ML19199A311

Transcript of 790409 Press Conference Re TMI Incident. Pp 1-13

ML19199A311
Person / Time
Site:	Crane
Issue date:	04/09/1979
From:	Thornburgh D PENNSYLVANIA, COMMONWEALTH OF
To:
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NUDOCS 7904120379
Download: ML19199A311 (13)

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VIII GCVE3NOR'S PRESS OFFICE Cp FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

Paul Critchicw 407-D79

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TRANSCRIPTION PRESS CONFERENCE - THREE MILE ISLAND INCIDE'.~T GOVERNOR DICK THOR'iBURGEi APRIL 9, 1979 1

3:00 p.m.

l Media Center a

f GOVERNOR THORNBURGH'S STATEMENT:

"I have just concluded a meeting in my office with Lt. Cov. Scranton, I

Harold Denton, Robert Adamcik and other appropriath state officials. I I

have also been in contact yesterday and today with Chairman Hendrie of the t

i Nuclear Regulatory Cc= mission.

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"I am pleased to be able to announce this afterncen that, based on l

the information and advice given to me by these persons, I am lifting all I

=y previcus recc==endations, advisories and directives.

I "Tnis means it is new censidered safe for pregnant wcmen and pre-scheci children to return to their homes within a five-mile radius of the Three Mile Island site.

"This means that schools in that area around the site may recpen te=morreu.

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"This means that state offices can return ccm letely to business as usual.

"This means that I am ordering our Civil Defense and E=ergency Prepared-t ness forces to shift frc= a full alert status to an on-call status.

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does not mean that we will relax our vigil.

Wo wy11 centinue to conitor I

the entire situation en a 24-hour basis.

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"I am,also assured by cur state CER and Health officials that there remains no threat to public health in. the milk or drinking water of central Pennsylvania.

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• in my address to the people of Pennsylvania 3ast Friday, I announced that Lt. Cov. Scranton wculd chair a Central Pennsylvania Recovery Ccmmittee.

That effort began almost imnediately, and we will keep ycu apprised of its progress.

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. Three Mile Island "Also at my side today is an individual to Nhom we cwe a great debt of gratitude.

Scb Adancik is the Philadelphia-ljased regional director I

of the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration.

And, just as the White House designated Harold Centen to be the authoritative voice l

cn technical matters at the plant site, so was Bob Adancik designated to coordinate the overall federal support effort.

"I must tell you that that effort, while extremely lcw-profile, was I

extremely effective.

The 30 federal and volunteer agencies led by i

Mr. Adancik provided assistance and advice en the whole range of matters l

rela cd to emergency preparedness, and stood ready to assist if a large-1 scale evacustion had become necessary.

Those agencies did so without fanf are, and in a spirit of total cecperation with state and lecal agencies.

"Just as I have cc= mended Harold Centen forlhis help, I as pleased to cc==end Mr. Ada=cik and his people for their effective support, and I I

i thank the White Hcuse for sending them to us.

"We will now turn to Mr. Denten for a briefing on conditions at the i

plant -- after which Lt. Gov. Scranton, Mr. Denion, Mr. Adamcik and I

myself will be available to answer ycur questions."

ANSWERINC QUESTIONS WITH THE GOVERNOR WERE-Lt. Gov. William Scranten 3d Robert Adamcik Har.cid Centon gI 0

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i CCCO*4 :

My advice to the Coverner is based on the :::uch improved situation at the plant ever the past few days in a number of areas. I nw think that the likelihood for an event or a rel; ease requiring special precautionary measures is very remota. While I'll do is welk through the five areas that we've paid special attention to and in just give ycal in summary form the situation to date.

I.et me first start with the reactor core.

The reactor is ncu producing about 4 segawatts total heat.

There':s one

--that's running above 400 degress and it's running about 404 degrees. The first stages of the preferred plan are now being imple: tented, this ;is the phase that concerns degassing.

We've takeq the reactor pressure cown tu.. luw as too y 4 lu.

4.s or plann.4 a.-

gaseing measures. This has beeq very effective in removing frca the primary coolarrt the dissolved hydregen gases. We may attempt further steps to reduce gases.

The next step in the preferred plan would te to Icwor the temperature of the primary system. This step won't be taken for several more days,,we're still looking at the natural circulatica mcde that we hcpe to place the core into.

