ML20247R442

Transcript of Commission 890420 Press Conference in Rockville,Md.Pp 1-10

ML20247R442
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Site:	Shoreham File:Long Island Lighting Company icon.png
Issue date:	04/20/1989
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1 NEALR.GROSSANDC0.,INC. .

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, Northwest j Washington, D.C. 20005 (201h 234-4433 ,

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________._________________-.__-______________________________.________________________________j

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D . DISCLAIMER .

This is an unofficial transcript of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission held on April 20, 1989 in the Commission's office at One White Flint' North, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting was open to public attendance and observation. This transcript has not been reviewed, corrected or edited, and it may contain inaccuracies.

s. The transcript is intended solely for general informational purposes. As provid,ed by 10 CFR 9.103, it is not part of the formal or informal record of decision of the matters discussed. Expressions of opinion in this transcript do not necessarily reflect final determination or beliefs. No pleading or other paper may be filed with the Commission in any proceeding as the result of, or addressed to, any statement or argument contained herein, except as the Commission may authorize.

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v. HEAL R. GROSS court REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER $

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1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 * *

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10 PRESS CONFERENCE 11 * *

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19 20 C011FERENCE ROOM 21 17UCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION J 22 O!IE WHITE FLIIIT !! ORTH 23 ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND  ;

24 25 THURSDAY, APRIL 20. 1988 I

(202)234-4433 NEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 i

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3 (3:35 p.m.)

4 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Thank you very much. Let me 5 respond to your questions. Yes, sir?

6 QUESTION: Mr. Chairman, we'll start real simply 7 because we know very well that the Shoreham Nuclear Power 8 Plant is not meant to ever go into operation. Why bother 9 giving a license at this point, just because of inertia?

10 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Well, first of all, you're 11 assuming it's never going into operation. We can't make 12 that assumption. Our responsibility at the Nuclear i

13 Regulatory Commission is to review the application for a u

14 license, and to determine whether that application meets j 15 our requirements.

16 We have made such a determination. The license 17 application does meet our requirements, and we have 18 further determined that operating the Shoreham reactor 19 would provide reasonable assurance that the public's 20 health and safety would be protected.

21 QUESTION: Sir, can you conceive of any 22 circumstances under which this plant would operate?

23 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Yes, I can, and that's, of 24 course, not up to us. When we issue a license, we don't

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25 require the plant to operate. That decision, again, is up (202)234-4433 NEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005

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" to the licensee, but that is not.our decision to make.

1 2 Our decision to make is to determine whether 3 that application meets our regulatory requirements. We 4 have made a careful study of that and have concluded that 5 the applicant has met our requirements. Operation of the l

l 6 plant, again, is up to the licensee.

7 What we have done is authorize the plant to 8 operate up to full power.

9 QUESTION: Do you personally think it should 10 operate?

11 CHAIRMAN ZECH: We wouldn't authorize it to 12 operate if we didn't think it could operate and if we 13 didn't think it could operate safely.

14 QUESTION: But as to whether it should?

15 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Certainly, we don't authorize 16 plants if we really don't think they should operate, so 17 you can conclude what you want to. It seems to me that f

18 when we authorize a plant to operate, we have confidence 19 that it can be operated safely and, therefore, we think 20 that if it's appropriate to operate, they can and will 21 operate it safely.

22 QUESTION: Chairman Zech --

23 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Yes, sir.

24 QUESTION: As you're aware, the Department of 25 Energy is now -- at least the Secretary of Energy is (202)234-4433 NEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005

4 1 talking about a kind of a national mandate to keep the i .

L'- 2 national energy interest alive, keep this as a. resource, 3 have this plant available to operate. President Bush may 4 share the same view.

5 Does this play upon your decision .today to 6 authorize this plant, and do you expect that there could 7 be a kind of a national mandate from the Bush 8 Administration ~to see this plant operate some day?

