ML19249D744
| ML19249D744 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vallecitos File:GEH Hitachi icon.png |
| Issue date: | 09/07/1979 |
| From: | Hendrie J NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Robert Beaton GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19249D741 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7909250322 | |
| Download: ML19249D744 (4) | |
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UNITED STATES 3 @J
..j NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION k
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555 OFFICE OF THE September 7, 1979 CHAIRMAN Docket do. 50-70 Mr. Roy H. Beaton Vice President and Group D
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g Nuclear Energy Group General Electric Company TD ~9'I 175 Curtner Avenue J
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Dear Mr. Beaton:
This is in response to your letter of May 31, 1979 time it has taken the NRC staff to review the geologic, seismic andregarding the length Electric Test Reactor (GETR). structural issues associated wit I agre.? that this period of time is significant and accordingly, requersted that the staff provide a summary of the effort which has been placed cm the subject review to date as well as the current schedule for completing the review and issuing a safety evaluation.
the staff is enclosed.
The infomation provided to me by As you know an Atomic Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) has been assigned to rule cn the issues of the Commission's Order of October24, 1977.
The ASLB 's ruling ray be subject to review by the Commission and therefore I have reviewed the technical arguments surrounding the issues of the Order not on my evaluation of the information provided I am confident that the staff Based intends to complete its review as soon as possible.
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Sincerely,
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70seph M. Hendrie Chairman
Enclosure:
IRC Staff Review of GETR cc w/ enclosure:
See next page q 909o p.0 0
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General Electric Company cc w/ enclosure (s):
California Department of Health ATTN:
Chief, Environmental Radiation Dr. Harry Foreman, Member Control Unit Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Radiologic Health Section Box 395, Mayo 714 P Street, Room 498 University of Minnesota Sacramento, California 95184 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 Honorable Ronald V. Dellums Ms. Barbara Shockley ATTN:
Ms. Nancy Snow 1890 Bockman Road General Delivery, Civic Center San Lorenzo, California 94580 Station Oakland, California 94604 Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Friends of the Earth U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ATTN:
k'. Andrew Baldwin, Esquire Washington, D. C.
20555 Legal Director 124 Spear Street San Francisco, California 94105 Jed Somit, Esquire 100 Bush Street Suite 304 mn San Francisco, California 94104 D
D ov Merbert Grossman, Esq., Chairman
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A Atomic Safety and Licensina Board n[]
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U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U
2 Washington, D. C.
20550 Mr. Gustave A. Linenberger, Member Atomic Safety and Licensing Board U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D. C.
20555 George Edgar, Esquire Marcan, Lewis & Bockius 1800 M Street, Nh' Washington, D. C.
20036 1025 170
Enclosure NRC Staff Review D 9@M General Electric Test Reactor b b I<
October 24, 1977 Order to Show Cause P
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u Statenent of Issues On October 24, 1977 the NRC issued an Order to Show Cause which required that the General Electric Test Reactor (GETR) be shut dc)wn and set forth the following issues:
(1)
What the proper seismic and geologic design bases ffor the GETR facility should be; (2) Whether the design,of GETR structures, systems and components important to safety can be modified so as to remain functional considering the seismic design bases determined in issue (1) above;.
(3) Whether activities under Operating License No. TR-il should be suspended pending evaluation of the foregoing.
NRC Staff Review Effort to Date The redefinition of acceptable seismic and geologic parameters for the GETR facility has involved the review of ground acceleration., sur# ace offset potential and landslide stability in the complex geolog-ic se ting of the GETR site.
In addition, the licensee has proposed a nur7ber -f modifications to enable the facility to withstand a postulated seismic eve t.
The staff effort to address these issues has involved more than eight site visits, nine neetings with the licensee and the review of many reports.
Seven branches in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation have taken part in this review totaling more than 5,200 nan-hours or this assigm.ent.
In addition, the staff has been aided by two consultants in its seisraic/ geologic review and cne in its structural engineering review.
On August 9,1978 the staff net seith the licensee to dirscuss the staf#'s position regarding acceptable GETR seismic and geologic parame ters based on the infomation available at that time.
These paramete rs were documented in a draft safety evaluation report dated August 17, 1978, a nd were in excess of those proposed by the licensee.
Subsequent to that mee: ting and prior to the intended issuance of the staff's safety evaluation, the: licensee proposed an extensive geologic investigation of the site. The r esults of this investi-gation were submitted in the report " Geologic Investiga: tion-Phase II, General Electric Test Reactor Site, Vallecitos, California".
T he staff completed its review of this report and by letter to the licensee dared June 8,1979 noted areas which had not been adequately addressed.
The 1ic:ensee's response to these ouestions as well as the licensee's probability c:nalysis regarding sur-f ace offset under the GETR f acility are currently being reviewed.
In addition, questions regarding the GETR structural desican have not. vet been re-sponded to by the licensee.
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Current Schedule for Completion The staff currently expects to issue its safety evaluation of GETR, with respect to the proper seismic and geologic design bases, in September 1979.
