April 11, 2001

MEMORANDUM TO: William D. Travers

Executive Director for Operations

FROM: Brian W. Sheron, Associate Director /RA/

 for Project Licensing and Technical Analysis

Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

SUBJECT: MARCH 2001 REPORT ON THE STATUS OF PUBLIC PETITIONS

UNDER 10 CFR 2.206

The attached monthly report gives the status of 10 CFR 2.206 petitions as of March 31, 2001. 

During the month, the petition on Haddam Neck by R. Bassilakis of Citizens Awareness

Network (G20000462) was closed. Currently, there are two open petitions: one in the Office of

Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR), and one in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and

Safeguards (NMSS).

Attachment 1 provides the detailed status of petitions for NRR and NMSS. Attachment 2 

shows the age and staff hours expended on open 2.206 petitions as of March 31, 2001. 

Attachment 3 shows the statistics for the 2.206 petitions processed in the past 12 months.

This report and recently issued Director’s Decisions are placed in the Agencywide Document

Access and Management System (ADAMS), and on the NRC’s external home page, making

them readily accessible to the public. The URL address is

http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/PUBLIC/2206/index.html.

Attachments: As stated

CONTACT: Ram Subbaratnam, NRR

 415-1478
1

Report on Status of Public Petitions Under 10 CFR 2.206

March 31, 2001

(Table of Contents)

Attachment 1

Page

Facility Petitioner/EDO No. No.

Atlas Corporation Dagget, et al./G19990011....................................2

Haddam Neck Nuclear Generating Station R. Bassilakis/CAN/G20000462............................5

Indian Point Unit 2 D. Katz/CAN/G20000568................................... .7
2

Attachment 1

Report on Status of Public Petitions Under 10 CFR 2.206

Facility: Moab site of Atlas Corporation (Present Licensee,

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Trustee)

Petitioner: Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund

Date of Petition: 1/11/99

Director's Decision To Be Issued by: NMSS

Date Referred to Review Organization: 1/12/99

EDO Number: G19990011

OGC Number: P-99-02

Scheduled Completion Date: TBD

Last Contact with Petitioner: 11/17/2000

Petition Manager: Myron Fliegel

Case Attorney: J. Goldberg

Issues/Action Requested:

The petitioner requests NRC to take six immediate actions to halt impacts to and to ensure the

conservation of the endangered species of fish in the Colorado River near the Atlas site.

Background:

On August 2, 1988, Atlas submitted an application for a license amendment to revise its site reclamation

plan for uranium mill tailings at its no longer operating site near Moab, Utah. On March 30, 1994, a notice

of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement was published in the Federal Register. In January

1996, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement was published for public comment. On July 29, 1998, the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in accordance with Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA),

issued a final biological opinion for impacts to federally listed endangered species from the reclamation of

the Atlas mill tailings site. On October 12, 1998, and November 13, 1998, the petitioner notified NRC of its

intent to sue under the ESA. On December 16, 1998, the petitioner filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction

against NRC in the U.S. District Court, District of Utah.

A petition was filed on January 11, 1999, requesting the NRC to take six immediate actions related to

potential impact on endangered fish in the Colorado River due to contaminants from the Atlas uranium mill

tailings pile. A Petition Review Board (PRB) meeting was held on January 26, 1999, and the petitioner’s

requests for immediate action were denied by a letter of that date. In the letter, it was noted that none of

the six items identified in the petition addresses a health, safety, or environmental concern that requires

emergency steps before a complete review as provided for in 10 CFR 2.206. An acknowledgment letter for

this petition was published in the Federal Register on February 12, 1999. On May 13, 1999, the staff

received a supplement to the 2.206 petition requesting immediate action on several items: (1) to suspend

the issuance of the license amendment to permit reclamation; (2) to initiate a supplemental National

Environmental Policy Act process; and (3) to reinitiate consultation with FWS under the ESA. 

