ML19289G133
| ML19289G133 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Saint Lucie, Turkey Point, Crystal River  |
| Issue date: | 05/17/1979 |
| From: | Gossick L NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | Mica D HOUSE OF REP. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19289G134 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7906260586 | |
| Download: ML19289G133 (3) | |
Text
/) Y Y
,4
[
UNITED STATES 4
3%
~&
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555
.~
The Honorable Daniel Mica United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
20515
Dear Congressman Mica:
This letter supplements the response sent to you April 18, 1979 regarding information requested by Ms. Donna Browning relating to the nuclear power situation in the State of Florida.
In Florida there are four operating nuclear power plants and one under construction.
Florida Power Corporation has operated Crystal River Unit 3 at about 800 megawatts electric generating capacity since 1977 at a site 7 miles northwest of Crystal River.
Florida Power & Light Company has operated Turkey Point Unit 3 since 1972 and Unit 4 since 1973 at about 700 megawatts each at a site 25 miles south of Miami.
Florida Power & Light Company also has operated St. Lucie Unit 1 since 1976 at about 800 megawatts at a site 12 miles southeast of Ft. Pierce and is constructing Unit 2 similar to Unit 1 at that site for operation in 1983.
Ti.e principal effluents from these plants consist of large flows of heated water used in cooling the steam turbine condensers used in the electric generating system, some small amounts of chemicals from plant operations (such as boron, sodium, calcium, and magnesium) at trace level concentrations in the cooling water discharges, some chlorine in the cooling waters as a result of periodic applications of anti-fouling biocide to the cooling systems, some sanitary wastes from washrooms and other facilities, and some low levels of radioactive materials in both water discharges and air discharges as a result of expected small leaks and spills from normal plant operations.
All predicted releases from these plants from normal operations and anticipated accidents were examined in" detail by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (or its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission) before operations were authorized.
Operating licenses were issued only after specific findings were made that these releases would not pose an undue risk to health and safety of the public or environmental values.
Requirements were imposed upon plant operators to control and monitor plant releases and to file periodic reports to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Continuing inspections are conducted by our Office of Inspection and Enforcement to ensure that these requirements are met.
In the event that operating limits cannot be met or that substantial risk to public health and safety should arise, plant oper:Jors are required to take appropriate corrective action, even to the extent of curtailing or ceasing plant operations.
3
.. ~
79062605f4
Honorable Daniel Mica Wastes resulting from plant operations may be regarded as falling in two categories.
There are those which are of such low potential consequence that they can be released to the environment as gaseous or liquid effluents which require no further control and can be allowed to disperse freely.
Other wastes which pose some substantive potential for environmental harm are contained by the plant systems and are given special care.
These latter wastes include the highly radioactive fission products in the used fuel elements and occasional batches of nonradioactive cleaning solutions or other chemicals used in special operations in the plant systems.
N M radioactive wastes are handled in accord with requirements of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the appropriate State agencies with jurisdiction.
The radioactive wastes are controlled in accord with requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Low-and intermediate-level radioactive wastes are carefully packaged for shipment to licensed waste burial sites, the closest of which is at Barnwell, South Carolina.
The high-level radioactive wastes in the used fuel elements are stored at the reactor sites in spent fuel pools pending a determination by the Federal government as to which of several alterna-tives will be used for final disposal of these wastes in a manner whereby they will pose no significant threat to public health and safety or to environmental values.
There are no disposal sites in Florida authorized by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for radioactive wastes from nuclear power reactors.
The standards and criteria established by the Commission for the evalua-tion of proposed nuclear power plants include provisions for substantial conservatisms in design and operating safety margins.
Through the licensing process these are holemented in the design, construction, and operation of nuclear power ph...:s such that their operation should pose no undue risk to the public health and safety.
Nevertheless, the NRC recognizes that emergencies can arise in the operation of nuclear power plants.
The most likely accidents which could occur at a nuclear power plant would be those with no consequences off'the plant site.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made assessments of the extent of the consequences of unlikely, but severe, accidents, including the fatalities and other damage which could occur as a result of the release of radio-active material from a nuclear power reactor to offsite areas.
Since discussion of such considerations is difficult to present in a concise summary, a recent report is enclosed (NUREG-0396), which can be examined for a more detailed discussion of this matter.
This report was prepared prior to the Three Mile Island plant accident.
Some of its discussions may be updated as a result of the investigation of that accident, but the basic discussion of possible accident consequences is still relevant.
This report was prepared to provide guidance on the most severe accident at a nuclear power plant for which offsite agencies should develop plans for emergency response.
The report indicates the range of accident consequences which might be expected, the probabilities of their occurrence, 2077 514
Honorable Daniel Mica and the balancing of risks which are needed in planning for possible emergencies.
In the various studies which have been used in formulating the guidelines in this report, the most extreme (and unlikely) extent of life-threatening accident consequences believed possible is that acute fatalities (i.e., death in 1 year following the radiation exposure) would not occur more than 25 miles away from a power reactor.
The risk to an individual of a fatal injury at such a distance from such an accident is assessed as being infinitesimal, particularly as compared to the risks of a fatal injury from cc.1 mon occurrences in everyday life in our society.
I hope these comments are helpful in response to your inquiry.
Sincerely, (Signed) 7. A. Rch v te. V. Gossick Exece ior O s o;>cr*
Enclosure:
NUREG-0396 (2) 2077 315 m
y