This evaluation will be based on the information currently available.
The licensee expects to complete the response to the structural design questions in September.
Based on this submittal date the staff should issue its safety evaluation regarding the structural design of GETR by the beginning of November 1979.
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G EN ERALh ELECTRIC GEN ERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY e76 CunTNER AVENUE SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 9542 S nov H.BEATON May 31, 1979
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The Honorable Joseph M. Hendrie, Chairman bdE U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P
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Washington, D. C. 20555
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Dear Mr. Chairman:
In October,1977, our General Electric Company's Test Peactor (GETR) at Vallecitos, California was ordered to be shut down by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 'Ihe reason given for the shutdown was a postulated thrust fault near the reactor, giving rise to concerns about possible structural damage following a maximum future seismic event.
The GETR has long been a major s upplier of medical isotopes and a primary facility for testing nuclear fuel d(velopments.
Since then, during 1977 and 1978, the NRC Staff has agreed several times to complete and issue the Safety Evaluation Report has continuously slipped.
In order to dispel som(SER), but the completion date e of the uncertainty, in August of 1978 GE initiated a massive geologic investigation of the GETR site and surrounding area. After months of numerous meetings and site visits, the h3C Staff coanitted to issue the SER within sixty days after submission of the final geologic study report by GE.
GE submitted this geologic study report on March 5, 1979.
Unfortunately, however, the Staff has still failed to issue the SER.
More recently, the Staff committed to issue all questions by April 5.
- Again, however, no formal questions have been produced as yet, despite several GE follow-up requests. On May ':3, we were advised that the SER now will not be issued before August 1.
Meanwhile, we in GE have voluntarily made extensive and expensive modifications to the GETR facility, in order to meet revised and much more conservative design bases.
This extended shutdown has caused significant hardship to many of our employees and disruption of important GE fuel development programs.
Our previous position as one of the world's leading suppliers of redical isotopes is now probably irretrievably lost.
In summary, we believe the NRC Staff's inaction in unduly prolonging and post-poning the SER completion and issuance to be a grave injustice.
We further understand that you, as NRC Chairman, have the authority to order the Staff's review to be expeditiously concluded. We respectfully request that you do so.
Respectfully yours, 7-L
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R. H. Beaton
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GH fest reactorf necr fcult, says rapoN Dy NottM llANNON in a report to the U.S. Nuclear in the vicinity." USGS geolognis more than two miles apart. cho-hv the builders of an aqueduct, veras fault, wl.lc h '
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must decide whether to let CE Robtre it. Morris said, vcated geologn.dly young thrust soad from GE.
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FRIENDS OF THE EARTH 124 SPEsR S ss En Axcisco Cauranxis 94:0s D
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June 6, 1979 D
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,v The Honorable Joseph M. Hendrie, Chairman U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.
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Dear Mr. Chairman:
We write in response to a letter dated May 29, 1979 from R.
H.
Beaton, General Electric Company (GE) to you, indicating GE's displeasure that NRC staff has not completed its safety evaluation report on the General Electric Test Reactor (GETR).
Friends of the Earth is an intervenor in the GETR proceedings (NRC Docket Nos. 50-70,70-754).
In light of GE's behavior to date in this case, GE's complaints are outrageous.
GE refused for some time to dig the trenches suggested by the NRC and United States Geological Survey (USGS) geologists studying the GETR site.
GE instead produced a geologic report on the GETR which claimed that the earthquake fault near which the GETR sits does not exist.
This report was thoroughly discredited by USGS; a news acco'unt is attached for your information.
The delayed trenching confirmed the existence of the fault, indeed, some geologists at the trenches suggested the earthquake fault features revealed in the trenches were " classic",
and shculd be photographed and included in geology textbooks.
The trenches also uncovered a second earthquake fault near the SETR.
The dif ficulty of writing the safety evaluation report, which must be in effect a detailed prediction of the damage done to the GETR by a major earthquake, is not hard to understand in light of the enormous complexity of the seismic situation revealed by the trenches.
We note also that during the course of the GETR case, it was publicly revealed that GE had produced groundwater radioactivity readings near the GETR only from points upstream from where GE dumps its radioactive waste water.
When the downstream ground-water was checked by James Levine of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, samples were found to be contaminated with radioactive tritium far above the federal drinking water standard of 20,000 picccuries per liter.
In lighc of these disclosures, NRC staff may be treating all of GE's information about the GETR, correctly, as hope.Lessly unreliable.
This may account for the difficulty of preparing the safety evaluation report.
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Page 2 The Honorable Joseph M.
Hendrie, Chairman U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission We trust, Mr. Chairman, that you will not pressure the NRC staff, as suggested by GE, to rush to judgment about the GETR.
The futures of many thousands of people in the San Francisco Bay Area could be compromised by such an unconsidered NRC staff report.
Respectfully, 4
,'d M W. Andrew Baldwin Legal Director mo 9
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