ML16340B301

Responds to Apr 1979 Ltr to President Carter Expressing Concern Re Nuclear Power Safety.Nrc Currently Requires All Applicants for New OLs to Modify Design & Operation of Nuclear Plants to Conform to TMI-related Requirements

ML16340B301
Person / Time
Site:	Diablo Canyon
Issue date:	12/16/1980
From:	Miraglia F Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Palmer S AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
References
NUDOCS 8101090751
Download: ML16340B301 (18)

Text

Nr. Steven R. Palmer 2150 Pine Avenue $ 5 Los Dsos, California 93408.

Dear fir. Palmer:

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CAD let me first express my regrets for the delay in responding to your April 1979 letter addressed to President Jimmy Carter regarding the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

A large-number of letters came to the NRC following the accident at the Three labile Island (THI) plant, all of which we are trying to answer as fast as our resources permit.

Your letter has been referred to me for reply and I am pleased to make this response.

You expressed concern over the safety of nuclear power.

Let me assure you that the NRC has reacted positively to improve the safety of all nuclear power plants in operation and under construction based on the lessons learned from the Three Hile Island accident..

Based on the findings of the President's Commission on the accident (The Kenny Commission), the recommendations of the Special Inquiry Group directed by llitchbll Rogovin, 'recommendations developed by internal NRC special task forces, and recommendations from other sources including the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, a comprehensive NRC Action Plan (NUREG-0660) developed as a

result of the TNI-2 accident, was prepared and published in Nay 1980.

Consistent with the Nuclear Regu1atory Commission guidance, the NRC staff is requiring all applicants for new operating licenses to modify the design and operation of their nuclear plants to conform to TthI-related requirements.

NUREG-0694, published in June 1980, identified these requirements and provided a

schedule by which they must be implemented.

He have re-eXamined the Diablo Canyon facility for conformance to the NUREG-0694

, requirements as they apply to fuel loading and low power (below 5 percent) testing and on August 6, 1980 issued our safety evaluation on these matters.

Before the NRC staff can issue a license to load fuel and conduct low power tests, all of these requirements must be met, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board for Diablo Canyon must rule favorably, and the Commission itself wi 11 review the record.

In addition, you questioned how and where high levo radioactive waste will be removed from the plant, transportation routes for the waste and evacuation drills in the San Luis Obispo, County.

I am pleased to provide the enclosed responses to these questit)ns.

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Steven R. Palmer V

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Hfth regard to your statement "Is our Greed so great that the Government of the United States is v~fllfnq to risk the lives of its people?",

we be'lfeve you are concerned over the impact of potential accidents on public health and safety, and on the environment.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 requires the Nuclear Regulatory Coonfssfon to prepare a detailed statement on each of the following environmental issues associated wfth the construction and operation of the Dfablo Canyon facility:

(i)

The environmental impact of the proposed action, (ii) any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented, (iii) alternatives to the proposed action, (iv) the relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity, and

{v) any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.

He did this.

Your concer ns mentioned above i<ere addressed fn our Final Environ-mental Statement (FES) for Diablo Canyon.

Chapter 7 addressed the environmental impact of potential accidents; and, Chapters ll and 12 addressed the matters of need for power and the alter natives available to meet that need.

Furthermore, hearings were held on these envirdnmental issues before construction permits

>cere issued to construct this facility, and a favorable partial initial decision was issued on September 26, 1979 by the present Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.

That Board considered all issues

{fncludfng envfronmental issues) that were brought before it for operating licenses for the Diablo Canyon facility.

A copy of the FCS as well as other licensing documents, correspondence and Board proceedinjs can be found in the Local Public Document Room (LPDR) mafh-tained for Diablo Canyon.

This LPDR is located at the California Polytochnf, State University Library, Documents and Maps Department, San Lufs Obispo, California 93407.

I trust that this information fs responsive to your request.

Sincerely,

Enclosures:

As stated Frank J. Nfraglfa, Acting Chief Licensing Branch f/o.

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Division of Licensing DISTRIBUTION:

See next page OFFICE SURNAME DL:LB¹3 KNJabbour:j DL'¹3 agl i a,

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/80 NRC FORM 318 (9*76) NRCM 0240 4 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1979 289 369

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DISTRIBUTION:

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ENCLOSURE 1

Concern:

Response

Storage of High Level Radioactive Waste.

