ML20002D531
| ML20002D531 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 01/07/1981 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Tarbert S AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8101210310 | |
| Download: ML20002D531 (11) | |
Text
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[ 't c,,,*#,j NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION E
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Mr. Stewart E. Tarbert and Family 2003 Thelon Drive
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York, Pennsylvania 17404 0
Dear Mr. Tarbert:
This is in reply to your letter of September 29, 1980, to President Carter about the effect of the accident in March 1979 at Three Mile Island Unit 2 on the cost of electricity to customers of Metropolitan Edison Co. and the need for federal assistance.
Enclosed is a copy of a letter of July 3,1980, from the Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs and Policy to the Chaiman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility, Commission. This states that there is no statutory authority for any fom of direct federal financial aid to assist in clean-up and recovery costs associated with the accident at Three Mile Island.
It does refer to proceedings at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that would provide for a discount for Metropolitan l
Edison in purchasing power while the TMI plant is down. This was subsequently approved by FERC.
As you know, the accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2 also caused Unit 1 to be shut down until its safe operation can be assured and has necessitated the purchases of electric energy by Metropolitan Edison from other utilities. Enclosed is an item from a recent report of the U.S. Department of Energy that discusses these purchases.
Special arrangements were made with utilties outside the PJM power pool to provide lower-cost power on an "as-available" basis. This is said to have saved the cus-tomers of the GPU System, of which Metropolitan Edison is a part, over $114 million from the date of the TMI accident through May 1980, compared to prevailing contrac-tual arrangements within the PJM power pool. However, at times during the summer heat wave in 1980, these special arrangements were cancelled to ena:le the supplying utilities to meet their own high demands for electric power.
The resumption of operation of Three Mile Island Unit 1 is the subject of a hearing by an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That hearing started on October 15, 1980. The Commission has detemined that satisfac-tory completion of certain short-term actions and resolution of various specified concerns are required to provide reasonable assurance that the facility can be operated without endangering the health and safety of the public. The Commission j
has also detemined that certain long-tem actions are' required to be completed as I
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Mr. Stewart E. Tarbert and Family promptly as practicable and that reasonable progress on the completion of such actions prior to restart is required in order to provide reasonable assurance that the facility can be operated safely over the long term. The Commission's primary connitment is to a fair and thorough hearing and decision. Given this overriding imperative, it is the Commission's expectation that the Board will conduct the proceeding expeditiously. The decision on resumption of operation will be made by the Commission after the hearing is completed.
Sincerely, Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Enclosures:
1.
Ltr. of July 3, 1980 2.
Recent Report of the U.S. Department of Energy
TH E WFUTC HOUSC WASHINGTON July 3, 1980 l
Dear Madam Chairman:
The President has asked me to respond to your recent letter regarding federal financial assistance relative to clean-up and recovery costs associated with the March 28, 1979, l
accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear generating plant.
In responding to this request, we have carefully considered the points raised in your letter suggesting federal respons-ibility for sharing the costs of this accident with the citizens of Pennsylvania..
In the first instance, there is no statutory authority for any form of direct financial aid to assist in clean-up and The Administration has however taken steps recovery costs.
to provide for the monitoring of TMI-2 through efforts by the EPA.
The Department of Energy will be examining the core and the studying of the ef fects of the accident on critical plants components upon clean-up.
Your letter notes the financial involvement of the Federal Government in the early stages of the ecmmercialization of nuclear power including the Price Anderson Act and its renewal.
This history indeed exists ; however, once private industry was capable and willing to support the commercial deployment of nuclear reactors for the generation of elec-tricity,. the principal role of the Federal Government became one of enforcing the regulatory provisions of the Atomic Energy Act.
The Administration is closely following the progress of the proceedings you outlined currently underway before your commission; the companion case in New Jersey; and related proceedings at the Federil Energy Regulatory Commission.
for Met Ed in The FERC action would provide for a discount purchasing power 'while the TMI plant is down.
In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Ccmmission is conducting a licensing proceeding to decide whether or not TMI-l should be allowed to resume operation.
We also understand that you have recently taken action which will allow Met Ed to remain solvent until a more detailed consideration of the case can be made.
^ ^ ^ - -
The Administration shares your concern about this accident and its potential impact on the future of the utility industry.
Within the limits of our legal authority, we believe that federal assistance at TMI has been sensitive to the needs of the State and the affected cc== unity.
Please be assured that we will continue to help in any way that is appropriate.
Sincerely, SIGNED BY Stuart E. Iitenstai Stuart E. Eisenstat Assistant to the President For Dcmestic Affairs and Policy Ms. Susan M. Shanaman Chairman Pennsylvania Public Utility Ccmmission Cc==onwealth of Pennsylvania Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-17120 1
l 1
I
l l
l UPDATE NUCL' EAR POWER PROGRAM.
