ML24095A323
| ML24095A323 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | North Anna  |
| Issue date: | 04/04/2024 |
| From: | Michael Gibson Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| To: | |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| RAS 56983, 50-338-SLR-2, 50-339-SLR-2, ASLBP 24-984-02-SLR-BD01 | |
| Download: ML24095A323 (0) | |
Text
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL Before the Licensing Board:
Michael M. Gibson, Chair Nicholas G. Trikouros Dr. Gary S. Arnold In the Matter of:
VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY (North Anna Power Station Units 1 & 2)
Docket Nos. 50-338-SLR-2 50-339-SLR-2 ASLBP No. 24-984-02-SLR-BD01 April 04, 2024 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER (Initial Prehearing Order)
This proceeding concerns the twenty-year subsequent renewal of the licenses for North Anna Power Station Units 1 and 2, which currently authorize Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) to operate North Anna Power Station, Units 1 and 2, located in Louisa County, Virginia, until, respectively, April 1, 2038 and August 21, 2040. On January 8, 2024, a notice was published in the Federal Register announcing the opportunity to request a hearing on the draft site-specific environmental impact statement issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Staff (NRC Staff).1 Beyond Nuclear, Inc. (Beyond Nuclear) and the Sierra Club, Inc. (Sierra Club) submitted a hearing request through the agencys E-Filing system on March 28, 2024.2 1 See 89 Fed. Reg. 960 (Jan. 8, 2024).
2 See Hearing Request and Petition to Intervene by Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club (Mar.
28, 2024).
On April 2, 2024, this Licensing Board was established to rule on standing and contention admissibility matters and to preside at any hearing.3 The following directives shall apply to this proceeding.
I. BRIEFING SCHEDULE Pursuant to 10 C.F.R. § 2.309(i), VEPCOs and the NRC Staffs answers to the petition are due by Monday, April 22, 2024. Any reply to those answers is due by Monday, April 29, 2024.4 II. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS A.
Notices of Appearance If they have not already done so, on or before Monday, April 22, 2024, each counsel shall file a notice of appearance complying with the requirements of 10 C.F.R. § 2.314(b) via the agencys E-Filing system.5 Each such notice of appearance should include a business address, a telephone number, and an e-mail address for the counsel or representative.
B.
Administrative Prescriptions for Pleadings
- 1.
All pleadings shall be double spaced.
- 2.
Absent preapproval by this Board, any motion filed after the date of this memorandum and order and any related responsive pleading shall not exceed ten pages (including the signature page but excluding the certificate of service and any attachments/enclosures). Any request for preapproval to exceed this page limit shall be submitted in writing no less than three business days prior to the expected filing date of the 3 See Establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (April 2, 2024).
4 If answers to the petition are filed earlier than April 22, 2024, the petitioner may nevertheless reply on or before April 29, 2024.
5 For assistance with the NRCs E-Filing system, a participant can contact the Electronic Filing Helpdesk via its webpage (https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/contact-us-eie.html) or by calling (866) 672-7640 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (excluding federal government holidays).
motion or responsive pleading. The request must (1) indicate whether the request is opposed or supported by the other participants to the proceeding;6 (2) provide a good faith estimate of the number of additional pages that will be filed; and (3) demonstrate good cause for being permitted to exceed the page limitation.
C.
Replies to an Answer to a Motion Except in instances involving a motion to file a new contention or a motion to file an amended contention, a participant to this proceeding must request permission to file a reply to an answer to a motion.7 A request for Board approval to file such a reply shall be submitted in writing no fewer than three business days prior to the time the reply will be filed.8 A request to file a reply (1) must indicate whether the request is opposed or supported by the other participants to the proceeding; and (2) must demonstrate that compelling circumstances exist for permitting the reply to be filed.9 D.
Motions for Extension of Time A motion for an extension of time shall be submitted in writing at least three business days before the due date for the pleading or other submission for which an extension is 6 See 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(b). Pursuant to section 2.323(b), all motions require a certification by the moving participant, or the attorney or representative for the moving participant, that a sincere effort has been made to contact the other participants in the proceeding and to resolve the matters raised by the motion. If the consultation mandated by section 2.323(b) is initiated within a reasonable time and the participants believe that all or part of the matter may be resolved amicably if additional time is provided for filing the motion, the participants are encouraged to file a joint motion requesting such a time extension.
7 See 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(c).
8 Although the agencys rules do not provide for replies, the Board will presume that for a reply to be timely, it would have to be filed within seven days of the date of service of the answer it is intended to address. Cf. 10 C.F.R. § 2.309(i)(2).
9 Section 2.323(c) indicates that compelling circumstances might be shown in an instance where the moving participant demonstrates it could not reasonably have anticipated the arguments to which it seeks to reply.
sought.10 A motion for extension of time (1) must indicate whether the request is opposed or supported by the other participants to this proceeding; and (2) must demonstrate appropriate cause that supports the extension.
E.