Earthjustice had, on January 27, 1999, petitioned the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) to

intervene on the Atlas Corporation’s proposal to reclaim the Moab mill tailings and on the cleanup of

contaminated groundwater, citing the impacts to the endangered fish in the Colorado River and its belief 

that the biological opinion was erroneous. On May 27, 1999, the NRC wrote to the petitioner,

acknowledging receipt of the supplement, denying immediate action, and notifying the petitioner that NRC

was deferring action on the 2.206 petition, pending a decision by the ASLB on the petitioner’s request for a

hearing on similar issues. 

On September 17, 1999, the staff filed responses to the ASLB presiding officers’ questions of July 30,

1999. On September 29, 1999, the staff provided the ASLB with a copy of its September 29, 1999, letter

to Dames & Moore, notifying that organization that it had been selected to become the Trustee for the 
3

Atlas Moab site, since the Atlas Corporation is in bankruptcy. Copies of both filings were sent to the

petitioner. Dames & Moore subsequently withdrew as trustee and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was

chosen to be the trustee.

On October 18, 1999, Earthjustice filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, arguing

that the May 27, 1999, letter and a May 28, 1999, license amendment constitute final agency action and a

de facto denial of the 2.206 petition. On November 3, 1999, OGC filed a motion to dismiss for lack of

jurisdiction with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A copy of the motion was sent to the petitioner. On

November 23, 1999, the petitioner filed a response to the NRC motion to dismiss, arguing that the rejection

of its request for immediate action and subsequent lack of action on the part of the NRC in issuing a final

Director’s Decision constitutes a final agency action. NRC filed its reply with the court to the petitioner’s

response on December 2, 1999.

On October 28, 1999, the ASLB presiding officer found the Earthjustice petition of January 27, 1999, to be

timely, and entertained further argument on the issue of petitioner’s standing. On November 16, 1999,

Earthjustice requested the presiding officer to rule on whether the ASLB has jurisdiction with respect to

determining whether NRC has complied with the ESA. On December 6, 1999, the staff filed a response

arguing that the ASLB should deny the petitioner’s November 16, 1999, motion. 

On December 27, 1999, an Order transferring source material license SUA-917 from Atlas Corporation to

the Maob Mill Reclamation Trust was signed. The Order transfers the license to the Trust and orders the

Trust and the Trustee (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) to perform reclamation of the uranium mill tailings

site in accordance with the terms and conditions of the license. The terms and conditions of the license

include reasonable and prudent measures in the U.S. FWS final biological opinion, as well as mitigative

measures developed by the NRC staff. The Order was effective December 30, 1999, and was published in

the Federal Register on January 3, 2000.

On January 13, 2000, the petitioner filed a reply with the ASLB in support of its motion originally filed on

November 16, 1999, for a preliminary ruling on jurisdiction. On February 17, 2000, the ASLB granted the

petitioner’s request for hearing. The PRB, in consultation with the Office of the General Counsel (OGC),

deferred action on this 2.206 petition pending resolution of the litigation before the 9th Circuit Court of

Appeals and of the petition before the ASLB.

On June 22, 2000, the petitioner wrote to NRC requesting it to reinitiate consultation with FWS on two

additional issues. On July 21, 2000, NRC wrote to the petitioner stating that it will consider the June 22,

2000, letter as a second supplement to the original petition, which is being held in abeyance, pending the

hearing before the ASLB. On October 30, 2000, the President signed the Floyd B. Spence National

Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001. Section 3405 of that legislation transfers the Atlas site to

the Department of Energy (DOE) with the stipulation that DOE remove the tailings from the Moab site. The

legislation also terminates the NRC license no later than October 30, 2001.

On November 17, 2000, all parties to the ASLB hearing agreed to terminate the proceeding. Earthjustice

agreed to file a motion withdrawing its petition to intervene. On December 13, 2000, Earthjustice filed a

motion to withdraw its intervention petition. On December 20, 2000, the presiding officer granted the

motion.

Current Status:

As a result of events during the past several months, the situation that was in place at the time of the

original petition dated January 11, 1999, the first supplement dated May 13, 1999, and the second

supplement dated June 22, 2000, has changed entirely. The petition was directed at activities that would

be performed by the NRC licensee to remediate the former Atlas Corporation uranium mill site near Moab,

Utah. Recent legislation transfers responsibility for the site to DOE. Also, the petition raises issues
4

regarding the final biological opinion on the onsite reclamation issued by the U.S. FWS on July 29, 1998. 