A principal source of high level radioacti ve waste is in spent fuel.

The Pacific Gas 5 Electric Comoany ;.ay elect to submit, in the future, a proposal to increase

.he storage capacity of the spent fuel storage pool.

Increased spent fuel storage capacity proposals have been previously reviewed and approved for other licensed operating reactors.

The generic problem of interim spent fuel storage has been addressed in a report titled "Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Handling 5 Storage of Spent LWR Fuel,"

NUREG-0575 issued by the NRC staff in August 1979.

The staff found that comnercial spent fuel generated through the year 2000 can be accommodated in a safe and environmen-tally sound manner either by modification of storage pools at the reactor sites or by providing independent spent fuel storage facilities located on the site of a parent facility such as a nuclear power station.

The Cotnission has licensing and regulatory authority with regard to the disposal of commercial spent fuel.

While the Department of Energy has primary responsibility for developing, constructing and operating waste disposal facilities, the NRC has the responsibility to assure that these activities create no unreasonable risk to the health and safety of the public.

Gn December 6,

1979 the NRC published proposed procedures for the disposal of high-level waste, including spent fuel, in geologic repositories.

On May 13, 1980 the NRC published an advance notice of rulemaking on the technical criteria that would be applied in making the licensing findings prescribed in those procedures.

The NRC has established the Division of Waste Yanagement to deal exclusively with nuclear waste issues.

In addition, the NRC has taken part in the activities of such organizations as the Interagency Review Group on Nuclear Waste Management, the Radiation Policy Council, and the State Planning Council on Radioactive Waste Management.

I Furthermore, the NRC is presently conducting a generic proceeding to reassess its degree of confidence that"radioactive wastes produced by nuclear facilities will be safely disposed of, to determine when any such disposal will be available, and whether such wastes can be safely stored unti 1 they are safely disposed of.

At this time, the NRC has received statements of position from the Department of Energy and other'nterested parties.

These activities are indicative of the attention being given to the nuclear waste disposal problem at the'RC;

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0 ENCLOSURE 2

Concern:

Response

Transportation of Radioactive Waste Yiaterials.

Transportation of radioactive material is regulated at the Federal level outside of the nuclear power plant license princi.'ally by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the, Depart-,ent of Transportation.

In fiscal year 1978, there were 19.ransportation events which licensees were required to report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

None of the resulti"; g exposures exceeded 100 millirems which corresponds to the average annual dose from background activity.

Sixty-six other events were ca'fled to the attention of NRC, however, they were not reportable events.

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ENCLOSURE 3

Concern:

Response

Emergency Preparedness and Evacuation of the area surrounding Diablo Canyon in view of the accident at Three Nile Island (TSI).

Following the THI-2 accident, the NRC has been re-examining the design and operation of all nuclear power plants including emergency evacuation plans needed to cope with potential accidents.

The recommendations contained in the report by the President's Commission on the TMI-2 accident (the

.Kemeny Commission) as well as other actions recommended by various task forces within the NRC were considered and requirements have been established and published in NUREG-0694 for Near Term Operating Licenses.

The Pacific Gas

& Electric Company (PG&E) has met our emergency planning requirements for fuel loading and low power testing.

For a full power license PG&E's plan must be upgraded to be in compliance with NRC criteri a in NUREG-0694, NUREG-0654 titled "Criteria for Preparation and Evaluation of Radio-logi'cal Emergency

Response

Plans and Preparedness in Support of Nuclear Power Plants",

a revision to 10 CFR 50, and a new Appendix E to the Commission regulations.

The NRC staff will verify that all the applicable requirements have been met by PGEE before a full power license is granted.

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P ADMINISTRATION, NI (II The safety of Nuclear Power is of special interest to my family.

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We live just a few miles from DIABLO CANYON NUGIEAR POLI'ER PL+T in the I

II San Luis Obispo County.

There "have been no safety or evacuation drills in this County.

No decision has been made as to how and where Nuclear Wastes will be removed from this Plant., Will Wastes be transported through the streets of San Luis Obispo "County or through the waters where a great many men maketheir liv3.ng fishing2,;

e' Is onr GREED so great that the Government of the United States is willing to risk the llv'es of its peoplet

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• If this plant is licensed I will pick up my family and move, along with many others of this County.

