ML110550194

Transcript of 10 CFR 2.206 Petition Re Vermont Yankee, February 14, 2011, Pages 1-15

ML110550194
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Site:	Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png
Issue date:	02/14/2011
From:	Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
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NRC-721
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Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 10 CFR 2.206 Petition RE Vermont Yankee ket Number: 50-271 Title Doc Location: (telephone conference)

Date: Monday, February 14, 2011 Work Order No.: NRC-721 Pages 1-15 ORIGINAL NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC.Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433 1 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3 +++++4 PETITION REVIEW BOARD 5 x-------------------------x 6 IN THE MATTER OF: 7 VERMONT YANKEE 10 CFR Docket No. 50-271 8 2.206 PETITION FROM 9 THOMAS SAPORITO 10 -------------------------

x 11 Monday, 12 February 14, 2011 13 The above-entitled matter convened via 14 teleconference, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m.15 PRESENT: 16 THEODORE R. QUAY, Chairman, Petition Review Board 17 THOMAS SAPORITO, Petitioner 18 PHIL COUTURE, Vermont Yankee 19 DONALD E. JACKSON, Region I, NRC 20 JAMES S. KIM, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation 21 (NRR)22 EKATERINA LENNING, NRR 23 TANYA MENSAH, NRR 24 MUHAMMAD RAZZAQUE, NRR 25 STACEY L. ROSENBERG, NRR NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com v

2 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 10:00 a.m.3 MR. KIM: Good morning. I'd like to thank 4 everybody for attending this meeting. My name is 5 James Kim and I am the Vermont Yankee Project Manager.6 We are here today to allow the Petitioner, 7 Mr. Thomas Saporito, to address the Petition Review 8 Board, regarding 2.206 petition dated January 14, 9 2011.10 I'm the Petition Manager for the petition.11 The Petition Review Board chairman is Ted Quay.12 As part of the Petition Review Board, 13 review of this petition, Mr. Saporito has requested 14 this opportunity to address the Petition Review Board.15 The meeting is scheduled from 10 to 11 16 a.m. The meeting is being recorded by the NRC 17 Operations Center and will be transcribed by a court 18 reporter.

The transcript will become a supplement to 19 the petition.

The transcript will also be made 20 publicly available.

21 I'd like to open this meeting with 22 introductions.

As we go around the room, please be 23 sure to clearly state your name, your position, and 24 the office that you work for within the NRC.25 For the record, I'll start off. This is NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 3 1 James Kim. I'm a Project Manager for the Division of 2 Operator Reactor Licensing in NRR.3 MR. RAZZAQUE:

This is Muhammad Razzaque, 4 I work in the Reactor Systems Branch of NRR.5 MS. LENNING: Ekaterina Lenning. I work 6 at NRR as DCR.7 MR. QUAY: This is Ted Quay. I'm the 8 Deputy Director in the Division of Policy and 9 Rulemaking, NRR, and I'm the Petition Review Board 10 chairman.11 MS. MENSAH: Tanya Mensah, NRR.12 MR. ROSENBERG:

Stacey Rosenberg, Branch 13 Chief in the Division of Policy and Rulemaking, NRR.14 MR. KIM: At this time, are there any NRC 15 participants from headquarters on the phone?16 (No response.)

17 What about the region?18 MR. JACKSON: This is Don Jackson, Branch 19 Chief, Division of Reactor Projects, Region I.20 MR. KIM: Are there any representatives 21 for the licensee on the phone?22 MR. COUTURE: Yes, this is Phil Couture 23 with Vermont Yankee.24 MR. KIM: Mr. Saporito, will you please 25 introduce yourself for the record?NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 4 1 MR. SAPORITO:

Yes, my name is Thomas 2 Saporito.

I'm a citizen of the United States and 3 resident of the great State of Florida. I'm the 4 Petitioner in this proceeding.

5 MR. KIM: Thank you. Are there any other 6 associated members of the public on the phone?7 (No response.)

8 Hearing none, I'd like to emphasize that 9 we each need to speak clearly and loudly to make sure 10 that the court reporter can accurately transcribe this 11 meeting. If you have something you'd like to say 12 please first state your name for the record. For 13 those who are dialing into the meeting, please 14 remember to mute your phones to minimize any 15 background noise or distractions.