I may remind you that the preferred plan involves cooling dcwn the prirswy system to a benign state such that you're not relying en instru=entation inside the containment and you're not bringing centaminated water outsido the cont'ainment. 2.ot me mentien next, the containment is still at a negati've pressure.

It's doing it's job just the way it is intended. We pc: sped back into the contain:aent the gases frc:s the waste gas storage tanks.

I don't see a potential :there for a release from the contaitsent. Noble gases have continued to drcp in terns of their off-site expceures as a result of tha p back that's going on.

The of f-site exposures new along the river ba.ik range frem l.1 to perhaps 1 mr per hour at the maximum. At the site that I'm at, dosimeters indicate a staximum dese of abouc 20 mr for the duratica of the accident. Icdines are being brought under centrol.

The plant has decided to do both a replacement of the existing filters and the installation of a second filter bank. These filters are about a foot square and 6 inches high, and six feet lcng or so and weigh about 120 pounds each and there are alscst 100 cm these. So the operation to take out these filters, replace them with the new ones which were ficwn in frcm a l plant in Washingten 411 probably not be completed until ;temor cw night.

T' insula tion of a back up filtet bank will take severa.

more days. We're very encouraged by all of the engineering management support going into control of both ncble gsses and iodidas. With regard to liquids there has not been any releases lfrem the plant in excess of those which would be permitted under normal cperations.

In total, looking at the entire picture, lecking at the fact that even if there were ----events with regard to the reactor core it would be l30 hours or more before there would be any potential for any release.

I've ecze to the conclusien that the potential is sufficiently small that I can give the governor the advice I have given him.

I REPORTER:

Mr. Centon,--"---

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it seems here the ----- problem as far as the persons who have been evacuated is concerned is the risk of radiation. Are you new satisfied that there is no risk of radiatien?

Og:ceg The releases from the plant are moving rapdily down toward those which would be persitted during normal operatic'n of the plant. Scze of the pathways have already reached that level. The others haven' t 'quite reached it, but thero's no magic threshold about radiation, this level versus that level.

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t Ocr"CN s (cen't) The total dose for anyone drinking milk frem the plant we calculate to be on the order 1 - 2 mr total. The maxi..n::s inhalatien dose from breathing air containing iodine is cn the order of 5-10 mr for the entirw course of!the accident.

The maximu:n off-site dose of thel Scrth Bridge, for anyone centinuously present there ever the course of accident remains less than 100 ex.

l You talked the other day about zaking an overt move STARCBIN:

toward a cold shut-down. And ycu were going to wait for advantageous wind conditions ariong others. Let me ask you, what would be advantagecus ccnditions, when will you make that move and what inherent risks are,

there with that?

OC3TCN:

At the time we were conte = plating a move that might require activation of the emergency core cooling systems. The type of =cve we'restalking about now would be more of a phase in thrcugh the existing steam generator thet's now being1 used to remove the heat frem the core and would just be a chang" in the way that water is circulated inside the reactor vessel, So I no longer ccuple etis type bf change with the potential that I saw when we were going to go to activation of the saf ety systemsi.

I RrJCRTE3 Mr. Centon, are you Jatisfied nCW after all this evaluation of the B E W plant t.%t the core of the reactor is damaged to the extentithat it wculd impede the natural circulation that that plant calls for.

1 CIm:

We're reascnably satisfied. We haven't quite ccmpleted our evaluation. That's still going en.

I hcpe to have a fi m handle on the natural circulation option by Friday. There are several other attractive looking options. All of which m uld minimize the release to the environment of the centaisinated water inside the contain=ent.

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AMIG Then you are planning on staying here?

6 Cer:*:N :

I do that on a day by day basis!and it looks like I'll be here at least through this week.

I REPORTER:

Mr. Centon, as lcng as there are sc=e e:nissions of radiatien that are above natura%1y occuring background levels, are you saying that nevertheless it is safe to go back to that area within the five mile area?

Ccr:03:

The plant is permitted to relea e certain a=ounts of radioactivity during ner=al operation, What I'm saying is that the amounts that are new being released are rapidly dropping toward these and in scma instances are at those that are per=itted under ucrmal episration.

I want to distinguish between those types of norruil release and extremely -----times now that would de available for evacuation in the event of a ec=plete walk away frem cooling systems inside the core.

6 Mr. Denton, if I may f ollcw up, ;we vers made to understand RE?caTIR:

that the reason that pregnant women and young children were kept away was not because 3f the ir:minence or the potentid i==inence of evacuation, but because of thier high susceptibility to Icw level doses of radiaticn.

