ML19309B540

Forwards WR Bledsoe to President Carter Discussing Moratorium on Issuance of CPs & Ols.White House 791204 Transmittal & Engineering News Record 791101 Article Encl

ML19309B540
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Site:	Crane
Issue date:	01/25/1980
From:	Rathkopf C ENERGY, DEPT. OF
To:	NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
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Department of Energy Washington, D.C. 20585 JAN 251980 MEMORANDUM FOR:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission f

L.} athkopf l

FROM:

gC

.st n Executive Secretary k

SUBJECT:

Correspondence Referral The attached correspondence has been misdirected to this Department for reply.

Inasmuch as it appears to fall within the purview of your agency, we are referring this communication herewith for your reply.

We have informed the writer of this action.

Thank you for your attention.

Mr. William R. Bledsoe, Jr.

917 S.

Ironwood Avenue Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.74012 i

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THE WHITE HOUSE i

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MEMORANDUM:

The attached letter (s) addressed to the President is referred to your office for suitable acknowledgment or other appropriate handling at the earliest opportunity.

Should you receive mail that has been misdirected, please forward to the appropriate agency.

I would also appreciate knowing when you are forwarding such mail.

My phone number is 456-2717.

Thank you.

E i

i ry Martha Seal Director Correspondence Agency Liaison i

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November 15,1979 4

The President IE United States of America

Dear President Carter:

I believe you can do something to help save our Nations Nucienr Power Industry.

The reason I feel this way is the result of a Nov 1 article in the Engineering News Record.

I quote what it says.

" Nuclear Power is in deep trouble, and the consensus is that President Carter holds the key to its solvency. Whether Carter is willing or able to resolve the key issues of Nuclear Safety, waste disposal and regulatory uncertainty in an election year remains to be seen, however." I have enclosed a copy of that article.

I think that the Nuclear Power situation has turned into a political issue and that most politicians, unsure of the feelings of a majority of their constituents, are unwilling to take a stand. This isn't going to do anything for our Nuclear Policy but slowly let it die. The problem is that it's been dying since 1975. Reactor orders have been falling off since then.

In fact,67 plants have been cancelled in the last year ending August 31.

I won't go into all the reasons why we need Nuclear. Power.

I think the November Iranian Oil Crisis speaks for the need for Nuclear ~ Power.

The recent moratorium is only another blow which is' icing on the cake.

I think the NRC has gone too far. Why does it have to be that the NRC has to stop work on new plants needing a permit and those already complete and needing an operating permit?

Now is not the time to delay construction of nuclear power plants under the guise of " study" and regulation". Now is the time to get on with America's energy job.

I believe you will come under a lot of criticism no matter what you do.

The people against something are always louder than those for it until those for it are pushed into a corner. The media seems to be negative because they think that's what the majority wants to hear and sensational news sells.

I think the majority of this nation is for Nuclear Power, but the minority has been heard because they are willing to speak out against it and they can get attention.

The people for it, including myself, haven't done j

anything to let you nor our other elected leaders know how we feel about the issue.

We're part of the reason for the situation we find ourself in.

4

W Please reply by answering the following questions.

1.

What is your stance on Nuclear Power?

2.

khat have you done to support Nuclear Power?

3.

ktat are you going to do to support Nuclear Power?

Sincerely yours (Zifsm R,OA Aw Jr.

William R. Bledsoe, Jr.

917 S. Ironwood Avenue Broken Arrow, OK 74012 WRB/lmh/ attachments 4

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A-power option losirig steam as, fobs 3

Nutiea ;.,wer is in deep trouble, and the plans in droves. The.<udear Regulatory presidem of Bechte! Power Cur... Gai.

consensus is that President Carter holds Commission counts 67 plants that were thenburg, Md.

the key to its sehency. WHether Carter is defe red or canceled in the Escal year seenters big bactiog. Among cor.-

willing or able to resolve the key issues ~cf ending Aus 31-

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St.rucers, Bechtelis in the best posidr.,n to

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nudear saicy, waste disposal and regula-The assessment by most nudear utill-weather a.prtilonged;nudearf ordering uncertainty in an election year ties is that there is less than.a.60-50 hiatui.',0f the power Einsion's 13.000 torv remairts to be seen, however, chance that Tst12 can be put. 6c'x in enipioyeesl60f. are we'rkirig on about 30 While the cresidential commission on service. Ac:ording to one incust.w source dernestic y'tants and 20 overseas that are invohed in formdliting deihup plaits, i riebs suges of studf, licensin5 'and the currem 5400 million essmate of the'. n va Three Mile Island found denciendes in connruedon. '

ine regulation and management of cest of reecmmissionin5 the damaged Still, Ecchtel's domesde backlog is l

nuclear power, its report earlier this week threatened. Harry O. Reinsch, president shed lic6e new light on solutions to the plant is "very conservadve.".

