ML19210E831
| ML19210E831 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Palo Verde  |
| Issue date: | 11/28/1979 |
| From: | Varga S Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Grissom N AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7912130048 | |
| Download: ML19210E831 (2) | |
Text
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~,ja arc UNITED STATES i
?i NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 5.(%h,'
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WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555 s u @,, j,,
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D.ocket Nos.:
STN 50-528/529/530 Mr. & Mrs. Neal Grissom 2909 East Grant Road Tucson, Arizona 85716
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Grissom:
This letter is in reply to your letter of April 1,1979 regardirg your concerns with nuclear power, specifically with regard to emergency situations and dis-posal of waste materials.
I am sorry that this reply has been delayed. As you may know, the NRC has been occupied with continued support of the efforts at Three Mile Island, appear-ances before the President's Commission and various committees of Congress that are investigating the Three Mile Island accident, and the realignment of our own resources and priorities to give immediate attention to the problems result-ing from the accident.
Over the past several months following the Three Mile Island accident, the NRC staff has been conducting an intensive review of the design and operational aspects of nuclear power plants as well as those aspects relating to your con-cern on emergency situations; i.e.,
the emergency procedures for cooing with potential accidents. The purpose of these efforts was to identify measures that should be taken in the short-term to reduce the likelihood of such acci-dents and to improve the emergency preparedness in responding to such events.
To carry out this review, efforts within the NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regula-tion (NRR) were established in four areas:
(a) licensee emergency preparedness, (b) operator licensing, (c) bulletins and orders followup (primarily in the areas of auxiliary feedwater systems reliability; loss of feedwater and small break loss-of-coolant accident analysis; emergency operating guidelines and procedures) and (d) Short-Term Lessons Learned.
As a result of the above efforts, specific guidance and NRR staff requirements were provided by letter, dated October 10, 1979, to all applicants with plants under construction, including the Arizona Public Service Company (the lead appli-cant for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2 and 3). The Comission may add to or modify these staff requirements after reviewing them.
Additional staff requirements may be developed as NPR's Lessons Learned Task Force completes it's lono-term recommendations.
Several other investigations, including the Presidential Commission and NRC's Special Inquiry Group, can be expected to lead to additional requirements.
1546 299 Yr000 OUI &
7912130
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'ir. & Mrs. Neal Grissom O
' E With respect to your concern about waste disposal, the Nuclear Regula.ory Commission was given regulatory authority over the storage and disposal of all commerically-generated radioactive wastes upon its creation in 1974 by the Energy Reorganization Act.
To implement this authority and to provide guidance to the Department of Energy, the industry and the public, we are developing new or revised regulatory standards and guidelines for such storage and dis-posal. These standards and guidelines will require conformance with a fixed set of minimum acceptable performance standards (technical, social and environ-mental) for waste management activities while providing for flexibility in technological approach. These standards and guidelines will be cesigned to assure public health and safety and protection of the environment.
In addition, the Department of Energy has been pursuing a orograr designed to accommodate the anticipated need for disposal of high-level waste or spent fuel that is expected to accumulate as the nuclear power industry continues to grow.
This program includes, among other things, plans to develop several operations for disposal of high-level wastes in stable geological formations.
The purpose of these facilities would be to demonstrate the acceptability of a specific geological formation for permanent disposal of high-level and transuranic '
wastes.
These facilities would be treated as permanent disposal repositories.
The Department of Energy is now awaiting a Presidential direction of policy and plans which will occur following completion of studies recommended by an interagency task force formed by the President. There are several methods of high-level waste-disposal which are technologically feasible. The Department of Energy is expected to continue to investigate options to determine whether superior disposal alternatives can be developed.
I thank you for this opportunity to respond to your letter.
Sincerely, V
.D k (t f f
kteven A. Varga, Ac ing Assistant Director for Light Water actors Division of Project anagement Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
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