Trojan
NRC to consider
re-starting plant
By CATHERINE SIEGNER
Of the Emerald
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's (NRC) Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board has
decided that a public hearing will
be held on planned modifications
to the control building at the Trojan
Nuclear Power Plant.
The control building was ex
amined after Trojan's annual
shutdown and refueling in March,
and structural defects in the walls
affecting their ability to withstand
earthquakes were discovered.
The plant has not been re
started and hearings could keep it
closed down until next June when
the modifications are scheduled to
be completed.
The NRC Board met Monday
and Tuesday in Portland at a pre
hearing conference to identify the
parties that will be allowed to in
tervene in the hearing and to
schedule the proceedings.
The only certain party so far is
Portland General Electric Co.
(PGE), which is a 67 percent
owner of the plant.
NRC Board Chairer Marshall
Miller had admitted as parties
Monday Eugene Rosolie, repre
senting the Coalition for Safe
Power; Greg Kafoury, represent
ing the Columbia County En
vironmental Council; Nina Bell,
Gail Parson and Steve Willingham
of Portland, and David McCoy of
Grants Pass.
Miller later suspended his oral
ruling and decided to reconsider
the petitions to intervene when the
participants asked repeated ques
tions about the proceedings and
threatened to disrupt what Miller
called "an expeditious hearing."
Miller favored representation of
the intervening parties by one or
two spokespersons, but the inter
veners resisted consolidation at
Workers’ director
denies speculation
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
Speculation that Roy Green,
head of the Workers' Compensa
tion Department in Salem, will res
ign Sept, 1 is untrue, says Fred
Siegrest of the department.
Green, who has been director of
the compensation department
since October, was charged with a
conflict of interest three weeks
ago because of stock he held in a
state insurance company.
Those charges were dismissed
by Gov. Bob Straub two weeks
ago. Straub, who refused to ask
Green to resign because of the
charges, said there wasn't an ap
parent conflict of interest because
the stock was in a blind trust.
The head of a newly formed in
jured worker's organization called
for a continued investigation into
the charges two weeks ago, de
spite Straub's ruling.
Carl BleUi, 39, of Springfield,
head of the Committee for Injured
Workers of America, Inc., said
Straub's dismissal of the conflict
of interest charges against Green
was premature. The charge
should be investigated further to
determine whether the stock
Green holds in the Employee Ben
efits Insurance Company of Port
land represents a conflict of in
terest, Blair said.
Blair, an injured worker who
started the non-profit CIWA last
(Continued on Page 9)
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tempts.
The Bonneville Power Ad
ministration (BPA) submitted a
request to intervene at the confer
ence, but Miller suggested its
concerns about loss of Trojan
power while the plant is shut down
were identical to those of PGE,
and suggested BPA and PGE
consolidate.
The Board board must deter
mine who the parties will be before
proceeding with the hearing, and
has promised a final decision on
the intervention petitions by Fri
day.
Miller went on to consider sev
eral motions by PGE after he had
revoked the interveners' status as
parties, including a request to re
start Trojan while hearings on the
modifications are being con
ducted.
He stated that the board has no
authority to act on such motions
until a wriuen order is issued, but
Indicated he would hear evidence
on the motion.
Earlier this year, the NRC staff
had determined that interim oper
ation of the plant would be safe
while the modifications are being
made, but a petition asking to re
start Trojan from PGE, Pacific
Power & Light Co., and the
Eugene Water & Electric Board —
all part owners of the plant — was
denied by the NRC July 6.
In presenting evidence on its
motion, PGE said a unique struc
tural system was used in the con
trol building at Trojan, and plans to
install a window for security
reasons revealed the defects in
the walls.
PGE indicated it would not have
designs for the modifications until
Sept. 1, and that it would like
either a decision from the NRC on
interim operation by Sept. 5, or a
preliminary hearing scheduled on
restarting the plant.
Several of the interveners ob
jected at this point to what they
considered a “bifurcation” of the
issue into two parts — the interim
operation and the modifications —
and to what they called a “de
facto ' gag order from the chairer
preventing their participation in
the conference.
Miller then threatened to order a
federal marshal to escort them
from the room if they persisted in
interrupting the conference.
The interveners were allowed to
speak the next day, and they, as
well as PGE and NRC staff, sub
mitted schedule suggestions for
the hearing.
The board decided on a special
pre-hearing conference to be held
August 14 in Portland where inter
veners will present preliminary
questions and requests for docu
ments.
Chairer Miller advised the inter
veners to begin the process al
though he did not indicate which
individuals or representatives of
organizations will be given status
as parties to the proceedings.
Hearing on
injunction
postponed
By CATHERINE SIEGNER
Of the Emerald
A hearing on Portland General
Electric Co.’s (PGE) request for a
preliminary injunction to stop de
monstrations at the Trojan Nuc
lear Power Plant has been de
layed until Monday.
PGE subpoenaed 122 persons
and three organizations to appear
July 25. in Columbia County Cir
cuit Court and show cause why
they should not be prevented from
entering the Trojan site.
Two of the defendants, Eugene
Rosolie and Susan Garrett, were
dropped from the injunction so
they could participate in another
hearing regarding planned mod
ifications to Trojan's control build
ing.
At the Tuesday hearing in St.
Helens, eight of the named defen
dants appeared with a lawyer, Ed
Jones, and asked that Columbia
County Judge Donald Kalberer be
bumped from the case. Jones said
defendants in such cases have
the right to remove two judges
without citing a reason.
Normon Solomon, a member of
the Trojan Decommissioning Al
liance (TDA) and one of the
named defendants, said the in
junction request was a “PGE tac
tic to rip off our energy.”
"We want to address the injunc
tion but we re going to focus on the
occupations,” Solomon said.
“This is their (PGE’s) dream in
junction and it’s really repression.
People wouldn’t even be able to
talk about this stuff (demonstrat
ing against nuclear power) in a
cafe if. an injunction is granted.’’
PGE’s injunction request would
prohibit individuals from counsel
ing others to occupy the Trojan
site and claims that PGE suffers
“irreparable harm” from the occu
pations.
“There’s irony in that claim of
“irreparable harm,' ” Solomon
said. “We re talking about “ir
reparable harm’ in another sense
— genetic damage from nuclear
power. If the wording of the injunc
tion request was slightly changed,
it would spell out the reasons for
the occupations.”
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