ML111171399

NRC Staff'S Unopposed Request for an Extension of Time to Respond to the State of New York'S Motion to Compel the Production of Documents

ML111171399
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	04/27/2011
From:	Turk S E NRC/OGC
To:	Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
References
50-247-LR, 50-286-LR
Download: ML111171399 (7)

Text

April 27, 2011 UNITED STATES OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING I n the Matter of ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC. Docket Nos. 50-247-LR/286-LR (Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 2 and 3) NRC STAFF'S UNOPPOSED REQUEST FOR AN OF TIME TO RESPOND TO THE STATE OF NEW MOTION TO COMPEL THE PRODUCTION OF Pursuant to 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(a), the NRC Staff ("Staff")

hereby requests an extension of time of one week, until May 9, 2011, to respond to the "State of New York Motion to Compel NRC Staff to Produce Documents Relied Upon in Staff's Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement" (Motion")

filed by the State of New York ("New York") on April 22, 2011. In support of this request, the Staff states as follows: 1. In its Motion, New York seeks to compel the Staff to produce or identify additional documents pertaining to the Staff's evaluation of severe accident mitigation alternatives

("SAMAs"), set forth in the Staff's Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement in this proceeding.

1 In particular, New York seeks the production of analyses or documents generated by the Staff's consultants at Information Systems Laboratories, Inc. ("ISLI") or Sandia National Laboratory

("Sandia") (Motion at 1-3, 12-14). 2. Significantly, New York does not seek the production of any documents which the Staff has previously identified as privileged in the numerous document disclosures which 1 "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 38, Regarding Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 2 and 3" (Dec. 2010) ("FSEIS").

-2 the Staff has made since January 30, 2009; in this regard, New York avers: "The State does not seek to overturn any privilege designation made to date in this proceeding.

Rather, the State seeks documents which Staff has not produced and not logged but which are clearly relevant to the State's admitted contentions" (ld. at 12; emphasis added). Similarly, New York observes that "Staff has logged documents that appear to communicate Sandia or ISLSI opinions to the Staff "-and indicates that "[t]he State does not challenge the Staff's privilege designation over documents the State has not asked for. However, the relevant documents have never been included on any disclosure log from Staff and never been produced" (ld. at 16; emphasis in original).

3. New York asserts that the Staff has failed to produce or identify documents as privileged (Id. at 5, 16, 17); that "Sandia generated analyses and reports that Staff never disclosed or logged as privileged" (ld. at 14); that the Staff has "refus[ed]" to produce such documents to the State (ld. at 4, 10); and that the Staff is in "willful disregard of [its] regulatory obligations" (Jd. at 1). New York provides no factual basis for these assertions.

4. The Staff is cognizant of its document disclosure obligations in this proceeding, and believes that it has acted in accordance with those obligations.

As Staff Counsel has previously pointed out to Counsel for New York, the Staff has produced or identified numerous documents pertaining to its evaluation of SAMA-related issues in its disclosures and privilege logs in this proceeding.

2 Nonetheless, in order to assure that it has produced or identified all responsive documents in accordance with its obligations in this proceeding, the Staff has again requested that its employees and consultants review the documents in their possession, to 2 As indicated in the Declaration of Janice A Dean submitted with New York's Motion, and Attachments 3 and 5 thereto, Counsel for the Staff has informed New York on several occasions that the Staff has identified numerous documents on its privilege logs that are responsive to New York's request. See E-mail from Sherwin Turk to Janice Dean, dated April 18, 2011 (Attachment 5 to New York's Motion).

-assure that all documents which it is required to produce or identify, that are the subject of New York's Motion, have been (or are) disclosed or identified.

5. The Staff expects to conclude its further document review within the next week. If any additional documents are discovered that have not yet been produced or identified as privileged, the Staff will identify or produce them, consistent with the Staff's disclosure obligations under 10 C.F.R. §§ 2.336(b) and 2.1203(b).

6. Pursuant to 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(c), the Staff is required to file its answer to New York's Motion within 10 days after the filing thereof, i.e., on or before May 2, 2011. Inasmuch as the Staff expects to receive all facts necessary to definitively respond to the State's Motion within the next week, the Staff requests that it be permitted to respond to New York's Motion on or before May 9,2011. 7. In accordance with 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(a), Staff Counsel has contacted Counsel for New York and Counsel for Entergy, both of whom have stated that they do not object to the Staff's request for an extension of time until May 9,2011, to respond to New York's Motion. 8. The Staff submits that a one-week extension of time in which to file its answer to New York's Motion is reasonable and will assist the parties and Board to properly resolve the issues presented by New York's Motion. Further, the Staff submits that a one-week delay in the Staff's filing of its answer to New York's Motion will not cause hardship for any party or substantial delay in the proceeding.

