ML19270F258
| ML19270F258 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Indian Point  |
| Issue date: | 01/22/1979 |
| From: | Sierra Club |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19270F257 | List: |
| References | |
| RULE-RM-50-3 NUDOCS 7902050316 | |
| Download: ML19270F258 (4) | |
Text
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NUCLEAR 2EGULATCRY :^PM;3$10N
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s Licensing of Production and
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s Util.i za:ico Fac.1i t ies
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(Envi ronrental Ef fects of
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the Uranium Fuel
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SIERRA CLUS ?ESUTTAL
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sini.
In respcnse to the c.ommi ss a on, s a t te r Oc al,i cw part i :i can ts :ne acco r: uni ty for rebuttal, the Sierra Cluo of fers the follcwing orief ccmrents ~hich.se aculd nave of ferred orally January 13 The Club, as a national envi ronmental organizaticn, i s p rir.a ri l y cence rned alth environmental releases of radicactive materials and occupational excesures.
We have fccussed on certain long-lived radionuclides and have ccrpared the actaal ca c t
,1
.ty.
c:erating experience c. cccrercial recrocessors with :.ne a: art iceal.ized a
i The Club had also intervened in :ne NRC Ocns t ructicn ;er?.i t croceecing of Nuclear ruei Services and uESMC. We have proposed in all proceedings tefore the 'JC anc in testimony cefore Ocngress that racicac:ive materials :e evaluated #cr their full na ctdcus life: ice.
WHICH RADIONUCLICES DU;hT TO 3E INCLUCEO IN TABLE S-37 A. it appears in NURE3-Cll6, Tacle 5-3 aculd incluce C-14, :ritium, <r-35 1-129, 1-13!, fissien procuc:3, :ransurarics and su-!C6.
We discuss :rese i, turn.
Since the Staf has assemec ;uan t i ta:! ve re' ease of Ar-35, 1-1:3, :-l a and
- ri tium, we nave no ci sagreemen t at:n :ne values pesec :v :ne 3:sf#
Concerning the l i s ting "#i s s ion p roc. cts" and Ru-i:6, ne Oc h ave :i s a-
- reement.
As we poin:ed cut in our crai state en: :c :ne Ccrmissicrers, :asec on
- ne experience at Nuclear uel Servi:as and ccnsistan: witm :ne : cur: anda:e,
..e r00Ro5c31.6
Commissioners Page 2 would p resen t too Tcole 5-3's for these values, ene Table based on :ne Staf#'s icealized facility and the other on actual experience.
The radionucli des :s anc 3r shculd be separatel / lis:ed in the Table, and not be includec un:er '#is sicn products".
Car values for C3, Sr and 2.u would differ f ecn those of the Staf Ov aoproximately 3 orders of magnitude.
In addition to separate listings for Cs and Sr,
..e would include entries for Tc-99, Ni-59, Ni-63 and Nb-94 in the Table.
Because of i ts long hal f-l i fe,
we would assu e that all the Tc-99 would be released to the envi ronmen t, acorox-imately 500 Ci Tc-99/RRY. We reject the 3:af f's suggestion that 1-129 re! eases compensate for the cmmi ssicn of Tc-99 f rom the Taole.
The heal th ef fects are not tne same, and the S taf f has not made a careful analysis of the health e#fects of Tc-99 to subs: anti ate thei r claim that this substi tuticn could take pince.
The Staff m.ust go back and do the work, and the Ccamissicn should direct the Staff to do the calculations for Tc-99 health effects.
Ccncerning the radienuclides Ni-59, Ni-63 and Nb-9k which arise f rom eactor deccemi ss ioning, i# it is assumed that the reactor vessel plus internals go to surface burial, oe.sculd assume that all three of :nese radionuclides are relased to the envirenrent.
On :ne other hand, i f :ne reac:or vessel plus internals go :c deep underground burial, ne aculd in-crease the acreage requi rements of :ne undergrounc repcsi tory, anc possibly del-ete these values f rom :he Table, pending a careful analysis of this question.
HOW LONG 20 WE COUNT?
The 3G5E wi tnes s, Wal ton Recgers, has disputed :ne use of the envi ron. men:al dose comni: ment and has i, stead croposed a cut-of# of 10 ~ mrem /y-/ce rson. Whe tne r tnis cut-of f applies to a single facili:y, or as the cumula:ive ccse f ecm all op-erating f acili ties, was not made clear.
Rodgers said that :re dose 10 ~ mrem /pers-en/y r ecua:ed to a 50 year cose and a 90 mile radias. His cu:-of# of 10 ~ mrem /
cersen/yr has no scienti fic basis and should ce rejected by :ne Ocmmission. As
Commissioners Page 3
- be Oc~nissicrers c.cl' kncw. the 'Ja t i onal acacemv cf Sciences 9as state
- :nat for 1ealth Olannirg Ourposes ' ere is ao 09resrhold.
