ML20150D587
| ML20150D587 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/21/1988 |
| From: | Murley T Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| NRRL-601, NUDOCS 8803240371 | |
| Download: ML20150D587 (8) | |
Text
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~,, UNITED STATES
! n NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION I
i : WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555
$ NAR 211988 HEMORANDUll FOR: All NRR Employees FROM: Thomas E. Murley, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
SUBJECT:
NRR OFFICE LETTER N0. 601 - STAFF POLICY AND PROCEDURES FOR BOARD NOTIFICATIONS TO ADJUDICATORY TRIBUNALS PURPOSE This Office Letter establishes the procedures for ensuring prompt and appropriate action is taken to notify presiding officers, licensing boards, appeal boards, and the Commission of new information that the staff considers relevant and material to admitted issues in controversy in one or more licensing proceedings.
This Office letter supersedes NRR Office Letter No.19, Revision 3, dated May 29, 1986.
DEFINITIONS Board refers to presiding officers, licensing boards, appeal boards, and the Comission.
Board Notification refers to providing new information that is considered to be relevant and material to an admitted issue in controversy in one or more licensing proceedings, that is information relevant and material to a contention or properly admitted issue before a board.
Allegations refers to statements or assertions of impropriety or inadequacy associated with NRC-regulated activities for which validity has not been established.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITIES
-f A Director, Division of Reactor Projects, signs board notification transmittals to the Comission.
The Project Director signs board notification transmittals to sitting boards.
The Policy Development and Technical Support Branch (PTSB) is responsible for !
establishing and maintaining a log of current proceedings and a list of admitted issues in controversy. The PTSB coordinator for board notifications .
will assign the board notification number. '
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CONTACT: l B. Dalrymple, PMAS j 49-21279 32g71h00321RRB PDR l
- All NRR Employees BASIC REQUIREMENTS A. Standards for Determination of Recommendations for Board Notification by Technical Review Groups and Project lianagers The board including notification construction policy permit (is CP CP), applicable to alloperating amendment, adjudicatory licenseproceedings, (0L),
full-term OL, and OL amendment proceedings. In these proceedings, the staff will send new information relevant (bearing upon, connected with, or relating to an issue) and material (tending to influence or having the capability to affect the outcome on an issue) to admitted safety or environmental issues in controversy (admitted contentions or admitted board issues) to the boards.
All staff members are responsible for reviewing all information received in the course of their assigned tasks, including reports identified by NRR technical divisions as being appropriate for consideration as a board notification, to determine whether it may be related to adjudicatory proceedings and may represent relevant and material new information that should be provided to appropriate boards.
The guidelines that should be followed when considering whether a notification should be made are listed ' uelow.
- 1. The staff will inform the presiding officer, the licensing board, the appeal board, or the Comission of any new information that is relevant and material to an admitted issue in controversy (admitted contention or board issue) before that particular tribunal. In close cases, where reasonable doubt exists as to whether the information is relevant and material to an admitted issue, a notification should be made.
- 2. The staff will inform the Commission of any new information: (a)onall issues on the proceedings before the Comission (regardless of the specific issues on those proceedings that are before the Comission, as identified in the weekly reports of Adjudicatory Items Before the Comission); (b) on
.' all matters in all proceedings whether or not before the Comission that
', may present serious safety or environmental issues; and (c) on all matters that may involve substantial public, press, or Congressional interest.
- 3. With respect to allegations made concerning a facility, the staff will perform an initial screening of allegations and inform the adjudicatory tribunal of those allegations that (a) are found not to be frivolous, (b) warrant further scrutiny, and (c) are relevant and material to an admitted issue in the proceeding. Those alle and material to an admitted issue, but that a) (gations are notthat are not frivolous and relevant I
warrant further scrutiny and (b) raise serious safety or environmental issues or may involve substantial public, press, or Congressional interest, will be forwarded to the Comission pursuant to item A.2(b) above.
Each notification will contain an explanation as to how the information meets one of the three standards for notification listed above. Information received from outside sources and considered to be suitable for board notification must be handled in an expeditious manner. Some examples of information from outside sources are (1) the reporting of errors discovered in a vendor's emergency core cooling system (ECCS) models or codes that could result in changes to analyses
l J All NRR Employees previously evaluated and discussed in the safety evaluation report (SER), (2) the reporting of geological features that could result in significant changes to those previously reported by the applicant and evaluated by the staff as discussed in the SER, (3) those reports identified by NRR technical divisions '
as being apprcpriate for consideration for board notification, and (4) allega-tions submitted by members of the public, including current and former licensee and contractor personnel. All such information should be proposed as a board notification according to the standards noted above and the procedures and tining given in Sections B.1 and C below.
