ML19294B474
| ML19294B474 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Sequoyah  |
| Issue date: | 02/11/1980 |
| From: | Rubenstein L Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Desrosiers J AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8002280459 | |
| Download: ML19294B474 (1) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION t C W ASHING TO N, D. C. 20555 o'
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FEB 111980 Mr. James A. Desrosiers Chairperson Chattanoogans for Safe Energy 2625 Oakwood Circle Red Bank, TN 37415
Dear Mr. Desrosiers:
Your letters of December 18, 1979, and January 21, 1980, to Mr. Denton have been referred to mt for response. My letter will confirm the information provided by telephone on February 6,1980, to Ms. Shannon Bush, a member of your group.
Your letters state your opposition to issuance of a low power test license for the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Unit 1, and also request that a hearing be held prior to issuance of a license.
Notice of opportunity for a hearing on the TVA application for an operating license for the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant was published in the Federal Register on March 25,1974 (39 F.R.11131). A copy of that notice is enclosed. Under the terms of the notice, petitions for leave to intervene were to be filed by April 25, 1974 The notice also stated that a petition for leave to intervene which was not timely filed would not be granted unless it was determined that the petitioner had made a substantial showing of good cause for failure to file on time, and after consideration of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.714(a)(1)-(4) and (d), of the Comission's Rules of Practice.
I am enclosing a copy of the Commission's Rules of Practice contained in 10 CFR Part 2, for your use, in the event you desire to formally petition to intervene and request a hearing.
I recomend that you read Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 2 for a general understanding of the prLctice and procedure t-governing Comission proceedings.
9 Issuance of a low power testing license is a standard practice of the Commission prior to approval of a full power operating license. Therefore, the low power license proposed for Sequoyah, Unit 1, is not the first of its kind as you indicated in your letter. Further, it should be noted that a full power opera-ting license is not now proposed or under consideraLion by the Comission.
If you have further questions regarding this matter, you may contact Carl R.
Stable at (301) 492-8474.
Sincerely, NSI@benstein,ActingChief l&L
~
L. S. Ru 1g Light Water Reactors Branch No. 4 Division of Project Management b
Enclosure:
As stated YS 8002080
Harold Denton J anu arj P1, 19E0 ruclear Regul atory Commiccio'.
1717 H Street, EW c
clarhington, D.O.
20555 b
e.
Dear Sir:
55 r
D 1979 wac'tadl ed 'a The encloced letter dated December 18, to yop on December 19, received by I'RC on December P6 hdocwent6h, by the certified mail receipt ctub), wao reporte3 to be in tift URC's legat office on J anuar/ 8, vnd han heen lo$t by R C
~'ij according to our most recent inq ui ry. The lettergipecificallf!
requesto a hearing before incuance of any type of operming licenne for Seouoyah Muclear 11 ant, and clearly detrile legitimate nnfety concerns. There in no excuce for the delr y in renponce to cuch on inportant letter, and the runnround we have received regarding its status certainly leads us to nuestion its true whereaboutc. The local and national media have indicated interent in the developmente surrounding our recuent, and they will be ' ept in fo rmed.
Since our Decenter 18, 1o70 letter, there have been "everrl other local rnd nationnl incidentr which fur'her rupp<M refunnl of the TV/t low power licenre:
(1) A report drafted for the I!uclear Regulatorj com.tcrien has recommended that nny reactor whoce operator i.c uneble to plan for evacuation of everybody living with; n a 30-mile radius of the reactor be chut down. The TV/t Sequoyah I'uclear Pl ant curren tly han an evacuation plan for only three miler, nr ic dineur Ted in our f riar letter. The ev0cantion of n
?O-mile rrdiuc would include more than 250,r00 p e o pl e.
(2) TVA hoc ncnin chown their incompetence by nejlic,enti:/
leaving a contrinment hatch open, brerching containment n*
the Brown's Ferry I;uclear Facility. They reluctantly agreed to pay the $29,000 fine which will in turn be pacced en to s
their ratepayers.
(3) TVA ic now asking for federal aid to pay for the decom-missioning of one of its uranium :ailla in South Dal:ot'. It turned out that it was not economically advantageous to keep it operating. TVA also owns uranium rights in Wyoming and Hew Mexico.