This i,;cq 07 ' ' e c u n t r.' ' s leacing scientists cannot be tent to f :
"e cer orate pur;;ses ;# SOLE.
e l inear no-;n reshhold "y; cines i s holds an t ? ! 335E can present a s:Ienti#ic Oasis for *hei r cut-Of f.
In presenting such a scientific casis, 305E aculd, at t~e same time, ce presenting cn analysis of the cause of cancer.
This aculd be remarkabl3 work.
We also cispute be "Cata f ecm addendu.- :: 'acie 2.1, NURE3-01'6" ;resentad by Wal ten Pcdgers.
Table 2.1 is based On the staff idealized alant and a 50 years dose.
I f cne assured the envi rcnmental dose cc nit.ent, the actual 0;erati,g ex-perience and a e,orld dose, approximately 63% of tne total dose f rcm reprocessing and waste managcment facili ties would be due to 0-14, 23% cue to fi ssien cro:ucts,
y; to Ru-lu,6 and 4,% to tritium.
inus, the r.ission product con t ri bu t i cn, con t ra ry to the s ta tement of Wal ton Rodgers, is not in s i gni fi can t.
We p resen t belcw, Table 1.shi ch appea red in :ne Sierra Cluo Tes timony filed Seo:emcer 30, 1977 ',16), whi cn shows :he e f fect of
.,e integration :imes en tre accumuiation or. sericus neal:5 er r.ects:
..G,. :uu
.?
Times Of Kr-35 E-3 C-la Rn-222 Integration (Ref.2)
(Ref.2)
/3ef.2)
(Ref.3)
,uy 0. o, ;,,.
- s. v e
- 0. u,: o-0.,
3--
u,. ; o
.n0y 0.u.,4 v.ui, s..
v 100Cy 0.2 3.o 10000y 1.1 36 1CCCCO-1.3 200 u,. n, -
a.:
. c,0 v,i 0.n,s.
ue We take special exce :icn :: :Pe testimcny of 3G5E.vi: ness 4ai:cn ?cdgers :e-
- ause his pas: recora in credic in; environmental releases #r:n #uel ;ycle faci,i-
- !es nas been :ccr.
Rcdgers nas :he 1 of Nue: car Fee! Servi ces cur:,3 the desi;r and : ens:.::i:n of :na facili:v.
- any of :ne design defer:s !1 the faci.it/ aere
Cecnissicners Page k ceveloced under his tenure.
In particular, the icw level was:e burial ground started crera:i cns acon nis urgent reques: to the State age cies.
T'nis buria!
ground lea <ec in 1975 in spite of the ini:ial cptimism by Ecdgers.
Similarly, the NFS 'acili ty ex:csed.sorkers :c mucn,igher levels than Originaliv predicted.
The envircnmental releases were ef ten cwcr 3 orders of magnituce greater than originally projected. We see this same 3 crder Of magni tude 00:imism again being advanced by Rodgers and the NRC staf#-
We aculd #ind it increcible if the Commission again accepted tnis 'cie in tre sky" TECHNETI'JM-39 Aporoximately 6.6?; of the fissicns within a reac:Or create Tc-99 Thus, a prodigicus amount is created.
This radionuclide has been a significant factor in the Cil, Chemical & A: mic Workers Unicn calling for no recycling of uranium tnrough an enrichment plant.
No commercial U, wi th s igni fi can t ancents Of Tc-99 therefore, has yet been recycled through an enrichment plant, though production U has.
The procerties of the material are much more serious than aere previcusly thcught. The material adheres to.sorkers' skins anc :annot be receved by ;0nven-and continuing tional decontamination metncds; it leaves a residual / skin dose.
The material ac-neres to pi:es unich are buried in enrienment plant burial grounds.
The ? rg nalf-life, C!C,000 years, means :nat all of it will te released : :ne bios:rere.
According to an A3 LI: tie study, scon to be released ay :he E?A, and :ne <35 5:acy of :ne arccosed Swedish reposi:ory, Tc-99 ocuid creduce ne largest nuncer cf healta effec:s from a waste recc s i to re. The NRC staff snculd recuest this study
,r:m :.n e
.3,r.
ine mat:er or i: ;y n :o ce :s<en serioust. by tne i s sericus enoug.
Ccmmission.
The ma:erial in :he record is adequate :o inciuce :ne va!ae 300 Ci Tc-99/RRY ;, Tac i e 3-3, :ncugh the ealth ef #ects f rom tni s ma:erial requira further : nves :i ga:icn.