ML20155E979

Responds to Re Status of Commonwealth of PA Governor RP Casey Request for Public Hearings Before Resumption of Operations at Facilities.Integrated Assessment Team Insp Will Be Conducted in Nov 1988

ML20155E979
Person / Time
Site:	Peach Bottom
Issue date:	10/04/1988
From:	Zech L NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
To:	Gray W HOUSE OF REP.
Shared Package
ML20155E983	List: ML20155E979 ML20155E989
References
CON-#488-7251 CCS, OLA, NUDOCS 8810130079
Download: ML20155E979 (4)

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• • . Docket File UNITED STATES ED0 3977 RMartin f/'aarg%,t NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION wASM NGT ON, D. C. 20555 VStello JTaylor M0'Brien JMurray a

o 'f JHoyle Local PDR October 4, 1988 TMurley/JSniezek

\f*****/ 0GC DCrutchfield CHAIRMAN DMossburg FMiraglia SVarga/BBoger BClayton The Honorable William H. Gray, III RClark United States House of Representatives FGillespie Washington, D.C. 20515 WRussell NRC PDR

Dear Congressman Gray:

PDI-2 Reading WButler I am responding to your letter of September 21, 1988, concerning,.

the plans of-the-Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding the< Peach,"

Bottom Atomic ~ Power Station and the status of Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey's request for public hearings before resumption of operations at Peach Bottom.

Several steps remain to be completed by the NRC staff before the Commission will consider the possible restart of the Peach Bottom facility. On Wednesday, October 5, 1988, at 10:00 a.m. in our headquarters building in Rockville, Maryland, the Commission will be briefed by the NRC staff and the licensee on the current status of the Peach Bottom plant. This meeting will be open to the public.

The staff's review of the Philadelphia Electric Company's (FECo's) plan for restart will be published in the near future in the form of a Safety Evaluation Report (SER). Following issuance of the SER,(the inspection staff IATI) will Peach at the conductBottom an Integrated Assessment site. The Team staff's findings will form the basis for an integrated assessment by the NRC of the utility's readiness for restart.

Based on information provided by PEco at a September 29, 1988 public meeting with the staff, we expect to conduct the IATI in November. Also in November, the NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) will conduct an independent review of the proposed restart of Peach Bottom in a public meeting tentatively scheduled for November 17-19, 1988, in Bethesda, Maryland. The Commission will schedule a public meeting to consider the restart of Peach Bottom after these activities have been completed and the Commission has had the opportunity to review the results.

With respect to Governor Casey's request for public hearings, I responded to the Governor in a letter dated April 6, 1988, a copy of which I have enclosed for your information. I advised the Governor that petitions filed by the Commonwealth's General Counsel concerning license amendments for the Peach Bottom f acility had been referred to the Chairman of the Atomic Saf ety and Licensing Board Panel. An NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Originated: NRR:RMartin 8810130079 891004 [l PDR COMMS NRCC i CORRESPONDENCE PDC

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Board was subsequently appointed to consider the issues raised by the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth and PECo have agreed to an extension of the schedule for this proceeding to provide for negotiation of a potential solution to the issues of concern to the Commonwealth. I have enclosed a copy of the licensee's motion and the Board's order granting the 60-day extension.

I hope this information will clarify the status of our review. I can assure you that the Commission will not authorize the restart of the Peach Bottom facility until we are satisfied that the public health and safety is adequately protected.

Sincerely, A)b/. N ando W. Ze ,Jr. I,

Enclosures:

1. Letter, Lando W. Zech , J r.

to The Honorable Robert P.

Casey, dated April 6, 1988

2. Motion by the Philadelphia Electric Company before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, dated September 1, 1988

3. Board Order, dated September 2, .,

1988

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Enclosure 1 e9 UNITED STATES yq '

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION j, "

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'S April 6, 1988 CHAIRMAN The Honorable Robert P. Casey Governor of Pennsylvania Office of the Governor Harrisburg, PA 17105

Dear Governor Casey:

I am responding to your February 4, 1988 letter in which you express your support for petitions submitted by the Comonwealth of Pennsylvania's General

("AEA"), 42Counsel U.S.C. requesting I 2239 ,

(a,)under femal Section 189a adjudicatory of the hearings Atomic prior to anyEnergy Act restart of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 and 3. The Comonwealth's January 22, 1988 petition-is being referred to the Chaiman of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, who will appoint a licensing board to detemine whether that petition has identified issues coming within the scope of the license amendments on which a hearing is requested. (See attached Comission Order of April 1,1988).

