ML15266A294
| ML15266A294 | |
| 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-2, ASLBP 15-939-04-LA-BD01, RAS 28312 | |
| Download: ML15266A294 (6) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON , D.C. 20555-0001 September 21 , 2015 SECRETARY The Honorable George K. Heartwell Mayor of the City of Grand Rapids 300 Monroe Avenue , N.W .
Grand Rapids , Michigan 49503
Dear Mayor Heartwell:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) , I am responding to your letter dated July 30 , 2015. In your letter, you expressed concern about the reactor pressure vessel at Entergy's Palisades Nuclear Plant, which is located within fifty miles of Grand Rapids.
Specifically, your letter requests that the NRC require the licensee, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., to conduct direct testing of physical samples from the Palisades reactor, rather than use mathematical interpolations from other nuclear plants. Along those lines, your letter recommended that the Commission uphold the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board's recent decision to hold an evidentiary hearing regarding materials issues associated with Palisades' reactor pressure vessel.
As your letter indicates, a hearing request on this subject is currently pending before the NRC .
In March 2015, Beyond Nuclear, Don 't Waste Michigan , Michigan Safe Energy Future -
Shoreline Chapter, and the Nuclear Energy Information Service (collectively, "the petitioners")
sought a hearing on Entergy's license amendment request concerning whether the Palisades' reactor vessel plate and weld materials provide adequate margins of safety against fracture.
The Licensing Board granted the petitioners' request for a hearing on June 18, 2015. Entergy has appealed the Board's decision to the Commission ; that appeal is pending . Given the pendency of the matter before both the Commission and the Licensing Board , the Commission cannot at this time discuss or comment on any issues involved in this matter. Under NRC regulations , the Commission has an adjudicatory role in this case, and all members of the Commission must remain impartial while the case is pending .
A copy of your letter and this response will be served on all the participants in this and a related Palisades proceeding .
Sincerely, Annette L. Vietti-Cook
QliflJ nf rann ~pins, ~itqigan 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 Burns:
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
- J.
It has beeii'my' priviJege fo serve 'The Ci'.ty of Grahd Rapid~ 'for 'the last'eleven year~. Grand ..
a Rapids is tlirivirtg'mo<lern city of ioo;odo.eitizens, wnose*ih<l~stry and imagirtation have made
~ur 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 d~ta taken from the Palisades reactor pressure vessel itself.
Without questioning the ~~rits of~RC's inore~ec~ntembrittlement protocols (10~FR,6Q:61a), I feel any alternative to physical testing. of the pressure vessel at Palisades; built in 1972, do.es not pertain to Palisades and sho..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
<1Iitu of rnno ~npios 2fil£ ic qigan RETURN SERVICE OFF I CE O F TH E M AYOR REQUESTED 300 MONROE AVENUE, N.W.
GRAND RAPIDS, Ml 49503 Mr. Stephen G. Burns, Chairman U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 Fl~Jt*"i-8313 :20555 jIll 1l 1l 1I1 1ll *I 11lll1 1Ill11'l *111l 111l 11l 1IIti*11Ii11 11111 1*111 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION In the Matter of )
)
ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC. ) Docket No. 50-255-LA-2 (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 Anita Ghosh, Esq.
Ronald M. Spritzer, Chair Joseph Lindell, Esq.
Administrative Judge David Roth, Esq.
ronald.spritzer@nrc.gov Daniel Straus, Esq.
John Tibbetts, Paralegal Gary S. Arnold, Edward Williamson, Esq.
Administrative Judge anita.ghosh@nrc.gov gary.arnold@nrc.gov joseph.lindell@nrc.gov david.roth@nrc.gov Thomas J. Hirons daniel.straus@nrc.gov Administrative Judge john.tibbetts@nrc.gov thomas.hirons@nrc.gov edward.williamson@nrc.gov Sachin Desai, Law Clerk sachin.desai@nrc.gov Nicole Pepperl, Law Clerk nicole.pepperl@nrc.gov
Docket No. 50-255-LA-2 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 Martin ONeill, Esq. tjlodge50@yahoo.com rkuyler@morganlewis.com pbessette@morganlewis.com rlighty@morganlewis.com martin.oneill@morganlewis.com Entergy William B. Glew, Jr., Esq.
Jeanne Cho, Esq.
440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 wglew@entergy.com jcho1@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