ML19289G097

Summary of 790516 Meeting W/Nrc & Govt Officials in Hershey, PA to Discuss Discharge of Contaminated Water from Plant Into Susquehanna River

ML19289G097
Person / Time
Site:	Crane
Issue date:	05/17/1979
From:	Jason Wright PENNSYLVANIA, COMMONWEALTH OF
To:	PENNSYLVANIA, COMMONWEALTH OF
References
NUDOCS 7906260301
Download: ML19289G097 (4)

Text

-

SsA,

~-

I jf,_ '--

n.o "F%

M&,

[ pMg, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Ij M h ief-co m o NwcALTH o r ec u s = ytyxm,,

'...f MEMO May,is,

, _r

.re suonc:-

Su..ary - I;RC Eriefine on ',,'a ter Discharge tc Susquehanna Eiver m

Me~ters - Select Comittee - TMI FROW Re D r :s eri ta ti ve Ja.Tes L. Wright, J r, Chai rman This.emo, wi th attachment is a summary cf tr.e co ments cde on 1 ednesday

'ay 16th at a briefing for gcvernment officiais r ace by n~.C at Hershey, as compiled by Couns =1 Fred T=ylor, or. the su: ject cf discharge of cor.tc.inated

.aler fecT TMI into the Susquehanna Eiver-Presentations were made by I;RC, GPU and DER.

'UCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (ilst of participants attacned)

Meeting was to assure the public that there are safeguards and controls on the clean-up.

ihe levels of radiation in the River are indistinguishable from the existing background levels of radiation at the public water intakes of the river / rom March 28 to present.

This is confirmed by ir. dependent study by NRC, EPA and DER.

Releases frcm the plant have not had a..aasurable effect on radiation levels downstream from the plant.

Feceral samples showed no acasurable change in radiation levels from upstream to dounstream.

t;one of the highly contaminated water in the cnntainment building has been released to the river.

i;RC uill require that the release of any water to the river in spite of the accident will be the same as they would be for a plant in an ordinary

') 5 } l' 3 790626050/

e c.

2

~

oce ation made.

NRC esserts that the : lean up operation cen be carried on successfull) with this objective in mind.

The State does not have authority per se, over radiation aspects of the plant - this authe-i ty is reserved to the Feceral Government.

From an operational S r.andpoint - the URC has the authori ty to stop the operation, to stop the releases and to oversee the entire operation.

"et Ed has not decided upon a system or plar, for decontanina!'on and when it is decideo upon - it will have to be approved by NRC.

- det Ed does not need an er.endmer.t to their license to opere:e the waste treatment sy:^em - it is not cenerally required to have a formal licensing procedsre fm vias te trea tment.

- Met Ed nas not made any formal application for construction of the waste treatment plant.

NRC expects to have alternatives offered u.th the proposal for treatmer t submitted by Met Ed, s uch es, sol i di fi ca tior.

or transpcrt anc discharce elsewhere then the ri ver.

At preser: time there is an Ericore I

.s ter (demineraltrerT to treat i c'.-

level weste.

"et Ed is constructir.: a Duilding for : ns tall a tion cf en E;i: ore II system to treat the high level waste.

At the present time tr.ere is no system developed to handle the volume and mix of this high ccntaminated uater - although tne technolcgy is availat' tc do same.

- NRC incicated that they are not now insisting cn a full-bic.;n environmental imoact statement althouch tnat is beir._: considered.

If tne levels reached by treatment are as expected - there ;ould be no enviror.r ta. impact.

NRC has not issued a written order to 'iet Ed not to discha-ce the contain-ment water, but have issued verbal orders to Met Ed that Nr',C approvai 'lill be required for treatment and discharge of these waters.

- There is contaminated water contained in tanks in Unit 2 which is of intermediate level radiation resultinc from having to pump ouc water from the auxiliary building in case any more leakage would occur.

This will be treated by the Epicore syster now being installed at Unit 7 and is expectec to be operational within several weeks.

No high contaminated sater will he treated at that time.

