[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 174 (Thursday, September 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54920-54921]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-22478]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-275-LR and 50-323-LR; ASLBP No. 10-890-01-LR-BD01]
In the Matter of Pacific Gas & Electric Company (Diablo Canyon
Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2); Notice of Hearing (Application for
License Renewal)
September 1, 2010.
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
Before Administrative Judges: Alex S. Karlin, Chairman, Nicholas G.
Trikouros, Dr. Paul B. Abramson.
This proceeding concerns the November 23, 2009, application of
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) to renew Operating License Nos.
DPR-80 and DPR-82 for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1
and 2, near San Luis Obispo, California. PG&E seeks to extend these
licenses for an additional twenty years beyond the current expiration
dates of November 2, 2024 and August 26, 2025.
On January 21, 2010, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
published a notice of opportunity to request a hearing concerning the
PG&E license renewal application. 75 FR 3493 (Jan. 21, 2010). On March
22, 2010, the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP), a local
public interest group, filed a request for hearing and asserted five
contentions challenging various aspects of PG&E's application. On April
8, 2010, this Atomic Safety and Licensing Board was established to
conduct this adjudication. See 75 FR 20,010 (Apr. 16, 2010). On May 26,
2010, the Board heard oral argument from SLOMFP, PG&E, and the NRC
Staff in San Luis Obispo, California, relating to the admissibility of
the proposed contentions. On August 4, 2010, the Board issued a
memorandum and order granting SLOMFP's request for a hearing and
admitting four of its contentions. LBP-10-15, 72 NRC -- (slip op.)
(Aug. 4, 2010).
Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.105(e)(2), please take notice that the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board will conduct an evidentiary hearing on
SLOMFP's challenge to PG&E's application to renew its licenses. The
matters of fact and law to be considered at the hearing are the
contentions that have been duly admitted. As of this time, the four
admitted contentions are as follows:
Contention EC-1: PG&E's Severe Accident Mitigation Alternatives
(``SAMA'') analysis fails to satisfy 40 CFR 1502.22 because it fails
to consider information regarding the Shoreline fault that is
necessary for an understanding of seismic risks to the Diablo Canyon
nuclear power plant. Further, that omission is not justified by PG&E
because it has failed to demonstrate that the information is too
costly to obtain. As a result of the foregoing failures, PG&E's SAMA
analysis does not satisfy the requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act (``NEPA'') for consideration of
alternatives or NRC implementing regulation 10 CFR
51.53(c)(3)(ii)(L).
Contention EC-2: PG&E's Environmental Report is inadequate to
satisfy NEPA because it does not address the airborne environmental
impacts of a spent fuel pool accident caused by an earthquake
adversely affecting DCNPP.\1\
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\1\ Although the Board has determined that Contention EC-2
otherwise meets the admissibility criteria of 10 CFR 2.309(f)(1), no
evidentiary hearing will be held on this contention unless the
Commission rules that SLOMFP's request for waiver of certain key
regulations is warranted under 10 CFR 2.335. That waiver request is
now pending before the Commission.
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Contention EC-4: The Environmental Report fails to satisfy the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) because it does not discuss
the cost-effectiveness of measures to mitigate the environmental
impacts of an attack on the Diablo Canyon reactor during the license
renewal term.\2\
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\2\ Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.323(f)(1) the Board referred Contention
EC-4 to the Commission.
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Contention TC-1: The applicant, Pacific Gas & Electric Company
(PG&E), has failed to satisfy 10 CFR 54.29's requirement to
demonstrate a reasonable assurance that it can and will ``manage the
effects of aging'' in accordance with the current licensing basis.
PG&E has failed to show how it will address and rectify an ongoing
adverse trend with respect to recognition, understanding, and
management of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant's design/
licensing basis which undermines PG&E's ability to demonstrate that
it will adequately manage aging in accordance with this same
licensing basis as required by 10 CFR 54.29.