Internally generated information that could reasonably be regarded as new information relevant and material to an admitted issue before a board also should be reported as expeditiously as practicable. However, the Corraission's policy recognizes the difficulty of deternining the point when an individual staff member's perceived concern has developed into a staff issue of sufficient importance that boards are to be notified. In accordance with the Comission's policy, internally generated information otherwise qualifying as a board notification should be provided to boards at the point when the staff determines that it is necessary to get more information about a problem from a source external to the staff. That is, if such new information is of sufficient importance to warrant seeking further information, analyses, tests, or the like from licensees or vendors, NRC contractors, or others outside the NRC staff, then the issue has developed to the point where the appropriate board should be informed.
As for externally generated information, technical papers and journal articles otherwise qualifying as a board notification should be provided to boards at a point when the staff determines that (1) such information is of sufficient importance to call into question staff positions and critieria, or (2) the staff has decided to seek further information, analyses, tests, and the ,
like from licensees, vendors, NRC contractors, or others outside the staff.
B. Procedural Guidelines for the Preparation of a Recommendation for e Board Notification
- 1. The staff should provide promptly (within 2 days normally or within 4 days for allegations) the minimum information listed below. This information should be provided, through their management, to the appropriate Director, Division of Reactor Projects, or Project Director.
The proposed board notification items should be hand-carried through l the concurrence chain and should include those items listed below. :
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- a. a written narrative that allows the reader to understand the precise nature of the board notification matter !
- b. a written narrative that allows the reader to understand the extent to which the matter has a bearing upon the particular facility oeing considered by the board and the extent to which the matter is relevant and material to admitted issues before the board l
All NRR Employees c. a statement of how the information meets the standard for Comission notifications set forth in Item A above
- d. a statement of the perceived significance of the information on current staff positions (A clear assessment of the significance is not required at this time and the recomendation should not be -
delayed in order to permit the generation of lengthy determinations.
If a clear assessment and. final resolution are available, they add clarity to the board submittal. For all recommendations that do not contain a final resolution, followup action is required toinformtheboardsofthestaff'sdispositionofthematter.)
- e. the reasoning underlying a conclusion must be sufficient to allow the board to make an informed judgment on the validity of the conclusion if a conclusion with regard to the safety or environmental significance of the board notification matter is presented in the notification ;
- f. a statement on the possible applicability of the information in the notification to other dockets (The board notification coordinator will assist in determining if other dockets have admitted issues relating to the subject.)
- g. an executive sumary of any enclosure to the notification (such as technical reports) unless the enclosure is brief.
The information listed above represents the minimum content of a proposed notification to be submitted to the appropriate Project Director or Director, Division of Reactor Projects. The safety or environmental significance / assessment of the matter and the basis for eny conclusions must be presented to the board either in the initial notification or in a followup notification.
? 2. The NRR staff also must identify information potentially relevant and
. material to boards considering facilities licensed under 10 CFR Part 70 and under the cognizance of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS). The staff should make any such recomendations through their management to the appropriate NRR Director, Division of Reactor Projects. The information provided should, to the extent possible, conform to that listed in Item B.1 above. The appropriate NRR Director will forward the board notification material to tie Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
- 3. An appropriate NRR Director, Division of Reactor Projects, shall review all recomendations and detemine whether they are relevant and material to admitted issues in controversy. This shall be done within one working day after the recomendations are received. Recomendations containing information considered to be directly related to a specific case shall be reviewed for applicability to other cases. If the information and accompanying recommendation are not clear enough for a determination to be made, the Director will request clarifying information from the originator. If the Director determines that a recomendation is not
? All NRR Employees relevant and material to issues admitted before a board or otherwise should not be sent to the Commission under Item A.2, a memorandum to that effect shall be sent to the recomrending parties. If the originator still feels that the information should be provided to a board, he or she should so state in a followup recommendation. Such a followup recomendation will be processed through the normal board notification channels. Although coments may be added indicating disagreement by those who judged the information not to be relevant and material, the followup recommendation will be forwarded to the board.
4 Board Notifications on differing professional opinions will follow the procedures of NRC Manual Chapter 4125, "Differing Professional Opinions."
- 5. The appropriate regional office staff will transmit potential board notification information directly to the appropriate NRR Division Director.
The procedures of this section apply to these notifications. In addition, with respect to allegations, the regional staff will perform an initial screening in accordance with applicable procedures to ensure that the notification is written in a manner that would not compromise an inspection or investigation. If the board notification related to an allegation is not originated by the appropriate region, the region must concur that the notification is written in a manner that would not compromise an inspection or investigation. The appropriate NRR Project Manager, with input from the regional staff,(will Investigations determine
- 01) is if the required in concurrence accordance of the with Item Office B.6 of below.