Are you saying that it is now safe for those high risk groups to be back there?

l OENTCN Yes, in my view it is.

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REPORTER:

We were told the other day perhdps by you or another NRC official that we would not be able to determine the effect of iodine emissions on ecw milk until they began to pasture. At that time;the statement was that most cows in this area are eating stored feed.

What'as changed that you can make a.

I CENTON:

First off, the iodine releases frem the plant have dropped steadily as a result of the actions taken to add che:sicals to the water in the auxaliary building, scxne parts of the building have :been sprayed with these chemicals to tie up the lodine. The filterr will be all changed out by temorrow night which will really cut back en potential future releases. Prchably even more importantly, the envircnmental samples shev dropping levels in icdine. I think the latest results show very few if any milx samples with datectable a= cents of iodine in them.

There's been a dranatic drop off in the iodine detected in the environ =ent.

It's not entirely, you can' t say it's been ecmpletely eliminated.

We are going to continue our sanpling progru and perhaps an occasicnal milk sa=ple will still show todine abcve detectable levels.

But I want to emphasize that the maximum dose that we've calculaced to date for anyone consuming milk at the concentrations that we've discussed is en the crder of 1-2 mr, which is within alicwable limits.

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RIPOR* err But the point you made the other day was that the iodine went into the grass and therefers there would be no way of knowing that effect until some future date.

Are we in the future now?

l CErroN I think we now have a much better feel fer the amounts of icdine being released frcm the plant.

.I less there is less than one tenth of a curie of iodine that went out yesterday and reactions that are being taken are going to drop those levels right dcwn--

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i s going to reduce it even mcre. Our een sampling of pasture grass indicates concentrations below detectable levels.

i REPCRTER:

Can you explain the dctails of hy the federal government was encouraging that the antidote be distributed and the state felt it shculd not be =---

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CENTCN I guess I could leave that cne to the state or I could discuss my view of the situation.

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PLZASE PICK UP WI"3 PART ",f0 CF THE TR7.NSCRIPT' i

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CENTON:

We were involved in the preparaticn' of the criqinal dccu=ent concerning the use of iodine blocking tablets, we would like iodine biccking tablets for -

doses when large raleases are likely to occur.

The. doc =nent cencludes that when you are likely to be exposed to a ----- that would result in a thyroid does on the orcer of 10,000 millire=s you should atte=pt to take the tablet 30'mi.nutes in advance. They are meant for puff releases fecm the plant riot for continuous sxposure.

You can't block your thyroid for long lurations without side-effects. So in my cwn view the situaticn and the potential for puff releases resulting in 10,C00 millirems to the thyroid was sufficiently remote andiI didn't see any advantage to taking the tablet. The tablets are not intended to be effective for reutine exposuie to very 1cw levels of icdine.

1 RI?CRTER:

You said that you would have scme decision on the B and W

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cooling plant by Friday or so.

n as is later than the original schedule. Is there some new information you have.

I carTCH:

No as I contioned earlier we have turned on several states, review ccm=ittees, I have sent sc=eipecple here back to Bethesda to have more access te have more toiour calculational capabilities The core is being cooled perfectly adequately the way it is.

Everyday that gces by the ------level dreps a little scre. We obtain achieve more de-gassing of the primary coolant. There is no rush to move towards the five day or this ten day period.

And I want to be sure that he have locked et all the possibilities before we agree to a change in the ode of cooling at frem the present status.

So what we are new doing is Icwering the pressure down, raising the pressure back up in an attempt to bring out of solutien all the gases that we can that are in there and I think we have de-gasified the coolant dcwn to a level cf about 400 psi.

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LIvT:iGCCD:

'Iesterday when the operator droppedithe pressure in the primary coolant system dcwn to around 400 pai you got scme noise within the system and you got some pump vibraticn which I assume indicates that there is seme gas bubbles.

I CENTON:

Yes.

That is the type of criteria that we use to dstermine how low we can bring the pressure.

.We have acoustic =cnito*ing instrumentaticn en the plant. We watch levels, and reme=ber when the indicators bring the plant dcwn to 50 psi step. The leve:

your bring the pressure the mere gas you can get involved into pressurizer space So you have to have a carefully plannec nrogram tc bring down the pressurizer as icv,as possible with the gas ccming out of the solution so it can be exhausted into the Contai mmt.

