ML19322D444
| ML19322D444 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 01/18/1980 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Shone E OWENS-ILLINOIS, INC. |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19322D445 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8002120706 | |
| Download: ML19322D444 (2) | |
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Mr. E. M. Shone Plant Manager Owens-Illinois P. 0. Box 279 Brookville, Pennsylvania 15825
Dear Mr. Shone:
Your letter to Comissioner Hendrie expressing your concern about the delay in restarting Three Mile Island Unit 1 (TMI-1) 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.
On July 2,1979, the Comission ordered that TMI-1 remain in a cold shutdown condition until further order by the Comission and stated that a public hearing would be held prior to restart of TMI-1. The Comission believes that public participation is a vital ingredient in matters related to TMI-1 restart plans.
On August 9,1979, the Comission issued an additional Order on TMI-1 specifying the basis for the Shutdown Order and the procedures to govern the hearing re-garding restart. On the basis of this hearing, the Comission will detemine whether any further operation of TMI-1 will be pemitted and, if so, under what conditions.
I have enclosed a copy of the August 9,1979, Order for your in-famation.
The Commission's Order also identifies a number of items that must be resolved l
prior to restart. These items, which are listed on pages 5-7 of the Or&r, in-l clude but go beyond those required for restart of other Babcock & Wilcox-% sign pressurized water reactors similar to TMI Units 1 and 2.
These additional items include those recomended by the Lessons Learned Task Force, which studied the TMI accident.
l The Comission carefully considered the time required for completing all tasks related to the Order.
(A Comission schedule calling for expediticus handling l
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of the necessary NRC staff and procedural actions required for the hearing process is provided on the last page of the Commission's Order.) Based on that schedule, I do not believe that the restart of TMI-l could occur before September 1980, approximately one year from the date of issuance of the August 9,1979, Order.
While we are, of course, concerned about the financial impact on businesses, NRC's primary responsibility is the assurance of public health and safety.
I am pleased to provide you with this information.
Sincerely, A
Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Enclosure:
Commission Order dtd August 9, 1979 i
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