ML19284A831

Discusses Fueling & Low Power Testing Prior to Issuance of Ol.Requests Public Meeting in Chattanooga,Tn Before Further NRC Action Re TVA Request

ML19284A831
Person / Time
Site:	Sequoyah
Issue date:	01/25/1980
From:	Phillips R AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
References
NUDOCS 8002200232
Download: ML19284A831 (1)

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- nCD. & UTIt, FAO. Oh D7 3Ag g /)/)fM Nuclear Regulatory Commission Sequoyah Unit One- " fueling and testing'.'

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A The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) asked the Nuclear 5

Regulatory Commission (NRC) in early December ito allow fueling and low-power testing while the NRC decides whether to grant an operating license for Sequoyah's Unit One reactor. These opera-tions usually are not permitted before the license is granted.

Unable to prematurely overturn the moratorium on operating licenses for new nuclear power plants, imposed by the NRC, TVA

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seeks to circumvent it.

Suppose NRC were to allow TVA's " testing',"' and then decide not to allow operation of Sequoyah Unit One nuclear power plant?

TVA is a federal agency, and arguably might not voluntarily sub-mit to the jurisdiction of NRC, another federal agency. NRC must not allow itself to be confronted with the' fait accompli of an on-line nuclear power plant. .

There is a telling precedent. The Power' Authority of the State of New York (PASNY), a state agency, built a 765,000-volt power transmission line, with a " conditional" permit from the Public Service Commission (PSC), another state agency. Opera-tion of the line was to be conditioned upon PASNY's meeting of operating conditions deemed necessary by PSC to protect the public health and safety.

By the time the operating conditions were specified, PASNY had been importing 320 megawatts of electricity at 765,000 volts over part of the line for fully two months-- PASNY called it

" testing." This " testing" was done without the knowledge of the PSC, which was now confronted with the very " fait ~ac'compli" which they had sworn to prevent.

PSC ordered a construction halt and a shut-down of the electrified portion, (acting upon petitions co-authored by myself), and PASNY refused to comply. PSC could not enforce its jurisdiction because, according to the PSC, "we don' t have any troops."

All this was page one material, and PSC's powerlessness soon became official when they were stripped of their power of approval over energy construction projects. .

Does the NRC have troops? Surely the federal government does, if this is what we are coming to. A more reasonable course of action would be for NRC to affirm its jurisdiction and independence' by denying TVA's request to begin operation of Sequoyah Unit One, whether it be known as " testing".or some other euphemism, until such time as NRC knows whether it wants to grant any new operatir.g licet.ses for nuclear power plants ever again. NRC can ill efford to leave itself vulnerable to the public spectacle of a raw jurisdictional dispute.

I submit that there is significant public interest in this matter, and I request and rightfully expect that public hearings will be held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before the NRC takes any further action.

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