ML19309B684
| ML19309B684 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Callaway  |
| Issue date: | 03/17/1980 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Weill S AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19309B685 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8004070070 | |
| Download: ML19309B684 (1) | |
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UNITED STATES
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NUCLEAR REGULATORYCOMMISSION t
j WASHINGTON, D. C. 20565 WM3 CII I GVUlW
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NR1.7 E Ms. Susan M. Weill 1701 Hinkson Avenue Columbia, Missouri 65201
Dear Ms. Weill:
Your letter of January 2,1980, to Mr. Lee V. Gossick, expressing your concern about the difficulty of notifying residents within 10 miles of the Callaway reactor within 15 minutes of an accident at the plant has been referred to me for reply.
The Nuclear Regulatory Comission has an active program of upgrading the state of emergency preparedness in the environs of nuclear power plants. One feature of the program is the concept of emergency action levels that require imediate notification by the operator to local and State authorities. The emergency action levels are based on control room instrument readings of process parameters within the plant.
If the instrument readings exceed set values, notification must be made at once, with the result that local authorities are alerted beforh any radioactivity leaves the plant.
Another feature of the new emergency preparedness requirements is that we have established a design objective for prompt warning of the public that requires that the utility owner must insure that the capability exists for alerting the public within 10 miles of the plant within 15 minutes of the plant operator notifying local officials. The Nuclear Regulatory Comission does not specify how this alerting must be accomplished. Sirens may be the answer in relatively densely populated areas, whereas tone-alert systems may be preferable in scarcely populated rural areas. Tone alert systems consist of small radio receivers located in homes and tuned to an emergency broadcast band that sounds an audible alarm when activated at a remote transmitter. Such systems are in wide-spread use for tornado warnings in the mid-west. Tone-alert systems can trigger outside alarms to alert people outside buildings. Aircraft equipped with loudspeakers can back up the installed systems mentioned above.
The NRC's present policy is that before any reactor now under construction, including Callaway, receives a license to operate, it must be demonstrated that the system for alerting the public does accomplish its design objective.
I trust that this information may be useful to you.
If you have any further concerns or questions concerning emergency planning, please do not hesitate to call me directly.
Sincerely, ccdC;iny H. R. Lsm:n Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation I,
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