A decontamination procedure concernir.g this volume of water with this particular mix of contaminants has never been done commercially before -

but the tecnnology is available to do the job, it is only a matter of applying the technology to this situation.

If af ter processing, the water does not reet allouable levels it will be continually reprocessed until it does meet the standerds.

- Sediment samples have been taken frca the river and they found nothing other than the normal background levels of rediation.

e i

n-,

e

T ra

• ,R Will make public anncon.e: cents c' the discr.crye cf, ante and the ievel: of radia tion Tne TE' coe' nc; ccnsicer i t tnelr restonsibil i ty to no if; individual >y - tha t type of notifica-icn of impenaing discharge vill have to be worked out wi th the State or '.;i tn Met Ed.

Once i:PC is assured tnat they have controls on the prograr - i'et Ed is enti tlec to proceed, provided tha t they stay within the limi ts.

There is a monitor on the discharge line unich will actuate an automatic valve c shut off the discharge should the radia tic, levels reach an unsafe ievel.

The valve also automatically clcLes should the moni;or fail.

At the present time there are 55 - 60 T:RC tyoes on-si te a t ~G - on duty tnree shif25.

GENERL CUELIC UTILITIES - fir.

iermar DeCang, Fre ident

( ee atteched sta tement by Heran Decamp, Pres ident of GPU, GPU estimates that it will be at leas t 3 to a months f rcm nc., and more likely 6 months.

CE;. is nc.- set up and operating moni tc,ng procedures e t the discherge

. ~i.. I.

p..

T EP Ar"T;T OF E T;'.'IRO:,"Ei;TAL RE SOURCES. l ne, r res s 0; T 1 cer.

Lcu Etrcheni, c"

2;er 0;,l7:y IM ece ent; sa ve T'i

-. Acting Director, Eureau Es ce no cor. trol cver the discharges that m cal cbligation ;0 the publ i c. -

Ine control func; ion is entirely wi th l;RC.

1.'i t h i n tna next severai weeks they will ha'.5 a 21 nour r-oni toring facili ty at TMI on the discnarge pipe, and will have 2 persons-en duty to recct to an ciert from the monitor.

CER no,e sampling water at Lancaster in ahe, Brunner Island and City Island (for control).

Analysis is being done in Las Vegas and in l'antgomery, Ala-bama.

Federal EPA is doing some analysis in Harrisburc and in the near future, with the installation of more sopaisticated eq ;ipment will be doing all the analysis in Harrisburg.

e

[

1. } L"

/

E. O l J 't.)

9 a.

.a s

},

t'"'N UNITED STATES f '%. s-g.i NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

,m. s;.3.

l!

=

1. I S Y-+ da.p 5-OFFICE OF PUBLtC AFFAIRS, REGION I 3

u.e f e

t....*

631 Park Avenue, r;ing of Prussia, Pa. 19406 f

)

f May 16, 1979 NRC STAFF REPRESENTATt VES TH R E E.",l L E 15 L A ',; BRlEFING

,r,-e_

.. r.o. c., r.3n_,

. c.

p_

iLa m

a F.ichard M-Voi lr e r - Assistar* Cirector far Systems E P roj e c t s,

Division c' C; era:inc Eeactors and NRC Staff Director for Tnree Mile Island Operation Erian K Grimes - Assistant Direct;r for Engi.eering L Froiects, s

Division of Coe ra:ir ; Reactors John T.

Collins - Chief, Ef';uen: Treatmen: Systems branch, Division o' Site iafety an.

Environmur. al Analysis rcnk C o n c. e l - Sectica Leader, Eaciologic 1 Assessment, Civision c

_o_ Site Safety and Environmental Analysis Ecber:

J.

Ecres - 'adiation Soecialist. Environmental and Special Froicc s Section, 0-ice or inspection and Enforce ent, E e g '. o n 1 Tnonas C.

Lisasser - State Laison Of'icer, NRC Region !

f I

1 e

Karl Abrcham Public Af fai rs O f ficer NRC, Region !

l e

e 4

).

0

/_. J l J

O

=

e e