I quesdons facing the President.

The country's four reacor mikers are. of Bechtel Power, savs they haven't bid Tne recommended reshur3ing of the watching baciclogs disappear. Close 'to bn 'any domestic nud' ear peker work for regulators, better operator training and 130.000 Mw is on order now, ennugh for Sv'e years. "Oveneas work, is gene

. udlity managemem and increased over. about Sve years' work at less than 50!. of more prontable for all types of engin sight of udlities by the federal govern-capadry if the orders were distributed ing and construcion," he says, "because e

ment, if enaced, may change a Tew evenly-and they are not.

we have more management skills, a _better i

minds. But the powerful opposition to

.Nudear plant construcers see less than technology base than our compedters. and nucIcar energv won't be silenced. And the 10 years' worth of work ih the pipeline we can char 5e a higher price.

economic and national policy issues won't now and volume'is expeced to drop fast "The real threat to the nudear indus-be solved until they are squarely after 1983. Of the 78 plants acively to is iosing the manufacurins capabili-addressed, something that rarely happens under' construcdon, some 50 are more ty," says Reinsch. His fears are rein-in an elecion year.

than 25% complete. Architec. engineers forced by a study done for the Imerna.

In the meantime, the nuclear power w'ere tlye first to feel the pinch and are tional Consul:ative Greup en Nudear I

business hangs by a thread.

now scrambling for.what little new work Energy. I.cndon. According to st:ct.Ecm uncertain future. Strains of recession, is available to keep their technical staffs Ics wux, a McGraw. Hill, Inc. newslet.

Iow electrictv demand growth ind the working. Foreign projects are helping ter, a draft of the study. condudes that ausierity bein5 mposed on utilities are some constructors and. designers, but unless substa'ntial political and econnmic i

likely to prolong the four year nuclear increasin$ competition from the French, changes occur in the next Se ycirs.

plant ordering drought far beyond the West Germans and Canadians, corhbined General Elecrit, ebberek & Wilco period of uniertainty that began'seven. with"a worldwide slowdown in orders is.Kraftwerk Union in W.:e Germany memhs ago at Three Mile Island. While cuttin'g n,:w business drastically'.."<..

- Asea-Atom in Sweden.wili probably be reacter orders fell off in 1975, designers "Unless the current uncertainties sur-. forced out of the reactor t.usiness..lf and buil3ers at that time were looking at,- rounding nudear power can be resolved changes do not occur by 1988, Westing-an en'ormous backlog of work.

to r'estore utilitytonfidence.and' financial -house sand -Combustion Engneering That is no longer the case. Utilities, capability to' permit the resumption of a would'be-forced but, followed by Csnadi-horriSedfat the cleanup costs and the satisfactory order rate,:the U.S.'is in.an suppliers, according to the study.

reguiuory ni htmare being borne by the serious aanger of losing the riuclear Retrofit and repair. New regulatory S

owners of Txtl, are abandoning nudear option," says W. Kenneth Davis,7vice requirements and produa improvements

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Forecasts drop,' backlogs threatened and ' delays stretch oiit

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Recent si ns on the nuclear power landscape four years and "is subject to even lu~rther on average, projee scNed

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have contributed s'o growin5 pessimism among erosion, as it depends in many cases on the days for every month of acual constructio those hopin5 or an early turnaround in'new favorable outcome of decisions yet to be' made Each day of delay costs $300,000 te f

3400,000, according to the author, who adds business prospecs. Among them:

by regulatory a5encies and utilides.".,, der that lead dmes from permit review

• A reassessmem by the Energy Informa-

- + Of the 78 nuc! car plants acdvely un don Administratiert (tIA) of its 1978 forecast construedon in the U.S., some 30 are less than now avera$e 12 to 14 years. *,c

