ML110540735
| ML110540735 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Indian Point  |
| Issue date: | 02/23/2011 |
| From: | Sherwin Turk NRC/OGC |
| To: | Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel |
| References | |
| 50-247-LR, 50-286-LR, RAS E-471 | |
| Download: ML110540735 (7) | |
Text
February 23, 2011 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of
)
)
ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC.
)
Docket Nos. 50~247~LR/286~LR
)
(Indian Point Nuclear Generating
)
Units 2 and 3)
)
NRC STAFF'S UNOPPOSED REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE STAFF'S AND ENTERGY'S ANSWERS TO FSEIS CONTENTIONS Pursuant to 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(a), the NRC Staff ("Staff") hereby requests an extension of time of one week, until March 7, 2011, for the filing of answers by the Staff and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. ("Entergy") to the five new and/or amended contentions concerning the Staff's Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement ("FSEIS") in this proceeding,1 filed by the State of New York ("New York"), Riverkeeper, Inc. (URiverkeeper"), and Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. ("Clearwater") on February 3, 2011.2 In support of this request, the Staff states as follows:
- 1.
In its Scheduling Order of July 1, 2010, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
("Board") in this proceeding ruled that a proposed new contention would be considered timely 1 "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 38, Regarding Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit Nos. 2 and 3" (Dec. 2010) ("FSEIS").
2 See (1) "State of New York Contention Concerning NRC Staff's [FSEIS]" (filing New York Contention 37) (Feb. 3. 2011); (2) "State of New York's Motion for Leave to File New and Amended Contention 12~C Concerning NRC Staffs December 2010 [FSEIS] and the Underestimation of Decontamination and Clean Up Costs Associated with a Severe Reactor Accident in the New York Metropolitan Area" (Feb. 3. 2011); (3) "Riverkeeper, Inc. and Clearwater, Inc. Challenge to NRC Staff's Assessment of Spent Fuel Pool Leaks in the [FSEIS]" (filing Riverkeeper EC3/Clearwater EC1) (Feb. 3, 2011); (4) "Motion for Leave to Amend and Extend Contention EC-3 Regarding Environmental Justice and Petition to Do So" (filing Amended Clearwater Contention EC-3) (Feb. 3, 2011); and (5) "Riverkeeper Consolidated Motion for Leave to File a New Contentioll[,] and New Contention Concerning NRC Staff's
[FSEIS]" (filing Riverkeeper Contention EC-8) (Feb. 3, 2011).
- 2 under 10 C.F.R. § 2.309(f)(2)(iii), "if it is filed within thirty (30) days of the date when the new and material information on which it is based first becomes available." Id., slip op. at 6. On December 3,2010, the Staff issued its Final SEIS; accordingly, pursuant to the Board's Scheduling Order. new or amended contentions based on any new and material information that first became available in the FSEIS were due to be filed on or before January 3, 2011.
- 2.
By Order dated December 27, 2010,3 the Board granted a motion filed by New York, Riverkeeper, Clearwater, and the State of Connecticut, seeking a 30-day extension of time, inter alia, for filing new or amended contentions arising out of the FSEIS, to permit such contentions to be filed by February 3, 2011. Neither Entergy nor the Staff opposed the Intervenors'motion. In accordance with the Board's Order, New York, Riverkeeper and Clearwater filed their five new and/or amended FSEIS contentions on February 3, 2011.
- 3.
Pursuant to the Board's Scheduling Order of July 1,2010 (at 5), answers to the Intervenors' new and/or amended FSEIS contentions are due to be filed within 25 days after the filing thereof, i.e., on or before February 28, 2011. Counsel for the Staff has been preparing to file its answers to the Intervenors' FSEIS contentions in accordance with this schedule. The Staff has found that its answers to those contentions will require considerable time and attention, given the breadth and number of issues raised therein and the need to compare the statements in the Staff's FSEIS with the correspl.mding sections of the Draft SEIS (issued in December 2008). At the same time, various members of the Staff's legal team in this proceeding have been engaged in other NRC proceedings or have been otherwise temporarily unavailable, which has made it difficult for the Staff to file its answers to the Intervenors' five new and/or amended FSEIS contentions within the time available.
