ML20247R448
| ML20247R448 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Seabrook  |
| Issue date: | 05/18/1989 |
| From: | NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8906070232 | |
| Download: ML20247R448 (12) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
. NUCLEAR REGULATORILCOMMISSION.
$k(16l PRESS CONFERENCE LOCatiOD ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND Dd(6l MAY 18, 1989 Pages:
8 rices NEALR.GROSSANDC0.,INC.
COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, Northwest Washington, D.C.
20005 (202) 234-4433
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fQS olI 8906070232 890518
.7 PDC
O DISCLAIMER i
This is an unofficial transcript of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission held on May 18. 1989 in the Commission's office at One White Flint
- North, Rockville, Maryland.
The meeting was open to public attendance and observation.
This transcript has not been reviewed, corrected or edited, and it may contain inaccuracies.
The transcript is intended solely for general
(-)
informational purposes.
As provided by 10 CFR 9.103, it is not part of the formal or infor2Gs1 record of decision of the matters discussed.
Expressions of opinion in this transcript do not necessarily reflect final determination or beliefs.
No pleading or other paper may be filed with l
the Commission in any' proceeding as the result of, or 4
addressed to, any statement or argument contained herein, except as the Commission may authorize.
p
- NEAL R. GROSS COURT RFPoRTERS AND TRANSCRf8tR$
1323 rho 0E ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C.
20005 (202) 232 4 600
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA l'
NUCLEAR REGULkTORY COMMISSION PRESS CONFERENCE PUBLIC MEETING L
Nuclear Regulatory Commissica One White Flint North' Rockville, Maryland Thursday, May 18, 1989 The Commission met in open session, pursuant to~ notice, at 3:35 p.m.,
Lando W. Zech, Jr., Chairman, presiding.
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:
1 Lando W. Zech, Jr., Chairman of the Commission o.
NEAL R. GROSS court REPORTER $ AND TRANSCRIBER $
t-1323 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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i P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2
3:35 p.m.
3' MR. FOUCHARD:
Do you have any questions or 4
do you need the Chairman to summarize what we've done?
5' QUESTION:
Yes, if he could summarize first, 6
that.would be great.
7
-MR.
FOUCHARD:
For Seabrook?
8 QUESTION:
Right.
9 CHAIRMAN ZECH:.
- Well, the action the 10 Commission took today was essentially to deny the 11
' petitions for motions to stay the low-power license
-12 for Seabrook.
The Commission denied those motions and 13 in doing so granted a one week provision for the Court 14 of Appeals of the D.C.
Circuit to act on the appeals 15 that might come before'it as a result of our decisien 16 here today.
17 So, in any case, a low-power license will, 18 for Seabrook, would not issue until a week from today.
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19 After that time, it could be issued.
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l 20 The Commission took no action today 1
21 concerning full power action for Seabrook.
22 QUESTION:
How far in the future do you see 23 that coming?
24 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
The plan for that is, if it
< q25 goes according to the schedule, it looks possible for NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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3 "1
those; licensing - hearings-to take place during the i-
- 2 summer.
I would estimate at the earliest, perhaps, if -
3 they go successfully and are concluded satisfactorily, 4
'the Commission could decide on a full power. license i
5 for Seabrook perhaps as early as late September.
)
)
6 QUESTION:
Mr. Chairman,'the Commission has l
l L
7 been siding toward getting at least a low-power i
8 license in at Seabrook for about two years.
- Well, 9
more than two years.
Almost since its inception.
We
)
10 saw with the vote today it's basically now in the 1
11 Court's hands, but.it looks pretty good for a low-12 power license.
Is all the work that's done over the 13 last two years in vain?
Was this something that you I
14 guys had intended from the beginning?
15 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
No, no.
We didn't intend 16 from the beginning at all, as you well know.
This is 17 a very different process we're going through here now 18 with the low-power license itself, as well as the full-19 power license, having been contested really by the 20 State of Massachusetts, not cooperating in the 21 planning process for emergency planning.
It's q
1 l
22 complicated our process and made it very difficult.
23 What we've gone through has been necessary, 24 in my judgment.
We've had to meet our statutory
".2 5 responsibilities and we've done so.
So, it's taken a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE 15 LAND AVENUE, H.W.
4 i
long time because of'the unusual circumstances, but I
~
2 think the Commission has acted very responsibly..
3 QUESTION:
The concerns that the people of 4
Massachusetts had they obviously still hold.
What 5
comments or what words of wisdom could you tell them 6
on why you feel safe at this point to'go ahead and i-7 give it a low-power license?
8 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
We feel that the low-power 9
license is a proper action to take at this regard.
We 10 have reviewed the concerns of those who.have expressed 11
.them to us in the course of our proceedings.
We have 12 determined at this stage that low-power license is 13 appropriate for the Seabrook Power Plant.
We believe 14 that we have accommodated the possibility that the 15 plant will not operate at full power by our financial 16 qualifications determination, _which you're probably 17 well aware we required that a sum of about $72 million 18 be set aside in order for the plant to be dismantled, 19 decommissioned, cleaned up if low-power license is
.20 issued and if the plant is never authorized for full-21 power license.
22 So, we've addressed th and we feel that 23 we've done the proper thing.
L 24 QUESTION:
What happens on May 25th?
