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Case 1:98-cv-00126-JFM

Document 780-6

Filed 04/06/2004

Page 1 of 9

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IN THE U. S. COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

- x
YANKEE ATOMIC ELECTRIC

CO,.
CO., ' o:.\\~\\.\)

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MAINE YANKEE ATOMIC POWER

CONNECTICUT YANKEE ATOMIC POWE
CO. ,

Plaintiffs:
vs.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

: No. 98- 126C

98- 474C 98- 154C

Defendant.

Washington, D. C.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Deposition of:
DR. JOHN BARTLETT
called for examination by counsel for the

defendant, pursuant to notice and

agreement,

commencing at 9:30 a. m., at Department of

Justice,

1100 L Street N. W., before Virlana Kardash, RPR

CSR, a Notary Public in and for the District of

columbia, when

were. present on behalf of the

respective parties:
i J

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you interpret it in another way?

Well, at this point I can say no one ever
expected OFF to be used as an actual implementation

method.
Before we go any further with that, let me
talk just about what the contract provides, and then

m going to ask you about

that.

Do you know whether the contract provides
any other sequence by which spent fuel could be

accepted?
MR. SHAPIRO:

Objection. Vague.

BY MS. HERRMANN

Do you understand the question?
I understand the question.

I believe it

does not.
m sorry.
Your answer was it does not?

I believe it does not specify any other

approaches.
m going to refer you now to article IV

BS of the contract, Roman Numeral IV.
Is that on page 10?

I believe that I s on page 10.
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Case 1:98-cv-00126-JFM Document 780-6 Filed 04/06/2004 Page 3 of 9

In a sense, yes.
to commi t anybody.

Yes.

They are not meant

They were not a basis for
It was just widely

program action or anything.

recognized that this would be a very inefficient way
of doing things, and it would be far better to have

a system where you, well, frankly, campaigned and
made effective use of the resources of the

system;

but at the time it was all very qualitative, you know, how should this system run, because it was
very premature to even think about those details

because we didn I

t have

an MRS.

We didn' t know what

it was going to look like or what the reactor fleet

was going to

do.

So really while you were director, you
didn I t

know one way or the other whether the OFF

method was going to happen?

That I S right.
Did you do any studies or anything while
you were director, or were you responsible for

any

studies as to whether the OFF system would work?

Specific studies,

no.

General studies?
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Well, I mean there were no reports or
studies done.

It was qualitative discussion of the

inefficiency of the OFF system and an expectation

that implementation would in fact involve some kind
of a SWAPS system or something like that to make it
more effective.
. 7

Have you reviewed the administrative

record for standard contract rulemaking for this

contract?
No.
And I know you had already told me before
that you werenlt involved at all in drafting the

contract?
That'

s right.
I I m going to move now to the

All right.
Exhibi t 1,

next sentence in your report.
page 1.

m back on

And the next sentence is, I have

been asked to present my opinions on what the proper

pace and schedule should have and would have been
had the government not breached its obligation to

start accepting spent fuel by January 31, 1991.

Are you wi th me?
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MR. SHAPIRO:
MR. MILLER:
MS. HERRMANN

I think you misread.

Yeah.

You said 191.

I apologize.

1998.

Thank

you for correcting me.
BY MS. HERRMANN:

Can you tell me what you mean by
proper pace" in that sentence?

the

It'
basically.

s a pace to avoid inventories at

reactors that would force them to shut down

That would be the core

issue, taking it
I t build
up

fast enough so that the inventories don

that the utilities have to add additional storage
.'.1

capacity or shut down.

So " proper" in the broadest

sense is to avoid disrupting the operation and the
industry and generation of power.

So when you say " proper, "

you

I re not

saying that that is required by the contract?

No.
Would you consider your opinions on what
is the proper pace expert opinions?

I think so, yes.

And on what do you base your expert
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opinion on that?
relying on?

Essentially what expertise are you

My knowledge of and ability to deal with system studies and this presumption, if you

will,

that the industry should not be disrupted as a

result of failure to remove spent fuel at an
adequate rate.

Q. , When disrupted --

you say the industry should not be

No shutdowns forced or reactors that are

already shut down prevented from going into

decommissioning.

Do you - - is

part of your opinion

strike that.
Are you of the opinion that the standard
contractu requires DOE to prevent reactors from

having to shut down?
MR. SHAPIRO:

Objection.

Vague.

BY M8.. HERRMANN:
Do you understand my question?

I have no

- - no sense of that.
I re answering,
164

I I m not sure which part you

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Case 1:98-cv-00126-JFM Document 780-6 Filed 04/06/2004 Page 7 of 9

so I I m going to make it more

clear.

Please.
Does the standard contract require DOE to

ensure that

reactors, will not have
Obj ection.

to shut down?

MR. SHAPIRO:

Vague.

BY MS. HERRMANN

Do you understand my question?
I I m sorry. ' Could you please repeat it

again?

Of course.

Does the standard contract

require DOE to prevent reactors from having to shut
down ?
MR. SHAPIRO:
Same objection.

THE WITNESS:
MS. HERRMANN

Does it require it?

Yes.
m not
I don't think it

THE WITNESS:

addresses it.
MS. HERRMANN:
BY MS. HERRMANN

Okay.

You also mentioned for shutdown

reactors - -

actually, why don

ItI

ask you again.
not
165

You gave me two reasons.

One had to do wi th

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Case 1:98-cv-00126-JFM

Document 780-6

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Page 8 of 9

having to shut down early.
shutdown reactors.

The other aspect was for

Would you explain to me what the

issue is for shutdown reactors?

If the shutdown reactors are seeking to

decommission and they still have spent fuel, they

6'

have to maintain the spent fuel storage

capability,

which is a very expensive proposition, and it
prevents them from effectively decommissioning the

site.

They can tear down the reactor, perhaps, but

they have to maintain security,

safety, operability

of the spent fuel storage facility at the

site.

And

of. course in each case it t S a pool ,
and security significant.
Where do you

and pool

maintenance is very expensive and labor- intensive

get your knowledge of the

decommissioning requirements on utilities?

One of the -- several of the studies I did
while at SCNA for EPA and NRC were directed at

requ1rements for decommissioning reactor

plants.

Did you reference any of the material that

you accumulated while you were doing that study in
preparing this report?
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Document 780-6

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Page 9 of 9

THE WITNESS:

no one made any

exchanges, you' re not necessarily left with the
OFF schedule.
BY MS. HERRMANN:

What are you left

with, sir?
receipt as

Going to the reactors in accord with a
change in their need or desire for

opposed to using strictly the OFF
don I t

schedule.

They

have to exchange.

Does the standard contract provide for

what youl ve

just told me?

The standard contract provides wiggle

room on every

aspect.

It sets the OFF schedule as

a paradigm, as a baseline, but it provides

for
for

swaps, it provides

shut- down.

reactors, '

et

cetera.
All of those possibilities are

there.

Would you take a look at Exhibit No.

please, which is the contract, and point me to
where it provides for the system that you' ve

just

told me about, where DOE

-- I '

actually going to

- look back at it again on the

record.
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