ML19344D601
| ML19344D601 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 03/19/1980 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Bunni B AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8004250111 | |
| Download: ML19344D601 (2) | |
Text
fID yAR 191985 Distribution Docket (Attach original of incoming correspondence) - Docket Nos. 50-289 6 50-320 l
- NRC/PDR (Xerox copy of incoming and place behind outgoing PDR copy)
- Incal PDR NRR r/f SPE/1MI r/f 1MI Site r/f RVollmer SMiner JohnCollins Noliu PChee, Argonne National Laboratory DEisenhut RTedesco RReid DDiIanni CNelson IEilver RIngram/LA
- Place these three copies in one envelope and forward to DSB-016.
o soodasoLy
I 4
MAR 191980 Ms. Bobi Bunni j
Rabbit Reporter The Weekly Bulletin Dillsburg, PA 17019
Dear Ms. Bunni:
Thank you for your note and newspaper column regarding the Three Mile Island accident.
I regret that the increase in agency work load following the accident has prevented my replying to your question until now. Youtre right about my not receiving many letters from rabbits (or Bunnies either).
To answer your question, plutonium is a byproduct of nuclear fission, plutonium-239 (Pu-239) is produced within the fuel rods of nuclear reactors by the interactions between a neutron and an atom of uranium-238 (U-238).
In reactors such as those at Three Mile Island, the fuel contains U-238; therefore, some Pd-239 will be produced during operation. However, the amount of Pu-239 produced is small when compared with the amo.unt that breeder reactors could produce. No plutonium was released in the March 28, 1979 accident.
Sincerely.
arold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
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From the desk of g,,
8081 BUNNI i
MDIO TO: HAHOLD DENTON I thought you might be interested in my colan on what was actually going on at Three Mile Island.
Your name was in it originally)as director of the NRC (Nuclear Rabbit Comission but my editor made me l
take it out so you wouldn't sue him.
You probably don't get a whole lot of mail from rabbits, but I assure you, I am a real one, who incidentally just received an averd for excellence in journalism. This makes me rather happy, as up to this time, rabbits haven't had much in the way of recognition.
There is a statement in my colmn, however, that may not be entirely accurate, about TMI not producing plutonim. As it would be useless to try to obtain any infomation from Mat Ed, I turn to you for help. Did THI produce plutonim?
w-I would be grateful if you wor.d enlighten me on this point, in non-technical tems that the average bunny might understand.
Enclosed is a S.A.S.E. for your reply, and thank you for your time and trouble.
- Peace, Bobi Bunni
'J 1 (RABBIT REPORTER) 9 e
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THE WEEKLY 90LLEhN. Desburg. Pa.17019 h
WEDNESDAY, AML 11,1m 0
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Rabbit Reporter !
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I Does anyone know if there are any rabbits on Three Mile Island? With all the recent indepth media coverage of this particular piece of cement covered turf, nothing i
has appeared on the subject. It seems a curious oversight,
.I especially when other resifent rabbits, of Middletown I-and Goldsboro, became instant celebrities.
They were seen coast to coast, possibly sate!!ite to satellite,in a sudden burst of fame unprecedented in their, previously unremarked, and often unremarkable lives. A hare whose sole preoccupation was a scramble to survive.
l before the nuclear accident, :uddenly achieved promi-nence beyond her or his wildest dreams, by appearing on nationalT.V.
it was the sort of moment that wjll be spoken ofin rev-j erance, with hushed voicer, by generations of rabbits, yet i
to be. This reporter interviewed one of the survivors of the occasion, a comely young bunny, one Rebec a, of Sunnybrook Farm, dirfctly assoss the river from the dis-g i
aster prone 3MI.,
as u "If you had received advance warning of the catas-trophe, would you have done anything differently?"
i Rebecca scratched the soft fur on top of her head thoughtfully; "I would have combed my ears..."
"Do you feel'you're treated any differently by friends and neighbors, since your exposure?""It's whiskered about that I got upp me," she confided. "There's no basis for it..n fact, I il burrow ed deeper into the grourd."
i "How do rabbits test radiati m levels?"
l "We plant spiderwort at the entrance to our burrows [
and warrens. It changes color when exposed to excess ra '
dioactivity."
"Do you feel that the media handled the whole matter adequately?'
f "No, I certainly don't! I photograph muchinatter on I, my left side, and that back light was all wrong. It wasn't j flattering to me; not a bunny bit. They should have j l
played a pink spot on my snoot, at the least."
i "Did you evacuate all your children under 5 years old, 2 as requested by the NRC (Nuclear Rabbit Commis-sion)?"
