ML19322E041
| ML19322E041 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 02/28/1980 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Walters P AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19322E042 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8003170060 | |
| Download: ML19322E041 (2) | |
Text
{{#Wiki_filter:4 FEBRUARY ' B 1980 Ms. Pamela Walters 200 Washington Avenue Apt. A Se11ersv111e, PA 18960
Dear Ms. Walters:
I am writing in response to your letters to the NRC and to the Department of Justice regarding radiation doses and new requirements resulting from the accident at Three Mile Island. 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 prevented me frcm responding to you as promptly as I would have liked. Your enquiry to the Depsrtment of Justice about whether they enforce regula-tions at nuclear power plants was referred to uss The Nuclear Regulatory i Commission (NRC) has investigation and enforcement powers in its Office of Inspection and Enforcement (I&E) for the rules and regulations that govern NRC licensees. The Department of Justice investigates incidents at nuclear power plants if there is any suspicion of criminal activities. Both NRC's I&E and the FBI investigated the accident at Three Mile Island and found no evidence that the accident might have been caused or complicated by intentional malicious actions. The very small dose of radiation that people in the area received came from radioactive gases that escaped from the auxiliary building. The average dose of radioactivity the population within 50 miles of TMI received was approxi-mately 4 millirems. The maximum exposure to any individual was less than 100 millirems, which is less than the yearly dose each person receives as a result of natural background radiation. Doses at these levele result in less than one health effect over the lifetime of all people in this area. Natural back-ground radiation received by people in the Harrisburg area is approximately 125 millirems per year. To put these doses into perspective, it should be noted that a traveler flying round trip in a jet from New York to Los Angeles receives 5 millirems of cosmic rays in the natural background. A team of investigators from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare calculated the doses to the people living within 50 miles of the Three Mile Island site and estimated the number of new cancers that would result from the exposure to the radioactivity that leaked out of the plant. The team reported their work in a report entitled, " Population Dose and Health Impact of the Accident at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station" (NUREG-0558). They concludea that the offsite col-1ective dose associated with radioactive material released from March 28, 1979, to April 7,1979, represents minimal risks (that is, a very small number of additional health effects to the offsite population). Enclosed for your in-formation is the sumary of NUREG-0558. OrricE). suRNauE) DATEk .. 8. 3,17.00I,0.. j NRC FOQM 318 (9-76) NRCM 0240 DU.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1979 289-369
Ms. Pamela Walters FEBRUARY 2 8 E 1 Several NRC staff task forces have been organized to identify and evaluate safety concerns, which originated from the accident at TMI, that merit con-sideration in the licensing actions for presently operating reactors as well as for those for which operating licenses and construction pemits are pending. The task forces' reviews have disclosed a number of actions in the areas of design and analysis and plant operations that will be required in the short tem to provide substantial additional protection of the public health and safety. All nuclear power plants in operation or under construction will 1 be affected to varying degrees by the specific recomendations. The information you requested about NRC and its functions can be found in NRC's Annual Report, a copy of which I am also enclosing. I am pleased to provide you with this infomation. Sincerely. Original Signed h3 H. R. Dentos j Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
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