ML19327A198
| ML19327A198 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Peach Bottom, Hope Creek, Crane  |
| Issue date: | 07/23/1980 |
| From: | Kepford C AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED, KEPFORD, C., TMI-2 & PEACH BOTTOM INTERVENORS |
| To: | NRC ATOMIC SAFETY & LICENSING APPEAL PANEL (ASLAP) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8008010259 | |
| Download: ML19327A198 (4) | |
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THit DOCUMENT CONTAINS UNITED 5TATES OF AMERICA
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Before the Atomic Sa f ety and Licensino Acceal Board:
Omce d % 3 a} S$e,
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In the matters of p
l-PHIL ADELPHI A ELECTRIC COMPANY et al.
Docket Nos. 50-277 1
(Peach c9ttom Atomic Power Station, 50-278 Units 2 and 3)
METROPOLITAN EDISON COMPANY et al.
Docket No.
50-320 (Three mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 2)
PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC AND GAS CO.
Docket Nos. 50-354 (Hope Creek Generating Station,
)
50-355 Units 1 and 2)
)
I NTER VEN OR S ' RESPONSE TO DETAILS OF NR C STAFF'S REcLY BRIEF The Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TmI-2) and Peach Gottom Intervenors have previously adopted the proposed Findings of fact and Conclusions of Law submitted by Ecology. Action of Oswego.
We hereby adopt Ecology Action's recent R eply to the NRC Staf f's pr opos ed Findings.
We sup-plement these materials by further responding to the Staf f's filing as follows:
1.
The record does not indicate the extent to which abandoned underground mines are likely to be sealed or reclaimed.
The r9 Cord also fails to demonstrate that the sealir, techniques which th e S ta f f has described will generally succeed in permanently eliminating radon emissions from underground mines.
A l th ou gh Staff witness Wilde tes tified tha t shor t-term reductions in radon emissions could be achieved by sealing mine openings, he did not indicate tha t techniques i
for permanently controlling redon emissions are generally feasible or in use.
His discussion of actual reclamation techniques that are l
being applied suggests that mine operators will attempt to cut corners l
to reduce expenses even where sealing occurs.
For example, mine operators typically use crude methods such as dropping a telechone pole down a vent hole while trying to fill the remainder of the hole with dirt (TR. 416).
This would seal the mine opening only f or the rela-tively short period it would take f or the telephone pole to decay.
In addition, federal law does not recuire reclamation of abandoned underground mines, and many states likewise do not compel the opera tor to cractice reclamation ( TR. 416, and s ee S ta f f pr opos ed finding 8).
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d p.2 Proper reclamation is lacking even in the few jurisdictions where formal regulatory r equir emen ts exist, because th e laws currently on the books are not being enf orced (TR. 415).
2
,Since redon production from underground mines will increase as-additional tons of are are extracted from the mines (TR. 391),
decreases in ore grzde will produce correspending increases in the amount of redon emissions resulting from undergr ound mining per Annual fuel Requirement (AFR).
3 Te ctop radon emissions from under ground mines, it is neces-sary virtually to eliminate the flow of air from the mines.
4 The underground mining calcula tier adopted by Sta f f witness Wilde were based upon a sample of only a small percentage of th e underground uranium mines which presently exist.
The first draft 3attelle Report, wh ich formed the basis of Wilde's initial prepared testimony, described measur ements taken a t s even under-gr ound mines (TR.420, 432).
The second draft Ba tt611e Repor t, which led to Wilde's revised prepared testimony, included measurements teken from twenty additienal undergrcund mines (TR. 437).
Wilde es tima ted, h cwev er,
that tn er e ar e "hundr eds... cr may b e mor e" uns ealed underground mines,
within an crder of magnitude (IR.
36).
Witness CCidman admitted that'accroximately 2l00 abandoned.nderground uranium mines =vist in the United States (TR. 454).
In view cf th a comparatively small num-ber of under;rcund mines which 3attelle sempled, the Acceal Ecard should await publication cf the final 3attelle Report, at a minimum.
r cllou ing publication of this repor t, the parties should be recuested te address th e cues tions of 1) dispcsition cf alleged Deficiency Nc.1, and 2) the magnitude CF radon releases which may te expected te re-sult #rce underqrcund mining cf uranium cre.
At present, the TWI-2 and reacticttcm Intervencrs do not foresee the need for a further evidentiary hearing cn th es e two issues.
Nevertheless we specific-ally r es erve th e righ t ICllCrin; publication of the final 3attelle
-s cert and the issuance by the 5 card cf a re uest to the parties te e
address these tre issues.*
Furthermere, no relience shculd be placed ucen any effidavits filed by the Licensees cr th e S ta f f en these issurs unless an opccrtunity fcr cross-examination is previded.
5.
The under;rcund mines sampled by Eattelle represent a so-called " mature" mining ocaulation enly in tne very narrow s ens e tha t tr e 1:75-1979 average age cf the mines sa mpled by Sattelle was rouchly halfway b e tween -th e y cunges t and the oldes t cf these mines (TR.412),
previcus Staff calculations assumed a twenty-year mine life, which was subsequently incr eas ed tc thirty y ears in-Wilde 's-r evis ed tes ti-
- meny,
- p. 12).