3 "Order (Granting Intervenor's Unopposed Joint Motion for an Extension of Time)" (Dec. 27, 2010).
- 3
- 4.
Specifically, until this week, three of the attorneys assigned to the Staff's legal team in this proceeding were engaged in preparing the Staff's answers to other late-filed contentions filed by New York and Clearwater (concerning the Commission's updated waste confidence decision), which the Staff filed on February 18, 2011. In addition, two of the attorneys on the Staff's Indian Point legal team are preparing to participate in an evidentiary hearing and oral argument in the Pilgrim license renewal proceeding; two of the attorneys on the Staff's Indian Point legal team are engaged in reviewing a recent Board Order and preparing draft pleadings in the Seabrook license renewal proceeding; one attorney on the Staff's Indian Point legal team is involved in legal education training this week, and two attorneys on the Staff's Indian Point legal team were away on personal travel yesterday.
- 5.
Given (a) the nature and breadth of the issues raised in the Intervenors' five new and/or amended FSEIS contentions, and (b) the temporary unavailability of various members of the Staff's legal team in this proceeding, additional time will be required to prepare the Staff's answers to the Intervenors' new and/or amended FSEIS contentions. Staff Counsel estimates that an additional period of one week will be required to prepare the Staff's answers to those contentions, such that they would be ready for filing on or before Monday, March 7, 2011.
- 6.
In accordance with 10 C.F.R. § 2.323(a), Staff Counsel has contacted Counsel for Entergy, Counsel for New York, Counsel for Riverkeeper, and a representative of Clearwater. All of those parties have authorized the Staff to state that they do not object to the Staff's request for an extension of time, until Monday, March 7, 2011, to file its answers to the Intervenors' new and/or amended FSEIS contentions. In addition, Counsel for Entergy requested that Entergy be afforded the same extension of time for the filing of its answers to those contentions, in order to establish a uniform filing date for all answers to the contentions.
The Staff does not oppose that request, and understands that the Intervenors likewise do not oppose Entergy's request.
- 4
- 7.
The Staff notes that an extension of time for the filing of answers to the intervenors' FSEIS contentions will affect the "trigger date" for hearing milestones in this proceeding, established in the Board's Scheduling Order of July 1, 2010.4 Thus, a one-week extension of time for filing answers to the Intervenors' FSEIS contentions would extend the trigger date (the date for Intervenors' replies) by one week. The Staff submits, however, that a one-week extension of time for filing answers to the Intervenors' FSEIS contentions (which were, themselves, filed pursuant to a 30-day extension of time), is reasonable under the circumstances described above, and that extending the schedule trigger date by one week will not cause hardship for any party or substantial delay in the proceeding.
WHEREFORE, the Staff respectfully requests that the Staff and Entergy be afforded an extension of time, until March 7, 2011, in which to file their answers to New York, Riverkeeper, and Clearwater's new and/or amended FSEIS contentions.
Respectfully submitted,
~':'E~
Sherwin E. Turk Counsel for NRC Staff Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 23 rd day of February 2011 4 See Scheduling Order (July 1, 2010), at 13 ~ K.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the Matter of
)
)
ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC. )
Docket Nos. 50-247-LR/286-LR
)
(Indian Point Nuclear Generating
)
Units 2 and 3)
)
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing "NRC STAFF'S UNOPPOSED REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE STAFF'S AND ENTERGY'S ANSWERS TO FSEIS CONTENTIONS," dated February 23, 2011, have been served upon the following through deposit in the NRC's internal mail system, with copies by electronic mail, as indicated by an asterisk, or by deposit in the U.S. Postal Service, as indicated by double asterisk, with copies by electronic mail this 23 rd day of February, 2011:
Lawrence G. McDade, Chair Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Mail Stop - T -3 F23 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: Lawrence.McDade@nrc.gov Dr. Richard E. Wardwell Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Mail Stop - T-3 F23 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: Richard.Wardwell@nrc.gov Dr. Kaye D. Lathrop Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel 190 Cedar Lane E.