- 6. 01 will transmit information recommended for board notification to the appropriate Division Director. If the board notification has not been proposed by 01, the NRR Division Director must obtain 01 concurrence on board notificationt involving allegations of wrongdoing that have been or have the potential to be referred to 01 for investigation (SECY 82-340, dated August 17,1982). The 01 assessment will (1) ensure that the board ,
notification is written in a way that would not compromise an investi-
- gation or inspection and (2) provide screening of the allegations as
, described in Item A.3. OI should concur within 5 days in proposed board notifications involving allegations concerning wrongdoing.
- 7. TheOfficeofInspectorandAuditor(0!A)hasproceduresinplacetonotify program managers if in the course of an investigation information is developed indicating that the actions or inactions of NRC employees or contractors constitute new information material and revelant to an adjudicatory proceeding. OIA management will advise Office Directors of the new information and the necessary history of the investigation. The program office (NRR) will make the board notification in accordance with the above guidance.
- 8. Board notifications containing information related to ongoing investigations or inspections should be provided in accordance with the Statement of Policy; Investigations, Inspections, and Adjudicatory Proceedings, 49 FR 36032 (September 13, 1984). The publicly available portion of the board notification should contain only very general information, with the
. All NRR Employees enclosure marked for limited distribution and distributed on a limited basis, in accordance with this statement of policy.
- 9. After the appropriate NRR Director concurs in or signs the notification, the board notification will be issued promptly. The appropriate internal NRC distribution list may be obtained from the Policy Development and Technical Support Branch Board Notification Coordinator.
C. Timing of Board Notification Recomendations
- 1. The establishment of the date for the beginning of evidentiary hearing in a specific proceeding and the issuance of the related notice by the board, initiates board notification procedures in that proceeding. Prior to 30 days before the hearing, new material that is considered material and relevant to admitted issues in a proceeding is presented to the boards via an SER supplement or other documents.
However, if there are items that have not been appropriately disposed of, the Project Manager is to provide a summary list of such items with copies of the pertinent Board Notification to the board 30 days before the start of the hearing. Within 30 days of an evidentiary hearing, during an evidentiary hearing, or after an evidentiary hearing, new information found material and relevant to an admitted issue shall be forwarded promptly to the board (within 2 working days after the Director has concurred).
The NRR Project Manager is responsible for reviewing recent board notifications and other case-specific information to ensure that items that are material and relevant to admitted issues in and are not addressed in the existing licensing documents SER,(proceedings Supplement to an SER, or Final Environmental Statement), or testimony are on the summary list described above. The list should identify the method to be used to address these items (e.g., testimony, SER supplement,orfollowupboardnotification).
l 2. TheOfficeoftheGeneralCounsel(OGC)willprovideNRRwithperiodic updated list of current proceedir.gs for facilities under the cognizance of NRR, which indicates whether the proceeding is pending before a presiding officer, licensing bor.rd, appeal board, or the Comission and describes the general nature of admitted issues.
- 3. PTSB will establish and maintain the record-keeping system related )
to all board notification matters. This will include a log of current proceedings and a detailed list of admitted issues in controversy. A l system will be maintained that tracks outgoing notifications that require followup action. After the NRR Director approves the ]
issuance of a board notification, the board notification coordinator ,
will assign a board notification number.
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- All NRR Employees EFFECTIVE DATE t This Office Letter is effective immediately, oriF;inal signed by Thoma:; E. MarloY, Thomas E. Murley, Director Office of Nuclear Recctor Regulation cc: See next page (This Office Letter was reviewed by Tech Editor on 1-14-88)
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l All NRR Employees cc: V. Stello, EDO MNBB-6209 J. Taylor, EDO MNBB-6209 S. Ebneter, OSP 7-D-4 B. Hayes, 01 3-E-4 .
J. Lieberman, OE 7-H-5 W. Mcdonald, ARM MNBB-6201 P. Bird, OP W-407 J. McDermott, OP W-407 ,
P. Cotter, ASELP EW-439 A. Rosenthal, ASLAP EW-525 E. Jordan, AEOD MNBB-3302 C. Heltenes, AE0D MNBB-3302 H. Thompson, NMSS 6-A-4 R. Bernero, NMSS 6-A-4 M. Knapp, NMSS 5-E-4 J. Greeves, NMSS 5-E-4 R. Browning, NMSS 4-H-3 M. Bell, NMSS 4-H-3 - ;
R. Burnett, NMSS 4-E-4 E. Ten Eyck, NMSS 4-E-4 R. Cunningham, NMSS 6-H-3 G.Sjoblom,HMSS 6-H-3 E. Beckjord, RES NL-007 !
B. Sheron, RES NL-037 W. Minners, RES NL-007 B. Morris, RES NL-007 Z. Rosztoczy, RES NL-007 G. Arlotto, RES NL-007 R. Bosnak, RES NL-007 W. Houston, RES NL-007 H. Denton, CPA H-1013 S. Connelly, O!A EWS-461 l
, W. Russell R-I r J. Grace R-II l A. Davis R-III R. Martin R-IV ,
J. Martin
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