ML24211A289
| ML24211A289 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon  |
| Issue date: | 07/29/2024 |
| From: | Curran D, Leary C, Templeton H Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, Harmon, Curran, Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP) |
| To: | NRC/OCM |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| RAS 57064, 50-275-LR-2, 50-323-LR-2, LBP-24-06 | |
| Download: ML24211A289 (0) | |
Text
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE COMMISSION
In the matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company Docket Nos. 50 -275 -LR, 50 -373 -LR Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant July 29, 2024 Units 1 and 2
NOTICE OF CONGRESSIONAL COMMUNICATION Petitioners San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP), Friends of the Earth
(FoE), and Environmental Working Group (EWG) hereby notify the Commissioners, ASLB
and parties to this proceeding of their communication with Senator Alex Padilla regarding their
appeal of LBP -24 -06, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board s (ASLBs or Boards )
Memorandum and Order (Denying Request for Hearing and Terminating Proceeding) (July 3,
2024) (hereinafter LBP -24 -06). See the attached Letter from Jane Swanson, Hallie Templeton,
and Caroline Leary to Senator Padilla re: Ongoing Concerns with Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant
Re -Licensing (July 29, 2024). The letter notifies Se nat or Padilla of the Bo ard s decision and
expresses Petitioners hope that the Commissioners will honor their commitment to Senator
Padilla to conduct a new and thorough review of seismic risks to the Diablo Canyon nuclear
power plant in this proceeding, including the hearing process. It also requests him to intervene if
the Commission refuses. We are letting the Commission and parties know as a courtesy, given
that we are requesting action concerning this proceeding.
2
Respectfully submitted,
__/signed electronically by/___
Diane Curran Harmon, Curran, Spielberg, & Eisenberg, L.L.P.
1725 DeSales Street N.W., Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20036 240 -393 -9285 dcurran@harmoncurran.com
Counsel to San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peac e
__/signed electronically by/___
Hallie Templeton Friends of the Earth 1101 15 th Street, 11 th Floor Washington, DC 20005 434 -326 -4647 htempleton@foe.org
Counsel to Friends of the Earth
__/signed electronically by/___
Caroline Leary Environmental Working Group 1250 I St N.W.
Washington, DC 20005 202 -667 -6982 cleary@ewg.org
Counsel to Environmental Working Group
July 29, 2024
July 29, 2024 Hon. Alex Padilla 255 E. Temple St. Suite 1860 Los Angeles, CA 90012 By email to: Nate Bentham, nate_bentham@padilla.senate.gov
Subject:
Ongoing Concerns with Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Re -Licensing
Dear Senator Padilla:
We write with great appreciation for your continued advocacy of your constituents interest in protecting public health and safety from any unsafe operation of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant (DCPP), including the risk of an earthquake -caused radiological accident in the fault -laced region where the reactors are located. The developments describe d in this letter are especially vital for you, given your prior statements regarding public hearings and concerns raised about seismic risks as part of DCPPs relicensing. As you know, public concern about the safety of DCPP is mounting - and rightfully so - now that Pa cific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) has abandoned its previous commitment to close the reactors in 2024 (Unit 1) and 2025 (Unit 1).
Instead, PG&E has applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a 20 -year renewal term.
We were initially heartened when, in a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on April 19, 2023, you obtained a commitment from NRC Chairman Christopher T.
Hanson that the NRC will take another look at seismic risk as part of the license renewal process. Mr. Hanson bound NRC to this obligation in no uncertain terms during his formal, public testimony, and without objection or demurrer from any of the fellow Commissioners who sat beside him.
Upholding this promise is crucially important to public safety and environmental protection in two respects. First, an independent review of seismic risks at the highest level is necessary because PG&E steadfastly refuses to consider the impact on license renewal of new information showing that the potential for seismic core damage at DCPP is in the very high range of one in a thousand per year due to thrust faults that lie beneath the DCPP site. Second, the NRCs regulations excuse PG&E from addressing seismic risks in its license renewal application and omit sei smic risk from the agencys review process. Thus, the agencys technical staff are not requiring PG&E to address the critical new information before relicensing. Only by virtue of Chairman Hansons commitment would the NRC evaluate the significance of the new information or provide a public hearing.
Hon. Alex Padilla July 2 9, 2024 Page 2 of 2
Unfortunately, the NRC is refusing to deliver on this commitment. We are deeply troubled by the recent decision by a three -judge panel of the NRCs Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), agreeing with NRC staff and PG&E that the Chairmans commitment to you has no legal effect. On that basis, the ASLB rejected our request for a hearing on the seismic risk posed by continued operation of DCPP. See Memorandum and Order (Denying Request for Hearing and Terminating Proceeding) (July 3, 2024) (NRC ADAMS Acces sion No. ML241 85A197).
Accordingly, the ASLB will not hear testimony from our highly qualified seismic expert, Dr.
Peter Bird, Professor Emeritus of Geophysics and Geology at the University of California at Los Angeles. Nor will the ASLB require the submission of testimony from PG&E and the NRC Staff, or weigh the evidence presented by the parties. Instead, the NRC is poised to continue wearing blinders while rubber -stamping PG&Es grossly inadequate license renewal application, thereby placing the public at extreme risk.
In the attached appellate brief to the NRC Commissioners, we have demanded that the Commission honor Chairman Hansons commitment that in the uniquely grave circumstances presented by PG&Es proposal to operate DCPP for as much as 20 additional years, the NRC will independently review all relevant information regarding seismic risks in the license renewal proceeding. Implicit in that commitment is a promise to use the adjudicatory hearing process to test PG&Es dated and self -serving technical reports again st the highly qualified and independent expertise of Dr. Bird.
We will continue updating you on this proceeding as it unfolds. We are hopeful that Chairman Hanson and his fellow Commissioners will honor their commitment to you. If not, we respectfully request you to insist on it. Our safety and the health of our envir onment hang in the balance.
Sincerely,
s/Jane Swanson, Board President, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
s/Hallie Templeton, Legal Director and Senior Campaigner, Friends of the Earth
s/Caroline Leary, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, Environmental Working Group
Encl.: Brief by San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, Friends of the Earth, and Environmental Working Group on Appeal of LBP -24 -06
C c: Hon. Laphonza Butler Hon. Salud Carbajal Hon. Adam Schiff NRC Commissioners and parties to terminated license renewal proceeding 3
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I certify that on July 29, 2024, I served the foregoing Notice of Congressional Communication on the ASLB and the parties to this proceeding by posting it on the NRCs Electronic Information Exchange.
__/signed electronically by/___
Hallie Templeton