ML20010A084

Forwards Ch Bell 810515 Ltr to DOE Re Delays in Facility Restart.Nrc Considered Responsible for Delay in Startup.Doe 810604 Response Encl

ML20010A084
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	06/04/1981
From:	Kendrick H ENERGY, DEPT. OF
To:	Dircks W NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO)
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ML20010A082	List: ML20010A084
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NUDOCS 8108110033
Download: ML20010A084 (5)

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%.fd im s Department of Energy JUn,, 4 1981 Washington, D.C. 20545 Mr. William Dircks Executive Director for Operations U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington , D.C. 20555

Dear Mr. Dircks:

The enclosed correspondence has been direc '.cd to the Department of Energy.

The contents indicate that a reply should be made more appropriately by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Accordingly, we are forwarding the original to you for consideration, along with a copy of our reply.

Sincerely, nh Hugh Kendrick, Acting Director Plans and Analysis Division Office of Nuclear Energy 2 Enclosures 8108110033 810722 PDR ADOCK 05000289 H PDR

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l Inasmuch as a significant portion of your letter deals with matters under the i cognizance of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, we are forwarding your letter i

to them for appropriate action.

Thank you for your interest in nuclear energy programs.

Sincerely, ,

I Hugh "Kendrick, Acting Director Plans aid Analysis Division Office of Nuclear Energy cc:

William Dircks, NRC l

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Department of Energy Juli 1M Washington, D.C. 20545 Mr. Cecil H. Bell 1328 Kimball Richland, Washingtor. 99352

Dear Mr. Bell:

Your letter expressing support for the utilization of nuclear energy has been forwarded to this office for consideration.

f One of the n'ost important things we can do to help solve our Nation's energy problem is to get the nuclear industry back on track again. To do so will require a stable and predictable licensing environment. Therefore, the Department of Energy will support activities to provide for streamlined licensing and siting of nuclear powerplants. However, the nuc' lear industry's problems (as illustrated by 44 reactors canceled in the last 4 years) cannot be attributed solely to an uncerta;c. regulatory environment. Inflation, with its associated increases in the cost of capital, and diminished load-growth forecasts have led to criticism and curtailment of utilities' plans for expan-sion. It is, therefore, imperative that we accurately assess our electrical requirements for the future in order to prevent low electrical growth projec-tions from becoming sel f-ful filling prophecies. The Nation cannot afford a shortfall in electricity and maintain a healthy economy. Thus, the President's detemination to bring inflation under control is an essential ingredient in revitalizing our nuclear industry.

Although our plans are still being developed, it is clear that a vigorous and balanced nuclear technology program will be requirr to meet our energy needs.

I anticipate that this program, when fully formulato, will involve a major effort to close the Light Water Reactor fuel cycle, put in place the repro-cessing activity reoutred to support a breeder reactor development program, and work towards developing the technology to close the breeder fuel cycle.

Thus, I believe, we will set in motion the effort to (tgain our ikad in nuclear technology and restore confidence in our commitment to rely on nuclear energy as a major contributor to our future energy supply.

The Three Mile Island accident attracted a great deal of attention from the media, various segments of the public, and the Government. After careful evaluation, however, the President's Commission stated, "On the basis of present scientific knowledge, the radiation doses received by the general population as a result of exposure to the radioactivity released during the accident were so small that there will be no detectable Udditional cases of cancer, developmental abnomalities, or genetic ill health as a consequence of the accident at Three Mile Island."

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3 , 0. 7 It is ,'takingithe Washing. > ' '.The. four, plants visited ton Publie! Power" Supply 7f hre being built near Taipel.

System at least:10 years to q the capital.ef Taiwan.d;d ^

build a nuclear plantiati; Q : Ferguson said he accept-ed an invitation to speak at llanfordi managingF but - the .;WPf5SS director .

has 7 U ; a conference 3 on - nuclear found a place +here nucle- ; power:and. technology in ar plants are being built in 3 Taiwan because he wanted half that time.4.*fWipi.i.n'f' to see the successful nucle.

Bob , Ferguson;. following -Y ar' construction by,the Tall a recent visit ;tol Taiwan,%iwan Powpr Co.t -T 'in-said : the; Talwanese1are W- Taipower's four units'are building four nuclear plantsji: General' Electric boiling similar-toL No. .2..at llan- ( water reactors. the same at ford. P is taking ' them 5.1 ; 7'q No. 2. EBASCO and Bechtel years to build two of them,a , Power Corp.'were architect-he said.: W L A/Sh '"O 7Yf engineers'/h'e said. V ..

.lle said he visited TaiwanN Sc. units' have operated to ficd out how.they'can dod the past two to three years it so fr.st. _. , 3/ / ' 1'M- gwith a plant' availability for

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Ferguson's trip wts s'pon D, power production at 70 per; sorediand paid. for by, the. J'. cent J -^ considered very, Nuclear Energy'i Societyiof ,

• good- by : the > electric ine the Pacific-Northwest"Asso-t u dustry, Ferguson said.' - '/

elation for Science ' and '. ~ . 4 'Ite - other two units are

'a O pridte En~ earing corn'pletion and' fuel' Techn' organization. ology','U.~~i7 ; JN U loading.gTi !!W 'f W id ' . ,

Accompanying him were A 7 "You . shouldirecognize.

Peter ~. Shen /.former'directori$ 'thatqTalwan is ' committed gf the iJoint Center. ?fori! to . installing . 20,000.~ mega!

