ML19281A070

Advises That Applicant Opposes Natural Resources Defense Council'S 790111 Motion for Production of Documents as Unnecessary & W/O Merit

ML19281A070
Person / Time
Site:	Atlantic Nuclear Power Plant
Issue date:	01/26/1979
From:	Cowan B ECKERT, SEAMANS, CHERIN & MELLOTT
To:	Kornblith L, Schink D, Wolfe S Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, TEXAS A&M UNIV., COLLEGE STATION, TX
References
NUDOCS 7903060040
Download: ML19281A070 (4)

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'O ' 9 0# JOMM J.MYERS January 26, 1979

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f f1 r fr Sheldon J. Wolfe, Esq. [

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• Atomic Safety and Licensing Board -

U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555

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?x T Dr. David R. Schink Department of Oceanography 5W 4 Texas A & M University College Station, Texas 77840 Mr. Lester Kornblith, Jr.

Atomic Safety and Licensing Board U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C. 20555 Gentlemen:

Re: Offshore Power Systems - Docket No. STN 50-437 By correspondence to the Board dated January 11, 1979, received by Applicant in Jacksonville, Florida, en January 15, 1979, Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.

("NRDC") requests that the Board dir nt the Applicant to serve upon all parties copies of any and all communications between Applicant and Staff and to search its files and is-mediately serve en all parties copies of such communications not previously served. Although the NRDC request is not in the form of a motion, it seeks an action of the Board which affects the interest of Applicant and is, therefore, in fact a motion to the Board to which an answer is permitted under 10 C.F.R. S 2.730 (c) . The Applicant opposes the NRDC motien.

No Commission regulation requires an Applicant to serve on all parties copies of any and all correspondence between the Applicant and Staff. Applicant understands that 7903060 0//O

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Sheldon J. Wolfe, Esq. et al.

January 26, 1979 a party to the preceeding has a duty to keep the Licensing Board and other parties advised regarding information which is relevant and material to matters being adjudicated, in-cluding information regarding any change which is so relevant.

Of course, pleadings and other communications to this Board have been served en all parties, including NRDC, in accord-ance with applicable Commission regulations.

Further, this proceeding has been marked by the use of informal discovery. In this regard, Applicant has responded on an informal basis to all reasonable requests for discovery which were relevant to contentions authorized by the Board for hearing. At no time has any party sought the offices of the Board to compel such discovery from the Applicant.* Thus, the allegation of negligence and implica-tion of injury contained in the NRDC letter of January 11, 1979 is totally illusory and without merit. Importantly, prior to the NRDC January 11, 1979 letter to this Board, no request for either of the two documents mentioned in the NRDC letter was made by NRDC to the Applicant.

As the Board is aware, the NRC maintains a Public Document Room at Commission offices at 1717 H Street, N.W.,

Washington, D. C. Commission regulations require that all correspondence to and from the NRC regarding an application be made available at the NRC Public Occument Room. It is Applicant's understanding that all such correspondence is placed in the Public Document Room by the Staff and remains available for inspection and copying by NRDC, any other party to the proceeding, or any other member of the public. Cer-U niv, Applicant should not be put to the burden of searching mere that five years of files to 1cok for documents that are in the Pub-lic Document Room. Further, production or disclosure of docu-ments by other than the Staff is governed by the discovery

• In a letter to the ASLB dated October 15, 1974, NRDC reported, pursuant to Board Order, the status of its discovery requests in this proceeding and concluded:

"NRDC expects that it will require some additional discovery, primarily in the form of informal responses to questions and documents, which may require approxi-mately six weeks to complete."

It is Applicant's belief that the cited NRDC correspondence was the last such report respecting discovery upon Applicant until the letter of January 11, 1979, which is the subject of this answer.

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Sheldon J. Wolfe, Esq. et al.

January 26, 1979 provisions of the Commission regulations which do not require the type of broad service argued for by NRDC.

Applicant is aware that two Appeal Board decisions in early 1974,* readily distinguishable from the present factual situation, =ay be interpreted as requiring copies of correspondence between Applicant and Staff be furnished to other parties. However, other Appeal Board and Licensing Board decisions, ** including one as recently as January, 1978, indicate that a party's responsibility to keep a Licensing Board and other parties advised regarding developments asso-ciated with a proceeding is a responsibility tied to infor-mation relevant and material to the matters adjudicated by the Licensing Board.- This latter interpretation comports with Applicant's understanding of actual practice in other dockets, and with the requirements of due process.

Accordingly, Applicant respectfully urges this Board to deny the NRDC request as being without foundation in Commission regulations, based on no authority cited by NRDC, overreaching any concept of due process rights, and

• Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Cort. (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station), ALAB-179, 7 AEC 159, 183 (1974); Carolina Power & Light Co. (Shearon Harris Nuclear Pcwer Plant, Units 1, 2, 3 and 4), ALAB-184, 7 AEC 229, 237, n. 9.

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• • Duke Power Co. (Catawba Nuclear S tation, Units 1 and 2) ,

ALAB-355, 4 NRC 397, 406, n. 26 (1976); Georgia Pcwer Co.

(Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2), ALAB-291, 2 NRC 404, 408 (1975); Duke Power Co. (William B. McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2) , ALAB-143, 6 AEC 623, 625 (1973); Carolina Power & Light Co . (Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1, 2, 3 and 4), LBP-78-2, 7 NRC 83, 88 (Jan., 1978).

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Sheldon J. Wolfe, Esq. et al.

January 26, 1979 totally unnecessary and without merit respecting the instant proceeding.

Respectfully submitted,

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Barton Z. Ccwan Counsel for Applicant Offshore Pcwer Systems SZC/sjm cc: OPS Service List