ML18058B891

Forwards Constituent J Honicker Raising Concerns W/Storing Nuclear Fuel Rods in Dry Casks at Facility. Response Requested

ML18058B891
Person / Time
Site:	Palisades, 07201007
Issue date:	06/03/1993
From:	Clement B HOUSE OF REP.
To:	Selin I, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
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ML18058B892	List: ML18058B891
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NUDOCS 9306300190
Download: ML18058B891 (3)

Text

- ~ 808_,_CLEMENT STH OISTRICT. TENNESSEE COMMITTEE ON PUB~IC WO!'IKS ANO TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS CONGRESSIONAL TRAVEL ANO TOURISM CAUCUS SECRETARY-TREASURER Mr. Ivan Selin Chairman (tongrt.ss of tht tinittd ~tatt.s iltonst of 'Rtprurnteti\\lts i11Deshingron, BQ: 20515-1205 June 3, 1993 Nuclear Regulatory Conunission

' Washington, D.C.

20555

Dear Mr. Chairman:

DISTRICT OFFICES:

552 U.S. COURTHOUSE

- NASHVILLE, TN 37203 615-736-5295 10 1 5TH AVENUE WEST SUITE 201 SPRINGFIELD. TN 3 7 1 7 :;_

815-384-6600 2701 JEFFERSON STREET SUITE 103 NASHVILLE. TN 37208 615-320-1363 WASHINGTON OFFICE:

ROOM 1230 LONGWORTH HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON. DC 20515-4205 202-225-4311 I recently received the attached information from my con-stituent, Ms. Jeannine Honicker, regarding concerns she has with storing nuclear fuel rods in dry caat"s at Pallasades Nuclear Power Plant.

eo.-u)tJ I would greatly appreciate your perusal of the attached letter and providing me with a response so that I might properly reply to my constituent's inquiry.

If you require any additional information or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Jay Hansen of my staff at (202)225-4311.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to provide.

I look forward to hearing from you.

BC/jh -

enclosure

!illy, Bob Clement Member of Congress

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Representative Bob Clement 1230 Longworth Bldg.

Washington, D. C. 00515

Dear Bob,

362 Binkley Dr.

Nashville, Tn. 37211 May 18, 1993 As you know, I am very much concerned for the health and safety of ~eople around nuclear plant sites.

For years, the NRC has tried to turn Oak Ridge into a nuclear way station, calling it a monitored retrievable storage facility, MRS, and I have maintained that if nuclear fuel rods can be stored safely at Oak Ridge, they can better be stored on site, eliminating the cost and contamination of hauling.

It has now been brought to my attention that the Pallasades

-Nuclear plant is beginning to load used fuel rods into dry casts.

The people in that area are up in arms, and claim that the casts have not been properly tested, that no environmental impact statement was written, and that hearings were not held.

Your aide, Mr. Jay Hanson read me the order from the courts.

This does not answer these questions:

1.

"Are they safe?"

2.

"Have they been tested, and if so, where, and by whom?"

3.

"What are the monitoring parameters, both for radiation ~nd thermal."

4.

"What effect will the heat and radiatiori have on the material of the casts?."

5.

"What internal monitoring is built into the casts? ___ In this day of closed-circuit TV, will the fueL rods __

be watched to see how they are reacting out of water?"

6.

In the worst case scenario, the fuel rods fuse together, in other* words, they melt down inside the cast; and the cast ruptures, not just one, but simultaneously, what are the emergency plans?.

Since Price Anderson limits liability, what would be the loss to the public, monetarily?

7.

Are there evacuation plans, and for what size population?

Do the people know ahead. of time where they would be relocated to, arid would that be a safe place, depending on the direction of the wind?

8.

Since the casts are located in such close proximity to the lake, how would the worst case scenario affect the lake, and the water supplies of people who derive*

their drinking water from the lake?

9.

Why were the people in that area not brought into the planning phase early.

I believe that denying an environmental impact statement and hearings makes them more uneasy, and they feel that it is not safe, or there would

• not be such adamant opposition to following the Environmental Protection Act that specifically says that "Every significant governmental action shall be preceded by an environmental impact statement."

The NRC may have its own rules, but they do not supersede the laws made by our representatives, and this one law should mandate that the licensing of the first above-ground dry cast storage facility for used nuclear fuel, deadly radioactive high level waste, is certainly a significant government action.

As my representative, I ask that you simply pick up the phone and call ~your friends at the NRC and tell them to work with these people, instead of treating them like they are the enemy.

Call hearings, and operate in the sunshine, otherwise the public is going to demand that the NRC be abolished,_ and along "lith it, the industry the public misguidedly believes is being regulated.

cc:

The Tennessean 66 Minutes.

CNN Sincerely,.

~*~~<~~~~

Jeannine Honicker