ML15266A291
| ML15266A291 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palisades  |
| Issue date: | 09/21/2015 |
| From: | Annette Vietti-Cook NRC/SECY |
| To: | Heartwell G City of Grand Rapids, MI, Office of the Mayor |
| SECY RAS | |
| References | |
| 50-255-LA, ASLBP 15-936-03-LA-BD01, RAS 28309 | |
| Download: ML15266A291 (6) | |
Text
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR GEORGE K. HEARTWELL MAYOR July 30, 2015 Mr. Stephen G. Burns, Chairman U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001
Dear Chairman Bums:
Re: Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, Covert, MI Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel decisions Docket No. 50-255-LA-2; ASLBP No. 15-939-04-LA-BDOl June 18, 2015, and July 9, 2015 It has beeri'myprivil'ege fo***s~~e'rh~.GftY.~fGrahd Rapi<ls*for *thelasi'eieven year~. Grand ...
a Rapids is thrivinfmodem city of 200,000 citizens, wlfose*industry and imagiiiation have made
~l1r economy the most robust in the State of Michigan.
Grand Rapids is also located within fifty miles of the Palisades nucl~ar power plant in Covert, Michigan. In 2007, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted ENTERGY, the corporate owner of Palisades, a twenty year extension of its operating permit; this despite deep concerns of local residents and environmental groups about the safety of its badly "erribrittled" reactor pressure vessel (RPV). ENTERGY has now applied for "regulatory relief' from nuclear safety standards regulating the reactor pressure vessel at Palisades. The conservative safety protocols adopted in 1985, under 10CFR50.61 should be maintained especially in regard to the Palisades nuclear plant. Palisades' reactor pressure vessel is acknowledged as the most embrittled in the U.S., and one of the oldest in the entire world.
ENTERGY's unprecedented alternative proposal would allow Palisades to avoid testing actual samples of the facility's most critical safety component, the reactor pressure vessel. Instead, ENTERGY would submit mathematical "interpolations" from other nuclear plants, while omitting any direct analysis of physical data taken from the P~lisades reactor pressure vessel itself.
Without questioning the merits ofNRC's inore recent embrittlement protocols (1 o'CFR60:61a), I feel any alternative to physical testing of the pre~sure ~essel at Palisades; built in i 9*72~ do:es not pertain to Palisades and sh()uld not be allowed.
300 MONROE AVENUE, N.W. *GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 49503 * (616) 456-3168 *FAX (616) 456-3111
- gheartwe@grcity.us
July 30, 2015 Page 2 Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel decisions The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel on June 18, 2015, found that testimony docu-mented by intervening environmental petitioners demonstrated sufficient doubt as to the integrity of Palisades' pressure vessel. The Atomic Safety Board mandated a full evidentiary hearing regarding the safety or the embrittled pressure vessel at Palisades. As Mayor of Grand Rapids I strongly concur with this decision and urge the NRC to uphold its ASLBP Memorandum and Order of June 18, 2015. The Palisades Plant is located on the shores of Lake Michigan, the largest body of freshwater in North America, and the source of drinking water for millions of Americans.
Margins of Safety which have been built into the construction of and the regulation of nuclear power plants for many decades should not be weakened, especially in the case of critical pressure vessels at aging nuclear facilities like Palisades' pressurized water reactor. Palisades has already exceeded its original expected life of operation, forty years. Scrutiny of the Palisades reactor pressure vessel should be strengthened not diminished, as ENTERGY proposes.
I support the r cent ASLBP decision calling for evidentiary hearings into the embrittlement of the ressure vessel.
Senator ie Stabenow Senator Gary Peters Ronald M. Spitzer, ASLBP, Chief Administrative Judge Ronald. spitzer@nrc.gov Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative Mark Muhich, Sierra Club Nuclear Free Michigan
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- 300 MONROE AVENUE, N.W. a.. u: 0001402641 JUL 31 2015 GRAND RAPIDS, Ml 49503 Mr. Stephen G. Burns, Chairman U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 FblM-S3E :'20555 jlll 1l 1i 111'11 1l 11lll pll Ii 1ll* 111l 111l 11l 1IItl*1IIJ1lll 111l 1lhl
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of )
)
ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC. ) Docket No. 50-255-LA (Entergy) )
)
(Palisades Nuclear Plant) )
)
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that copies of the foregoing U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION RESPONSE TO JULY 30, 2015 MAYOR GEORGE K. HEARTWELL LETTER have been served upon the following persons by Electronic Information Exchange.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Commission Appellate Adjudication Office of the Secretary of the Commission Mail Stop: O-7H4 Mail Stop O-16C1 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Washington, DC 20555-0001 ocaamail@nrc.gov Hearing Docket hearingdocket@nrc.gov U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel Office of the General Counsel Mail Stop: T-3F23 Mail Stop O-15D21 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Washington, DC 20555-0001 Mary Spencer, Esq.
Ronald M. Spritzer, Chair David Roth, Esq.
Administrative Judge Joseph Lindell, Esq.
ronald.spritzer@nrc.gov Sherwin Turk, Esq.
Anita Ghosh, Esq.
Gary S. Arnold, Daniel Straus, Esq.
Administrative Judge John Tibbetts, Paralegal gary.arnold@nrc.gov Edward Williamson, Esq.
mary.spencer@nrc.gov Thomas J. Hirons david.roth@nrc.gov Administrative Judge joseph.lindell@nrc.gov thomas.hirons@nrc.gov sherwin.turk@nrc.gov anita.ghosh@nrc.gov Sachin Desai, Law Clerk daniel.straus@nrc.gov sachin.desai@nrc.gov john.tibbetts@nrc.gov edward.williamson@nrc.gov Nicole Pepperl, Law Clerk nicole.pepperl@nrc.gov
Docket No. 50-255-LA U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION RESPONSE TO JULY 30, 2015 MAYOR GEORGE K. HEARTWELL LETTER Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Beyond Nuclear, Dont Waste Michigan, Michigan 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Safe Energy Future - Shoreline Chapter, Nuclear Washington, DC 20004 Energy Information Service The Petitioners Raphael P. Kuyler, Esq. 316 N. Michigan St., Street, 520 Paul Bessette, Esq. Toledo, OH 43604-5627 Ryan Lighty, Esq. Terry Lodge, Counsel for the Petitioners rkuyler@morganlewis.com tjlodge50@yahoo.com pbessette@morganlewis.com rlighty@morganlewis.com Entergy William B. Glew, Jr., Esq.
440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 wglew@entergy.com
[Original signed by Brian Newell ]
Office of the Secretary of the Commission Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 23rd day of September, 2015 2