ML19323E833
| ML19323E833 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/26/1980 |
| From: | Stello V NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE) |
| To: | Kennedy R NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19323E831 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8005270291 | |
| Download: ML19323E833 (2) | |
Text
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UNITED STATES "g
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o
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FEB 2 61980 MEMORANDUM FOR:
Commissioner Kennedy THRU:
W. J. Dircks, Acting Executive Director for Operations FROM:
Victor Stello, Jr., Director Office of Inspection and Enforcement
SUBJECT:
REQUEST BY A RESIDENT OF LONG ISLAND TO PASS INFORMATION TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NRC As suggested in your January 28, 1980 memorandum, we have reviewed the point raised by Mr. Glassburg whether NRC should have a mechanism whereby a citizen could contact NRC on a 24-hour basis to obtain current NRC verified information regarding a licensee event or other potential problem.
At the present time, NRC Regional Offices will accept collect telephone calls from individuals seeking information about NRC regulated activities.
During nights and weekends, telephone calls to Regional Offices are automatically diverted to the NRC Ooerations Center where the NRC Duty Officer will accept collect calls.
The telephone number for a Regional Office and the fact tha'.
collect calls will be accepted are published in telephone directories for major cities within the region and communities within the vicinity of an operating nuclear power plant or a nuclear power plant under construction.
Mr. Glassburg resides in Dix Hills, N.Y., some 30 miles east of New York City and 60 miles south of Haddam Neck.
The telephone directory for Dix Hills contains a listing for the NRC Regional Office in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania together with information that collect calls will be accepted.
The telephone directory for New York City contains the same information.
To the extent that in' formation collected by or verified by NRC is available, the Regional Office is the normal point of contact.
In some cases, this. type of information is transmitted promptly to Headquarters via Preliminary Notifi-cations or the Regional Office Daily Report.
These documents are available to the Duty Officer to assist him in responding to' inquiries.
In actual practice, if the Duty Officer is not knowledgeable about the subject of an inquiry or possesses incomplete information, the requestor may be referred to the appro-priate Public Affairs Officer; requested to call the Regional Office during normal work hours; or asked for a telephone number where someone knowledgeable about the subject may contact him/her to discuss the matter.
In all cases, we
)
I CONTACT:
R. C. Paulus, IE l
49-27246 1
8005 170.2.9 l
Commissioner Kennedy take followup action to provide to the greatest extent practicable the desired information.
Frequently, NRC verified information is not available immediately after an event and prior to the issuance of a press release by either the licensee or NRC.
It is at this time that public interest normally runs highest.
By the time that NRC verified information is available, public interest in the event often has passed.
For the event at Haddam Neck, Mr. Glassburg was insistent upon obtaining NRC verified information about the unplanned release of rad % active gaseous effluents.
Apparently, this was due to Mr. Glassburg's mistrust of the officials of Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company.
In this case, the Region I office was informed of the event at 4:45 p.m. on December 16, 1979 by the licensee.
Mr. Glassburg's inquiries regarding the event were made at about 1:00 a.m. on December 17, 1979.
Because of the small size of the release, an NRC investigation of the event was not initiated until the morning of December 17, 1979.
Thus, at the time of Mr. Glassburg's inquiries, NRC had not verified any of the information received from the company.
We believe that the current system of responding to requests from members of the public has been adequate.
With the expansion of the Resident Inspector program, we are approaching the point where NRC verified information regarding licensee events will be available more promptly.
This action, together with the publication of Regional Office telephone numbers already in place, would improve our capability to respond to inquiries from members of the public.
ctor St' ell
,'Jr.
Director Office of Inspection and Enforcement cc:
Chairman Ahearne Commissioner Gilinsky Commissioner Hendrie Commissioner Bradford SECY PE GC