As long as the apparent trend tcward extending the life ef underground mines rather than rescrting :: th e mer e expensive pr e-cedure of opening up new mines is followed, the present mine populatin, has not "ma tured," and the total reden releases per mine will continue tc escala te.
Furthermere, given the encrmcus number of abandoned undercrcund mines, the " average" underground mine is nearly ccmple-tely 5crked out, rather than only partly werked cut, as the Staff nedel assumes.
A.
The record does nct suppcrt the Staff's unwarranted assumptien
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- rts respect we apcarently do net agree with th e ocsitlen of Eccic;y - Action.
in all-c F er respects, however, we adect tbe ecsiticns
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_and state ents which Eccic;y Action articulated in their aur.e 20, 1;50, m
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tbot o mod 2l opsn pit uranium mine besring any resemblance to reality would be as much as 85% reclaimed.
The record does not demons tra t e that laws requiring reclamation of coen pit uranium mines have been
. adopted, or would be enforced if adooted.
The Battelle Report noen pit mine calculations were based upon a miniscule sample of only eight mines.
Sy. comparison, there are already nearly 1,000 open pit uran-lum mines in the United States (TR. 46 4).
In addition, the record neither demonstrates nor even succests that the open oit mine emis-sions observed by Battelle are in any way representative of the emissions which will result from the open pit mining that will occur to fuel the reactors affected by this proceeding.
The record does nah support the Staf f's naive assumption 7
that reclamation nf open nit mines by conventional earth-moving methods will assure reduction of radon emissions over -l~ong WsTTods of time.
"ecause surface mining pulverizes the overburden material, ther e is a substantial likelihocd, probably a cer ta in ty, tha t massive reclamation failures will develop due to the long-term influence of weathering and erosion.
In most areas of the country wh ere uranium is presently mined the na tural rainfall is insufficient to sustain a vegetative cove-capable of retarding weatharing and erosion.
Even where vegetative cover can be established without the constant and continuing intervention of man the overburden material (which is it-self a toxic emitter of radon),will erode away, uncovering additional toxic material, long before the period of toxicity has expired.
The reclaimed open pit mine is especially vulnerable to the constant on-slaught of weathering and srosien because of the unnatural and dis-orderly manner in which the overburden is placed in th e r eclaimed mine.
S.
The record nrovides no assurances, and no basis af assuming or anticipating, that many werked-out uranium mines, either surface or underground, will eventually be procerly reclaimed.
9.
The Intervenors were prejudiced by th e S ta f f 's fcilure to provide timely notice of the changes which were incorporated into witness Wilde's revised precared testimony.
Al th ough Wilde acknow-ledged receiving the second draf t Battelle Report at least one full week prior to his appearance at the hearina (TR. 421), the Staff did not even attempt to inf crm the Intervenors tha t the s eCond dra f t of the report was available a t that time, and did not in any other way try to mitiga te the substantial resulting prejudice to the Inter-vencrs.
- 10. The clib assurances of Sta ff witness miller, that cne foot of cover erodes away in arid regions each 4,000 years (St=FF Crcoosed findings, p 63), have no probative value and will do nothing to minimize the human suffering and premature deaths which will result if the Sta f f is allowed to continue to ignore th e radon emissions problem.
In the first place, Miller is neither qualified nor com-Detent to make such statements (see TMI-2 and peachSottom Inter-vencrs' Prcposed findings).
Second, if Miller knew anything about the sub iact, he would have at l east realized that rates of ercsion are highly variable and site specific and cannot be cavalierly applied to some general arid region.
Third, es tima ted er cs 'en ra tes nn t.h e order of the one which miller postualted are epplicable to rncks and certain strata which have been compressed continucusly by enormous pressures over oeological periods nf time.
Such erosional rates bear no relationship whatsoever to the far more rapid and unpredicracle rates that wouM be applicacl e to th e broken-down rock fragments and soil macerials of which mill tailings piles and their associated cover
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4 are composed (compare paragranh 7, accve).
11 The Staff's Proposed Finding Nc. 55 is in errcr because Dr.
Gcidman never specified his view of the comcarative likelihood of a "comnlete ercsion of earth cover over natural n e bodies."
The Staff's succestion (also in paragraph 55) nat radon emissiens should net be attributed tn the nuclear fuel cycle becaus e reden is also so e times emitted as a result of the erosien of earth coverinc natural cre bodie= is insultinc to the intelligence, pathetic, le; ally irr el evant, end without sucport in the reccrd.
- 12. The ;taff concedes that subsecuent develec ents in the Eattelle sampling pror am have directly(centradicted s Acrn s ta temen ts made y Licensees' wi.,ecs Dr. Ocidman Staff prcncsed Findi-a 3?,
at footncte 24).
- 13. Cnce mill tailings ciles begin to destabilire as a r esult cf ercsion, it will be impossible for anyene, now cr in the future, to de termin e wh eth er the rates of reden emissien from the piles are increasing without sophisticated monitoring equipment capaele cf detecting such changes (TR. 456-452).
Eccicgy Action of Cswege also joins in this filing.
Respectfully submitted, s
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Ch a u n c ey Wecford T.I-2 and Representative Of th e
?each Ecttom Intervencrs l
e Ceted this
- I' day cf July, 1950 9