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.IVINGOCO s lwoW today you are going back up to the 900 add 1030

ctTcu s It appears to be east effective to cycle pressure back and forth to put back in the solucica gases that may be hidden' cut in odd places of the primary system such as control rods and other to dissolve back in the water as suah gases that are in there and Icwer pressure back down again so that you can evolve those gases by lowering pressure. We will probably go through several more pressure cycles like that between new and the time any other change Ls made.

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PART 2 Page 13 i

LIVINGCCD:

Does it makt: the gas easier to get to, easier to...

CENTON It puts t.%e gas back in the solutica at high pressures in case there is gas hidden out: in crevices or pockets scmewhere in the plant. Coes bacit in solution and if you lower the pressure back down again it makes it easier to evolve those gases in the pressurizer space so they 'can be vented.

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STARCBIN Governor throughcut this entire: weak and a half hev close did you ever cere to issuing an evacuation (a) and b7 what was year contact or relationship with members of the nuclear establishment, if you will, particularly those nuclear experts in Pittsburgh, your hcme town.

Did you have contact with them.

GCVIP2CA:

No.

My source of advice fof appraisal of the situatien since his arrival a week ago Friday has been Harold Denten.

I think there may be sce.e ccnfusion about that because of speculation sc=ewhere when I directed ir=ediately cpon hearing of the accident at the site that all of the private and public secter input that we:could get in state government frem whatever source could help: us get a fix on t.he situatien and take the prcper actions be accuhulated. Most of the private sector support that has.ccme to the crew that is at the island new has been as a result of Mr. Denten asseabling this all-star tea 22 of technicians at~the site and that includes as I understand, Westinghouse, GE, B&W various power ccmpanies and the like.

I have had no crentact with them directly.

l STAR 03IN:

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GCvT.3:1CR s That is hard to say. I think frem the very mcment I heard of the accident on Wednesday morning, I began to realise that en evacuation was a potential. Dut that was. designed really to get cur respcase in order. And as time went on that response beca=e rcre realistic and with the help of the federal and local pecple involved became less and less of a concern as to the machanics.

But, obviously, like all of us has varying levels of perception of what the nature of the danger was. I don't think there was ever a point when we were poised on the edge of ordering an evacuaticn.

1 I remember the Sunday night directly af ter, s temper was

• STARCBIN:

the Wednesday incident we were at the sansion, everyccoy kind of short. At that time the hydrogen bubble was preminent in all 'of our ecnsciousness', at that point what was your feeling about evacuating.

CCVERNCR No.

As I recall that was the night we gave the legislators a briefing. I think n:y temper was on edge because I was tired I

REPCRTER:

We were made to understand that people over 60 are just as susceptible to 1cw-level radiatien as pregnant wenn and pre-school children. Is that true, and if it is true why wouldn't they have to leave.

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GOVERNCRI I don't kncw if it is true, I received no advice fro:s any of our medical, environmental, or technical people to that e!*ect.

I just have to beg off on a definitive answer.

i SCMt!N:

Governor, you said you will continue the scnitoring en a 24 hour2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> basis. How long will: this monitoring continue and who in the state will conduct it.

Are you eqvipped with the prcper instruments?

GOVEMCR s The DER pecple in concert with 'he apprcpriate federal t

agencies will continue the monitoring of radiation, obviously, our emergency =anagement people will centinue to keep on the alert. We are not dissamtling that apparatus. In other words, I think probably everybody who has been involved in this effort will continue to

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devote a substantial amount of ti w to keeping an eye on the situation. But obviously, with the advice and infor:caticn that we have been furnished with in the last 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> we have seen fit to relax sema of the advisories that we had in effect and I think that has an effect throughout the entire...

SCOTTIN:

thinking wei.1 beyond the totai shutdown, mcnths from new, will we keep car vigilance uf 7 i

CCVERNCRs Mail I have secured a~ cen:mitment frem Chairman Hendrie that the NRC will underteka procet int pection of all the nuclear facilities in Pennsylvani.a and report to me in a natter of weeks, sa to what that status is.

That will include the two caits at T:".I and we will in that sense be apprised by d.ose people who have the responsibility for licensing and regulating these facilities, as to what potential there may be for rect:rrence of any kind of accident of thas type, but the econitoring will be carried out in the normal course insof ar as the state is concerned, by CER until we are satisfied that there is no farther need for it.

I think agsin, we will exercise as much caution as we can.