[[Page 54921]]
The authority under which the evidentiary hearing will be held is
the Atomic Energy Act, 42 U.S.C. 2231, 2239, and 2241. Unless otherwise
indicated, the evidentiary hearing on the four admitted contentions
will be conducted pursuant to the NRC hearing procedures set forth in
10 CFR Part 2, Subpart L, 10 CFR 2.1200-2.1213. During the course of
this adjudicatory proceeding, the Board may also hear oral arguments as
provided in 10 CFR 2.331 and may hold various prehearing conferences
pursuant to 10 CFR 2.329. These may be held via teleconference, video-
conference, and/or in person. Except where certain legally privileged
documents or testimony are being heard, all of the proceedings will be
open to the public. See 10 CFR 2.328. Prior to the evidentiary hearing
and to each oral argument or prehearing conference, the Board will
issue an order, notice, and/or memorandum that specifies the date, time
and place of such event. A copy of any such order, notice and/or
memorandum will be made available to the public on the Diablo Canyon
``Board Orders'' section of the NRC Electronic Hearing Docket found at
http://ehd1.nrc.gov/EHD/. The public should be aware that new documents
are regularly added to this Web site as the parties file pleadings and
the Board issues orders or notices. Therefore this Web site should be
monitored regularly by interested members of the public. In addition,
hard copies of Board orders, notices and/or memoranda are also
available at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
Finally, the public is advised that the Secretary of the Commission
will give notice of a hearing (and of other events in the proceeding)
to any member of the public who requests it.\3\ See 10 CFR 2.315(b).
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\3\ Any such request may be directed to the Secretary of the
Commission by electronic mail at [email protected] or by
telephone at 301-415-1677.
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As provided in 10 CFR 2.315(a), any person who is not a party to
the proceeding may, in the discretion of this Board, be permitted to
submit a written limited appearance statement. Such statements should
focus on the admitted contentions. Limited appearance statements do not
constitute legal evidence, but they are placed in the docket for the
hearing. The limited appearance statement is an opportunity for a
member of the public to inform the Board and/or the parties of his or
her concerns, issues, and questions and suggestions relating to the
matters at issue in the adjudicatory proceeding, i.e., relating to the
admitted contentions.
A written limited appearance statement should be sent to the Office
of the Secretary using one of the following methods: (1) Mail to the
Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications
Staff, with a copy to Alex S. Karlin, the Chairman of this Licensing
Board at Mail Stop T-3F23, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; (2) e-
mail to the Office of the Secretary at [email protected], with a
copy to the Board Chairman c/o Ashley Prange at [email protected];
or (3) fax to the Office of the Secretary at 301-415-1101 (facsimile
verification number: 301-415-1966), with a copy to the Board Chairman
at 301-415-5599 (facsimile verification number: 301-415-7550).
The Board may, at a later time, schedule a meeting where members of
the public may provide oral limited appearance statements. If any such
session is scheduled, the Board will issue a prior order or notice,
which will be posted in the Diablo Canyon Board Orders section of the
Electronic Hearing Docket webpage at http://ehd1.nrc.gov/EHD/.
The time and date of the evidentiary hearing herein cannot be set
at this time. This is because the law specifies that, in scheduling the
evidentiary hearing, the Board must ``take into consideration the NRC
staff's projected schedule for completion of its safety and
environmental evaluations to ensure that the hearing schedule does not
adversely impact the staff's ability to complete its reviews in a
timely manner.'' 10 CFR 2.332(d). At the moment, the NRC Staff
estimates that its Final Safety Evaluation Report will be considered by
the NRC Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards in July 2011 and that
the Staff will issue the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement in August 2011. But the Staff's schedule is subject to
change. The evidentiary hearing herein concerning environmental matters
is not likely to commence until 3 or 4 months after August 2011. See 10
CFR 2.332(d).
Documents relating to this adjudicatory proceeding are available
for public inspection in the NRC's Electronic Hearing Docket at http://ehd1.nrc.gov/EHD/. Those documents, and some documents relating to the
Staff's review of this license application, are also available from the
Commission's Public Document Room or electronically from the publicly
available records component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is
accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS, or who encounter
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact
the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-
4737, or by e-mail at [email protected].
It is so ordered.
Dated: September 1, 2010.
For the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
Alex S. Karlin,
Chairman, Administrative Judge, Rockville, Maryland.
[FR Doc. 2010-22478 Filed 9-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P