Ridgway, CO 81432 E-mail: Kaye.Lathrop@nrc.gov Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mail Stop: 0-16G4 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: OCAAMAIL.resource@nrc.gov Office of the Secretary Attn: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff Mail Stop: 0-16G4 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: Hearing.Docket@nrc.gov Josh Kirstein, Esq.
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Mail Stop - T -3 F23 U. S, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Vlashington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-Mail: Josh. Kirstein@nrc.gov
- 2 Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Melissa-Jean Rotini, Esq.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Assistant County Attorney Mail Stop: T -3 F23 Office of Robert F. Meehan, Esq.
Washington, DC 20555-0001 Westchester County Attorney (Via Internal Mail Only) 148 Martine Avenue, 6th Floor White Plains, NY 10601 E-Mail: M~IR1@westchestergov.com Kathryn M. Sutton, Esq.*
John J. Sipos, Esq.*
Paul M. Bessette, Esq.
Charlie Donaldson, Esq.
Jonathan Rund, Esq.
Assistants Attorney General Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP New York State Department of Law 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Environmental Protection Bureau Washington, D.C. 20004 The Capitol E-mail: ksutton@morganlewis.com Albany, NY 12224 E-mail: pbessette@morganlewis.com E-mail: John.Sipos@ag.ny.gov E-mail: jrund@morganlewis.com Janice A Dean, Esq....
Martin J. O'Neill, Esq.*
Assistant Attorney General Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP Office of the Attorney General 1000 Louisiana Street,Suite 4000 Houston, TX 77002 of the State of New York 120 Broadway, 25th Floor E-mail: martin.o.neill@morganlewis.com New York, NY 10271 E-mail: Janice.Dean@ag.ny.gov Elise N. Zoli, Esq.*
Goodwin Procter, LLP Exchange Place 53 State Street Boston, MA 02109 E-mail: ezoli@goodwinprocter.com William C. Dennis, Esq.'"
Joan Leary Matthews, Esq.*
Assistant General Counsel Senior Attorney for Special Projects Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
New York State Department of 440 Hamilton Avenue Environmental Conservation White Plains, NY 10601 Office of the General Counsel E-mail: wdennis@entergy.com 625 Broadway, 14th Floor Albany, NY 12233-1500 E-mail: jlmatthe@gw.dec.state.ny.us
- 3 Daniel E. O'Neill, Mayor*
James Seirmarco, M.S.
Village of Buchanan Municipal Building Buchanan, NY 10511-1298 E-mail: vOb@bestweb.net E-mail: smurray@villageofbuchanan.com Robert Snook, Esq.*
Office of the Attorney General State of Connecticut 55 Elm Street P.O. Box 120 Hartford, CN 06141-0120 E-mail: robert.snook@ct.gov Phillip Musegaas, Esq.
- Deborah Brancato, Esq.
Riverkeeper, Inc.
20 Secor Road Ossining, NY 10562 E-mail: phillip@riverkeeper.org dbrancato@riverkeeper.org Michael J. Delaney, Esq.*
Vice President - Energy Department New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYC DEC) 110 William Street New York, NY 10038 E-mail: mdelaney@nycedc.com Manna Jo Greene*
Stephen Filler Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.
724 Wolcott Avenue Beacon, NY 12508 E-mail: mannajo@clearwater.org E-mail: stephenfiller@gmail.com Daniel Riesel, Esq.
- Thomas F. Wood, Esq.
Ms. Jessica Steinberg, J.D.
Sive, Paget &Riesel, P.C.
460 Park Avenue New York, NY 10022 E-mail: driesel@sprlaw.com jsteinberg@sprlaw.com Ross H. Gould, Esq.*
270 Route 308 Rhinebeck, NY 12572 T: 917-658-7144 E-mail: rgouldesq@qmail.com John Louis Parker, Esq.*
Office of General Counsel, Region 3 New York State Department of Environmental conservation 21 South Putt Corners Road New Paltz, NY 12561-1620 E-mail: ilparker@gw.dec.state.ny.us Sherwin E. Turk Counsel for NRC Staff