With respect to the request nade in the January 22,19B8 petition and in an earlier petition dated November 20, 1987, for discretionary hearings on reatters beyond the scope of the proposed license amendments, the Comission does wt believe that fomal adjudicatory hearings are needed to further explore the origins or nature of the problems the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) has experienced at Peach Bottom. These are now the subject twt only of hRC's inspection reports but of the rer.ent report of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. The findings of these reports are addressed by the licensee in its restart plan, Part II of which was received by NRC on February 12, 1988. The Comission will seek coments from the public and interested states on Part II as it did with respect to Part 1. We believe that the Agency's non-adjudicatory processes have already provided and will continue to provide the close attention to, and public interaction with, the restart issues that are the basic objectives of your request for a femal hearing. Therefore, the Comission has concluded that discreticnary, femal adjudicatory proceedings are unneces-sary, and we decline to adopt your suggestion for such proceedings.

The Comission shares your concern that adequate corrective actions to PECO's well documented prablems at Peach Bottom be taken and that the views of the public and state and local officials be taken into account in the process. I can assure you that the Cemission will not pemit PECO to restart the Peach Bottom reactors until it is satisfied that PECO's restart plan provides reasonable assurance that the public health and safety will be adequately protected and that PECO nanagement has the comitment and ability to implement the plan.

Sincerely, OO . , i ,.

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Lando W. Zech, f

Enclosure:

As stated s ji

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'hNHC UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 1B APR -1 A10:18 COP 911SS10NERS:

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Lando W. Zech, Jr., Chairman Thomas M. Roberts Frederick M. Bernthal Kenneth M. Carr SERVED APR -11988 In the Matter of I Docket Nos. 50-277 PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC COMPANY 50-278 (PeachBottoiaAtomicPower Station.

Units 2 and 3)

ORDER On December 23, 1987 the Comission published a Notice of Opportunity for Hearing with respect to its proposed issuance of amendments to licenses held by the Philadelphia Electric Company ("PEC0") for operation of the 52 Fed. Reg. 48593. The Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Units 2 and 3.

proposed amendments would modify Section 6 of the facility Technical Specifications to reflect (1) a new corporate and a new plant staff organizational structure. (2) a revised composition of the Plant Operations Review Comittee and (3) several administrative changes, as requested in PECO's application for amendment dated November 19, 1987.

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'. 1 On January 22, 1988 the the Comonwealth of Pennsylvania petitioned for leave to intervene and for a hearing in this proceeding. M PECO filed an Answer on February 8, 1988 opposing the requested intervention and hearing. PECO argued that the Comonwealth failed to raise any issues properly within the scope of this license amendment proceeding and thus had not demonstrated that its interest would be adversely affected by the adoption of the proposed amendments. U The NRC Staff responded on February 11, 1988 stating that the Comonwealth's petition had identified at least one issue--the failure of the technical specifications to mention the function, responsibilities or personal qualifications of the Independent Safety Engineering Group--within the scope of the proposed amendments and that the petition to intervene should be granted after the comonwealth has submitted a contention found to be admissible.

The notice stated that any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to carticipate as a party in the proceeding must file a petition for leave to intervene in accordance with the Comission's "Pules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Prcceedings" in In particular the notice specified that, as required by 10 C.F.R. Part 2.

10 C.F.R. I 2.714, a petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner in the proceeding, how that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding and the specific 1/ Comonwealth of Pennsylvania's Petition To Intervene, Request For

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Hearing and Convents Opposing No fignificant Hazards Consideration

("Petition").

?/ Philadelphia Electric Company's Answer to Comonwealth of

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Pennsylvania's Petition To Intervene In Proceeding On Proposed Amendments To Peach Bottom facility Operating Licenses ("Answer").

3 aspect (s) of the subject matter of the proceeding as to which petitioner wishes to intervene. Further the notice stated that '(c]ontentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the amendment under consideration" and that a petitioner who fails to satisfy this requirement with respect to at least one contention will not be pemitted to participate as a party.

This is a proceeding for issuance of specific license amendments that are narrowly limited in scope and are not intended as the complete solution Similarly, the hearing to the problems experienced at these facilities.

offered in regard to the amendments is intended to be narrow in scope.

More specifically, we believe that in order to be entitled to a hearing on these amendments as a statutory right the Connonwealth must oppose issuance of these amendments and must contend that the proposed amendments create a circumstance where plant operation will not comply with the Act or regulations. A contention that alternative, or additional, amendments are See Bellotti v. NRC, desirable is not within the scope of this proceeding.

