[NukeNet] Help protect public rights in NRC licensing hearings

[Michael Mariotte]

HELP PROTECT PUBLIC RIGHTS FOR NRC LICENSING HEARINGS

 

Below is a message from our friends at Blue Ridge Environmental Defense
League, which has intervened against a new reactor at North Anna,
Virginia (and at other sites as well!). The North Anna case is the first
new reactor proceeding that has reached the point of an oral argument.
In a very disturbing move, apparently calculated to undercut the
importance of licensing proceedings, the NRC's Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board (ASLB), has scheduled a telephone oral argument-with one
day's notice!-rather than a more traditional in-person hearing. Please
read this alert and take appropriate action.

 

Thanks!

Michael Mariotte

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled oral arguments (in
accordance with 10 CFR 2.331) to be held via telephone on the lead
hearing process in the nation for a nuclear power plant construction and
operating license. 

 

We believe that a telephone format is inappropriate; it is a sign that
the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board judges are shutting out the public
and are not interested in working in good faith with the public, the
intervenors or the media.  A face-to-face hearing in a courtroom near
the proposed plant site should be held.

 

To our knowledge, this is the first scheduled oral argument for new
nuclear power plant license since the rules were re-written in 1989.  If
you think this will set a bad precedent, it would be good for the judges
to hear from you directly.  (Please do not simply forward this e-mail to
the judges.)  High-handed actions by this regulatory agency require
hand-in-hand action by the rest of us. 

 

The judges of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in this case
include:

 

Judge Ronald Spritzer, Chairman          rms4 at nrc.gov

 

Judge Richard Cole                              rfc1 at nrc.gov

 

Judge Alice Mignerey                           acm3 at nrc.gov

 

Judge Alan Rosenthal                            rsnthl at comcast.net

 

The teleconference is tentatively scheduled for this Wednesday, July 2nd
at 10:00 am.

 


LAWSUIT AGAINST THIRD REACTOR AT NORTH ANNA

 

The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League's petition filed in May
raises eight major issues: Dominion lacks a realistic radioactive waste
plan, Unit 3 would be located on top of a geological fault, the plant's
cooling system will violate water quality standards, the plant will not
adequately limit radioactive emissions to the atmosphere, uranium is an
unreliable fuel source, the license would violate the Constitutional
protections of due process and equal protection, irradiated fuel would
remain on site, and the plant would be a target for terrorist attacks.

 

The legal challenge reflects Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League's
belief that the Dominion-Virginia Power early site permit was granted
without an adequate assessment of environmental impacts. The permit
record contains a strong, even fierce minority opinion from the chairman
of the three-judge Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel which granted
the early site permit. Judge Alex Karlin opposed the permit because the
NRC staff and Dominion had not complied with important provisions of
national environmental law. 

Karlin wrote, "[T]he NRC staff failed to consider and search for (or
demand that Dominion search for) the 'best alternative sites that could
reasonably be found,' and instead short-circuited the alternatives
analysis by fixating on a very small 'slate of sites' proffered by
Dominion." The result, he said, was therefore "predetermined" and the
selection of the North Anna site was, "inconsistent with both the letter
and spirit of the National Environmental Policy Act." 

Contributing substantively to the legal analysis and case framework were
two national organizations: Beyond Nuclear and Nuclear Information and
Resource Service.

 

To read our May 9, 2008 petition filed with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, go to: 

 

http://www.bredl.org/pdf2/080509NorthAnna_COL_petition_FINAL.pdf

 

To read Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League's May 16th comments on
the environmental impact statement, go to:

 

http://www.bredl.org/pdf2/080516Dominion_COLA_EIS_Scoping_comments.pdf 

 

 

 

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