ML20035H547

Responds to 930408 Reply to Author Re Failure to Power Down Facility During Major Winter Storm That Blocked Evacuation Routes in Area Surrounding Plant.Nrc Fails to Articulate Specific Stds for Determining Plant Shut Down

ML20035H547
Person / Time
Site:	Seabrook
Issue date:	04/29/1993
From:	Doughty J AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
To:	Murley T Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
NUDOCS 9305050247
Download: ML20035H547 (3)

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s Jane Doughty 75 Monroe Street, Apt. 1 Portsmouth, NH 03801 April 29, 1993 i

Thomas E.

Murley, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.

20555

Dear Mr. Murley:

f This is in reply to your April 8,

1993 response to my letter of March 15, 1993 regarding the failure to power down the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant during the major winter storm that blocked evacuation routes in the area surrounding the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant.

In my view, your letter fails to articulate any reasonable standards for determining whether a plant should be shut down.

You noted that the Atomic Energy Act empowers the Commission with the authority to order plant shutdown "if the NRC determines the conditions so warrant" yet as far as I can ascertain from your discussion, there seem to be no specified standards for determining what conditions do warrant a shutdown.

I am also troubled by your portrayal of the emergency response requirements that were enacted by Congress as simply an adjunct to, or as you cut it "added feature" of the engineered safeguards at the plant.

It is my understanding that the Congress intended emergency planning to provide public protection independent of and regardless of the engineered design features.

Additienally, I feel that your reply does not address the point that in a severe winter storm, sheltering would be a grossly inappropriate option if the storm precipitation were washing radiation out of the plume in high doses down onto the entrapped population.

You state that " sheltering

>ather than evacuation would be the appropriate protective action because evacuation in storm conditions would pose greater risk to the public."

I believe that you know that there is no guarantee that sheltering in place would not result in a higher rate of injury and death if the accident resulted in substantial releases.

In sum, I feel that the Commission's failure to articulate specific standards by which plants should guide their decisionn in determining when to shut down, and by wnich the Commission should order shutdowns, a serious

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e dereliction of duty to the public and contrary.to the federal court holding in Power Reactor Develcoment-Corp.

v.

Electrical Union. 367 U.S.

396 (1961) that safety-is the "first, last and permanent consideration."

I believe that such. standards should include consideration of a variety.of factors. including the condition of evacuation routes and the likelihood that conditions might cause communication capabilities to fail.

I believe that the current lack of guidance.by the Commission leads to. modes of decision-making which can best be characterized as " arbitrary and capricious."

Sincerely,l cpwD~q q

-Jane Doughty cc:

Vice President Al Gore Jack Dolan, RAC Charles and Joan Pratt, SAPL Robert Pollard, UCS Paul McEachern

Jane Doughty I

N 75 Monroe Street, Apt. 1

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Po rtsmo uth, NH 03801 tmyy i

2m A gg; Thomas E. Murley, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555 P 360 489 642 ES E I,il.llI,iiilileilil..IileoIlel

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