If you do not a 16 mute button this can be done by pressing the keys *6.17 To unmute press the *6 keys again. Thank you.18 At this time, I'll turn it over to the PRB 19 Chairman, Ted Quay.20 MR. QUAY: Good morning. Welcome to this 21 meeting regarding the 2.206 petition submitted by Mr.22 Saporito.23 I would like to first share some 24 background on our process. Section 2.206 of Title X 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations described as a NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com v

5 1 petition process, the primary mechanism for The 2 primary mechanism for the public to request 3 enforcement action by the NRC in a public process.4 This process permits anyone to petition the NRC to 5 take enforcement-type action related to NRC licensees 6 or licensed activities.

7 Depending on the results of its 8 evaluation, NRC could modify, suspend, or revoke an 9 NRC issued license or take any other appropriate 10 enforcement action to resolve a problem. The NRC 11 staff's guidance for the disposition of 2.206 petition 12 request is in Management Directive 8.11 which is 13 publicly available.

14 The purpose of today's meeting is to give 15 the Petitioner, Mr. Saporito, an opportunity to 16 provide any additional explanation or support for the 17 petition before the Petition Review Board's final 18 consideration and recommendation.

This meeting is not 19 a hearing, nor is it an opportunity for the Petitioner 20 to question or examine the Petition Review Board on 21 the merits or issues presented in the petition 22 request.23 No decisions regarding the merits of this 24 petition will be made at this meeting. Following this 25 meeting, the Petition Review Board will conduct its NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com v

6 1 internal deliberations.

The outcome of this internal 2 meeting will be discussed with the Petitioner.

3 The Petition Review Board typically 4 consists of a Chairman, usually a manager at the 5 Senior Executive Service level at the NRC and has a 6 Petition Manager and a Petition Review Board 7 Coordinator.

Other members of the Board are 8 determined by the NRC staff, based on the content of 9 the information in the petition request.10 At this time I would like to introduce the 11 Board. I am Ted Quay, the Petition Review Board 12 Chairman.

James Kim is the Petition Manager for the 13 petition under discussion today. Kate Lenning is the 14 NRC Office PRB Coordinator.

Our technical staff 15 includes Muhammad Razzaque from the Office of Nuclear 16 Reactor Regulations Reactor Systems Branch and Don 17 Jackson from NRC Region I, Division of Reactor 18 Projects.19 As described in our process, the NRC may 20 ask clarifying questions in order to better understand 21 the Petitioner's presentation and to reach a reasoned 22 decision whether to accept or reject the Petitioner's 23 request for review under the 2.206 process.24 I would like to summarize the scope of the 25 petition under consideration and the NRC activities to NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 7 1 date. On January 14, 2011, Mr. Saporito submitted to 2 the NRC a petition under 2.206 concerning the safe 3 operation of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.4 In his petition request, Mr. Saporito 5 requested that the NRC issue a confirmatory order 6 requiring the licensee to immediately bring the 7 reactor in question to a cold shutdown mode of 8 operation; issue a civil penalty against the licensee;9 remove the licensee's employees responsible for this 10 matter from NRC licensed activities for a period of no 11 less than five years; perform an immediate NRC 12 investigation and inspection of the Vermont Yankee 13 Nuclear Facility to ensure that all nuclear safety-14 related systems are properly operational in accordance 15 with the licensee's technical specifications and the 16 NRC license.17 Allow me to discuss the NRC activities to 18 date. On January 19th, you requested to address the 19 Petition Review Board to provide supplemental 20 information for the Board's consideration prior to the 21 PRB's internal meeting to make an initial 22 recommendation.

23 The PRB met on January 24, 2011 and 24 determined your request for immediate action of 25 bringing the Vermont Yankee to a cold shutdown mode of NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 8 1 operation because the PRB did not identify any 2 immediate public health and safety concerns that would 3 warrant an immediate shutdown.