Are
' %25 there any further regulatory actions the NRC has to NEAL R. GROSS court REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER 5 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
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t'ake or'will'the full license be automatically issued
. ~
if the Court doesn't --
2 3
CHAIRMAN ZECH:
- Well, it's never 4
automatically issued.
We always review at that time 5
the status of the plant.
Right now we've concluded 6
that the low-power license could be issued on the 25th 7
'if the Court does not uphold the stays that have been 8
requested.
On the~other hand, on the 25th, the staff 9
will then review the situation at Seabrook.
The 10.
Commission - has essentially given the staff the 11 authorization to authorize that five percent low-power 12 license on the 25th if the staff is satisfied that all 13 of our regulations are being met and if it's 14 appropriate to issue the five percent low-power 15 license.
16 Again, the staff will make such a review and 17 if it's determined, for any reason or other, that it's l'
18 not appropriate at that time, they will not do so.
On l
l 19 the other hand, if they determine that it is 20 permissible and they've met our regulations for low-21 power, the license could issue as soon as next week.
l 22 QUESTION:
Are there certain stipulations 23 you're looking for in order to give them that?
24 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Not as far as I know at the 3 25 present time.
As far as I know at this time, the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTER $ AND TRANSCRIBER $
1323 RHoDE 15 LAND AVENUE, N.W.
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'1 license could issue on the 25th.
2 QUESTION:
Hasn't the staff already said 3
that it believes the license should be issued?
4 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Yes, they have.
5 QUESTION:
So there's really no other 6
issue --
7 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Oh, no, there's always--
8 it's one week.
Things can happen in a week.
The 9
plant, for example, could change their mind.
I'm sure 10 they'll want to have a last minute review.
We never 11 say that things are ready until we are actually 12 confident and satisfied that our regulations have been 13 met.
14 QUESTION:
Which way do you think the Court 15 will go?
16 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
I have no idea what the 17 Court will do.
That's their responsibility, not mine.
18 QUESTION:
The May 25th deadline kicks in 19 even if the Court doesn't --
20 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
No, no.
If the Court acts 21 ahead of time to dismiss the stays, it could happen 22 before the 25th.
23 QUESTION:
And if it doesn't act within that 24 one week time frame?
*25 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
We have given the Court NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTER $ AND TRANSCRIBER $
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d until the 25th to make their decision.
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QUESTION:
Any idea when the Court will take 3
the matter up?
4 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
I honestly have.no idea.
We 5
would hope they'd do it soon.
I'm sure the 6
petitioners would too.
7 QUESTION:
But the Commission does not have 8
to meet again on this?
9 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
That's right.
For a low-10 power license, we should not have to meet again as far 11 as I can tell at this time.
12 QUESTION:
I'm sorry, could you repeat this 13 one more time?
Very suddenly, on the 25th, if the 14 Court denies the stay motions, it will be operative?
15 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
That's correct, the five 16 percent low-power license.
17 QUESTION:
And if they hold on to the stay 18 motions, you'll meet again at that point?
19 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
No.
No.
The Commission 20 need not meet again.
We would expect the Court would 21 act by the 25th.
22 QUESTION:
But I mean if they decide to hold 23 on to the stay motion, what --
24 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
We'll have that when we come
,. 2 5 to it.
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBER $
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8 Y
' QUESTION:
Thank you very much.
i l*
2 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
You're welcome.
m l
l 3
-QUESTION:
Mr. Chairman, if you could just, lL L
4 as you began, summarize what you did.
We had a bit of
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5
-a mike problem.
6 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
Well, the action we took l
7 today was to deny the petitions before us for a stay 8
'of the low-power. license for the Seabrook plant.
That 9
means that we also, in addition to denying the 10 petitions, we granted a one week stay for the Court, 11 D.C.
Circuit Court, to act on the petitions that 12 have - been also filed before that Court to give. the 13 Court time to review the petitions the same as we 14 have.
15 So, that's what we've done here today'.
16 MR. FOUCHARD:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very 17 much.
18 CHAIRMAN ZECH:
All right.
Thank you.
19 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter was 20 concluded.)
21 22 23 24 q25
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NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHoDE ISLAND AVENUE, N.W.
(202) 234-44.~4 WASHINGTON, D.C.
20005 (202) 232-6600
CERTIFICAT5 0F TRANSCRIBER 5
This is to certify that the attached events of a meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission entitled:
TITLE OF MEETING: Press Conference PLACE OF MEETING: Rockville, Maryland DATE OF MEETING:.May 18, 1989 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.
a']t q'
Reporter's name:
Peter Lynch 4
e o
9 Y 4
NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTER $ AND TRANSCRIBER $
1323 RHODE 156AND AVENUE, N.W.
(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C.
20005 (202) 232-6600
,<?N t,,
UNITED STATES y'
g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION O
- p WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555 5
May 30, 1989 MEMORANDUM FOR:
Jim McKnight, IRM W. Se'w FROM:
R r
SUBJECT:
PRESS BRIEFINGS Recently we have transcribed several press briefings by Chairman Zech following Commission meetings.
In order to preserve those recrods, we request that the transcription be placed in the NUDOC system with a copy to the Public Document Room.
The briefings were conducted December 21, 1988, and March 3, April 7, April 20, and May 18, all in 1989.
Copies are enclosed.
Enclosures:
As stated f0