725F.2d1380(D.C.Cir.1983).

The Comonwealth's petition raises some questions whether the issues which the Comonwealth seeks to raise are within the scope of this proceeding. It may be that the Comonwealth's supplement to its petition wherein its contentions and the specific bases for them are set forth will shed greater light on whether the Comonwealth wishes to litigate any matters that fall within the scope of the amendments under consideration, For this reason, we are referring this matter to the as' explained above.

Chatman of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel for appointmen a Licensing Board to consider whether the Ccm onwealth's petition to intervene should be granted in accordance with the notice and this order.

.4 Insofar as the Comenwealth's petition requests a discretionary formal restart hearing on matters outside the scope of this proceeding, that request is being separately addressed in a letter to Governor Casey, It is so ORDEREO, ws, or the Comigston*

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e tb S d 5AMUEL J.

ba ILK Secretary of t .e Comission e,p+

Dated at Washington, D.C.

this N- day of April,1988 l

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• Comissioner Rogers recused himself from participation in this matter, his personal statement is attached.

PERSONAL STATEMENT For some time prior to my appointment and confinnation as a Comissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Comission, I served as a Director for Public Service Enterprise Group. That Organization, through the subsidiary Public Service Electric and Gas holds operating licenses for Hope Creek Generating Station, Unit 1 and Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 and 2, and has a minority ownership interest in Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 and 3.

As a result of such prior affiliation, I have agreed that as of August 7, 1987, the date I assumed my present position, and for a period of two years thereaf ter, I would recuse myself from any Comission decision making with respect to any matter affecting Public Service Enterprise Group. In line with this comitment, I have recused myself from participation in this matter before the Comission today _

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Enclosure 2

'. CL ECli2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BO Before Administrative JudgeeUc.:. ' *- ' '

John H Frye, III, Chairman 90CKsigtg. I'#.""I-Glenn O. Bright Richard F. Cole SERVED SCO - 61988 In the Matter of )

) Docket Nos. 50-277-OLA Philadelphia Ei.ectric Company ) 50-278-OLA

)

(Peach Bottom Atomic Power ) ASLBP No. 88-569-06-OLA Station, Units 2 and 3) )

) Septcmber 2, 1988 ORDER Philadelphia Electric Company's unopposed motion for a 60-day extension of time to respond to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'u contentions is granted. Similarly, Staff is also granted a 60-day oxtension of time.

It is so ORDERED.

FOR THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD

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fohn H Frye, III,' Chairman ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE Bethesda, Maryland September 2, 1988 Y0

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I Enclosure 3 r/d/f September 1,1988 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 'I'E NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board SEP -6 P4 :40 fie_-

In the Matter of )

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• PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC COMPANY No. 50-277 & 50-278

) ASLBP No. 88-569-06-O L A (Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. )

Units 2 and 3) )

PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC COMPANY'S CONSENTED-TO MOTION FOR A 60-DAY EXTENSION TO RESPOND TO COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA'S_ CONTENTIONS Philadelphia Electric Company hereby requests a 60-day extension, to November 7,1988, of its deadline to respond to the "Supplement to Petition and Statement of Con-tentions of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania " filed with this Board on August 24, 1988 by first-class mail. PE's reply would otherwise be due on September 8,1988. In support of this motion PE states as follows:

1. The Licensing Board activated this proceeding by order dated April 8,1988, which required the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to file its proposed contentions by April 25,1988.

2. In a series of consented-to motions for extension filed by the Common-wealth ot* Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth's deadline for filing contentions was ex-tended to August 24,1988. The reasons for these extensions were the expectation and conduct of a process of negotiation between PE and the Commonwealth, intended to narrow or perhaps eliminate the Commonwealth's bases of opposition to restart of Peach Bottom. Discussions and exchanges of documents relevant to them have been in progress since late spring.

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3. These negotiations are still in progress. On August 8,1988, the Common-wealth submitted to PE a series of written proposals to which PE expects to reply shortly. These proposals encompass, among other things, matters contained within most if not all of the seven contentions filed by the Commonwealth on August 24.

4. PE believes that the likelihood of success of these negotiations will be ma-terially aided if it is not forced to have already pleaded a formal position in response to those contentions before negotiations continue further.

5. PE believes that the progress of the ongoing negotiations with the Com-monwealth will have developed materially within 60 days from the present date. Ac-cordingly, PE requests that the deadline for its responte to the Commonwealth's con-tentions be extended by 60 days, to November 7,1988.

