ML19250B937

Responds to Inquiry Re Potential Risk to Public Exposed to Radioactivity from Nuclear Incident.Forwards Senator Schweiker Request for Response to Constituent Inquiry & Hew 790807 Response

ML19250B937
Person / Time
Site:	Crane
Issue date:	09/25/1979
From:	Gossick L NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
To:	Schweiker R SENATE
References
NUDOCS 7911060204
Download: ML19250B937 (6)

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JEF K)!M The Hcnorable Richard S. Schweiker United States Senate Washington, D.C.

20510 Cear Senator Sc heiker:

This letter is in response to your constituent innuiry (;ndated) referred to the Departrent of Health, Education and Nelfare (PEM) re<; arcing potential risk to the public exposed to ra'ioactivity crici-nating frar the Three "ile Island accicent. TFore also tere cuestions concerning the whole bcdy counting procrar established by the PP.C shortly after the accident occurred.

Ce consider that cur July 9,1979 respcnse tc ycu fcr ancther'cne of your constituents (copy enclosed) is aisc relevant to the incuiry referred to us by 16.

In addition, the following infor-"ation SFculd be helpful to you.

Your constituent has apparen'ly misinterpreted pres: releases regarding nine pecple "that have been fcund above (tbe) limit." t'ine ;eeple, based on preliminary evaluation of the whole bcdy counts data, vore believed to have above average levels of naturally occurring radic-activity (prirarily short-lived daughters of racon ^22).

Each of tFese recple was personally contacted by the 'PC and inferred of the findings.

Tr e individuals t;ere then given the opportunity to Le recaunted and also ave every cember of their family counted. In scre cases, the individ'uals were very surprised.to discover that evr.ryone Pas scre natural radioactivity. The levels of radicactivity are dependent upon the Sater and food censured, the tyre of here lived in cr the place of t.o rk. Scre recple refused to believe us and steadfastlw insisted tSat the racon daughters ust have enre frcr T**I-2.

f fter cor pletion of t!'e recounts and analysis of the tell rator used by these farilies -v the State of Pennsylvania (all water sarples containec redor), it new arrears those people are resolved to their situation.

tith recard to the lifetire risk of cancer to a fetus followinn in " tern ex;csure to racicactive releases #rce "I-2, tFe 'TC staf' has esti atcq that t"e zaxirur risk cf cancer ncrtality to anyccc vithir ? -iles c' the "lant is abcut 2 c!'arces in IT,2FF.

This WW risk represer*s at o@ a ".l cercert increase in the risk of carcer rortali*' Nd t6 e accide t ret occurrm:. Na i:' crease in risk cf c2rccr cr'.21it',. #cr 0] hh I

I 7911060264

T!'e Ecncrable Eichard S. Scht:eiker

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3 utere exposure in Piddletovin was conservatively estirated to be accut U.PCE percent. It should be roted that thesa risks resulted alrost entirely fran external radiation exposures to nchie cases which do not accuculate in the body and vculd nct be detectable by any whole body counting crecedure.

Finally, it is unfortunate that a srall child cne bloc! outside the 3 rile radius ras nct counted. To the extent pcssi'le, allowances sere ade for ab. cut a cne-block variatinn beyond the 2 rile radius.

Tl erefore, scr e people '..ho were extrarcly distraucht and sta livec' jtst cutsice the radius were, in fact, <'iven s.Fole 5ee: scans in cr.'er to Felp relieve then of scre of the anxiety generate,' ry the accident.

hc'..ever, even fer these who tere not counted, it is al. st a certainty scr eone uithin a short distance cf then was counted arc fcund te contain no radicactivity related to the accident. TPat in itself sl.culd recvide reasonable assurance that nc cre in the public rectived any ir.ternal radiation dose ferr TPI-2 in' excess of a fer percent cf

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the annual dose frcr natural radiation in the envirenrent.

My; C,1C79 letter

'.<e k. ore this inferT ation and that provided in our m _y to you will assist you in answering inquiries fror yoth constituents.

Sincerely, r

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6 L e e 5.'. CcssicP Executive rirectrr fcr rerations Encicsure:

1. Incnrirr letter

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• SEE PREVIOUS YELLO l1 FO'1

__3L'io tc hy:me FJConnal TDMur?hy CONCURRE:!CE 9/7/79 9/ /79-~97

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3Cnifeb Sfales Senale Respectfully referred to:

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Secause of the desire of this office to be responsive to all inquiries and co=:rs:ications, your considerr.t:.on of the attached is requested. Your findings and views, in duplicate for::2, along witu return of the enclosure, sill be appreciated by Richard S. Schweitar ZarJurylvania u.s.s.

