NRC: News Release - Region I - 2006-049 - Atomic Safety & Licensing Board Evidentiary Hearing on Vermont Yankee Power Uprate Scheduled for Sept. 13-15 in Newfane, VT.

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NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I
475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
www.nrc.gov

No. I-06-049		August 31, 2006
CONTACT:	Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331	E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov
ATOMIC SAFETY & LICENSING BOARD EVIDENTIARY HEARING ON VERMONT YANKEE POWER UPRATE SCHEDULED FOR SEPT. 13-15 IN NEWFANE, VT. Printable Version
An evidentiary hearing regarding the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant power uprate will be held starting at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 13, at the Windham County Courthouse, 7 Court St. in Newfane, Vt. The sessions will continue, if necessary, on Sept. 14 and 15. The hearing will be conducted by a three-judge panel from the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), which is a quasi-judicial arm of the agency that handles licensing matters. Its purpose is to allow the New England Coalition (NEC), a public interest group, to present testimony on a contention it submitted in opposition to a 20-percent power increase implemented at the Vernon, Vt., reactor earlier this year. Portions of the hearing will involve proprietary information and will therefore be closed to the public. Also, all three days may not be needed for completion of the hearing and sessions may extend into the evening to facilitate completion. The plant’s owner, Entergy Nuclear, applied to the NRC for the power uprate in September 2003. Subsequently, the Vermont Department of Public Service (DPS) and NEC filed requests for a hearing on the proposal. An ASLB panel formed to hear the requests ruled in November 2004 that the DPS and NEC had established standing and that each had submitted two admissible contentions. Subsequently, the DPS withdrew its contentions and NEC withdrew one of its contentions. Accordingly, the only contention left to be considered at the hearing will be NEC’s argument pertaining to whether large transient testing should be performed as a condition of uprate. More information about the hearing is available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS), which is accessible via the agency’s web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR@NRC.GOV.