However, we realize our search for a safe place to live without Nuclear Power Plants, polluted waters and lethal ground, fills may take us out of this country.

I hope you will heed our cries to stop the destruction of our beautiful Country'.

Thank you, The S.

R. Palmer Family

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j if QKG l 8 1980 11

p ~ et ~+Ay President Jimmy Carter R(F55IKIMIIR washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Carter:

I'ma concerned citizen and Iwant to know why

'our administration has ignored the,warnings of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Iwant to know

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why Energy Secretary Schlesinger is making the recommendation to speedup nuclear plant con-struction in the face ofglaring evidence ofcritical safetyproblems. Please let me hear fromyou promptly. "-

Nam"'tree' City'ore st "

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uuty said he would look into my comply+

eanwhile; the state Attorney General's office replied t officialcomplaint, explaining that they had forwarde it to the Fair Political Practices Commission. Two month later, I was told that my complaint to the Attorney Gener also had been sent to the district attorney's office. Month later, I was informed that they were sending my complain back to the Attorney General.

A deputy attorney general who had been assigned to m.

complaint reiterated that there had been no violation o any state law. He also doubted that there had been any vi

'" olation of postal regulations, but said he would inform pos tai authorities ofmy complaint.

Another month went by. An investigator with the De-partment of Justice phoned to tell me that the Postal Ser'-.

vice had no record of the-deputy attorney general's lette'o them. He would.

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Wait. The cast is getting too large, the plot too complex.

This is not an absurdist work by lonesco. The action h been well played, the point has been made.. The truth fs that neither side of a-ballot initiative has to substantiate statements made in its campaign literature.

The opponents of rent control won last June, and the lo-sers blamed emotional, misleading campaigning.

Last week, rent control was approved by a 3,000-vote margin-and itwas the opponents'urn to blame emotional factors.

,The only way to prevent an emotional response in theI voting booth is'to campaign on facts.'Campaigners on eith",

er'side of an issue should be required to document their, Iqlnf y

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Hr. Tom Robinson 597 Santa Clara Avenue Berkeley, California 94707

Dear Mr. Robinson:

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Ql Let me first express my regrets for the delay in responding to your Apri'l 4, 1979 postcard addressed to the Nuclear Regulatory Corrmission (NRC) regarding the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

A large number of letters came to the NRC f'ollowing the accident at the Three Nile Island (THI) plant, all of which we are trying to answer as fast as our resources permit.

Your letter has been referred to me for reply and I am pleased to make this response.

Let me assure you that the NRC has reacted positively to improve the safety of all nuclear power plants in operation and under construction based on the lessons learned from the Three Mile Island accident.

Based on the findings of the I'resident's Commission on the accident (The Kemeny Commission), the recommendations of the Special Inquiry Group directed by Mitchell Rogovin, recommendations developed by internal NRC special task forces, and recommendations from other sources including the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, a comprehensive HRC Action Plan (NUREG-0660) developed as a

result of the TMI-2 accident, was prepared and published in May 1980.

Consistent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidance, the NRC staff is requiring all applicants for new operating licenses to modify the design and operation of their nuclear plants to conform to TMI-related requirements.

NUREG-0694, published in Dune 1980, identified these requirements and provided a

schedule by which they must be implemented.

He have re-examined the Diablo Canyon facility for conformance to the NUREG-0694 requirements as they apply to fuel loading and low power (below 5 percent) testing and on August 6, 1980 issued our safety evaluation on these matters.

Before the NRC staff can issue a license to load fuel and conduct low power tests, all of'hese requirements must be met, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board for Diablo Canyon must rule favorably, and the Comoission itself will review the record.

With regard to your concern over the proximity of the kosgri fault to Diablo Canyon site, our response is addressed in the Enclosure to this 'letter.

A copy of the Kemeny Commission and Rogovin reports,

NUREGs, as well'aa'other licensing documents, correspondence and Board proceedings can be found zn.the Local Publi,c Document Room (LPDR) maintained for Diablo Canyon.

Thi;s LpDg is located at the California Polytechnic State Uriiversity Library, Documents.and Maps Department, San Luis Obispo, California 93407.

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