I REPCRTER:

---

~~---a disagreement between yourself and federal officials on this point as to whether TMI or any other plant should be allowed to operate again or continue to operate. What sort of recourse do you have?

GCVERNCRs Well, I din't kncw that it is fruitful to speculate on that when we don't have any of the facts.

I hase not received the results of any of those requested i sapectiens -

until I do -

i REPCRTER:

Is there any structure, or legal recourse that you have to dem -t or require that the plant even if it is a political --

OCVERNCR Well, we certainly have standing with regard to facilities within our Comnwealth to make kncwn etar views on it.

There is no question about that and any licensing procedure or any procecure relating to facility, but I think we are well in advance of any advercary posture here until we have a determination of precisely the rssults of these inspections are.

REPGR"ER.

Governor, what is your posture on GPU's expressed intant t3 pass along their lesses to

--~ ~

CCVERNCR Well. that is a matter that is before the PUC.

At the present time I den't knew that we have taken a position on that.

I would like to see how that develcps in tarms

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? age 2b (CCVERNCR CONTINOED) of how best to deal with a totally unprecedented event in eerms of its effect. on levels of consumer charges and the financial status of the utility.

It is a vexing kind of a problem, but I am not prepared to state today any position we vould have.

JENCEN:

This may be for Mr. Adamcik, I am not sure. We have a long list here of preparations that were made in the event of an avacuation or a more serious situation to help people in the area.

Is there any progras new in place to ce=pensate the merchants and employees for lcanes that they incurred because even though there was no official evacuation, an estimated 200,000 took it on their own.

Is there any way those people can be helped financially or otherwise.

i ADAMCIK:

Well, this is an area beycnd the scope of the i==ediate evacuation planning. Hewever, we stand ready to do every-thing we can, and have already made some contacts with federal agencias and the federal regicnol council, who can ecw is and provide the Governor and his staff with informatart on how to assess the economic impact, and perhaps to suggest scme ways in which ha might work together to resolve that, j

JENSEN:

In other words, you eculdn't tell an individual what u do right ncw?

LT. GOV:

I think the posture that we are taking, and this will be part of the recovery ef fort, is first to =ake an assessment of exactly what kind of economic hardships cantral Pennsylvania has experienced. Before we haw that, we can't go to the 'ederal government and say, this is what we need, and this is the first step in our recover, effort -

we are currently taking, trying to find out from the varicca business people involved in the area, whst their problems havo been, what their losses have been. and under what circu= stances those losses have been incurred. So that when we have to go to the federal goves m. and say this is what has happened, this is how we need relle', we can do it on a factual basis rather than trying to make it up cat of thin air.

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Covernor, who is on that central Pennsylvania Recovery Comitteei I.T. GOVs We are currently putting it together and the final group has not been made up, i.,ut it will certainly be =ade up of the cabinet, r.ryself, and of course, the cabinet officials, that are =ost i==ediate involved, Department of Health, CER, Cetrmerce, etc., and cver the next "uple of days, I am sures you will haa.: an announcoment f airly soon about the final deter:sination of who is on that cc:-re.it te e.

BRUTTO:

Will you make any effort to secure rei=bursement for indivuduals who sustained a loss, if they were cutside of that 5 mile area?

LT. CCV:

I don't know if that would come under, if there is a federal program that allevs that, yes.

I think you run intu problems of insurance. I think you run into problems of exactly what the plant in liable for, what t:.e federal government is willing to sssu=e and at this po.nt, not knowing all the ins and outs of the federal govern =ent, I think it would be premature fcr =a to make a judgenent on that.

I BRUT"C If the plant closed, it 1 cst reney, and perhaps the empicyeen lost wages? Is there any way they can be retrtersed for that?

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PART III Page 3b LT. Gov Perhaps, but we would have to look into that.

Ecb, do you knew...

j GCV:

I think we can say that we are going to leave no stone unturned. As I indicated in myire= arks on Friday night, that to secure the naximum amount cf relief for an area that has suffered a totally unique kind of experience, and whatever there is in the way of assistance we are going to --- - our utmost efforts to see that those people who have suffered less are dealt with appropriately.

i LIVINCCCD:

For 11 days, pregnant women andl mothers of small children have f ollcwed your advice, --~~--

have stayed out of the area, but for two-and-a-half days prior to that, based on assurances that came from a lot of cources including yourself, many ef them remained in that area and I guess a lot of them understandably now have scme cencerns about what night be the long term effect to the fetus they carry and to the small children they are rearing. What do ycu say to them at this point?