Graduate Study in Rich!And Q watts tnuclearagenerating ar.d. now' WPPSS technical 4 : capacity by the-year 2000,'h J! rector, former.U.S.iRep/ ! Ferguson said.c a "Og Mike.McCormack, and. sci ~ lih. The five WPPSS nuclear entists;from.! the : Pacifica pirnts' will generate 'a total; NS.- oli about t 6,000j megawatts.

Northwest gl fyQ%sf f1,; It' takes about 1000 mega.

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s s size of Seattle..

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Wblic tility] Dis rict'.will^p.theirVexperience dshes1 possible. targets festabi and l ,

unsidte selling;32. million limits to assist" in ,WPPSS l

l a .15. year' tax.exem t-reve-*[1.1982 budget evaluatio'n.~ ' ' s '

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Three Mile -. Island's thought, the Richland IJoos crippled nuclear reactor ' y<#

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can operate again in less Galen Wir.aor, senior en.

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dustries .Inc., at Hanford, !t . . d-said the reactor probably k

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age during the accident on -[#

March 28,1979.

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Winsor, who recently re- k# ~

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consulting visit. to the Q f.i

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3 Pennsylvania plant, said Q:

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- the Nuclear Regulatory ' '6;,

Commission has delayed : 3 needlessly the repair and , K ' >

? t start up of the damaged p:[ k y' 7 plant. . s Qt ,

"They have been playing

. with that thing for two - V a Aj / G$ Y years and they haven't ae. "" - '- Ci complisbed a thing," Wip- QAI.EN WIN 80E sor said. "TM1 doesn't have more than one or two fuel,, rods rupturad, even And Winsor said the NRC ether materials brought has prevented General Pub- into the site each week, lic ' Utilities from operating Winsor said, but the NRC  ;

the damaged plant's unda- has required that they be ,

maged twin reactor, . TMI shipped to IIanford in 122 :

No. I, since the accident. I"d1vidual truck loadse r Winsor said reports that ,They could have put all the damaged reactor's core those resins,onto one truck was melted in the accident and brought it tu llanford,"

are inaccurate. he said.

lie said the NRC has Ile estim.ited that Three been overcautious in its re- Mlle Island's plant No. 2 quirements for cleanup. could be repaired and put For example, radioactive back on line in six weeks if resins used to decontami- the NRC would allow the

, nate water apilledlinto the work to proceed.

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pago 2 The Wholo Country is lookin6 to YCU to Set us Soing in the r16ht directiort aBain , So Please don't lot us.down.

Sincerol Cecil H. Bell 1328 Kimball Richland, WA. 99352 -

Copios To President Ronald ReaBan

• Senator Henry Jackson Senator Slade Gortotr Senator Howard Baker -

Senator M rk Hatfield Rep Sid Morrison Rep'. Tom Foley Director of 0 M.H.. David Stockman l

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. ., jh, Richland, Wa hingt:n f 1%y 15/1981 Secretary of Ener6y, James B'. Edwards Nashington, D . C ..

Dear Secretary Edwards I wholo heartedly support 95 percent of the President's program. The only small parts I disagree with,aro the cut back on Amtrak,and not forging ahead on the Clinch River breeder reactor. The Amtrak system can save many millions of Ballons of oil over any other means of trans-portation, and the Breeder Reactor is a must if this country over expects to got on. top of the ENERGY situation.

I really want to o=phasize the nood to 6et Soing with full speed on nuclear Ener6y'.. And to do that we must climinato all unnecessary rules and ro6clations that are causin6 all of the delays. Hob Ferguson was made manager of Washington Public Power Supply System a few montha ago, and in January he cade a trip to Taiwan to see how they can build nuclear 6enerating plants in 5 years when it is taking us 10 to 12 years, I don't believe,. and I don't think you believe the Taiwanese are that much smarter than we are'. I am sure you know what makes the difference.

( copy of article from Tri-City Herald enclosed)

Wo must overhaul the nuclear Regulatory Commission,URC,and have only ,

peoplo on the Commission that thorou6hly understands Nuclear Reactors and want to do everythin6 possibic to 60t all of the delayed reactora producing electricity as soon as possible. Cno crample of unnecessary delays, the NRC' has pr97ented the start up of #1 unit of Three 131o Island even'though it has been ready to go for over 2 years now.This and other reactors all over our country could have been producing electricity and saving millions and millions of Gallons of oil,thereby, preventing all those U S Dollars from Boing down the OPEC rat holei Our Bovernment should be doing overythin6 possible to free us from the need of foroign oil,instead, we have been dragging our feet for over ten years nova I know we have all kinds of Radical Groups that protond they are -

against nuclear energy because of the hazards envolved,those statements are ridiculous and most of them know it. The nuclear industry has proven to be the safest way to produce electricity,just look at the safety record. Then look at all the coal minera killed or have Black Lung disease,. and all the people thot have been killed on drilling rignor in refinery explosions. Every time a Nowa Reporter refers to Tnroe Mile Island they refer to it as the worst nuclear accident in history, and yet there were NO casualties, not even a minor injury.

That should prove comething..

The Anti-Suelcar Groups try to scare the public about the disaster of a reactor melt down, (which is not likely to over happen),but oven if one did melt down the consequences would bo liko kids playin6 house, l compared to the disaster this country would be in if CPEC keeps rasin6 the price of oil or decideto shut it off completely.

I have believed all along that the situation at T M I was not as bad as the Press,the Anti-Nukes, and the URC tried to make it appear, and I believe if the Red Tape was eliminated and the NRC wouldlet thempthe company could have the clean up and repairs made in a short time, and on article in our Tri-City H~orald S/13/81 (copy onclosed)says the same thing.

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