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CONSTITUCNT INQUIRY c3 U.S. 51.NATOR RIC.l!ARD_S. SClfwEIKER

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calling te scanner behi brought back to the area t

bl ([ objects to.the three =ile li=it.

f she hr.s a ndece who is pregnant and has a small child-l block tco far and cannot be tes ed, also objects to the li=it of 1 persen per fcmily nine pecple have been fcund above limit-but the !IRC is denying any relatien.

veuld like the test: th c be evaluated by screene other than !!RC.

t ACTION TAXEN/ ADDITICNAl. INFORM.Mg:

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1977 187

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UNITED STATES

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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The Honorable Richard 54 Schweikers: ;.--

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Dear. Senator. Schweiker:

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"Your'constituerit inquiry o'f pril,30,'1979, regardihg the public'

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whole body' scanning progran following the Three Mile Island accident

-(TMI-2):was referred to us for reply.by the repartrent of Energy.

. on Pay 31, 1979.-;.. -, -.

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On April 9,'1979, Pi. Ha'rold Denton, Director of the,0ffice of. -.

Nuclear P.eactor Regulation, established a whole body counting -

program, to_ be conducted ~ by the Nuclear Regulatory Comission.

The details of the program were detemined taking into consider-

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'ation the folicwing factors:

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1. The enly radioactivity tha't had 'been detected in huran food chains (milk) as a result of.the accident was iodine-131, which.

has a 7.5 day effective half-life in man (i.e., the. activity-recaining declines by on't. half every 7.5 ' days after the initial uptake into the body).

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. 2. There were no other. detectable radionuclides released which

- wouTd be taken up into the human body through.other pathways

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. (e.gG inhalation)..

3. Since the TMI-2 releases.o'ccurred 7 to 10 days earlier, it was

,, ecessary to establish the program as,quickly as possible.

n 4'. Only one' robileybole bcdy. scanning system'was readily available.

5. There were no many people'living within the ' evacuation zone

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(5 miles) -

scan within a short time (e.g., within another I-131).

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6. If no r!..Dt:.ctivity was reasureo in persons living close to e

plant ar? t' c trere expcsed to the releases and the uptake of I-131 in -ilk, it was unlikely that anyonc living further 977 jg away woul J ' ave ceasurable I-1?l..

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-. 7. A thr;ee mil;e radfus of' TMI-Z included about. half,'the )opuTation

.". ' ~.. "I of the'riesrest comr5nity (Middlet&m) and 'a ' total of 10,254 people. '

Th3s' riu6ber..fmplies thatl.about.'3,000 famil f es 1ive' within 3.s-

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miles of TMI',- Based on available' counting equipment, it.'would have 'been possible to. scan 10 to 207., of those fa::iilies within

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'one dore half-life' of I-13'1...It was' decided that if any radio

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that' person's entire-family, and if there were. m.easurable arounts.

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activityIvas. detected'l'n anyone within 3 miles, Ta would' scan of.I.-131 in ' persons 7.tving in Middletown, we would then'. extend' 1

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the radius to fivs miles and' extend the duration of the program.-

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The program, was ' operating within_ _24 hours after the_ assigned staff.,..

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. mer.ber arr.iyed at.TMI.. The first persons to be. counted %ere dairy famers who Tived r releases of.~ I-131,jaar tlie~ plant', who were at home during the majo whose cow's milk showed. reasurable levels of I-131 j

l and whof consum'ed thaf milk.'. Alth'ough preliminary calculations.-

indicated there would not be detectable I-131 in the famers, or '

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anyone for that matter,'it was' essential to look for I-131 in that

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most' exposed' population first 50 provide further assurance and cuidance on the scanning criteria. Fhen all the results for the ~

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famers were negative, it suppcrted the earlier decision to limit the program to a 3-mile radius.

Subsequently, when.whole body scans of the first 50 persons were completed and the results were also negative, it became clear that further scans.uould _ not likely reveal any raciirectivity" originating.

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from TMI.-2 releases. Houever, it was felt tFr: running.the program' until a representative part of the 3-mile r-I-tion had been scanned

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- would'providh fuither reassurance to'a'.lan.

.er'of peopl'e that there was "no significant undetected radicar.

in their bodies a's a ' result of the ' accident.

Since no TPI-2 rel'ated radicactivity was & -

in the'721 persons

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scanned (from a total populcticn of about '

ersons)~a'nd the I-131 released fro-the plant essential 1; --

ared thrctigh radioactive decay, no additional whole Ec

r.ning was pe. fomed.

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l In closing, based on the people who.were co.-

, we belieye there is ' reasonable assurance that no one in the -

al public_ could have received-an internal radiation dose free th

accident in excess of a few percent of the annual dose frem na- -- ' radiation.

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!.'e bore this infomation ans: crs the cuestions fr 5 your corstituents.

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Sincerely,

.0M8ned) E A. N

\\{becuhve D: rector Lee V. Gossick l

for Operaticas i

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Enclosure:

Incecing Letter frw Senater Schcif er 1?77 190

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