ML24323A210
| ML24323A210 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Oconee  |
| Issue date: | 11/18/2024 |
| From: | Bollwerk G Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| To: | NRC/OGC |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| RAS 57197, 50-269-SLR-2, 50-270-SLR-2, 50-287-SLR-2, ASLBP 24-985-03-SLR-BD01 | |
| Download: ML24323A210 (0) | |
Text
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD Before Administrative Judges:
G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chair Dr. Sue H. Abreu Dr. Arielle J. Miller In the Matter of DUKE ENERGY CAROLINAS, LLC (Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3)
Docket Nos. 50-269-SLR-2, 50-270-SLR-2, and 50-287-SLR-2 ASLBP No. 24-985-03-SLR-BD01 November 18, 2024 MEMORANDUM (Regarding the Need in Weekly Status Reports to Provide a Good Faith Date-Specific Estimate for Completing the Redaction Process)
In an October 18, 2024 issuance, the Licensing Board directed the NRC Staff to provide a weekly status report on its document redaction efforts that includes a good faith estimate of the specific date by which that redaction process will be completed for the four
[Protective Order A] Appendix 1 documents and for the Board-referred ex parte/separation of functions communications.1 Yet, in its most recent weekly status report the Staff indicated only that [t]his process is ongoing, but not yet complete, and the NRC Staff does not have additional information to provide at this time. NRC Staff November 14, 2024, Weekly Status Report (Nov. 14, 2024) at 2 [hereinafter Staff November 14, 2024 Status Report].
1 Licensing Board Memorandum and Order (Requesting Weekly NRC Staff Status Report on Redaction Review Efforts.) at 2 (unpublished) [hereinafter Weekly Status Report Order]. In requesting weekly status reports on the Staffs estimated redaction process completion date, the Board is not seeking to direct the Staff regarding the way in which it conducts, or the time frame in which it completes, that redaction process.
Since late June 2024 when the Staff first advised the Board of the possible existence of nonpublic information in the initial prehearing conference transcript for this proceeding,2 finalizing any redaction process regarding Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information (SUNSI) associated with this proceeding has been a central component in the Boards ongoing effort to ensure the proper treatment of any nonpublic information contained in any docketed materials in this proceeding. Weekly Status Report Order at 2. This is particularly so as the Board seeks to achieve its goal of fulfill[ing] its responsibilities to issue a decision on Petitioners pending hearing request that is based on the public record to the maximum extent feasible, while ensuring that its ruling provides an accurate and adequate explanation of the Boards determinations and supporting reasoning. Licensing Board Memorandum and Order (Granting Motion to Enter Protective Order) (Aug. 19, 2024) at 3 (unpublished).
By the same token, if the Board is to fulfill its additional general responsibility to oversee this adjudications timely conduct, as well as the more specific task of advising the Commission and the participants to this proceeding about the expected date by which a decision on the pending hearing request will be forthcoming, see 10 C.F.R. §§ 2.309(j), 2.319, it is vital that the Board have the Staffs current best estimate of the status of the SUNSI redaction process, which has become a critical path element for Board issuance of a decision on the pending hearing request.
Consequently, consistent with its earlier directive, the Board anticipates that future NRC Staff weekly reports will contain a good faith estimate of a specific date (or dates) by which the redaction process will be completed for the four Protective Order A Appendix 1 documents and 2 See Licensing Board Memorandum and Order (Regarding Status of Initial Prehearing Conference Transcript) (June 28, 2024) at 1 (unpublished). This issuance incorrectly identified the date of the NRC Staffs attached e-mail conveying this information as July 27, 2024, rather than June 27, 2024. See id. attach. 1, at 1 (E-mail from Mary Frances Woods, NRC Staff Counsel, to Sara Culler, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (June 27, 2024, 12:22 EDT)).
for the Board-referred ex parte/separation of functions communications.3 Changing circumstances associated with what undoubtedly has been a challenging redaction process may inform the Staffs good faith estimate of such a date (or dates) so as to require that the date (or dates) be revised from the previous weekly report. But such circumstances do not justify failing to provide a specific date (or dates) unless the Staff has no reasonable expectation that the redaction process will be completed, in which case the weekly status report should detail the reasons why it has reached that conclusion.4 FOR THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chair ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE Rockville, Maryland November 18, 2024 3 While good faith may be a somewhat elusive idea, taking on different meanings and emphases... from one context to another, in this circumstance the Board believes it is best understood in terms of the concepts of honesty in belief and faithfulness to ones duty or obligation. Good Faith, Blacks Law Dictionary (12th ed. 2024).
4 In this regard, the Board is puzzled by the abrupt change from the Staffs previous weekly status report, in which it provided a redaction process completion estimate of November 15, 2024, see NRC Staff November 8, 2024, Weekly Status Report (Nov. 8., 2024) at 2, and its most recent weekly report, in which the Staff indicated the process was ongoing but that it had no additional information to provide regarding a completion date, Staff November 14, 2024 Status Report at 2.
/RA/
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of
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DUKE ENERGY CAROLINAS, LLC,
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Docket Nos. 50-269 SLR-2
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50-270 SLR-2
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50-287 SLR-2
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(Oconee Nuclear Station Units 1, 2, and 3)
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing MEMORANDUM (Regarding the Need in Weekly Status Reports to Provide a Good Faith Date-Specific Estimate for Completing the Redaction Process) 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 G. Paul Bollwerk, III, Chairman, Administrative Judge Dr. Sue H. Abreu, Administrative Judge Dr. Arielle J. Miller, Administrative Judge E-mail: Paul.bollwerk@nrc.gov Sue.abreu@nrc.gov Arielle.miller@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the General Counsel Mail Stop - O-14A44 Washington, DC 20555-0001 David Roth Susan H. Vrahoretis Mary Frances Woods Megan Wright Kevin Bernstein Caitlin R. Byrd, Paralegal E-mail: david.roth@nrc.gov susan.vrahoretis@nrc.gov mary.woods@nrc.gov megan.wright@nrc.gov kevin.bernstein@nrc.gov caitlin.byrd@nrc.gov Counsel for Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLC 1111 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20004 Paul Bessette Ryan K. Lighty Scott Clausen Molly Mattison E-mail: paul.bessette@morganlewis.com ryan.lighty@morganlewis.com scott.clausen@morganlewis.com molly.mattison@morganlewis.com
Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC (Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3)
MEMORANDUM (Regarding the Need in Weekly Status Reports to Provide a Good Faith Date-Specific Estimate for Completing the Redaction Process) 2 Duke Energy Corporation 525 South Tryon Street Charlotte, North Carolina 28202 Tracey M. Leroy E-mail: tracey.leroy@duke-energy.com 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 King of Prussia, PA this 18th day of November 2024.
RUSSELL CHAZELL Digitally signed by RUSSELL CHAZELL Date: 2024.11.18 15:43:07 -05'00'