ML19345D412

Criticizes Remarks by NRC Official to Portland Press Herald on 801201,backing Util Plan for long-term Storage of Nuclear Waste in Existing Fuel Pool.Remarks Before Prehearing Conference Are Unprofessional.Newspaper Article Encl

ML19345D412
Person / Time
Site:	Maine Yankee
Issue date:	12/04/1980
From:	Tupper S TUPPER, BRADLEY & MCDOWELL
To:	Ahearne J NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
References
NUDOCS 8012150070
Download: ML19345D412 (3)

Text

TUPPER, BRADLEY AND MCDowELL 3

M artoastts at Law 102 ToWNSEND AVENUE BOOTHBAY HARBOR. MAINE Gl533 cas *L saw autoswc. Losc w H aar tow a r e

P O sO4 267 DT3. PORTLAND. M Al%t osua stany L. uccowttt ' :n' C07) 633 4000 am ws,

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,6 non. John. ahearne, Cha:..: :2a n c

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• Nuclear Regulatorf Co==ission c,,

'c 1717 H St., NW cnn: T;-:P 3"1p - 3 cy N c.;,A, /

~o F-31 42 Washington, D. C.

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g,5. A' q Matter of Maine Yankee Atc=ic Power Cc=pany s*},(

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(Maine Yankee Atc=ic Power Station) Applictnt y.

Modified Spent Fuel ?in Storage with New 10'.5" N Q '/

Center Packs) tear Mr. Ahearne :

I a= writing the Co==ission as co-counsel for Sensible Maine Power, Intervenor in opposition to MIA's plan to store all of its nuclear waste in its existing fuel pool for the lifeti=e of that plant.

.: is my wish to draw to your attention re= arks cade by an NRC of-ficial, Mr. Glode Requa, to the Portland Press He ald, Dec.1,1980 (copy enclosed) as rep'orted by Clark T. Irwin, Jr.

Mr. Requa was quoted as backing MYA's long-ter= storage plan, focusing on one of a number of contentions raised by Intervenor.

I consider these re= arks =ade by Mr. Requa, before even a pre-hear-ing conference has been ordered, as very' unprofessional.

VTnen an NRC official prejudge:, nn issue of tY s i=portance it does little to assure.the public that these =atters will receive a fair and objective hearing.

No criticism is i= plied toward Mr. Irwin, Staff Writer for the Fort-land Press Herald; he was =erely doing his job.

However, Mr. Requa did a disservice to the NRC, the State of Maine (a participant in this matter) and the Intervenor.

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/ Stanley R./tupper cc:

Henr-f J. McGurren, Esq.

l Counsel for URC Staff I

Clark T. Irwin, Jr.

j John Patterson, Esq., Deputy Attorney General, State of Maine 95 0 S o/I a,

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I'ottland,Line Mor lay,I)ecember 1.1980 Vol. Il8, No,139 ti g b 2 energy officials back Yankee spent fuel plan s

By Cl, LRK T. IRWIN JR.

Irent of Fnergy's Ottire of Spent Fuel ne ropneed plan would cost *e few rnll.

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l tatl Writer Transportation and Storage espressed lion d lars." according to Maine Yankee di-PN=="*-wp* m an 7 F-k m,M hed.dy I

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doubts ahnut the welldity of critics' argu rector of nuclear enrineering and tirensing T

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, while alternatives would Two federal el ergy offielais seg that the ments agamst the rera< king John il Carritfl6ons *

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Maine Yankee A em6e power Co e plan to I)r. Gordon Thompson of the Unico of 1

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increaw tts cope :lty to store spent fuel at Concerned Scientiste in Co nbrldre, Mags,

Ant,ther problem, Requa adels, is that y g't, ;F. tg; its Waarasset gb at h a commonplace and told the press lierald recently that a drop in while the rade are Ine

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g; y$y; safe procedure. -

the water levelin a reactm's spent fuel d censed fr: shipping, t y are not licensad

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y ne reacter,3( percent owned by Central w mertwating Imm the fue s-for une og storage devices touM cau.mMW bt ThW ben W nhW h yM Nd

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• ar Regulatory Cs mmission for e permit to nat, he said. could release h rngen gas storare capacity by 1987 - the reason for l

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a mncentrate the kt et tutwo la its. es skreonium tube cmer.np me and a gas its petitmn to the NRC - and Requa said stored spe nt ".el sneem lies and to rack the es ploelon could spread radioactive vaport it's his " gut feelms" that dry storage with p4s aswmblice cicesr together underwater in An airplane trash or a ** vere earthquake

c. asks rouldn't be litenm+ d betore that time.

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the plant's staint; es steel,38 foot deep stor.

m ght trigger the water.aes, Dompenn put the central question is safety, masd lie prefers storing the 12 font long fuel

• We think that water besin storage N ' g

[*4MYf age pod.

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• The safety re riew on that applicallon assemt,ltes in heavy shipping canks, allow-safe," said the loE's Ftwe. As to Tbmp-l could be conclue 4 this month or earl nest ing air currenta to cant trwm.

son's awumed atrident stemming from an y

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~ghis erenarlo has been strplance trash er earthqu ke, flore said, f

year. NRC offic w Glode Reque to d the

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rress flerald. pl blic baarings on the idea times," the NRCs itequa sehe over menybut it keepe

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10. but we don't see dry (strenre) no having a "

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have nr2 y t been scheduled.

cnming up."