(4) There have been 2600 pounds of nuclear material lost in the lect ten years. Yet, the Erv.' n, Tenneccee plan t ir ctill expected to be reopened for ncti
.nl cecuri ty ren con c.
Although all 2600 pounds wac not weapons grade, the amount of weaponc grade material mioning would provide enough for a whole nation's nuclear arsenal. In a report by TVA entitled "The Tennensee Valley Region: A Year 2000 Frofile", it in detailed that the Region is expected to have neveral breed er reactors, six fabricating planto, four reprocessing plcnts, end at lenet 17 finnion reactora. With this many nuclear fa ciliti e s, diversion of plutonium will be a conmon thrent,
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transportation accidents ill be frequent, and the region wil.1 become a near police state. Further cupporting thic contention is the recently pacced state law v.hich provid en penalties up to 21 yearc of impriconment for canonirsey to cabatoge a nuclear plant, and federal lawc of sint tar nature.
( 5 ) On J anu ary 16, 19EO, the driver of a true': ful.1 o f l ow-level radioactive wante--colidified recin f rom A r:v'n s a s l'uclear Reactor 1--parked hic rig and wnl'ced to the S nneccen "i hway Patrol ctation in Tiftonia, Tenneccee conplednin; C
of atomach cic'cness and fear of r l en': in hir carto. Chat-tanooga police found initial Geiger counter re' dings high on one side of the rig where it appeared that some liquid had leaked from the metal cask. Later, other officials
'!i r ca rd ed thecc findings end the rig centinued on ite way to heaell, South Carolina. Fartheirorn, the dri.er me not rlone.
'M hcd pi c'c ed up a "hitchhikini,. il n". cor*m aly a truck corrjing nuclear utes rhould
't offer r Fer
+o rtrangerc, endangering the public to rele"ne of thic d eily cergo.
The above evento are representative of the irrenpentible nu cl ea r inductry, and TVA is no exception. The city of Chattanooga cannot be risked no a Guinea pic to determine if Sequoyah is " safe enough".
TVA has cited safety deficienciec, the L'RC ha s recommend ed a
?O-mile radius evacuation plan, and a national radionctive '. 3 rte management program ic ctill yet to be developed.
I therefore reiterate my recueet for a public hearing near Chattanooga before incuance of eny type of operating licence to Sequoyah I'uclear Plant. Please respond as promptly an porcible.
Thank you.
You very trul' 4
ames A. be osiers
<,o Chairpercon Chattanoogans For Safe Energy
Harold Denton recember 19, 1770 t!uclear Pegulatory Commission 1717 H Street, Ird derhi'ncton, D.C.
20555
Dear Sir:
It has *been brought to my att ention that the Tennessee Valley
/.uthority has reversed its position of supporting the current operating license moratorium and is now requesting a limited tenting license allowing them to fu el the Genucy % "uclear F1pnt. I urge that the !!aclear Pagul ctory Cormtrrion not rel ax i+r concern for rafety by allowing thin limit e 1 licenne, end further jeopardizing the credibi.lity of the Commisrion. '!ever before to my knowledge har a low power licence teen granted, nnd yielding to pressuree of a federn1 corporation with the largest commitment of any utility in the world to nuclear power would certainly stir the ire of the nation.
There are neveral nerlour deficiencies in the current statue of the Geouoyah "ucl ear Plant, and t h ere fo ro I herely recurrt n pullic hcorirT r.er r the ci ty o f Chr t'r non-
'n
~wn be f > r" trruance of any type of sperating licence.
In May 1979, the TVA Task Force on "uclear Lfety id en t i fi ed ir a report intitled "TVA I!uclear I rocrr m Review" neveral enfety derign deficiencies, many of which have not been corr"cted, but are being postponed until the first or second refueling outage.