However, on February 8, 2001, the U.S. FWS withdrew the biological opinion. NMSS is evaluating this

information and will decide how to deal with the petition by April 16, 2001.
5

Facility: Haddam Neck Nuclear Generating

Station

Petitioner: R. Bassilakis, et al. (CAN)

Date of Petition: 9/26/2000

Director's Decision To Be Issued by: NRR

Date Referred to Review Organization: 9/29/2000

EDO Number: G20000462

OGC Number: -

Scheduled Completion Date: 3/20/2001(Completed)

Last Contact with Petitioners: 1/4/2001

Petition Manager: E. Pogue/D. Wheeler

Case Attorney: J. Goldberg

Issues/Action Requested:

(1) A full investigation of Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company’s (CYAPCO’s) protective

clothing laundering practices and specifically of the September 20, 2000, incident at a public

laundry facility in which petitioners contend that the licensee may have been laundering

radioactively contaminated clothing. (2) That NRC revoke CYAPCO’s license or suspend it until

such time that an investigation is completed and any contamination found at the public laundry

facility as a result of the incident is remediated. (3) That “this violation of regulation should be

referred to the Department of Justice for investigation.” (4) That an informal hearing be

conducted. 

Background:

A PRB meeting on the petition was held on October 10, 2000. The petitioners were provided

with an opportunity to address the PRB in an open session, and did so with the licensee

present. The PRB concluded that the petition meets the threshold for processing under 

10 CFR 2.206 and also concluded that the details provided in the petitioners’ request were

sufficient to warrant further inquiry. The acknowledgment letter and the Federal Register Notice

on the petition were issued on November 9, 2000. A proposed Director's Decision (DD) was

issued on December 19, 2000. A copy of the proposed DD was provided to both the petitioner

and the licensee. On January 4, 2001, the petitioners provided comments on the proposed

DD. 

Current Status:

The staff reviewed the petitioners’ comments and documented their resolution in a staff

memorandum dated March 6, 2001. The petitioners’ letter, the licensee’s letter and the staff

memorandum were made enclosures to the final DD (DD-01-02), which was issued on 

March 20, 2001. The DD stated that the first request was granted by an NRC inspection. This

inspection concluded that CYAPCO did not launder contaminated materials at a public laundry

facility, that adequate controls were in place to assure that CYAPCO training materials did not

become contaminated, and that CYAPCO’s laundering practices were in compliance with NRC

regulations and did not endanger the health and safety of the public. In response to the second

request, NRC took no immediate action because inspection findings demonstrated that there

were no immediate safety concerns. Based on the conclusions of the inspection report, no

violations of NRC regulations were identified, and therefore NRC has no basis to take action to
6

suspend or revoke CYAPCO’s license. Similarly, since no violations of NRC regulations were

identified, the third request was considered not to warrant any action. Finally, the fourth

request was granted in principle to the extent that the petitioners were provided opportunities to

interact with the NRC staff during its review of the petition, and the record of the NRC staff

review was available to the public. Since the issues of public health and safety and regulatory

compliance submitted in the petition were resolved in a process open to the public, the NRC

staff does not plan to take any further action on this petition. The DD is currently with the

Commission for review, and if the Commission does not act within 25 days of the date of

issuance of the DD, it will become a final agency action.
7

Facility: Indian Point, Unit 2

Petitioner: Deborah Katz, et al. (CAN)

Date of Petition: 12/4/2000

Director's Decision To Be Issued by: NRR

Date Referred to Review Organization: 12/11/2000

EDO Number: G20000568

Scheduled Completion Date: 7/9/2001

Last Contact with Petitioners: 2/9/2001

Petition Manager: C. Gratton

Case Attorney: J. Goldberg

Issues/Action Requested:

(1) That the licensee, ConEd, have its license suspended for the Indian Point Unit 2 (IP2) facility

due to persistent and pervasive negligent management, which has endangered the public

health and safety and the environment due to significant safety problems existent at the site for

decades. (2) Specifically, that NRC investigate the apparent misrepresentation of material fact

by the utility to determine whether the significantly insufficient engineering calculations relied on

to ensure adequacy of design of key systems, including the steam generator (SG) analysis and

the electric bus analysis at the IP2 reactor, were due to a lack of rigor and thoroughness or a

result of deliberately misleading information. (3) Should the investigation determine that ConEd

deliberately provided insufficient and false information, the petitioners specifically request that

