Free Response to Motion - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

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Case 1:98-cv-00474-JFM

Document 309-3

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IN THE UNITED S~ATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS
~ x

YANKEE ATOMIC ELECTRIC
COMPANY,

Plaintiff,

Case

No.

98-126C

Senior Judge . Merow
THE . UNITED STATES,

Defendant.
- X

Washington, D.

C.

Friday" June 4 , 1999

b~po~ltion of CHRISTOPHER A. KOUTS, a
witne~s herein, called for examination by counsel
for Plaintiff in the above-entitled matter

pursuant to notice, the witness being duly sworn

by MARY GRACE CASTLEBERRY, a Notary Public in and
for the District of Columbia, taken at the
offices of Spriggs & Hollingsworth , 1350

Street ,

N.

W., Washington , D. C., at 10:00 a. m.,
1999

Friday, June

and the proceedings being

taken down by Stenotype by MARY GRACE
CASTLEBERRY, RPR , and transcribed under her

direction.
.Y'

ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY , INC.
1111 14th ST., N,

(202)289- 2260 (800) FOR DEPO , 4th FLOOR WASHINGTON, D, C., 20005

0001

. : ' ,:~ "

' ,Case 1:98-cv-00474-JFM Document 309-3 Filed 04/16/2004 Page 2 of 16

was the
2,

first.
Do you know where that date came

from,

how that date came to be included in the
presentat ion?

I was not directly involved in the

development of that report, so I couldn' t say.

Do you know who was involved?
I believe the staff person at the tim~
was Vic Trevules, that' s T-r-e-v-u-

l-e-s.

Does he currently work for DOE?

Yes, he works for the Yucca Mountain

proj ect.
Do you have any understanding at all of

where the 2010 number came from, how it was
derived, what the basis for that number

is?

I t was developed through working wi
the ' repository program, which was an area of the
program I wasn' t working with at the

time, so I

don' t have any direct knowledge as to how that
date was developed.

Do you have any indirect knowledge?

No.
When do you believe that spent nuclear
fuel will start to be picked up from nuclear

utilities?
ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY , INC.
(202)289- 2260
1111 14th ST.. N. W., 4th FLOOR
(800) FOR DEPO

WASHINGTON, D.

, 20005

0002

" '-" . ":--'
Case 1:98-cv-00474-JFM Document 309-3 Filed 04/16/2004 Page 3 of 16

I believe~ assuming we get the

resources, that it can be done by

2010.

Do you believe it will be done by 2010?
I cab' t

really say.

Any particular reason why you can'

say?

It' s predicated upon prece~ding budgets, it' s predicated upon many, many dif ferent variables. I think our schedules
associated with it.
What do you expect to happen?

are

reasonably based, but there are many variables

Do you
- all

expect that you will g~t
J J

the' budgetary -

these variables will fall into the place and that
the 2010 date will be met?
I don' t know.

I couldn' t say.

What will be the initial rate of
acceptance for spent nuclear fuel when the

program begins accepting the utility s spent

nuclear fuel?
My sense is it would be the same
acceptance rate that' s outlined in the annual
2 3

capacity reports that we' ve issued over the

years.
You said reports

plural.
D.

Did you say

ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY, INC.
11 14th ST., N. W,.

(202)289- 2260 (8001 FOR DEPO 4th FLOOR WASHINGTON ,

C., 20005

0003

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Case 1:98-cv-00474-JFM Document 309-3 Filed 04/16/2004 Page 4 of 16

'Y'"

J..../

report or reports?

I thought I ~aid

th~re were more than on~

reports. I ACRs issued.

thought

I asked that question because the

numbers have changed over the years, so which
particular annual capacity report are you

referring to?
The latest one, whichever one that was.
Is there more than one scenario
acceptance currently being evaluated by DOE?
What. I mean by that is, is it a repository only

acceptance or is it a repository with some
i,
.t;;,./

interim storage or something

else?

Our baseline program is acceptance in

2 010 a

t

r e p 0

sit 0

ry .

Is there any plan or provision for
interim storage?
Lacking authori ty,

no.

Even without the authority, are ther~

any plans being made in
is granted?

the event that authority /

The Department has taken steps to allow
itself to implement interim storage as quickly as

possible, assuming it was given authority.

The

topical safety analysis report on the interim
..0'
ALDERSON REPORTING COMPANY, INC.
(2021289- 2260 (8001 FOR DEPO 1111 14th ST., N, W.. 4th FLOOR WASHINGTON, D.

, 20005

0004

,..

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Document 309-3 Filed 04/16/2004 Page 5 of 16

Case 1:98-cv-00474-JFM

CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) ss.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

, l\1ARY GRACE CASTLEBERRY , RPR, the officer before
whom the foregoing deposition was taken , do hereby certify that the

witness whose testimony appears in the foregoing deposition was duly
- sworn by me; that the testimony of said witness was taken by me to

the best of my ability and thereafter reduced to typewriting under my

direction; that I am neither counsel for , related to , nor employed by
any of the parties to the action in which this d eposition was taken , and
';ki

further that I am not a relative or employee of any attorney or counsel

employed by the parties thereto , nor financially or otherwise interested
in the outcome of the action.

Notary Public in and for
the District of

Colwnbia

My commission expires: 06/30/2001

0005

.~.

