ML18086B694
| ML18086B694 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon, Crane  |
| Issue date: | 04/09/1981 |
| From: | Kammerer C NRC OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS (OCA) |
| To: | Eagleton T SENATE |
| Shared Package | |
| ML18086B695 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8105120288 | |
| Download: ML18086B694 (2) | |
Text
-~I\\.*
,,.1_ '
The Honorable Thomas F. Eagleton United States Senate Washington, D.C.
20510
Dear Senator Eagleton:
APR 0 S 1981 Thank you for your March 17, 1981 letter on behalf of Professor Kenneth A.
Saxman, who is concerned about NRC licensing delays, particularly those re1ated to the Diab1o Canyon units in California and Three Mile Island Unit 1.
Following the accident at Three Mile Island, the Commission did not issue any further operating licenses for over a year while a thorough review was made of implications of the accident.
in the spring of 1980, the Corrmission approved new requirements for operating licenses based on the lessons learned from Three Mile Island.
Since that time several new operating licenses have been 1ssued, the most recent being for Farley Unit 2 in Alabama on March 31, 1981.
The diversion of resources and the rethinking of safety requirements following the TMI accident adversely affected licensing activity at the Commission.
As a result, we estimate that in 1981 and 1982 approximately a dozen nuclear plants will be completed from 1 to 12 liXlnths before a full power license decision can be ~~de. The Commission is concerned about this situation and is taking a number of steps to correct it. These ~teps are outlined in the attached testimony given by Chairman Hendrie on April 2 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.
With respect to the Oiablo Canyon units, an updated Supplemental Safety Evaluation Report for iow-power operation was issued by the NRC staff on March 5, 1981.
Hearings will corrrnence in May with a licensing decision on low-power operation expected in February 1982 and on full-power license in March 1982!
These projected decision dates would mean a thirteen month delay using the applicant's construction compieticn date and an eleven mcnth delay using the NRC staff 1 s.
Three Mile Island Unit 1 was down for refueling at the time of the accident at TMI-2 in late March 1979.
On July 2, 1979, the Commission ordered that the facility remain in cold shutdown until further order of the Corrrnission, stating that "the Corrrnission presently lacks the requisite reasonable assurance that the.*. Licensee 1 s Three Mile Island Unit No. i Facility... can be operated without endangering the health and safety of :he public."
Further, the Corrrnission stated that public hearings wou1d be conducted to determine whether TMI-1 should be a11owed to resume operation and if so, under what conditions.
2 -
In a subsequent order issued August 9, the Commission established procedures for the hearing and decision on* the issues. The hearings began before a NRC Atomic.Safety and Licensing Board in Harrisburg, Pennsy1vania on October 15, 1980.
ihe current estimate is that a Board decision wi11 not be made before late 1981.
I am enclosing for your*further inf~rmation the most recent Corrrnission order regarding the restart proceeding.
Professor Saxman is correct that there have been no known fatalities to date
- due to radiation emissions from commercially operated nuclear power plants.
ihe Presidential Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Is1and concluded that the radiation doses to the surrounding population were so low that 11 the. overall health effects. will be minirn.al.
11 Their report stated that "the accident may result in no additional cancer deaths or, if there were any, they would be so few that they could not be detected."
An NRC/HEW/EPA task force found the probabilities of a cancer death resulttng from the TMI releases to be less than one for the approximateiy 2 million people within 50 miles of the plant.
I hope that this information is helpful in responding to your constituent.
Sincerely, Enc1osure:
As stated