In view of the importance of these modifications and the fact that the current moratorium was aimed at govidi.ng time for nafety ansessment and modifications, opr: ration before their completion le i rre spon si bl e. Design deficiencie r hich rcmain include:
(1) lack of monitoring equipment to encure that cafety systcar are operational, (2) lack of a ventilation cyctem for the rcnctor vessel,
( 3) precourizer, and high points in the piping, lack of indicators in the control room of water level in the reactor pressure vessel, (4) lack of detectors to autonatically clore the liner Wa -
carrying radioactive water from the containment building to the auxiliary building when high radiation is detected,
(5) lack of rampling and radiation monitoring cystems, both in and outside the containment building, obtainable with acceptable radiation exposure to the operator during a degraded accident condition, and (6) lack of information and mechanirms to d eal with small pipe breaks.
The current emergency plan for Secuoyah covers only a three mile radius. The URC has accepted this plan and does not renuire provisions to a 10-mile radius until January 1981. TVA hac been building Geouoyah for greater than seven years, and this minimal preparednese should be mandatory prior to commencement of opera-tions. During the Three Mile Island cri si s, the NRC demanded K
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that the Penncylvanin State. er.,ency I renarednecn o f fi.cial e device a PO-mile radiuc evacu' tion pinn wi thin r anti cr of hourn. Senuoynh !!uclear Flont ir locnted 1P nil ec from the c i.1:/ o f Chat tnncoca, which ci "uclec wi th tra f fic inttlence" at Chickamauga Dam (only eigh' miler fran Sequoyoh) ad at the two downtown bri.dges over the Tenneccee River. Evacuation within a 20-mt.le radiuc would includ" hundred o o f thoucand o of peopl e.
Further aggrevating impetuc for evacuation preparedners wm Jin rur+1n, cenior technien1 engineer for the !!RC, whc add rec red the public meeting here on emergency pinnning. He in e' ru ct ed those recponcible for the coa d ination cf "/ -uMnn 'trt the "PC doec not vnnt reridents within three mile: of Um uoych evacunted in the nvent of a rndiation lenk at the p l.' n t. He rtated that ""'he bect place to be in an immediate time frame it in the houce." Thic advice is highly cuentionnble. The railoective plume from a melted reactor core would et scict of particlec one micron in diameter, cnd would travel wherever air travels, entering cmall cracks and coating the interior and exterior environment. And becauce the radioactive deeny ic to clow, the intencity af ter two weekc would atill be one rixth the intenrity after one hour had pnened. I feel it ir trperative that the ::RC mnke a formr0 1bl i c " tater,t on 1
nvncontion procedurer, rather thrn 110wiy individual ' EC officials to mnke policy on the natter, Thin.nould alco to clari fi ed for Col. William DeFrocke, director of.h. nil ton County's Emergency Preparedness Office.
Operation of Sequoyah will add to the increaced production of low-level radioactive wastec and opent fuel, bo th o f whi ch are grocaly mi cmannged in thic country. Of fici.nl c a+
Farnwell,
South Carolinn have publicly stated that the, re coing to requi re a fif ty percent reducticn in the volume o f low-levol wartes that they will handle. TVA har juct c e heted a etady of how to increace storace capacity for npent fuel.nr the firct pinnt to need additional capacity would te Celuoyah in 1990. The lead time for completion of an anrit e facility r 4t lenot neven yearc, and ni.ne and a half for a central ctortco facility. Thece opent fuel pools will only provide t em po rary storage. A national program for reproceccing hac not been established. A national program for final deposition has not been established. We should not continue to produce thic lethal waste without means for its convercion or cafe climination.
TVA hnn rtated that the other utilitien have chon inconpetance, thn* *Vy nre different. Yet the 'rwn' r Ferry cr ndle fire rendered energency coolant cyctema inoperable end resulted in nn 18-month outrge conting over S^OO million. Cenuoyeh han had ceverni construction gnd decign errors, including the reactor floor being poured 22 askew of ito intended decign.
In conclucion, I urge that the TVA requect for a low pawo" licence be denied. Should !!RC consider granting this beence, I hereby recuect that a public hearing be held to allow input from cafety concerned citizenry. Please keep me informed on 1he ctatus of the TVA request and the hearing if nececrarj.
Chank you.
Yo-n very t r '
'r
/f fAch?4 Jamec h.
_ecrosiern Chairpercon Chattanoogann For Safe Energy
.y.
.