, ,

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U.I\ited States General Accounting Offi,ce

GAO

Report to Congressional Requesters

December 2001

NUCLEAR WASTE

Technical , Schedule
and Cost
Uncertainti~s

of th.

Yucca M,ountain

Repository Proj,ect

~1I1ty
, GAO-O2- 191

GA
Integrity * Reliability

0006

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Contents

Letter
Results in Brief Background
It May Be Premature for DOE to Make a Site Reconu.nendation . DOE Is Unlikely to Open a Repository in 2010 as Planned

Conclusions Recommendations for Executive Action Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

23,

SCope and Methodology

Appendix I
Appendix II

Objectives , Scope , and Methodology
Comnients From the Department of Energy
GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
GAO Contact

Appendix III

Admowledgments

Figure
Figure 1: Comparison of Statutory Site Approval Process With DOE' s Projected Schedule

Abbreviations
DOE EPA
GAO NRC OCRWM USGS

Department of Energy
Enviromnental Protection Agency
General Accounting Office

Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management

S. Geological Survey

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1t~~~my
United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

December21 2oo1
The Honorabl~ Harry Reid Chainnan, Subcommittee OR Transportation Infr3stnicture, and Nuclear Safety , Committee on EnViromnent and Public W Qrks United States Senat~

The' Honorable Shelley Berkley
House of Representatives

As reflected in tI\e administration s energy policy, there is renewed

interest in exPanding nuclear power as a source of electriCity. At the same time, the nation cun-ently does not have a facility t.o pel1nanently ilispose of th~ highly radioactive spent (used) fuel from existing commercial
:~J
nuclear power plants. In lieu of such a facility, plant owners are currently

holding about 40 000 metric tons of spent fuel in temporary storage at 72
plant sites in 36 stateS. h\ addition, the Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that it has over 100 million gallons of highly radioactive w~e and 2 500 metric tons of spent fuel from the development of nuclear

weapons and ftom research activities in temporary $arage. Because these
wastes tontain radioactive elements that remain active for hlUtdreds of th9usands of years, the permanent isolation of the wastes is critical for , safeguarding public health, cleaning up DOE's nuclear facilities, and -,providing a reasonable basis for increasing the number of nuclear power

plants. "

As required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 ,

as amended in 1987 DOE has been studying one site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, t.o deternUne

its suit3bility for disposing of llighly radioactive wastes in a nuned geologic repository. If the Secretary of Energy decides to recommend this
site to the President, the recommendation would begin a statutory process for the approval or disapproval of the ,site that will involve the President the state of Nevada, and the Congress. In addition, a subsequent presidential site recommendation would trigger statutory time fi-ames for action by the state, the Congress , DOE , and the Nuclear Regulatory
apply

Conm\ission (NRC). If the site is recommended and approyed, DOE must to NRC for a license to construct a repository. iethe site is noi recommended and approved for a license application, or ifNRC denied a. license to construct a repository, the administration and the Congress would have to consider other options for the long-tern\ management of existing and future nuclear wastes.

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Site investigation activities at Yucca Mountain h\clude studies of the physical characteristics of the moun~n and potential waste containers. The investigation also includes the development and use of mathematical models to measure the probability that vmious combinations of natural and engineered (man-made) features of a repository could safely contain
wastes for 10 000 years. The Enviromnental Protection Agency (EP A) has set health and safety ~dards for a reposito~ at Yucca Mountain that require a high probability of safety for at least that peri~ of time. DOE' criteria for detennining if the site js suitable for a repository and the NRC' licensing regUlations are consistent ~th these stan~ards~ DOE has
designated the nuclear waste program~

inclu~gthe site investigation? as a

major" programthatis subject to senior man~ement's attention and to its ag~cywide guidelines for managing such programs and projects. The guidelines require the development of a cost and schedule baseline, ' system. for managing changes to the baseline, and independent, cos,t and
schedule reviews. DOE is using a management contractor to catTY out the work on the prograin. DOE's management contractor develops and
~J

maintafus the baseline, but senior DOE managers muSt approve significant changes to cost or sched~e eStimateS. In February 2001 , DOE hired
Bechtel SAiC Company, LLC (Bechtel), to manage the program and '

required the contractor to reassess the rem~ning technical work-arid the estimated schedule and cost to complete this work.
In 1996 , the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Nuclear WastePolicyAc~ ()bligated, DOE to start disposing of.the spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants no later than , January 31 , 199R In 1998, because DOE could not meet this deadline , the S. ~ourt of Appeals for the 'Federal Circuit held in another case that plant owners are entitled to damages. One of the maJor issues in the

detennination Qf damages is the schedule under which DOE will begin accepting the spent fuel. DOE does not eXpect to complete the sequence of site approval , licenstng, and construction of enough of the repository , facilities at Yucca Mountain to open it until at least 2010; Courts in these 2 cases and 16 cases brought by other utilities are currently assessing the amount of damages that DOE owes the plant owners for delaying the disposal of their wastes by the estimated 12-year delay. Estimates of the potential damages varywidcly, from DOE's estimate of about $2 billion to the nuclear industry s estimate of $50 billion.
Given these circwustances and questions raised about DOE's investigation of the Yucca Mountain site, you asked lIS to detennine the extent to whiCh

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