ML20033B496
| ML20033B496 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Atlantic Nuclear Power Plant  |
| Issue date: | 11/27/1981 |
| From: | Cleary D, Hickey C NRC, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20033B480 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8112010468 | |
| Download: ML20033B496 (8) | |
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o UNITED STATES OF Af1 ERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY C0lif1ISSION BEFORE THE AT0!11C SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In the 11atter of
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0FFSH0RE POWER SYSTEtiS Docket No. STN 50-437
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(Floating fluclear Power Plants)
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NRC STAFF'S POST-Tlil UPDATE OF ITS TESTItiONY CONCERNING ATLANTIC COUNTY CONTENTION #1 (Concerning Impacts on Tourism) by DONALD P. CLEARY CLARENCE R. HICKEY, JR.
8112010468 811127 PDR ADOCK 05000437 T
1.
INTRODUCTION This testig,ony has been prepared to supplement the Staff's testimony responding ~
to Atlantic County's Contention #1, concerning impacts on tourism, pr,esented July 10,19781 Specifically, this testimony updates and supplenants the previous testimony with regard to recreational use of the Susquehanna River in the vicinity of Three Mile Island fluclear Power Station subsequent to the accident at Unit 2 on March 28, 1979.
2.
BACKGROUND Analysis presented in the Staff's testimony of July 1978 considered:
- 1) experience with 1and based nuclear power plants;
- 2) a study undertaken for the Staff by Professors Baker 'and liest, of Florida State University, using survey research tools to estimate the possible reaction of tourists and leisure seekers to siting of an offshore nuclear generating station near resort areas;
- 3) a review of the literature dealing with public attitudes toward nuclear power, social response to natural hazards, human behavior under risk, and recreation and leisure research; and
- 1. Following Tr. 6715.
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- 4) estimates of the dollar impact of tourist avoidance made with the assistance of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Departm2nt of Comerce.
The Staff concluded that tourist avoidance would be sufficiently small so as not to be detectable among the nornal fluctuations in patronage and economic activity of a coastal resort area.
Evaluation of the experience in the vicinity of land based operating nuclear power plants involved 10 operating plants with nearby water oriented recreational and tourist activity.
Baker and West, as part of their contract with the Staff, investigated foun of the 10 plants in greater depth. The overall conclusion reached from these studies was that i'f there had been any adverse impacts they were not discernible.
Three Mile Island was one of the nuclear power stations studied by the Staff aiid reported in Staff's testimony. York Haven Pond of the Susquehanna River, there Three Mile Island is located, affords water oriented recreation such as fishing, boating, water-skiing, and waterfront cottages. Prior to the accident at Three Mile Island, Unit 2, a majority of knowledgeable business and government representatives interviewed believed that the siting of the Three Mile Island Station had had no adverse impact on recreational use of the Susquehanna River.
Subsequent to the accident the Staff,as well as the Commonttealth of Pennsylvania and others, has studied various aspects of the natural and socioeconomic environment in the vicinity,of Three Mile Island in order to identify and measure accident related impacts and to better understand the process which such impacts occurred.
.c tt :y cuscud by Clarence R. Hici.ey, Jr., provices a p;ott-accident c'ata point en.. iter criented recreation in the vicinity of a nuclear pov.er plant. Another study )y the Corcon.ealth of Pennsylvania, on the socioecononic
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irpacts of~the accident, looked specifically at the irpact of the accident on tourism in southcentral Pennsylvania.
3.
IMPACT OF THE THREE MILE ISLA';D ACCIDENT GOfElliEX'iIRAL FISHING IN THE SUSQUEHA'."A RIVER Following the accident at Three Mile Island, NRC staff assessed the effects of the accident on the recreational fishery of the Susquehanna River (NUREG-0754, attached). Dynamics of the recreational fishery during the first postaccident year of 1979 were. compared with those of the 5-year preaccident period 1974-1972. Ma.thly and annual levels of fishing effort essentially were norcel d; ring 1979. Harvest (the nunber of fish retained by anglers) and indices of harvest success, horever, were at record low levels for 5 conths (and on an annual basis) after the accident. The conthly harvest indices gradually irproved with time until norcal levels were attained during the sixth post-accident conth (September). The depressed harvests did not result from water quality, ecological, or radiological causes attributable to the accident.
Changes in angler harvest behavior and low retention rates for all the major fishery species were the major co'itributors to the poor harvest of 1979.
Those char.ges were attributed to the anglers' awareness of the accident and to their concern with or perception of reduced environmental quality (of the river) and fish quality after the accident. The gradual recovery of the monthly harves,t indices to nonnal levels followed the same general trend as the perception of threat and concern with emissions felt by the people living near Three Mile Island.
Although the 1979 annual harvest was poor and most of
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t".e fishing year was disrupted (19 ttrns of ronthly harvests), reccvery during t4 same year along with nor El levels of fishir.g effort suggested that the
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accidant-reTated effects on the fishery were tenporary.
Durirg the second postaccident year of 1930, a small percentage (7.6%) of the anglers who were interviewed reported that they changed the use of their catch due to the 1979 accident. Of those who reported a change, 80% released all of their catch 2 Annual levels of fishing effort during 1980(6151 anglers fished 11,871 hours0.0101 days <br />0.242 hours <br />0.00144 weeks <br />3.314155e-4 months <br />) were greater than during 1979, and were high in comparison with the 5-year preaccident levels (see Table 2, page 7, in fiUREG-0754). High fishing effort resulted in record high numbers of fish estimated to have been caught (12,535) a'nd harvested (3499) from the river. The 1980 indices of catch (1.05 fish /hr; 2.04 fish / angler) and harvest (0.29 fish /hr; 0.57 fish / angler) all were inproved over those of 1979 and were within the preaccident normal range. The retention rate for 1980 (27.9%) was improved over 1979, but still was lower than the preaccident range. This may be,related to some angler uncertainty and to an apparent relaticnship between low indices of harvest success and high fishing effort on the river (fiUREG-0754, pages 14-19). During 1980, fishing effort, or angler activity, on the river appears to have been unaffected by the accident, and indeed was high relative to previous years.