• A House' subcommittee staff repor-J of nudear opacity for noncommunist coun 25% complete. The reeem decision by Virgin-tries resuhed in a drop *of 30%in the expec.ed la E:ecric and Power Co. to study convertins recendy calfed for. further delays in the

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output by 2000. The U.S. share of new two 10% complete nudear units to coal has proposed high level. wasie isolation p 3

forei n nudear work has dropped from 85% raised quesdons about how firm utility project at Carlsbad, N.M., *ona a key cuir o

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to less than 50% over the past five, years.

commiunents for these plants r'eally are (ENa nent in plans to prove the Icasibility of lons 5

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term, commercial nudear waste storage bu 0 u'res for the domestic 10/25 pp. 21 and 98).

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outlook. released Ian month, show.a drop of

• A study done by Bechiel Power Corp. now viewed as a polidcal Head.end. Polls hav, nearly 30.000 Mw of projected nuclear capac. comparing originally scheduled construeden " consistently shown n Ti ure duration with current forecasu for nuclear Ley unresolved issue in ihe public's percepdo, liy in 1995 (see chart). The new 5

j assumes no new reacor orders for the next plants being buih in the U.S. condudes that, of atomic power problems.

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cation work as the lessons learned from

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existing and new plants. In addition,,

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nearly all of the,7I plants currently oper,

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during their lifetimes.

Estimates in current dollars made by a

nuclear analysts in the Department of r.

Energy (coE) put d e costs of this work at for two or three years, "there will be a,. Fluor Powe'r Services is in the process between $70 million and $100 million. massive migration away from the nuclear. of reconsidering its present token commit-per plant.?The kinds of work would businus."

. ment to the'n6 clear business. "We'd like

' include ste'am generator 'and condenser.

Burns 'and Roc currently ' has550 to stai in:it; but weYe certainly less repairs for pressurized water reactors and persons working on the Clinch River optimistic than we were.'"says T ~eppke.

repairs of condensers, fractured welds, breeder reactor design, about 25% of its, Fluor's open-shop construction subsid-

, pressure vessel stress corrosion cracks and total statT. Baron calls that job " shaky", isry, Danie! International Corp., Green-contrei red drives in boiling water reac-and adds,"For us, Clinch River is proba-ville, S.C., says ic is concentrating new tors. In additien, coE 6gures each plant bly de key to wheder we drop off the business deve!opment on retro 6t and will require two chemical cleanin5s to cliff on nuclear technolojy."

maintenance work at existing reactors. It remove radioacdve scale during its life-When Fluor Corp.,,frvine, Califc,, has an $80-million corvact for replacing

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acquired Chicago's Pioneer Service and steam generators at two nuclear plants in orcsue cuts. Seymour Baron, corpo-Engineering Co. in 1974, about 500 ofits Virginia, for example. "If we do well on rate vice president at Burns and Roe, 900 employees were designing two thac assignment we won't have to worry Inc., Oradeli, N.J., says safety modinca-nuclear plants and supervising construc-about work for quite some time," says tions will provide a Rurry of activity but tion of a-third. Now, nuclear related, Howard W. SicCall, president of Danie!

that it will die down next year. "We're in work, is down to "nearly zero,'.' says Construction Co.

serious trouble," he says. "All the A.Es Delverc 51. Leppke, vice ' president at' Daniet has (0 nuc! ear plant.s in its are going to see some drasde cuts next Fluor Power Services Corp., successor to ' backlog and claims not to be worried that Pioneer. Only about 5% of its $10.9-it hasn't received a new order since 1975.

year.

million design backlog in 1978 was for "It's an ind6stry-wide trend," savs James "With the recession coming and loads dropping, the chance for a turnaround the riuclear power industry, he says. As a P. Sanders, vice president. " Utilities just doesn't look good," he says. Baron warns result. about 400 employees have been let aren c building nuclear anymore."

ist if se lack of'new orders continues go over se past Ese years.

Joseph G. Nfuniste-i' group vice presi-dent of Houston-based Brown & Root.

Inc 's p wer group, says they have 25 I ightsati.r re' actors: ~

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,.w The "real c t'me of die. current situs-WW..p*siaMOh.Y2._._,w,%gfm m, tion, h[unisteri says, is that "6e nuclear.

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