ML20216G290

Responds to to SA Jackson Re Staff Decision to Docket Application from Private Fuel Storage,Limited Liability Co.Regrets That Response to 10CFR2.206 Requests Did Not Precede Notice of Docketing

ML20216G290
Person / Time
Site:	07200022
Issue date:	08/11/1997
From:	Paperiello C NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	Nielson D UTAH, STATE OF
Shared Package
ML20216G275	List: ML20216G269 ML20216G285 ML20216G290
References
2.206, NUDOCS 9709150031
Download: ML20216G290 (2)

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\ e. . . + /g August 11, 1997 Dr. Olane R. Nielson, Executive Director Utah De>artment of Environmental Quality 16 Nortl 1950 West Salt Lake City, LIT 84116 -

SUBJECT:

RESPONSE TO YOUR JULY 23, 1997 LETTER TO CHAIRMAN JACKSON

Dear Dr. Nielson:

I am responding to your July 23. 1997, letter to Shirley Ann Jackson, Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Comission, regarding the NRC staff's decision to docket an application from Private Fuel Storage. Limited Liability Company (PFS), for a license to construct and operate an Independent Spent fuel Storage Installation on the reservation of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians, a federally recognized Indian Tribe. Your letter expresses frustration that the PFS application was docketed despite your >ending requests, under 10 CFR 2.206 of the Comission's regulations, tlat the application be returned to PFS due to what you perceive to be its inadequacies. Your letter also expresses a concern that members of the public will not have timely access to the application and thus will not be able to evaluate whether to petition to intervene in the licensing 3roceeding because a local public document room (LPDR) will not have been esta)11shed during the time allowed for intervention.

I regret that the response to your 2.206 requests did not precede the notice of docketing of the application, leaving you with the impression your requests had been ignored. By now, you should have received the letter of August 6.

1997, from the Acting Director of the Spent Fuel Project Office explaining that, while your concerns will be considered by the staff during its licensing review of the application, a 2.206 petition is designed to handle enforcement requests and is not an appropriate procedure for objecting to a license application. Rather, the process afforded States and members of the public for contesting the adequacy of a license application is a request for hearing and yetition to intervene in the licensing proceeding in accordance with 10 C R 2.714 of the Comission's regulations. This process is fully explained in the

• Notice of Consideration of Issuance of a Materials License for the Storage of Spent Fuel and Notice of Opportunity for Hearing" which was published in the Eederal Reaister on July 31, 1997. A copy is enclosed. The notice provides a 45 day period for the submission of intervention petitions, With respect to your concerns about the establishment of an LPDR and the availability of the'PFS application, as noted by Connie Nakahara of the Utah Office of H1 h level Nuclear Waste Storage Opposition in the July 19, 1997, edition of. Salt Late Tribune (Ihe Icibung). LPDRs are generally only established or reactor licensing cases. The staff's decision to make an LPDR available for the PFS licensing proceeding is part of HRC's commitment to ensure that interested members of the public will have access to relevant information.

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CORRESPONDENCE PDR &

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Dr. C. R. Nielson The fact that the LPOR is not yet established does not mean that the PFS l

. application is unavailable to members of the public likely to be concerned.

As you know, copies of the application have been distributed both to Governor Leavitt and to you, in addition, copies were provided to the Tooele County, 1 Utah Comissioners and Sheriff's Office and to the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians. If members of the public are not able to obtain a copy from one of these sources, it is available at the Commission's Public Document Room (POR). 2120 L Street NW, Washington. DC 20555. The POR will mail copies of documents for a fee in paper or microfiche form. Additionally, my staff has ,

arranged for PFS to provide a copy of the a> plication to the Tooele County Library and to the Harriott Library at the Jniversity of Utah in order to make it more readily available to the public until the LPDR is operational.

If you desire further information, please feel free to contact Mr. Mark Delligatti of my staff. Mr. Delligatti is the Senior Project Manager assigned to the PF3 application. He can be reached at 301 415 8518.

Sincerely.

~ ff'ub Carl J. 'aaeriollo. Director Office of luclear haterial Safety and Safeguards Docket 72 22

Enclosure:

As stated cc: Chief Leon Bear. Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians John D. Parkyn. Private fuel Storage

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i 7590 01 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION l DOCKET NO. 72 22 l

PRIVATE FUEL STORAGE. LlHITED LIABILITY COMPANY i

NOTICE OF CONSIDERATION OF ISSUANCE OF A MATERIALS LICENSE FOR THE STORAGE OF SPENT FUEL AND NOTICE OF OPPORTUNITY FOR A HrARING

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The Nuclear Regulatory Comission is considering an application dated June 20, 1997, for a materials license, under the provisions of 10 CFR Part  :

72, from Private fuel Storage. Limited Liability Company (the applicant or L PFS) to possess spent fuel and other radioactive materials associated with l 4

spent fuel storage in an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI)  ;

located on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation in Skull Valley Utah. l If granted, the license will authorize the applicant to store spent fuel in i dry storage cask systems at the ISFSI which the applicant proposes to i

! construct and-operate on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, ,

, Pursuant to the provisions of 10 CFR Part 72, the term of the license for the ISFS1 would be twenty (20) years. .