De safety inaue already has twen ed.

storage serety ed,aarase tower wet ~stor-jpesish f,.3 Reque and Jag g J.Flore of the Depart;*.

dreened in applicatirms from more than f>5 age se y A ~P gut * *8':

'f other commerclat reerttre,Iteque said, and And to any event, he added, "There's

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A technicianle ds dmen oe the "I wmand say that most othere have core spent fuel there right onw - rerocking i

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Aeon 1 tnenene the uknt d a catastropWe eP'ist fuel pont et Malne Yankee, Maine Yankee, however, was the flrut accident lf one should *. nap n."

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i erhere officla'.,eek toincrease cornmercial reertor company to develop e Garrity. mho has work at the Wieras=et

.3 storage capacit t.The arrow la method for increasing the number of fuel reactor for 10 years. elmilarly orgues u t l

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the larger ptwtograph shows the tubes that can tw stored la each fuel esmem-rereekMg might add "a few perventage bly. Requa said.

pr.ints of actlnusness" to any areident that I

storage buildht 3. # :.

Aa used in the reactor,each fuel assembly might happen to the gumt - but he doubts containa 176 fuel tubes; the Maine Yankee thepremane thet one would.

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The prmt is e stainless steel tank backed j

water to increase the number of tubes to by concrete, mostly below ground level, he t

r 285 per assembly for stnrece.

said. $n its resprmee h an earthquake j'

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' a Thompson's preferred route, storing the would likely tw to bend rather than ruf4ure.

p' '~./F/Y used fuel essembues in shipping enska Even if the liner bmke open, Garrtty said, gF 4*

weighing between 22 and 97 tons each, suf.

I M-from a number of drs=tiarks, Feque the building has a e 11 i

t7e air. The oarse Diters, he said, would

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caske in the enun ry, acce.dtng to the DOE.

errub pneentleHy esplostre hydrogen pas e

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with a total capar,ty of sonut 50 fuel ensem, Aspart fmm the plant's mechantral cot 4-4 l

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' biles for pressv71:ed water reactors like Ing systems, Garrity sad, an emergency re.

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spnroe to a water level drop in the pani But Maine Y~nkee alone already bee 509 could drew on a multi million gallon pond l

fuel anaembfM stored in ffs spent fuel pool bulit outside for Orefighters' use.

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- the ne*.ner withdrawn frorn the reertor 0

sold,'wt of the 505 esaemblies in the po M

poola rd y r can 9'ul i

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t capacity would rvnw t y their rsrtwnlum tubes and relesae the hytre 500 to 600 frove the propr* sed rerarking and another 700 to 800 frem the propner-J fuel fen and radioartlw com nde essen*ial to Dr.Dompson's assu acrldent.

liet tube ecocentration within the eroem.

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'Rei,si.es anothe, i+i. Re us se o,c gna a*",?i";l"* ",t"lsi"o; o

hd Building either a new pool or an air ennled abnut 90 percent of their residual heat s,. m.

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store e f rfility would be very, very e n-y withln a year.

e etal steg elve com red to the plan submitt by Since the Mame Yankee plant opened la 13 7 y

Q Mairm Yan m 1972 and refueled tnnte often et the outset am

,,, g And if the government should, mean-than it has lately, the a,erege fuel assembly j(

i, gy while ready a central ArR (Away Irom Re,;

stored in the pnot hag been out of the re-I 6

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actor) storage-plant or e permanet t ortor for four to five lears 4

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I Documents filed with the NRC say blics cannot come closer than 95 per-reracking at Maine Yankee "has aircady ullt its storego rncks in 1975 on 12. Inch'

' li' the pool' water temperature cannot rle cent of the way to " criticality"- a scif. been done once "

spacing.

ii' beyond 151 degreen Fahrenheit "for the sustaining' rearthm - under the worst When the plant opened,its spent fuel The pool at Maine Yankee, Requa iti:

most adverse condition." Water boils et operating conditions.-

pool racks were centered 20 Inthes said;"was intended only for tempornry

!! 212 degrees Fahrenhelt.

.l apart, giving a pool caphcity of 318 as-storage," unill fuel could be disposed of Maine Vaakee has demonMrated the semblies.,

or reprocessed, as la the practice in a

ii - R a said that Maine Yankee he same statestical confidence level that its L. rope.

very conservative" in designirg p.ooI cannot exceed 90 percent of crit-But it noon became apparent that gov.

The rcracking appIlcation came, he'

-been ii-Its spent fuel pool operation. NRC rep. Icality, Requa said,"way below technl-ernment plans for accepting custody of noted, because "IJke every other re..

"j. lations require 95 percent statisticd im @ecifications."

used reactor fuels would be delayed. So actor in the country, Maine Yankee is

ii-confidence that the stored fuel assen.

Finally, he'said, spent fuel assembly with NRC approval, Maine Yankee reb. running cut of storage space."

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