I covEm ca Well, I am not =edically or technically qualified to mak.

an assessment on the health questions involved. I think that is scmething that they will have to regretably deal with with their own physicians or with testing and diagnostic facilities.that both. we and the federal govern-ment will make available. With; regard to the uncertainty warrounding the situation during that two-and-a-half day period, I thirJe that was probably the single biggest frust;ation, to no in trying to pass on every relevant bit of relicable information that we had to the public, only to find that as I told you in this rocm, I believe on Thursday night, we were being beset with all kinds of conflicting data and information and the difficulty in separating it out was extremely trocblesc=e. I think that clearly there is a concensus that improved data gathering and communications capability at the site of these types of plants is at the top of the list of needs that must be dealth with ta the future anel I for*one would to that view without any question. The most important ecmpenent of the decision making prccess is facts and until you have facts, you are left sc=4what at ------ with regard to the propriety of decisions that have to be made.

I am sure that ecw that the facts are all known, or when they are all'kncvn, that there may be instances where judgements might have been made differently if those facts had been kncwn at the present time.

But that waa the only game in town..

HAMILL Governor Thornburgh, despite your advisory today, there may be some pregnant wemen and preschool age children leary of coming back into the area. Are you saying they have no worries whatscever to be leary about coming into the area?

GOVZRNCR No, I as saying precisely what we said when we advised them to leave.

The advice that.I as passing on today is based on the infor-:ation recieved from Mr. Canton and the technical people factored into the expertise of our erreironmental and health people, that we no longer feel that it is necessary for than to absent that area.

REPCRTER:

Governor, you said there, I think Mr. Centon said there was a possibility offaite of 1 mr an hour. Was that the figura you used?

I think that nu=ber, I tried to' quote incremental values CENTCN:

and total values and some of the values I quoted earlier were total kinds of numbers. For example, the =aximum

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i Page 4b (DENTCN CCNTINCID) exposed individual at the North Cate if sc=ecne had been there centinuously present, would be less than 10~. =r.

But the survey, the last survey of 8 hours9.259259e-5 days <br />0.00222 hours <br />1.322751e-5 weeks <br />3.044e-6 months <br /> shewd i

levels from 1/100 to 2/100 mr per hour up and dcwn the i

3 east and west banks of the Susquehanna.

W The maxir.n.s concentration in the cloud measured by cur

--- -heliccpter in the past 24 hours2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> is about I nr an hour -- but that is in the plu=d.

l REPCRTER:

What is normal background fts the area do you knew?

DrsTCNs Normal background is a little idrger than 1/100 mrs per hour.

WICCINS:

Mr. Denton, in regard to the reactor, do you have any new, revised ------- for when you wculd hope to see it shut down, first part of the question, second part -- do you have any new figures on the radioactive levels inside that containment 7 c!NTC'i t we are still attempting to bring it to a cold shutdown sato state with dispatch. There is nothing nagic about the ten days we picked. The first part is the dingassing pcase that we have gone through. All tt.at is going very well.

As secs as we can cceplet our evaluation of the best option for getting tha reactor is a state whereby it is 1:nnune to canmade or equap=ent errors ara *. where it doesn't involve pu= ping back outside the containment any contaminated water. That time period I am still tryi.ng to ::nve teward ccmpleting our evaluation by Friday. tJntil that time we will continue removing heat frets the reactor through the steam generator, the same mode that we have been in for several days, and continue to remove as such gas frem the primary cooling system as we can. The next step after degassing is to bring the tamperature down to about 220, 21 t,0, the point at which you are not able tr., mair.tain stensing conditions is the staa:s generator. The preferred plan calls for them filling the secondary side of the stea:n generator solid water.

That would enable heat removal from the primary system. in a very efficient sort of manner, to bring the te:sperature of the reactor then dcwn to perhaps 1600 through heat removal. And the final stage would be to either run the pumps at the temperature of 1600 or perhaps trip the pumps ara go to a natural circulation mode at that time.

So our timetable is still relatively close to the ten days, but is not...I as not, I would say we are into the ten day period, but there is nothing magic about it and as long as everything is functioning the way it is, there is no pressure to move forward with estreme rapidity, but to make sure we have looked at all the cpticns examined, all the possibilities. Acceene mentioned the tecnnied capabilities en the site I found that the ec=pany is r.cw bringing in my predecessor, Mr. Ben Rurche to take over the tack of long ters --

control.

