ML12271A061

FOIA/PA-2012-0009A - Resp 1 - Final

ML12271A061
Person / Time
Site:	San Onofre
Issue date:	09/20/2012
From:	Ash D NRC/EDO
To:	Ulrich K Friends of the Earth
References
FOIA/PA-2012-0009A
Download: ML12271A061 (2)

Text

UNITED STATES 0 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 0

September 20, 2012 IN RESPONSE REFER TO FOIA/PA-2012-00009A (FOIA/PA-2012-00289)

Kendra Ulrich Friends of the Earth 1100 1 5h Street, NW.

11th Floor Washington, DC 20005

Dear Ms. Ulrich:

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter of August 27, 2012, addressed to Mr. R. William Borchardt, Executive Director for Operations. In that letter, you appealed the agency's response to your July 24, 2012, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request (FOIA/PA-2012-00289) for information regarding "all documents and records from November 1, 2001 to the present between the Southern California Edison Corp., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and or Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station."

Your letter provided additional information and appealed the denial of expedited processing.

The NRC has reviewed the original decision to deny expedited processing and your subsequent appeal. In support of your appeal, you state, "As illustrated by the extensive coverage in the press in Southern California, and the large attendance at the NRC's Ipublic meetings' about the San Onofre reactors, the public is extremely concerned about the safety of San Onofre." Additionally, you state that "An expeditious release of the documents that the Friends of Earth (FOE) requested is urgently [emphasis added]

needed in order to ensure that the public is fully informed regarding these important safety issues." Your appeal further indicates that "FoE also urgently [emphasis added]

seeks the requested information in order to prepare for the hearing that it has requested from the NRC Commissioners."

The NRC understands these statements to identify a public interest in the timely issue of public safety; however, after careful review, the NRC does not find that the situation rises to the level of "urgency to inform the public concerning actual or alleged Federal Government activity" which requires immediate attention or remedy. The fact that there is some media interest in the subject does not satisfy the requirement of demonstrated public interest in a specific subject. Moreover, your FOIA request dated July 24, 2012, by which you seek "documents and records dating to November 1, 2001 to the present... regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station," is indicative of a general, broad, and continuing interest and not of current exigency. In this case, while there appears to be continuous regional media coverage of the issues in question, you have not demonstrated "widespread" national public interest that requires immediate attention. Therefore, the NRC denies your appeal for expedited processing.

K. Ulrich This is the NRC's final decision. As set forth in the FOIA (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(B)), judicial review of this decision is available in a district court of the United States in the district in which you reside or have your principal place of business. You may also seek judicial review in the district in which the agency's records are situated or in the District of Columbia.

Darren B. Ash Deputy Executive Director for Corporate Management Office of the Executive Director for Operations