Friends of the Earth (FOE) petitioner will address the NRC Petition Review Board (PRB) in Maryland on 1/16/2013 regarding restart of the San Onofre nuclear power plant.  

UPDATE: Listen to Arnie Gundersen as he makes his slide presentation.

In this podcast, Fairewinds looks at how difficult it is for the public to meaningfully participate in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing process. Arnie Gundersen was retained by Friends of the Earth to assess major problems at the San Onofre nuclear plant in California that have caused a year long shutdown. Arnie presented his analysis of what went wrong and how the problems were foreseeable. In this podcast, Arnie discusses how the NRC and Southern California Edison deliberately withheld information to make his technical analysis more difficult to accomplish. Fairewinds taped the meeting, so listeners can hear for themselves the difficulties Arnie encountered and the games the NRC and Southern California Edison played to prevent his participation.

UPDATE: Link to 2012-01-16 Arnie Gundersen FOE slide presentation

UPDATE from FOE: Slides from nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen’s presentation will be available at www.fairewinds.org/nrc-petition-presentation-2013-1-16 Gundersen will be available for questions at (802) 238-4452 immediately following the meeting.  See Friends of the Earth News Release http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2013-01-san-onofre-expert-testimony-shows-how-edisons-failure-led-to-nuclear-crisis

UPDATE from NRC: To assist in today’s meeting, go to NRC’s ADAMS for the presentation (See below).  NRC hopes to have this up on the SONGS Steam Generator portion of the NRC’s Website later today, however, they only receive it this morning, and there is some delay.

Teleconference number is 877-553-7601. When prompted, provide the following passcode: 5087356 (and a # sign). You will be asked for your name, which will be recorded.

This is a Category 3 public meeting, where the public is normally invited to participate in the meeting by providing comments and asking questions throughout the meeting. In this instance, the public (including those on the phone bridge line) will have an opportunity to ask questions pertaining only to the 10 CFR 2.206 processes, after the FOE petitioner completes his uninterrupted presentation to the PRB .

This meeting is an opportunity for the Petitioner to provide information to the Petition Review Board. This is not a hearing and no decisions will be made during this meeting.

[NOTE: Local citizens requested all public meetings be held in the area most impacted by San Onofre.  Our requests were denied.]

PURPOSE OF MEETING:

On November 8,2012, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) approved a Memorandum and Order (CLI-12-20) to address the intervention petition (SECY-12-0117), where Friends of the Earth (FOE) argued that Southern California Edison (SCE) violated Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.59 [license amendment process] when the steam generators for San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 and 3, were replaced in 2010 and 2011 without a license amendment FOE requested a hearing on its 10 CFR 50.59 claim, and asked that its petition not be construed as a request for enforcement relief under 10 CFR 2.206. In a subsequent submittal, FOE stated that the 10 CFR 2.206 process was not a “viable alternative” for obtaining relief. The Commission disagreed and referred this portion of FOE’s petition to the Executive Director for Operations (EDO) for consideration as a petition under 10 CFR 2.206. The purpose of this meeting is to provide the petitioner with an opportunity to address the NRC Petition Review Board (PRB), pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206.

AGENDA

FORTHCOMING MEETING WITH PETITIONER RICHARD AYRES, COUNSEL TO FRIENDS OF THE EARTH, AYRES LAW GROUP REQUESTING ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON UNDER 10 CFR 2.206

January 16, 2013 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST

12:30 p.m. -12:35p.m.    Introductions and opening remarks (Brian Benney, Senior Project Manager; Sher Bahadur. Petition Review Board Chairman)

12 :35 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.   Remarks from petitioner (Richard Ayres)

1:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.      Questions from the Petition Review Board

1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.     Public questions/comments on the 10 CFR 2.206 process

3:00 p.m.                            Adjourn

This meeting will be recorded and transcribed by an NRC Court Reporter. The meeting transcript will be placed in ADAMS following the meeting to provide a written account of this meeting.

NRC 1/16/2013 meeting announcement and agenda

Friends of the Earth legal brief charges San Onofre reactor restart plan is in breach of license 1/11/2013