On January 24th you 4 were informed of the PRB's decision on the immediate 5 action.6 On January 26th, you asked the PRB, via 7 teleconference, -- I'm sorry, you addressed the PRB 8 via teleconference and provided additional information 9 in support of your petition.10 The PRB met on February 2, 2011 to discuss 11 your petition and make an initial recommendation to 12 accept your petition because it met the review 13 criteria.

On January 8th, you informed the PRB's 14 initial recommendation to accept your petition and you 15 requested another opportunity to address the PRB to 16 provide any comments to the PRB's initial 17 recommendation and additional information in support 18 of your petition.19 As a reminder for the phone participants, 20 please identify yourself if you make any remarks as 21 this will help in the preparation of the meeting 22 transcript that will be made publicly available.

23 Thank you. And at this point, Mr. Saporito, I'll turn 24 it over to you.25 MR. SAPORITO:

Okay, thank you, and good NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 9 1 morning. I appreciate this opportunity to address the 2 NRC Petition Review Board concerning this most serious 3 matter related to public health and safety.4 As the NRC is most certainly aware, the 5 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, which is a 6 licensee of the NRC, and has a dubious record of 7 numerous failures over the course of its license which 8 is due to expire in the very near future, Vermont 9 Yankee Nuclear Power Plant initially obtained an NRC 10 license approximately 40 years ago. And because the 11 plant is near the end of that licensing period, in my 12 view, the nuclear reactor should be shut down on that 13 basis alone. The initial safety analysis in review 14 which was performed by the licensee and subsequently 15 adopted and accepted by the NRC was based on a life 16 expectancy of that reactor for a 40-year license.17 That life span is now coming to a conclusion and based 18 on that safety analysis, the entire plant should be 19 shut down.20 A reasonably-minded person would 21 understand that based on that safety analysis and the 22 license expectancy of 40 years, the nuclear reactor 23 operates all 'the support equipment in the nuclear 24 support system has deteriorated over that same 40-year 25 period of time. And the NRC's safety margin which NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 10 1 were accepted as proposed by the licensee at the time 2 that the NRC issued the operating license for that 3 reactor are now questionable at best due to the age of 4 that plant.5 Previously, the Chairman has outlined the 6 parameters of the petition and I'm not going to repeat 7 those. However, I have to stress that the initial 8 determination by the NRC not to dispatch an inspection 9 team to the plant as requested in the petition is very 10 discerning to me because the NRC based its initial 11 decision not to immediately shut the nuclear reactor 12 down without the benefit of any Agency inspection at 13 the time. And they based their decision apparently on 14 the response from the licensee as the condition of the 15 plant.16 But the licensee's responses have very 17 little credibility because the licensee has been found 18 to have provided false testimony under oath to one or 19 more government agencies related to the operation of 20 the nuclear reactor at Vermont Yankee site.21 Moreover, the licensee, over the very 22 short period of time encompassing the revelations of 23 the leaking radioactive tritium at the facility 24 apparently is not fully cognizant of the entire layout 25 and structure and equipment installation at the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 11 1 facility at Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power System and 2 was not cognizant of all the underground piping 3 related to the systems which are inter-weaved with the 4 nuclear safety systems of the plant.5 Given these facts, I again implore the NRC 6 to send an augmented NRC inspection team to the 7 facility to do a thorough review of all nuclear 8 safety-related systems and a review of the management 9 team in place at that plant to ascertain whether the 10 licensee has the wherewithal to continue operations 11 consistent with NRC regulations under 10 CRF Part 50.12 I suggest that the licensee does not.13 The recent incident which is the subject 14 of this petition involving the failure of the licensee 15 to timely report an incident at the facility which is 16 reportable under NRC regulations within specific time 17 frames addressed therein, represents a shot across the 18 bow for the entire nuclear industry, a significant 19 warning, signaling the potential for a nuclear 20 accident.21 The NRC is the government agency 22 responsible to protect public health and safety and to 23 protect the overall environment with respect to 24 operations of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, 25 specifically, the nuclear reactor. As such, the NRC NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 12 1 is wholly accountable for any release of nuclear 2 reactive particulates coming from that plant, stemming 3 from that nuclear reactor, as a result, the Agency's 4 failure to take the actions requested in this 5 petition.6 The licensee has failed to demonstrate 7 over the course of its license, the ability to 8 properly operate and manage the nuclear facility, the 9 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. And this is 10 evidenced in numerous NRC-related inspection 11 activities at the facility, the collapse of cooling 12 towers, tritium release, the failure to timely report 13 events and incidents as required under NRC 14 regulations.

