ML24263A018

Memorandum and Order (Initial Prehearing Order)

ML24263A018
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades
Issue date:	09/19/2024
From:	Emily Krause Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
To:	- No Known Affiliation, Holtec Decommissioning International, Holtec Palisades, NRC/OGC
SECY RAS
References
RAS 57107, ASLBP 24-986-01-LA-BD01, 50-255-LA-3
Download: ML24263A018 (0)

Text

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL Before Administrative Judges:

Emily I. Krause, Chair Dr. Gary S. Arnold Dr. Arielle J. Miller In the Matter of:

HOLTEC DECOMMISSIONING INTERNATIONAL, LLC, AND HOLTEC PALISADES, LLC (Palisades Nuclear Plant)

Docket No. 50-255-LA-3 ASLBP No. 24-986-01-LA-BD01 September 19, 2024 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER (Initial Prehearing Order)

This proceeding concerns four requests filed by Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC, and Holtec Palisades, LLC (collectively, Holtec) to amend the operating license for Palisades Nuclear Plant to support a potential return to power operations. On August 7, 2024, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the opportunity to request a hearing on the license amendment requests by October 7, 2024.1 On September 9, 2024, Alan Blind filed a hearing request on behalf of several petitioners (Joint Petitioners) through the agencys E-Filing system.2 This Licensing Board was established on

1 See 89 Fed. Reg. 64,486, 64,487 (Aug. 7, 2024).

2 See Joint Petitioners Hearing Request (Sept. 9, 2024). Joint Petitioners are Jody Flynn, Thomas Flynn, Bruce Davis, Karen Davis, Christian Moevs, Mary and Chuck Huffman, and Dianne Ebert. Id. at 15-16, 73-74.

September 17, 2024, 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 Holtecs and the NRC Staffs answers to Joint Petitioners hearing request are due November 1, 2024. Joint Petitioners reply is due November 8, 2024.4 And should they wish to do so, Joint Petitioners may amend their hearing request on or before the October 7, 2024 hearing request deadline without leave of this Board.5 II. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS A.

Notices of Appearance If they have not already done so, on or before November 1, 2024, representatives of each participant shall file notices of appearance complying with the requirements of 10 C.F.R.

§ 2.314(b) via the agencys E-Filing system.6 Each notice of appearance should include a business address, telephone number, and e-mail address for each representative.

B.

Formatting Requirements for Pleadings

1.

All pleadings shall be double spaced.

2.

The first page of each pleading submitted by a participant shall include the pleadings filing date in the upper right-hand corner or as part of the caption.

3 See Establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Sept. 17, 2024).

4 If answers are filed earlier than November 1, 2024, Joint Petitioners may nevertheless reply on or before November 8, 2024.

5 New or amended contentions filed after the hearing request deadline must meet the requirements in 10 C.F.R. § 2.309(c), in addition to the requirements in 10 C.F.R. § 2.309(d) and (f). See 10 C.F.R. § 2.309(c)(1), (c)(4).

6 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).

3.

If a participant wishes to append documents to a pleading, these documents should be referred to as attachments or enclosures (not exhibits), with a separate alphabetic or numeric designation given to each appended document (e.g., Attachment A, or Enclosure 1),

either on the first page or on a cover/divider sheet in front of the appended document.

Attachments or enclosures 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 the associated attachments or enclosures.7 C.

Motions

1.

Certification of Consultation Section 2.323(b) of the agencys rules of practice requires that, for all motions other than motions for new or amended contentions, the moving participant or the attorney or representative for the moving participant include a certification that a sincere effort has been made to contact the other participants in the proceeding and to resolve the matters raised by the motion.8 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, in accordance with section II.C.3 below.

2.

Replies to an Answer to a Motion Except in instances involving a motion to file new or amended contentions, a participant to this proceeding must request permission to reply to an answer to a motion.9 A request for

7 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.

8 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(b).

9 See 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(c).

Board approval to file a reply shall be submitted in writing no fewer than three business days prior to the time the reply will be filed.10 A request to file a reply must (1) indicate whether the request is opposed or supported by the other participants to the proceeding; and (2) demonstrate that compelling circumstances exist for permitting the reply to be filed.11

3.

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 sought.12 A motion for extension of time must (1) indicate whether the request is opposed or supported by the other participants to this proceeding; and (2) demonstrate appropriate cause that supports the extension.

4.

Opposing a Motion to File a Reply or to Extend the Time for Filing a Pleading Any opposition to a motion 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 motion.

10 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).

11 Section 2.323(c) indicates that compelling circumstances might be shown in an instance when the moving participant demonstrates that it could not reasonably have anticipated the arguments to which it seeks to reply.

12 Unless some other time is specified 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 or amended contentions. See 10 C.F.R.

§ 2.309(c)(2)(ii), (f)(2); see also 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(a)(1) (motions for new or 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 to admit new or amended contentions (and the accompanying new or amended contentions) should be filed within thirty days of the date upon which the information that is the basis of the motion becomes available.

III. INITIAL PREHEARING CONFERENCE The Board has not determined whether it will hold an initial prehearing conference to hear oral argument on standing and contention admissibility. The Board will make that determination at a later date. If the Board determines that an oral argument is warranted, the Boards law clerk, Georgia Rock (Georgia.Rock@nrc.gov), will coordinate scheduling with the participants.

It is so ORDERED.

FOR THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD Emily I. Krause, Chair ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE Rockville, Maryland September 19, 2024

/RA/

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of

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HOLTEC DECOMMISSIONING

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Docket No. 50-255-LA-3 INTERNATIONAL, LLC, AND HOLTEC

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PALISADES, LLC

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(Palisades Nuclear Plant)

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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 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 Emily I. Krause, Chair, Administrative Judge Dr. Gary S. Arnold, Administrative Judge Dr. Arielle J. Miller, Administrative Judge Whitlee Dean, Law Clerk Georgia Rock, Law Clerk E-mail: Emily.Krause@nrc.gov Gary.Arnold@nrc.gov Arielle.Miller@nrc.gov Whitlee.Dean@nrc.gov Georgia.Rock@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the General Counsel Mail Stop - O-14A44 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Julie G. Ezell Peter L. Lom, Esq.

Anita G. Naber, Esq.

David E. Roth, Esq.

Michael A. Spencer, Esq.

Susan H. Vrahoretis, Esq.

, Paralegal Caitlin R. Byrd, Paralegal E-mail: Julie.Ezell@nrc.gov Peter.Lon@nrc.gov Anita.ghoshnaber@nrc.gov David.Roth@nrc.gov Michael.Spencer@nrc.gov Susan.Vrahoretis@nrc.gov Caitlin.Byrd@nrc.gov Counsel for Holtec Decommissioning International, LLC and Holtec Palisades, LLC Balch and Bingham LLP 1710 Sixth Avenue North Birmingham, AL 35203 M. Stanford Blanton, Esq.

Grant Eskelsen, Esq.

Alan D. Lovett, Esq.

E-mail: sblanton@balch.com geskelsen@balch.com alovett@balch.com

Palisades Nuclear Plant, Docket No. 50-255-LA-3 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER (Initial Prehearing Order) 2 Representative for the Petitioners Arthur Blind 1000 West Shawnee Road Baroda, MI 49101 E-mail: a.alan.blind@gmail.com Office of the Secretary of the Commission Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of September 2024.

CLARA SOLA Digitally signed by CLARA SOLA Date: 2024.09.19 08:10:02 -04'00'