I JusOt t He is your predecessor?

DENTCN yes, in this job.

l The ccarpany is bringing his in he is now...

JENSIN:

He lefC NRC to...

CETCN:

He left a year or two ago and went into private industry.

CENsrN:

Did you participate in the licensing of this plant?

i DENTON:

Mr. Rusche?

I has s No, did you?

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I crNTCN:

I as sure I did.

At the ti=e before I took this job, I was respcnsible for environtcental evaluations.

REPCRTER:

Did you anticipate this?

ccr!CN:

No, sure didn't.

RZPCRTER:

Who does Mr. Rusche work for now?

I Dr.NTCN He works for the enargy research institute of South Carolina.

But I mentioned that just to illustrate the depth and competence of the industry, pcwer ccmpany, individuals you have been incurpcrated into the zecovery team of GPU.

I RE7CT"rER:

What are the alternatives----- do you have any new ones?

CENTCN Well, one that

.c staff is looking at is why trip the pumps to go to.satural circulation, for exa=ple, as long as the pumps run why not centinue to let the pumps run

.-----original concept was that we tripped the pu:nps and go into natural circulation,. but with the way things are performing there is the thought perhaps that is an unnecessary step and why not continue tc run the pumps until they trip for scme other reason and then we will go to natural circulation at that time.

CRITC3It Could we just have one or two scre questions please?

i B Rt.", "If Governor, is it within your power, pcwer of the state, to prevent the reactor frca --.

- -- -can you cicse it down?

I I

OcvERNoit:

I don't know. That is ene of the things that we will be reassessing in the after=ath of this situation. I have already expressed =y view with respect to the burden that I feel is imposed en those who wuld make a case for reactivatien of this facility.

PANTAC :

Cculd you respond, make scme type of response to the resignation of Mark Widoff, Censu=ar Advocate...

during that time he...

GCVE72iCR:

He resigned scca time ago.

j PANYAC:

Wtll, he ---- ~ Jade his officia announcement today to the nadia, and at the time he said he was afraid the

--inaudible-----

Attorney General --

CCV:RNoar well, we were f aced with a situation I think by ec.xn consent that was unprecedented - Mr. Widoff, some time ago had submitted his resignation effective April 25, I directed the Attorney General to assu=e charge of coordinating all of the legal aspects of this matter.

P;;. Widoff, last week, announcerl an intention to take certain legal actions which I asked the Attcrney General to review because of Mr. Widoff's impending departure froa cffice. That review was carried out by Attorney General Biester consistan wd th my directive that he te in charge of ccordinating all oc the legal reopense of this state to this totally unprecedented situation that we had to deal with.

So we are new of course left without a censu=er advocate We are looking for a successor to Mr. Widoff.

In the a antime, t.tse acticns will be coordinated by the Attorney General.

JO!!IN:

Governro, he went further. He said that be did not believe that M.r.

Siester had the right to tell him what to do because he was responsible only to ycu and he told us I

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JENSEN:

in effect that he is going to continue in a course which you could only describe as insubordination or rebellion to Mr. Diester.

l GOVERNOR:

Well, I think it is regretable hhat Mr. Widoff took certain actions without any notice to me, without any notice to the Attorney General, after I had asked the Attorney General to coordinate our overall legal response but I don't see any problem in that regard.

His resignaticn takes effect in a couple of weeks, and we will go forward with whatever actions are necessary under the new consumer advocate.

But those actions will be coordinated with our overall response as a state government to this totally unprecedented situation, j

l REPORTER:

He said further that the staff would not ecoperate with the Attorney General's Office and would not keep them advised...

I hope that is not ture.

GOVERNOR:

I think that would be a mista: m onequestion,theNaturdayofthebubble AMIG:

Mr. Denton:

problem, and Met Ed said the crisis was over, you came back and said the crisis wouldnt be over until there was a complete shutdown.

Do you still stand by that state =ent?

DENTON:,

Well at the time, I guess I used cold shutdewn to be a blanket term to describe an activity that I row perceive to be multi-faceted.

There are. lots of different issues that remain at the plant.

There continues to be a lot of radioactivity.

But when I look at the entire spectrum across the board, from centain=ent to noble gases, iodines, I consider the crisis over today with the, with regard to the status of the core.

CRITCHLCW:

Thank you very much.

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