15 Recently, high-level management has been 16 removed from the facility, related to the false 17 testimony that was given under oath concerning the 18 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.19 Taken as a whole, the licensee cannot 20 provide reasonable assurance to the NRC that they 21 will comply with NRC regulations and requirements as 22 they are required to do under the license which they 23 hold under 10 CFR Part 50.24 For these reasons, I again urge the NRC to 25 issue a confirmatory order to cause the immediate NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 13 1 shutdown of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Reactor until such 2 time the NRC can send an augmented inspection team to 3 properly evaluate the entirety of that facility 4 including all the operations, the events, and 5 management's reactions and failure to report that 6 event and to issue a civil penalty against the 7 licensee for violating NRC requirements as previously 8 discussed concerning the timely report of the event in 9 question that's encompassed in this petition and the 10 cause and removal of the licensee's employees 11 responsible for this incident as capture in this 12 petition.13 These are reasonable requests which will 14 protect the public health and safety as this nuclear 15 reactor and its supporting nuclear reactor systems 16 continue to deteriorate not only from neglect from the 17 licensee, but because they are at the very end of 18 their life expectancy as captured in the initial Final 19 Safety Analysis Report within the licensee's license 20 that was issued by the Agency.21 And that's all I have to say. I'm 22 available to answer any questions the NRC or the 23 public or media which may be participating at this 24 conference call may have. Thank you.25 MR. QUAY: Okay, thank you. At this time NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 14 1 does the staff here at headquarters have any questions 2 for Mr. Saporito?3 (No response.)

4 MR. QUAY: Okay, seeing none, what about 5 the region?6 MR. JACKSON: No, we have none.7 MR. QUAY: Are there any questions from 8 the licensee?9 MR. COUTURE: No questions or comments.10 MR. QUAY: Okay. Okay, before I conclude 11 this meeting, members of the public may provide 12 comments regarding the petition and ask questions 13 about the 2.206 petition process. However, as stated 14 at the opening, the purpose of this meeting is not to 15 provide an opportunity for the Petitioner or the 16 public to question or examine the Petition Review 17 Board regarding the merits of the petition request.18 I did hear one beep -- did any member of 19 the public join the phone call?20 (No response.)

21 Okay, hearing none, Mr. Saporito, thank 22 you for taking time to provide the NRC staff with 23 clarifying information on the petition you submitted.

24 Before we close, does the court reporter 25 need any additional information for the meeting NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 transcript?

reporter.person from COURT REPORTER:

This is the court The only question I have is could the the licensee spell his last name.MR. COUTURE: Yes, it's C-O-U-T-U-R-E.

COURT REPORTER:

And is your first name Phil or Bill?MR. COUTURE: Phil, with a P.COURT REPORTER:

Bill?MR. COUTURE: Phil. P-H-I-L.COURT REPORTER:

Thank you. Those are all the questions I have.MR. QUAY: Okay, thank you. With that, the meeting is concluded and we will be terminating the phone connection.(Whereupon, at 10:19 a.m., the Petition Review Board meeting was concluded.)

NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceedings before the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the matter of: Vermont Yankee Name of Proceeding:

10 CFR 2.206 Petition of: Thomas Saporito Docket Number: 50-271 Location: (teleconference) were held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript thereof for the file of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission taken by me and, thereafter reduced to typewriting by me or under the direction of the court reporting company, and that the transcript is a true and accurate record of the foregoing proceedings.

Tobias Walter Official Reporter Neal R. Gross & Co., Inc.NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W.(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.corn