ML25188A218
| ML25188A218 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 05000614 |
| Issue date: | 07/07/2025 |
| From: | Perales M Perales, Allmon & Ice, P.C., San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper |
| To: | NRC/OCM |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| RAS 57395, 50-614-CP | |
| Download: ML25188A218 (0) | |
Text
1 DOCKET NO. 50-614 NRC-2025-0079 CONSTRUCTION PERMIT APPLICATION BY LONG MOTT ENERGY, LLC FOR THE PROPOSED LONG MOTT GENERATING STATION IN CALHOUN COUNTY, TEXAS
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§ BEFORE THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION SAN ANTONIO BAY ESTUARINE WATERKEEPERS REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF DEADLINE TO FILE REQUEST FOR HEARING OR PETITION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE This is a request for an extension of the deadline to file a request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene, pursuant to 10 C.F.R. § 2.307. This request is related to the Application submitted by Long Mott Energy, LLC, for a construction permit for the proposed Long Mott Generating Station, a four-unit reactor facility proposed to be built in Calhoun County, Texas. See 90 Fed. Reg. 24428 (June 10, 2025).
This request is submitted on behalf of San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper (Waterkeeper), a potential party who will seek to intervene in and expects to have standing in this proceeding regarding Long Mott Energys Application, under 10 C.F.R. § 2.309. Waterkeeper is a non-profit membership organization whose mission it is to protect Lavaca, Matagorda, and San Antonio Bays and to educate the public about these ecologically important estuarine systems. It is part of a national network of organizations in the Waterkeeper Alliance. Waterkeeper investigates violations of environmental permits, participates in the pollution permitting process, and educates the public on the sources of pollution that impact Calhoun County. Waterkeeper also promotes the preservation of local wetlands and waterways for commercial and sport fishing and other
2 recreational uses, often working with shrimpers and oystermen who earn their livelihood fishing in waterbodies within 50 miles of the proposed reactors. Waterkeeper includes members who reside, recreate, and work within 50 miles of the proposed reactors and who will be affected by the reactor facility that is the subject of Long Mott Energys construction permit Application.
The current deadline to file a request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene is August 11, 2025, and Waterkeeper respectfully requests that the Commission extend the deadline by two months, making the new deadline October 11, 2025. This extension is requested in order to provide time for meaningful review and expert analysis of the current version of the Application, and it is necessary for the foregoing reasons.
To begin, the Application proposes a novel reactor design. The proposed four-unit, high-temperature gas-cooled, pebble bed reactors (HTGRs) are not only some of the first of their kind internationally, but the proposed facility would be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear facility at an industrial site in North America. Waterkeeper needs more time to adequately and effectively review and engage with the Application, which consists of thousands of pages, and to understand the implications of this novel proposed facility.
Furthermore, Waterkeeper submitted a request for access to Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information (SUNSI) on June 20, 2025. Waterkeeper received a response from the NRC to its SUNSI request on June 30, 2025, indicating that the request will be granted, once all parties have executed non-disclosure affidavits and have agreed to be bound by the terms of a protective orderwhich NRC staff will file in the near future. As of the date of this letter, Waterkeeper awaits the protective order, so that it may execute
3 non-disclosure affidavits and obtain access to the requested SUNSI data. Once the SUNSI data is made available, Waterkeepers identified consultants and counsel will need adequate time to meaningfully engage with and review this information.
In support of this request for an extension of the current deadline, Waterkeeper has attached the declaration of Dr. Edwin Lyman. Dr. Lyman is an expert in nuclear power safety and security, and is reviewing the construction permit Application and assisting with the development of contentions on behalf of Waterkeeper. As Dr. Lyman explains in his declaration, (1) the voluminous and complex nature of the Application materials, (2) the novel reactor design, (3) the delay in accessing essential SUNSI data, and (4) his own professional commitments present good cause, justifying an extension of the current deadline. An extension is needed to allow Dr. Lyman adequate time to fully analyze the proposed facilitys construction permit Application and identify issues of concern that are relevant to Waterkeeper and its members.
In addition to the reasons identified in Dr. Lymans declaration, this extension is necessary because Waterkeepers counsel has a number of professional obligations that impact counsels ability to thoughtfully prepare a thorough petition for leave to intervene by the current deadline, including:
- 1. Preparation of Response to Petition for Review in the matter of: Lower Colorado River Authority v. Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District, No. 24-0958, before the Supreme Court of Texas, due on July 9, 2025;
- 2. Preparation of Reply Brief in the matter of: Application of New Stout Excavating Group LLC for Permit No. 177542L001, Docket No. 2025-0831-AIR, before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, due on July 11, 2025;
- 3. Pre-planned travel out of state on July 15 - July 19, 2025;
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- 4. Preparation of Response Briefs on the Merits in the matters of: Texas General Land Office v. SaveRGV, No. 24-0237, Cameron County v. SaveRGV, No. 24-0407, and Ken Paxton v. SaveRGV, No. 24-0457, before the Supreme Court of Texas, due on July 23, 2025;
- 5. Preparation of Petition for Review in the matter of: San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, No. 25-0564, before the Supreme Court of Texas, due on August 6, 2025;
- 6. Participation as a speaker and panelist at a professional conference on August 7 - 8, 2025; and
- 7. Preparation for and participation in a hearing in the matter of: Diane Wilson v.
