ML18079B115

Response to ASLB Question 4 Re Class 9 Accidents.Tmi 790328 Accident Was Class 9,constituting Successive Failures of Operator Procedures & Equipment.Testimony in Present Proceedings Requires Wide Latitude.Certificate of Svc Encl

ML18079B115
Person / Time
Site:	Salem
Issue date:	08/27/1979
From:	Macartor J DELAWARE, STATE OF
To:
References
NUDOCS 7910150289
Download: ML18079B115 (4)

Text

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board In the Matter of -Docket ?fo. 5 0-2 7 2

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iJ .:;L.:. '- SZRVICE ELECTR:C ~ Prooosed Issuance a=

GAS CO. Ame~tment to Facility (Salem Nuclear Generating Operating License Station, Unit #1) No. DPR-70 STATE OF DELAWARE'S RESPONSE TO BOARD QUESTION NUMBER FOUR:

• wAs* TMI A CLASS NINE ACCIDENT?

June D. MacArtor Deputy Attorney General Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Tatnall Building P. o. Box 1401 Dover, Delaware 19901

Introduction:

The Board has posed as its question number four:

The Proposed Annex i:o Appendix D, 10 CFR Part SO, appears to define a Class 9 accident as a sequence of failures which are more severe than those which the safety features of the plant are designed to prevent. The sequence of failures at.Three Mile Is.land produced a breach of the containment and a release-of radiation which could not be prevented by the safety features. Was the occurrence at T~-iree Mile Island therefore a Class 9 accident? _Was the .

risk "to heal-th and safety and the environment 11 remote in probability", or "extremely lowir at Three Mile Island, as those terms are used in the Annex?

This is .the response of Delaware, an interested state.

Discussion:

The failures at Three Mile Island constitute a Class 9 accident. Class 9 accidents, while considered of such a low probability of occurence as not be required discussion in an environmental report, are not defined in the D~ODOSeG annex to Appendix D, 10 CFR Part 50 as the type of ~nd-of-t~~-~o~ld catastrophe that will never happen. In o~her ~ords, the ~cci~e~7 definition, it may be successive failures o~ a~~~ati~z 0~

maintenance procedures or equipment failures T~at are not automatically backed up. The consequences need not have involved destruction of life or property outside the contain-ment area. Whether or not the loss of power generation, the evacuation of segments of the population and the exposures that occurred are considered severe, there is no question that the consequences could have been severe.

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'VI'nat in fact occurred at Three Hile Island - 2 con-stituted successive failures of operator procedures and equipment. Perhaps the most compelling argument that these occurrences were beyond the protective systems and engineered safety features is that it happened. The amount of radiation known to have been released to the atmosphere and dischar~ed unknown, and the loss of power generation were not designed to occur. The combination of failures was beyond the design bas{s. No other elements are needed for its classification as a Class 9 accident.

The terms "remote in probability 11 and "extremely low!?

in the Annex ref er to the occurrence rather than the risk to health and safety. The occurrence was remote in probability (thus, the combination of failures was not considered in the prospective reports on TMI), therefore the risk to health and safety was remote or extremely low when viewed prospectively.

i~o~ever, once ~he event occurred, the risk jec~2e auite probabl~.

T:te2?*'.ile Isla::-td * - 2 was a. Cle.ss 9 acc:.de::1t. Testisony at the Salem hearing should be allowed the widest useful latitude without approaching the absurd. A Board Order to that effect should be entered.

Respectfully submitted, t~~1a~;4?3/

t Deputy Attorney General

UNITED STATES OF _!\i"'v!ERICA NUCLEAR REGULf\_TORY COMMISSION Before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board In the Matter of Docket No. 50-272 PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC

& GAS CO.

(Salem Generating Station Unit #1)

CERTIFIC.'1..IT OF SERVICE I hereby certify that the State of Delaware's Response to Board Question Number Four i~ the above captioned matter has been served upon the service list by deposit in the United States mail in Dover, Delaware, with postage prepaid, this 27th day of August, 1979.

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une D. MacArtor Deputy Attorney General Tatnall Building P. 0. Box 1401 Dover, Delaw~re 19911