Opposing a Request to Exceed the Page Limit, to File a Reply, or to Extend the Time for Filing a Pleading Any opposition to a request to exceed the page limit, to file a reply, or to extend the time for filing a pleading shall be filed no later than the next business day after the filing of the request.
F.
Attachments/Enclosures to Pleadings For future filings, where a pleading has additional documents appended to it, such appended documents should be referred to as either attachments or enclosures (and not as exhibits), and each such appended document shall bear a separate alphabetic or numeric designation (e.g., Attachment A, or Enclosure 1) that is noted either on the first page of the appended document or on a cover/divider sheet in front of the appended document.
Attachments or enclosures to a motion and any related responsive pleadings (1) are not subject to the page limit set forth in section II.B.2 above, but (2) should be submitted via the agencys E-Filing system as part of a single electronic file consisting of the pleading, the certificate of service, and all associated attachments or enclosures.11 10 Unless some other time is specified either in the agencys rules or by the Board, motions (other than summary disposition motions) generally are due within ten days after the occurrence or circumstance from which the motion arises, with any answer to that motion due within ten days of service of the motion. See 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(a)(2)(c). An exception to this ten-day filing period is a motion seeking the admission of new/amended contentions. See 10 C.F.R.
§ 2.309(c)(2)(ii), (f)(2); see also id. § 2.323(a)(1) (motions for new/amended contentions not subject to section 2.323 requirements). To be considered timely under 10 C.F.R.
§ 2.309(c)(1)(iii), a motion seeking the admission of new/amended contentions (and the accompanying new/amended contention) should be filed within 30 days of the date on which the information that forms the basis of the motion becomes available.
11 In accordance with the agencys electronic submission guidance, multiple electronic files should be used for pleadings or submissions with attachments or enclosures only if the filing exceeds 1,000 megabytes in size. See Guidance for Electronic Submissions to the NRC (Rev.
10), at 6 (May 30, 2023), https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1303/ML13031A056.pdf.
G.
Filing Date on Pleadings The Board requests that the first page of each pleading submitted by a participant include the pleadings filing date placed either in the upper right-hand corner or as part of the caption.
III. INITIAL PREHEARING CONFERENCE The Board has not determined whether it will hold an initial prehearing conference to hear oral argument regarding standing and contention admissibility. The Board will make that determination after the case is fully briefed. Nevertheless, in the event oral argument is held, it will be on one of the following dates May 9, May 13, May 14, or May 16. After counsel for the parties confer among themselves about which of these dates are acceptable, counsel are to email the Boards law clerk, Emily Newman (emily.newman@nrc.gov), with their suggested dates for oral argument.
It is so ORDERED.
FOR THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD Michael M. Gibson, Chair ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE Rockville, Maryland April 04, 2024
/RA/
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of
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VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY
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Docket Nos. 50-338-SLR-2
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50-339-SLR-2 (North Anna Power Station, Units 1 and 2)
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing MEMORANDUM AND ORDER (Initial Prehearing Order) have been served upon the following persons by Electronic Information Exchange.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication Mail Stop: O-16B33 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: ocaamail.resource@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the Secretary of the Commission Mail Stop: O-16B33 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: hearingdocket@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Mail Stop: T-3F23 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Michael M. Gibson, Chair, Administrative Judge Nicholas G. Trikouros, Administrative Judge Dr. Gary S. Arnold, Administrative Judge Emily Newman, Law Clerk E-mail: michael.gibson@nrc.gov nicholas.trikouros@nrc.gov gary.arnold@nrc.gov emily.newman@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the General Counsel Mail Stop - O-14A44 Washington, DC 20555-0001 David E. Roth, Esq.
Sherwin E. Turk, Esq.
Susan H. Vrahoretis, Esq.
Caitlin R. Byrd, Paralegal Georgiann E. Hampton, Paralegal E-mail: david.roth@nrc.gov sherwin.turk@nrc.gov susan.vrahoretis@nrc.gov caitlin.byrd@nrc.gov georgiann.hampton@nrc.gov Counsel for Virginia Electric and Power Company Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLC 1111 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20004 Paul Bessette, Esq.
Scott Clausen, Esq.
Ryan K. Lighty, Esq.
E-mail: paul.bessette@morganlewis.com scott.clausen@morganlewis.com ryan.lighty@morganlewis.com
Virginia Electric and Power Company (North Anna Power Station, Units 1 and 2, Docket Nos. 50-338-SLR-2 and 50-339-SLR-2)
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER (Initial Prehearing Order) 2 Counsel for Beyond Nuclear and Sierra Club Harmon, Curran, Spielberg, &
Eisenberg, LLP 1725 DeSales Street, N.W.
Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036 Diane Curran E-mail: dcurran@harmoncurran.com Beyond Nuclear Reactor Oversight Project 7304 Carroll Avenue #182 Takoma Park, MD 20912 Paul Gunter E-mail: paul@beyondnuclear.org Office of the Secretary of the Commission Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of April 2024.
KRISTEN HALOJ Digitally signed by KRISTEN HALOJ Date: 2024.04.04 16:13:56 -04'00'