ML19309E377
| ML19309E377 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 03/19/1980 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Kelly P AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19309E378 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8004210381 | |
| Download: ML19309E377 (2) | |
Text
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I Ms. Patricia Kelly 235 South West Street Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013
Dear Ms. Kelly:
Your letter to Commissioner Hendrie regarding the pennanent shutdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear station, the cleanup of waste materials, and the pay-ment of expenses related to the accident has been referred to me for response.
I regret that this answer has been delayed. The accident and its consequences have created a substantial increase in the agency's workload, which has pre-vented us from responding to you as promptly as we would have liked.
The Commission has ordered that a public hearing be conducted to detennine whether Three Mile Island Unit 1 should be operated and, if so, under what con-ditions the restart would take place. Prior to start of the hearings, the NRC staff will conduct a review of technical infonnation concerning the restart of Unit 1.
As part of this review, the NRC staff will conduct meetings with the licensee in the presence of the public, and the public will be given the oppor-tunity to raise questions and to make statements.
During the hearing, the technical issues that are appropriate to assure the public health and safety will also be addressed.
In addition, the Hearing Board may consider the psychological impact of future operation on the nearby communities. A copy of the Commission Order that outlines the issues to be considered is enclosed i
for your infonnation.
Since October 2,1979, NRC senior uaff members responsible for the TMI recovery program have participated in biweekly briefings on the cleanup activities at Three Mile Island. These briefings are sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources to advise public officials, the press, and the public on various phases of the cleanup operation.
It is expected that these briefings will continue for the foreseeable future.
In addition, we expect to have public meetings with the licensee in the area near TMI on significant aspects of the recovery program, thereby giving the public an opportunity to observe the regu-latory process in action. Our senior staff members have met numerous times with state and local officials and made presentations to various professional, civic, and concerned citizens groups in the Harrisburg/Middletown area in an effort to explain NRC's role in overseeing cleanup activities.
We recently opened a read-ing room in the Middletown area to make staff members more readily available to 60 0.4 21 os a1
Ms. Patricia Kelly the public and to provide a place for public inspection of occuments related to the recovery program. The reading room is located in the Downtown Mall, 100 Brown Street, Middletown, Pennsylvania (telephone (717) 782-4014). At the present time, we have a full-time staff of fifteen professionals and three support staff members on duty at TMI providing round-the-clock coverage of all activities associated with the recovery program.
It is our intention to main-tain this level of staff effort during the entire cleanup period. We believe these efforts, together with the preparation of a programatic environmental impact statement on the decontamination and disposal of radioactive wastes resulting from the accident, will greatly aid in reestablishing public con-fidence in the NRC's ability to properly regulate these operations.
With regard to your question about the storage of radioactive waste generated at THI, dry contaminated wastes are packed in steel drums and shipped to burial sites which are licensed by the NRC to accept such wastes. Liquid wastes are held in tanks prior to processing. The processing may be done several ways but the end result is that the radioactivity is fixed in a solid form. For example, some of the contaminated liquid is being made into cement inside of steel drums which are being shipped to a burial site.
With regard to your questions about the payment of expenses related to the accident, Metropolitan Edison customers will not have to pay for any damages to or for the restoration of TMI-2. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Comission, in a decision and order of June 15, 1979, ruled that customers of Metropolitan Edison and the Pennsylvania Electric Company would be free from accident ex-penses, except for those costs associated with purchasing power to replace 1
power that the TMI facility would have provided.
While we are, of course, concerned about financial impacts on consumers, the NRC's primary responsibility is the assurance of public health and safety.
State public utility comissions and the Federal Energy Regulatory Comission
]
have primary responsibility regarding the rates that consumers pay for elec-tricity. They should be able to provide information for your use.
We appreciate your concerns and assure you that every effort is being made to ensure the continued protection of the health and safety of the public.
Sincerely, Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Encl: Comission Order dtd. 8/9/79