A pained expression crossed Rebecca's furry, brown face. "We immediately hopped to the nearest station for evacuess, as requested."
"Ar$1et Ed gave you money for a motel?"
' "No, we were cast out into the rainy, radioactive night i and told to shift for ourselves, when they found out l l wasn't delivering Easter eggs from my basket."
"Do you think pregnant rabbits should be forced to
~
bear unwanted bunnies?"
j "It's not fair to either mothers or their babies. I'd like to see only wanted bunnies born. No one can enforce i i
punitive legislation passed by those unable to bear off-l t
spring themselves. No rabbit in her right mind pays the j
, slightest attention to laws passed without representation.
There isn't one female bunny in the Senate or the Su '
I
(
prerae Court."
l "Have you been approached by any of the major pub- !
[
, lications about doing your life story?"
i "Yes, l have," Rebecca said, glancing at her reflection f'
.,~ avering in the murky Susquehanna. "I haven't decided
- hether to chose TIME, LIFE, EBONY, HIGH TIMES, TOTHER EARTH NEWS, MOTHER JONES. CREAJ;
~
j '.
,g TIVE CANCER, HARK ASSBURG, ' ROLLING '
O.N.E, ATOMIC ATROCITIES, or M AD M AGA-
f-
- ** "De f] feel that your esposure has made any pro-l f
found.nges i2 your lifA" l
..J "Yes, I'm gettyg a new agent."
~
-~: '"What do you think about nuclear energy?"
4 "I feel that rabbits have plenty of energy, if utilized Ig correctly. If we were meant to have nuclear reactors O
spewing radiation about, stomic plants would be born, not built."
"Do you know if any rabbits live on 3MI?"
Rebecca looked over her shoulder nervously. "I heard,
it's used as a penal colony for us; a veritable Devil's Is j eI land, from w hich no bunny has ever escaped..."
2 "What sort of crime would it take to be sentenced tc ;
i such a place?"
"Well, merely being an unemployed, black bunny b.
encugh, in some instances. You'd better be ca;:ful. Of course, a rabbit that writes is even more suspect."
"What do you mean? There were thousands of jour-nalists here, from all over the country. Goldsboro and ;
f I
Middletown would have been ghost towns without them, i after ti.eir residents fled."
i Rebecca said, " Exactly. But Ihere wasn't one rabbit re-
'a porter in the whole crowd. Where were you when we needed you?" '
"I made an urgent trip to Mifflin County to interview an Amish dog, but never mind that. Why didn't Mrs.
Carter and her hu@and inspect these imprisoned bun-nies, on Iheir trip here?"
"Our wild brothers and sisters were hidden in dank, k
dripping cells, known as the Hole, deep in the bowels of the earth. The Justice Dept. doesn't even know about them. Check it out."
)
"Then how come you do?"
)
i "We have our ways." Rebecca leaned closer,"A night owl flies recognisance. That's all I'm at liberty to say..."
"But what can some bird brain see on 3MI that hasn't already been photographed?"
"She can look directly down inside those ominous,
[
massive towers, at night."
"But everyone knows they're only cooling towers "
"That's what they want you to believe. They're really ovens, w here rabbits that don't believe in nuclear energy are systematically destroyed. It's a pogrom."
"But what about the population around 3Ml? They sec ;
the smoke every day. Don't they know?"
"They'd rather ignore it. 3MI provides jobs. Listen, I'm not supposed to be telling you this," Rebecca whisk-cred, her snoot ashen with fear. " Don't use my real i name..."
"Why would Met Ed need such huge towers to exter-minate small bunnies? Nazi death ovens were much j
smaller."
"I heard rabbits are also used in experiments in breed.
er reactors whereser they're built. _While 3MI doesn't make plutonium, some other atomicylants do. Widt happens Io millions 6T IGrmieTs%i~niiles is tBEterrible :o talk about!" Rebecca shuddered, "Their poor, spent, mutilated bodies are shipped to 3MI in the dead of the !
night - w hole truckloads of them - so you see it's not only a local problem. You needn't take my word. I have this friend w ho know s a guard ihat works there.. "
"Do you mean to say none of the rabbits already held l an 3MI have ever escaped alive?"
"That's right. The security is too tight."
"It can't be! Only last summer a party of boaters woimd up there when their vessel conked out. One of them even climbed inside the 3MI fence and wandered all -
I around, shouting for help for ages, before he could raise I, a guard."
~f Rebecca looked at me pityingly. "You don't think the,
guards are there to keep people out, do you? They i' can't."
l "Then why are they armed?"
i "To keep the rabbits from getting off, of cdurse. Ex- !
cuse me, but someone from tige Middletown Paperback l Book Club wants o see me now.
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