Prior to issuance of the requested license, the NRC will have made the findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the NRC's rules and regulations. The issuance of the materials license will not be approved until the NRC has reviewed the application and has concluded that approval of the license will not be inimical to the comon-defense and security and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to public health and safety. .The NRC. in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51,20(b)(9), will complete an environmental impact statement, This action will be the subject of a' l

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subsequent notice in the FEDERAL REGISTER. Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.105, by  ;

September 15,1997, the applicant may file a request for a hearing; and any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to J

participate as a party in the proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene with respect to the subject i i materials license in accordance with the provisions of 10 CFR 2.714. If a request for hearing or petition for leave.to intervene is filed by the above date, an Atomic Safety and 1.icensing Board designated by the Commission or by the Chairman of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel will rule on the

< request and/or petition, and the Secretary or the designated Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will issue a notice of hearing or an appropriate order. In ,

the event that no request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene is j filed by the above date, the NRC may, upon satisfactory completion of all required evaluations, issue the materials license without further prior  ;

, notice.

A petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner in the proceeding and how that ir. trest may be affected by the results of the proceeding. The petition,should specifMally explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with particular

-reference-to the following factors: (1) the nature of the petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding: (2) the nature and extent of-the petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding:

and (3) the possible effect of any order that may be entered in the proceeding on the petitioner's interest. The petition should also identify the specific aspect (s) of the subject matter of the proceeding as to which petitioner wishes to intervene; Any person who has filed a petition for leave to o

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3 intervene or who has been admitted as a party may amend a petition, without requesting leave of the Board, up to 15 days prior to the holding of the first pre hearing conference scheduled in the proceeding, but such an amended petition must satisfy the specificity requirements described above.

Not later than fifteen (15) days prior to the first pre heoring conference scheduled in the proceeding, a petitioner shall file a supplement to the petition to intervene which must include a list of contentions whia.h are sought to be litigated in the matter. Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted.

In addition, the petitioner shall provide a brief explanation of the bases of the contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which the petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The petitioner must also provide references to those specific sources and documents of which the petitioner is aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert opinion. Petitioner must provide sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. Contentions she'l be limited to matters within the scope of the action under consideration. The contention must be one which. if proven, would entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner who fails to file such a supplement which satisfies these requirements with respect to at least one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party.

Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene. and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the hearing.

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4 A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be {

filed with the Secretary of the Comission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory  ;

Comission, Washington, DC 20555, Attention: Docketing and Services Branch, or may be delivered to the Commission's Public Document Room. Gelman Building, 2120 L Street, NW, Washington, DC, by the above date, Where petitions are filed during the last ten (10) days of the notice period, it is requested that  :

the petitioner promptly so inform the NRC by a toll-free telephone call to ,

Western Union at 1-(800) 248 5100 (in Missouri 1.(800) 342-6700). The Western Union operator should be given Datagram Identification Number N1023 and the following message addressed to Mr. William F. Kane, Director, Spent Fuel Project Office. Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards: petitioner's name and telephone number; date petition was mailed; facility name: and publication date and page number of this FEDERAL REGISTER notice. A copy of the petition should also be sent to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Comission, Washington, DC 20555, and to Mr. Jay Silberg, P.C., Shaw, Pittman, Potts, & Trowbridge, 2300 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037 8007.

Nontimely filings of petitions for leave to intervene, amended petitions, supplemental petitions, and/or requests for hearing will not be entertained absent a determination by the Comission, the presiding officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board designated to rule on the petition and/or request, that the petition and/or request should be granted based upon a balancing of the factors specified-in 10 CFR 2.714(a)(1)(1)-(v) and 2.714(d).

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• S for further details with respect to this action, see the application dated June 20. 1997, which is available for public inspection at the Comission's Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, NW, Washington DC 20555.

The Comission's license and safety evaluation report, when issued, may be inspected at the above location.

Dated at Rockville. Maryland, this bTday of July 1997.

FOR THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ,

William F. Kane. Director Spent fuel Project Office Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards f

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