ML19270H357
| ML19270H357 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Surry, Maine Yankee  |
| Issue date: | 03/20/1979 |
| From: | Richards W AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| To: | NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19270H359 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7906270127 | |
| Download: ML19270H357 (1) | |
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Advisor to ff g
Management William 5. Richards March 20, 1979 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.
C.
I am outraged at your recent decision to shut down the Maine Yankee atomic plant.
If ever there was a prime example of bureaucratic idi ocy, this is it.
Your own spokesmen have admitted how low are the chances of the combination af events which micht cause a serious accident.
The admissio % have not been well stated - the risk factor is not prese. ed within a defined time period - but it's still obvious thae risk is so small it can only be seen with a microscope.
Except by your staff, of course.
Apparently they are blind to cost / benefit ratios, like so many of the so-called
" environmentalists" who are strangling our economy.
No one is arguing for unsafe atomic energy.
We need more nuclear power, not less, and we can have it with great margins of safety.
No reasonable person can call Maine Yankee unsafe.
It is the lack of credibility which makes this decision so outrageous.
"But we had no choice," you'll reply, "the law requires us to close it immediately."
Well, it can't be denied that Congress passes many laws without fully recognizing the consequences.
But you had an alternative:
you could have gone to Congress, posed the dilemma to them, and asked for a change in the law -
much as the saccharin issue has been handled.
Too bad none of you thought of that.
Instead, we'll burn a lot more oil at much higher prices.
Our electric bills will jump to new highs, just when we can least afford them.
All to satisfy a nonsense rule.
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