9 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Well, let me say this. This is 10 an independent regulatory agency, and to answer your 11 question directly, nc. That comment from the Department 12 of Energy has no bearing on the decision we made today i 13 whatsoever.

L __ _

14 I would say, I've heard the comments and seen 15 the comments, but I have, really, nothing further to say 16 at this time, on that matter, except to say that if, 17 indeed, the current licensee, the LILCO Company, were to i

18 transfer the license to another organization, that 19 transfer would have to be approved by the Nuclear 20 Regulatory Commission. That trancfer, then, could be 21 looked at carefully, of course, and would be looked at 22 carefully.

23 Public comments would be entertained. There 24 would be those who would very likely request a hearing on i

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25 that, and it could be a very formal process. If that took (202)234-4433 NEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 j

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005

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I , '1. plac'e, of. course, that proposed transfer,. then we, again,

2. would have to. ~ approve that. If that tookeplace, anyone l

3 could try to declare Ethemselves a party.

If.they would, 4 -we would look at any applicant for party status 'and have

[ 5 to make a determination in that regard.

6 QUESTION: Do you personally believe. tha t. 'it 's -

7- in the national interest to keep the Shoreham ope.rable. 'as.

8 a national resource for energy?

y 9 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Well, I. certainly do, or else- we .

10' wouldnt have authorized it for operation today. 'It, F 11 clearly,~is -- appears to us to meet our requirements. We 12 don't' make those ' operational determinations, as 'I 13 mentioned earlier but, clearly, we talieve that it is in 14 the national interest, and public health and safety would 15 be protected, to operate that plant. We conclude that; or.

16 we would not authorize it for operation.

17 QUESTION: Are there any conditions that go 18 along with this authorization?

19 CHAIRMAN ZECH: No, there are no conditions at 20 all to go along with the authorization. We authorize it 21 for full power operation.

22 QUESTION: Right now?

23 CHAIRMAN ZECH: That's right, right n o w-. We 24 directed the staff to watch the proceedings carefully and 25 keep the Commission informed but, as far as we're (202)234-4433 NEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 1

6 1 concerned, the staff, when the prerequisites have been met L . 2 -- and we always have that provision because, in case 3 there are any last minute safety issues, that we want them 4 addressed, but we told the staff that they have the 5 Com.rission's authority that when those prerequisites are 6 met, they may authorize --

they may issue a full power 7 license. That could happen very soon, anytime now.

8 QUESTION: Today?

9 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Today or tomorrow or.next week, 10 or whenever the staff has made a last minute review of the 11 prerequisites and determined that, indeed, the plant does 12 meet .our regulations. That's the final provision we F 13 always put on the staff to look into.

L 14 QUESTION: As you know, LILCO offered possible 15 conditions in a letter to you last week that you have 16 chosen to disregard.

17 CHAIRMAN ZECH: We're well aware of those 18 provisions. We just simply didn't think they were 19 necessary.

20 QUESTION: The plant was completed in 1983, or 21 1984 at the outside. Why did it take five or six years to 22 do this?

23 CHAIRMAN ZECH: This has been a very unusual and 24 unique process that we've gone through. When the Governor i

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25 of the state and the local authorities refused to (202)234-4433 NEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005

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cooperate ~ inc emergency planning,- it has been a challenge-p; '

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2' to this Commission'.

3 We ' nave responsibilities f o' r public health : and' 14 ~ safety. We have acted,-.in my view, very' responsibly. We:

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5 have looked at all the. allegations. We have. locked at the b

We have gone through our' process very

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6 contentions. . -

7 carefully. It is a lo'ng process, but we.have, I believe, h ;w 8 acted. responsibly' 'and carried out our duties ;in a very.

9 professional' manner.

