ML19339A672
| ML19339A672 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 10/31/1980 |
| From: | Helton A MARYLAND, STATE OF |
| To: | Snyder B Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| RTR-NUREG-0683, RTR-NUREG-683 NUDOCS 8011040501 | |
| Download: ML19339A672 (2) | |
Text
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e, SENATE OF MARYLAND ARTHUR H. HEt. tom olSTRsCT orrtCE:
SIXTH DISTRICT P. O. BOX 696 HARFORD COUNTY HARFORD COMMUNITY SERVICES BUILDING ABERDEEN. MARYLAND 21001 (AC30tl 273.6670 - 575 6759 October 31, 1980 Dr. Bernard J. Snyder, Director Three Mile Island Program Office U.S. Nuclear Begulatory Comnission Washington, D.C. 20555
Dear Dr. Snyder:
@e Draft Progranmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Decontamination of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Staticn Chit 2 is now available for ccruent.
I have had the opportunity to review this documant and a host of related re-ports, critiques and sunmaries and feel very strongly that the greatest weak-ness of the E.I.S. is the tendancy to hedge or "best guess" scxte of the short and long range effects of the dumping of waste water into the Susquehanna River. The consequences of this cleanup are too critical to the Bay area and the population that resides in the area, to be left to what "may" happen if dumping is permitted in the near future.
W e E.I.S. acknowledges that radioactive strontium and cesium my be detectable in fish and shellfish as far south as the Potcznac River for as long as two years. It is also stated that cesium 137 will accumulate in detectable levels in the area of the Susquehanna flats near Havre De Grace. The half lives of strontium 90 and cesium 137 are 30 years and 28 years, respectively, so they will be an influence in the Bay for quite scx:e time to ccme.
My reasons for opposing the dumping of the waste are not based upon misguided fear or erotional stress, but upon the inadequacies and unanswered questions not addressed in the E.I.S.
Strontium and cesium are bicammMators which also accumulate as they move up the food chain. Food chain concentration is not addressed by the E.I.S.
We Chesapeake Bay is one of the rest productive bodies of water on the earth and nust be protected frcm any degradation.
We disposition of high level wastes must also be spoken to.
The resins to be used, if filtraticn techniques are employed, will be highly contaminated and should not be stored on the island for any prolonged period of time. The danger of flooding is great.
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Dr. Snyder October 31, 1980 The transporting of waste matter across the entire length of the United States appears to be a dangerous proposition, in light of the fact that there is another alternative. I am enclosing a copy of a letter recently forwarded to President Carter from Governor Harry Hughes, formally request-ing the President's intervention with the Department of Energy regarding the disposal of high and low level waste.
On behalf of my constituency residing in Harford County, and the unusual threat this nuclear accident cleanup will have on everyone living in the State of Maryland and on the Bay, I oppose without questicm, the dunping of waste frcm 'Ihree Mile Island into the Susquehanna River. 'Ihe people of Pennsylvania and Maryland should be exposed to as little danger as possible and I believe the Nuclear Regulatory Cbmissicm has a clear mandate to see that the people and the Bay are so protected.
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ARDIUR H. N' ION Senate of Maryland District Six AHH:jo
Enclosure:
As stated cc: Honorable Harry Hughes i
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EXECUTIVE DEPARTM ENT ANN ApoLIS, M ARYL AND Eldo4 HARRY HUOMES October 3, 1980 oona~oa The President The White House Washington, D. C.
20500
Dear Mr. President:
I am writing to request your assistance in a matter of great concern to the state of Maryland.
The Nuclear Regulatory
. Commission's draft Programmatic Environmantal Impact Statement for the Three Mile Island clean-up has failed to address any alternatives which provide assurance that the radioactive wastes will be removed from the island without decades of delay.
All plans addressed require that the Department of Energy first establish a storage facility or repository for commercial high level radio-active wastes and high specific activity wastes.
However, the lack of progress towards establishment of such facilities over the last 25 years renders any current schedules subject to skepticism.
There is one option which can guarantee the capability for timely removal from the island of the high level wastes, transuranic wastes, and those high specific activity wastes unacceptable at existing commercial repositories.
This is for DOE to accept these wastes for storage with the similar wastes that DOE now handles from the defense-related nuclear projects.
Although Maryland formally suggested during the scoping process that NRC consider this alternative, it was dismissed in the draft statement with the simple declarations that DOE policy does not allow for disposal of TMI low-level wastes at government facilities, and that DOE is studying the high-level waste problems.
I am therefore requesting that you use your authority as President to direct DOE and NRC to explicitly consider the technical feasibility of this option, and to direct DOE to mak'e an exception to its policy by accepting these TMI clean-up wastes for which there is no available off-site storage facility.
The unusual nature of the accident derived wastes is reason enough for such an exception.
The recent decision by the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission prohibiting use of revenue from ratepayers for the TMI clean-up, has created a situation of institutional instability for the Metropolitan Edison Company.
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The President October 3, 1980 makes it imperative.to identify and confirm a't this time a location to which the wastes can be removed.
The clean-up activities should be planned and conducted in a manner that will insure that disposal with defense related nuclear waste remains a viable option.
The drrCt environmental impact statement reveals that federal agencir.s are following a course of action that will make Three Mile Island a long-term storage dump for radioactive waste.
Nothing could be more dangerous to Chesapeake Bay and the people of Maryland.
No responsible agency would locate i. dump for radioactive waste on an island in a flood plain above the water supply of a major metropolitan area, and poised at the head of Chesapeake Bay.
Yet, because of refusal to' consider any other realis:ic alternative, that will be the result of actions described in the draft environmental impact statement'.
Because this is an unusual situation and because of the unusual threat to people in Maryland and Chesapeake Bay, I am making this unusual request that you intervene with the Departments of Defense and Energy and insist that all of the radioactive waste be removed from Three Mile Island as quickly as safety will permit--
even if it means disposing of them for some extended. period with waste from defense operations.
I wou'd appreciate your response at your earliest convenience.
incerely/ /
/N V&l i rnorg/
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