6. PE has been authorized by Richard P. Mather, Esq., one of counsel to the Commonwealth, to state that the Commonwealth does not object to the relief sought by this motion. PE has also been authorized by Ann P. Hodgdon, Esq., one of counsel to the NRC Staff, to state that the Staff does not object to the relief sought by this mo-tion, so long as the Staff receives a comparable extension.

WHEREFORE, Philadelphia Electric Company requests that the deadline for its response to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's August 24, 1988 contentions be ex-tended by 60 days, to November 7,1988.

Respectfully submitted.

George C. Freeman, Jr.

Donald P. Irwin Counsel for Philadelphia Electric Company Hunton & Williams 707 East Main Street P.O. Box 1535 Richmond. Virginia 23212 l

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. September 1,1988

, CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ,...-

in the Matter of PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC COMPANY .M SEP -6 P4 :40 (Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. Units 2 and 3)

Docket Nos. 50-277-OLA and 50-278-OLA er4 O(JL 4 it

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I hereby certify that copies of PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC COMPA NY'S CONSENTED-TO MOTION FOR A 60-DAY EXTENSION TO RESPOND TO COMMON-WEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA'S CONTENTIONS were served this date upon the follow-ing by Federal Express, as indicated by an asterisk, or by first-class mall, postage pre-paid.

John H. Frye. !!!. Chairman

• Atomic Safety and Licensing Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Appeal Board FJDel U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission East-West Towers Washington, D.C. 20555 4350 East-West Highway Bethesda MD 20814 Adjudicatory File Atomic Safety and Licensing Glenn O. Bright

• Board Pane! Docket Atomic Safety and Licensing Board U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington. D.C. 20555 East-West Towers 4350 East-West Highway Morey M. Myers, Esq.

• Bethesda, MD 20314 General Counsel Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Richard F. Cole

• Office of General Counsel Atomic Safety and Licensing Board P.O. Box 11775 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Harrisburg, PA 17108 East-West Towers 4350 East-West Highway Ann P. Hodgdon, Esq.

• Bethesda, MD 20314 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the General Counsel Secretary of the Commission One White Flint North

.* tication Docketing and Service 11555 Rockville Pike Section Rockville, MD 20814 i U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1717 H Street, N.W. Jay Gutierrez, Esq.

• l Washington, D.C. 20555 Regional Counsel

, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Rcgion I 475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406 i

clSk Donald P. Irwin i

Hunton & Williams 707 East Main Street i P.O. Box 1535 Richmond, Virginia 23212 DATED: September 1.1988

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Of Counsel: f William T. Coleman, Jr., Esq.

John H. Beisner, Esq.

O'Melveny & Myers 555 - 13th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20004 Eugene J. Bradley, Esq.  !

Philadelphia Electric Company  ;

2301 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19101 i

DATED: September 1.1988 4

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\..... EDO Principal Correspondence Control 63 FROM: DUE: 10/SD/88 EDO CONTROL: 0003977 DOC DT: 09/21/88 FINAL REPLY:

R:p. William H. Gray, ;Ii TO:

Chairman Zech FOR SIGNATURE OF ** PRI ** CRC NO: 88-0851 Chairman Zech DESC: ROUTING:

REOPENING OF THE PEACH BOTTOM NUCLEAR POWER PLANT Ste11o Taylor -

DATE: 09/26/88 Hoyle Russell

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CONTACT: Murray .

ACSIGNED TO:

NRR Murley SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS OR REMARKS:

tbte: Occin. Mtg on Peach Bottom is scheduled for Oct, 5.

2 NRR RECEIVED: SEPT. 26, 1988 ACTIOti ~DRPR VARGA I 4

ISR ROUTI!K): iTRLEY/StiIEZEK ,

CRUTCIIFIELD MIRAGLIA GILLESPIE fDSSBURG t _

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OFFI8 t OF THE SECRETARY CORRES.ONDENCE CONTROL TICKET PAPER NUMBER: CRC-88-0851 T^cGING DATE: Sep 26 88 ACTION OFFICE: EDO AUTHOR: W.H. Gray III AFFIL1ATION: U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES LETTER DATE: Sep 2188 FILE CODE: ID&R-5 Peach Bottom

SUBJECT:

NRC plans to act on the Governor's request for public hearing on the reopening of the Peach Bottom nuc power plant ACTION: Direct Reply DISTRIBUTION: OCA to Ack, DSB, RF, Cmrs, Secy SPECIAL KANDLING: COMMISSION REVIEW NOTES:

DATE DUE: Oct 7 88 SIGNATURE: . DATE SIGNED:

AFFILIATION:

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