ML20002B651

Expresses Opinion That Emergency Evacuation Procedures Should Be Improved Before OL Is Granted to Facility

ML20002B651
Person / Time
Site:	Mcguire, McGuire
Issue date:	12/10/1980
From:	Primm L AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	Collins NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION (ADM)
References
NUDOCS 8012220390
Download: ML20002B651 (4)

Text

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Cecember 10, 1980

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4 U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Comission 1717 "H" Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20555 i Re: McGuire Nuclear Station

Duke Power Company i East Lincoln County >

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: (And I sure hope it concerns someone)

I felt someone should send you this article from The Charlotte Observer, .

as it expresses the fears of a great number of people who live in the geographic area potentially dangerously affected by any mishap that may occur at McGuire Nuclear Station.

, PLEASE take a closer look at the geographic settlement of people most imediately surrounding McGuire BEFORE you finally allow Duke Power Company to begin operation of this plant. I am referring most particularly to that section of East Lincoln County which is right in McGuire's backyard.

You will find this area almost totally rural, greatly limiting any warning system Duke, or the counties, or the State could devise. People live in

! houses on back roads and country lanes and along the lake front of Lake Noman.

They live in houses specifically built to give them a maximum of privacy and the quiet of the country - not to be within hearing distance of loud speakers warning of a nuclear accident. In part you are dealing with a relatively unsophisticated and older population - some of whom have lived their entire lives in this particular spot, on the' exact acres of land and in the same houses. Many of these people will be living with the deadly potential that they will never even know that an accident has occurred. They will either never hear a warning - some because they are old and hard of hearing - or won't understand what it is they are hearing.

A trial of a warning system and evacuation procedure was carried out in this ,

section of East Lincoln County this past Saturday. I know because I was visiting my parents who live there. They were given no prior information that their area would be involved. A pickup truck went by and I happened to be at a window and saw the flashing light and wondered if an automobile accident had occurred down the road, No one in the house heard anything. Later in the day I left the house to run an errand and saw about 10 highway patrol cars, several military M.P.'s and two fire trucks and volunteer firemen sitting at the inter-section with another highway about a mile away. Only then did I realize the something was going on.

It was noted in The Charlotte Observer's coverage of the " success" of the mock p warning / evacuation that Duke Power Company had " inadvertently" neglected to i

tell the media this part of East Lincoln County was to have been included.

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1 Something more must be done. If Duke Power is to be allowed to begin operation of McGuire ( and I personally feel they should never be allowed to do so) you must require more of them in the way of protecting the citizens who have lived in East Lincoln County their entire lives and hope to spend their remaining years in places they have called home for all that time.

Those people who now live much too near McGuire - through no fault of their own - deserve more than what has been handed them so far by those who are supposed to know more and who are pledged to use that knowledge.

These folks have more to lose than the future use of a little electricity.

What price e.nergy if you have to endanger lives in the process.

Once you license McGuire and an accident does occur it will be tco late for all the might-have-beens and should-have-dones. Now is the time to act. Hindsight in case of a nuclear accident isn't worth the price of one kilowatt.

Sincerely yours,

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fy p .a.

Linda W. Primm

/lp Enclosure 2141 East Fifth Street Charlotte, North Carolina 28204

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. . THT CHART OTTE OFSERVER Wed . Oct. 22. lit 6 17A JiiVaCuat1011 In spite of Duke Power's efforts

, concerning the McGuire Nuclear Station, I was not reassured.

The writerliscs near Exkc Norman.

I'm frightened. I accepted Duke Power Co.'s invita-tion to the open house at McGuire Nuclear Station (10-cated on Lake Norman). In spite of all their efforts. I was not reassured.

I came away with the feeling that they are not tak-

• Ing their evacuation plan seriously. I don't think the peo.

pie at Duke are " bad guys." They have as much reason as the rest of us for not wanting an accident to happen. But since human beings make mistakes, accidents happen. In fact, one of the guides told me that complacency was one of their biggest problems.

Mike Glover, who presented the plen, assured us that if an accident happened in the middle of the night, we would be notified door to-door. Ile said volunteer firemen and policemen would do this. With so few policemen in ,

our end of the county I don't know how they could possi.

bly notify us in time.

I asked. "Supposing the volunteer firemen wanted to

• get their families out as much as I did? Would you have a stren at the plant that we could hear?"liis answer. "No.

out we hope to install a series of sirens around the arca."

In doing more checking. I have found out that Duke is not responsible for evacuation anyway. Duke officials j

are only responsible for notifying the Civil Preparedness Agency of Mecklenburg County, which in turn notifies local authorities.

Mr. Glover stated that roadblocks would be placed so that we would have to go to designated shelters for our zone. I told Mr. Glover my husband and I had already

, agreed on a meeting place. I don't want to be forced to go l to our zone's shelter. Ile blithely told me they would let I me through the blockade and I could go anywhere I want.

l In a real emergency, when a few police officers are han-dling hundreds of frightened people. I can't believe they are going to take the time to grant exceptions.

SARAll WILSON Ifuntersville

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