LICENSING BOARD TO HOLD EVIDENTIARY HEARING STARTING ON OCT. 15

IN TARRYTOWN, N.Y., ON INDIAN POINT LICENSE RENEWAL CONTENTIONS

Three judges of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) will conduct an 

evidentiary hearing starting on Monday, Oct. 15, addressing 10 technical and environmental 

challenges to the pending Indian Point nuclear power plant license renewal application. The 

application was submitted by Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc., the owner and operator of the plant, 

which is located in Buchanan (Westchester County), N.Y.

The issues to be considered have been raised by three intervenors: the State of New York and 

two public interest organizations, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Inc. and Riverkeeper Inc. In 

addition to these intervenors, several governmental bodies have been granted status as participants in 

the proceeding.

The ASLBP, the independent judicial arm of the NRC, will hold the hearing over the course 

of several weeks: Oct. 15-18, Oct. 22-24 and Dec. 10-14. The Oct. 15th session will begin at 1 p.m. at 

the DoubleTree Hotel, at 455 South Broadway in Tarrytown, N.Y. (Directions are available at: 

http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/new-york/doubletree-by-hilton-hotel-tarrytownTERHIDT/maps-directions/index.html.)

The three judges assigned to conduct this proceeding will hear testimony from expert 

witnesses and then issue a ruling at a later date. This proceeding will be different from a typical court 

proceeding in that the parties have pre-filed their direct testimony and exhibits. Therefore, the 

evidentiary hearing will be a forum in which the judges will ask questions of the parties’ witnesses in 

order to clarify the testimony and exhibits they have already reviewed.

This will be a formal adjudicative proceeding and therefore courtroom decorum will be 

observed throughout the hearing. The judges will ask questions of the witnesses who have been 

presented by the parties and solicit arguments on legal issues from the attorneys representing the 

hearing participants. Members of the public will not have an opportunity to speak during this hearing. 

Also, consistent with ASLBP rules on the conduct of such hearings, signs and placards will not be 

permitted in the hearing room and only accredited members of the media will be permitted to bring 

cameras or recording devices into the hearing.

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I 

2100 Renaissance Blvd., King of Prussia, Pa. 19406-2713

E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov 

Site: www.nrc.gov

Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov

No. I-12-038

Contact: Diane Screnci, (610) 337-5330

 Neil Sheehan, (610) 337-5331

September 28, 2012

Email: opa1.resource@nrc.gov
In addition, all members of the public will be screened by security before being granted entry 

into the hearing room. Accordingly, in order to facilitate entry, individuals wishing to attend the 

hearing are urged not to bring unnecessary items to the proceeding.

Members of the public may enter the hearing room on Oct. 15 starting at 12:30 p.m. On each 

of the remaining days of the hearing, the public may enter the hearing room beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Entergy submitted its application for a 20-year extension of the Indian Point operating license 

on April 30, 2007. The initial 40-year operating licenses for Indian Point Units 2 and 3 are due to 

expire on Sept. 28, 2013 and Dec. 12, 2015, respectively. However, those initial licenses will remain 

in effect until the Commission has issued a final ruling on the renewal application.

Here is a summary of the issues to be addressed during the evidentiary hearing and the order 

in which they will be considered:

1. Contention Riverkeeper (RK)-TC-2: Challenges Entergy’s Aging Management Program 

for flow-accelerated corrosion.

2. Contention New York State (NYS)-12-C: Challenges the NRC’s compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) concerning its Severe Accident Mitigation 

Alternatives (SAMA) analysis of the decontamination and clean-up costs of a severe 

accident in the New York metropolitan area.

3. Contention NYS-16/16A/16B: Challenges the NRC’s compliance with NEPA concerning 

its SAMA analysis of the cost of human exposure to radioactivity in the case of a severe 

accident.

4. Contention NYS 17-B: Challenges the NRC’s compliance with NEPA relating to an 

analysis of the impacts of license renewal on property values for properties near Indian 

Point.

5. Contention NYS-37: Challenges the NRC’s compliance with NEPA concerning the 

adequacy of its energy alternative analysis.

6. Contention NYS-5: Challenges Entergy’s inspections and monitoring for corrosion or 

leaks in all buried systems, structures and components that convey or contain radioactive 

material.

7. Contention RK-EC-3/Clearwater (CW)-EC-1: Challenges the NRC’s compliance with 

NEPA concerning the adequacy of its analysis of impacts from spent fuel pool leaks.

8. Contention NYS-6/7: Challenges Entergy’s Aging Management Program for nonenvironmentally-qualified inaccessible medium-voltage and low-voltage cables and 

wiring.

9. Contention NYS-8: Challenges Entergy’s omission of an Aging Management Program for 

safety-related electrical transformers.

10. Contention CW-EC-3A: Challenges the NRC’s compliance with NEPA concerning its 

environmental justice analysis.

Documents related to the Indian Point license renewal application are available on the NRC’s 

web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/indian-point.html.

Documents for the Indian Point license renewal proceeding are available at: 

http://adams.nrc.gov/ehd/.

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