ConEd’s operating license be revoked for its IP2 reactor. (4) Should NRC not revoke the

license, and the IP2 reactor returns to operation, the petitioners specifically request that it

remain on the list of agency focus reactors to oversee the operation of the reactor until such

time as its management demonstrates that it can fulfill its regulatory requirements and

commitments. (5) No license transfer requests should be approved for IP2 until such time that

its management can demonstrate that the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR)

backlog and the maintenance requirements are up-to-date and workers have been retrained to

the complete and revised UFSAR. (6) NRC should keep IP2 off-line until the fundamental

breakdown in management is analyzed and corrected.

Background

With the SG replacement having been completed at IP2, and the licensee in the process of

restart, the PRB convened a meeting on December 20, 2000, to consider the Immediate Action

request related to plant restart (item 6). The PRB concluded that there was insufficient

information provided and that the petitioners did not substantiate any safety concerns to justify

delaying unit restart. The petitioners were, in accordance with Management Directive (MD)

8.11, offered an opportunity to address the Petition Review Board (PRB) in an open meeting. 

This meeting was conducted on January 24, 2001, at NRC headquarters. A PRB meeting to

consider the petitioners’ issues (items 1 thru 5) was held on February 7, 2001. The PRB

recommended accepting the petition. 

Current Status: 

On March 9, 2001, the staff issued an acknowledgment letter to the petitioners and a summary

of the public meeting held on January 24, 2001. MD 8.11 specifies that the staff respond to the

petition by issuing a proposed Director’s Decision (DD) within 120 days from the date of the

acknowledgment letter.

At its February 7, 2001 meeting, the PRB recommended issuing a partial DD to address the

transfer issue (item 5) by May 2001. The PRB has reconsidered this recommendation and the

current plan is to include item 5 in the proposed DD scheduled for issuance on July 9, 2001. 

Should the staff conclude that the IP2 license transfer order is ready for issuance prior to the

July 9, 2001, proposed DD issuance, the staff will convene a meeting of the PRB to consider

item 5 as an immediate action request, and the petitioners will be notified of the staff decision. 
Attachment 2

AGE AND RESOURCE EXPENDITURES FOR AGENCY 2.206 OPEN PETITIONS

As of March 31, 2001

N

R

FACILITY AGE

(months)*

Scheduled

Completion

Date

Resources

Expended by

Action Office

(HOURS)1

Resources

Expended

by OGC

(HOURS)1

Comments if not meeting the

Agency’s 

120-day Completion Goal

011 ATLAS

CORPORATION

3** TBD 5 78 NRC is considering recent

legislation that transfersresponsibility for the site to DOEand recent U. S. FWS actions.

568 Indian Point Unit 2 1 7/9/2001 289 57 |

does not include management or administrative time.

of the acknowledgment letter.

opped as of May 27, 1999.
Attachment 3

Table on Status of Public Petitions

er 10 CFR 2.206 for DDs Issued and/or Closed During the Last 12 Months

Assigned Facility Petition DD Age Comments

Action Date Date at Closure1,2

Office (Months)

NRR Indian Point Unit 2 9/15/99 4/13/2000 6 Denied

NRR Indian Point Unit 3 2/10/2000 7/26/2000 4 Partly GrantedNRR Indian Point Unit 2 3/14/2000 10/6/2000 6 Partly Granted

NRR Hatch Units 1 & 2 5/3/2000 10/18/200 4 Denied

NMSS Envirosafe, Idaho 3/13/2000 12/13/2000 8 Denied 

NMSS US Department of Defense 6/1/2000 1/9/2001 3 Denied NRR Haddam Neck 9/26/2000 12/19/2000 2 Partly Granted

te of the acknowledgment letter to the proposed Director’s Decision issuance.

etter issued within 5 weeks from date of receipt; proposed DD issued within 4 months of acknowledgment letter.