ML19253C543

Requests Halt of Facility Const Due to Location in Urban Area.Certificate of Svc Encl

ML19253C543
Person / Time
Site:	Bailly
Issue date:	11/13/1979
From:	Scott W ILLINOIS, STATE OF
To:	Hendire J NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
References
NUDOCS 7912060028
Download: ML19253C543 (4)

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<4, Offire af ihr Aliume General fr $d @p[ Ly picaga sasa1 , @v Twixm 3.Scatt November 13, 1979 '

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utarnet senere Joseph M. Hendrie Chairman Nuclear Regulatory Con

mission Washington, D.C. 20555

Dear Chairman Hendrie:

As Attorney General of the State of Illinois, I call for a halt of future construction of the Bailly Nuclear Power Plant at its present location. It is the most poorly located nuclear power plant in the United States. If con:pleted the plant will be located 30 miles from the heart of Chicago, 10 miles from Gary, Indiana and one mile from Portage, Indiana, a town of 15,000 people. Further to the north of the plant is the Bethlehem Steel Plant (which 2n: ploys over 6,000 people around the clock) and to the south is the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore - a spot whose beaches attract thousands of Illinois an'd Indiana citizens each day.

The President's Commission on Three Mile Island has raised a serious question about the location of nuclear power plants in populated areas. You, as Chairman of the NRC, in recent testimony before Congress acknowledged that certain operating nuclear power plants might have to be closed because of.their proximity to major urban Among the plants you cited is the Zion, Illinois areas.

plant. If the NRC acknowledges the possibility that the Zion plant, in operating a reactor located 40 miles from Chicago, =ay close then there can be no question that the Bailly plant, located 30 miles from Chicago and not even 1". complete should not be built.

The Bailly Nuclear Power Plant's construction pen:d.: expired on September 1, 1979. Work has been halted on the plant for over two years while NRC staff and others evaluate a novel proposal for foundation support for the '

structure. S.e operator has applied for an entension of ^

its construction permit. I have asked for a hearing on 'I500 ' C b' '/

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l the extension to consider such issues as the poor location of the plant and its obsolete design. NRC staff attorneys incredibly have announced that they will oppose any effort to hold a hearing on these important issues.

The NRC has indicated that there will be a meritorium on the licensing of a nuclear power plant -

so that safety and citing can be stuaied. Yet the moritorium would not affect construction of the Bailly Plant even thought it is less than 1% completed and has an expired construction permit. The NRC has indicated that an operating power plant 40 miles from Chicago may have to close because of its location. Yet no mention is made of Bailly, which is not even built and located only 30 miles from Chicago, The President's Commission on Three Mile Island urged that no nuclear power plant be located in a populated area. Yet the NRC appears willing to permit Bailly to be built at the doorstep of the nation's second most populated city.

In light of wha t we now know about the risk of locating a nuclear poser plant in a populated area, the Bailly Plant should not be built in its present location. As Chief Legal Officer of Illinois I call upon the Nuclear Regulatory Com=ission to halt future construction at the Bailly Plant.

Very truly yours, e

ATT0RNEY GENERAL cc: Bailly Service List l

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1509 210 !,

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CERTIFICATE CF SERVICE I, DEAN HANSELL, hereby certify that I have served copies of the foregoing letter upon each of the following persons by deposit in the thited States Mail, first class postags prepaid, this 14th day of Norember, 1979.

Jonph Hendrie Richard Kennedy Ch.sirman Commissioner

..S. Nuclear Regulatory U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commission Washington, D.C. 20555 Washington, D.C. 20555 Victor Gilinsky Peter Bradford Commissioner Commissioner U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Washington, D.C. 20555 Commission Washington, D.C. 20555 Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission John Ahearne Washington, D.C. 20555 Commissioner U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Jack R. Newman, Esq.

Commission Newman, Reis & Axelrad Washington, D.C. 20555 1025 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036 Samuel J. Chilk Secretarv of the Commission James L. Kelley U.S. Nuclear Regulato y Acting General Counsel Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulatort Commission Washington, D.C. 20555 Washington, D.C. 20555 William H. Eichhorn, Esc. Richard L. Robbins Schroer, Eichhorn and Morrow Lake Michigan Federation 5243 Hohman Avenue 53 West Jackson Boulevard Hammond, Indiana -

Chicago, Illinois 60604 Guy H. Cunningham, II- Michael Swvgert Assistant Chief Hearine ~

De Paul School of Law Counsel 25 East Jackson Boulevard U.S. Nuclear Regulatorv '

Room 759 Commission Chicago, Illinois 60604 Washington, D.C. 20555 Edward W. Ossan, Jr.

Steven C. Goldberg One IBM Plaza Counsel for the NRC Regulatory Suite 4600, Chicago, Il. 60611 Staff U.S. Nuclear Regulatorv Comm. J. Michael Olszanski Washington, D.C. 20555' Local 1010 United Steel Workers of America 3703 Euclid East Chicago, Illinois 46312 1509 211

Robert Vollen 109 North Dearborn Street Suite 1300 Chicago, Illinois 60602 Robert L. Graham One IBM Plaza 44th Floor Chicago, Illinois 60611

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I fi jk l1.- W DEAN HANSELL Assistant Attorney General Environmental Control Division 188 West Randolph Street Suite 2315 Chicago, Illincis 60601 (312) 793-2491 1509 212