ML19249D940
| ML19249D940 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 08/09/1979 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Ertel A HOUSE OF REP. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19249D941 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7909250577 | |
| Download: ML19249D940 (2) | |
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4 UNITED STATES
- i j1 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o
W -j/i WASmGTON, D. C. 20555 gv AUG S 1979 Docket No. 50-289 The Honorable Allen E. Ertel United States House of Representatives Washington, D. C. 20515
Dear Congressman Ertel:
This is in response to your letters of June 11 and June 14 in which you expressed a number of concerns related to the restart of Three Mile Island Unit 1 (TMI-l).
I would like to sumarize where we now stand in relation to your concerns.
A meeting was held at the request of Metropolitan Edison / General Public Utilities Corporation on June 11, 1979 to enable them to discuss with the staff, in preliminary terms, the possibility of reactivating TMI-1.
During the course of that meeting, and subsequently in a letter dated June 28, 1979, Metropolitan Edison / General Public Utilities indicated a number of actions they were prepared to implement in order to provide a better basis for confidence that the TMI-l reactor could be operated safely.
Needless to say, these discussions resulted in no agreements or commitments by the staff regarding any aspect of the TMI-l restart.
On July 2,1979, the Comission issaed an Order requiring that TMI-1 remain in a cold shudown condition until further order of the Commission itself.
The Order, a copy of which is enclosed, also provided that the Ccmmission would issue a subsequent Order within thirty days, specifyini, in detail the bases for its concerns, and the procedures to govern the hearing which the Comission directed be held prior to restart of TMI-1.
The Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation was asked to provide a listing of those areas of technical concern to be resolved in connection with the restart of TMI-1. These technical concerns are identified in my July 20, 1979 memorandum to the Comissioners, a copy of which is also enclosed.
Subsequent to this, the Comission has met on numerous occasions with the staff to consider these technical and legal concerns.
On August 1,1979, the Comission issued a further Order, a copy of wnich is also enclosed, extending until August 10, 1979, the time within which it would issue the detailed Order setting forth the bases for the concerns which led it to require on July 2,1979, that TMI-l remain in a cold shutdown condition. The basis stated in the August 1 Order for the exten-sien was that the Comission has not yet completed resolution of all the legal and technical issues involved.
It is expected that all of the tech-nical concerns contained in the Order to be issued on or before August 10, 1979 will be fully addressed in the hearing to be held prior to restart.
1909250gy7 Q 1019 321
The Ibnorable Allen E. Ertel
- I believe that tne above actions provide assurance that authorization for TMI-l to restart will not be allowed until the technical issues and concerns, such as those identified in your letters, have been fully addressed, dis-cussed in a public hearing, and that hearing record reviewed by the Cossission.
I can assure you that we recognize the need for an open and direct communica.
tion link between the public, the utility, and the staff, and thus, we intend that technical discussions on matters relating to the restart of TMI-l will be held near the site in public meetings.
Si ncerely, Original $1 ped b1 H. R. Dentoa ;
Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Enclosures :
As stated 9
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ORDER g
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In view of the variety of issues raised by the accident at the Three Mile Island Unit No. 2 facility, the Conctission presently lacks the requisite reasonable assurance that the same' licensee's Three Mile Island Unit No. 1 facility, a nuclear power reacter of similar design, can be operated without endangering the health and safety of the public.
Acccrdingly', we direct that the Unit No. 1 facility, presently in a shutdown condition, shall remain shut down until further order of the Commission itself.
The Commission has further determined that it is in the public interest that a hearing precede restart of the facility.
The Concission will also issue an order within thirty (30) days F
specifying in detail the basis for its concerns, and the procedures to govern further proceedings in this matter.
The licensee may file a written answer to this Order no later than
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twenty (20) days after the issuance of the detailed Order.
The Commission has found that the public health, safety and int'erest require that this order be effective immediately.
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4 It is so ORDERED.
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Dated at Washington, D.C.
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