ML16062A313

Galef 2016 Response Letter Re IP Tritium

ML16062A313
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	03/02/2016
From:	Ray Lorson Division of Reactor Safety I
To:	Galef S State of NY, State Assembly
McNamara N
Shared Package
ML16049A444	List: ML16049A443 ML16062A313
References
LTR-16-0084-1, SST-16-365
Download: ML16062A313 (3)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 2100 RENAISSANCE BLVD., SUITE 100 KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-2713 March 2, 2016 The Honorable Sandy Galef New York State Assembly Ossining, NY 10562

Dear Ms. Galef:

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter of February 11, 2016, regarding the recent tritium leak at the Indian Point Energy Center. Let me first assure you that there is no health risk to the public due to the increased levels detected and that the quantity of radioactivity in the leak is a small fraction of the authorized effluent limit from the plant.

Since the licensee notified the NRC of the elevated tritium levels on February 5th, we have been closely observing the licensees remedial actions and regularly monitoring the status of the leak and tritium levels. This is part of our independent assessment of the cause of the leak, which also includes NRC inspections and other oversight activities.

I understand your concerns and assure you the NRC is taking all the appropriate actions to ensure this issue is fully and appropriately addressed. We are fully committed to work closely with federal, state and local partners to communicate the results of our inspection efforts and assessment of this event.

I also understand that on February 26, 2016, Mr. Glenn Dentel, NRC Region I Branch Chief, had the opportunity to speak with you following an Entergy Stakeholders Outreach meeting held at the Indian Point Energy Center. We appreciated being able to provide you and your staff with an NRC update on this issue. We also look forward to meeting with you during our upcoming annual Indian Point Government-to-Government meeting scheduled for March 24, 2016, in Tarrytown, NY. The Indian Point groundwater issue will be one of the topics on the agenda.

Finally, we will be participating on the Entergy bi-weekly stakeholder teleconference calls by providing NRC updates and will be issuing our assessment in a publicly available inspection report that we anticipate will be available in mid-May.

Should you have any additional concerns, please contact our State Liaison Officer, Doug Tifft, at 610-337-6918 and he will be able to assist you.

Sincerely,

/RA/ Original Signed by Raymond K. Lorson, Director Division of Reactor Safety

ML16062A313 Non-Sensitive Publicly Available SUNSI Review Sensitive Non-Publicly Available OFFICE RI\SLO RI\SLO RI\DRP RI\DRS NAME *NMcNamara/NTM *DTifft/DBT *GDentel/GTD *RLorson/RKL DATE 03/01/16 03/01/16 03/02/16 0302/16

• concurred on previous page Letter to The Honorable Sandy Galef from Raymond K. Lorson dated March 2, 2016.

Distribution:

R. Iyengar, OEDO T. Clark, OEDO RIDSEDO Mail Center Resource RIDSNRR Mail Center Resource D. Lew, RI N. McNamara, RI D. Tifft, RI LTR-16-0084-1 SST-16-365

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGION I 2100 RENAISSANCE BLVD., SUITE 100 KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-2713 March 2, 2016 The Honorable Sandy Galef New York State Assembly Ossining, NY 10562

Dear Ms. Galef:

On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter of February 11, 2016, regarding the recent tritium leak at the Indian Point Energy Center. Let me first assure you that there is no health risk to the public due to the increased levels detected and that the quantity of radioactivity in the leak is a small fraction of the authorized effluent limit from the plant.

Since the licensee notified the NRC of the elevated tritium levels on February 5th, we have been closely observing the licensees remedial actions and regularly monitoring the status of the leak and tritium levels. This is part of our independent assessment of the cause of the leak, which also includes NRC inspections and other oversight activities.

I understand your concerns and assure you the NRC is taking all the appropriate actions to ensure this issue is fully and appropriately addressed. We are fully committed to work closely with federal, state and local partners to communicate the results of our inspection efforts and assessment of this event.

I also understand that on February 26, 2016, Mr. Glenn Dentel, NRC Region I Branch Chief, had the opportunity to speak with you following an Entergy Stakeholders Outreach meeting held at the Indian Point Energy Center. We appreciated being able to provide you and your staff with an NRC update on this issue. We also look forward to meeting with you during our upcoming annual Indian Point Government-to-Government meeting scheduled for March 24, 2016, in Tarrytown, NY. The Indian Point groundwater issue will be one of the topics on the agenda.

Finally, we will be participating on the Entergy bi-weekly stakeholder teleconference calls by providing NRC updates and will be issuing our assessment in a publicly available inspection report that we anticipate will be available in mid-May.

Should you have any additional concerns, please contact our State Liaison Officer, Doug Tifft, at 610-337-6918 and he will be able to assist you.

Sincerely,

/RA/ Original Signed by Raymond K. Lorson, Director Division of Reactor Safety

ML16062A313 Non-Sensitive Publicly Available SUNSI Review Sensitive Non-Publicly Available OFFICE RI\SLO RI\SLO RI\DRP RI\DRS NAME *NMcNamara/NTM *DTifft/DBT *GDentel/GTD *RLorson/RKL DATE 03/01/16 03/01/16 03/02/16 0302/16

• concurred on previous page Letter to The Honorable Sandy Galef from Raymond K. Lorson dated March 2, 2016.

Distribution:

R. Iyengar, OEDO T. Clark, OEDO RIDSEDO Mail Center Resource RIDSNRR Mail Center Resource D. Lew, RI N. McNamara, RI D. Tifft, RI LTR-16-0084-1 SST-16-365