Calhoun County Independent School District Board of Trustees, Cause No. 2025-CV-5299-DC, in Calhoun County District Court, on August 19, 2025.
Based on the foregoing, Waterkeeper respectfully urges that the current deadline to submit a request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene be extended by two months, making the new deadline October 11, 2025. Waterkeeper has presented good cause for this extension request. This request is not submitted for purposes of delay, but rather, to allow Waterkeeper to prepare a thoughtful and thorough petition to intervene that is useful to the NRC and that addresses the issues of concern to Waterkeeper and its members.
Waterkeeper also respectfully requests a prompt ruling and response to this extension request, so that Waterkeeper may effectively coordinate with its members and technical consultants regarding its intervention petition.
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5 Respectfully submitted, Signed (electronically) on July 7, 2025 by:
/s/ Marisa Perales Marisa Perales Texas Bar No. 24002750 marisa@txenvirolaw.com PERALES, ALLMON & ICE, P.C.
1206 San Antonio St.
Austin, Texas 78701 512-469-6000 (t) l 512-482-9346 (f)
Counsel for San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper
1 DOCKET NO. 50-614 NRC-2025-0079 CONSTRUCTION PERMIT APPLICATION BY LONG MOTT ENERGY, LLC FOR THE PROPOSED LONG MOTT GENERATING STATION IN CALHOUN COUNTY, TEXAS
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§ BEFORE THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION DECLARATION OF EDWIN LYMAN, Ph.D.
§ DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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§ I, Dr. Edwin Lyman, declare as follows:
- 1. My name is Edwin Lyman. I am over eighteen (18) years of age and of sound mind, have never been convicted of a felony, and am otherwise capable of making this declaration. The information in this declaration is based on my personal experience and my review of publicly available information.
- 2. I am the Director of Nuclear Power Safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in Washington, DC, and I have been employed at UCS since 2003. I earned a doctorate degree in physics from Cornell University in 1992. I have over three decades of experience in nuclear power safety and security, working as a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton Universitys Center for Energy and Environmental Studies (now the Science and Global Security Program) and serving as the president of the Nuclear Control Institute before I joined UCS. I am a member of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management and the American Nuclear Society, and I have testified before Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and published articles in several journals and magazines about nuclear power. I have also served as a qualified expert witness for intervenors in several NRC adjudicatory proceedings.
- 3. I have been engaged as a technical consultant by San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper (Waterkeeper) for purposes of reviewing the Long Mott Generating Stations Construction Permit Application and identifying issues of concern that may be relevant to Waterkeeper and its members.
- 4. The current deadline for submitting a hearing request and Petition of Leave to Intervene in this matter is August 11, 2025.
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- 5. As I understand it, the proposed facility would be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear power facility at an industrial site in North America, and it relies on a novel reactor design of significant complexity.
- 6. The Application materials total thousands of pages, consisting of technical reports and data.
- 7. Moreover, I do not yet have access to information that has been designated as SUNSI.
I understand that this information will be made available to me in the near future, but until I see the information I cannot judge how long it will take me to review it.
- 8. Due to professional obligations scheduled months ago, including a speaking engagement at a conference in Italy from August 7 to August 13, for which I must prepare, and my travel outside of the country from August 5, 2025 through at least August 19, 2025, as well as my other obligations as a full-time employee of UCS, I have limited time before the current filing deadline that I can devote to reviewing the Application materials.
- 9. Because of the breadth of the Application materials and the delay in accessing some of those materials, and because of previously scheduled professional and personal obligations, I need additional time to ensure a complete and thorough analysis of the specific design of the proposed facility and its implications. More time to meaningfully review and engage with this recently obtained information is integral to an informed scientific assessment of the potential risks associated with the proposed facility and an analysis of how Waterkeeper members could be adversely impacted by the proposed facility if it were permitted.
- 10. As a scientific matter, it is crucial to have more time to evaluate a Construction Permit Application of this nature because:
a) The Application is for construction of a first-of-a-kind reactor of a design with few historical precedents; b) The Application utilizes an alternative licensing approach for a construction permit, based on the Licensing Modernization Project, which has only been used to date in one other nuclear power reactor construction permit application; c) A substantial review of the voluminous scientific literature on high-temperature gas-cooled reactors and fuels will be needed to support our review of the Application and preparation of contentions; and d) We do not yet know the length or complexity of the Aircraft Impact Assessment.
- 11. Based on my professional judgment, additional time is essential to ensure that my review is accurate, complete, and informed by the applicable standards of scientific integrity and care.
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- 12. My name is Edwin Lyman, my date of birth is June 21, 1964, and my address is 1515 Park Road, NW, #8, Washington, District of Columbia, 20010, USA. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed in the District of Columbia, on the 3rd day of July, 2025.
Edwin Lyman, Ph.D.