a six-week-long leisurely-paced review of Headquarters and Region I for responsive documents. That process produced only a couple of documents; indeed'I was told that very few notes or evaluator forms made during the Exercise remain in existence.

It appears that although NRC evaluators did make notes and fill out exercise evaluator forms, almost all were discarded, not unlike.what FEMA did after the Exercise with all its Exercise Evaluation forms, once the NRC Inspection Report (88-09) was produced.

One document of relevance was produced, however. It is the exercise evaluation form on which Donald Perrotti made notes and other evaluative markings about, inter alia, the SS-ERO's offsite PARS. This document raises a series of questions we would like to ask Mr. Perrotti, such as:

1. What did he do to evaluate the SS-ERO's protective action decision making?

2. What does the check mark mean in the column next to " standard" 3.3.2 on the form, which reads "promptly recommended protective actions offsite that are consistent with j those in EPA's PAG Manual for those  :

conditions not involving core melt."

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3. Why did Mr. Perrotti put question, marks next l to three of the parameters listed under (

" standard" 3.3.4, which roads " consider at j l

1 east the following parameters in deciding '

upon appropriate protective actions"?

The three question marks are adjacent to these three parameters: " expected duration i of release", " evacuation time estimates,"

l and " time of day."

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4. Why did he write "no" next to the parameter for " local sheltering efficiencies"?

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f One other document, produced by the NRC Staff in response to the Town of Hampton's informal discovery request, l is relevant to MAG Ex-19. It is an NRC memorandum dated July l 14, 1988, drafted by the same Mr. Perrotti, and contains

" Negative Comments" about the failure of the SS-ERO to give a precautionary PAR for the beach areas at the Alert declaration.

We would also like to question Mr. Perrotti about these comments and his concern that with N.H. acting to close its beaches at i l

the Alert while the ORO waited until the SAE to do so, "there is a high probability of confusion in the beach area during an actual event since part of the contiguous beach near the plant lies in Massachusetts".

This is not to say that Mr. Perrotti is the only person we seek to question. As I indicated in my letter of January 24, 1989, we are also seeking to question "the key NRC evaluators who were responsible for evaluating the SS-ERO's performance with respect to Objectives 10 and 11. (As to Objective 10, we are only interested in the assessment of "offsite" conditions to support the formulation of offsite PARS). If Mr. Perrotti is this " key" person, fine. If not, please identify the appropriate person (s) so that we may proceed to schedule their depositions along with that of Mr. Perrotti.

If the NRC staff wishes to formally handle this request pursuant to 10 C.F.R. 2.720, we urge the staff to act with utmost expedition. Any further delay will force the Mass A.G.

to press its pending Motion and ask the Board for more than the two extra weeks to file testimony on MAG Ex-19 that already have been necessitated by the staff's delay in responding since January 24, 1989.

Ver truly yours ,

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Allan R. Fierce Assistant Attorney General Nuclear Safety Unit cc: Service List 1347n l

i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'

' NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION U(,Qh(EU

' ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD

~Before the Administrative Judges:

'Ivan W. Smith, Chairman  ?'Hi- '

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Dr. Richard F. Cole Kenneth A. McCollom "N/3hg/ " '

)

In tne Matter of ) Docket Nos. 50-443-OL

) 50-444-OL PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY ~

) (Off-Site EP)

'OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, _E_T _A_L . ).

)

(Seabrook Station, Units 1 and 2) ) March 14, 1989

)

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Allan R. Fierce, hereby certify that on March 13, 1989, I made service of the REQUEST OF DEPOSITIONS by first class mail or by telefax as indicated by (*], to:

Ivan W. Smith, Chairman Kenneth A. McCollom Atomic Safety & Licensing Board 1107 W. Knapp St.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Stillwater, OK 74075 Commission East West Towers Building I 4350 East West Highway Bethesda, MD- 20814 Dr. Richard F. Cole Docketing and Service Atomic Safety & Licensing Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commission East West Towers Building Washington, DC 20555 4350 East West Highway Bethesda, MD 20814 l

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i I__-_-_____________-_-_-__._--_________-__--____-_-__-__-______ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ - - _-

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a; L Robert R. Pierce, Esq. Thomas G. Dignan, Jr., Esq.

L Atomic Safety &ELicensing Board Katherine Selleck,'Esq.

L '.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U Ropes & Gray L East-West Towers Building One International Place

'4350. East West Highway Boston, MA 02110

-Bethesda, MD. 20814 H.. Joseph'Flynn, Esq. *Sherwin E. Turk, Esq.

Assistant General-Counsel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory )

Office of General Counsel Commission < 1 i'

Federal Emergency Management Office of the General Counsel l Agency 15th Floor '

500 C Street, S.W. 11555 Rockville Pike Washington, DC 20472 Rockville, MD 20852 Atomic Safety & Licensing Robert A. Backus, Esq.

1 Appeal Board Backus, Meyer & Solomon U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 116 Lowell Street Commission P.O. Box 516 Washington, DC 20555 Manchester, NH 03106 l

Atomic Safety & Licensing Board Jane Doughty U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Seacoast Anti-Pollution League Washington, DC 120555 5 Market Street Portsmouth, NH 03801 Charles P. Graham, Esq. Barbara St. Andre, Esq.

Murphy &. Graham Kopelman & Paige, P.C. ,

33 Low Street 77 Franklin Street '

Newburyport, MA 01950 Boston, MA 02110 Judith H. Mizner, Esq. R. Scott Hill-Whilton, Esq.

79 State Street Lagoulis, Hill-Whilton 2nd Floor &'Rotondi Newburyport, MA 01950 79 State Street Newburyport, MA 01950-Dianne Curran, Esq. Ashod N. Amirian, Esq.

Harmon, Curran, & Towsley 145 South-Main Street Suite 430 P.O. Box 38 2001 S Street, N.W. Bradford, MA 01835

' Washington, DC 20008 Senator Gordon J. Humphrey Senator Gordon J. Humphrey U.S. Senate One Eagle Square, Suite 507 Washington, DC 20510 Concord, NH 03301 (Attn: Tom'Burack) (Attn: Herb Boynton) l l

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. George-Dana.Bisbee, Esq. 'Phillip Ahrens, Esq.

Assistant Attorney General Assistant Attorney General

' Office of the Attorney General Department of the Attorney 25 Capitol ~ Street General Concord, NH 03301 Augusta, ME 04333 Sandra Gavutis, Chairperson Calvin A. .Canney Board of; Selectmen City Manager RFD 1, Box 1154 City Hall Rte. 107 126 Danie1~ Street Kensington, NH 03827 Portsmouth, NH 03801 Gary W. Holmes, Esq. Richard A. Hampe, Esq.

Holmes & Ellis Hampe & McNicholas 47 Winnacunnet Road 35 Pleasant Street

.Hampton, NH 03842 Concord, NH 03301 Robert Carrigg, Chairman J.P. Nadeau Board of Selectmen Selectmen's Office Town Office 10 Central Road Atlantic Avenue. Rye, NH 03870 North Hampton, NH 03862 William S. Lord James H. Carpenter, Alt'ernate Board of Selectmen Technical Member Town Hall - Friend Street Atomic Safety & Licensing Amesbury, MA 01913 . Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC' 20555 JAMES M. SHANNON ATTORNEY GENERAL COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS UJAR Allan R. Pierce Assistant Attorney General Nuclear Safety Unit Department of the Attorney General One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108-1698 (617) 727-2200 DATED: March 14, 1989 i

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