The indices of catch and harvest improved with time after the accident (during latter 1979 and for 1980), thus the fishery appears to have been affected minimally.
2.
G. A. fiardacci and Associates, "An ecological study of the Susquehanna River near the Three Mile Island fluclear Station," Annual Report for 1980, Ichthyological Associates, Inc., Etters, PA, March 1981.
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IM?ACT OF THE THFEE MILE ISLAND ACCIDENT O!,~Cr:TsiI 11!TU!risal.EL Wl.13fl.R. il A ~
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The irpact of the Three Mile Island accident on tourism in southcentral Penr.sylvania t as found to be s9all and shortlived in a study by the Comon-wealth of Pennsylvania.
Tourist spend about $600 million a year in southcentral Pennsylvania. An estinated $5 million in tourist expenditures was lost to the tourist industry, costly during the conth following the accident. While the Pennsylvania study showed that tourism was down during the 1979 tourist season, it also found that the gasoline shortage, the Amish polio scare, and the weakening condition of the national economy were far r.:re inportant causes of lower tourism than was Three Mi'e Island. A general ir.dication cf the low level of ccr.cern over Thrae Mile Island by poter.tial tourist in developing travel plans is provided by a survey spor.sored by cembers of the travel industry and incorporated into the Pennsylvania study.
One conth after the accident a telephone survey of 608 subjects in the six states b;rdering Pennsylvania was conducted to determine the influence of Three Mile Island on possible decisions to travel to seven destinations in Pennsylvania, four of which are in the vicinity of Three Mile Island. Two percent of those interviewed said they would avoid the state entirely because of concerns related to Three Mile Island. Only one percent or less of the remaining 98 percent would avoid any one of six of the seven destinations.
Six percent said that in their travels they would avoid Harrisburg, which was closely identified with the accident through national news coverage.
Preliminary tourism figures for the 1980 tourist season showed a high level of tourism and no evidence of continuing Three Mile Island related impacts.
3.
Comt nwealth of Pennsylvania, Governor's Office of Policy and Planning.
The Socio-Economic Impacts of the Three Mile Island _ Accident. Final Reoort, pp. 77-78, n.d..
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4.
Cr.dCt.USION The Staff's analysis of the impact of the accident on recreational fishing-activity on the Susquehanna River in the vicinity of Three Mile Island found that fishing activity declined it..ediately after the accident and then regained preaccident levels within one year. Comparable data hue not been examined for the other nine plants p eviously studied.
The Staff believes, however, that the avoidance reaction in the vicinity of Three Mile Island due to the accident would have been greater than at the other plants becau:e of the perception of more inr.ediate threat to health.
- Further, the Staff believes that + b '. Con.onwealth of Pennsylvania study which found c-ly :ir:r !<c s b rilived irpacts on tourise srpports t. position that tourist tehrc'cr his no teer. naterially effected by the Three Mile Island accident.
The Staff believes that its conclusions reached in previon testimony on Atlantic County Centention il remain valid.
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United States of Am2rica l
Nuclear Regulatory Comission Clarence R. Hickey, Jr.
'B Professional Qualifications I am Senior Fishery Biologist in the Environmental Engineering Branch, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
I am responsible for i
review and evaluation of aquatic biological and fisheries impacts in relation to the siting, design, construction, and operation of nuclear generating facilities.
I received a B.S. in Biology from Grove City College, Pennsylvania, in 1966 and a M.S. in Marine Science from Long Island University, New York, in 1971.,
I have had casework responsibility for environmental review of some stage of the licensing process for twenty-nine nuclear generating stationsi including the presentation of testimony at NRC hearings. Additionally, my responsi-bilities include input and review into NRC generic activities such as development of Environmental Standard Review Plans and Standard Environmental I was a Technical Specifications and overview of NRC sponsored research.
member of the task forces for: development of Environmental Standard Review Plan 9.2 on Alternative Sites; development of_Early Site Review guidance through NUREG-0180; review and evaluatioh of alternative sites to Seabrook Station; review of impacts at operating reactors; Three Mile Island Nuclear S*;ation post accident examination of aquatic impacts and development of the Programmatic E1S.
I am Environmental Review Coordinator for development of the'0L stage FES for Callaway Plant.
I was employed by the New York Ocean Science Laboratory, Montauk, New York, from 1970 through 1975.
I performed _research on benthic ecology, f!sh migrations, fishery surveys and biology, commercial harvest prediction, fish diseases, thermal shock bioassays, fish ecology studies at fossil fuel and nuclear power plant sites.
From 1975 to 1976 I was employed by Ichthyological Associates, Inc., Forked River, New Jersey, where I was Section Leader responsible for fish population studies of Barr.2 gat Bay for the Oyster Creek Generating Station Ecological Studies.
I served.in that position as Section Leader /Research Biologist until joining the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in I have taught marine biology at the high school, undergraduate,
-March, 1976.
I have made numerous presentations at professional meetings and graduate level.
and have numerous publications in journals, magazines, and technical reports.
I am a member of the American Fisheries Society lad certified as a Fishery Scientist, a member of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists, and Sigma Xi The Scientific Research Society.
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