10 QUESTION: Does the LILCO episode not . 'show . the 11 'need for'some reform in the regulatory process, so that' 12 the debate over a multi-billion dollar plant might take

-13 place before 1*J's built rather than after it.'s' built, with-14 regard to such things.as siting, so.you don't lose control

-15 of the process?

g. 16 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Oh, , does, indeed. It does, 17 indeed. That's what we acted upon 'last week, if you 18 'followed Commission actions. Last week, we passed what I 19 view a very historic piece of rulemaking. That rulemaking 20 did three things. First of all, it enceuraged 21 standardization of future plants. Se w d of all, it

.c 22 provided for pre-selected sites; and, thir'ly, it provided 23 for a combined operating license and construction permit.

24 Now, that was very, very important in my view.

25 What that does, essentially, is bring all the (202)234-4433 UEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005

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decisions needed, like in Shoreham, up' front - .make-~those.

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(Q =2 ' decisions -bef ore you: construct th'e plant.

'That's what we L'

'3 intended by the rulemaking,:and.that's;what~I hope it will'

-- will eventually be implemented in'that way. Make the 4

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, 5 decisions up front, so you' don't dig any dirt, you' don't 6  : spend a : lot of money. You iron out whether.'you're going.

7 'to build the plant or not, that design at that site, bring 8 them together-in a combined hearing, have all the issues

'9 on the table'. In my view, the public can better be served 10 by having all the decisions made up front. ,

11 If it is determined at that time not to build-12 the plant, the plant should not be built, in my view.

L If.

1 13 -it~is determined that the plant should be built, then'it-L_

'14 should ' be ' built and it should be operated. If that 15 'happens, in my view, that would mean that you should be 16 'able to construct a plant in six years or less, and that's 17 a-lot less time than we're taking now, as-you know.

'18 QUESTION: So, there will not be.a repetition of 19 the Shoreham experience? Other nuclear plants will be 20 built in this country?

21 CHAIRMAN ZECH: I would hope so. I would hope 22 -so. That'is the intent of the rulemaking that we passed

23. last week in order to officially, really, address the 24 situation in our licensing process.

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~25 We have reformed our licensing process by that

'(202)234-4433 NEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005

9 1 very'important rulemaking of last week. and I would hope 2 that 'we have addressed , properly and thoroughly and k

3 adequately, this kind of an issue. The intent of that 4 rulemaking is to make all the decisions up front, before 5 you construct the plant, and then we hope that we will not 6 have this situation again.

7 QUESTION: Does this decision have implications 8 for Seabrook?

9 CHAIRMAN ZECH: The Shoreham decision today?

10 QUESTION: Does it set a precedent?

11 CHAIRMAN ZECH: The Shoreham decision today has 12 no impact on Seabrook. We treat each one on a case basis.

13 QUESTION: I just thought maybe in the issue of 14 applying this realism rule, that it might have some --

15 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Well, the realism rule is part 16 of the doctrine that we have said would be applied, and 17 uny plant should appreciate the fact that we are, indeed, 18 going to apply the realism doctrine in any future 19 licensing action.

20 QUESTION: If Shoreham is, in fact, dismantled 21 -- sold to the state for a dollar and dismantled, would 22 you call that a waste?

23 CHAIRMAN ZECH: Well, let me just say this. As 24 the Chairman of the Regulatory Commission, that's not my

'25 responsibility. As an American citizen. I would call it a (202)234-4433 UEAL R. GROSS & COMPANY, INC. (202)232-6600 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005

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(_ 2 Thank you very much.

3 (Whereupon, at 3:44 p.m., the press briefing was

.4 concluded.)

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CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIBER l This is to certify that the attached events of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission entitled:

n TITLE OF MEETING: ' PRESS CONFERENCE PLACE OF MEETING: ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND DATE OF MEE!ING: APRIL 20 1989 l

• were transcribed by me. I further certify that said transcription is accurate and complete, to the best of my ability, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing events.

/ .

' / M Reporter's name: Phyllis Young h

., J HEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER $

1323 RHODE 156AND AVINUI. H.W.

WASHINCTON. D.C. 20005 (202) 232-6600 (202) 234 4 433 1

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