NRC Pulls Fast One Over Public Participation in Safety Oversight of Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station.
WASHINGTON, DC---The Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners quietly met on the afternoon of Monday, August 16, 2004 and by a unanimous vote of 3-0 decided to hold a public meeting at 9:25 AM EST on Tuesday, August 17, 2004 regarding an appeal of its licensing board's decision to deny a public hearing on the legality and safety of the restart of Ohio's controversial Davis-Besse nuclear power station. The only notification (attached) of the public meeting was emailed to the Toledo, Ohio attorney for Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and local interveners at 8:30 AM Tuesday morning—less than one hour before the meeting began.
Following its "open to the public meeting," the Commission promptly issued an Order and Memorandum (attached) affirming the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) decision by email to the Attorney Terry Lodge.
"We attempted to raise documented Davis-Besse fire protection violations and public safety concerns to NRC's restart panel back in December 2003, months before the restart," said Paul Gunter, Director of the Reactor Watchdog Project for Washington, DC-based Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). "Reminiscent of the same regulatory malfeasance that led to severe reactor corrosion and a near miss accident, the agency sunset its own Sunshine Law to circumvent serious public safety questions," he said.
NIRS and local plaintiffs pointed to publicly disclosed NRC documents where pre-restart NRC inspections of Davis-Besse records discovered "pretty outrageous" violations of mandatory fire protection for reactor safe shutdown equipment. [1]
"When serious safety allegations didn't fit the agency's restart script, NRC omitted them from any restart considerations," said Toledo Attorney Terry Lodge. "The grand jury investigating wrongdoing around Davis-Besse's hole-in-the head is public safety's last chance for any justice," said Lodge.
The ASLB dismissed contentions claiming that the plaintiffs had sought a hearing on actions beyond the scope of the NRC Restart Order. The plaintiffs then sought an appeal to the Commission.
"This is simply contempt for public participation in the reactor safety process," said Michael Keegan, a plaintiff in the Davis-Besse restart decision. "These rogues masquerading as regulators must be called out on the Congressional Oversight Carpet," concluded Keegan.
-30- Attachment: Email NRC to Terry Lodge, Esq.
--- HearingDocket wrote:
> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 08:30:47 -0400
> From: "HearingDocket"
> To: ,
> ,
> "Charles Kelber"
> ,
> "G Paul Bollwerk"
> ,
> "Lisa Clark" ,
> "Peter Lam" ,
>
> CC: "John Cordes"
> Subject: Davis-Besse - Commission Memorandum and Order
> By a vote of 3-0 on August 16, 2004, the Commission determined
> pursuant to U.S.C. 552b(e) and Section
> 9.107(a) of the Commission's rules that Affirmation of a Commission
> Memorandum and Order regarding the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating
> Company (Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1) proceeding (Docket
> No. 50-346-CO) will be held today, August 17, 2004 at 9:25 am, and on
> less than one week's notice to the public. The meeting is open and
> will be held at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission headquarters
> building, Commissioner's conference room, 11555
> Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
> Please acknowledge receipt. Thank you.
> Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff
> Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
[1] Email from Phil Qualls, Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. NRC Headquarters, to Dennis Kubicki, US DOE, "Re: Memory test and possible warning," June 24, 2003, FOIA 2003-0358 Appendix N-19.
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