Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
MEMORANDUM <br />TO: County Commissioners <br />John Link, County Manager <br />FROM: Paul Thames, PE, County Engineer <br />DATE: Mazch 3, 1999 <br />SUBJECT: Update on Sheazon Harris issues <br />Attached, please fmd the following materials: <br />• The Gordon Thompson report entitled "Risks and Alternative Options Associated with Spent Fuel <br />Storage at the Shearon Harris Nucleaz Power Plant <br />• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) 2/24/99 order establishing a licensing board and <br />scheduling apre-hearing conference <br />• CP&L's 3/1/99 formal reply to Orange County's petition to intervene <br />• A detailed breakdown of legal and consulting costs for the NRC intervention, hearing and appeals <br />process <br />As of Wednesday, February 24th, the NRC has issued an order establishing a Licensing Board and <br />setting apre-hearing conference, tentatively scheduled for May 10`~ at the NRC's Rockville, Maryland <br />office. The Licensing Boazd will hear presentations/arguments from the attorneys of both the County <br />and CP&L on the County's contentions and standing. The purpose of this conference is to determine if <br />the public hearing process will proceed. The County's legal consultant, Diane Curran, suggests -that we <br />petition the NRC to relocate the hearing to a facility in this area. County staff are in the process of <br />finding several alternative meeting locations (as per Ms. Curran's suggestion) that can handle such a <br />hearing during normal business hours. Ms. Curran will submit the petition to have the pre-hearing <br />conference located in or near Orange County, if that is the Board's pleasure, this week. Having the <br />hearing in or neaz Orange County does incur additional transportation and lodging expense for Ms. <br />Curran. <br />As of Monday, March 1, CP&L has filed its formal response to Orange County's petition to intervene. <br />It appeazs that CP&L has again chosen not to participate willingly in an open public heazing process as it <br />has requested that the NRC deny Orange County's request for public hearings. Specifically, CP&L and <br />its attorneys have requested that the NRC find that Orange County lacks the standing to intervene in the <br />permitting process because: a) the contentions developed by the County's consultant aze not sufficiently <br />specific or have already been deemed insignificant by the NRC in similar cases and thus not admissible; <br />and b) neither Orange County nor those citizens it represents have been shown to have suffered any <br />