INFORMATION AND DATA JULY / AUGUST 1980 g)(C E~ P i' I PREPARED BY OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REACTOR PROGRAMS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY t
IV.
OPERATION A.
Utility Briefs 1.
Sunumer Electric Energy Demands Higher Than Forecast Electric energy demands this sununer have been significantly higher than forecast because of record breaking temperatures throughout much of the U.S.
Instances are:
The week ending July 19 saw a 10.47. increase in electric e
energy output nationally over the cottesconding week of l
1979. The first three weeks of July 1980 show an output 8.47. over that of a year ago (EEI, 7/23/80).
The Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Interconnection e
resorted to a 57. voltage reduction for the first time in six years on July 21. Nevertheless, PJM peaked at 34,300 MW versus the 33,180 W peak forecast for this sununer (Energy Daily, 7/23/80).
Two General Public Utilities (GPU) operating cottpanies, e
Metropolitan Edison and Jersey Central Power and Light, issued appeals to customers to voluntarily curtail use of non-essential electricity because of the high cost of pur-chased power - 12.5c/KWh through PJM, compared to the 2.6c/
KWh average energy cost portion of bills paid by Metropolitan Edison customers. The GPU system experienced a new all-time sunener peak of 6,163 m at 2:00 p.m. on July 21 (GPU release, 7/22/80).
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Ontario Hydro sold 50 million IGJh on July 21 to the U.S.
e Almost half of this was transmitted to Michigan, most of which was transmitted through the American Electric Power i
system to TVA and points farther south (Energy Dailv, 7/23/80).
Other systems that experienced new summer peaks on July 21:
e New York Power Pool - 21,846 W; New England Power Exchange -
14,900 W; Virginia Electric Power Company - 8,480 W.
2.
General Public Utilities: New All-Time Peak Demand The General Public Utilities (GPU) System reported a new sunumer peak at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, July 21, of 6,163 megawatts, just 10 megawatts shy of GPU's all-time peak demand of 6,173 megawatts.
Also on July 21, GPU subsidiary Jersey Central Power & Light Co.
(JCP&L) hit a new all-time peak demand between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.
of 3,023 megawatts. A previous JCP&L peak demand of 2,740 mega-watts had been reached just the previous Thursday, July 17.
Another GPU operating company, Pennsylvania Electric Co. (Penelec)
The previous reported a new summer peak July 21 of 1.784 megawatts.
peak of 1,719 megawatts was reached in August of last year.
GPU's other Pennsylvania subsidiary, Metropolitan Edison (Met-Ed) l reported a high demand of 1,431 megawatts, just 1 megawatt short i
of its all-time summer peak of 1,432 megawatts that it reached i
in August 1978.
j i
I.
?3
Heavy demand throughout the entire GPU System, as well as i
throughout the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Inter-connection, prompted two GPU operating companies (JCP&L and Met-Ed) to issue appeals to their customers to voluntarily curtail their use of non-essential electricity because of the high costs for purchased power which are eventually reflected in customers' bills.
Because the extreme heat conditions required all available generating facilities, the cost of purchased power through the PJM Interconnection rose significantly and remained at about 12.5 cents per kilowatt-hour through much of the afternoon I
July 21.
This compares with 2.6 cents per kilowatt-hour Met-Ed customers are paying as the average energy cost portion in bills, '
and the 3.3 cents per kilowatt-hour Jersey Central customers are currently billed for energy costs. The increased costs above and beyond what customers are now paying will be reflected in i
l future energy cost adjustments.
I l
Short-term, less-costly power purchases from outside the PJM system were, for the most part, cancelled by the suppliers in order to meet their own customers' needs during the high demand periods brought on by the heat wave. Since the accident at i
Three Mile Island Unit 2 in hkrch 1979, the GPU System has
]
l purchased lower cost replacement power from a number of companies l
outside the PJM pool on ah "as-available" basis.
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From the date of the TMI Unit 2 accident through May of this year, those purchases saved GPU System customers over $114 million,
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compared to prevailing contractual arrangements within the PJM power pool.
4 July 21'r heavy demand also set a new record high for the PJM system, and prompted a five percent voltage reduction throughout the grid for a few hours to further assure PJM system integrity.
Preliminary reports indicated that the public appeals to Mar-Ed anil J:2&L customers to curtail usage in an effort to hold dcwn l
their energy costs met with some succesa. Met-Ed customers cooperated by reducing demand by an estimated 45 megawatts...
enough electricity to service about 30,000 homes. Jersey Central continued their customer conservation appeals the following day.
3.
Public Service Electric & Cas Company: Nuclear Power Production Record Salen Generating Station's Unit No.1, which is operated by Public Service Electric and Gas Company, has set a record for nuclear power production in the United States for the first six months ot this year and is among the leaders in power output in the free world.
The unit generated 4.25 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from January 1 through June 30 and saved millions of barrels of oil in the process.
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