Platts - Friday, May 30, 2003 http://www.platts.com ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--30May2003 U.S. appeals court denies law firm's emergency motion A federal appeals court has denied Washington, D.C.- based law firm LeBoeuf Lamb's emergency motion, which tried to bar DOE from awarding a nuclear waste legal services contract to any law firm other than itself. DOE is expected to announce soon its selection of a legal services contractor to help prepare an NRC license application for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The opinion the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued May 28 did not dissolve LeBoeuf Lamb's pending litigation against DOE over the contract. The law firm earlier unsuccessfully challenged DOE's selection of Winston & Strawn for the contract, arguing that Winston & Strawn had a conflict of interest because it had performed similar work for a key contractor of the DOE nuclear waste program. Winston & Strawn later withdrew from the contract. Michael McBride, an attorney with LeBoeuf Lamb, said the law firm notified DOE May 29 that it intends to proceed with its appeal. Oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 16. ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--29May 2003 GAO: Unclear whether QA could delay repository It's unclear whether DOE can correct quality assurance (QA) problems in time to submit a repository license application to NRC in December 2004, Robin Nazzaro of the General Accounting Office (GAO) told Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) at a May 28 field hearing in Las Vegas. The DOE repository program has been grappling with QA problems since the late 1980s. "DOE's track record of correcting problems with its quality assurance program is less than favorable," Nazzaro stated in her written testimony. She added that GAO's observation was supported by "NRC's recent comment that DOE's quality assurance program has yet to produce outcomes necessary to ensure that this program meets NRC requirements." Under NRC regulations, all data on the nuclear waste disposal facility must comply with NRC's nuclear QA requirements. DOE waste program director Margaret Chu told an independent review board earlier this month that though a lot of QA problems needed to be fixed, she was optimistic the corrections could be made in time to meet the 2004 target date. However, Chu noted that the application submittal would be delayed if all QA problems weren't corrected in time. DOE is required to load all data supporting an application onto a Web- based licensing support ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flash)--29May2003 Minnesota lifts cask limit at Prairie Island A new Prairie Island storage bill was signed into law May 29 that lifts the 17-cask limit the Minnesota legislature imposed on the nuclear power plant in 1994. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) signed legislation that opens the way for continued operation of the two-unit station beyond 2007, when the plant would have run out of storage space for its spent fuel. Xcel Energy's current NRC operating licenses for Prairie Island-1 and -2 expire in 2013 and 2014, respectively. ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--29May2003 NRC licensing board rejects PFS appeal An NRC licensing board rejected Private Fuel Storage LLC's (PFS) motion for reconsideration of its license application to construct a more limited spent fuel storage facility in Utah. PFS originally had sought approval for a 4,000-cask facility, but an Atomic Safety & Licensing Board (ASLB) ruled March 10 that it could not recommend a license because the risk of an aircraft crash at the site exceeded the commission's safety criterion of one in a million. PFS then went back to the licensing board, seeking approval for a facility that would accommodate up to 336 storage casks. After hearing arguments May 29, the ASLB handed down an oral decision siding with the NRC staff and the state of Utah that PFS' motion was not the proper process for the appeal. The ASLB suggested the eight-utility consortium consider amending its application, instead. Separately, the NRC commissioners May 28 issued an order stating they would not review the air crash probability issue until the ASLB had completed proceedings on the consequences of such an accident. They also directed the ASLB to expedite the review and to issue a decision by the year's end. ------------