-WHEREFORE, the Staff respectfully requests that it be afforded an extension of time, until May 9, 2011, in which to file its answer to New York's motion to compel. Respectfully submitted, Sherwin E. Turk Counsel for NRC Staff Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 2ih day of April 2011 UNITED STATES OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING I n the Matter of ) ) ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC. ) Docket Nos. 50-247-LR/286-LR (Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 2 and 3) CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing "NRC STAFF'S UNOPPOSED REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME TO RESPOND TO THE STATE OF NEW YORK'S MOTION TO COMPEL THE PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS," dated April 27, 2011, have been served upon the following through deposit in the NRC's internal mail system, with copies by electronic mail, as indicated by an deposit in the U.S. Postal Service, as indicated by an asterisk, with copies by electronic mail, this 2ih day of April, 2011: Lawrence G. McDade, Chair Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Mail Stop -T-3 F23 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: Lawrence.McDade@nrc.gov Dr. Richard E. Wardwell Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Mail Stop -T-3 F23 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: Richard. Wardwell@nrc.gov Dr. Kaye D. Lathrop Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel 190 Cedar Lane E. Ridgway, CO 81432 E-mail: Kaye. Lathrop@nrc.gov Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mail Stop: 0-16G4 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: OCAAMAll.resource@nrc.gov Office of the Secretary Attn: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff Mail Stop: 0-16G4 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: Hearing.Docket@nrc.gov Josh Kirstein, Esq. Atomic Safety and licensing Board Panel Mail Stop -T-3 F23 U. S, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-Mail: Josh. Kirstein@nrc.gov

-2 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mail Stop: T -3 F23 Washington, DC 20555-0001 (Via Internal Mail Only) Kathryn M. Sutton, Esq.* Paul M. Bessette, Esq. Jonathan Rund, Esq. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20004 E-mail: ksutton@morganlewis.com E-mail: pbessette@morganlewis.com E-mail: jrund@morganlewis.com Martin J. O'Neill, Esq.* Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP 1000 Louisiana Street, Suite 4000 Houston, TX 77002 E-mail: martin.o.neill@morganlewis.com Elise N. Zoli, Esq.* Goodwin Procter, LLP Exchange Place 53 State Street Boston, MA 02109 E-mail: ezoli@goodwinprocter.com William C. Dennis, Esq.

• Assistant General Counsel Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 E-mail: wdennis@entergy.com Melissa-Jean Rotini, Assistant County Office of Robert F. Meehan, Westchester County Attorney 148 Martine Avenue, 6th Floor White Plains, NY 10601 E-Mail: MJR1@westchestergov.com John J. Sipos, Esq.* Charlie Donaldson, Esq. Assistants Attorney General New York State Department of Law Environmental Protection Bureau The Capitol Albany, NY 12224 E-mail: John.Sipos@ag.ny.gov Janice A. Dean, Esq.* Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York 120 Broadway, 25 th Floor New York, NY 10271 E-mail: Janice.Dean@ag.ny.gov Joan Leary Matthews, Esq.

• Senior Attorney for Special Projects New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Office of the General Counsel 625 Broadway, 14th Floor Albany, NY 12233-1500 E-mail: jlmatthe@gw.dec.state.ny.us John Louis Parker, Esq.

• Office of General Counsel, Region 3 New York State Department of Environmental conservation 21 South Putt Corners Road New Paltz, NY 12561-1620 E-mail: jlparker@gw.dec.state.ny.us

-3 Daniel E. O'Neill, Mayor* James Seirmarco, M.S. Village of Buchanan Municipal Building Buchanan, NY 10511-1298 E-mail: vob@bestweb.net E-mail: smurray@villageofbuchanan.com Robert Snook, Esq.* Office of the Attorney General State of Connecticut 55 Elm Street P.O. Box 120 Hartford, CN 06141-0120 E-mail: robert.snook@ct.gov Phillip Musegaas, Esq.* Deborah Brancato, Esq. Riverkeeper, Inc. 20 Secor Road Ossining, NY 10562 E-mail: phillip@riverkeeper.org dbrancato@riverkeeper.org Michael J. Delaney, Esq.* Director, Energy Regulatory Affairs New York City Department of Environmental Protection 59-17 Junction Boulevard Flushing, NY 11373 E-mail: mdelaney@dep.nyc.gov Manna Jo Stephen Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, 724 Wolcott Beacon, NY E-mail:

E-mail:

Daniel Riesel, Thomas F. Wood, Ms. Jessica Steinberg, Sive, Paget & Riesel, 460 Park New York, NY E-mail:

Ross H. Gould, 270 Route Rhinebeck, NY T: 917-658-7144 E-mail: rgouldesq@gmail.com Sherwin E. Turk Counsel for NRC Staff